Review of Steins;Gate 0
Steins;Gate 0 is essentially a follow-up consisting of 23 episodes after the events of Steins;Gate: Kyoukaimenjou no Missing Link - Divide By Zero. This "second season" was created to provide an alternate ending opposed to the original ending of Steins;Gate (episode 23-24). Basically, Steins;Gate 0 is a failed attempt to board the bandwagon of the fantastic Steins;Gate franchise anime-wise, but still remains enjoyable. Let's begin with the negatives of the show, which fortunately can be considered minor for most of them. Steins;Gate 0 is somewhat confusing around the first half of the show, but if you have seen Steins;Gate prior to Steins;Gate 0 then itshouldn't be too confusing. Secondly, the fight scenes are absolutely appalling. For an anime that has come out 7 years after the original, it somehow manages to create considerably worse fight scenes than a show that is a decade old. In Steins;Gate 0, it absolutely confuses me as to why whenever one of the characters gets shot, it's merely a graze and how uncoordinated the fight scenes are. There are also some minor details that don't necessarily make sense, because regarding the Steins;Gate movie, which is set in the exact same year as Steins;Gate 0, the characters in the movie still use flip-phones whereas the characters in Steins;Gate 0 have smartphones. Nonetheless, these are generally minor details which shouldn't harm your experience too much.
Steins;Gate 0 is set one year after the events of Steins;Gate: Kyoukaimenjou no Missing Link - Divide By Zero in which Okabe doesn't successfully complete his mission. Now, he is in college and is a fragment of the maniacal obnoxious self he used to be, and is unwilling to go back and complete his mission out of fear that he will experience the trauma of his loved ones dying. As a result, Okabe now lives in the alpha world line and WWIII is imminent. One day, Okabe is introduced to an incredible new A.I called Amadeus, and soon the despair begins again.
The art is sound, of course being slightly more detailed than the original but still feels inauthentic and generic. The music is also decent.
The characters remain the same, although their appearances have been changed slightly considering that Steins;Gate 0 is set in winter opposed to Steins;Gate which is set in summer. For some reason everyone in Steins;Gate 0 has twice the boob size they had in the original Steins;Gate, so its your decision on whether this is a good thing or not. Now regarding their personalities, Okabe Rintarou is a shell of his former self, and only exists to be depressed. Hououin Kyouma has been killed off as a result of Okabe's depression, which deeply upsets me because of how entertaining Kyouma was in the original Steins;Gate. Unfortunately, every other character can be defined in two words: Mayuri - Airheaded, boring. I expected a bit more detail regarding the characters, especially Okabe who was such an interesting character in the original anime who is now simply depressed, and Steins;Gate 0 failed to deliver.
I enjoyed this "second season" solely because I liked Steins;Gate, but bear in mind that you shouldn't expect a better story than the original. I recommend it especially if you have seen the original and want more. When there is a good moment in Steins;Gate 0, it's really good.