Review of Steins;Gate 0
STORY: My best guess, maybe this one wanted to overcome critics that said Steins; gate plot was so slow. They started fast. It was one of their biggest mistake. The result is the plot was messy. They delivered a very complex and complicated plot which I don't mind. But, somehow it looked like they didn't have a main conflict here cause the plot was changing too fast. And those complex plot needs to be delivered well. In order to provide a complex plot but in the same time, still tidy, you have to start slow, a great build up for a complex story line takestime. Like if you watch Batman V Superman, it delivers a complex story line, clues and hints are all over the places, but the movie's duration was 3 hours long. They also did what Steins; gate did, which was spreading clues all over the places but their mistake is they gave it too much. And the thing is, sometimes it become predictable, or confusing. Even I understand some points after rewatching it. There are also some unused clues that really bothers me. The plot was often too fast that we didn't get a proper explanation and things felt unnaturally happened. In Steins; gate, cause they have a good slow plot, everything happens naturally. However, I love a complex story. It's nice to see that I can't get most of this story's point of view when other people confused about that. But still, they need to give us a proper explanation about everything. I also get a feeling that they tried too hard to be better than the first one. Cause they put so many component here. Tried to make a big turning point, but sadly, it didn't really work cause the lack of proper explanation.
The good thing is, I'm glad they're heading towards this kind of take on. They took the story into a depressing tone which was really painful too watch. BUT, this kind of take on, made the story wasn't as good as the first one. BUT, I think there's no better option and this is the right one. This depressing story really hit me in almost every episode. They brought the right tone to the story. The story was really good in terms of collecting emotions.
ART: Overall, it's better than the first one. For example, blood. And also fighting sequence. But one thing I just realize, the color pallet was somehow a lot sharper than the first one. And it somehow affecting the story but not in a good way.
SOUND: The op song and ed song weren't that good. But I guess that's my only concern. The sound effects are better than Steins; gate.
CHARACTER: Unfortunately, there are many unused character here. Maybe not unused, but more like useless. Also they didn't give enough portion for each character to develop the story. Cause of that, there are not much of a character development that we can find here. BUT, again, this anime really knows how to catch our feelings. Some main characters played a major role to guide our emotion during the show. A story about regret, guilty, and sorrow, delivered by a very depressing character. There are some character with a good development as well. It's really sad and depressing seeing Mayushi carrying the guilt on her little shoulder and seeing our mad scientist became a sad scientist.
ENJOYMENT: They somehow nailed it in this part. Even with a messy plot. Feeling of hopeless, sadness, guilty, depressed, sorrow, in pain, they nailed it. It was very good. They also sometimes build a good intensity in the story. This is definitely one of the most depressing anime for me. Every episode was filled with regret, guilt, pain, mourn, desperation. Incredibly emotional