Review of Steins;Gate 0

Hoo boy. Where to start. The other day I decided to sit down and watch Steins;Gate after seeing how highly rated it was on MAL. Being the contrarian I am, I went expecting it to be over-hyped and had praise lauded upon it due to mindless fanservice, or something of the like. After completing it, I came to understand why it's so beloved, and it's now rated as one of the highest rated of what I have personally seen. Of course, knowing there was a sequel, I simply had to check it out. The plot synopsis did leave me a bit hesitant about what to expect,but I went ahead and hopped in just to see what it was like.

And boy, was that a mistake.

Story - 5

Where to begin? This series is... a mess. Plain and simple. It feels incredibly disjointed and scatterbrained in so many areas. The reason for this? As you likely already know, Steins;Gate 0 started off as a visual novel, same as its predecessor. This meant there were a variety of differences in the story based on choices made throughout, and effectively gave several different endings. The same was the case of the original. The main difference between these two stories? Steins;Gate as a story felt cohesive and made, generally, about as much sense as one could ask of a story of its kind. They took several elements from various routes and implemented them into a single, well put together narrative.

Steins;Gate 0, on the other hand, decides to show us what would happen if they took the exact opposite approach. Much like the original, it was decided to intertwine various pieces of several moments in the different plots. The main problem here is that, instead of trying to tie it all together in a way that makes sense and adds to the overall story, they constantly sprinkle in little details or events, or little hints of something that could be a potential dramatic reveal later, and the good majority of them just end up as loose ends that are dropped and never revisited.

This aside, the story is slow going and ping pongs all over the place. There's so, SO many moments where it seems like they're amping up for a central conflict and something big is about to happen before it all comes crashing right back down to status quo and the characters go back to doing basically nothing for the next few episodes. The big conflict doesn't even come into play until the LAST 5 EPISODES OF THE SERIES, leaving the majority as this poorly paced slipshod of a show that doesn't seem to know what to do with itself. Easily the worst aspect overall. The amount of confusing and contrived elements are overpowering and make this show so difficult to chew through it's almost painful.

Art - 6

Normally, I would've likely rated this series higher. However, coming directly from the original the serious downgrade in animation quality is seriously notable and a constant distraction. It's hard to excuse, and although I wouldn't go so far as to call it ugly, it just doesn't do the show justice. The character designs are also... a questionable change in some places.

Sound - 7

Nothing particularly notable here. The music, once again, has taken a hit compared to the original, but it's not bad necessarily. The sound design is functional and everything is as it should be, at least to my untrained ears.

Character - 5

Don't misunderstand me. I understand the reason for the characters behaving the way they do, considering the altered developments in the plot. That's understandable and I know why these changes were made, in most cases. What I do not understand is how the essence of these characters were seemingly totally lost in the overall translation, circumstance aside. Rintaro is understandable and acts about as expected, albeit seemingly had everything except his depressed and desperate traits flushed away for no real reasons exactly. However, the supporting cast behaves so drastically different than what could be expected from what was established prior it's almost unbelievable.

Aside from returning characters, none of the new cast are appealing or memorable, with the exception being the notably dull and horrendously executed Kagari. They really do fulfill the role of being background characters and barely even that. By the end the stakes honestly feel minimal because it doesn't feel like you're genuinely watching the cast you cared about so much anymore.

Enjoyment - 5

Having come directly from the original, it's hard to even compare the two. Steins;Gate 0 is such a total mess narratively that it's difficult to keep up with, and the pacing is absolutely abysmal. Nothing makes sense and is ever really paid off, the characterization is inconsistent and nonsensical, and the overall package is just frustrating to slog through. There are moments when the comedy does well enough I suppose, and there can be charm here or there, but that feels more due to the fact of being echoes of what came before and not much more.

Overall - 5

This series was hard to sit through coming directly off the original. I can honestly say it's hard to recommend to anybody but die-hard fans of the original that are morbidly curious to see the follow up, but even then I'd personally say don't bother and just enjoy Steins;Gate for what it is. This show is a waste of time to do much of anything except see how not to follow up something as great as the first, or sit and laugh at how incompetent it is.