Review of Steins;Gate 0

This show does not deserve to be rated as highly as it is. Plain and simple. The only reason I think it has this rating is because so many people love Kurisu. Otherwise, there is no justification. I was as much of a Steins;Gate fan as anyone having watched the original over 10 times, but this continuation doesn't do the original story justice and in some ways makes the original feel worse on a rewatch. My biggest gripes with Steins;Gate 0 are character and story so I'll focus on those, with minor comments about the other categories. **MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT*** First and worst: character. The charactersare unlikeable, one dimensional, and sometimes idiotic.

Okarin is dumbed down to a depressed, reactive, shell of his former self. And I honestly don't buy it. She literally told him to move on with his life and instead he spends much of the show whining, reacting, and generally being a shitty protagonist who doesn't drive the story at all until it's almost already over.

Daru was not my favorite character already, but the writers decided to try and make him more mature in this season and it didn't work at all. It didn't fit his character, maybe there was a right way to make Daru mature, but it didn't happen. Instead we get an unrealistic fairy tale love story where Daru just happens to be liked by an attractive girl for no reason at all. He doesn't have much in the way of admirable qualities as far as attracting women goes, and somehow we're supposed to believe that just "being himself" was all he needed. His sudden "care" for Suzuha, just because she's his daughter even though he doesn't know anything about her childhood and wasn't there to see any of it is also equally unbelievable. Daru is a mess.

Suzuha. Where do I even start with her. She lost any of the charm she had in the first season, all she does is try to get Daru to date her mom and try to convince Okarin to go back and change the past with her, even though she doesn't even have enough fuel to go more than one time.

Mayuri was still cute, I'll give her that, and unlike some of the other characters she did have some good episodes, 16 had a great Mayuri moment, probably one of my favorite scenes in the whole show. But overall, she was just there as a story device.

Kagari. I seriously didn't care about her at all, did not need to be in the story.

Maho. Best new character. Had some believable backstory. Didn't act like a fool. One of the reasons to watch this show.

The rest of the new characters (besides the antagonist) are irrelevant. They don't need to be in the story and yet, they are.

Ok, so if you're still with me after that rant, let's move on to the next worst part of this show: Story.

First of all, the pacing was so strange in this story, the beginning just drags and drags, with not much at all happening. But unlike in Steins;Gate where there was light-hearted conversation in the lab and strange events building intrigue, this time it didn't go anywhere. The middle of the story is the worst offender here, it seriously takes until 17 episodes for things to really start moving. 17 out of 23. And because of this the last few episodes feel so rushed and unsatisfying.

Art: Inconsistent, but good at times.

Sound: The best part of the show, I loved the entire soundtrack especially the openings and the endings.

Enjoyment: Unfortunately, this show is super inconsistent. There were good moments and good scenes, but overall, only one episode maintained a decent level of enjoyment throughout. And that is episode 8. I enjoyed some parts of the first few episodes and episode 16-17 too. Otherwise, great moments were few and far between.

Overall: Steins;Gate 0 is a disappointment. As someone who loved the original, this left me with a sour taste in my mouth. The fact that it has as high of a rating as it does is criminal. If you loved the original, maybe watch it, otherwise, don't bother.