Steins;Gate 0 – 8 [Dual of Antinomy -Antinomic Dual-]

Hello everyone! Another week, another ridiculously pretentious episode name for Steins;Gate 0! This week we have suffering, lots and lots of suffering, spread around our characters liberally. Lets jump in!So before we get into specifics, lets talk general notes. Overall, I really enjoyed this episode. It didn’t spend the whole time being a downer, sprinkling some amusing or hopeful moments in there. It showed us shots of Okabe’s life if he made another choice, making it clear he couldn’t keep on the way he has. Some would call it melodrama, and they wouldn’t be wrong, but for me it works here. Melodrama lives or dies based on how much the audience cares for its characters. And with how Steins;Gate 0 is formatted and its character focus, only the ones who care would make it this far, so I think it worked out. As a Steins;Gate fan, its character focused episodes like with all of the references to earlier episodes and events that I love the most.

Speaking of references, lets talk about the throwbacks to the original Steins;Gate. Seriously, this scene right here from the original series should give you all of the context you need. Its moments like the end of this episode that make me love time travel, when its done well. I really don’t want to gush on it to much, but seriously, I had no idea how they were going to tie it together. I thought they were going to text Okabe something, to make him try to save Mayurii again. Instead we see Kurisu sacrificing everything. It doesn’t stop her attempted confession but it does delay her just long enough for Okabe to push the button. I feel sorry for the rest of the cast, because Kurisu retook her place has “Best Girl” within a single episode.
Some might see that as an overstatement of Kurisu, but to them I say get over it. She knows Okabe so well that she noticed he had switch world lines, sought him out, and explicitly sacrificed her happiness for his. The best part is, I think this entire episode was setting up Okabe’s motivation to try and save her again and gave him the hints as to how. We saw that Kurisu’s first meeting of Okabe was different than his first meeting of her. Their “perception” of the first meeting was different, because of time travel. This right here is the seed of his “Trick the world” solution presented at the end of the originalSteins;Gate. So melodrama or not, this meeting actually had a narrative purpose as far more than just fanservice. And I loved it.

That is not to say everything was perfect however. I’ve gushed plenty and from a narrative standpoint, I enjoyed every second. However there were a few… odd parts. For example, the music in a number of scenes was just off. I understand the desire to avoid a complete downer of an episode, get some variety in there, but the music at the grave and their parting just felt to upbeat to me. To happy. Lyra is a nice song, I love most of Steins;Gate’s music, but its to upbeat I feel. To hopeful for should have been a more somber scene. Then there was the odd tone switch from somber, to jolly and loving, back to somber parting. I understand what they were going for, appreciate it, but it didn’t work for me. For that to be my biggest complaint however means it was still a damn good episode.
The last bit worth talking about is, what happens from here? I already mentioned that I think Okabe has an idea of how to save Kurisu now. However we know he doesn’t/can’t save her himself. Then we still have the issue with Amadeus being offline, calling him for help and him time traveling. There are allusions to earthquakes in Russia, meaning Russia has started researching time travel clearly so its possible they triggered it. But we are no closer to figuring out Amadeus and whats going on with her. Are we going to stick with them until 2036 and watch as the world plunges into World War 3? It would be an interesting change from the general slice of life style story Steins;Gate has used up until now. Im just concerned with how they are going to work more time travel into, well, a time travel story.

So basically to sum it all up, this was an emotional rollercoaster of an episode and with only super minor almost irrelevant issues, I loved it. Best Girl returned, everyone got a little bit of screen time from Daru to Feris and Ruka, and above it all it actually served a narrative purpose. The fact that this episode serves as Okabe’s motivation to change and gives him the hint to solve it all… It gives more weight to the episode. It makes more than just fanservice with Makise Kurisu, and I love it. Hope you all did to.
I also want to thank everyone who commented on the last post. I enjoy reading other peoples thoughts on the season. Takes me back to when watching anime was a smaller community who talked about every new episode. Thank you, and see you next week!

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Steins;Gate 0 – 7 [Eclipse of Vibronic Transition -Vibronic Transition-]

Oh boy, Steins;Gate 0 was definitely a thing this week, whatever that means. This time we have clashing styles, interesting plot twists and one hell of a cliffhanger. Lets jump in!To start off, lets get the obvious out of the way. Steins;Gate 0 is not an action series and it shows. The opening “combat” scenes of this episode were… weak, to be kind. Animation was stunted and in general it just wasn’t great. This isn’t unexpected though. Steins;Gate’s design/style doesn’t lend itself well to smooth, fluid fights. It has always been a series focused on its characters, not the action. That said, the actual narrative portion of the “combat” was pretty interesting. We have no idea who the leather-clad women is, though I have suspicions, and Mr.Braun’s entrance was both unexpected and exciting. I have always wanted to see more of his character, get a deeper look into our landlord ever since Steins;Gate, and we finally have the chance. And boy did this week spend a lot of time with him.

So Mr.Braun was one of the main focuses this week. I have to say I was not expecting him to be on our side, but it makes sense. Braun prizes his daughter Nae above all else, so even he wouldn’t call Rounders on them when shes in the apartment. It was interesting to see his two sides during his conversation with Okabe however. Between doting father and dangerous secret agent, he basically got blackmailed into helping Okabe. Can’t wait to see where this goes, especially because his allegiance buys Moeka’s as well. However this does raise a new question. Who was the woman in leather? In the original it was Moeka, however with Braun on our side, it can’t be her. There is a hint with Yuki Amane’s wrist, but personally I think thats a red-herring however, with her relationship with Daru. No, my personal bet continues to be Dr.Reyes.
Speaking of Daru, we got a nice quite scene with him and Okabe I really appreciated. We’re told they are best friends, and we got shots of it in the original Steins;Gate, but now we finally get some alone time with them together. Theres no games, no hiding, Okabe speaks frankly and Daru just wants to support him. Okabe keeps Daru close, in contrast to Ruka who also got a talk this week. Really, I can’t help but think Okabe’s decision with Ruka is selfish. Shutting him out for his own benefit, to have one person solidly in one world line, without thinking about them at all. Its beautifully selfish, and Ruka’s casual acceptance of it says alot about their relationship. Its these one on one character moments, Daru and Okabe, Okabe and Maho, or Okabe and Amadeus/Kurisu, that were always my favorite scenes. Hope we get more.

That said, we are going to atleast get one more one on one scene, and gee this one might take up a whole episode. Quick notes for those who may have missed it: Watch after the credits, for Steins;Gate 0 pulls a Marvel this week with an ending scene that throws everything on its head. While on paper I am ludicrously excited for Kurisu and Okabe to speak again, especially with Okabe being as broken as he is, I can’t help but question why. Why did a call from Amadeus/Kurisu(?) trigger this? Who sent it and how? There are so many questions and aside from the ending with Kurisu, this episode felt like it dragged on for me. Its like jumping from cliff-hanger to cliff-hanger and it bugs me. Its forcing me to ask, is Steins;Gate 0 really that amazing or am I just absorbed in nostalgia for characters I love?
Its a question I normally wouldn’t ask. Normally something like that is irrelevant, so long as the viewer enjoys the show. However the performance of this episode, easily the weakest so far as it only had my attention in spurts, has made me wonder. How do you all think Steins;Gate 0 is performing so far? Is it living up to your expectations? Did you go into this having already seen the original or is this your first taste? Am I just riding on the nostalgia of my love of the original or is Steins;Gate 0 every bit as gratifying as we had hoped it would? Having waited for this series for years, its hard for me to be objective on the subject. So please, let me know below and I’ll see you next week for what will no doubt be a rollercoaster of an episode. See you then!

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