"Crossing millions of years across thousands of worldlines, we meet now at the end of infinity."
After this seemingly never-ending journey we're now at long last here at the end of the anime Steins; Gate Zero.
Here I'd like to present my personal opinions on the season with regards to the plot, characters, animation, and music. I'd also like to say a few words on the series as a whole and comment on some particulars related to the first season, the original Steins; Gate. Let's go!
Comment down the suggestions for more anime or your opinion on Steins: Gate Zero. Critics are welcome!
Onto the Anime Review of Steins: Gate Zeroby Wired Ends.
—————————— PLOT ——————————
To summarize the plot of Steins; Gate Zero would be to say that it was, at the least, complex. But then that applies to almost anything that's Steins; Gate. Plotwise the anime follows a story from a point we left behind at the penultimate point in the last season, so a bit of a rewatches first may be helpful. Comparing the original series with this one, anyone might notice that the pacing of 0 is markedly faster than it was for the OG series. The plot thickens within about 3 episodes and solidifies (metaphorically) within about only 5. Sure, there were minor hints about antagonists like Leskinen in a few scenes like at the University in Tokyo and the future flash-forward of the beta worldline we were shown when Okabe was captured by someone with the hair color and silhouette of Leskinen. However, sufficient praise needs to be given for structuring the plot so well, since we have revealed certain points and aspects that were hitherto concealed, like Okabe's death in the year 2025 in the beta worldline, or Okabe sending a D-mail to his past self in the alpha worldline in episode 8 to convince him to give up saving Makise, at her own request. These little tricks spiced up the story, showing us that the writer used a lotta brain when adapting this.
Now, if we take a look at the overarching complexity of the plot with regards to the grand plan Leskinen concocted, it isn't that complicated or mindblowing. It personally felt kinda familiar although I couldn't pinpoint why. However, a lot of plot points and events felt essential and vital, like the light-hearted episode showing Daru and Yuki warming up to each other, which somewhat proved Yuki's non-involvement in the suited biker agents mess.
There's also the Mayuri and Kagari plotline, which personally felt tear-jerking and comfortably soothing amidst the fray that was the story. Yet other vital points included the deftly placed scenes of the "Rounder" attack at the lab with Mayuri's watch malfunction, episode 8 with Kurisu's reappearance in the flesh and the post-credits scene of the final episode (which oddly matches with a scene shown in a pre-credits scene midway through the OG series) to ignite chills of nostalgia in the audience. Also, unlike the OG series, there were no repeated time leaps showing us similar events occurring episode-after-episode, making the experience more dynamic & enjoyable. All in all, Steins; Gate Zero leaves behind almost no plotholes and knits a beautifully sparkling tale of love, loss, and Godliness amidst tides of despair and hopelessness.
—————————— CHARACTERS ——————————
The characters of Steins; Gate are and also aren't the usual kind we see in anime- they're somewhat robotic but also so well-blended with their environment that they feel lifelike. When someone compares the portrayal of Zero's characters with their first season counterparts, a difference in tone is observable. It's almost as if they were livelier before, and with Okabe's depression in the beta worldline, the whole story also was constantly "upset". However, very noticeable changes could be observed in Daru, who spoke up in favor of making the time leap machine (even punched Okabe), in Mayuri, who took the initiative of changing events for the better for the first time, in Suzuha, who warmed up and opened up her insecurities and childish fears to her would-be parents Daru & Yuki & in Ruka, who grew up to be a strong person deeply involved as a Resistance soldier, although he used to be the farthest removed from it all. Fayris's character didn't change much, thankfully or not (OwO) but not all was good! The character of Judy Reyes was incredibly underused, except for maybe a scene where she appeared as a suited agent assuming that role in scenes later on. I thought her being a psychologist would be used for Kagari's brainwashing, but alas.
I also felt that Yuki remained a bit underused, despite being a potential secret StratFor agent or Suzuha's mom in the future. She did get the spotlight in an episode or two, but otherwise, the new tertiary characters didn't really shine much, except for Fubuki. However, Alexis Leskinen was done well, albeit a little cheesily, but good enough to fit in the story. His character was annoying, funny, sometimes reminiscent of Hououin himself, and fun to watch. As for Kagari, I can't say much except that I liked her but a lot more could've been done (like delving into why she looks like Kurisu). And for our little legal loli Maho-san, all I'll say is that I loved mini-Kurisu v2.0, including all her self-pity stemming from inferiority and her extreme tsundereness. Her and Okabe's interactions with Amadeus were also like a lost treasure that we chanced upon again, knocking on nostalgia's door really hard. AI Kurisu was a pleasant delight to audiences who sorely missed the real one, serving as not just a substitute but a unique character with her personal decision-making and behavior. Deification was something I didn't expect they'd do, but they did it for Okabe, portraying him as something extraordinary, much like the second coming of Christ, or Kyouma.
—————————— ANIMATION ——————————
The way Steins; Gate does its animation reflects the everyday monotony-drenched life that people of Akihabara are trapped in, amidst bursts of animatic dynamics to highlight the specialties in these daily sights and sounds which otherwise seem mundane but up-close are pretty impactful. Steins; Gate Zero as well takes advantage of this- the atmosphere.
Much like its predecessor, the Zero season also presents to us several instances of real life that are perfectly captured through studio Whitefox's incredible animation. This seems to be their strong point- being able to immerse the audience in an ambiance of uncertainty which reminds us shockingly that we're watching an anime but also reminds us that like, in real life, literally anything can happen.
Cityscape shots and those of minute objects and even fight scenes weren't bad at all, resulting in a more diverse variety of scenes than the first season. Also, there are the OP & ED sequences which were beautifully animated, reminding us that time-travel thrill again!
If we must talk about character design, then the first & foremost aspect would be the changed attire. Okabe donning a black suit all the time instilled a tone of change in us, highlighting the darkness in contrast to the lighter first season. Kurisu in her lab coat was a delight to see, as it served as a nostalgia device as well as fanned that dying flame of Kyouma in us somewhere.
Scenes involving time travel were once again pretty well done, being nothing over-the-top but just enough to indicate the drastic (or not) change that has occurred. However, I found the fight scenes to be unexpectedly good! Granted, Kagari's hands-only beheadings and some other stunts were kinda unrealistic, but overall the action scenes were exciting, especially every time the helicopter attacked the time machine and Ruka's solo swordfight against the soldiers.
I'm glad they didn't decide to use flashy scenes or animation for even the brainwashing, leaving it very subliminal and subtle yet impactful. The dystopic portrayal of ruined architecture and cityscape wasn't bad but could've been better. And the post-credits scene of the final episode is something I could watch on loop!
—————————— MUSIC ——————————
In a few words, what I can say about the music is that it's great, almost perfect. It retains all the wonderful little references and nods to the OG series's soundtracks and has an added element of foreboding to them. I was especially blown away by a few of the OSTs used in pivotal scenes like when Suzuha confronted Okabe on the lab's rooftop and almost shot him.
Yet other thrilling moments included whenever the helicopter missile-d the time machine, when Okabe performed his team leaps back and when Okabe & Kurisu were reunited but had to part again in episode 8.
The difference in music was clearly visible in this season, as the first season had more ambient soundtracks that blended in with the environment, while this one's tracks were more grandiose and relied a lot on violin, piano, and electric guitar. This helped to increase the fast-paced aspect of the series since events of importance here occurred more noticeably than in the first season. However, some OSTs like Gate of Steiner and Messenger were used well.
So well in fact, that a lyrical version of Gate of Steiner was used as the true ending ED for the VN and the anime (but I'm putting the link for Messenger instead cuz I like it better XP). Now if we're to talk about the OP & ED themes, this time there seem to be way too many compared to the last season. Why exactly? Perhaps because the showrunners felt that putting in more music would help concretize certain scenes or plot points in the anime if they weren't memorable enough, which appears to be a frequent trait of the audience.
But if we were to qualitatively evaluate the songs, they're frickin amazing. Each one tells a part of the story of Steins: Gate on their own and have callbacks to crucial happenings in the past like the Déja Vù movie or the loops in the OG series. The variety was greater this time, with songs ranging from powerful ones like Fatima to ominous ones like the Last Game to lullabies like Song played by the Stars and even a romantic one- Lyra. Therefore, what I'll say is that the music, while not being as bizarrely impactful as that of the first season, was great and with more frequent modulation of the thoughts they wanted to convey through them.
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CONCLUSION
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So, to summarize, I'll say a few remarkable things about Zero that left me shook :0 Firstly would be the meta-ness of a particular plot point they'd used back in the first season to tell us how Okabe had died in 2025, but we were revealed that his "death" was fabricated by Daru to keep him safe from Leskinen. The second thing would be the post-credits scene of the final episode, which bore an eerie resemblance to the pre-credit scene of episode 12 in the first season, with Okabe and Mayuri's silhouette trapped in a wasteland which seemed to be within the FG lab's hourglass. I know that it was stated to be 70 million years ago and Oka-uri had ended up in 18000 BC, but I think it was a little foreshadowing for this moment shown in Zero as the final end to everything.
I was also irked by the fact that Okabe never found Suzuha & Mayuri's corpses after the time machine was destroyed and still assumed they died instead of perhaps having actually made it to where their destination was. It's a plot point that could've been followed but sadly wasn't. And all I ever wanted to know was why Kagari-chan looks like Kurisu, something I'll probably never know xD
Therefore, at the end of it all, Steins; Gate 0 is an awesome time-travel anime that any sci-fi fan must check out, especially if they've watched Steins; Gate.
That was the anime review of Steins: Gate Zero by Wired Ends.
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