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#Post#: 2255--------------------------------------------------
Steins Gate 0 - review
By: Lumaria Date: July 28, 2018, 4:25 am
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So i've been watching the Steins Gate: 0 on VRV. And as much as
the name suggest it is a prequel, it is actually a sequel to an
alternate ending of Steins Gate.
The anime isn't complete but i felt i had to give my thoughts
about it now considering how vastly different it is from the
original. There is going to be spoilers for original Steins
Gate, so if you havent watched it, please do so. Or play the
game.
Quick summary review of the original Steins Gate:
Story follows a college student named Rintaro Okabe who he dubs
himself as Houiin Kyoma (i spelled it the way its pronounced,
not the way its intended to be spelled), a mad scientist and a
little child like by renting an apartment and calling it Future
Gadget Laboratory. His two friends are Daru and Mayuri who are
also lab members. Mayuri also calls him Okarin.
When attending a lecture, he meets a young famous scientis,
Makise Kurisu and witnessed her death which him to accidentally
time travel when he informed Daru by text while Daru's phone was
attached to the phonewave (Phone operated Mircrowave) attached.
This leads to a series of events where Makise Kurisu survives
instead of dying and helps Okarin and his friends on developing
a time-travel method by sending text messages into the past
using the Phonewave. The timeline gets altered timeline where
inevitably an organization known as SERN attempts to hunt them
down and Okarin's childhood lovable friend, Mayuri. In order to
save her life he has to find a way to undo all of his previous
actions when they sent text messages to the past by sending new
ones. Which lead to final decision of allowing Kurisu to die.
However the game ends with future-Okarin giving a message to
present-Okarin on instructions on how to preserve both Makise
and Mayuri's life.
As ridiculous as it sounds, the anime executed it very well. The
visual novel goes far deeper into the pseudo science. Its almost
hard to keep up with what they are saying in the video game. I
also paraphrased a lot and there is much more involved then what
i mentioned.
The biggest strength in the anime is how interesting the
characters are. Not one character bore me or made me feel
disinterested. It takes a slow but progressive pace, not one
episode is wasted and explores either characters or time travel.
The video game also made a huge effort to explain otaku-culture.
I'm not sure why, but considering the game was originally
released in 2009 and otaku-culture wasn't as big as it is now, i
can see sort of see why.
Steins Gate 0 however takes place in a timeline where the final
decision was to allow Makisu Kurisu to die. Okarin is now
dedicated to his studies in college and has become successful
however he is still scarred by Kurisu's death.
The biggest mistake this series does is make Okabe (who was once
a lovable and energetic main character) into a boring normal and
overly depressed character. I'm at the latest chapter and so far
he does absolutely nothing to move the story forward. All the
other characters around him seem to be doing a better job at
progressing the story.
The story still tries to paint him as the main protagonist, but
doesn't really do a good job. He is incredibly sluggish and
sometimes there are moments where he should be more cautious but
isn't.
In addition to all of this, there is a forced romance with this
new character that used to be Makise's old friend. A few
character push for this romance and it doesn't feel appropriate
considering that Okarin eventually had feelings for Makise and
the feelings were returned.
SO far, i dont know what this story is trying to do. The first
anime had a set of themes that were clear. The second title
doesn't know what it wants to be. Its just a continuation and
feels like a what-if situation.
My thoughts may change after the anime ends. I have also not
played Steins Gate: 0 so there are other details i may be
missing.
#Post#: 2256--------------------------------------------------
Re: Steins Gate 0 - review
By: DBNext Date: July 28, 2018, 11:06 am
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[quote author=Lumaria link=topic=162.msg2255#msg2255
date=1532769942]
The second title doesn't know what it wants to be. Its just a
continuation and feels like a what-if situation. [/quote]
In the original anime, Okabe gave up trying to save Kurisu, but
he received a video message from an older Okabe that told him
not to give up and explained to him the "fool the world" plan.
S;G 0 is the story of that Okabe. The Okabe from the video
message was once the same Okabe on the rooftop. He gave up,
started wearing all black and became depressed, and eventually
found the solution for saving Kurisu and sent a video message to
the past. I'm sure you understand this, but I needed to
highlight how important this version of Okabe is to the original
series.
So even if it does feel like a "what if" scenario as you
described it, it isn't, because it actually happened. The Okabe
in S;G 0 needed to exist, to fail, to grow older and to send the
message that opened the door to Steins Gate.
[quote author=Lumaria link=topic=162.msg2255#msg2255
date=1532769942]The biggest mistake this series does is make
Okabe (who was once a lovable and energetic main character) into
a boring normal and overly depressed character.[/quote]
I wouldn't call it a mistake considering anything other than a
depressed and lifeless Okabe wouldn't make sense, but I
understand where you're coming from.
[quote author=Lumaria link=topic=162.msg2255#msg2255
date=1532769942]
In addition to all of this, there is a forced romance with this
new character that used to be Makise's old friend. A few
character push for this romance and it doesn't feel appropriate
considering that Okarin eventually had feelings for Makise and
the feelings were returned.
[/quote]
I agree with this. Both visual novels had this obsession with
creating love angles. Almost every optional ending from the
original visual novel had Okabe hook up with a different girl.
I'm not a fan of Maho in 0, despite her rather important role.
Way too many girls that are almost all somehow falling for
Okabe.
I actually played the S;G 0 Visual Novel and while I won't spoil
anything that hasn't been revealed in the anime yet, I'll leave
a few of my thoughts on it.
Compared to the visual novel, the anime so far has been
excellent. While with the original, the visual novel was
superior to the anime, the reverse is true for 0, as its visual
novel was extremely messy, rushed and made almost no sense in a
lot of aspects. The anime has been handling it exceptionally.
I'll also say that between the original and 0, 0 is my favorite.
The original had an edge by being fresh and a lot more simple,
but 0 just gets so much better from here on out. There was a
turning point in the original anime, at episode 12 or 13 if I
remember correctly, where we suddenly went from a comedic show
about time travel to a crushing story of someone trying to save
his friend at all costs. That's all I'll say. If the anime
doesn't screw itself over the upcoming few episodes, it should
be an incredible ride towards the finish line.
#Post#: 2257--------------------------------------------------
Re: Steins Gate 0 - review
By: Lumaria Date: July 28, 2018, 6:37 pm
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I've theorized in the past that Steins Gate: 0 is using the
alternate timeline of the future Okarin. Which would explain
Steins Gate: 0's name. I did however wanted to leave that theory
out in case that it was a major spoiler.
There are many moments in the anime that felt convenient that i
feel are the use of actual time travel. I just have no enjoyed
the pacing.
I've not played Steins Gate: 0 and I'm sure you're right that
the anime is handling it better than the game. The reasons why i
like the original over 0 is that it was a breath of fresh air.
It was just experimenting with ideas that seemed interesting and
worth looking into. The way time-travel was handled was very
entertaining.
I understand that visual novels push possible romances. I always
enjoyed Steins gate for always fully establishing a concrete
single romances even though there were others who liked Okarin.
So it bothers me in the anime that they are faithful to this.
I'll wait and see until it ends, I'm sure it'll change my mind
about it. The reason why i wrote this review however is because
i didn't want to forget the negative feelings the anime
currently has given. It could also be that i finished Steins
Gate in a single viewing while i have to wait for Thursday for a
new episode. So when the episode doesn't live upto my
expectations, i feel a little cheated.
But i dont think that's wrong in this case because i haven't
understood what is actually going on, or what themes its trying
to push for. too many side-stories are intertwined and difficult
to really pick and choose. These characters also have this
horrible trope of "not sharing their information with each other
until its too late".
#Post#: 2258--------------------------------------------------
Re: Steins Gate 0 - review
By: DBNext Date: July 29, 2018, 10:57 am
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[quote author=Lumaria link=topic=162.msg2257#msg2257
date=1532821056]
I've theorized in the past that Steins Gate: 0 is using the
alternate timeline of the future Okarin. Which would explain
Steins Gate: 0's name. I did however wanted to leave that theory
out in case that it was a major spoiler.
[/quote]
Just curious, did you by any chance watch an episode titled "23
Beta"? Because I've seen a lot of people starting S;G 0 without
having watched that episode, and they end up being a bit lost.
"23 Beta" came out I think a year before 0's anime started, as a
teaser for what's to come. It's essentially the same as episode
23 from the original, but in the final minute or so instead of
Okabe saving Kurisu, he gives up and starts wearing all black.
It was a sort of pilot to S;G 0, a lot more suited than 0's
first episode which didn't really explain much.
Yeah and I also agree about the intertwined side stories being
hard to follow. In the VN they were essentially multiple routes,
each with a beginning and an ending, so for example Kagari's
whole memory thing was its own route, and almost every other
side story you're seeing in the anime was like that. This is why
I said that the VN was messy, because it switched between these
routes in an almost random order and you were left to figure out
how they were connected. The anime decided to combine them all
into one somewhat original story, risking making it feel crammed
but at the same time creating one whole story instead of
multiple ones.
I definitely recommend rewatching the whole thing once it's
over. I'll be doing the same. These types of stories are hard to
follow on a weekly basis. Even as someone who's played the VN
twice, I still find myself getting somewhat lost.
#Post#: 2259--------------------------------------------------
Re: Steins Gate 0 - review
By: Lumaria Date: August 3, 2018, 5:42 am
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I haven't watched the beta episode since it wasn't available on
VRV. I was able to follow along after a couple of episodes
though. I'll rewatch it after its completed. The latest episode
was decent and pushing toward a direction (even though at this
point the direction is still unclear).
i prefer watching it in the English dub (with a few exceptions
such as Mayuri being my favorite in the Japanese dub).
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