OK, I’ve kind of given up on making sense of what’s happening with Steins;Gate 0 as far as the mythology goes. Maybe this makes sense if you’ve played the VN, but with only the first anime to go by “0” really doesn’t seem to be following the same rules. The most obvious explanation for that is that this time around the anime is trying to patch together different routes from the game that really don’t fit together – and that would explain why this series feels so different from the first. One of the really remarkable things about the original Steins;Gate was how it rarely felt like a convoluted VN being twisted to fit into anime form, but that feeling very much exists this time.
So anyway, as far as I can Okarin has been in a coma (or at least catatonic) for 11 years after being captured and tortured – in 2025. That makes this 2036, which makes everybody 25 years older (though some characters oddly look just about the same). Apparently somehow Daru and Maho have managed to find a backup of Okabe’s memories from 2011 from when the Time Leap Machine failed to blast him to the past, and implanted them in his 2036 body so it wakes up. Which it does, except that it thinks it’s 2011 while the world outside is a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
I can’t quite make that make sense with any interpretation of the S;G rules as I understand them, but… whatever. The story must go on, and we’ve got the old lab team currently operating under the name “Valkyrie”, with Daru slimmed down and Ruka now some sort of super-samurai (points for alliteration). Of Mayuri there’s apparently no trace in this timeline, but before his capture Okabe had reverted to full Hououin Kyouma mode, and that’s certainly how the other lab members know him. But with Kyouma a weak and desiccated husk just awoken from a long slumber, it’s not exactly a rousing moment seeing Kyouma back in action.
Well, R.I.P. Rukako I guess, though I’m honestly not feeling much emotional buy-in with the events of this series lately. The plan now is apparently for Kyouma to use the time leap machine – but I’m not exactly sure what that will be intended to accomplish. I mean, it’s 2036 and things have been bad for a very long time – and his memories are 25 years old. How is a machine which – if it works – can only send him back 48 hours supposed to save the day? Unless he’s just intending on saving Ruka for the moment?
Stefan
September 6, 2018 at 6:11 amThis content is anime-original, as far as I know.
Anchen
September 6, 2018 at 11:22 amHow they get to the future is somewhat changed, but the general plotline that is going on does happen in one of the VN routes.
DP
September 6, 2018 at 7:39 amHonestly, you couldn’t make a satire of Steins;Gate that would be this ridiculous. Man, has this show time-jumped the shark.
Mike
September 6, 2018 at 9:27 amSo after missing most of the back half of the season, I came back to see how it ends. Now I wish I hadn’t!
Hilarious that Ruka went full Final Fantasy though (Square Enix called and they want their character design back).
Erren
September 6, 2018 at 10:18 am>I can’t quite make that make sense with any interpretation of the S;G rules as I understand them, but… whatever.
There is literally nothing there to make sense of. They took his brain data from 2011 from the PC they salvaged and implanted the data into his brain. I’m not sure what is so baffling or confusing about this or how it connects to “S;G” rules. They have literally talked about converting human memories into data since the beginning of Steins;Gate (aka the essence of time leaping) and the very first two episodes of Steins;Gate 0 delved into the idea of human memories being converted into data.
How is it possible that you are so biased you can’t even pay the slightest bit attention to a show you supposedly like? Like what the hell?
DT
September 7, 2018 at 3:28 amPretty sure Enzo is not quibbling on that – but rather the fact that memories =/= consciousness, which you know are rather different things…
Erren
September 6, 2018 at 10:20 amI am just abhorred by your general inability to draw connections or remember stuff that was established in S;G only for the purpose of bitching about how Steins;Gate 0 is so different from the original S;G. What a pathetic waste of a reviewer.
Guardian Enzo
September 6, 2018 at 2:20 pmI’m sorry this adaptation has gone downhill too, but shooting the messenger doesn’t help.