okabe – Page 2 – Anime QandA

When Daru Met Yuki – ‘Steins;Gate 0’ Episode 15 Review

When Daru Met Yuki – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Steins;Gate 0’ Episode 15

What’s the show? Steins;Gate 0, Episode 15.

And what’s this episode about? Probably about as close as Steins;Gate will get to being out and out romantic comedy–that said it’s still depressing as heck and contains character deaths (albeit in the future) as well as a general sense of forboding permeating the episode.

Right. So who’s the lucky couple? Daru and Yuki–though it’s not without its complications, you know seeing as this is a romantic comedy episode it has to have it’s elements of ‘will they/won’t they’ tension! The plan to get Daru and Yuki closer almost backfires when Maho–fresh from the United States–decides to give Daru an experimental procedure to make him more of a ladies man. It’s pure hijinx and kind of starkly unrealistic (which is saying something since this is a science-fiction show) but the suave and put-together Daru isn’t the guy Yuki is interested in, she wants the nervous, geeky, pervert! Luckily it doesn’t take a genius for the others to realise that and they end up more or less together by the end of the episode. Much to Suzuha’s delight(?) as she just wants to see them happy.

What’s with the bracketed question mark after “delight”? Well she makes a very serious face as she walks past the frame at the very end of the episode and I’m not sure what to make of that–maybe we’re led to believe she saw Kagiri on the rooftop–or maybe Suzuha’s just got that resting ‘knowledge about imminent WW3 stress’ face.

Looks like she’s about ready to bust in some heads.

But that’s not all that happens in the episode, is it? Of course not, Okabe has been meeting with the increasingly suspoicious Professor Leskinen and by doing so has repeatedly blown off oportunities to meet with Mayuri–who clearly has something important she needs to talk about with Okabe but he’s too busy/oblivious to realise. He should know by now that nothing good can come from ignoring a friend, especially Mayuri. These scenes are giving me ~serious~ chills that something super bad is about to befall someone soon.

And what’s this about future character deaths? Well we get something of a flashforward (or is it a flashback because it happened in a characters past–she just happens to be from the future) either way we see how Yuki dies, protecting Suzuha from a mini-gun drone that’s surveying the war torn streets. It’s unexpectedly sad, not the least because we don’t really know Yuki all that well. Moreso I suppose it’s just sad for Suzuha knowing that the stakes for her just aren’t stopping WW3 but stopping her mother’s death before her very eyes.

Nice Back to the Future reference though!

Serious business, so how do you feel about the episode on the whole? The whole Daru x Yuki romance sublot was okay, but nothing special, it kind of felt tonally out of place at times but honestly my biggest problem with it was I don’t really care about Daru as a character.

Huh? How’s that? Isn’t he just like you? A perverted otaku with a ‘thing’ for loli’s? Okay first of all, I don’t have a thing for loli’s, I appreciate a good loli like one would appreciate a fine wine. Secondly and most importantly I may say sexual/perverted things about my 2D waifus on occasion but Daru straight-up says creepy things to actual girls/women in his life. I’m not here to write a deconstruction or take-down of his character, generally speaking I can deal with it in the context of this show but don’t compare me to someone who creeps on actual girls/women.

Don’t try and smile your way through this!

Yikes. Sorry, didn’t realise that was a sore point for you. It’s not, it’s fine. So back on topic, this is probably among the weaker episodes–I can’t say for sure how important the Daru x Yuki stuff will be to the end-game so that kind of felt like filler (but then again this show does have a lot of episodes to fill, so I’m not adverse to character development) but I can say with some certainty the stuff with Okabe, Leskinen and Mayuri while subtle and almost minimalistic is probably of significance. Let’s see where this goes!

This is the face of someone who *needs* to talk.

Previous Steins;Gate 0 Reviews:

Episode 1 Review
Episode 2 Review
Episode 3 Review
Episode 4 Review
Episode 5 Review
Episode 6 Review
Episode 7 Review
Episode 8 Review
Episode 9 Review
Episode 10 Review
Episode 11 Review
Episode 12 Review
Episode 13 Review
Defying the Protagonist – Episode 14 Review

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Defying the Protagonist – ‘Steins;Gate 0’ Episode 14 Review

Defying the Protagonist – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Steins;Gate 0’ Episode 14

What’s the show? Steins;Gate 0, Episode 14.

There was a week gap there was it not? Indeed, not sure the reason but I can say for sure absence makes the heart grow fonder! But yes it’s back and for the second cour, we’ve got a slightly revamped OP (the vocals sound cleaner? Or maybe I’m imaging it…) and some of the OP visuals are different—not sure why I’m pointing this out but there it is!

Right, and what’s the episode about? As brief as you can if you please. …what, you got somewhere you need to be?

No, it’s just the recapping the events of the episode for the fourteenth episode of a series kinda seems redundant—I’m sure everyone reading this has actually watched the episode before reading this. No not everyone… hi Michel!

Too meta for me… can we get on with the review? Right, so some months have passed between the end of the last episode where Kagiri was ‘triggered’ by a Motzart song and went off mumbling about “the voice of god”. Okabe and the gang can’t find any sign of her and so life more or less returns to normal.

Faster! Erm! Suzuha and Daru try to enlist Maho’s help to build a time machine, Mayuri wears a school uniform for reasons(?), Okabe visits Fubuki in hospital and runs into a suspicious Professor Leskinen, a brainwashed Kagiri returns to the lab with the intent to kill Suzuha—she fights her off and gets a cut for her troubles. Amadeus convinces Maho to go back to Japan to help make a time leap device and Maho learns that it’s okay to be Salieri.

Look at these good looking girls, if I play the Visual Novel can I romance any of these girls?

Great, so uh— Things are going to go bad really soon, I can feel it…

And what’s this prediction based upon? Daru, Suzuha and now Maho—they’re all conspiring to build a time leap device behind Okabe’s back and well… he’s the protagonist so obviously he knows best! And us, the audience, knows best too after seeing how much hardship Okabe had to go through back in the original Steins;Gate—there’s no way this is all going to go off flawlessly, bad stuff is coming.

Who knew a little toy would be so important!

So you’re saying never defy the protagonist? More or less, I mean he’s told them trying to mess with time is a terrible idea and with the exception of maybe Maho he is the smartest person in the proverbial room.

So that aside what did you think of the episode? It was great, more or less, the scene with Fubuki in the hospital was suspicious as heck—and not just what Leskinen was doing visiting the director of the hospital but what’s going on with Fubuki in general—I’d hate for her plot line to be a red herring. But it’s the stuff with Maho that was the best; even putting aside my love for character her scenes felt the most emotionally grounded and low-key compelling. Her realisation that she can in-fact forge her own path forward out from Kurisu’s shadow brought a tear to my eye! We’re still a while away from the true ‘end game’ but it feels like we’re picking up steam all the same!

Previous Steins;Gate 0 Reviews:

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Steins;Gate 0 Episode 13 – Anime QandA Review

An Anime QandA review for Steins;Gate 0 Episode 13

What’s the show? Steins;Gate 0, Episode 13.

So what happens this week? Man, this episode, starts off all slow and cutesy with little bursts of technobabble and theorising then bang we’re hit with an epic, tense and action-packed ending that feels like we’re suddenly watching a different show!

I ~probably~ think you’re over selling it a little, but care to elaborate? Let’s start at the beginning. Right, so Kagiri and Mayuri are pretty much inseparable at this point, Kagiri’s mind has reverted back to that of a ten year old (despite being in appearance, 22) though she still has the memories of the few months she’s spent with Okabe and the gang—in addition to her old future memories.

—‘Old Future Memories’ sounds like an album title for an indie rock band. Sorry, go on… Ahem, so Kagiri is happy, Mayuri is just going a long with it, Ruka is confused but nobody’s giving him an answer, Daru is Daru, Okabe is stressed and Suzuha is annoyed.

Why is Suzuha annoyed? She’s annoyed because the plot says so, basically so we can learn that Kagiri’s regained memories have been tampered with (or possibly are from another world line!) and also so there’s more drama and they can make up when (if?) Kagiri is found.

Wait, what? Kagiri’s missing?! Sorry, I jumped a head a little. So Mayuri wants to throw a party, because apparently that’s all she does (I’ve lost count, I think it was up to 4 or 5 parties in this anime last time I checked) and so they go about the preparations, meanwhile Kagiri goes to buy some cake to bring because she’s a good girl. Also meanwhile Okabe has teamed up with Moeka to see if they can find where/what happened to Kagiri in the twelve years of missing memories.

Why have they decided to go now and not before? Well Okabe sees Braun and he leads him to believe that Kagiri’s probably been brainwashed—seeing as that her memory returned only partially and with possible tampering to the events. Anyway, Moeka Tokyo Drift’s her way up to the mountains where they find a ~seemingly~ long abandoned facility and here’s where the action and tension ramps up in a gorgeously executed scene that plays as the end credit music plays in the background!

Go on then… So Kagiri’s walking back to the lab when she here’s a Motzart song play from a truck advertising a live concert performance (they brilliantly foreshadowed it earlier in the episode—so it’s not as random as it seems), all of a sudden a rush of memories comes back to her, we get a glimpse of some—seemingly from the future as she’s being treated for PTSD (or so the Doctor’s say) but she’s actually a part of a project linked to Amadeus! Then we cut to Okabe and Moeka who’ve discovered a secret room in the facility, scrawled all over with the words “mommy” and a kid’s drawing of Mayuri. Evidently this is where Kagiri had been kept the past 12 years—and it looks like it wasn’t a nice place to stay! The episode ends with Suzuha running out into the rain looking for Kagiri and finding her phone on the sidewalk…

Wow, sounds like a jam-packed final few minutes! Indeed it is! It’s hard for me to say definitively because the earlier episodes have kind of melded together in my mind but this might be one of the best episodes yet! I am wary to commit to that opinion though as the lack of Maho is disheartening. But I know we’ll see her again soon! Although I’ve just had a horrible thought and now I shudder at the thought of it coming true!

What? It’s not spoiler-y if it’s pure speculation? Well if a part of Kagiri’s future memories involve her being ‘experimented’ on for something related to Amadeus, what if Maho was involved in Kagiri’s kidnapping and imprisonment in this facility?! Hopefully not, I had high hopes for best girl Maho… Either way, the cliffhanger ending is back in a big way and I can’t wait to see how the rest of the series unfolds from here!

Previous Steins;Gate 0 Reviews:

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Steins;Gate 0 Episode 12 – Anime QandA Review

An Anime QandA review for Steins;Gate 0 Episode 12

What’s the show? Steins;Gate 0, Episode 12.

So what’s happening now? Well last episode ended with something of a non-cliffhanger—rare for this show—with Maho going back to the US and Okabe saying goodbye to both her and Kurisu. I didn’t say it in my review but I presumed we would be getting a time skip ahead some months as I couldn’t really think where the story would be headed from the point it left off.

And do we? I don’t know… I think so… let’s just say an indeterminate amount of time has passed—not significant enough to be countered in months with an ‘on screen subtitle’ but still some time has passed. We get hints that Okabe wants to (and will presumably) be travelling to the US for study, though the only thing I want him studying his Maho, if you catch my drift *wink wink*.

Right so what about the episode itself, what actually happens. Not a lot to be honest, more than ever before I feel like the show is treading water… I mean I don’t doubt there’s some substantial significance to the song that brings back Kagiri’s memories that she heard Mayuri singing that she heard from Suzuha that she heard from Yuki that she heard from Okabe’s mother(!) that she heard from Okabe that he’s never even heard before…

And so what’s all that mean? Not a lot… until you take into consideration the scene after the end credits, which almost blew my damn mind!

What happens?! Well we see a teen-aged Okabe waiting at a train station—presumably on his way to see Mayuri after the death of her grandmother and who else is at the train station but 10-year-old Kagiri (who, at this point in the narrative has recently arrived in the past via time machine and just ran away from whoever had kidnapped her) who is singing the song that she learnt from her future adoptive mother Mayuri! Mind blown I tell ya!

Well that is some admittedly interesting time travel shenanigans. But why doesn’t current Okabe remember a song he learnt in the past—especially one that seems pretty significant. Ah, and therein lies the mystery! Something to do with world-lines or Reading Steiner, something to do with time loops and paradoxes? Who knows! Either it’ll be intrinsically important to things going forward or it’ll just be one of those elusive ~mysteries~ of time travel… to be honest I’m happy with either explanation (or lack thereof).

Right, so singing this show’s praises unreservedly once again? Hey now, let’s not go crazy. It has its issues—ones that’d probably seem less glaring during a binge watch. While it was ~nice~ to have some low-stakes action for a change with what was basically a game of ‘Telephone’ they were playing with discovering the origin of the song, it felt like not a lot happened, I won’t say I was bored but I wasn’t particularly enthralled, least not until towards the end scenes from visiting Grandmother Mayuri’s grave onwards.

So how does this episode rank compared to the others? It’s among the weakest, but that’s only if I judge it alone—but it’s undoubtedly an important piece of a greater puzzle and there were some nice emotional character beats at the very start and very end that bookended it in a satisfying way!

Previous Steins;Gate 0 Reviews:

Episode 1 Review
Episode 2 Review
Episode 3 Review
Episode 4 Review
Episode 5 Review
Episode 6 Review
Episode 7 Review
Episode 8 Review
Episode 9 Review
Episode 10 Review
Episode 11 Review

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

Steins;Gate 0 Episode 11 – Anime QandA Review

An Anime QandA review for Steins;Gate 0 Episode 11

What’s the show? Steins;Gate 0, Episode 11.

Last week was something of a break from the dour and brooding Steins;Gate 0 and a bit of a return to the tone of the original, was it not? Are we back to moody and dark again this episode? More or less, and I’m very happy for it!

So it’s a good episode then? It’s among my favourite, though admittedly it does have a few glaring lapses in believability early on…

Oh, like what? Well Daru escaping out of his secret lab by vaulting through a window, running across a rooftop and sliding down a drain pipe like he’s in the opening of a James Bond movie was among the most unintentionally hilarious and frustratingly ludicrous things I’ve seen in this whole series. Forget for a minute that Daru is a big boy, even if I just saw Okabe do it I’d be incredulous but for heavy-set Daru it was just beggaring belief.

This Daru I understand, not Parkour Daru…

And you said this is “among your favourite” huh? It can be that and have a scene that strains credibility… crazy, I know!

So what about the episode was actually good then? High tension as Okabe, Maho and Daru are surrounding by gun-toting masked men (and women) intent on retrieving Kurisu’s laptop. That fear that something’s going to happen to precious Maho as a knife is held to her throat then the panic when a second group of gun-toting masked dudes shows up and shoots up the place, injuring a few of them and destroying said laptop in the hail of bullets!

Action packed! And that’s just the first 10 minutes or so! From there things get a bit more contemplative and dare I say intimate… Maho collapses, or rather she looses muscle tension(?—I’m not really sure what was going on to be honest) and so she’s in bed and Okabe’s talking to her and it’s just nice and go on and get married already!

Imagine showing this image to someone who knew nothing about anime.

Well that escalated quickly… Sorry, I just really want Maho to be happy and since she can’t be with me then Okabe’s the next best choice!

Right… perfectly normal conversation we’re having here… so I’m still not really getting what about this episode you like so much? It’s the fleeting glances and the tight close-ups on eyes—it’s emphasising so much by showing so little. And holy hell the voice acting performances in this episode is just so god-tier, I can hardly deal with it! I know I’m probably sounding very unprofessional here but I just never wanted this episode to end!

Everything about this scene was gorgeous.

But it does. Indeed it does, there’s a sweet and funny scene at the airport that’s full of complicated emotions as they bid farewell to Maho and Leskinen at Narita Airport (and I’m suddenly inundated with nostalgia from my last Japan trip—as if the Akihabara set-scenes weren’t already doing that to me on a weekly basis!) Amadeus bids farewell to Okabe playing up to the tsun so much that even he calls her out on it. There’s a sense of familiarity and warmth and hope—even though they’re parting, there’s a promise to it all—a promise of a better tomorrow. But there’s still 12 episodes left of this season so while we’ve reached something of a half-way rest stop the road ahead is no doubt full of surprises.

Previous Steins;Gate 0 Reviews:

Episode 1 Review
Episode 2 Review
Episode 3 Review
Episode 4 Review
Episode 5 Review
Episode 6 Review
Episode 7 Review
Episode 8 Review
Episode 9 Review
Episode 10 Review

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

Steins;Gate 0 Episode 10 – Anime QandA Review

An Anime QandA review for Steins;Gate 0 Episode 10

What’s the show? Steins;Gate 0, Episode 10.

And what’s this episode about? The importance of other people in our lives.

That sounds like the title of a self-help essay waiting to happen… well I very well could devolve into full academic deconstruction of the recurrent themes of this episode–of the loving rivalry between Kurisu and Maho and how in the anime it’s deftly compared to that of historical figures Motzart and Salieri and how that relationship shaped her very sense of self. Or the budding and thoroughly complicated relationship of sorts forming between Moeka and Faris-Chan, one that’s very much the definition of external opposites attracting–but that both share a broken backstory. Or Okabe’s overtly protective instincts informing his relationships with women and how–in doing so, creates a further divide to a romantic connection.

Well then… sounds like you’ve got a lot to say… I said I could talk about these things, but let’s face it–by now you’re probably just expecting me to swoon about the sexy sleepover party shenanigans involving Maho, Moeka and Faris.

I never expected that because I didn’t even know and truth be told I’d rather you didn’t I get enough talk of ‘shenanigans’ in your DxD reviews thank you very much… Everything serves a purpose! Even in Steins;Gate 0, something as cliche and ~problematic~ as a breast grope between acquaintances can be extrapolated upon–to discover the deeper meaning therein!

You just want an excuse to talk about boobs in this Steins;Gate review, don’t you? Scoff all you want! Within Moeka’s mighty melons lies the key to all of life’s mysteries! Okay I’m done, but seriously–if nothing else, the scenes existence is wholly justified by the knowledge that Moeka is probably writing Erotica in her spare time. Though the scene immediately following with Maho extolling the virtues of appreciating one’s own self worth and not comparing your life to another’s was pretty much perfect. In fact…

Oh boy, I sense a broad and sweeping statement incoming… This episode is pretty much perfect, I know I’ve never said any previous episode was otherwise–in fact I’ve probably praised this show more than most but there’s a kind of levity here that reminds me just how good the original Steins;Gate was and the fact it so effortlessly slips back into a more affable tone is truly remarkable especially considering the dark place it’s come from and the dark place it’s trying to avoid.

So all these weeks where you were admonishing people who were missing the “old Steins;Gate” and now you’re praising the show for doing just that? Seems kind of hypocritical. The difference is I never didn’t love this show when it was all dark and moody and mournful–I ate that up for breakfast lunch and dinner! I’m simply commending this turn into a more ~familiar~ Steins;Gate because it does it without having to hammer in pointless nostalgia. This is an evolving beast called Steins;Gate 0 and I can’t wait to see what it looks like next week!

That kind of felt like we wrapped things up too early, you got anything else you wanted to talk about? So much Akihabara in this praised I was almost getting teary eyed just by my memories of these locales. Also, I don’t talk about it enough but Maho’s voice actor is just absolutely delivering the goods here–her emotional range in this episode alone is outstanding! Best girl forever!

Previous Steins;Gate 0 Reviews:

Episode 1 Review
Episode 2 Review
Episode 3 Review
Episode 4 Review
Episode 5 Review
Episode 6 Review
Episode 7 Review
Episode 8 Review
Episode 9 Review

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

Steins;Gate 0 Episode 9 – Anime QandA Review

An Anime QandA review for Steins;Gate 0 Episode 9

What’s the show? Steins;Gate 0, Episode 9.

And how’s the most flawless show of the season doing? Stop putting words in my mouth. Also, this might be the weakest episode yet, but I’m not at all troubled as I know there’s bound to be some slower episodes in between the larger more important ones.

So the episode is a bit lacking in comparison to the others then? It’s not even that it’s lacking in quality, a lot of information is imparted a lot of juicy plot threads are dangled, there’s great character moments too—like Daru and his future daughter talking in the time-machine—even the much maligned Moeka gets a nice, if slightly pitiable moment in the gadget lab. So even when the show isn’t delivering twists and turns and big-time feels it’s still exceptional at what it does.

And what’s this “information” you speak of? Well we learn that the ‘Earthquakes in Russia’ news stories that have been showing up on TV reports and newspapers are linked to the Wests’ (namely Russia and the US) racing to be the first to complete a time machine. Which is exactly the thing that ends up causing World War 3 in this world line. And it’s also got something to do with Fubuki, who as it turns out collapsed at the exact same time that that Okabe travelled between world lines in the previous episode and she dreamt the exact events that Okabe experienced in the other timeline.

What does it mean though? It could mean a couple of things, either this girl has some sort of ability to time travel, or she just happened to get caught up in whatever it was that made Okabe time travel, or it ~was~ all just a dream and Okabe is just delusional from grief.

You don’t think the show would pull a ‘it was all in his head all along’ twist would you? I don’t think it’d be a ‘twist’ at all—well maybe a little bit. But the way this season is a lot more introspective I wouldn’t be opposed to it—if done well.

Anything else? Amadeus is still inoperable, though they’re working on getting her back online. Oh and Maho’s hotel room got burgled by bad guys so she has to stay with Faris, I was hoping they’d share a bed but she has her own room. Also nobody better hurt best girl Maho or there will be hell to pay! Oh and Suzuha pulls a gun on Okabe and shoots him…

What?! That seems like a kind of important thing to just casually mention. Well she only grazes him with the shot (intentionally), she’s just serious about this whole not having a third world war thing. She’s just as emotionally damaged by what she’s seen as Okabe is from what he’s seen it’s just she’s got the urgency and impatience and motivation to make a move. The only thing that stops her from straight up shooting Okabe is Daru, even though they’re the same age—because time travel—she clearly respects him and not just because he’s her father but because of the man he is in the future, a man that we see more and more as the season goes on.

Right. So excited for the rest of the season still? For sure, I mean I’ve got no idea where this season is going and I’m all the more excited because of that, I’m just happy for the show to keep doing it’s thing and I’ll be there to enjoy every moment!

Previous Steins;Gate 0 Reviews:

Episode 1 Review
Episode 2 Review
Episode 3 Review
Episode 4 Review
Episode 5 Review
Episode 6 Review
Episode 7 Review
Episode 8 Review

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

Steins;Gate 0 Episode 8 – Anime QandA Review

An Anime QandA review for Steins;Gate 0 Episode 8

What’s the show? Steins;Gate 0, Episode 8.

Last week ended on a pretty big and important cliffhanger, yes? Where do things go from there? All of the ~feels~.

Uh-huh, so I take it you had a very emotional reaction to this episode then? You could say that… but I don’t like the implication that my opinion is somehow favourably skewed because I had an emotional reaction to the episode.

Well an “emotional reaction” is still a form of a review so go on, what happened in the episode? Well as guessed by the end of the previous episode Okabe has somehow found himself in the alpha world line where his lover Kurisu is alive and his childhood friend Mayuri is dead. Kurisu and Daru are quick to ascertain that this is an Okabe from an alternate world line and attempt to set him straight, namely Kurisu who realizes this Okabe needs to be back in his own world line to be able to properly function.

For a moment I thought this was a dream…

Wait. So she’s totally cool with dying for the sake of the other girl living? Apparently, and herein lies my biggest problem with the Steins;Gate series on the whole—if I’m being exceedingly pedantic. It’s that the people around Okabe, specifically Mayuri and Kurisu seem strangely okay with dying if it means someone else doesn’t have to suffer. I don’t think most people are nearly as selfless. But that’s a topic for another day.

‘Kay… so wait, what were we talking about? See the thing is, I intended to write an exceedingly glowing review of this episode—that was my overwhelming feeling when finishing the episode and I usually write my reviews within a couple of hours of watching but this episode… but I thought it might be interesting if I waited a while before writing a review and I’m kind of glad I did because while I do still think this is a great episode I also think—more than ever—that this episode only exists for fan-service, the not-erotic kind.

Explain? Well… uh, this is pure speculation and I know we’re only a third of the way through this season but I don’t think we’re going to see an irl Kurisu again… I think this was just a way for Okabe to get a sense of ~closure~ on the whole losing Kurisu thing. And the rest of the series will be about things other than a storyline that’s already run its course in the original Steins;Gate. For example, what’s Kagari’s deal; is she future or is she past, where’s Amadeus gone and how long til Okabe can get a piece of that sweet legal loli Maho—you know the important things!

Right… so this episode is…? It’s really really good, it’s great, heck it’s downright ~sublime~ at times… I don’t talk about this enough in my reviews but the use of music and quiet moments and cityscapes and lighting it’s all nearly perfect—it’s clear a lot of love went into the making of this particular episode. And while dark and foreboding and mournful at times it captures a certain energy that the original Steins;Gate had which is admirable and even enviable for a moment. But this isn’t the original Steins;Gate as much as a lot of reviewers want it to be, this is ‘Steins;Gate 0’ it’s a different, darker, more mature more contemplative beast than it’s predecessor ever was and people really need to stop comparing it to the show it was and accept it for the show it is. But that’s just my opinion…

Previous Steins;Gate 0 Reviews:

Episode 1 Review
Episode 2 Review
Episode 3 Review
Episode 4 Review
Episode 5 Review
Episode 6 Review
Episode 7 Review

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

Steins;Gate 0 Episode 7 – Anime QandA Review

An Anime QandA review for Steins;Gate 0 Episode 7

What’s the show? Steins;Gate 0, Episode 7.

And what profound pontificating on life do you have to say about this episode? Always, watch ’til after the ending credits. Always.

Jumping a bit ahead aren’t we? Maybe but literally the most important plot point of the series thus far happens after the ending credits. I know a lot of anime do this and I totally get why too, but still this is a ~massive~ plot point to throw in when probably half the audience has already turned off, especially those watching on a streaming service.

Okay, I get it, something big happened! But can we ~maybe~ talk about this episode ‘chronologically’, you know as intended? Fine… so picking up immediately from last week’s cliffhanger, Okabe and friends have their New Years Party interrupted by a gang of masked, gun-toting ‘bad guys’. Thankfully, unlike the last time someone with a gun came to visit the lab they’re not here to kill—just to kidnap the amnesiac time traveller Kagari. Thankfully the ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ bit of foreshadowing last week showing Mr Braun from downstairs seeing these masked goons head upstairs allows him to get the jump on them and intervene.

Crisis averted then? For now. After securing Kagiri and moving her to a secure location—Ruka’s shrine house—Okabe enlists the permanent assistance of Mr Braun, but not before ensuring he’s on their side—at least for the time being.

Oh? He wasn’t before? Well in one of the timelines of the original Steins;Gate series he was a Rounder, working with Moeka for the shadowy evil science organisation SERN. I’d almost forgotten this plot point (it’s been a while since I saw Steins;Gate, okay?) and so it was nice to get this information reaffirmed.

Uh-huh. So anything else noteworthy happen—aside from the post-credit scene! There was a particularly touching moment between Ruka and Suzuha, where Ruka—who’s always been on the outside with regard to her knowledge of the time travel shenanigans—finally grows a pair (if you’ll pardon the irony) and asks to know what the heck is going on. At first I was like “right on!” and “you better tell Ruka everything he wants to know!” Because I can’t imagine how frustrating and lonely it would be from Ruka’s point of view, always on the periphery of the truth. But Suzuha’s reasoning for not telling her was so honest and sad, I couldn’t fault her.

What was it? Well, Suzuha’s obviously been told to keep it a secret by Okabe, and she says something along the lines of, “he wants to keep you out of it so you’re just in this world”. He’s simultaneously trying to save her the heartache of knowing how much pain he’s gone through while having an unspoiled tether to a world outside of all the timey-wimey stuff.

Hmm, fair enough. So I guess we— Yes! The things I’ve been waiting to talk about this whole time! Right, so just before the credits the gang + Mayuri’s friends are trying to figure out the meaning of the code that one of the ‘bad guys’ used during their confrontation at the lab. When suddenly, “Reading Steiner” happens… and then the episode ends. Decent cliffhanger, except POST CREDIT SCENE. Okabe’s in the lab, but no one is around, he hears a noise, calls out for Mayuri and Daru when who should appear from behind the room’s partition but Kurisu, actual Kurisu alive and in the flesh! Please allow me a moment to contain my emotions and pick my jaw off the floor…

So big deal then, huh? Big deal? The biggest of deals, I can only imagine what’s going through poor Okabe’s head! The woman he loved and lost is now alive again, but only because he’s travelled to a different world-line! Which means is Mayuri dead again? Or is this a different world line entirely? What if this Kurisu doesn’t even know who Okabe is at all? So many questions! I tell ya, this show just keeps getting better and better!

Previous Steins;Gate 0 Reviews:

Episode 1 Review
Episode 2 Review
Episode 3 Review
Episode 4 Review
Episode 5 Review
Episode 6 Review

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