Is Steins;Gate 0 A Sequel
It’s been seven years since Steins;Gate came out and early this year the anime adaptation of Steins;Gate 0 aired. One of the frequent questions people ask is this: is Steins;Gate 0 A sequel? Steins;Gate 0 is not really a sequel. It’s more of an alternate ending that progresses into the end of Steins;Gate episode 23 and Steins;Gate episode 24. Events that take place in Steins;Gate 0 must occur in order to get to the original ending of Steins;Gate.
Since the events that take place in Steins;Gate 0 is not after the events in Steins;Gate (2011), it is technically not a sequel. It would be more of a midquel. *Steins;Gate Spoilers* If you watched Steins;Gate (2011), you know that after Rintaro Okabe’s first failed attempt at saving Makise Kurisu, he falls into despair and mentally collapses as he doesn’t want to go through the mental anguish and suffering of trying to save Kirisu like he did with Mayuri in the previous world lines. Mayuri snaps Okabe out of it and tells him he’s never one to give up on someone or something. Suzuha Amane then tells him that he was suppose to fail the first attempt so that he can watch the video message he received on the day of Kurisu’s death. This turns out to be a video from his future self, explaining that the key to saving Kurisu without changing the events that led him to develop the time machine and causing a paradox is to fool his past self into believing Kurisu has died. Okabe decides to try again and succeeds in saving Kurisu in his second attempt and eventually meets her again and they have a happy ending.
However, Steins;Gate 0 is an alternate ending where Okabe never tried a second time. Kurisu dies and Okabe eventually becomes his future self that we see from the video.
Do I need to watch Steins;Gate Before Steins;Gate 0?
Yes. Alot of the events in Steins;Gate are referenced in Steins;Gate 0 and many of the side characters return. Also, watching Steins;Gate before Steins;Gate 0 gives you a better understanding and appreciation of what Okabe’s character will go through in Steins;Gate 0.
Everything you need to know about the time travel concepts and summary of Steins;Gate (2011) is located at the bottom for those who want to refresh their memory before watching Steins;Gate 0.
Everything You Need to Know About Steins;Gate
In the Steins Gate universe, time isn’t a single line, moving from past to future. It’s comprised of an infinite number of parallel lines, called “world lines”. For example, if a serial killer tried to murder you today, and someone came from the future to prevent it, the world would diverge into two world lines. One of the world lines would be a world where you survived and the other world line would be a world where you died.
When theres a world line shift, people’s memories are altered. So in the previous example, memories of the world line where the serial killer murdered you are deleted, and replaced with memories of the world line where you are saved. In the Steins;Gate (2011) TV series, the world line shifts were initially caused by a phone-operated microwave oven that Okabe and Itaru “Daru” Hashida were developing, which allowed the person the ability to change the past by sending text messages back in time. Later, Kurisu Makise, a neuroscience researcher, eventually creates a device that can send memories through the microwave oven, effectively allowing the user to time travel. What led to this discovery was Okabe learning that a CRT television in the electronics shop had been serving as the “lifter” from waves of the phone microwave, as the D-Mails can only be sent when it is turned on. Kurisu hypothesized that it was possible to send frontal lobe memories back in time through the phone waves, allowing the consciousness of a person to “time leap” into the past. Kurisu and Okabe were not sure this would actually work or if the person would actually keep their memories when they go into the past.
However, Okabe has the ability called Reading Steiner, which allows him to retain his memories from the world lines. Okabe believes that his Reading Steiner ability may have first occurred when he was a child. Okabe was chosen as the test subject for the “time leap” because of this ability. Kurisu also believed this was safer than simply sending D-Mails because of Chaos Theory. Chaos theory is a theory that states that the behavior of dynamic systems are highly sensitive to initial conditions. In Chaos Theory, there is an effect called the butterfly effect, which describes how a small change in a system can lead to a large difference in a later state. Basically, when someone sends a text message to the past, it can have unexpected consequences to the present.
Eventually, Okabe and his friends are targeted by SERN when they decide to make their findings public. SERN is a a research company that has a monopoly on time machines. They focuses on time travel for their research on Kerr black holes. By 2036, SERN holds most of the world’s science and technology. They are successful in building a time machine and use it to create a totalitarian world.
SERN sends multiple people (led by Moeka Kiryu) to retrieve Okabe’s time machine and they end up killing Okabe’s childhood best friend, Mayuri Shiina. Okabe time leaps and goes back in time to prevent Mayuri’s death, but fails each time. Even if the Rounders (SERN’s people) don’t kill Mayuri, she still tragically meets her death. This mentally wears Okabe down and he is driven to despair until he learns he needs to undo all the D-Mails that were sent to avoid Mayuri’s death. Suzuha Amane, the future daughter of Itaru “Daru” Hashida who had traveled back in time from the year 2036 to help Okabe get an IBN 5100 (needed to read SERN’s database and return to the original timeline), tries to help Okabe save Mayuri and avoid a bleak future. Suzuha explains that the reason Mayuri keeps dying is because the D-Mails have caused a converging nature of world lines and they are in the Alpha World Line Attractor Field, where Mayuri is destined to die. In order to escape the Alpha World Line, they have to cross the 1% Divergence point to the Beta World Line, where Mayuri’s death might be avoided. Suzuha gives Okabe a device called the Divergence Meter, which keeps track of the magnitude of differences between World Lines, and tells him about how he founded the resistance against SERN in the future.
Okabe manages to successfully undo the effects of the D-Mails and gets Daru to hack into the SERN network to erase the data they have on them using the IBN 5100. However, he realizes he would have to return to the original world line where Kurisu is dead. Kurisu tells Okabe that he should save Mayuri over her and after confessing their love for each other, he returns back to the Beta World Line. After returning to his original timeline, Okabe gets a message from Suzuha (Suzuha from a different world line) who arrives on a time machine from the future, that tells him he must save Kurisu and prevent her death in order to prevent World War III.
Suzuha explains that they need to enter a new world line known as Steins Gate, in which World War III never happens. Wanting to save Kurisu, Okabe travels to the past with Suzuha in her time machine, arriving prior to Kurisu’s death. Witnessing events unfold as they did, Okabe briefly runs into Kurisu, explaining their prior encounter, before hiding in the room where she will be stabbed. There, Kurisu meets with her father, revealed to be Doctor Nakabachi, who attempts to take ownership of her time travel theory for himself. Okabe tries to save Kurisu but accidentally stabs her himself, allowing Nakabachi to escape with her theory to Russia, an event that will lead to a time machine arms race and eventually, World War III. After Okabe’s fails to save Kurisu, he gives up.
THIS IS WHERE STEINS;GATE 0 TAKES PLACE
What Year Does Steins;Gate 0 Take Place?
Steins;Gate 0 takes place in November 2010 in the Beta world line outside of the Steins Gate world line. In other worlds, the story takes six months after Okabe gives up on saving Kurisu.
Is Kurisu alive in Steins;Gate 0?
Makise Kurisu is considered dead in Steins;Gate 0. However, she does make an appearance. Because Rintaro Okabe fails to save her, he is filled with sadness and dread throughout the series and this affects many of the other characters. Also, her theory on time machines is a key spark to World War III. As a result, Kurisu is still important to the central plot and her presence is felt throughout the series.
How many episodes does Steins;Gate 0 have?
Steins;Gate 0 has a total of 23 episodes and aired in the spring of April 12, 2018. It was produced by White Fox , who also produced the original Steins;Gate (2011). Juuki Hanada, who wrote the Steins;Gate (2011) script, also wrote Steins;Gate 0. The voice actors from the original also reprise their roles. However, a different director is responsible for directing Steins;Gate 0. The original Steins;Gate (2011) was directed by Hiroshi Hamasaki and Takuya Sato. Steins;Gate 0 is directed by Kenichi Kawamura.
Is Steins;Gate 0 as good as Steins;Gate?
Steins;Gate 0 has a darker tone and a more melancholy mood. Alot of the great things about Steins;Gate are present in Steins;Gate 0. However, it does suffer similar pacing problems like the first one did and the actions scenes are not the best. Steins;Gate was one of the best anime this decade so expectations need to be realistic. Events in Steins;Gate 0 make you appreciate certain events in Steins;Gate and I would say if your a big fan of Steins;Gate, then Steins;Gate 0 is worth the watch.
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