After spending an entire episode setting up a bootstrap paradox, this episode chooses to ignore the song in question entirely and focus in stead on where Kagari was during that missing time. I kind of wonder if they intend to get back to it or not at this point.
Steins;Gate 0 continues to be a bit odd in that even at this midway point we seem a little short on an actual focus. The original series by the midway point made it clear what the overall goal was going to be and then it just had to accomplish that goal and iron out the wrinkles that achieving the goal created. Here, I’m not sure what anyone is actually trying to accomplish. At first it seemed Okabe wanted to maintain his status quo having decided to sacrifice Kurisu for Mayuri (which is what put them in this timeline), but now he is actively seeking out Kagari’s past and generally involving himself in things that are undoubtedly going to change his realty whether he wants them to or not.
It is even harder to get a read on characters like Daru and Suzuha who at times seem to have tunnel vision on their goals, and yet Suzuha, for all her drive and focus, doesn’t seem to be actually making much progress to achieving anything at this point. Mayuri is still just kind of floating along, as are most of the others who hang around in the lab these days and honestly I’d be hard pressed to say what any of them are actually trying to do in this story.
Then there’s the disconnect between the intense focus on finding out the source of the song last week and then this week it isn’t mentioned at all. Mozart has come back and music in general still remains significant and is firmly linked to Kagari, but what the connection is hasn’t been established and how any of this connects to the whole AI Kurisu from the majority of the earlier episodes is also pretty unclear at this point.
While there’s definitely hope that the second half of this might sort itself out, at this point I’m still just kind of curious but not really as into it as I’d like to be.
Linked Reviews:
- Episode 12: I Wonder How They’ll Deal With This Paradox?
- Episode 11: As If Things Are Finished
- Episode 10: And This Is Why Characters Should Speak
- Episode 9: Putting It Together
- Episode 8: Reliving The Tragedy
- Episode 7: Leaping To Conclusions is Fun
- Episode 6: And Round and Round We Go
- Episodes 4 + 5: It’s Never Over
- Episode 3: Kurisu and Okabe Still Have It
- Episode 2: Okabe Reacts
- Steins;Gate 0 First Impressions
Thanks for reading.
Karandi James
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I think that this episode was the start of getting that direction.
But, first… FINALLY SOMEONE WHO ALSO TALKS ABOUT THE PARADOX LAST EPISODE! Sorry… I got a lot of hate due to thinking that and stating I didn’t like last episode at all because of that >.< Ufff…. Had to get that out of my chest!
Now… Regarding this episode, here's my thoughts.
Completely agree with the song not being even mentioned in this episode. To be honest, I think that is not going to be any kind of reference at all… They did what they did, created a paradox without realizing and now they know there is no way they can go back! They decided to send the science part of the anime to the gutter so we could have a nice touch moment, but well… That's not really what that should have happened.
No-one has a mission or a direction because there is no mission at all for them. Daru and Suzuha are trying to recreate the time machine which without the help of Rintaro is not going to be easy.
Everyone else from the gang never really had any kind of mission besides just being there. Specially Mayuri. At least that's my thoughts 😛
It's true that Rintaro does not want to go back in time or help in the time machine because of Kurisu's death. However, he still wants to prevent WW3 and help Kagari due to her being friend of Suzuha and also an important person to the gang in the far future.
Regarding the Mozart music, here's my opinion/theory. Kagari has been brain washed. In that brain washing they were able to hide her Amadeus personality/commands in her subconscious. The way to put it on or off is the Mozart song. I don't believe that the Mozart concert is there by occasion. I think that concert is just a facade so that they could have the truck with the song going all over the city and be able to encounter Kagari sooner or later 🙂
See it like the main character from Elfen Lied who changes completely personality when she hits her head and goes on and off in their amnesia 😛
Then the next question would be why someone would brainwash Kagari and why she’s important at all. Maybe they’ll get around to filling us in on that at some point.
I thought this ep was a big step in the right direction. I likeed the balance of comedy ans seriousness. I liked seeing Okabe and Moeka team up. I liked that we’re finally getting plot progression here, even if they dropped the whole paradox thing. And it’s about time Okabe actually tried. I’ve been waiting on him to take a more active role in things ever since the Kurisu episode. I really thought that was going to be the spur he needed, but he still didn’t start doing a whole lot until very recently.
He’s doing stuff, I just don’t know what his end goal is given we know this Okabe doesn’t want to switch world lines so he isn’t aiming to save Kurisu. It really makes me wonder where all his actions are heading.
I think he’s just straight up aiming to save that world. I think he mentions something along the lines of that once or twice
But we don’t actually know what it needs saving from. I mean, they keep mentioning the future war thing, but they actually don’t even know who the bad guys are in this world line. Admittedly, we might get some more focus later, but right now they just seem to be wandering around.