English Dub Review: Steins;Gate 0 “Pandora of Eternal Return -Pandora’s Box-“

Okabe returns to his timeline to right the wrongs beset upon his friends.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Returning to his world line, Okabe wakes up in a hospital after apparently passing out. His friends explain that Katsumi passed out as well, and discloses that she had a nightmare suspiciously similar to the other world line Okabe visited. In other disturbing news, Maho’s hotel room was broken into.

The gang regroups and tries to gain their bearings, while Okabe redoubles his resolve to save this world line that Mayuri still lives in. To that end, he’s got a plan and asks Maho to stay with Rumiho for the time being. Later, Okabe gets confronted by Suzuha, who asks him at gunpoint if he’s experiencing a world line change. She reveals that the recent earthquakes around the world are the result of time travel experimentation, which is a precursor to the world war Suzuha is trying to avoid. To demonstrate her seriousness, she fires a grazing shot across Okabe’s cheek. Okabe then explains the events of the original series and how he destroyed the original time machine. Eventually, Itaru shows up and talks down Suzuha with his fatherly charm. She breaks down in tears and begs for help, unable to withstand the pressure placed upon her.

Later that night, Okabe consults with Mr. Braun and figures out that an organization called “DURPA” is probably behind the attack on the lab. Guided by the imaginary voice of Makise Kurisu, Okabe acts as an amateur detective to pin down the culprits and their motives. Meanwhile, as dawn breaks, Suzuha and Itaru share an intimate father daughter moment. The next morning,

Our Take:

Another week, another entry of Steins;Gate 0 to twist my brain and wrestle my heart. This week’s fare is a good showing, developing out our cast of characters while having a few cute moments here and there. And while I can’t say that everything is perfect, its clear to me this show is getting closer to the quality of the original series with each new episode.

This episode’s refocusing of the plot on Okabe, Suzuha and Itaru do an excellent job of keeping things interesting, remedying some of the trouble I’ve had with prior episodes of Steins;Gate 0 so far. It was about time that Suzuha and Okabe had an emotional confrontation together, and their scene is pulled off splendidly. And of course, seeing Itaru and Suzuha together actually, bonding warms my frigid heart. Itaru is really coming into his own as a character and being more than the just the otaku comic relief. Episode by episode, he becomes the father figure that Suzuha has missed so much in her original timeline. That kind of development is a sign of some darn good storytelling.

It’s good to see Okabe back in action as the series’ driving force. He’s much more interesting as an active character instead of a passive one, and though he hasn’t completely redeemed himself as the leader of the Future Gadget Lab, his resolve to save everyone echoes the Okabe of the original whom we all adore so much. His dedication to solving this problem without time travel also puts a different spin on things in this series. It functions more like a procedural detective show, looking for clues and speaking with key witnesses to get a handle on the situation. Without the ability to jump through time, Okabe’s deductions are more vital, and his character agency reinforced.

Things are a bit slower this time around compared to last week, which is to be expected. Yet, I want this series to keep up its pace a bit. It still feels like Steins;Gate 0 is dragging its feet. This would be more forgivable if the director made this show’s scenes more interesting, but an over-reliance on flat shots (Which are no doubt easier on the budget) makes it a little hard to stay interested in what’s going on.

Overall, this is a solid episode. It’s got some hangups but nothing I want to get too upset about. A good continuation of the dramatic turns in last week’ episode, with a few good character moments to keep things flavorful.