English Dub Review: Steins;Gate “Dual of Antimony -Antinomic Dual-“

Love and loss; the tragedy of a dead friend. Okabe faces old demons once again.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Following Okabe’s phone call with Amadeus, our favorite depressive scientist is brought into another world line where Kurisu didn’t die. Unfortunately, this good news is short-lived, as it turns out this is the world line where Okabe was unable to save Mayuri, and his life was destroyed by the trauma of her loss.

Through speaking with Kurisu and Taro, Okabe is forced to relive the pain of his time trying to save Mayuri in the past, along with the sorrow of seeing his long-lost love returned to life. He learns that the other Okabe disappeared, being too broken by Mayuri’s death to continue on with the Future Gadget Lab.

Eventually, Kurisu realizes that Okabe is not from this world line, and she urges him to return back to his world line with a new time machine she’s created based on the model of the old one. Okabe insists that he can’t; that he doesn’t have the strength to go through all that again, but Kurisu presses him to try and save his best friend. To find the resolve that he couldn’t in this world line.

As Okabe is about to send the text message through time that will switch his world line, he hesitates, not wanting to lose Kurisu again. But in the moment of truth, Kurisu plunges forward and kisses him deeply on the lips. Lost in the moment, Okabe doesn’t notice her finger gently slide over to the “send” button, and make the right choice for him.

Our Take:

After the long drought of story Steins;Gate 0 has had so far, I am relieved to say that at last, things are getting really good. Last week’s episode had left us on a cliffhanger, ready and waiting for more, and this week’s iteration of Steins;Gate stunningly concludes that cliffhanger in an episode full of surprise, heartbreak, and love.

Right off the bat, its good to have Kurisu and Okabe talking again. Their back-and-forth picks up right where the original series left off and seeing them banter at each other like old times was a refreshing breath of life this show has been sorely missing. Coupling that with seeing the devastation on this world line from the loss of Mayuri creates an emotional rollercoaster that manages to break my heart and forge it anew all in one fell swoop.

The episode does a great job here of recalling the original series where Okabe desperately tries to save Mayuri over and over again. As an audience member, that episode was the emotional turning point of the series, and by having Okabe come so close to it again brings me closer as a viewer as well. Through empathy, Okabe’s anguish transfers over to me, and more than any other time in this series, I have felt the struggle that Okabe is going through. There is a realness here; brutal and unkind. And not just for Okabe, but Taro and the others as well, who feel more true to life than they ever have before. The kind of dark emotionality that was the main drew to this series in the first place has finally born fruit.

Special commendation is given here to the soundtrack here as well. Instead of the droning melancholy tones present in the series thus far, we are treated to the sorrowful melodies of a string orchestra, punctuated by a dancing piano medley that leads us through the emotions of the characters.

This score reaches its peak in the final moment of the episode, which took me by such surprise that my heart leaped in place. All at once beautiful and bittersweet, Kurisu’s embrace of Okabe turned on the waterworks. An emotional moment that I had longed for so long, finally resolved as Okabe takes the plunge once again into the world of time travel.

I wonder now if the past malaise-ridden episodes had been something of an elaborate setup for what has now arrived. The stark difference in style between this episode and what I’ve seen so far indicates to me that the showrunners absolutely know what they’re doing. Only time can really say, but I hope episodes of this caliber are here to stay. Well done, Steins;Gate 0.