English Dub Review: Steins;Gate 0 “Arclight of the Point at Infinity -Arc-light of the Sky-“

The saga of Okabe Rintaro comes to its final conclusion.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Okabe has sacrificed the creation of Amadeus to try and remedy the distastrous events that lead to a time-machine inspired World War 3. Though his efforts have yielded some fruit, Okabe is still having trouble trying to get all the pieces in place to keep Mayuri and Suzuha alive.

But, with Moeka’s help, Okabe somehow manages to usher Suzuha and Mayuri into the time machine just in time for them to avoid the missile that has killed them countless times before. With their success, Mayuri is able to head into the past at the right moment to call herself in the past, and remind her to inspire Okabe to do the right thing and save the world. With her future self’s advice, once past Okabe arrives in the time machine, battered and beaten, Mayuri slaps him in the face, and Suzuha delivers the video from the future that gives Okabe the courage he needs to save Mayuri.

This act is responsible for saving the future, but at it comes at great cost, since Suzuha and Mayuri are hurled into the deep past, without a way for them to go back to the future. But, all turns out okay, as the future Okabe, who has just finished filming the video message that saves the Okabe of the past, goes back into the past again with the time machine to find Mayuri and Suzuha, who have crash-landed in the year 18,000 BC. Things end as Okabe approaches the two, and presumably saves them both with the aid of his own time machine, bringing a happy ending to the whole series.

Our Take:

Things follow a certain “In Media Res” approach this time around, which is a little bit jarring for a series like this, which has so many twists and turns. I can understand why the showrunners wouldn’t want this show to drag too long with Okabe having to keep introducing himself to different timelines, but things get confusing in this episode. It’s hard to keep track of where everyone is in this timeline without Amadeus without Okabe there to explain everything that’s happened. It’s not terrible, but this plot confusion detracts from some of the more emotional moments in the episode, that get bogged down in exposition. It feels like a lot of time is spent retreading old ground, especially Mayuri’s speech in the first five minutes, which is kind of pointless considering that Okabe has already redeemed himself.

The dialogue just feels a bit belabored, as if it doesn’t really matter because things are so jumbled that they’re hard to make sense of. It’s just another part of Okabe’s journey to save the past, but a lot of what goes in here feels like it could be dropped entirely. On the other hand, we do get some nice moments with Okabe, Mayuri, and Kagari, mending the relationship issues that they’ve had throughout the series. In the moment after, Okabe finally manages to have Mayuri escape to the past in the time machine, so their development is valid, but still feels a bit rushed. Perhaps Mayuri leaving in the time machine should have been the ending of last week’s episode.

So, there’s the bad, but there’s also a lot to like about this episode as well. The sequence with the time machine is quite worthwhile once Okabe breaks out his dramatic evil villain speech, and its nice to see the plot make such leaps and bounds to keep things moving. Okabe no longer bears this burden alone, and we get some real resolution with the drama Mayuri instructing her past self to save Okabe. Also, the final sequence of the episode adds an extra layer of depth to the original series, explaining how Mayuri was able to save Okabe with a slap to the face. It’s also a great throwback to have the opening to the original “Steins;Gate” be the final song that the episode finishes on.

This is the final episode of Steins;Gate 0, and I really wanted to like these final episodes that lead to the end of the series, but there’s a lot standing in the way. While there’s a good amount of emotionality to be enjoyed here, the pacing is too rushed to really satisfy as the climax of the story. Things aren’t bad, just a bit jank, like the episode, needs a couple more drafts to get things done properly.

Score
7/10