English Dub Review: Steins;Gate 0 “Mother Goose of Diffractive Recitativo -Diffraction Mother Goose-“

These episode titles just keep getting longer and longer.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Kagari has regained her memories of Mayuri being her mother from the future, a situation which Okabe has explained and Mayuri is surprisingly okay with. Kagari spends time with the Future Gadget Lab crew while Okabe and Taro try to figure out why Kagari’s personality has changed so suddenly and why she has regained some memories but not the others.

They discuss the matter with Mr. Braun, who supposes that Kagari might have been subjected to some kind of brainwashing. Hearing this, Okabe goes to Moeka, who has discovered an abandoned building close to the place where Kagari was found on her arrival in this time period. The two hit the road to check out the building, and Moeka shows off her spectacular driving skills.

Meanwhile, tensions run high between Suzuha and Kagari, and Mayuri decides to plan a party to make Kagari feel welcome. But before Kagari can make it to the party, she hears Mozart playing from a passing truck nearby; the trigger to her brainwashing. With her whereabouts unknown, panic sets in for the Future Gadget Lab members, while Okabe and Moeka discover the horrifying reality of what Kagari has been through.

Our Take:

I think I’m starting to get a bit of emotional whiplash from this show. This series is a lot more episodic than the original Steins;Gate, and that is starting to throw the tone of the series all over the place. It feels more like we’re watching a weekly slice-of-life with some sci-fi developments peppered in every week, rather than one consistent story, and because of that, there is a sort of emotional confusion that becomes more prominent with each passing week. If a story traditionally follows an arc of escalation and denouement, Steins;Gate 0 is a mountain range, zig-zagging up and down, seemingly without rhyme or reason.

The plotline with Amadeus feels like its been more or less dropped for the time being. Okabe’s interactions with Amadeus originally provided a strong focus for the series, creating a natural tension with Maho, but her disappearance is quite noticeable. Kagari isn’t quite as interesting to me, as she doesn’t feel as developed or empathetic as Maho and her flawed humanity.

Furthermore, It seems a little off to me that Mayuri is so accepting of Kagari being her adopted child from the far off future. She’s a character usually content just being around her friends, but this whole “Mommy” business with Kagari has me a little bit weirded out, and it occurs to me that Mayuri would probably have more pronounced feelings of awkwardness around her as well.

All that being said, its not a bad episode, just not a great one. The voice acting is still pretty on-point, especially during the scenes with Mayuri and Kagari. One can really feel Mayuri’s kind-heartedness in her vocal energy, and the rest of the cast performs solidly as well. And while I think its questionable to keep putting comedic scenes right next to the suspenseful heart-breaking ones, Okabe suffering through Moeka’s “Tokyo drifting” was pretty enjoyable to watch.

I’d also like conclude on this; if you can make it through the somewhat tepid first two-thirds of the episode, then the last five minutes will have you chomping at the bit for more. Orchestrated with the haunting melodies of the anime’s ending theme, the big reveal of just what’s been going on with Kagari instills a mix of horror and excitement that Steins;Gate is best known for. Though the rest of the episode is mixed, those final moments left a huge impression on me, and I’ve no doubt they will on you as well.