Steins;Gate 0 Episode 18 Discussion

This episode is honestly a series ruiner for me. Before this episode, I was considering whether I liked 0 or the original series better. This episode clearly answers my question.

Steins;Gate has this weird duality to it: Either it uses the time travel mechanic to weave powerful emotion into its intricate and delicate storyline, or it takes you entirely out of the plotline with weird and clunky deus-ex-machina story points. This series relies on a degree of realism to produce great effect, and unfortunately this episode is one of the ones that completely takes you out of it.

Faking out another Mayuri death wasn't too bad, but it was set up very poorly and not well executed. It was said by Taro that the timeline did shift, so Mayuri's death perhaps could be not out of the question. Maybe it could be revealed that the timeline they were in was the opposite of Steins Gate, and that both Makise and Mayuri die. The way that Mayuri's death was shown here made it pretty obvious that it wasn't meant to be a huge moment, so I was not emotionally impacted by it and didn't expect it to be impactful. Seems I was right.

I've always had problems with Suzuha being an invincible ninja. Yes, there is a degree of skill that comes with being a World War III resistance fighter. I really don't think that means you'd be able to kill 20+ soldiers who are actively firing at you, dodging bullets and everything. The fact that she's so invincible makes it hard to feel any suspense during fight scenes involving her. Have her kill one and then get shot and go down or something, or at least make her methods of killing everyone creative.

Kagari also seems to have had this same problem. I couldn't continue paying attention to the episode after she walked up to the soldier and karate-chop decapitated him with her bare hands. Really funny, but the moment was supposed to be intense?

This professor's reveal as a villain truly is one of the most predictable and worst things in the entire story. The fact that he goes on a 12-minute monologue explaining his entire plan makes it even worse. This wasn't set up intricately like other plot points, yet it wasn't a twist because it was so predictable anyways. Cherry on top was really all of the characters taking turns saying "You monster! You're the worst!" to him, like this moment could get any more contrived.

There's no way Okabe would be so vindicated as he was in this moment. He should be thoroughly destroyed.

The episode before this had some of the best story notes in 0 so far. Mayuri's development as a character and the lead-up to her decision was incredible. She suddenly loses flavor in this episode. Pretty awful reversal for my favorite character.

Icing on the cake is when Taro tells Suzuha "no don't kill the evil sociopathic villain who mentally tortured Kagari for decades, betrayed all of us, attempted to kill all of us, and succeeded in doing so with Kagari! that would make us just as bad as him!"

Very cheesy.

Hopefully the rest of the series can make up for this. Feels like I'm watching a bad shounen right now.

This episode is honestly a series ruiner for me. Before this episode, I was considering whether I liked 0 or the original series better. This episode clearly answers my question.

Steins;Gate has this weird duality to it: Either it uses the time travel mechanic to weave powerful emotion into its intricate and delicate storyline, or it takes you entirely out of the plotline with weird and clunky deus-ex-machina story points. This series relies on a degree of realism to produce great effect, and unfortunately this episode is one of the ones that completely takes you out of it.

Faking out another Mayuri death wasn't too bad, but it was set up very poorly and not well executed. It was said by Taro that the timeline did shift, so Mayuri's death perhaps could be not out of the question. Maybe it could be revealed that the timeline they were in was the opposite of Steins Gate, and that both Makise and Mayuri die. The way that Mayuri's death was shown here made it pretty obvious that it wasn't meant to be a huge moment, so I was not emotionally impacted by it and didn't expect it to be impactful. Seems I was right.

I've always had problems with Suzuha being an invincible ninja. Yes, there is a degree of skill that comes with being a World War III resistance fighter. I really don't think that means you'd be able to kill 20+ soldiers who are actively firing at you, dodging bullets and everything. The fact that she's so invincible makes it hard to feel any suspense during fight scenes involving her. Have her kill one and then get shot and go down or something, or at least make her methods of killing everyone creative.

Kagari also seems to have had this same problem. I couldn't continue paying attention to the episode after she walked up to the soldier and karate-chop decapitated him with her bare hands. Really funny, but the moment was supposed to be intense?

This professor's reveal as a villain truly is one of the most predictable and worst things in the entire story. The fact that he goes on a 12-minute monologue explaining his entire plan makes it even worse. This wasn't set up intricately like other plot points, yet it wasn't a twist because it was so predictable anyways. Cherry on top was really all of the characters taking turns saying "You monster! You're the worst!" to him, like this moment could get any more contrived.

There's no way Okabe would be so vindicated as he was in this moment. He should be thoroughly destroyed.

The episode before this had some of the best story notes in 0 so far. Mayuri's development as a character and the lead-up to her decision was incredible. She suddenly loses flavor in this episode. Pretty awful reversal for my favorite character.

Icing on the cake is when Taro tells Suzuha "no don't kill the evil sociopathic villain who mentally tortured Kagari for decades, betrayed all of us, attempted to kill all of us, and succeeded in doing so with Kagari! that would make us just as bad as him!"

Very cheesy.

Hopefully the rest of the series can make up for this. Feels like I'm watching a bad shounen right now.

Not sure wdym by this. Mayuri died here, along with Suzuha