Steins;Gate 0

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Disclaimer: This review assumes full knowledge of the original Steins;Gate and thus the premise of Steins;Gate 0

The Steins;Gate 0 manga is a solid adaptation of two routes from the visual novel. Unlike the anime, which serves as a sequel to the Steins;Gate 0 VN, the manga opts for a conventional adaptation approach instead. The first four volumes adapt The Promised Rinascimento (PR) while the last two volumes adapt Vega & Altair (VA). This comes with its strengths and weaknesses. On one hand, they focus on fleshing out fewer routes rather than speedrunning every route in the same volume count. So it's nice that the routes ... aren't as rushed as they could have been. But on the other hand, it means that the Steins;Gate 0 manga is absolutely not a replacement for either the visual novel or the anime. It doesn't cover nearly enough of what you need to fully understand Steins;Gate 0 and so I cannot recommend this to any first-timer. It's merely a nice supplement through which you can re-experience the story of PR and VA rather quickly. Every route in the visual novel is vital to understanding the story. Steins;Gate 0 itself is about the circumstances that made Operation Skuld possible. So the whole idea of the story is that it took the efforts of countless iterations for it to even happen. As such, the manga is quite limited since it only has 2 routes (+ a few pages of Milky Way Crossing). It's largely just a retelling of 40% of the VN that doesn't add much narrative value to the overarching series. It would have been nice if the Steins;Gate 0 manga covered iterations shown in neither the VN nor the anime. But I suppose it's nice for anybody who wanted to see VN-exclusive events in a medium outside a visual novel though. For a first-timer though? This manga is absolutely not the most sensical starting point.

As for how it holds up as a manga, the quality varies quite significantly from chapter to chapter. Some chapters are handled superbly. But others are too rushed. I feel this especially in the last 2/3 of the adaptation. There's a couple of super emotional scenes from the VN that are glossed over in the span of only 3-4 pages in the manga (such as "the return"). So they don't end up hitting nearly as hard as they're supposed to. And one of the biggest appeals of S;G 0 to me is just how emotional many of its moments are. Many of these remain in the manga of course. But this manga won't make a long-time SciADV fan cry or anything.

The manga, does however, make a few interesting changes here and there that make reading it worthwhile to any SciADV fan. My favourite addition of the manga comes in the last two volumes, where it adds an extended reaction to something completely glossed over in the VN and the anime. I also love how the manga makes PR's value in the recursive world line chain extremely clear through the addition of a few manga-original lines. Besides the aforementioned additions, the manga also makes some changes to the narrative as well. In particular, a certain twist is completely deleted from VA (which is a change I actually like). And additionally, several fan service moments are removed from the story as well. This makes S;G 0 feel much more tonally consistent than the VN or the anime, which was amazing.

But my biggest gripes with the manga is in how little it adds to the overarching narrative. It sticks way too close to the visual novel, and adds very little besides the few additions I talked about above. In doing so, the manga also does not provide much clarity on the connection between the routes. This can easily fool people into thinking that 1) Vega & Altair happens immediately after The Promised Rinascimento and 2) Milky Way Crossing is a direct continuation of the same iteration as Vega & Altair. Neither of these are true. It's confusing enough in the visual novel but even more confusing in the manga. I also don't like how the manga ends at exactly the same point as the visual novel does. The manga's ending is extremely unsatisfying since it does not cover the post-credit scene in MWC.

To be honest, if you want to experience the Beta attractor field in manga form, I'd recommend the Epigraph trilogy's manga adaptation over this. The Epigraph manga adaptation was halfway through before they cancelled it in favour of Steins;Gate 0 but it easily remains the superior telling of the story. If you don't know what the Epigraph trilogy is, it's one of the three piece of source material for the Steins;Gate 0 visual novel (alongside Annularly-Chained Ouroboros and Arc-Light of the Point at Infinity). It's what Steins;Gate 0 was originally supposed to be. It's better in story, better in pacing, and better in artwork.

That being said, the Steins;Gate 0 manga is still a solid adaptation that I'd urge any SciADV fan to check out. If you can, please support the official localization! This helps show UDON Entertainment and MAGES demand for official English releases of the SciADV manga! Support it enough and maybe we'll see English translations for the Chaos;Child, Occultic;Nine, or SciADV spin-off manga adaptations.

TL;DR: Solid 7/10 manga. The artwork is fine, the story is solid, and the characters are great. But this isn't intended for a first-timer to read and it does not replace either the VN or the anime. It has a few moments sprinkled in that make it worthwhile for any SciADV fan though. And in general, it's an interesting take on the story.