Warning: contains slight spoilers, not that there really is anything to spoil considering it's spoilt already by horrible direction and screenwriting.
This is the worst form of deception in that the anime seems fine for the first 2-3 episodes, in fact, even feeling that it would be a half decent sequel to Steins Gate despite the replaced directors. While Hamasaki and Sato were having field days directing Orange and some other time travel anime, the series started to really go downhill from there.
1. Okabe's PTSD was exceptionally done in the scene where he saw a manifestation of it as Kurisu exploding into a pool of blood. And then after that all he does is act sad and say sad things. Not great considering the potential shown here. In fact it starts getting on my nerve when he says the same predictable line or does the same action as he did countless times already.
2. Foreshadowing and tension were terribly used to mislead people into thinking that something notable would happen within the first 6 episodes. Nothing did. In fact, it worked against itself to extract a feeling of protracted agony whilst waiting for anything notable to happen within. Instead, the actual curve of buildup to action or climax feels like a god damned sine wave. Throughout.
3. Fanservice and filler episodes, which take up basically 20 episodes, I'm sure many would agree, are absolutely horrendous in content. Nothing scientific. Nothing really witty. Everything predictable with all the old and new characters thrown in to have some semblance of 'entertainment'. It might fool some casual watchers, but it will not amuse the likes of me. Not to someone who watches anime for the moral and philosophical values it teaches. It starts to become nauseatingly stale when for the eighth time within 3 episodes the camera pans to a pointless shot of someone's enhanced breast size (I have no idea why they did this, and I could only think I was imagining it until I actually went back and rewatched the first series), or a standard angle that makes you feel like you're watching some 4/10 slice of life romcom. Remember, Steins Gate 1 was realistic enough to not include "abstract moe" expressions, and yet, despite the second season supposing to be serious, it throws them in because why not. And then all the other characters play out completely pointless-to-show side plots.
4. Art and direction have taken an absolute nosedive. From a noticeable dip in FPS and discrepancies in it speeding up and slowing down in frame rate when switching to background to character, everything suddenly feels jarring in comparison to SG:1. Where in SG:1 EP2 there is a brilliant slow motion of the elevator doors opening, of Okabe running madly in a black and white abstract sequence, or just any scene in general, everything feels much more fluid and smooth. And no, growing a few cup sizes does not make up for this deficit. The camera does not innovate with strange angles as was signature with Hamasaki's direction. No dutching, extreme close ups, abstract angles, CRT viewpoints, or anything that really ever seems to fit the scene. Then again, the scene doesn't even really fit the story 9/10 times. The only thing that seems to have a lower framerate than the anime is the mind of the director here.
4. Complete lack of exposition lends to the fact that most of the exciting, foreshadowing scenes from the manga (read it, it's great and the character designs are far superior to this show's) are taken away. Then after that, the show decides to remove half the explanations for the strange happenings and past experiences of new characters enough such that no one really cares what happens to them. The parking lot shootout is not there. Kagari is hard to sympathize with because none of her actual backstory is shown in explicit detail. The USSR alternate arc is completely left out despite the seed being planted for it and an entire episode diverted to support it as a foundation. Okabe's trip to the future and back is just ONE EPISODE of leaping a "few thousand times", after which he seems perfectly fine. I'm sure alpha Nae would disagree. It's WW3 god damn it. Where are the nukes? Surely any nation would be like "Oh it's fine that we nuked like 10 billion people, after all, when we get time travel tech we can just go back and stop the war from ever happening." Where is the development of Ruka from a shrine 'maiden' to a supposed samurai guerilla? Daru's working out? Construction of the time machine? Exactly who is fighting who? The anime leaves all these important details out. It feels like a husk of a story carried by characters with little motivations apart from being plot devices. Instead of an epic battle royale between several superpowers with dubious motivations to remake the timeline we get some Stratfor and other PMC operating in full immunity under the nose of the JSDF and being 1v10'ed by a single girl in a jumpsuit.
5. The professor. The world's most predictable villain with a smile just too wide to be legit. His face by itself just screams "I AM A SPY BUT YOU SEE NOTHING." He is far too sinister to be unexpected. In comparison to the manga, which shows him as a dorky looking harmless lecturer with light-hearted intentions, the reveal would've been far more sinister and satisfying. Huke falls hard on his part of character designing for both the visual novel and the anime on this one. Anyone could see the plot twist coming light years away. Don't get me started on his counterpart. Femme Fatale mk3 much?
The entire show in the end just feels like bait. Don't watch SG:0. It's a waste of time and space. It makes you think something amazing is going to unravel but then pulls the exact opposite to pull a plot twist such that excitement instead turns into a bland and stone cold disappointment without fail. Every time. If you really want something of substance go play SG:0 as a visual novel when it comes out in English. But be warned: the writing is only a bit better there. I would've recommended the manga if they finished it, but it was canceled halfway.
The manga I rate 8/10, at least, up to where it ended. I've never felt so betrayed in my life. If you take my 10/10 of SG:1 and divide the denominator by zero you get the score I rate SG:0 as.
Seriously, just take a look at the key animator numbers. 23 Key animators in SG:1 compared to LITERALLY TWO. YES. TWO key animators in SG:0
Someone has been budget cutting hard.
