「盟誓のリナシメント」 (Meisei no Rinashimento”)
“Rinascimento of the Unwavering Promise: Promised Rinascimento”

OK, I’ve kind of given up on making sense of what’s happening with Steins;Gate 0 as far as the mythology goes. Maybe this makes sense if you’ve played the VN, but with only the first anime to go by “0” really doesn’t seem to be following the same rules. The most obvious explanation for that is that this time around the anime is trying to patch together different routes from the game that really don’t fit together – and that would explain why this series feels so different from the first. One of the really remarkable things about the original Steins;Gate was how it rarely felt like a convoluted VN being twisted to fit into anime form, but that feeling very much exists this time.

So anyway, as far as I can Okarin has been in a coma (or at least catatonic) for 11 years after being captured and tortured – in 2025. That makes this 2036, which makes everybody 25 years older (though some characters oddly look just about the same). Apparently somehow Daru and Maho have managed to find a backup of Okabe’s memories from 2011 from when the Time Leap Machine failed to blast him to the past, and implanted them in his 2036 body so it wakes up. Which it does, except that it thinks it’s 2011 while the world outside is a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

I can’t quite make that make sense with any interpretation of the S;G rules as I understand them, but… whatever. The story must go on, and we’ve got the old lab team currently operating under the name “Valkyrie”, with Daru slimmed down and Ruka now some sort of super-samurai (points for alliteration). Of Mayuri there’s apparently no trace in this timeline, but before his capture Okabe had reverted to full Hououin Kyouma mode, and that’s certainly how the other lab members know him. But with Kyouma a weak and desiccated husk just awoken from a long slumber, it’s not exactly a rousing moment seeing Kyouma back in action.

Well, R.I.P. Rukako I guess, though I’m honestly not feeling much emotional buy-in with the events of this series lately. The plan now is apparently for Kyouma to use the time leap machine – but I’m not exactly sure what that will be intended to accomplish. I mean, it’s 2036 and things have been bad for a very long time – and his memories are 25 years old. How is a machine which – if it works – can only send him back 48 hours supposed to save the day? Unless he’s just intending on saving Ruka for the moment?

22 Comments

  1. can only send him back 48 hours supposed to save the day?

    Perhaps with the help of Gravity… In many Movies where time leap was needed to go “plus Ultra!” (beyond their borders), they used Gravity

    Like in Star Trek Movie, Stargate and such. Perhaps they speculate on some Sun flare for more “boost” in time jump

    Also, “Girl that leap trough time” just needed to run harder 🙂

    Worldwidedepp
      1. Yup. The timing for something like that is ridiculous and requires someone highly intelligent(Genius level at the very least) to predict when said flare would occur. One small mistake and it’d all go horribly wrong.

        Lyfe
    1. Just because.

      Seriously, the story ended for Okabe with the first Steins;Gate anime/vn. This is just as you say an alternate route, a what if he didn’t save the girl scenario. This is a scenario that basically shows the importance of Okabes actions in the first season. If he didn’t save Kurisu, this is what his route would have been.

      Lyfe
      1. Actually, S;G0 is the story of the Okabe from the future in the original S;G.
        By the time the original anime started the events of Zero already happened in a different worldline, and you’re just seeing the effects of a D-Mail from the other side (the one that receives the d-mail, the “past”)

        PBeta
      2. The Steins;Gate 0 anime is a divergence from Episode 23(See the alternate ending) it follows from that. With some time stuff it ties into the original story. But the divergence is from Episode 23 of the first season.

        Lyfe
  2. Keep in mind that no matter what happens this Okabe is the Okabe that sent the message to himself in the past to get him to save Kurisu. You won’t be dissapointed by how they connect these events. At least I don’t think so.

    Lyfe
  3. I was beginning to wonder if Okabe would ever see the future after WWIII. Guess this episode answers my question. On the other hand I think I could have seen this coming; and why not. The constant hopping back in time hoping the next jump Okabe will fix the mistakes but never do.

    RenaSayers
  4. It’s also not that different from the VN sadly. It was explained better that they saved Okabe’s memories just in case because Okabe thought Statfor would capture and torture him. Guess it was too long to explain that way so they just went with Statfor kept his memory data and they just happened to find it. In my eyes, the mess in the anime is about the same mess in the VN. Both had great parts but disappointing parts too

    Akai
  5. It helps a bit if you don’t try to connect it to the original Steins Gate since the Zero is just an alternate timeline with no real consequence. This is just a timeline where WW3 still happens and Okabe is forced to return and try again to save both of them.

    weasl
    1. Actually he should absolutely connect them because they are connected and to think otherwise is completely wrong and shows you don’t understand the science of the series.

      Event A – Okabe doesn’t get the message from his future self and gives up. – Beta worldline
      Event B – Beta Okabe sends video message to the Alpha Okabe in Steins;Gate.
      Event C – Okabe saves Kurisu and gets his true end. – S;G worldline

      A leads to B, leads to C. Even though the “True End” Okabe never experienced the events Beta Okabe experienced, those events happened(Because time) and he got the courage he needed from himself. Saving Kurisu also saved the world and stopped WW3. Suzuha literally warns of WW3 in Steins;Gate if he doesn’t save Kurisu and thus stopping her father in the process.

      Lyfe
      1. Zero doesn’t even fit into the true Steins Gate timeline. It’s literally just an added storyline where Okabe doesn’t rescue Kris.

        And yeah I understand, I played both the games. Zero is one hundred percent side story that doesn’t affect the mainstory’s fiction.

        Zero rewinds and nullifies everything.

        weasl
      2. @Zero doesn’t even fit into the true Steins Gate timeline.

        Again, that’s not true. These events had to happen for regular Okabe to get his happy ending. Had these events not happened, Okabe never would have saved Kurisu, nor would he have reached the Steins;Gate world line.

        It’s basically a temporal paradox.

        Lyfe

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