Everything You Need To Know Before ‘Steins;Gate’ Returns

Every few months a new season of anime premieres, and fans are excited to see what new offerings will take over the conversation. But for some reason it seemed to many fans that Spring 2018 was the most packed season of anime yet.

One of the many big come backs for franchises this year is Steins;Gate 0, a sequel set in an alternate timeline and universe from the original series. Fans felt the first series was one of the best time travel stories in all of anime, so there are of course high expectations for this new series.

But where to begin? What do you need to know before jumping into Steins;Gate 0? Read on to find out everything you need to know before Steins;Gate returns.

What Is ‘Steins;Gate’?

Steins;Gate is a visual novel game by 5pb and Nitroplus, and the second game in the Science Adventure series with other releases such as Chaos;Head. This series follows various college students as they devlelop certain technologies that changes their lives. 

Steins;Gate in particular was adapted into an anime series by White Fox in 2011, and its story follows a so-called ‘mad scientist’ named Rintaro Okabe who runs a laboratory in Tokyo. The man’s life turns upside down after he stumbles across the dead body of a well-known scientist named Kurisu Makise. He texts a colleague about the incident only to discover that his message reached his friend before the murder was actually committed. It turns out that Okabe’s phone is part of an experimental time-traveling project that actually worked, giving him the ability to send text messages through time.

What Is ‘Steins’Gate 0’?

Steins;Gate 0 is a visual novel game and sequel to Steins;Gate released in 2015 for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in Japan. The anime to this series will be premiering soon and its story takes place in a world different from the original anime. It starts in 2010 after Rintarou has given up on saving Kurisu from his deadly paradoxes. Anguished by her death, Rintarou leaves his mad scientist days behind and has flashbacks of his days with Kurisu from the Alpha world.

Things change, however, when Kurisu’s university professor approaches Rintarou for help. Alexis Leskinen wants the man to test a new AI system known as Amadeus. The system can store memories and create human emulations from them. When Rintarou begins testing Amadeus, he is able to create an emulation of Karisu within the system, but things go haywire when SERN makes itself known again.

Do I Need To Play The Game?

Like any anime adapting a longer original source, it is not entirely necessary to explore the original light novels before video games before watching the new anime series but your enjoyment of them will be enhanced by the extra knowledge and background story one would get from exploring characters further in a more elaborate setting.

If the adaptation of Steins;Gate 0 is anything like the previous adaptation of the series, it will provide a suitable retelling of the original novel. It may miss some of the finer details or different endings you get from the original game’s branching ending paths, but you will not miss out on any crucial narrative elements if you have not played the game first. 

Do I Need To Watch ‘Steins;Gate’?

Although playing through the original light novel games before watching the new series is not completely needed for full enjoyment of the series, since this is a spiritual (and sometimes literal) sequel to the events of Steins;Gate it will help to have at least watched Steins;Gate‘s 25 episode run in full before starting in on Steins;Gate 0. 

The series can be a dense one, with many clues of how its time travel works throughout its run and the new series will most likely make many references to the original narrative. As this new series takes place in an alternate timeline created by the events of Steins;Gate, it probably will help to know how the series gets to this point. 

When Does It Premiere?

Steins;Gate 0 is scheduled to premiere April 11 in Japan. The series has been confirmed to air for 23 episodes with one extra episode available on the Blu-ray and DVD release of the series.

The cast of characters and their voice actors will be reprising their roles for the anime series as well: including Mamoru Miyano as Rintaro Okabe, Kana Hanazawa as Mayuri Shiina, Tomokazu Seki as Itaru “Daru” Hashida, Asami Imai as Kurisu Makise, Saori Goto as Moeka Kiryu, Yu Kobayashi as Luka Urushibara, Halko Mamoi as Faris Nyan-nyan, Yukari Tamura as Suzuha Amane, Sayuri Yahagi as Maho Hiyajo, Megumi Han as Kagari Shiina, and Yakuri Tamura as Yuki Amane.

Are There Any Trailers?

Fortunately for as such a highly anticipated series such as this, Steins;Gate 0 has two trailers available for interested fans. But like the mysterious series they are previewing, the trailers do not reveal much about the actual events of the series (but reveal plenty to those who have explored either the original video games or previous anime series).

The first trailer (which you can find here) teases the return of many of the series’ characters, while also featuring one notable absence. Kurisu’s absence is later explained by the second trailer (which you can find here, with English subtitles), in which her avatar explains why she’s acting so weird in the context of this new world. 

Where Can I Watch?

Now that you know everything you need to about the upcoming Steins;Gate 0, now you’re ready to watch. But where exactly can you see it? 

 Here’s where you can watch Steins;Gate 0 when it premieres on April 11 and becomes available for streaming: 

• Crunchyroll – There is a monthly subscription fee to watch episodes (in Japanese with English subs) the day of release, but they also offer a free option to fans who don’t mind waiting a week after initial release to watch a new episode.
• FunimationNOW – The simuldub premiere is yet to be announced, but Funimation will be releasing the English dub at a later date.

Excited for Steins;Gate 0? Let us know in the comments!