Steins;Gate 0 (TV series)

Plot

The series is the final iteration of Rintaro Okabe's experiences in the beta world line after the iterations depicted in the Steins;Gate 0 visual novel. It takes place in an alternative world line where Okabe fails to save Kurisu Makise and receives no guidance from his future self or encouragement from Mayuri Shiina.

Traumatized by his time travel experiences, he accepts life in the beta world line where Kurisu remains dead. Months later, he meets neuroscientists Maho Hiyajo and Alexis Leskinen, former colleagues of Kurisu working on Amadeus, an AI using Kurisu's memories. Okabe becomes a tester, conversing with the Amadeus Kurisu through his phone.

Production and release

Steins;Gate 0 is an anime produced by White Fox that adapts parts of the 2015 video game of the same name. The game is a sequel to Steins;Gate, which White Fox also turned into an anime in 2011. Unlike the game, which branches into multiple story routes, the television series weaves those threads into a single narrative. Kenichi Kawamura directed the show, with Jukki Hanada—who wrote the original Steins;Gate anime—handling the scripts.

Tomoshige Inayoshi, who worked as an episode animation director on the earlier series, adapted Huke’s character designs from the game for animation, and Takeshi Kodaka took on the role of art director. The music came from Takeshi Abo, Nobuaki Nobusawa, and Moe Hyūga. The voice actors all returned to play their characters from earlier Steins;Gate projects. The opening theme is “Fátima” by Kanako Itō, while the ending themes are “Last Game” by Zwei for the first half of the series and “World-Line” by Imai for the second half.

For the first episode, Itō’s song “Amadeus” from the Steins;Gate 0 game served as the ending theme instead. Itō created “Fátima” as a lyrical follow-up to “Hacking to the Gate,” the opening of the first Steins;Gate anime, and she emphasized the fast tempo because she wanted the song to feel exhilarating. The anime was first announced in March 2015, at the same time as the Steins;Gate 0 game. It was revealed again in July 2017 with a trailer and key art as part of the “Steins;Gate World Line 2017–2018 Project,” which includes other media based on the game; by then, production had started.

The series ran for 23 episodes in Japan from April 12 to September 27, 2018. It aired on Tokyo MX, TVA, KBS, SUN, TVQ, AT-X, BS11, and GYT, and was streamed on Abema TV in Japan. Outside Asia and Australasia, Crunchyroll simulcast the show; AnimeLab handled Australia and New Zealand, and Aniplus Asia covered Southeast Asia. An English dub started streaming on Funimation in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland on April 30, 2018, and later moved to Crunchyroll after Sony acquired that service.