When I finished all of Steins;Gate‘s 24 episodes back in 2018, I thought that would be the end of this saga for me. I’ve already seen Okabe and his merry Future Gadget disciples go through hell and back across multiple worldlines, fighting evil government agents and their own stupidity to reach their ideal timeline where everyone survives, time travel doesn’t exist and most importantly, Okabe finds love with Christina Kurisu. I was told that Steins;Gate: 0 was also a thing, but it didn’t help that I was bogged down with other more interesting shows, like Love Live: School Idol Project, Nichijou, Boku No Hero Academia and a whole bunch in tow. I tried re-watching Steins;Gate on some occasions back in 2020-2021, but never really found the motivation to press forward with it, content with knowing of Japan’s equivalent of Back To The Future and it being awesome.
Then I found out that apparently the series didn’t end with episode 24. Somehow, I missed out on Steins;Gate – Load Region Of Deja Vu, the franchise’s corresponding theatrical flick which would once and for all close out the original series as we knew it. I was pretty excited to know that the story continued in some way, and the question must be thus included: did this movie live up to the hype and mystique of its parent series, or give us something completely new and unwatered?
Steins;Gate – Load Region Of Deja Vu
Steins;Gate, originally released as a visual novel for the Xbox 360 and Playstation consoles (both standalone and handheld) in 2009 and then taken by White Fox as their third anime production two years later, has seen a grand amount of praise from watchers and reviewers, making it one of the most popular and soul-stirring, according to some, shows of the last decade. Personally, being a fan of time travel tales, this one was right up my alley and I gave it an 8/10 owing to its brilliant use of suspense, a beautiful summer atmosphere, and characters with well-developed personalities on top of being a rare example of an anime of a high-caliber level that’s pretty modest compared to others from around that time. It ended on September 14, 2011, by which time a movie was announced for it. It would come out on April 20, 2013 – I’m not kidding, that’s the date – and from what I’ve found reviews have been generally positive, with the worst ratings rarely going under 5/10 and its financial history has been fairly modest.
Story
NOTE: I’m not including a section discussing the characters. That’s already been covered in my Steins;Gate review, go read that if you want the scoop.
Rintarou Okabe has finally reached the Steins;Gate world, in which everyone of his friends survives, time travel does not exist, and life resumes as absurdly normal it can be in the lab. His close friend Daru, instead of hacking SERN, spends his days on dating simulators and frequenting Rai-Net tournaments at Faris’ cafe while Okabe and Mayuri raise virtual human-alpaca hybrids. Makise Kurisu has returned from her studies in America while Mr. Braun and Moeka act as landlord and assistant respectively, instead of secret SERN agents. Everyone, now on amicable terms, celebrate Kurisu’s arrival in Tokyo with a barbeque and beer atop their building. Life is good for Okabe, until he stars experiencing mental hallucinations of all the traumatic moments from his past time leaps: the murder of Mayuri, Moeka’s betrayal, and a wasted Kurisu going off about their romantic passages which he’s oblivious to.
When things calm down, Okabe discusses his problem with Kurisu (who earlier had been visited by Suzuha with a cryptic message involving the ingredients of the microwave time machine and D-Mail) who concludes that due to his incessant travel across worldlines, he’s experiencing symptoms of deja vu from them, before mysteriously disappearing from the world. Realizing that Okabe has been wiped off the face of the earth, and that the Future Gadget Lab consists of her, Daru and Mayuri as the members with no sign of Okabe around, leading her to partake in a time leap back to the events of the barbeque where Okabe exists, but so does Suzuha, who reveals that his meddling with time has caused a marginal disruption in the space-time continuum that’s affecting his very existence in the Steins;Gate worldline. Okabe resigns himself to this difficult predicament, loudly pleading to both girls to not attempt to save his life via time leaping, and encourages Kurisu especially, who can’t bear a world without him, to live long and prosper.
She does so, albeit with much difficulty; it is only when Mayuri sympathizes with her that she gives up hope of ever seeing him again. Days pass by and it is discovered that the remaining trio will have to separate, as without Okabe around their motivation to continue their pseudo-scientific ordeals has vanished. Suzuha reappears to her, (literally) slapping sense into her and bringing her on a journey to time back to Okabe’s youth; the plan being, rather than attempt to alter the timeline itself, it will be the circumstances of the past that will be, in this case Kurisu will introduce something in Okabe’s memory from her timeline, and thus restore the discrepancy. This plan succeeds, as Kurisu manages to tell her younger lover about the mad scientist “Hououin Kyouma” and his exploits to protect the world, before kissing him and telling him to run back to the person he wants to protect most, which is Mayuri. With this, Okabe’s place in the Steins;Gate worldline is restored, his hallucinations cease, and the film ends with the two in light banter and reaffirming their love for one another.
What I Liked
- Okabe’s character is played off as more dramatic weight than in the series. Compared there how he was a very laid-back, goofy type of person, one can see now how immensely the events of Steins;Gate have changed him as he’s now more stern, focused and jumpy, like a soldier who’s seen some stuff on the battlefield. His role is slightly diminished, but is enthralling with moments like when he nearly kills Mr. Braun over a mistaken perception of worldlines or when he grimaces from his hallucinations.
- Instead of him, Kurisu gets the spotlight. Having her take on this part provided a different perspective to the story that also made her out to be more intelligent and fleshed out, moving away from her old tsundere arcehtype or as a sideline character.
- The scenes with Okabe and Kurisu were well-delivered and best symbolize the movie’s character-driven, roller-coaster nature. We see first its humorous opening with all the wacky shenanigans, just seeing the characters, both good and “bad”, getting along merrily, with a drunk Kurisu acting all cutesy and scaring Okabe a little – something that we don’t associate Kurisu with often. And then moments later is the more emotional one where everything basically goes downhill consisting of the two’s conflict: one wanting to stay, the other resigned to the matrix, and the despair of the former being reflected in the movie’s state. Finally, everything’s all bright as Okabe and Kurisu talk amidst the bright Tokyo streets, as if to say “Happily ever after”. Well-represented!
What I Didn’t Like
- A large part of the story involves Kurisu navigating around Okabe’s disappearance, and how to reconcile the timelines together. In other words, this movie is basically rehashing the plot of the original series, switching the roles (and their genders, might I add) and condensing all the important substantial points into a 90-minute movie, so it feels kind of dry and doesn’t really add anything else to the story aside from canonizing their ship; not to mention its tension-building was not as attention-grabbing.
- The build-up to the movie’s ending… I mean, it made sense upon further reflection, but just because it does doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good. I found it to be a bit splicey like when Kurisu runs into Okabe shortly after their “farewell” only for him to disappear, and then when everyone remembers who he is despite being on the same universe where he doesn’t exist.
Music
Largely retaining the same soundtrack from the episodes, including some familiar tunes like the piano scene for Okabe and Kurisu’s “farewell” moment, something they added were two amazing opening and ending tracks – the first being Anata no Eranda Kono Toki wo by Kanako Ito, which unlike its parent series’ opening, has a more pop tune. My favourite part from this song include the parts leading up to the chorus – the crescendo parts were just mesmerizing to listen to, as is the rest of the song. Meanwhile, its ending song Itsumo Kono Basho de by Ayane sounds straight out of a fantasy isekai show, but it matches the somewhat heartwarming mood of its closing moments; definitely not something that I’d admit to have expected from Steins;Gate, and with it being lower in scale compared to its opening, I think the matchup of the songs is pretty good.
Favourites
Favourite moment: Okabe panicking when Kurisu reveals that she had travelled back in time to save him. It makes sense in context too, especially since we were witness to how desperate and changed in character he became when he went through the same experiences of saving Mayuri. Second place goes to when Kurisu dons Okabe’s lab coat and starts running through his iconic “Hououin Kyoma” intro. I actually had to rewind a few seconds back to make sure I wasn’t watching her in the middle of a mental breakdown.
Favourite quote: Okabe and Kurisu’s discourse on time travel. Can’t help but reminded in part of Doc Brown’s lament in Back To The Future II when he realizes his time machine was used for evil purposes, and every Catholic writer that warns inordinate attachment to fleeting objects, brooding over past alternative scenarios (St. Alphonsus teaches are basically temptations from the devil to prevent our spiritual growth) and the dangers of pridefully putting ourselves as the arbiter of Divine Providence.
Suzuha: Taking a time machine to the past is the only way to save Okabe Rintaro. Which is why –
Okabe: NO! Go back to your timeline now! Destroy the time machine too while you’re at it. We can’t have that around here. Destroy it at once!
Makise: Wait! If she does that… after all I did to time leap here!!
Okabe: You… you… WHAT?
Makise: Daru and I built it. Using a cellphone, microwave oven, and…
Okabe: ARE YOU CRAZY??? THOSE THINGS ARE A SCOURGE ON HUMANITY! NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEORIES YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT WORK, YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE MADE IT!!!
Makise: …But, you’re going to disappear if I do nothing… You’ll never have existed. The only way to prevent that is to change the past-
Okabe: And then what?? What if you change the past but it doesn’t fix things? Are you ready to replay the same situation over and over, until you succeed, as long as there’s a way? Don’t lie and tell me you wouldn’t do that, that’s what a person will inevitably do! And at what cost? Their own suffering increases. A single change to the past will always affect something else. Nothing will ever change exactly as you want. You get someone, someone else is taken away from you. Dreams that have finally come true will be shattered in an instant, destroyed even. And no matter what, you’ll never be satisfied. Ever. Instead, you’ll keep facing an inescapable reality! Over and over and over and over… Can you understand the sorrow of bearing the responsibility for all those losses, yet having to repeat it over and over? Can you understand the horror of having that wear away at your mind and take away your humanity? Even if there is a way, God forbid that the past is changed. God forbid that hypotheticals become a reality. God forbid we know the future and have a chance to do things over, because then we wouldn’t be able to accept all sorts of hardships, pain, and unfair accidents, then moving forward. Do you really want that power??
Makise: But… you’re going to disappear for good, you know!? I saw it… a world without you, a lab with only me, Daru and Mayuri. That’s even worse than death! You’ll have lived for nothing! You won’t have lived at all!
Okabe: So what?… All I wanted was for you and Mayuri to survive and keep on living into the future. That’s all that matters to me. Knowing that you and Mayuri are living on and safe is the best thing that I could ever have asked for in this world.
Okabe and Makise argue about the merits/demerits of time travel
Conclusion
Not a bad movie, but still a far cry from rejuvenating the spirit of Steins;Gate is what I’d describe this with. It doesn’t enhance the quality of the franchise any more, but fortunately doesn’t degrade it either. It’s just… average. I was surprised at how they brought Okabe’s disappearance as an unexpected twist, but its conclusion kind of left me shrugging indifferently. If this is how they want to end the excellent adventure of the Future Gadget Lab’s disciples, I can only hope that Steins;Gate: 0 will have something much more eye-opening than this.
SCORE: 7/10
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