Steins;Gate and Steins;Gate 0

So for my first blog entry, I would like to share a bit about my favorite anime Steins;Gate. It is an undeniably great anime, and you are definitely missing out if you do not watch this.

But I'm not here to give a review nor to convince people to watch nor to write about its story.

One common question people ask is its order of watching.

Just so you guys know, Steins;Gate anime was released in 2011. After the 2011 anime, some more non-canon content were released. Then a "sequel" named Steins;Gate 0 (let's just call it Zero from here on) was released in 2018.

For everyone's reference, the non-canon contents (and release dates) include:
  • Steins;Gate episode 25 (22 Feb. 2012)
  • Steins;Gate: The Movie − Load Region of Déjà Vu (20 April 2013)
  • Steins;Gate: Somei Eichi no Cognitive Computing (4 episodes, 2014)

 NOTE: Steins;Gate 23b is NOT a non-canon episode!

To be clear, Zero is technically not a sequel to the Steins;Gate series. Not to spoil things here, but the story of Steins;Gate already ended with episode 24 which aired on 14 September 2011.

So what's up with Zero?

As someone who watched Steins;Gate, I really cannot agree that it is an alternate turn of events, which many people believe. Put in another way, it shows the events that make the ending possible. Hence, it is not an alternate timeline or anything of that sort. 

Disclosing the logic behind it would spoil the story, so I would like to refrain from doing so. I would delegate a separate blog entry for that.

So to answer the question at hand, I would like to present two stances on the watch order of the Steins;Gate series.

The first one is simple: watch it by order of release.
  1. Steins;Gate ep1-24
  2. Non-canon content
  3. Steins;Gate ep23b
  4. Steins;Gate 0 ep1-23
The logic here is to just go with the flow. Isn’t that simple!

The second one goes like this:
  1. Steins;Gate ep1-22
  2. Steins;Gate ep23b
  3. Steins;Gate 0 ep1-23
  4. Steins;Gate ep23-24
  5. Non-canon content
The logic here is to watch the events chronologically. The logic’s simple too, isn’t it?

NOTE: Steins;Gate 23b should definitely be watched first before watching Zero!

In my personal opinion, I recommend the second way of watching to new viewers. The experience is something I would never be able to enjoy, and it makes more sense to watch the series in the order it is supposed to happen.

To put an analogy, think of Star Wars (I haven’t actually watched any of those, but I heard there’s a proper order of watching the series).

In the end, whichever method you pick, it does not change the fact that the Steins;Gate series is one of the best, if not the best, anime ever released.

Feel free to drop comments or opinions!

 -Dude

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