Disclaimer: This review assumes full knowledge of the original Steins;Gate and thus the premise of Steins;Gate 0
The Steins;Gate 0 manga is a solid adaptation of two routes from the visual novel. Unlike the anime, which serves as a sequel to the Steins;Gate 0 VN, the manga opts for a conventional adaptation approach instead. The first four volumes adapt The Promised Rinascimento (PR) while the last two volumes adapt Vega & Altair (VA). This comes with its strengths and weaknesses. On one hand, they focus on fleshing out fewer routes rather than speedrunning every route in the same volume count. So it's nice that the routes
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aren't as rushed as they could have been. But on the other hand, it means that the Steins;Gate 0 manga is absolutely not a replacement for either the visual novel or the anime. It doesn't cover nearly enough of what you need to fully understand Steins;Gate 0 and so I cannot recommend this to any first-timer. It's merely a nice supplement through which you can re-experience the story of PR and VA rather quickly. Every route in the visual novel is vital to understanding the story. Steins;Gate 0 itself is about the circumstances that made Operation Skuld possible. So the whole idea of the story is that it took the efforts of countless iterations for it to even happen. As such, the manga is quite limited since it only has 2 routes (+ a few pages of Milky Way Crossing). It's largely just a retelling of 40% of the VN that doesn't add much narrative value to the overarching series. It would have been nice if the Steins;Gate 0 manga covered iterations shown in neither the VN nor the anime. But I suppose it's nice for anybody who wanted to see VN-exclusive events in a medium outside a visual novel though. For a first-timer though? This manga is absolutely not the most sensical starting point.
As for how it holds up as a manga, the quality varies quite significantly from chapter to chapter. Some chapters are handled superbly. But others are too rushed. I feel this especially in the last 2/3 of the adaptation. There's a couple of super emotional scenes from the VN that are glossed over in the span of only 3-4 pages in the manga (such as "the return"). So they don't end up hitting nearly as hard as they're supposed to. And one of the biggest appeals of S;G 0 to me is just how emotional many of its moments are. Many of these remain in the manga of course. But this manga won't make a long-time SciADV fan cry or anything.
The manga, does however, make a few interesting changes here and there that make reading it worthwhile to any SciADV fan. My favourite addition of the manga comes in the last two volumes, where it adds an extended reaction to something completely glossed over in the VN and the anime. I also love how the manga makes PR's value in the recursive world line chain extremely clear through the addition of a few manga-original lines. Besides the aforementioned additions, the manga also makes some changes to the narrative as well. In particular, a certain twist is completely deleted from VA (which is a change I actually like). And additionally, several fan service moments are removed from the story as well. This makes S;G 0 feel much more tonally consistent than the VN or the anime, which was amazing.
But my biggest gripes with the manga is in how little it adds to the overarching narrative. It sticks way too close to the visual novel, and adds very little besides the few additions I talked about above. In doing so, the manga also does not provide much clarity on the connection between the routes. This can easily fool people into thinking that 1) Vega & Altair happens immediately after The Promised Rinascimento and 2) Milky Way Crossing is a direct continuation of the same iteration as Vega & Altair. Neither of these are true. It's confusing enough in the visual novel but even more confusing in the manga. I also don't like how the manga ends at exactly the same point as the visual novel does. The manga's ending is extremely unsatisfying since it does not cover the post-credit scene in MWC.
To be honest, if you want to experience the Beta attractor field in manga form, I'd recommend the Epigraph trilogy's manga adaptation over this. The Epigraph manga adaptation was halfway through before they cancelled it in favour of Steins;Gate 0 but it easily remains the superior telling of the story. If you don't know what the Epigraph trilogy is, it's one of the three piece of source material for the Steins;Gate 0 visual novel (alongside Annularly-Chained Ouroboros and Arc-Light of the Point at Infinity). It's what Steins;Gate 0 was originally supposed to be. It's better in story, better in pacing, and better in artwork.
That being said, the Steins;Gate 0 manga is still a solid adaptation that I'd urge any SciADV fan to check out. If you can, please support the official localization! This helps show UDON Entertainment and MAGES demand for official English releases of the SciADV manga! Support it enough and maybe we'll see English translations for the Chaos;Child, Occultic;Nine, or SciADV spin-off manga adaptations.
TL;DR: Solid 7/10 manga. The artwork is fine, the story is solid, and the characters are great. But this isn't intended for a first-timer to read and it does not replace either the VN or the anime. It has a few moments sprinkled in that make it worthwhile for any SciADV fan though. And in general, it's an interesting take on the story.
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Aug 5, 2023
Steins;Gate 0
(Manga)
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Disclaimer: This review assumes full knowledge of the original Steins;Gate and thus the premise of Steins;Gate 0
The Steins;Gate 0 manga is a solid adaptation of two routes from the visual novel. Unlike the anime, which serves as a sequel to the Steins;Gate 0 VN, the manga opts for a conventional adaptation approach instead. The first four volumes adapt The Promised Rinascimento (PR) while the last two volumes adapt Vega & Altair (VA). This comes with its strengths and weaknesses. On one hand, they focus on fleshing out fewer routes rather than speedrunning every route in the same volume count. So it's nice that the routes ... 
Mar 29, 2023
ChäoS;Child: Children's Collapse
(Manga)
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Children's Collapse is a great supplement to the Chaos;Child visual novel. But even though this is a prequel, do not read this manga until you have finished the main story.
As a manga, it's not quite as enjoyable as the likes of other pieces of SciADV side material. And if you've listened to Slumbering Fools, you already have the gist of what happens in Children's Collapse. But I think Children's Collapse has made Slumbering Fools more or less obsolete at this point. It goes into much more depth on Mio's backstory specifically and it makes sense why she behaves the way she does throughout the ... 
Feb 18, 2023
ChäoS;HEAd
(Manga)
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The manga adaptation is by default not great for having to cram a 40-hour long game into the span of a single volume but somehow, it's still significantly better than the nightmare of an anime adaptation we got.
Since the manga is only 1 volume long, it doesn't have the length needed to properly depict the story. So what it opts to do instead is to rewrite the narrative from the ground up. It doesn't cover anything from the NoAH routes and it even outright deletes a few important characters from the story. But the manga handles its time constraints pretty neatly. It rearranges parts of ... 
Feb 18, 2023
This manga is a must-read for after you've finished the original Robotics;Notes visual novel.
It completely re-contextualizes the original story and provides a significant amount of depth to the main duo, Misaki, Mizuka, Airi, and the main antagonist. The content in this manga is very vaguely hinted at in the VN and yet never outright shown explicitly. But the reveals in this manga are absolutely mind-blowing. I don't even think the Robotics;Notes experience is complete without it. As a manga itself, the artwork is good, the character interactions are as charming as always, and the story is great. I don't really have many complaints for it ... 
Feb 18, 2023
Robotics;Notes: Revival Legacy
(Manga)
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Revival Legacy is one of the many pieces of Robotics;Notes side material and a fantastic supplement to the original visual novel.
By and large, it's a retelling of the first 7 chapters of the R;N VN from Frau's perspective with some minor divergences throughout. It's not incredibly ambitious and it doesn't add too much to the main story but if you loved Frau and you loved the Robotics;Notes cast, you'll love Revival Legacy too. Many of the character interactions you see in Revival Legacy never happened in the VN or any other iteration of the story. So it still ends up feeling very fresh and like ... 
Dec 21, 2022
Muv-Luv Alternative 2nd Season
(Anime)
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For anime adaptations based off of visual novels, Muv-Luv Alternative stands out as one of the better ones. This is no train-wreck adaptation like Chaos;Head and Chaos;Child. The MLA anime is legitimately good, season 2 especially. I'd honestly put season 2 above the anime of Robotics;Notes and Higurashi DEEN.
Anyways, let's get into the pros. As was the case in season 1, the mecha animation was absolutely phenomenal. It's eye candy to look at. It's what makes the anime worth watching for anybody. Moreover, the pacing is pretty good for the most part. They didn't try to do a rush job and adapt the whole thing ... 
Feb 5, 2022
Muv-Luv Alternative
(Anime)
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Muv-Luv Alternative is the 3rd and final part of the Muv-Luv trilogy. It is also the highest rated visual novel of all time on VNDB, which is the MAL equivalent for visual novels.
As the overwhelming majority of VN->anime adaptations go, I was expecting complete garbage from the anime adaptation. But needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised by its quality. It's nothing spectacular but it's definitely fine. The mecha action is well-animated and the CG looks pretty solid. The pacing itself isn't horrendous although it is a bit rushed in some of the earlier parts of the season. In general, it's genuinely not a bad adaptation. ... |
