MORE STEINS;GATE AND OTHERS ANNOUNCED!

This weekend has been quite eventful indeed with numerous 5pb related titles announced for either game adaption or anime or BOTH! Among them is Steins;Gate 0 which has fans too excited for words.

But before we get to all that, let's just recap a bit. So far, in the anime department, we've had the 2008 "Delusional Science Adventure" Chaos;Head which followed paranoid schizophrenic Takumi Nishijō as he found himself involved in a series of serial murders. This first installment wasn't nearly as well received when compared to some of it's successors.

 

Then we had the masterpiece that was Steins;Gate. Critically acclaimed and universally loved, the 2011 anime was described as a "Hypothetical Science Adventure" and set in 2010. We met Rintarō Okabe, a self-proclaimed mad scientist who discovered that his experimental phone-operated microwave had the ability to send text messages back in time and alter the past. The series was such a success and spawn multiple spin-off and even a movie which tied up any lingering loose ends.

Then we got the "Augmented Science Adventure" which takes place on the Steins;Gate world line. Set nine years after Steins:Gate, Robotics;Notes follows Kaito Yashio and his childhood friend Akiho Senomiya, as they try to fulfil their robotic club's dream of building a giant robot. much lighter and softer than the dark stuff Steins;Gate got up to, but since this is 5pb, it didn't take long for the darkness to sweep through.

A successor to Chaos;Head, taking place on the Alpha World line six years after, the "Delusional Science Adventure", will be a 'psycho-suspense' story set in a  reconstructed Shibuya district in October 2015. A string of mysterious deaths occurs in Shibuya amidst the reconstruction. People begin to take notice as the strange events start on the same day that chaos broke out in Shibuya with a certain incident five years earlier. The events are called the "Return of the New Generation Madness." 

 

The next title that has already been greenlit for an anime adaption is Occult;Nine, which is a "Paranormal Science Adventure" dealing with nine idiosyncratic individuals. The story details are still a little vague, but accordingly, "little incongruities that occur around these nine eventually lead to a larger, unimaginable event that may alter what is considered common sense in this world." It is unclear if this will be set in the same timeline as Steins;Gateand Robotics;Notes or Chaos;Head and Chaos;Child. Occult seems to point to supernatural and magic which might lean towards the latter, but it's also possible this story is completely unconnected to all the other titles.

While it's so new, it doesn't even have a proper cool poster yet, the next installment in the Science Adventure series - Anonymous;Code - does feature a much longer synopsis which reads: 

"The story begins on February 6, 2036 at 6:28:15 when an important place of Tokyo is destroyed because of a serious computer problem that drives them crazy computers. Since an even greater problem is expected in 2038, the supercomputer Gaia creates another Earth using a simulation program , which confirms what will happen this year. However , although there was no human in the simulation, begin to appear after the arrival of a message. Researchers are delighted phenomenon until people simulator creates its own supercomputer, so now there is a simulator of the Earth in its simulator , making them wonder if their existence is real or not." This looks like a mix between a "Hypothetical Science Adventure" and a "Delusional Science Adventure".

The big one though, is the 'true sequel' to Steins;Gate, entitled Steins;Gate 0 which seems to be a 'What If' storyline that centers on Okabe who didn't go back a second time to save Makise after he discovered that he accidentally killed her. November 2010, in the Beta world line. The Okabe of this world comes across a system called "AMADEUS" which starts a chain of events to a world wide conspiracy. And suspiciously, 'she' is still there.

Theories so far have claimed that this adaption will be based on the Epitaph Trilogy storyline which sees this Beta World Okabe eventually sending the video we see Okabe receive in episode 23 of Steins;Gate after he and Suzuha return from their botched attempt to save Makise. So in a sense, this series might be a 'prequel' as it sets up the events of episode 23 and a 'sequel' in that the events in question take place AFTER episode 23 but in a now-negated timeline. whatever the case, since it's Steins;Gate, expect a fantastically intelligent story.

That ladies and gentlemen, Chaos;Child, Occult;Nine, Steins;Gate 0 and Anonymous;Code make up FOUR titles to look forward to. No air dates have been announced so far, but given FUNimation's rep for acquiring the 5pb titles, we may see these titles under their wing. Only time will tell though if these titles are licensed, but for now, given the above, regardless of what happens, we fans have a lot to be happy about.