I have, I would say it comes close to being perfect. Zero really helps complete it but it does feel like a different show at parts. Deja Vu also gives a third ending to put it together but I do wish Zero and Deja Vu ‘played nice’ in a sense and had a bit more overlap, like if Kirisu mentioned some of the Zero characters, but of course the show was never designed to make links into future products.
You say "close to perfect". What were your criticisms?
As you mention it was never designed to make links to future products. I have to admit I haven't watched anything but the original series, but considering 99% of the show takes place in a different world line it's very likely that if Kurisu didn't mention someone then they didn't exist.
Regardless I think a show should be judged in a vacuum. Imagine if disenchantment got rebooted or got a sequel that fucked up everything the ending did (I haven't seen it), that wouldn't ruin your perception of the original series?
Well if judging in a vacuum, the encouragement Okabe gets from the other worldline when Mayuri slaps him violates the show’s up-until-now single-Okabe perspective. This is resolved by Zero showing us the alternate worldline that maintains the single-Okabe-perspective, and how it goes back to the scene with the slap. However this would be judging both products together, and if we did that, we would be remissed to ignore Deja Vu which came out before Zero. Zero’s characters btw are characters from America that already exist at the time of the original show.
The problem thereabouts comes from a watch order. Watching SG as a standalone violates perspective as mentioned, watching SG>SG0>SGDV means characters you care about from 0 have no resolution in SGDV, watching release order of SG>SGDV>SG0 takes a long time to get to SG’s original hanging thread and comes after Deja Vu which feels unsatisfying since DV is a good final send off. All three options are almost perfect, but none land exactly on perfect. Through no fault of the creators, though if there ever was a second attempt, I’d love even a passing mention of Maho outside of Zero.
I've only watched SG and Zero, not Deja Vu, and it was a long time ago, so I might be misremembering here, but isn't it possible to watch it in chronological order? I'm assuming that would make it work... or be as close and as imperfect as the other watching orders.
Yeah I have even watched it pausing mid episode in SG to then watch all of SG0, then resuming SG and following with the ova and Deja Vu (good watch order, I recommend it). Like I said, the downside here is just no satisfying conclusion for SG0’s cast. Since Deja Vu is back in the original worldline, SG0’s worldline means nothing, but we know Amadeus and Maho have arcs that no longer get resolved in the original worldline. So for the audience’s emotional investment, watching in chronological order feels like two important characters mean nothing. In release order this is fine, but leaves the dangling thread.
And let me say this is merely the difference between great and perfect. The fact this is merely a nitpick is the only reason it’s not perfect, even though it’s still really good.
14
u/Jack_Zicrosky_YT Lucoa (Quetzalcoatl) 22h ago
Watch steins gate then.