Steins;Gate - Episode 25 OVA (Completed)

Had it not been for a certain magical girl series, Steins;Gate would easily have been my favourite anime series of 2011, so I'll certainly never turn down the opportunity for more of the same - a good thing too between the movie in production and this bonus episode OVA on the TV series' final Blu-Ray volume.

Taking place after the events of the series proper, this instalment sees the gang granted an opportunity for a trip to America courtesy of Feyris as she heads off to participate in a Rainet tournament.  This is, of course, a perfect opportunity for everyone's favourite mad scientist Hououin Kyouma to conquer the US and bring it to its knees - although it's probably best not to tell the guards at Homeland Security that.  Still, with that misunderstand cleared up, Okabe gets to meet once again with Kurisu, who seems to be more than a little curious about the dreams she finds herself having courtesy of the fragments of memories remaining in her mind of the many world lines her own adventures have traversed.

While these visions of a life she never lived continue to bug Makise, Okabe himself finds himself distracted by the appearance of a girl bearing a remarkable resemblance to Suzuha, causing him to give chase to find out if she's somehow entered his timeline earlier than anticipated.  Of course, this proves not to be the case, but Okabe isn't completely off-base in his recognition of Suzuha's visage at least...not that it's going to help him to get back to civilisation when he's stuck in the middle of nowhere with a dead cell phone and only 67 cents in his pocket.

Considering how perfectly Steins;Gate wrapped everything up, this extra episode was also going to be a bit fluffy, and that does indeed prove to be the case here - it gives us some proper closure on the relationship between Okabe and Kurisu but that's about it, otherwise preferring to spend its time having a bit of fun with its characters.  This is no bad thing of course, much of the first half of the series proper did exactly this with joyous results, but there's no doubt that this episode isn't quite as sharp on account of its stand-alone status.  Still, it managed to make me laugh out loud a few times and generally entertained me, so I can't knock it too much - I just hope the forthcoming movie has something more ambitious lined up than a mere recap or something along these lines.

Steins;Gate - Episode 24 (Completed)

Just when it seemed that all hope was lost, and with Okabe about to give up the ghost, up pops his future self with a foolproof plan to save the world and the girl.  Put can Hououin Kyouma, mad scientist par excellence, really pull it off?

While it takes a detour to the Future Gadget Lab to assemble the final piece of the puzzle, Okabe is soon ready to go back in time once again in the hope of saving Kurisu while simultaneously fooling his past self into thinking she'd been stabbed and killed - it'll be his one and only shot and success too, with Amane reporting that her time machine only has the energy for one more round trip.

So, Okabe sets about putting everything right to avoid the pitfalls of other timelines, only to find that his plan is about to go seriously astray in one core area.  With the liquid he'd brought with him to simulate Kurisu's blood tried up over time, what's he going to use to convince himself of Makise's death?  Desperate times call for desperate measures as Okabe takes a potentially sacrificial action for the greater good - a decision which not only pays dividends in the short term, but also pays the way for an ultimately happy and completely satisfying ending.  All's well in Steins Gate, it seems.

So there we have it - an excellent, complete ending to a fantastic series that would probably get my vote for the best show of the year were it not for a certain SHAFT-produced magical girl anime.  Despite its slow start.... in fact, no, because of its slow start, we became so drawn into the world of Okabe and his menagerie of friends and follows that as the shock twist of the show's half-way point hit we suddenly realised that, just like Okabe himself, we were in too deep with no hope of escape.  From there, the twists and turns of the series have thrilled me each and every week as the intelligently crafted, knowingly written story unfolded before us - I really can't express enough how strong the story-telling was in Steins;Gate throughout, helped along by some great characters and plenty of snappy dialogue from beginning to end.  So powerful and intelligent is this show, that I wonder if it isn't the creation of some kind of mad scientist... I just hope The Organisation don't try to block any plans to release the series on Blu-Ray in my native UK - this is an anime series par excellence that I simply must own and watch again.  El Psy Congroo.

Steins;Gate - Episode 23

Last week saw us wave an emotional goodbye to Kurisu Makise and return us to the beta world line as we enter the final straight of Steins;Gate - but there's little time for Okabe to reflect on what he's just achieved, and lost, as he's called straight into action in his new "home".

That call to action comes from none other than Amane, who is alive and well in this new time line and just so happens to have dropped by in her shiny time machine to pick up Okabe for a mission that will (she hopes) prevent World War III from breaking out in the future by transitioning the world to its ideal world line - the so-called "Steins Gate".  While Okabe is reluctant to do any more time travel given everything he's been through, the objective of the mission soon grabs his interest, for its goal is quite simple - to save Makise.

Thus, Okabe returns to the scene of Makise's death, avoiding his other self (because as we all know, that would be bad news) and setting out to both find out the identity of Kurisu's killer and prevent her murder.  He certainly succeeds in the former of these two tasks, and it would be an understatement to say that the killer's identity is unexpected.... so much so that it renders saving her life impossible.  With visions of his impossible struggle against Mayuri's death in the alpha world line still fresh in his memory, Okabe resigns himself to a similar intractable problem involving Kurisu here - however, it appears that for once our unlikely hero is giving up too soon, as someone out there has this all planned out...

After the emotional denouement of last week's instalment had me a little worried that Steins;Gate had peaked just a little too early, here am I being made to eat those words by an utterly fantastic episode that gloried in its ability to turn everything on its head multiple times in that wonderful way that the series has proved capable of throughout; surprising us while leaving us baffled that we hadn't thought of these latest developments ourselves.  After showing impressive moments of restraint and tension-building into the bargain, we're now left holding our breath-excitedly for the show's final episode - and I'm genuinely not sure I can wait.  Anyone have a time machine handy?

Steins;Gate - Episode 22

Although the choice between Mayuri and Kurisu has become crystal clear to Okabe, with no means to escape having to decide the fate of these two individuals, that doesn't exactly make life any easier for our protagonist as decision time looms for him once again.

As we enter episode twenty-two, this leads to some frank and forthright conversations between Okabe and Makise as they shelter from an unexpected rainstorm - while Kurisu admits to finding herself holding vague memories of her death in the beta worldline, together with fleeting recollections of Okabe's struggles throughout, she seems to have accepted the inevitability of her death and how, ultimately, it's more important for Okabe to save Mayuri than anything else.

For his part, Okabe is still determined to find another solution, even if it means seeing Mayuri die in front of him over and over again as he tries to do so - a decidedly unhealthy state of affairs, as Kurisu rightly points out.  As Makise's philosophical take on existing in multiple world lines clashes with Okabe's rather more literal interpretation, it seems that there is at least one thing the pair have in common, bringing us to the conclusion of a not entirely surprising but still hugely touching love story, if only a fleeting one.  From here, it's time for Okabe to make his painful yet necessary final move towards the beta worldline... that isn't the end of the story though of course, as an interruption to the ending credits for this episode reminds us.

Although I tuned into Steins;Gate from the very start while expecting many things from it, I have to confess that I wasn't quite ready for this - love, passion, and some touching and genuinely heart-rending moments as the episode progressed; you'd have to be a man of steel to watch Okabe trying badly to hide his raw emotions beneath his "mad scientist" without letting your own emotions run out of control.  As with the half-way point of the series, this episode expertly made use of the time its spent ensuring that these characters and their unique foibles grow on us, to create an intense and touching instalment that might not have been what we were expecting from a series promising time travel and pseudo-science - but boy am I impressed with what it's achieved.  Let's just hope the show's big finale over the next couple of episodes live up to everything that has come before.

Steins;Gate - Episode 21

To say that Okabe's realisation at the end of last week's episode of Steins;Gate gives him a small dilemma to ponder would perhaps be the biggest understatement ever to grace this 'blog (well, that or "Star Driver is rubbish") - but never mind that, just what is our resident mad scientist going to do about this new predicament?

Quite simply, the answer is "he doesn't know".  While Okabe's immediate reaction is to put a stop to Daru's cracking which would remove the final D-Mail and return the world to its original timeline, the fact that doing so would also result in Makise's death leaves him unable to do so.  Thus, Okabe ponders and formulates, trying to find a solution to the problem alone with no input from Makise for fear of telling her what will become of her... as a result, he has to face up to Mayuri's death once again.

Another time leap later, Okabe has even more time to ponder his next move - again, he tries to go it alone, but eventually there's nothing else for it but to tell a visibly shocked Kurisu what the future in the changed timeline in question will mean for her.  We don't really get any particular feel for her thoughts about such a scenario beyond that immediate reaction, instead continuing to focus upon Mayuri as she worries about Okabe's readily apparent suffering while mulling over what she can do to rectify the situation.

While recent weeks have seen Steins;Gate hold a very tight focus, this is perhaps the first episode in quite a while that has slowed things down somewhat - although this is slightly frustrating from the point of view of eager viewers desperate to see where the series goes next, it does give us time to really soak up the emotional impact of what's going on.  In particular, at a point where Mayuri has had diminished screen time in deference to Makise, all of a sudden we're hit hard by how impossible Okabe's current situation is in heart-rending fashion as Mayuri delivers perhaps some the saddest, most heartfelt monologue of the series so far.  As I seem to be saying every week at the moment, I have no idea where the series is headed from here - all I know is that this week's instalment left me with a bit of a lump in my throat.

Steins;Gate - Episode 20

Having found Moeka Kiryuu, Okabe once again has sight of the IBM 5100 at last thanks to a hint she gives him as to its location.  Much as he's tempted to just go and take it by force from its current hiding place however, Makise promotes a smarter method that takes into account the fact that he needs to undo all of the D-Mails that have been sent in the proper order to ensure that he can reach the correct world line to save Mayuri.

Thus, it's time for Okabe to play a waiting game as he stakes out the locker containing the much-needed computer - a task in which he's eventually joined by Moeka herself, keen as she is to catch sight of her beloved FB.  Eventually, the computer is collected, and Okabe and Moeka follow its trail (with a little help from the occasional D-Mail when things go awry) across the city all the way to Narita airport, before it's packed on a plane and shipped off to SERN as the starting point for their future domination of the world.

The IBM 5100 might be gone from this timeline, but following its progress uncovered one important link in the chain of its movement - none other than Okabe's landlord Mister Braun.  Needless to say, Okabe (along with Kurisu and Moeka) waste no time in quizzing him on his role, only to find that he is the much vaunted FB, and little more than a puppet upon the strings controlled by SERN after taking a job with them to pull himself out of destitution.  While this revelation is seemingly unhelpful, and what occurs next downright shocking, it does allow Okabe to ultimately undo the D-Mail he requires to reset the world-line at little closer to its ideal - a reversion that also gives him access to the IBM 5100.  Now, it's simply a case of removing some data from SERN for Okabe to reach his goal... but at what cost?

Never mind jumping back through world-lines, my thoughts on Steins;Gate increasingly resemble an infinite recursion of time as week upon week I heap praise upon the series for its smart plot and cunning twists and turns.  Once again, this episode has plenty up its sleeve to surprise you and keep you on your toes - some of it arrives rather out of left-field admittedly, but that's forgiveable against a backdrop that becomes more tangled and fascinating by the week.  I'd love to say long may it continue, but with just four episodes to go time is running out for this excellent series.

Steins;Gate - Episode 19

We haven't heard from her directly in a little while, but as Okabe continues his quest to reverse all of the D-Mails sent to date, so our thoughts turn to Moeka Kiryuu and exactly what she's doing in the current timeline.

After Okabe has to once again go through explaining to Kurisu what's going on and his desire to protect Mayuri above all else, he very quickly reaches a dead end for one very simple reason - Kiryuu is dead, having committed suicide in her small, grubby apartment.  Thus, it's time for another time leap (and another round of explanations) to reach his current target before she tops herself.

This time around Okabe makes it in time, but it isn't a pretty sight, with Kiryuu obsessing as we've seen in other timelines over the mysterious "FB", but this time with seemingly no contact from that individual on some time.  Okabe manages to violently wrestle Kiryuu's mobile phone from her (with little remorse - this is the girl who killed Mayuri to his mind after all), but sending the required D-Mail to counteract her own earlier effort does nothing and sees no change to the world.  Reasoning that she sent a second D-Mail unnoticed along with the first, Okabe quizzes Kiryuu, finding some additional morsels of information about "FB" in the process but ultimately finding himself unable to shift timelines at all.  Although Moeka is left mentally broken by Okabe's hard words towards her, he eventually gets perhaps an even more important piece of information out of her - the current location of the IBM 5100.

After the rather frivolous nature of last week's instalment, this episode of Steins;Gate really couldn't be much more different, as everything from its colour palette to its story-telling tone took on a decidedly dark age.  Most notable here were huge shifts in the attitude of both Kiryuu in this current timeline, and perhaps more markedly to Okabe - gone was the generally kind, concerned individual we're used to, replaced with a harsh, violent, cold and desperate man.  This, coupled with Moeka's mental state, made for a striking, hard to watch yet deeply compelling instalment that adds another string to the series bow while also turning our attentions in a different direction once again.  As has become par for the course with this series of late, it's fascinating stuff, archly delivered.

Steins;Gate - Episode 18

As Okabe continues his journey to reverse the effects of the most important D-mails sent by his fellow lab members in the hunt for the elusive IBM 5100, surely nothing could possibly be more difficult than last week's efforts to get Feyris to effectively let her father die again in the name of saying Mayuri?

Well, how about telling Rukako that she's actually a guy and needs to return to being as such in the name of Okabe's crazy talk of time travel?  Needless to say, his assertions bring about a few tears and nothing but disbelief on her part, but Okabe is adamant that he wants to reverse the effects of her D-mail "properly" without doing it behind her back.

Eventually, Rukako comes around to the fact that Okabe is telling the truth, and agrees to have her D-mail reversed under one condition - that she gets to be his girlfriend for the day.  Cue an absolutely typical but nonetheless amusing first date scenario, as Okabe tries to figure out what this whole dating business is all about with really very little in the way of help from an equally clueless Daru and Kurisu.  To continue the clichéd episode synopsis, these two characters follow Okabe around in the name of "helping" him with his not entirely successful date, but come the end of the day Okabe does (to his credit) realise what Rukako really wanted from her day and gives it to her, complete with his gleaming sword.  Well, that all sounds rather Freudian doesn't it?

So, another D-mail is reversed and we get a little more information about the fate of the IBM 5100 in that worldline into the bargain, in an episode that was fun despite its core concept being very much a "seen it all before" affair - the whole date scenario was really carried by its lead characters as they bungled their way through things in a decidedly entertaining fashion which just about made it all worthwhile.  Besides that, we are of course a step closer to Okabe's current plan being realised - given the impact the climax to the first half of Steins;Gate had, you can't really blame me for looking forward to what the remainder of the series has up its sleeve.

Steins;Gate - Episode 17

Although it appears that Amane's attempts to secure the IBM 5100 failed, and as a result the world line hasn't shifted over to its hoped-for "beta" value for Okabe, but has enough changed to at least save Mayuri?

Well.... no - although her fate is delayed a little, it remains inevitable with the world in its current state.  So, is there really no hope for Okabe?  As far as Kurisu is concerned, the game isn't up just yet, as she believes that all that is required is possession of the IBM 5100 to win the day, and that the easiest way of getting hold of this is to effectively "reverse" all of the D-mails that have had a major effect on the timeline previously.

With that plan in mind, the first D-mail which needs to be undone belongs to Feyris - a mission which finds Okabe aiding her with her escape from some unsavoury (and unlikely) individuals before he even gets to quiz her on his true concern, that being just what she'd sent to her father to change history so massively.  Despite her initial reluctance, Okabe's persistence as he explains the alternate world he remembers complete with its moe-centric Akiba finally strikes a chord with Feyris, even causing her to remember that initial timeline and eventually leading to her spilling out the whole truth - a complicated story which weaves together many of the issues facing our misfit of a hero, and more importantly one which makes any decision to "reverse" her D-mail all the more difficult.  Eventually however, we do move one step closer to Okabe's goal - so what next?

Although aspects of this episode felt a little flimsy compared to what we're used to with Steins;Gate (the guys chasing Feyris felt like the stuff of a pointless visual novel sidestory and didn't add much apart from a lot of running around, and Feyris' eventual ability to remember her alternate world line somewhat spoils the unique nature of Okabe's "gift"), this was still a smart and well-considered instalment overall that was impressive in its nature as it managed to make its tangled web of machinations all the more complicated as it pertains to the "real" past and that all-important IBM 5100.  It's this ability to weave those complexities together so smartly that is making the second half of Steins;Gate so compelling when added to the already stellar character dynamics and mixture of humour and drama - it looks like we can expect a fair bit more of that as Okabe continues his attempts to reverse past D-mails.  It isn't the direction I expected the series to take at this juncture, but now it's begun I'm all for it.

Steins;Gate - Episode 16

Although repairing Amane's stricken time machine might be priority number one, Okabe and company are also very much invested in helping her find her father before she leaves.  Have they just discovered a major lead in this quest?  Well, yes and no...

Although tracking down the buyer of the badge in question did eventually reveal its owner (after yet another time leap for Okabe), the whole thing turned out to be a red herring, and an unnecessary one at that as it's later Mayuri who expertly pieces together the puzzle to reveal the true identity of Barrel Titor.

With this question solved (albeit a little awkwardly for those concerned), it's time to say goodbye to Amane as she heads off to 1975, with fingers crossed that her mission will be a success.  Thanks to the very nature of her journey, it doesn't take long to find out the results of her efforts, as the episode takes a turn for the emotional before putting the onus back upon Okabe as the man with the ability to change the future - something he does without a second thought, to create a preferable but still far from perfect present day reality for himself.

Given the sheer number of potential spoilers for those who haven't watched it yet, I've had to keep things brief in the synopsis, but what I can say is that this was another absolutely terrific episode that made the most of the twists, turns and surprises it had up its sleeve to deliver perhaps the most emotionally powerful instalment of Steins;Gate so far.  Couple that with its typical sprinkling of humour and solid character dynamics, and this series simply keeps on trucking with little sign of stopping.  The only real question is - where does this show head next?  We've reach what can be considered the end of its current story arc, but there's still plenty of other angles to cover, and I wouldn't want to be the one to second guess what it might target.

Steins;Gate - Episode 15

From reaching the depths of despair, it seems as though there's light at the end of the tunnel for Okabe as first Makise lends a hand, and then Amane pulls quite a surprise out of the bag regarding her circumstances.

As episode fifteen begins, so Amane's full story is revealed, explaining not only why she ended up in Akihabara in 2010 but also the future destinies as they currently stand of both Okabe and Makise.  Of course, now that we know that Amane is the "John Titor" of this series, the question still stands as to how and where she can get her hands on that much-prized IBM 5100 - a journey which looks set to take her to 1975, only for her to find that her time machine is currently not operational.

However, just as Okabe can see light at the end of the tunnel thanks to the help of others, it's now Amane's turn to find likewise as the other members of the Future Gadget Lab are pressed into action by Okabe with a little help from the Time Leap machine to give them longer to work with.  While Daru is tasked with fixing Amane's time machine itself, the rest of the gang set about looking for Amane's father in their various ways with what seems to be little success, until Okabe seems to find a lead from a slightly surprising place...

After the almost agonising circumstances of recent episodes, we perhaps needed something to lighten the burden of Steins;Gate somewhat, and although there is still plenty of serious stuff to attend to throughout this episode there's also time for some fun and light-heartedness too - it's this side of things that the episode arguably excels at, from Mayuri's plan to find Amane's father through to Okabe's use of the English language.  As has been the case with much of the series throughout, the balance of entertainment and "the heavy stuff" is pretty much spot on, keeping Steins;Gate at the forefront as the most compelling show to watch that's currently airing.

Steins;Gate - Episode 14

Last week's episode of Steins;Gate poured an unheard of amount of grief directly into Okabe's heart, despite his best efforts and intentions.... not that even these events seem to have deterred him.

Despite the failures of his previous attempts, Okabe continues to leap back in time again and again in an attempt to save Mayuri, failing to do so again and again despite ever single plan he can muster.  Even after all of this, he refuses to chalk his friend's death up to mere fate and simply keeps on trying until he nears breaking point - a decision that ironically leaves him in a mental state where things actually begin to work in his favour, as Makise is finally concerned enough about him to confront him directly about what he's seen.

Thus, Okabe now has Makise's assistance in the race to save Mayuri, while he also holds some more cards as far as his knowledge of Moeka and her group thanks to one of his time leaping escapades.  Thanks to Kurisu's more level-headed and detached approach, she manoeuvres Okabe into time leaping a little further back in time before setting him the task of approaching and convincing her of his origins from the near future just after she completes the time machine in question.  As Okabe muses over how to save Mayuri with Kurisu at this point, he finds himself with another able assistant to aid him in his course - Amane, who not only explains how it would be possible to save Mayuri by moving between entire, discrete world lines, but also finally introduces herself and who she really is.

Having finished this episode, I could easily be convinced that I've just leapt through time myself - no way was this episode twenty or so minutes long, as so engrossed was I in it that it felt more like five minutes at most.  Now we've reached the business end of the series it really is proving to be an anime par excellence - entertaining and with traces of humour, but still with a sharp mind and love of time travel science (and science fiction) to make it utterly, utterly fascinating.  Right now, I can't get enough of Steins;Gate.

Steins;Gate - Episode 13

To call the end of last week's episode of Steins;Gate a bombshell would be putting it mildly - needless to say, that's only the start of it, but beware of spoilers in this entry if you haven't watched episode twelve yet.

With the sudden appearance of Moeka and an armed gang as the bad guys of the moment, and with Mayuri killed in cold blood by Moeka as she looks to capture the rest of the Future Gadget Lab's mainstay, things have clearly taken a turn for the worst - cue the reappearance of Amane to show off some impressive fighting skills and generally cause enough disruption to allow the others some time to escape... or rather, to allow time for Makise and Okabe to set up and use their time machine so that the former can "time leap" a few hours into the past in the hope that the knowledge he has can save Mayuri and stop these terrible events from happening.

Although this time leap works flawlessly, the rest of the plan proves to be rather more difficult - although Okabe cancels the forthcoming party and races off to find Mayuri, he neglects to factor the shut down train lines into his escape plan and thus, eventually, the horrible chain of events that lead to Mayuri's death occur once again, albeit in a very different way.  On this occasion, Okabe makes good his escape from his pursuers, giving him the chance to time leap once again and have another crack at saving his long-standing friend - even third time isn't the charm in this scenario however, as it seems that it's simply impossible to save Mayuri no matter what he attempts to do...

Having found myself to be more than a little excited at the prospect of Steins;Gate getting to the real meat of its already delicious proverbial baguette, my excitement has proved to be entirely justified as things take a turn for the serious with the beginning of the show's second half.  If the shock of seeing Mayuri die wasn't brutal enough, this instalment somehow manages to keep the tension high during Okabe's successive rescue attempts, giving you the feeling that he really can making it before dashing those hopes on the rocks of anime misery.  It's compelling stuff despite its recurring iterations (are you watching, Endless Eight), and absolutely top-notch in its delivery.  It's almost scary to thing that this is only effectively the beginning - we still have so much more to learn about this show's characters and circumstances (although the flashback to Mayuri and Okabe's formative friendship was actually a great addition this week), and that prospect doesn't just leave me on the edge of my seat, it leaves me planted firmly on the floor with an expression of blank yet rapt anticipation.

Steins;Gate - Episode 12

The nearing completion of their time leap machine, with the ability to transfer human memories back in time by up to forty-eighty hours with a little help from the Large Hadron Collider, should be a time of celebration for the Future Gadget Lab... in fact, it is a cause for celebration, except Okabe isn't exactly in the party mood.

Indeed, while life carries on as normal (well, as normal as it gets for this group), Okabe continues to fret about the recently received threats on his phone, to the point where he decides to take a step back when the time comes to test this new time leap machine, deciding instead that they should hand their work over to a relevant organisation rather than experiment using it themselves.

With Mayuri in particular exceptionally relieved by this, the group's time to celebrate seems to well and truly have come, although the festivities are tempered somewhat by Amane's appearance as she once again labels Makise a spy and suggests that she knows more about this fellow lab member's future actions and intentions than even Makise herself.  Still, after all this flashes over the fun continues, until things suddenly get decidedly weird - the trains in the area stop, as do both watches and other timing devices in Okabe's "laboratory".  This weirdness is nothing however compared to the appearance of a team of armed men just after Amane makes a panic-driven escape - a group seemingly controlled by a familiar face, and moreover a face who has little problem in bringing this instalment to a shocking conclusion.

Really, it's hard to know what to say after the climax to this episode - we knew something was coming, but I think it's fair to say that I wasn't quite expecting that.  Still, at last we've reached the "serious business" stage of Steins;Gate, and as enjoyable as though Okabe and company's daft antics have been this is, ultimately, what we're here to see.  I wouldn't even want to begin to second guess what's going to happen next (or even the relevance of Mayuri's opening monologue this week and whether it should be taken literally or simply as a dream), but I do want to see the next episode.  Now.  You cruel, cruel, wonderful cliff-hanger making bastards, you.

Steins;Gate - Episode 11

Despite all of the accumulated confusion for Okabe in the light of the various world-shifting changes caused by the various D-mails sent by the Future Gadget Lab, he and his group continue with their experiments apace.

With a 42" CRT television in the workshop downstairs identified rather bizarrely as the "lifter" for the Microwave TIme Machine, Makise starts to put her next theory together - that rather than looking into sending an entire human being back in time, they should instead look at sending a person's memories back in time in the same way as data within a D-mail as their next experiment.

Given that neuroscience is Makise's speciality, the data transfer part of her theory shouldn't prove too difficult at all, and it's left to Okabe to go out and procure the necessary components to do this.  During this shopping trip, our wannabe mad scientist has some interesting encounters - first with Moeka, who seems to have been hoping that the lab's experiments had stopped, followed by Amane, who suggest that Makise is working for CERN; a suggestion laughed off by Okabe in light of Makise's inability to keep even the simplest things secret.

So, the group appear all set to attempt this so-called "Time Leap" using somebody's memories, while Makise seems to have at least somewhat shelved the issues she discusses with Okabe about her father - however, are they now treading a little too close to the line between enthusiastic amateurs and a group about to enter an almighty conspiracy?  With concerns that CERN are watching and threats appearing on Okabe's phone, things really do look set to get interesting now...

For all of its nonsensical constructs centred around time travel using a microwave and a CRT television, it feels like that slow build up to Steins;Gate is really ready to pay off big time - while this episode had plenty of fun and amusing moments to go around, it now also feels well-placed to explode something big in the next episode or two as we move towards the half-way point of the series, which looks likely to move us on to the "next level" from the hugely entertaining but occasionally plot progression light episodes we've been used to.  I, for one, can't wait to see where all this is headed.

Steins;Gate - Episode 10

While sending D-mail to the past had only caused relatively small upsets to the world around Steins;Gate's Future Gadget Lab up until last week's instalment, Feyris' use of the system caused a seismic shift by effectively wiping Akiba off the map as a centre of otaku culture.

Although this change and everything that flows from it takes quite some time to sink in for Okabe, things eventually seem to settle down and return to normal... at least briefly, until Ruka unveils a bombshell (or rather, a lack of a bombshell I suppose you could say) of her own.  Despite Okarin's struggles to keep up with the changing time lines, you could say that this is rather a "lovey-dovey" episode - Mayrui reminisces about Okabe's childhood (which itself brings a suggestion that Okabe has been able to "feel" changes in time lines since he was a boy), and both Makise and Amane find themselves feeling warm and fuzzy about the friendly and light-hearted environment of the Future Gadget Lab.

It is however Amane that takes up a big chunk of this particular episode - although we don't learn perhaps everything that we would like to about her, we do find out why she's a "part-time warrior" and what she's waiting for, namely an opportunity to meet her errant father.  Touched by her story, Okabe suggests sending a D-mail to her father so that he never leaves his daughter in the first place, but as this plan falls flat so he ends up sending a D-mail to himself to ensure Amane doesn't leave the area without a word.  Never mind that though - is someone watching Okabe?  Besides, just who is Amane's father really?

If nothing else, Steins;Gate continues to have a riot with its time-altering aspects, finally turning Ruka into a girl to comical effect while thoroughly enjoying confusing the Hell out of Okabe at every turn - add in the amusing introduction of some other gadgets created in the lab, and you certainly have plenty of comedy entertainment on show.  Away from that however, the series continues to move slowly, mustering only the slightest hint of a threat to Okabe and his work in this episode while only revealing a few more bare basics about Amane's past without tackling the real question of her dislike for Makise.  While my heart is still loving Steins;Gate for amusing me so, my head feels ready to move on to deeper, more serious matters - perhaps the biggest question is whether this series plans to yield to the desires of my brain any time soon rather than toying with my heart.

Steins;Gate - Episode 9

There can be little doubt by this juncture in Steins;Gate that the Future Gadget Lab's microwave time machine is a success when it comes to sending so-called "D-mails" into the past - but what of the consequences?

While Okabe is already dreaming up his next scheme, involving the physical time travel of humans, it's starting to become clear that the side-effects of altering the past are starting to build up in some decidedly inconvenient ways.  Most notably, Okabe no longer has the IBM 5100 in his possession - a decidedly unwanted side effect of the groups' messing with time despite not directly doing anything involving the computer in question, meaning that its disappearance is down to the so-called "butterfly effect".

As the episode progresses, things only get more confusing - Okabe spots "Shining Finger" Moeka and catches up to her only to find her both distraught and disinterested in him, while this in turn allows him to realise that the other lab members now remember Moeka again to some degree; another unexpected side-effect of previous D-mails.  If all of this seems important, then things really get shaken up when Feyris asks the group if she can send a D-mail of her own to the past having heard about their time machine via an earlier conversation.  We don't know what she sends, but whatever the contents of the message it's enough to transform Akiba as we know it...

Steins;Gate certainly shows no signs of departing from its slow and steady pace, but it remains as compelling as ever by shrouding the entire series in so many unknowns that nobody appears to be quite as they first seem while every character has a certain sense of mystery hanging over them.  This ever-growing body of the unknown is offset quite nicely by the show's turns of humour, whether it's Daru being... well, Daru, or Makise accidentally letting her mask slip and turning out to be just as much of a geek as the rest of them.  That the series can be both intriguing and fun continues to be its biggest selling point, although the longer it goes on the less sure I am of where it's headed - not that it seems to matter too much when just drifting around in its current ball of pseudo-science and craziness seems to work so well for it.

Steins;Gate - Episode 8

According to Juiz... sorry, John Titor, Okarin's unique talents allow him the possibility of becoming a "messiah" - certainly, his ability to remember changes to world-lines in the face of his Future Gadget Lab's time machine is impressive, but what on earth are they going to do next with it?

The answer is, quite simply, further experimentation.  After their lottery success (well, of sorts - they didn't actually win anything), their next experiment is arguably a far tamer one, as they try to send a D-mail into Daru's past to see if they can influence him to win the Feyris Cup.... and nothing happens.  It seems that something rather more grandiose is required to actually branch off a new world-line, and eventually it falls to Kiryuu to attempt this, as she sends a D-mail to the past telling her not to change her mobile phone.  Sure enough, Okarin feels that decidedly odd feeling that comes with shifting to a new world-line, and rather than simply changing her phone Moeka appears to have disappeared from the collective memories of the rest of the group entirely, leaving Okabe as the only one to remember her at all.

After that affirmation of what Okarin already knew, their next experiment comes from a rather strange place - cross-dressing Ruka, who having overheard a previous conversation about the microwave time machine decides that she wants to have a go at sending a D-mail herself.  However, this is a request with a difference - Ruka wants to send a D-mail to her mother at the time she was pregnant with her in the hope that he will be born a girl rather than a boy.  Can this experiment possibly hope to succeed, especially considering the message has to be sent to a pager rather than via mobile phone.  While the immediate result of the experiment doesn't seem positive, something has clearly changed from Okarin's point of view... but what?

Although I was really expecting Steins;Gate to kick on in a big way after the events of the previous episode, I can't say I'm incredibly disappointed that it has pretty much decided to stay where it is for now, mixing some big moments of importance (what happens with Kiryuu now?  When are we going to get to the bottom of Amane's hostility towards Makise?) with more frivolous and fun goings-on that again make the most of the show's characters and the dynamic between them that never seems to get tiring.  In fact, who needs time travel at all when you have Okarin's daft delusions and Daru's perverted one-liners?  Okay okay, so it would be nice to get a little deeper into this show's mysteries, but once again I can't get too angry with Steins;Gate as it stands while it continues to be as entertaining as ever.

Steins;Gate - Episode 7

The Future Gadget Lab's burgeoning roster of staff gained another new member last week in the form of Moeka Kiryuu (even if it is just in the hope of borrowing that IBM 5100), so what next for their experimentation with sending e-mails to the past?

Okarin being who he is, his next suggested experiment isn't particularly surprising in that he wants to use the group's microwave-cum-time machine to try and change the past... indeed, it's even less surprising that his plan to test this is to see if he can send the winning lottery numbers to the past (I like his style, now I come to think about it).  Despite the suggestions of Makise in particular that this isn't really a good idea, and in spite of getting cold feet about aiming for the grand prize in the lottery, the experiment goes ahead.  That, in fact, is where things start to get really interesting....

After suffering a decidedly odd experience upon hitting the save button, Okarin returns from what seems to be little more than a daydream to discover that he's the only person who has any recollection of the projected experiment, with the rest of the group recalling that they never got any further than discussing it before Kyouma raced over to the microwave out of the blue.  Sure enough, the lottery ticket in question was bought (although a mistake robs Okarin of his relative riches), and further investigation suggests that the experiment never took place - it seems that our protagonist really has changed the past, and been moved to a different timeline as a result.  But why can he remember all of this?  It's a question Okarin is keen to put to John Titor (at the suggestion of Amane), and one that yields a decidedly fully-fledged response that sets even our delusional "hero" aback.

After mentioning my hopes for the series clicking up a gear soon following the previous episode, I get the feeling my hopes have been answered well and truly here - yes, Steins;Gate continues to have a huge amount of fun with its various characters, particularly early in this episode, but we're now moving on to another plain entirely in the light of Okarin's latest experience.  It's an experience which harks all the way back to Makise's "death" in episode one and now begs even more questions about what happened on that occasion, while both Amane and Kiryuu's behaviour becomes more intriguing by the week.  As if I wasn't already, Steins;Gate is now very much on my list of currently airing series I simply don't want to wait to watch the next episode of.  If only my future self could send an e-mail to me to let me know what happens next.  In fact, if he could just send over the next week's Euromillions winning numbers too...

Steins;Gate - Episode 6

It's now been five days since the satellite which punctuated Steins;Gate's opening instalment came crashing down - I'm actually rather glad the series saw fit to remind me of it too since I'd kind of forgotten about the whole thing up to that point.

Anyhow, while the early portion of this episode also sees Kurisu glared at intently by Amane yet again, the real focus of the Future Gadget Lab is to finally perform some further experimentation on their rudimentary time machine... although there's something even more pressing to do before that of course, that being figuring out a name for these e-mails which are sent to the past.  In the end, and after much debate, they settle on the name "D-mail" - I'm glad we got that sorted, anyhow.

From here, the gang (and Kurisu in particular) begin to pin down the exactitudes of how this microwave-cum-time machine works in sending these "d-mails", and come the end of the episode it's established how to control how far back in time a message is sent as well as the limitations of the system in terms of the quantity of data in can send.  Meanwhile, Moeka Kiryuu returns to the picture, with her irritating habit of communicating via text message coming to the fore as she checks out, and then asks to borrow, the IBM 5100 currently in Okarin's session via a visit to the lab that sees everyone else casually leak the news of their time machine to said visitor, leaving Okarin with no choice but to invite her to become a lab member herself.

Actual major plot progress might remain slow-going in Steins;Gate even though we're now a quarter of the way into the series, but somehow it continues to get away with this by sporting some great character dynamics that add sufficient humour for such tardiness to be forgiven.  To be honest, at times I think we might even be best served with a spin-off series that just locks Okarin, Daru, Makise and Mayuri in a room together for comic effect, such is the way that this quarter bounce off one another.  Still, despite those momentary thoughts there is still a deeper, darker plot hiding away within the series, and its one that continues to hold lots of promise.  Even I have to admit though that it's probably time for some of this promise to start showing through to move the series up a gear sooner rather than later.

Steins;Gate - Episode 5

Hououin has his all-important IBM 5100, but it's a long way back to the Future Gadget Lab with such heavy equipment - a good job then that his supposed assistant Kurisu Makise is there to help with that heavy lifting.

This duo's return to the "lab" also brings about a first meeting between Makise and Suzuha Amane - a meeting punctuated by the latter seemingly taking an instant dislike to the former, glaring at Makise and looking all set to outright assault her.  In fact, it's almost as though the pair have met before, and Amane's comments regarding both Kurisu and other matters in general very much suggest that there's more to this TV workshop part-timer than first meets the eye...

All of this is put to one side however as Daru is tasked with returning the IBM 5100 to full, working order so that it can be sued to unlock CERN's secret - something that it achieved that very same night thanks to Kyouma picking up some necessary spares.  With this ancient computer in place, Daru and company begins to unpick the truth about CERN's time travel research, finding out exactly how they planned to go about creating a time machine as well as what seems to be the initial results in the form of a series of bizarre human deaths from various past eras where the bodies had been turned to a jelly-like substance much like those bananas subjected to the Future Gadget Lab's bizarre microwave.  With this decidedly conspiratorial information in-hand, just what does Kyouma plan to do with it?

While Steins;Gate continues to take things slowly and deliberately as it builds up its mysteries and growing sense of foreboding, it continues to do so in a fashion which is in turn both entertaining and compelling.  The double-act of Makise and Okarin as intelligent, calm and collected girl and implusive madman works surprisingly well without the latter's schtick ever becoming too tiring, while this episode's revelations about Amane only things more intriguing from that particular angle of the series.  All of this is wrapped rather tidily around some arch conspiracy and science fiction that is often nonsensical yet fits perfectly into the world as portrayed within the series.  Even five episodes it still almost seems as though I'm feeling my way into this series, but despite that it currently remains very much one of the big hitters, and more interesting concepts, of the spring season.

Steins;Gate - Episode 4

For all the imagined conspiracy floating around within Kyouma Hououin's head, it appears as if our slightly unhinged protagonist has finally stumbled upon the real thing, courtesy of "assistant" Daru's surprising simple job of hacking into CERN's network.  Say, you haven't been messing with the PlayStation Network this past week have you, Daru?

Anyhow, with some disturbing references to a dead human amidst talk of time travel experimentation found within CERN's records, any further investigation is hindered by the main database which seems to be linked to these experiments proving to be indecipherable by normal, modern means.  Indeed, one would need a very specific type of computer to get to grips with the programming language used... an IBM 5100, no less.  Thus, Kyouma's hunt for the 5100 begins as he attempts to get in touch with John Titor and other contacts while also bumping into Kurisu Makise, who continues to be oddly fascinated by what she's seen and experienced despite being in denial about the whole microwave incident being in any way related to time travel.

Kyouma's hunt for the key to the current mystery before him really only serves to underpin the weird juxtapositions in his life - on the one-hand he's tackling what appears to be a genuine conspiracy, but on the other he's doing so while also fighting with problems like laundry and an equally deluded girl in a maid cafe (aka Feyris) who might just hold the key to his hardware requirements.  This mixture of elements does make for a slow release of the vital conspiracy elements of this series, but add just the right dose of frivolity and absurdity to stop the show from becoming bogged down in its own high concept self-importance.

Of course, Steins;Gate is probably going to have to take a dramatic leap figuratively at some point in time to fuel its story, but at the moment it has plenty of time to worth with (ironically) and seems quite comfortable with taking things slowly and making the most of its key elements while also tantalisingly throwing out important titbits such as Makise's insistence that time travel is impossible and the creeping feeling she might know more than she's letting on.  For what it's worth, I'm more than happy to see the series continue to go down this path, and it's certainly continuing to entertain me at this point in time.

Now, if only I could change the SMS tone on my iPhone; Mayuri's cries of "Doo-da-doo" seem built for just such a purpose...

Steins;Gate - Episode 3

It the prospect of a microwave than can teleport bananas doesn't excite you, then it's probably fair to say that Steins;Gate simply isn't for you... for the rest of us however, it's time to start digging a little deeper into just what so-called "mad scientist" Kyouma Hououin has stumbled across.

Luckily, just the right person to do this happens to have stumbled into the "Future Gadget Lab" at the moment of this bizarre discovery, with Kurisu Makise turning up on the doorstep only to find herself being drawn into this strange scene - of course, Okarin and assistant Hashida only make this scene all the stranger, sending any conversations around the houses until Makise finally gets down to the crux of the matter; just what happened to that banana?  Some further experimentation involving said microwave attached to a mobile phone seems to suggest only one possibility - time travel; a possibility that sends Makise running from the "lab" never to return incidentally.

From here, Okarin's attentions return once again to John Titor, and more specifically his claims that in the future CERN hold a monopoly on time travel devices amongst other things (again mirroring the real-world story of John Titor online outside of the series), and also that it's CERN's creation of a mini black hole that would bring about the discovery of time travel in the first place.  This assertion leads to Okarin asking Hashida to hack into CERN - something he manages to some degree with ease, only to uncover evidence that seems to back up John Titor's claims...

If one thing has surprised me about Steins;Gate to this point, it's that it increasingly feels like a bit of a slow burner of a series - it isn't rushing to drag us into its massive conspiracies and mysteries, instead letting everything evolve at its own, occasionally luxurious, pace.  Luckily I don't actually mind this too much on this occasion, as the show's sense of humour and the feeling that it isn't always taking itself too seriously gives it more space to breathe - in particular, the early interactions in this episode between Makise and the "Future Gadget Lab" staff are amusing and entertaining enough to carry things along even when there are perhaps more important questions at stake.  Certainly, watching Steins;Gate requires a monumental suspension of disbelief (although crazier things than a nerd hacking into CERN have happened before), but somehow its very nature aids and abets such disbelief.  I'm still not entirely sure what to make of this series at this juncture, but I do know that I'm still enjoying watching it.

Steins;Gate - Episode 2

The first episode of Steins;Gate did a pretty good job of introducing us to its weird and crazy world, or more importantly to the seemingly deluded mind of Rintarou Okabe, aka Kyouma Hououin.  But, where does "Okarin"'s delusion end and reality begin?

That certainly seems like a pretty important question as this second instalment begins and Okabe finds himself standing before Kurisu Makise despite seeing her stabbed and murdered last episode - however, she's very much real here, which only raises further questions about the state of mind of the man we're viewing events through.  What's more, it's Makise who gives the lecture Okarin is attending, explaining to all present why time travel is impossible and shooting down all of Okabe's assertions to the contrary.

With that moment of shame out of the way, and a meeting with a couple of new characters later, Okabe returns to his apartment and heads online for some research in the hope of finding evidence of what he believes he saw previously - while he can't find anything of the sort he does stumble across something even more bizarre; a person online seemingly pretending to be John Titor.  Okarin goes to laugh this imposter off the message board he resides upon, only to find that he can't find anything about the John Titor story online, and even his books on the subject are gone.  Just what's going on?  Who knows, but things only become more intriguing when Okabe bumps into a rather odd girl who is searching for an IBM 5100 computer...

Having mentioned that I got a kick out of the John Titor reference in episode one of this series (and I know I'm not the only one, it's a fascinating story for Internet users of a certain age), it probably goes without saying that I'm even happier to see these references burrowing even deeper into Steins;Gate's plot for episode two - it lends an even weirder sheen to the show's mix of the absurd and reality, and somehow succeeds in mixing everything up in this world of delusion and normality more comprehensively.  Aside from that, this episode did suffer a little from the classic visual novel adaptation pitfall of throwing in loads of character introductions with no real point or strength behind them at this juncture, but ignoring that the conspiracy and craziness are building up nicely here and the potential for a fascinating series is readily apparent at this juncture without even verging on what you could call predictable story-telling.  Now, let's just hope it doesn't go all Chaos;Head on us...

Steins;Gate - Episode 1

Kyouma Hououin is your typical mad scientist - always wandering around in a lab coat, trampling on the work of others and worried about conspiratorial forces looking to steal his inventions or worse.  At least, that's the role that "Okarin" (as he's known to his childhood friend, the sweet but not hugely bright Mayuri Shiina) likes to play in his head... or is it a game?  Unsurprisingly, nothing is entirely for sure in this adaptation of another visual novel from Nitroplus and a spiritual successor to Chaos;Head.

As we join Okarin and Mayuri, we see the pair of them hanging out inside a building before the former goes to see a press conference held by a professor who claims to hold the key to time travel, but in fact seems to be doing little more than aping the technology claimed to exist by John Titor (a reference that I really got a thrill out of, it being quite a fascinating tale to me in its own right).  From here, he bumps into a girl named Kurisu Makise whose name he recognises from a scientific paper she wrote; a girl who seems to have some business with him from fifteen minutes previously which he clearly doesn't remember.  The next thing we know, Makise has been stabbed and lies dead and bloodied in a corridor, and once Okarin reaches for his phone after this event.... he finds hiookmself standing in a deserted street with a satellite embedded in the building he'd previously been in.

This rather odd series of events, coupled with Okarin's odd and slightly delusional behaviour, are then further explored and leveraged during the second half of this episode, as we're given the feeling that the trio of inhabitants of the so-called "Future Gadget Lab" are nothing more than idiots playing around, only to have at least some of those assumptions thrown into question as the episode moves forward to the twist that is its final scenes.  What is the truth to the story and the events we've seen?  Finding that out will, of course, be half of the fun of Steins;Gate - at least, we hope it will be.

As first episodes go, this opener to Steins;Gate did everything that you could expect of it in terms of setting out its stall - we quickly got to grips with its characters and felt as thought we'd gotten to grips with their motivations and role in things to come, only to have the rug pulled out from under us (or at least shifted slightly) on multiple occasions.  Okay, so it's hardly Perfect Blue but it still serves as a great hook to make you want to watch more and get your head around exactly what is going on - very much a case of mission accomplished from where I'm sitting, so bring it on!