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.