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.