「夢幻のホメオスタシス」 (Mugen no Homeosutashisu)
“Homeostasis of Dreams”

Intent on keeping his loveable mad scientist persona, HOUOUIN KYOUMA unsurprisingly ignores Titor’s suggestion of being “The Messiah,” and restarts the D-mail experiments. It doesn’t seem to be too far from his mind however, as part of the reason for his experiments tries to prove he has the ability to shift world lines while retaining his memo- *ahem* reading steiner. How can Makise find that embarassing to say? I’d totally say it in a serious face with oomph, and impress KYOUMA’s weakness to possible fellow mad scientists. Contrasting Okarin’s reading steiner, the other characters appear to “share” the same memory as Okarin’s previous world line. For example, in Moeka’s world shift, Makise asks if another world shift occured, implying that she remembers the Lotto one. So what this proves is that, whatever the characters did before the world shift, they’ll remember, even if it was their 40th world shift. In this case, Moeka was never introduced to the lab, but everything the lab had done till now, still happened. The only way someone like Makise could not remember the Lotto experiment is if Okarin sends a D-mail before the Lotto experiment occurred, and changed the past from there. The convenience of the many-world’s theory is really showing its leniency now.

Switching from Moeka last episode, Rukako also finds herself attracted to the phone microwave, and earns herself the moniker of “Lab Member 006.” The trap antics led to some good laughs, and I’d say his trap levels are pretty Hideyoshi tier. This is when you can capture girls as a guy dressed as a girl, and cause men to ease on over to, “this could be okay too… right?!” Even if traps are common fare in anime territory, Rukako’s little stint proved Daru’s fetishes can be pretty lax, and I’m not even sure what he meant by, “a guy is even better.” Sixteen episodes to possibly find out!? Due to Moeka missing, Rukako also learns of the D-mails, and (I totally called this) asks for a D-mail to change her his gender. They hit the wall I mentioned last time, as their phone microwave can only work as far as cell phones existed, so instead they opt for pagers. “Eat vegetables for a healthy child” is actually a pretty good message that I thought could actually work, barring the unrealistic myth that it would morph the baby into a female. No surprise that it didn’t, though the thought did come to my mind that perhaps Ruka would be just as flat-chested as a female. What changed indeed..?

I wanted to address this general “confusion” last week, but I had only cleared it up in my mind after I had posted. Basically, there’s two kinds of time traveling going on in the series. One is the typical going back in time via an actual time machine, which John Titor and Suzuha “appear” to have done. Okarin’s method isn’t exactly time traveling. The text messages he SENDS time travels back and branches the world line, of which Okarin has the special power to move on over to the new one while retaining his old memories. He is not really time traveling. Really, he’s a dimensional slider.

On something from the last episode, I’ve started to notice that the orange numbers that flash across the screen everytime he shifts world lines is always something like 0.xxxxxx. In the lotto shift, it was 0.571015 and in Ruka’s shift, it was 0.456903. Moeka’s removal was 0.523299, which is a bit less than the lotto shift, and while the shift from the first episode wasn’t as clear, the last number that appears stable is 0.571024. They’re decimal values that can go over 1.0 when the numbers roll, but they always land on a number below it. At first I thought this could be the 1% divergence Titor was talking about, and that the decimals could be some kind of measurement on the magnitude of the shifts, and what’s needed to prevent the dystopian future would require a shift over 1.0. But if you compare the magnitudes of the changes, they don’t really match up, so then I noticed the numbers were going down every subsequent world shift. If we were to look at the difference as the measurement, it would make a bit more sense. The lotto shift seemed to change the least, so it’s the closest to the “original” world from episode 1, with a difference of only 0.000009. Ruka’s shift, the latest, would mean it’s the “farthest.” As to what is the “original” basis to measure off of, I don’t know, maybe it’s 1.0. Maybe the 1% divergence is actually measured in decimal, so it’s 0.010000 they have to aim for. Maybe the decimal numbers even double as a ID# for a particular world line. Maybe. Anyway, I know this can all probably be googled, but then there’s no fun in feeling like a mad scientist trying to figure things out~

oh god the synchronized tuuttur-hnnnnnnnnng

Also, the show is nearing plot that heavily relies on suspense, so it’d be appreciated if spoilers aren’t even remotely hinted at. It’d ruin ma’ day, and a few hundred others I’m sure.

 

93 Comments

    1. Alternatively, Ruka may actually be pretending to be a girl, and hasn’t told any of them that he’s really a guy, though I wouldn’t be surprised if he/she is is just a girl now also.

      Soiyeruda
      1. I came up with the exact same conclusion as Soiyeruda after that episode. I’d put my money on it that he is still a guy, but in this dimension (as Kiiragi accurately put it) he never told anyone that he is a guy.

        So this may set up some important proofs that Okarin is in fact moving around like Jerry O’Connell. At some point I think this plot device will clash as Okarin points out his knowledge of the proper gender, by accident most likely.

        Why do I believe this? Myuri used the -chan (as stated above) honorific and vegetables will [u]not[/u] morph your baby into a girl… pseudoscience at its best! If people don’t believe me please read a 5th grade sex-ed book.

        Ricalloo
    2. I think he really became a girl, she blushed when Okarin was looking at her and covered her (flat) chest. That, and the fact Mayuri used the -chan instead of -kun.

      haitechan
      1. Think Ruka had a light crush on Okarin to begin with, so blushing when being stared wouldn’t be too out of the norm. Covering her chest helps to put up the facade further, and the blushing could easily be misinterpreted as being embarassed (though I think even this might be going a bit far). And again, the world line may have changed where Mayushi didn’t find out he was a guy, hence the -chan honorific.

        Think we won’t find out unless we actually played the game, and it seems sorta pointless arguing since he’s basically a girl either way, so I’ll just leave my argument at that.

        Soiyeruda
    3. …It really saddens me that deep, deep down, what Okabe was aiming to accomplish, the reason why he was willing to risk Rukako’s BIRTH and even bothered to think of a new way to transmit the text message… was to give Rukako breasts.

      He doesn’t even care if Rukako’s gender was altered, as far as he’s concerned, the experiment was a failure. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen!

      Athos
      1. Not just our hero, our savior. That is exactly Okabe’s point in the beginning of this episode. Asking him to “be the messiah” is “ridiculous”. He has the world’s most dangerous toy, and he won’t stop playing with it until he puts an eye out with it.

      2. Athos, you are mistaken…

        He did it to give Ruka a vagina…while big breasts cannot hurt either.

        Okarin did it because Ruka ask him to. Plus I think he is tired of dealing with Ruka trying to act like a girl when he is secretly a guy, and one who has a crush on Okarin. Deep down he believe Ruka is constantly struggling to accept the fact that he is a guy and not a girl. Think of Ruka as “a girl born in a boy body” concept and you will understand why he ask Okarin to change his gender.

        chaos
      3. Dude…
        Show Spoiler ▼

        Rayshi
      4. Actually he was quite sure, as evidenced by his whispers to Daru, that eating vegetables would not actually turn Ruka into a girl.
        He was just doing this as a favor to him, to make him feel better, thinking that nothing would actually change.

        rsquirrel
    4. Changing from a girlish boy to a girlish girl would be a huge change for his life up to that point. The paradox created would be tremendous. Because it would effect not only him(her) but everyone that ever came in contact with him(Her.) I expect that the story is going to do that anyway.

      We’ll have to wait until next week to find out!!

      TunkMonkey
    1. Basically, Kiragi thinks the number represent either the amount of cause by the D-mail or the ID# to identify each world Okarin shift to.

      When I first notice it, I assume it is a countdown to zero. Since the beginning, the number is decreasing with each shift.

      As for the 1% Divergence, 0.01 is 1%. Currently at 0.45. One can theorize that when Okarin made enough significance change (0.01), he would saved the world.

      chaos
  1. They omitted the 831831831831 and the 292929292929 jokes…man I really wanted to hear that again (particularly that 292929 one)…And I want a MayuriXRukako yuri doujin right now!

    Dyne
  2. I think Kyouma actually is a time traveler (no episode spoilers, just rampant speculation):

    Show Spoiler ▼

    1. Re-watch episode 1. Kyouma got called by Makise and she said he was trying to tell her something 15 mins ago and he looked worried. However he did not remember meeting her. So speculations was he time travelled to prevent her death.

      rainbowbutt
  3. Ruka also have the power?

    – Mayuri asking Ruka to cosplay before Moeka’s D-Mail event.
    in the other timeline, Ruka accepts Mayuri’s cosplay proposal even though Ruka is never there in lab? How did he know?

    FlamingYu
    1. From the anime, it seems Ruka called Mayuri after knowing about the D-mail system which Mayuri took as her being ok with the cosplay stuff. After Ruka arrived, he had no time to say his request before being bundled away for his cosplay dressing. This means she probably does not have the “reading steiner”

      Zaku Fan
  4. Noticed the discrepancy? 1 second on the microwave = 5 hours. When they sent the message to Ruka’s mother the timer was 120, i.e. 5 days like the previous experiments. I guess White Fox skimped and reused old footage 😛

    SnooSnoo
    1. Just calculated and I assume they want approximately 17 years ago w/o counting in Ruka’s birthday, the timer should be set to 29808~. Good thing that microwave can handle 5 digits. =3=

      SnooSnoo
    2. I noticed that, too when I first watch the episode. It was odd that the timer was 120. According to Kurisu, the max time is 99,999 which is about 11 years. So it would have been impossible to send text to 17 years in the past.

      The only explanation is that Kurisu and Daru made modification to the microwave.

      Anybody notice the red 4 digit numbers on top of the 00120 timer? (it was 0600)

      chaos
      1. Don’t forget that Daru uses a software on his computer to enter the time. So my guess is that the numbers displayed on the microwave are are not a reference. What is truly important is the numbers on the computer.

        Kratos
  5. Good point on the difference of the numbers.

    On the episode, part time girl = John Titor seems to gain more traction with part time girl’s reaction to it. Moeka does seem to be getting more and more suspiscious and they really should have checked on the IBN computer still being in the lab. Chris getting surprised with Ruka was amusing.

    Mayuri’s duturu’s infecting everyone in a good way and Daru an excellent hentai gentleman

    Zaku Fan
  6. I dunno why so many animes have an effeminate guy character that dress as a girl? Hoshizora has a weak little brother that dressed up as a female cheerleader with pom poms to cheer on his brother.

    How often does that happen in real life?

    Karmafan
    1. who knows, need to live in Japan to tell

      anyway, i’m O.K with a cute crossdresser, i don’t hate em
      but those characters that always act like girls, all emotional and shit, they just piss me off

      jj
      1. I don’t think I have ever met a man who looked enough like a woman to pass as one on a daily basis. But maybe there are people out there who may be a little dissatisfied with who they were born as. It’s not exactly like we get a choice.

        I have a feeling this phenomena in anime is actually fan service for female viewers. I could be completely wrong. I think women can be just as perverted as men, they just have to hide it more for societal reasons while men get to flaunt it.

        Maybe in Japan it is more tolerated… *shrug*

        Ricalloo
    2. It is rare, only a small number (less than 1% of the population).

      I however have seen a number of female that can easily pass off as male. I remember notice them and keep looking to make sure my eyes is not lying to me, but it was indeed a female…just have very masculine features.

      I did see a few guys that can pass off as girls. Very few.

      The idea is actually really simple. I was it on “Face Off” where each artist has to change the bride into the groom and via versa. It stated that changing a girl into a guy require adding certain features which is easy while it is very difficult to change a guy into a girl because it require you to remove certain features. So it is easier for girls look like a guy than vice versa.

      However because Asians have slim and more feminine appearance, it is not difficult for a guy to look like a girl. It is also true that European and African girls can easily be mistaken for guy at first look.

      chaos
    1. It’s probably only near halfway through the season but from what I’ve seen so far, it’s really entertaining. The time travel aspect of the show is the most intriguing part of it (obviously). It manages to keep you guessing and you’re on the edge of the seat most of the time. Suer the main character acts a bit weird at times, but that’s why the show is interesting. He gives it life, and the other characters all have their eccentricities too.

      I’d give it a 8 out of 10 so far, mainly because I can’t stand Moeka and also because it’s not done yet. So yeah. 🙂

  7. When Ruka said he wanted to be a girl, I spat all over my screen. I had a feeling he was going to become a girl eventually, but I did not expect him to outright ask.

    Yay, now I don’t have to feel weird about finding Ruka cute. X3

    MrMartini
  8. I am wondering when they’ll bring Makise’s death back into the storyline. After Makise learned about the microwave, Kyouma should have brought the topic up. Someone killed her in episode one, so that means the murderer must still exist. Somehow all clues point to Suzuha, the part-timer, because she exhibited hostile behaviors towards Makise. Suzuha must be a time-traveler. However, there isn’t much information to state whether she is a SERN agent or not. We do know time travel is possible for humans in the future because John Titor manages to go back into th past.

    I do feel that the murderer is among the group of people Kyouma has met so far. Another thing is someone is pulling strings from the future by dropping off the IBN computer or Kyouma. Well that’s all I can think of as of now.

    Distraction
  9. For some reason the numbers remind me of something of what Call of Duty: Black Ops did in their single player. It means something and it’ll probably be important later on.

    Jason Isenberg
  10. I wonder if actually becoming a girl disqualifies Ruka from competing for the Trap of the Year award…

    Obviously Kiiragi has taken quite a liking to her…umm, him. Just like with Hideyoshi.

    MasterDragonKnight
  11. “Cute is justice!”

    God… this episode… this isn’t even something that you can accomplish with just clever dialogue. Clearly WHITE FOX has NO problem going the extra mile just to make a joke work– not quite KyoAni level, but it’s definitely up there. I mean, just look at the “psychological attack” segment, complete with close up and dramatic background music. That scene priceless all on it’s own, but then they felt the need to do the exact same joke when Kurisu arrived… my sides hurt.

    I like how they managed to give us the “Kurisu finds out about Ruka-kun” event just before they changed his gender. Ironically, now the tables are turned and it’s Okarin that hasn’t figured out that Ruka is actually a girl. Can’t wait to see that bomb going off.

    Kiiragi’s theory about the 1% divergence was very interesting. If it turns out to be true (he was very convincing, mind you), the mystery side of this series is pretty much off the table by now. From here on in, there is only room for VIOLENT MASS SPECULATION. Will they go over the 1% cap and into the end of the world as we know it? How is SERN going to fit in all this? Is there a mole? An evil mastermind? Will they all make it out ok? Will the ending suck? Will it deliver? And more importantly, who’s ending are we gonna get?

    Let the games begin!

    Athos
  12. Still changing past to such time ago is realy dangerous, I wouldn’t except Kyouma to realy try it.
    Let’s say that Luka’s mother received the D-mail and decide to go buy veggies and is runned over by a car, Luka will never be born and so disappear from the current time line.

    Kratos
    1. You are assuming what happen in the movie “The Butterfly’s Effect.”

      I don’t think reality change that much, just off by a few degree. Thin about it, when has reality (our reality here) went crazy or gone berserk. Things in reality tend to follow a long boring process with little changes.

      The what-if questions are endless…best not to state them.

      chaos
  13. Not sure if u consider this a spoiler as its just my speculation but ill just put it just in case.
    Show Spoiler ▼

    rainbowbutt
  14. and I get the strange feeling that part timer girls father is the man that dropped of the IBN and Shining Finger is a SERN agent… why?
    Moeka, I find ye very suspicious.
    Like, just throwing this out there,
    but her constant want of trying to get the IBN into her own hands.
    Volunteering something that would seem obvious for the experiment that would have to do with her, see if this is truley the real deal or not by seeing if she ever got that message, having decided it ahead of time what it would say and how she would move if she got it… with in mind going there to have it be sent.
    SHINING FINGER, I SUSPICIOUS OF YEE.

    3242
      1. Just noticed this doesn’t show in a spoiler tag in the recent comments section on the main page.
        Not a big deal for me because I remember someone mentioning it in an earlier episode’s post.

        Trystinia
  15. i think it was really stupid that kyoma sent a message to a past that far back. When you change anything even the smallest thing in the past, it affects huge thing in the future. Just with the air moving in a different way in the past can greatly affect the future.

    Ikaros135
    1. the greatly affecting future thing is probably what kiiragi is stating abt the orange numbers on being divergence 1%. so far none of the d-mails they sent had a strong divergence from the original timeline so there is a possibility nothing will change that much.

      rainbowbutt
      1. they only changed the past up to five days ago, in such short time nothing realy important could have change. However changing something 17 years ago may have a big result in the present. We will see next week how big are the damages.

  16. Another point that wasn’t abord yet here is Suzuha.
    I previously didn’t think that she could be titor because of her immature way of reacting, always on reflex. But with this time’s discussion I may reconsider that.
    First, how does she know about titor? I don’t remember Kyouma telling her about him.
    Second is the way she react when kyouma doubts about titor words. She after asks “what part”
    as if she knew all the discussion parts.

    1. 1% divergence refer to stop SERN’s dystopia. Of course, you can always send a text message to yourself 20 years into the past and killed off important members of SERN so the organization never form in the first place.

      However, how do you know they ain’t sending their own assassins to killed Okarin before he can killed them. Kinda like the Terminator all over again…

      chaos
  17. I supposed if sending text messages across different timelines is possible, changing the gender of your baby through eating more vegetable should be achievable too

    Daru’s “a guy is even better” comment made me LOL

    Seishun Otoko
  18. What drastic effects can happen by sending a text message to Rika’s mother?

    I say the major effect has to be Ruka being a girl. The least cannot be nothing since something did changed. I doubt something major, more like little differences.

    I am getting the vibe that every time Okarin changed the past, he unexpectedly did something else instead. Kinda remind me of the Monkey’s Palm. When he want to change Moeka from getting a new phone, she disappear and was never a member of the group. When he want to win the lotto, it failed.

    chaos
  19. How come I never thought of this genius idea before…

    Why is Okarin sending banana and text to the PAST? If the damn thing can travel through time, why not send it into the FUTURE?

    Who care about the past, I want to know about the future and all the cool stuffs they have. If I was Okarin, I would text myself in the future to send me back a real god-damn working time machine…and a robot babe for Daru to play with. And some money because I am broke in the past. LOL

    chaos
  20. With all the speculations above and with the action of covering ‘her’ chest, I’d say Ruka did become a girl -flat chested-.
    or you could say that Okarin has shifted the world line where Ruka is a girl.

    Hagiri
  21. Okay, I barely got into this since 2 days ago and caught up with the episodes. So far, I could say that he’s John Titor himself. (If this is already mentioned somewhere, sorry…the forum thread was long, so I didn’t read). And that the part-time worker is someone from the future (or past) , because she keeps mentioning that she’s never seen fireworks or that “Oha (‘Sup)” is the way to say hello “now”. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just tripping balls.

    jamieee
  22. 2 things: Ruruka actually did become a girl. Everyone was calling him a pervert for staring at her, they refered to Ruruka with “chan” instead of “kun”, and if nothing happened, Hououin wouldn’t have felt that space distord spazzing after sending the d-mail.

    As for Daru saying he likes it better (Ruruka being a guy), he obviously meant going from a Yuri scene to a B/G scene with Mayuri.

    YanDaMan
    1. I don’t buy it, yet. Yes, Ruruka was called -chan instead of -kun. And yes, Okarin got labeled a pervert. However, this can be explained away easily. Ruruka simply could never have told anyone he is a boy. He looks so feminine he can pass as a girl without error. That, and what you eat when you are pregnant can’t change the sex of your baby… >_< Additionally, there were no breasts. Now, a flat chest doesn't necessarily prove a person is a boy, but the presence of breasts generally can rule out boy immediately.

      Though, if they choose to change the "rules" in this show, which is fine since it is a sci-fi genre, and they say Ruruka is in fact a girl now, I would be fine with it. Though, maybe a little irked.

      All of the evidence presented to us at this point leads me to believe he is still a boy, but in this timeline he hasn't told anyone.

      Ricalloo

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