「空理彷徨のランデヴー」 (Kūri Hōkō no Randevū)
“Rendezvous of Abstract Fluctuation”

The misguided hunt continues, switching focus to finding the IBN 5100 on a smaller scale, but fighting against SERN on a larger scale. For what purpose? To save the world. Even though he’s a mad scientist.

The nice thing about the show is that there’s no concrete plotline laid out, so there’s no predictability as to how the story will even pan out. That would already be cool by itself, but throw in the inevitable time travel twists in the future, and you’ve got one hell of a good thing going here. While I don’t find myself completely enraptured to pining for next week, it’s definitely gradually getting interesting. The hunt for the IBN 5100 made use of all the supporting characters introduced from episode two, and actually revealed a tiny bit about each of them. To sum up, Bike-chan wants to be a soldier (wut), Nyannyan was more famous than I thought, Trap-tan has an awesome accepting dad, but Christina has daddy issues.

Quite possibly the best scenes are when Makise and Okarin harass each other. I just can’t help but smirk as Makise slowly gets tangled with Okarin’s problems. Their relationship is fun as each character makes up valid remarks/insults on another, resulting in a rare equality between a male and female that is far too underused. Okarin’s comments in general usually get a laugh out of me, and the running joke of Ruka being a trap will never get old. I also like that there’s a “Mayuri Habit,” a sort of ritualistic trait to add to a character that’s not used fairly often. In essence, the characters are turning out good.

I think by now, White Fox has shown some form of success in this adaptation, at least in the eyes of a first timer for Steins;Gate. There’s enough development in each episode to feel plot movement (this one especially), flesh out the cast, and even hint at larger issues for the future. The problems I have is the lack of any consistent excitement, and the slightly slow pace. I’m actually expecting the show to suddenly turn into an action/adventure thriller soon, and if that doesn’t happen at least halfway, I’ll be sorely disappointed. Now that the IBN 5100 is in hand, it may just be the gateway to the beginning of the end.

inb4 “makise so kawaii”

 

35 Comments

  1. ok, now that they have the IBM IBN to understand the code, hopefully things will get more crazy from this point on… I am quite curious about the jellyman’s report 🙂
    the only character that is still in the shadow is the cellphone girl… and I wonder what happened to Chrisu’s dad… (maybe time travel himself and get caught up in the experiment?)
    and yes, Ruka is a trap :3

    jrj
  2. Loved when Okarin didn’t recognize Makise’s voice at first when she called. And seriously every time he calls her Christina in a different tone still makes me laugh.

    Overall i’m glad they didn’t waste any time finding the IBN 5100 this episode.

    Trystinia
  3. Wow, that little comment about Daku and the universe made me crap my pants. Anyways, I’m pretty surprised that Kurisu is only 18. She’s an even greater freakin’ genius than I thought ;o

    Click
  4. They’re going to take their sweet time introducing / developing characters in this show so I don’t expect to have any hectic actions in the next 2-3 episodes. (which is actually fine by me, I enjoy random banter between Okarin and other characters)

    Btw, Ruka is super cute… too bad he’s a freaking trap =/

    Serapita
    1. I agree… I just can’t help but see Okarin as the very flamboyant Takuto and it sorta ruins the whole serious atmosphere for me most of the times

      I wish he could somehow “man” up his voice acting for this role

      Booya
  5. Everytime he says Christina I always expect a red car to go crusin by lol.

    G-back was hilarious.I love my Mayuri and her Human form Pokemon cards.I’m starting to think Feyris is that Part timer.

    anishuma
  6. Having played the Windows game when it came out, I’m so far impressed they’ve followed the plot perfectly.

    That said, give it 2-3 more episodes until the pace really picks up, if they continue following the game. This series has lots of action and surprising twists, which shouldn’t be surprising considering it’s about time-travel. Unfortunately nowadays people are conditioned to expect an anime to be eventful from the beginning, sans steady character or setting development, so I can understand the frustrations of some.

    ChrisT
  7. I love how short and sweet this anime is, although at times it could seem like a sudden slowdown but this series wastes no major time. Normally you would find yourself watching 3 fillers before they would find the supposed IBN 5100 whereas here they just find it with no real effort and out-ruling the ease at which they discovered it as planned by John Titor. It really puts John Titor’s position in great mystery and I think it’s getting pretty interesting knowing that he was apparently a time traveler from CERN, whose confidentiality he is willing to disregard, has offered to help Okarin in some way but also adding more mystery to that fact that this could be a different John Titor that he had known about all together.
    Loving the show.

    Shirikatsu

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