「幻相のホメオスタシス」 (Gensō no Homeosutashisu)
“Homeostasis of Illusions”

I’m sure if the mad scientist had a “bug list” that details all the things that were going to be changed before or after sending a D-Mail, those cheeks would be more rosy. Continuing from last week, Rukako’s gender issues are completely dropped, and whether or not that will be resumed is hard to tell, considering they’ve already switched world lines once more (ie. some things may have reverted). Suzuha missing from the episode was a bit weird as well, and while it could mean something, she probably just didn’t have as much relevance this time. The story’s gone to the point where anything in the episode can be interpreted as “meaning something”. A bit of a problem I suppose.

Okarin’s proven quite easy to forget the dangers of time travel, hastily suggesting physical experimentation, which isn’t even possible yet. It had to take the loss of the IBN 5100, one of the more important things to him, for him to be utterly scared as he realizes there might be unreversible changes he doesn’t really like, which basically sums up the general direction of this episode. Throwing in the Butterfly Effect gives even more leniency to explanations, but honestly, it’s one scary concept. Changing one small particular thing could lead to world destruction, no matter how unrelated, but I like to think that the natural order of the universe would keep things simple.

I have to say, I’m pretty impressed with how the show’s been managing to tie in the rest of the support cast, this time being Akiha “Feyris” Rumiho. Because of her high position, her father practically owning all of Akihabara, she has a past that is highly influential, as shown by the results of her own D-mail (lack of stores for anime goods). As to what it actually was, her interest in Okarin and excusing the reason of secrecy her being a girl were flashing lights that point to possibly changing the past so that she might have a relationship with Okarin. After being instilled with the fear of “possible unreversible changes”, I was dumbfounded that he didn’t outright refuse to help her unless she told him what the D-mail was. Not only did he not bother to find out if there was anything else changed with Rukako’s D-mail, but now he doesn’t even know what to expect! C’mon Okarin, I know mad scientists tend to fail because they can’t keep things in order, but you want to surpass them right? Take some responsibility. You’re letting people play with the fabric of time. Way too casual, bro.

The other facets of Makise’s life appearing was unexpected, with her chatter on the phone resembling almost like a girlfriend arguing over a misunderstanding. However, given her daddy issues, it’s more likely it was her father. It’s too bad Okarin gave up his suave words to keep up his mad scientist image. Those were good lines! The scene between them on the phone had me going the entire way, because on the phone, Makise had the power to not put up with him. I knew he was going to eventually cave in and behave, but it was hilarious still anyway. And damn, Okarin has like, what, seven nicknames for her now? It must be a measure of his passion.

Following the theory of the orange numbers, Feyris’ shift was 0.409420, which is about a 0.04 difference from Rukako’s. It is still decreasing, so perhaps the 0.01 divergence is the goal here. What would make things easier to assume is if the changes actually compounded every shift, but as proven by everyone knowing Moeka again, anything goes. This anime just doesn’t want to make it easy for me…

I would like to see the statistics of success on this secret move of stirring while staring into someone’s eyes for information. The level of attraction the stirrer has must be the leading variable…

 

78 Comments

  1. 1.) Feyris’ hair is actually pink?

    Now that that is out of the way… What a weird episode. I’m not even sure where they are trying to go now. I’m 100% with Kiiragi on Okarin not finding out what was in the D-mail. How is he supposed to know what might have changed? I suppose he can ask her if she received some strange mail 10 years ago and what was in it. I think after the Rukako shift he should have been a bit more cautious about the long time D-mails. A day or two isn’t going to be overly dangerous, but 10 or 17 years?

    And, since no additional proof was given, I’ll assume Rukako is a guy and hasn’t told anyone in this timeline/universe.

    Ricalloo
    1. Think its the dad. Dad was dead, D Mailed saved his life and he suddenly appears. Think she went into anime because she lost her dad, depressed and all… haruka no himitsu? Anyway, her house was empty one moment and the next her dad is there and she is all happy and dad clingy

      deafvader
    2. In one of the scenes not shown here, it shows Rukaku wearing a female high school uniform when (s)he was on the phone with Okabe. This might be more information on him being a girl like last weeks “kun” remark.

      PandAEmic
  2. Okarin is really starting to grow on me. I never liked his mad scientist persona, and general lack of professionalism in what he does… but the way he uses it to defuse emotional tension and his brief moments of introspection and consideration of his actions make him a realistic character. I would probably have made the same rash decision as him; it was a justifiable and logical move.

    Infact if he were any more cunning, or more predictable and presentable in his actions and appearance, I have a feeling he’d gather to much attention. He is discrete by being bashfulness and eccentricity. Really would you expect a man like Okarin to be the “genius” behind time travel (or rather a non-causal mechanism.

    kwantum0
      1. Wasn’t the translation kinda “fail” itself? 😀
        I don’t even know what that translation is supposed to mean. From my nonexistent japanese knowledge it sounded to me like her actually saying “That guy is useless/hopeless. We should hurry to do something, or else…”
        I mean I understand that what she’s saying is some 2ch meme and that the translator tried to find something similar, but the meaning kinda get lost, didn’t it?
        So anyone who could give us a literal translation?

        boingman
      2. “That guy is beyond hope. I need to do something about him” is pretty much a word-for-word translation, but it doesn’t carry the same 2chan-esque nuance in English. IMO the localization was good, but something like “fail harder” or just “facepalm” would’ve been perfect.

        1-31
    1. Yeah. I am glad somebody else pick up on that line, too.

      Both Feyris and Moeka said the same line: “You’re right. My father did have a lot of old PCs.”
      So I am assuming either they are both the same person, which is not likely unless Moeka is the future version of Feyris considering their appearance and age, or they are sisters. If they are the same person, it is quite a change for her from an energetic teen to emo, shy babe.

      chaos
    1. Or he is just an average guy trying to act crazy in front of people who will later proven that his normal self is his best feature.

      Okarin is not a complicated person. He has average intelligence and even less than average common sense. He only act crazy as a persona, while hiding his real self which the anime will later shown us that he is a realistic, dynamic, compassionate person who care about people around him and wants the world to be a better place.

      chaos
  3. I was under the impression that the Feyris D-mail changed the past by preventing the dead of her father. This could explain the changes on Akiba. For what other reason her father appeared out of nowhere after the world line change? Or could be me reading too much.

    Hoshi_Akari
      1. Since nothing much is known about Feyris, there are several possibilities
        i) Feyris’ father died in a manner that Feyris could prevent (eg stopping her father from taking a vehicle/plane/etc)
        ii) Feyris’ moe idea caused her father to increase the size of the business, needing more time away from her
        iii) Feyris’ only did the moe idea after her father neglected her, which widened the gulf between them
        iv) Feyris’ focus on moe was the problem that created the gulf perhaps her dad felt it was childish or similar

        Zaku Fan
      2. Zaku, good options…

        I was thinking either she change the past so she was never into Moe/anime girl trend or save her father life and have a closer relationship with him. Of course, you have to consider the fact that she hassled to sent the D-mail when it was time. Another clue was Akiba changed. Another is her father was not at the apartment when the gang first got there.

        If I have to guess, I say that she changed the past so her father didn’t died. She probably was the one who donated her father stuff (aka IBN 5100) to the shrine after his death. Her moe character was her escape from the tragedy. Without it, she was not involved in moe anymore or less.

        @Kiiragi, I didn’t make the connection that she changed the past to have a relationship with Okarin. I think she like him, but more like a friend than lover type of feeling.

        chaos
  4. FINALLY some real stuff has happened…
    This is by far my fav ep of Stein Gate as this Ep presented the first major changes caused by time travel. Seriously the whole Akiba changed just because of one simple email damn. What bothers me the most from what I watched is that it seems that the series will mainly focus on the IBN 5k1 starting form the next ep…

    rasone0104
    1. I don’t think the IBN 5100 matter anymore. Mainly becuase Okarin and us the viewers already know about SERN plans. Okarin only concern with the IBN was missing because he changed the past and want to know what happen to it.

      Honestly, I see no use for the IBN anymore, unless the group discover an email send out to the organization stating they discover Okarin and what he has been doing. But if I were the writer and producer of the anime, I will not show it through an email discovery, but rather make a drastic covert operation to bust in and destroyed everything and capture the lab members for questioning. Like how SWAT or Black OP team bust in breaking windows and gun blasting the place into swiss-cheese like that scene in the Matrix.

      As we all are predicting, it is only a matter of time til SERN discover what Okarin is doing. I suspected either a spy among the lab members or Okarin D-mail experiment did some drastic to catch SERN’s attention.

      chaos
  5. The thing that bugs me is how all the assistants are blabbing all over the place about what they have. For gods sake shut yer piehole and quit telling people. Sooner or later the WRONG person will find out (if it already hasn’t happened).

    Karmafan
    1. My thought exactly…

      I suppose they all think it something fun to play with rather than something dangerous. You also have to be aware that only Okarin knows of SERN’s dystopia while everybody else either thinks it is a game or interesting invention.

      chaos
  6. Having Feyris change the timeline so much that it completely gets rid of all Otaku culture in Akihabara is a fairly big change in my eyes. I don’t know what it is she sent in that D-mail, but it can’t be good for the world line.

    1. I’m betting her dad is dead, before she send her D-mail, and to make herself forget about him, she brings out the moe culture.

      Now her dad lives, she no longer needed those moe stuff.

      That phone calling scene sure is hilarious, Kurise owning Okarin so easily.

      FlamingYu
  7. to the tune of “Video killed the radio star” “D-mail killed the Akiba moe…”
    I wonder what was Moeka’s D-mail result.
    I wonder if Rukako is (still?) a (wo)man?
    There is talk about Schroedingers trap already…

    ewok40k
    1. Probably caused the IBN 5100 to disappear from their lab considering she was so intent on trying to borrow the IBN 5100. So, she probably sent a text telling herself where it was at. To me, it looked like it disappeared last episode after Moeka sent her text.

      FrozenFury
  8. This time shift seems to be the biggest of all, it completely changed a district a numerous lifes. So we can suppose the difference between the numbers represent the size of the change of the time.
    Not knowing the content of the mail is sure a big mistake. But there’is still the solution of sending another mail 10years and one hour back, saying to don’t take in consideration the next mail. But I guess it would be to easy.

    As for Lukako there’s no more doubts about his gender. She is clearly wearing a school girl uniform (same a Mayushi it seems, same school?) when Kyouma call her about the IBN.

  9. Hey Kiiragi; this is just a theory on the numbers here, but aren’t they directly correlated to the butterfly effect?

    It seems like the numbers directly represent the scope of the butterfly effect (which is affected by the time between point of occurrence and point of observation)
    *translation: The farther back in time the D-mail goes the smaller the number. ie if you just sent it back a week the numbers going to be somewhere around ~.5-.6 but around a decade and you end up with ~.4
    At the same time though since it’s a scope of the butterfly effect, and not just a representation of how far back it went, it can be affected by external variables (such as the status of the person whose history is being altered). This can be seen in the fact that Feyris’ number was smaller than Rukako’s even though Rukako’s went back farther. In Rukako’s case all that changed was his gender (and every event since his birth that was related to his sex), but Feyris’ enacted a larger effect on the surrounding world.

    tl;dr
    I’ve started to view the decimals as the percent value of information about the world line that remains the same as the previous one. So in theory if you were to just go back 30 seconds and change your choice on a coin flip you’re number would be ~.99

    /wall o’ text

    kodo
    1. We do know 2 things: the number is decreasing and change with each D-mail.

      Because of Feyris D-mail, some events did occur that did not, some events did, and some events repeated that were taken out before. If the number represent the changes, then it would vary up and down. But this number is constantly going down as though it is moving away from the original timeline with each experiment. Assuming saving Makise’s life caused the original 0.5 change. The 0.5 alone tells a lot about Okarin’s world as Makise is a very important person in that world.

      chaos
  10. The fact that Akiba changed was definitely a drastic change in world lines but in my honest opinion, though it was shocking for Okabe, I don’t think that this particular change is going to have much influence on the rest of the plot. The characters may try to get things back to normal for normalcy’s sake, but the real point of having Akiba change was to show the sheer power of the mail, something that Okabe initially treated as a minor issue. With this, he fully realizes the gravitas of the whole d mail and world line shift thing. And where was John Titor during all this? I thought it was established that he was a key player in the world.

  11. So did Akiba just lose some anime shops or did it stopped being ‘Akiba’ altogether?
    It was really awesome the way Okarin reacted when he found out that Toranoana was no longer there.
    So the only lab member left to send a D-mail is Mayushi. The changes it would make is something I’m looking forward to once she sends one. What if she never does the ‘Tuturuu~’? Nooooooo!!!

    Hagiri
    1. Akibahara as we know it appeared in 2000. Electronics industry was plummeting and shops were selling their land to new bussinessmen who saw an opportunity in Otaku subculture. this in about a year in 2000, akibahara became what we know it as.

      before that it was just a generic japanese town with a bit decent electronics industry.

      With what happened with Ferris message, Akiba never became”akibahara” we know. 10 years of Akibahara’s history went in ENTIRELY different direction from what Okarin remembers. Even if it has the same name, for okarin its now entirelly different town.

      THink of how you would have lived in amsterdam your entire life only to wake up one morning and find out that instead of Red Lights district, there’s a disneyland and everyone thinks it always has been like that…

      Thats part of alienation theme.With each change, Okarin finds the world more and more different from the one he lived in. Same people, same names, but they are entirelly different.

      Its also actually true and in inversion – in the eyes of the group, Okarin grows distant, different from the okarin they knew(as indicated by Mayushi) – for example Okarin asking “if mayudhi is still interested in metal oopa” – for Mayushi its a new and strong obsession, but for Okarin its something he already bought and gave Mayushi.

      UnknownVoice
  12. Okarin has good empathy and common sense but not IQ (which is provided by Chris). Still wondering if Moeka tried to grab the IBN 5100 but got screwed by Ruka? At least now we know FB is someone, not a thing or object.

    Zaku Fan
  13. General note: I would highly recommend that anyone who hasnt, should read up on John Titor. Just the wikipedia entry will suffice: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Titor

    Anyway, also look up on his theories on timeline deviation.

    (oh, also watch the movie “The Butterfly Effect”, fantastic movie, and seeing this makes the impact of this steins;gate episode even bigger)

    Rex
    1. Despite what science may think, time travel is too difficult. And to add that time travel goes through infinite worlds rather than same world in the past is off the wall.

      According to sting theory, time travel is possible, but you have to basically almost destroy the existing world to do it. Wouldn’t it be easier to find things like certain particular that are transparent from time (as in it is not affect by time and free to move around). I heard graviton can move freely different universe so something must exist to move freely through time.

      chaos
      1. Time travelling is not that difficult. After all, time is travelling forward as i’m typing this.
        Controlling time to travel into another direction than forward and/or in a different pace, now that’s the trick we want to manage.

        NexJin
  14. u-wahahahaha…that laugh of his is rubbing off me…a little note on the orange numbers: the’re expressed in %. So right now, they are in a world of less than 1% divergence, and if that reaches 0%, and that would mean a dystopia. What would make a greater than 1% divergence?…That would be Show Spoiler ▼

    The series is nearing its halfway point. Things will get more complicated after that.
    tutturuu~!

    Dyne
    1. Oh, the half way point. Soon SERN will find out and have an old fashion gunfight at noon with Okarin. Another episode, another step closer to sadness for Okarin…TuTuRu! T.T

      chaos
  15. Ruka has turned into a girl. if you rewatched the bit when Okarin called Ruka to ask if the shrine still had the the computer. he was wearing a skirt and a sailor uniform to add to it.
    If I saw it right then he is now a she.

    RandomDreamz
  16. Was I the only one that saw Rukako (trough some tree top talking on the phone) and he\she was wearing a GIRL’S SCHOOL UNIFORM just like Mayushi did in the begining of the episode when Daru was all drooling on her.. That means Rukako’s a GIRL now! I find it hard to believe that the school will permit a boy to wear girl’s uniform (forget about that “lost son” anime lol).

    lucci
  17. “I would like to see the statistics of success on this secret move of stirring while staring into someone’s eyes for information. The level of attraction the stirrer has must be the leading variable…”

    It is very successful. I am not certain on the exact statistic, but I know it has an 90% successful rate if done right. It has nothing to do with stirring, but mainly eyes contact. Appearance doesn’t make assuming you look average and not ugly. High attractiveness just increase the rate, but doesn’t it always? According to the player’s black book, it is refer to as soul gazing. It has two main effects depending on what you (the doer) are trying to accomplish. It scan people eyes for movement and correlating body movement. Example: left eye movement or staring away imply lying and low self-esteem. The second effect is it catch people off guard and place them in the hot seat. When the pressure is on, all the doer has to do is wait it out and the other person will surrender and tell you want you want to know.

    A third hidden effect is if the doer desire something, he/she unconsciously telegraph it to the other person and their body convert to a feeling/desire to do exactly that. I used to do this when I was in sales, work best on low self-esteem and low self-confidence people. That is exactly why you empty your mind during the eyes contact to avoid giving the desire and producing a paradox, where he/she is only telling you what you want to hear rather than the truth (aka the projection effect).

    The eyes are extremely powerful yet not a lot of people know how to do it right. Short compared to physical attractive, but better than words and tones. You can make people like you, change their emotional state, induce fear and anxiety, and catch their attention..with just your eyes.

    chaos
      1. Actually, you should make eyes contact with sales people. Eyes contact is like holding up a mirror to an enemy, it reveals what they really are, assuming you know how to control your emotions. So I stared down salesperson and throw out outrageous comments like “you’re lying to me” or “is this good for watching porn?” to knock them off their game plan. Most salesperson try to sell a certain products to you, but they just need to be reminded that the customer is king and they should tailor products to solve problems for that customer (aka customer-oriented, not product-oriented).

        “(un)fortunately no girl ever wanted something from me to use such tactics…

        WHAT?! Who and where are these girls you speak of? All the girls I meet want something from me, most of which is money (either dinners or gifts). I have never met a girl who go out and say, “I will pay for this…” Then again I am not sexist, guys do it, too. So it really come down to the individual. But, it would be nice to met a girl who offer to pay for dinner for once…if not, I just be expecting sex as payment. Fair trade I guess…

        chaos
      2. Heh, maybe not having much money has something to do with it… I am not a target for them.
        In fact I consider myself being at -10 to spot checks versus females. Not really handy skill, but if I ever have to evade feminist secret police…
        As for the salespeople and similar creatures – from proselyting evangelicals to political activists, I’ve found nothing works better than cross-armed stare from above the glasses. Because I am extremely shortsighted, I dont risk much of an eye contact, with seeing barely the face oval.

        ewok40k
  18. The worst thing is a chain reaction of D-Mails causing multiple butterfly effects. Imagine someone sends a D-mail which makes Okarin start the D-Mail before he met makise, then he would have the ibn 5100, and a living makise. this interaction earlier in the series might have caused him to react differently, e.g. not harassing makise and thus she wont visit him. he and daru would do all the experiments causing the timeline to change even more drastically. So Okarin would find himself… where is makise? where is moeka? what the hell is this timeline?? sending one dmail can make your pass self send multiple other dmails you don’t know about. interesting how your past self knows things you don’t… a shift or trading of consiousness?

    deafvader
  19. I had already had that ‘Butterfly effect’ thing in my head before it had to be named and described, I mean its common sense that if u change the foundations, the developments are going to change with it, its not like people are gonna do the same thing whether or not something happened, no matter how small something is. I was always thinking that, D-mails can only change scenarios from the date the it was sent to and the present, so possibly it could be used to place certain items, notes or hints into a world line and allow it to diverge later in time so that it leaves it there and allows the different world line Okarins to retrieve it. Another thing is that, why is it that Okarin’s conscience only follows ‘this’ Okarin, I mean, it IS an anime so they’re gonna have to follow the most interesting story but it kind of begs the question that although the world lines split, why doesn’t he carry on in the previous world line rather than shifting into the altered world line?

    Shirikatsu
  20. Not only was Suzuha missing, but tuturu.
    WOW! Now this is what I’m talking about. The inserted music brilliant. Animation as always and snappy dialogue that has yet to cease in providing excellent entertainment. Next week will probably be a flashback episode summarizing the events and a set up for Okarin’s rise, which won’t be too bad as this show has proven to being that amazing. or I’m wrong and with another episode that tops it.

    og
  21. ep 10, in true mad scientist style,Show Spoiler ▼

    … also further yuri field generation by Kurisu(tina) who comments she is not going to swimming with perverts, but ists okay if there are only girls…
    … and some deredere moments between Kurisu and Okarin happen…
    there is als strong hint that
    Show Spoiler ▼

    ewok40k
  22. When Okabe confronts Maoka, the subtitles become inacurrate. It translates, “Omae mo shiranai no ka?” as “I don’t…” when it should actually be rendered, “You don’t know, either?” Then, her response, which is, “Shiranai no,” is mistakenly translated, “But you’re right. My dad did have a lot of old PCs.” It really means, “I don’t know.”

    Wolf

Leave a Reply to ewok40k Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *