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「自己相似のアンドロギュノス」 (Jiko sōji no andorogyunosu)
“Fractal Andogynous”
I think it’s pretty safe to assume most people are going to consider this a mediocre episode by Steins;Gate standards – as high as those are – but I’m going to disagree for a number of reasons. Maybe I’ve become so attached to this show that I’ve lost some of my critical edge, or maybe I’m biased because the Adorable Trap-Miko is back – but I thought this was yet another very strong effort.
First of all, with only six episodes to go the opportunities for the kind of light-hearted and banter and character humor we saw here are going to be as rare as they were during July’s epic run – and not many shows do those things as well as S;G does. Frankly, it was great fun to see a lighter episode in tone and of course, that matters only because the comedy totally worked – for me anyway. There were so many great little moments – Okarin’s “Actually, that was pretty cute!” The death flag discussion with Kurisu. The ramen shop owner scowling in the background when Kurisu was horrified at the idea of taking a date there. Okarin’s strangled “Peter Brady” voice during the awkward conversation at the café.
The other major reason I thought this ep succeeded is that it was surprisingly successful – more so than the Feyris-tan ep last week I thought – at showing the human cost of this time manipulation that Okarin is doing. And being the good person that he is, seeing Ruka suffer as (s)he does here is brutal for him. In a way he’s forcing Ruka to make an even bigger sacrifice than the one Feyris made, in that she’ll be giving up her very identity and the possibility of being with the person she loves. On the surface, the whole date premise was a classic comedy set piece, and indeed it worked really well in that respect. But it was also an extended torture scene for Okarin, as he got a taste of what his scientific curiosity has unwittingly wrought.
The episode was revealing about the characters, and not just the simple fact that they’re seemingly all virgins (which busts the theory that Okarin slept with Feyris-nyan last week). Possibly the highlight of the episode was watching Kurisu obsess over the very notion of Okarin dating another girl while pretending not to care (which she seems to be getting worse and worse at). Not content to micromanage every aspect of the day from a first date how-to book, right down to shopping for Okarin’s date outfit from Uniqlo – no doubt wishing it were her own dream date with Okarin she was designing – she actually drags Daru along to follow them. And we got a chance to see Ruka in the spotlight for the longest stretch of the series. Boy or girl, Ruka is a kind and tortured soul – there was never any doubt (s)he would agree to send the D-mail. But the desperation of the moment actually gave girl Ruka the courage to go all Carpe Diem on Okarin, which was a sad irony indeed.
Of course, none of this was irrelevant to the plot, and it was all tied in rather nicely. I liked the simple reason given for the IBN 5100 being gone in this timeline – Ruka broke it. Presumably as a boy with much greater muscle mass (no matter how he looks) male Ruka won’t drop the 5100 and that’s the key. And it did indeed move the divergence meter – up to .523307, the highest it’s been for a while but not good enough. As Okarin said, there’s one more D-mail left, but this is the big enchilada. Presumably Moeka won’t be so easy to convince, and not knowing the contents of the mail it’s not as if Okarin can counteract it on his own. And another fascinating question has emerged: just why is it that both Feyris and Ruka regained memories of the old timeline, even before the timelines themselves reverted? Is Okarin somehow able to share his Reading Steiner by touch? Is it the mere act of telling the person what happened that causes the memories to become confused, a kind of archetype of the collective unconscious hidden inside their brains waiting to be triggered? I suspect the answer to that question is going to be critical when we get around to solving the final puzzle, how to save Mayushi without sacrificing American Virgin.
It’s nice to have some light-hearted comedy, I have a feeling we will get less of it as the series continues. Still, for an episode focusing on Ruka, Kurisu stole the show. It’s blatantly obvious our lovable tsundere is jealous despite “helping”.
T.T heartless Okarin! Telling Ruka-san multiple times that his…her… Gender is wrong!
It was a nice break from all the in depth world theories though. I quite enjoyed it, with tsundere Kurisu-chan leading the comedy!
LOL, Ruka…
I guess it is true what they say, “Behind every great man is a woman…” But apparently, they missed the second part, “…And behind every great man is another man.”
He who become a she is now a he once more…
You kinda lost me with the American Virgin part, until I rewatched the episode that I understood…
It really is a shame that Ruka turned back into a boy; it would make more sense when Ruka’s a girl, given that his face is.
Hope the next episode gives us more of a mindf***k.
American Virgin = Makise
“until I rewatched the episode that I understood”
Maybe Feyris and Ruka being able to remember events from other world lines may have come from them sending D-Mails. This might also apply to Moeka in the coming episodes, and to stretch it a bit further here, might explain why Okabe himself is able to remember everything like he does. Wasn’t he the first to send a D-Mail? Also, has anyone else besides the aforementioned four people sent any D-Mails? I’ve lost track 😡
Anyways, just throwin it out there.
As for as I am concerned, only a few people have used the D-mail:
D-mail #1: Okarin sent to Daru (Save Makise)
D-mail #2: Okarin sent to himself (Lotto ticket)
D-mail #3: Moeka sent it to herself (IBN 5100)
D-mail #4: Ruka sent to his/her mother (Boy/Girl)
D-mail #5: Feyris sent to her father (Save her father life)
D-mail #6: Okarin sent to himself (Stop Suzuha from leaving)
As far as I can deduct, it is as I speculated. Only those who used the D-mail are able to recall their lives in the other timelines…
The next question is: what about those who received the D-mail? Can they recall memories, too?
There are hints of more possible D-mail used:
-The reading Steiner activate when Okarin was sick in 2000
-The static phone call Okarin received prior to Makise’s murder in episode #1
Okarin was remembering things from other timelines before he sent a d-mail in the very first episode. Pretty sure the first time he shift lines was when he was sick as a kid, Mayuri mentioned before she died… the first time 🙁
I normally don’t like these “date someone with other ppl following you”episodes, but S;G managed to keep me entertained quite a bit.
Its getting more and more enjoyable to watch Kurisu, and I especially like all her conversations and interactions with Okarin. I really like the balance between their characteristics, and they complement each other very nicely.
IMO, I find having likeable main protagonists is the key to an enjoyable anime/manga. This is fast becoming a favourite of mine.
After these two light-hearted episodes, I expect the next one to start cranking up the “mindf—” notch. /Drools for a whole week for new episode
After the series of multiple goosebumping episodes, I’m glad they somehow loosen the tension in this episode, but I’m somehow sad that Ruka reverted to be a guy again…wow I really like animes like this, full of mystery.
For now, Ruka is a guy. With time travel in play, nothing is of certainty…
Oh well. Good luck convincing Shining Finger, and saving Kurisu from her ultimate fate in the final episodes.
I only see two possible route Okarin can take:
1) Convince Moeka to undo her D-mail
I am sure Moeka has her reasons for doing what she did. Who knows, she might end up being a damsel in distress.
or
2) Find an alternate way to undo her D-mail without her knowledge
I see this as a high possibility. I don’t think there is any other way to undo her d-mail without getting her involve. Okarin best option is to destroy Moeka phone before she received the d-mail.
We do know that she sent it to herself 5 days prior to the d-mail. Given the time frame, it is about the time she first met Okarin and ask about the IBN 5100. I also recall that the picture in which she shown Okarin of the IBN 5100 could actually be the picture from the future that was sent back along with the message.
So how about sending “dont let Moeka send any Dmail”
That would be the easiest way, but the episode would last 5mn
Can’t, you have to undo the actually time travel that change the past
Warning Watching This Episode While Drinking Hot-coffee can lead to a very messy experience!
I thought I heard Rukako’s voice actor before and lo and behold…she also plays Ayame Sarutobi from Gintama. For those that don’t know Ayame is the ultra ninja masochist, quite different from trap Rukako.
Fractale‘s Clain, Maria+Holic‘s Shidou Mariya, Arakawa Under the BridgexBridge‘s Amazoness, Umineko‘s Kanon, and a whole lot more roles. She’s more than used to playing boys/traps.
Here’s some examples.
And you can’t forget this.
wait — so ruka’s been re-trapped?! as semi-interested as i was in the series removing a trap via time manipulation means i drop it, even if that means that i stop 8 minutes or so into an episode in rage. re-trapping ruka means i’d pretty much resume..
Yes. He who was a she is now a he again.
yessss~ looks like i’m watching this again 😀
Divergence record
Kurisu 0.571024
Lottery 0.571015
Moeka(did) 0.523299
Rukako(did) 0.456903
Feyris(did) 0.409420
Suzuha(did) 0.337187
Suzuha(undo) 0.409401
Feyris(undo) 0.456914
Rukako(undo) 0.523307
Heh heh. This is exactly the sort of anonymous OCD-like behavior you can count on the Internet for. Well done!
Based on this, even after Okabe undoes the last D-Mail, the Divergence Meter will be quite a ways off from 1.0.
so “undoing” Kurisu might be the trick…meaning she has to die 🙁
That is one thing that doesn’t make sense. If the 1% divergence is the breaking point to save Mayuri and the world, then 1% can be written as 0.01. However Okarin is trying to go back to 1.00. 1.00 is understood to be 100% divergence. Thus, returning the world back to a time where time travel didn’t exist or affect by it.
1.00 doesnt necessarily have to mean 100%.
The meter is most likely displaying 0.XXXXXXX% so the 1.00 in this case would mean 1% divergence.
I have never encounter 1% as 1.00. 100% is always understood as 1.
Yeah, now your pushing it. lol
I enjoyed this episode a lot more than the last one. Feyris was never interesting to me so I assumed it was just personal.
But I also didn’t like the idea of the series going into this repeated formula of focusing on a girl and undoing what was done. I realize it’s an artifact of the title’s dating sim origin but.. blah.
But this one was at least quite entertaining. The next should be interesting but I fear Moeka will have some tearful excuse for her behavior and Okarin will be too nice to her. Dating sim and all….
steins;gate is a visual novel. visual novel =/= dating sim.
For instance, higurashi is also a visual novel, and is not a dating sim. both that and s;g are more of the mystery genre.
Actually, the idea of going backward is genius…
The series first lay out story plots and kind of touch briefly on them. Now it is going back and explaining everything.
Rukako said, that she had IBN, but accidentaly destroyed it. Why not send d-mail and tell her to be more careful? It’s more uncertain method, but it could work… i think.
Yes, it “could”. But would yo go for an uncertain method when there’s a certain method? It’s also not guaranteed to have a huge effect on the divergence meter either , and Mayuri’s fate would still be the same.
It’s only certain because we know if it wasn’t certain, than this half season arc would’ve been a giant red herring.
Butterfly effect. If you try and react to a changed timeline by making more changes, the results would be totally unpredictable. The safest way to try and undo it is to cancel out the effects of the original D-mail as close to the source as possible.
That’s probably an option in the game resulting in ending up with a certain girl but overall losing the entire plot.
It’s the same with Feyris last week – if they had decided to both save her father and undo the change.
Indeed this would probably work to obtain the the IBM, It would also might have worked on last episode. But his main goal now is to undo all the Dmail to cross the 1%, and not to obtain the IBM.
I agree with him trying to undo all the d-mail, but not certain on the 1% divergence. It appear he is after the IBN 5100 to destroy all trace of himself and the lab members from SERN database.
One clue into Okarin’s stupidity is that in the final scene of this episode, he stated, “Now onto the last D-mail…” implying that he totally forgotten about Makise D-mail. As far as he is concerned, Moeka D-mail is the last one. Oh, boy I would like to see his face when he realize Makise D-mail is next…
@chaos
I think he is only thinking about the Dmails other people send. That’s why he doesn’t takes in the Lottery nor makise. Or at least he won’t need to investigate what were the Dmails.
He needs the IBN for shifting the timeline into the Beta Attractor Field.
The show never stated that. It did imply that the IBN 5100 was needed to stop SERN. However, the IBN function is only good for decoding SERN files. I failure to see the connection as to how the IBN 5100 will give Okarin the ability to enter in Beta timeline (1% divergence).
Suzuha went further and explain that she initially needed the IBN to find out what SERN was planning as well as other information then she would hand it over to Okarin. Later, she change her mission from that to erasing SERN information on Okarin and preventing Okarin creation of the microwave phone.
Nah. Suzuha has stated that the 1st D-mail was the start of the chain of events which led to SERN distopian future. This mail was intercepted by SERN using the Echelon(it’s never referred by name in the anime), thus exposed Okabe’s experiments on time travel. Suzuha suggested to delete the D-mail from SERN’s database with the help of the IBN, as it will make SERN not noticing Okabe’s group and eventually fail to create a working time machine.
And hopefully this will have enough divergence to shift the timeline into the Beta Attractor Field. This is the sole reason for Suzuha to travel to 1975 and retrieves the IBN. The IBN is always a critical item.
Okarin could do that, but he also risk encountering the butterfly effect. In addition, it won’t make a good storyline if Ruka stay the way she did. It is part drama and part shonen. So undoing her d-mail is far better for the series than keeping her a girl.
“How to save Mayushi without sacrificing American Virgin.”
HAHAHAHA NICE ONE
Given the changes in the timeline caused by each D-mail, the effect is about 0.05 for each D-mail. Even if you undo Makise D-mail, I highly doubt the world will be back to 1.00. I suspected that her D-mail will return the world to 0.75 at most from 0.55. It is by far one of the largest divergence known.
In my opinion, it is Okarin D-mail that is the largest divergence. Between 0.75 and 1.00, there is a 0.25 gap missing implying that there are more missing information amidst. I am also assuming that 1.00 is the world where time travel does not exist or a world yet to be affect by time travel.
I’ve think of this today, there are not only two ropes but any infinite number. So there may be one rope over the 1.00 and another one under the 0.00 !
Correct, Kratos. There are indeed infinite worlds. However, because of the course of time, some are understood to be impossible. I assume those are 0%.
Timelines are infinity. They are merely possibilities. The worldline is just a consistent term for a group of infinite timelines wrapped in the Attractor Field. And indeed there is a worldline under 0% divergence. It’s the Omega Worldline Okabe accidentally shifted into if he intents to save both Mayuri and Yukitaka(Feiris’ papa).
And I don’t recall Kurisu sending any D-mails. Maybe you’re referring to Moeka? It of course won’t bring the divergence beyond 1%, but it must be done as Okabe needs the IBN.
Oh no, Stein;s Gate is a harem anime! Hopefully those who hate harem anime just because of a harem tag understand that well done anime ignores simple tags like that.
This episode is a nice mix of drama and comedy. I especially like the whole Okarin going “Why is it north european mythology?” when Okarin was the one who named things similarly in the first place
It’s been a harem anime from the very beginning, but only in the last couple episodes we see some of the most common cliches of this genre.
So far, this show has avoided all other annoying harem cliches, and it has been extremely enjoyable – this coming from someone who hates formulaic harem anime.
I suspected it was a harem. Maybe it was Daru constant present that made it appear not to be so.
So thus far,
Mayrui like Okarin
Makise like Okarin
Feyris like Okarin
Ruka like Okarin
I think Suzuha like him, too. So the final girl is Moeka… Maybe she like Daru instead 😀
Everyone likes Okabe! He is too good of a person. He is like a living Attractor Field generator… =]
I never get tired of seeing all the imaginative ways Google gets written in anime. lol, “Goodle”.. I remember the last one being spelled “Guuguru”. I think it was KissxSis. 😛
I recall that certain countries don’t allow their citizens to use American websites such as Facebook and Google.
I know China, Russia, and pretty much most Communist and dictatorship countries don’t allow it. So maybe they created an alternate version (Goodle here)
My guess is just avoiding copyright infringement.
ow would you explain the use of the name “Dr. Pepper”?
In fact, the show used a lot of other well-known brand names. I don’t know why google is not used. Maybe Japan banned the use of google…
Please take a look at the Japanese Google.
Dr. Pepper name use is probably licensed. It’ not like SG can use big names for nothing and get away with it.
The Google name is just a copyright issue. Personally I like looking for the creative ways that they rename stuff like that.
I’m pretty sure the chinese did it some some months ago, but can’t remenber the name 🙁
thinking that anyone that develops emotional feelings for Okarin gets a bit of “Reading Steiner”, and i’m starting to think that Mayuri actually has a bit of that ability right from the start, throughout the series… :O
For people asking about why shouldn’t okarin do something to directly help Ruka not break the ibm, they’re missing the whole setup of the story. The whole point of the d-mails previously is to show us 1. the butterfly effect, (were they trying to remove the ibm with the previous mails? If the mails inadvertently removed the ibm, what makes you think that deliberately bringing it back will not bring unintended consequences?) 2. inevitability. He knew that he had the ibm at one point in the past. He doesn’t have it now. He knows from trying 15 billions times trying to save Mayuri that changing fate doesn’t work. So, he wants to undo the known d-mails he made to bring back the world to a previous “safe” spot with as little damage as possible.
in a way, this anime is another take on the classic genie in the bottle parable: you wish for something and it turns out not to be what you want, and you use magical wish #3 to wish that it all never happened
@Math4, I think you missed the whole setup of Ruka…
He was setup to be a she in which it was granted, but now has to be undo, but not before she make her love confession to Okarin. While she gave up her gender, she was able to come out and say what she wanted to say to Okarin all along, it just happen she got a date out of it.
While the butterfly effect was a good reason, the real reason was her love confession for Okarin. In return for undoing her D-mail, Okarin stated that his opinion about her/him never change. Thus, when he executed the second D-mail, he ask if Ruka (now male) like him.
Chaos, I think you missed what Math4Origami was actually writing about; he was referring to the first set of D-mails while you write about the ones hes executing currently.
I didn’t like the part of ruka, but the interaction with Makise made up.
I know that in anime no very often the main character pick a girl but I wish that at the end he choose Makise.
next episode seems more intense.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTVanime#p/a/u/0/_IP_J2g3IJA
Mediocre? …. not at all.
I quite liked this ep, though 17 was better.
For most part, I enjoyed the comedy. It is interesting too that Okabe is slowly learning what his decisions and agreement to accept requests from his friends led to. In this case it was indeed more severe in changing Rukako’s identity completely.
While it was a little rushed, I did like how Okabe tried his hardest to end things off well with Rukako. He is that kind of person after all, and it wouldn’t do for the episode to end off with the D-mail sent. Funny, since the stereotypical mad scientists don’t really care much for relationships and humanity in general.
Once again, Makise’s antics and her interactions with Okabe were really cute. As for the next episode, it looks…Very interesting. Gonna have to switch gears again to welcome a more exciting and tense 24 minutes next week.
While Makise is great, I didn’t like how she overshadow Ruka. I am sure Makise will get plenty of air time when it is her turn after Moeka D-mail. Then again there wasn’t much of Mayuri and TUTURU either.
I will admit that I didn’t like Ruka to begin with, but after seeing her heartbreaking confession, I sympathize for her. A second heartbreaking moment was after the undoing the d-mail Okarin ask if Ruka still like him in which Ruka avoided the answer.
It would seem that each undoing d-mail carry a price tag on Okarin. For Suzuha, it was her inevitable failure. For Feyris, it was the loss of her father. For Ruka, he is not longer a girl and Okarin having to deal with the fact that Ruka like him yet he is a guy. It is although for every gift he get, he has to pay a punishment…
lol you made my brain wrinkle in thinking who american virgin was.
I wonder what would happen if Makise said, “Tuturu!”
1% divergence
this one made my day
What if everybody say TUTURU, 0.1% divergence…?
O.o
To those life who seem to be lack of something.
ヲロタ
LOL!
I think these last two episodes were a well placed comic relief. I mean, from ep 12 -16, all we’ve had was Mayuri dieing (over and over T.T), and Okarin desperately trying to prevent her death. I think we can do with a break from all that tension and drama.
And now that we’re all “rested”, I think it will make us appreciate even more the impending mind-blowing plot twists that will most definitely come.
wait Kurisu is american i thought she was japanese!! 0_0
“how to save Mayushi without sacrificing American Virgin”
lol good one:)
What I don’t understand is why Okarin does not send the D-mail to himself, telling him not to let the others use the D-mail? After all, he has the Reading Steiner, so he would remember that across world-lines, unlike with Feyris and Ruka who forgot ever sending it.
Take Ruka for example. Even if she does not recall having ever sent the message, her mother must have received a D-mail before about eating more meat. This means that the D-mail exists, even without Ruka knowing. So why does Okarin not send a message to himself, preventing the first message?
You’ve got a point there. The “D-mail canceling” looks kinda pointless when you can easely prevent everyone from sending D-mails in the first place.
Okabe can’t prevent them from sending d-mails because they never happened in that timeline. When you send a d-mail, it goes to the past of that timeline. You can’t stop them because it never happened in that timeline. Okabe “negates” the d-mail by sending a d-mail with an opposite effect — thus making the timeline “jump” to a timeline where the d-mail was never sent(or still might have been sent but had no effect since it was chosen by the receiver to ignore it).
Okabe doesn’t have access to the past and present memories of all his parallel world selves all the time. In way, you can say that the consciousness that we follow in the story is the “active” Okabe — the consciousness that shifts timelines and retains its memories.
@ Master, the answer to your question lies with your question…
“What, I don’t understand is why Okarin does not send the D-mail to himself telling him not to let the others use the D-mail?”
It is because each D-mail that was sent was sent to the past at different time. Thus, you cannot simply D-mail yourself to not let others use it because their D-mail was sent back to a time further than your undoing.
For example, take Ruka for example. Her D-mail was around August 2nd 2010. The current time is a week after this date. Ruka D-mail was sent to the past (17 years ago). So 1) the Ruka D-mail a week ago no longer exist and 2) it was sent to 17 years in the past. While you can prevent Ruka from sending her initial D-mail, the D-mail that was sent to the past (17 years ago) still exist. Now do you see my point that you cannot simply prevent the D-mail by not letting her use it to begin with. You have to undo it from where it was sent to. You have to stop the actually time travel from happening.
Kurisu talking about flags was pure win!
I am surprised all you guys missed a major point in the storyline thus far…
It would seem that Okarin D-mail is like a genie, which is able to grant each user the wish of their desire.
For Suzuha, she find out who her father was and met him
For Feyris, her father lived
For Ruka, he got to be a girl
According to the current trend, Moeka should have gotten her wish granted. I assume it was to find the IBN 5100. Also Makise wish was probably to live from the first D-mail. So…
For Moeka, find IBN 5100
For Makise, she live
For Okarin, ???
For Mayruri, ???
I am not sure about Okarin and Mayuri, but I am pretty sure they both use the D-mail or other form of time travel before thus enabling them to preserve their memory through different timelines.
I just watched back the first episode and some of the “earlier” events makes some sense. This show is really good in using subtle hints you never have thought about (well, this is a time-traveling show).
On another note, I’m excited to know more about Moeka and her motives. :3
PS. OT: It’s cool how my watch says it’s past 4am where I live, but my post says 1:21pm. (Makes me wonder if there’s a microwave that’s on somewhere nearby. Or is it a message to the future?? XD)
If there is ever a time for Moeka to shine it will be in the next episode, seeing that it will be purely dedicated to her. Hopefully, it will answer a lot of the mysteries surrounding her.
Who is FB?
What does FB stand for?
Why is she working for SERN?
What is her background?
Is she really brainwashed?
Why did she killed Mayuri?
What does she want with the IBN 5100?
What did she stated in her D-mail?
I have a sneaking suspicion that the picture in which Moeka shown Okarin of the IBN 5100 in episode 2 when they first met was indeed the actually picture that she took of the IBN in the lab during her D-mail experiment…
FB stands for フェイスブック which will rule over all others in the future.
No1 likes Facebook.
In fact Moeka will have TWO episodes dedicated to her. Poor Feiris and Rukako… their respective arcs were condensed into one episode each… It seems that the directors hate nekomimi maid and trap miko. =[
For those who hated what Okarin is doing by undoing all the D-mail, I wonder if once Okarin cross the 1% divergence point that all of the D-mail will re-do itself. In other words, what if Okarin saved the world and Mayuri will produce a world where Makise is alived, Ruka is a girl, Feyris’ father is alive, and Suzuha is happily re-united with her father?
Utopia?
LOL, Yes. You are correct, friend. Utopia 😀
Why settle for 1% divergence? Okarin should goes for Utopia…
I may have an explanation for Okarin first reading steiner moment. I believe Suzuha was behind that 10 years ago. Maybe she was able to successfully obtain the IBN 5100, erase all data on Okarin and the jelly-man man reports to prevent SERN from successfully developing a time machine. However, she failed to stop Okarin from creating the microwave phone in which SERN later obtain to complete their time machine. Thus, she failed…
It also imply that stoping Okarin is the final step to successfully stop SERN dystopia…
The 2010 time machine incident is one of the convergence point in the Alpha Attractor Field. It’s inevitable. The phone microwave is destined to be invented. Tho these major events are predetermined by the Attractor Field, it’s possible to interfere the “result”. Like I said before, the 1st D-mail is the key of all things. By deleting that D-mail, the phone microwave was still invented(the event), but the distopian future will cease to be as SERN failed to notice Okabe’s group(the result). It’s useless for Suzuha to mess with SERN’s database in the past, because the convergence effect will correct everything she has done regardlessly. Interference is only possible within a limited timeframe of the said convergence points. Suzuha must get the IBN for the Okabe in 2010. They must delete the D-mail from SERN’s database. It might seems impossible, but if one found a way around, these convergence points can also act as the branching point to other worldlines.
What I couldn’t help thinking the whole time was if she only broke the IBN 5100 a year ago, why not dmail her a message to stay away from it or give to him early or something. I’m sure we didn’t need to go that far into the past to undo the problem.
I also wonder if we will run into the situation where trying to stop the creation of the time machine actually causes it’s creation or sern to be born. Like the time machine that was sent into the past with Suzuha is what caused Sern to come into existence or something.
I speculated that, too. In fact, I went as far as to say that the farest jelly-man was the one that started the whole time travel mess.
It is a perfect example of the grandfather paradox. The show has already shown that the present is defined as the past plus the effects of time travel. Thus, it implies that the oldest time travel evidence pave the road to time travel itself.
The jelly-men merely make SERN realizes that they successfully sent dead people back in time. Their impact to the divergence is too minor to be mentioned. The 1st D-mail, Kurisu and the timeleap machine are the keys to SERN’s success.
@Kansokusha,
It is true that the jelly man was a minor issue, but it is the one that started everything. The first D-mail is the turning point. There were other points that were built up to the climax. The main point is when Okarin created the microwave phone. However, it was his desire to become a mad scientist that caused him to created the microwave phone. It was Mayuri that made certain he wanted to be a mad scientist. In addition, it was the addition of John Titor who made an impression on Okarin as a child.
However, it was the jelly man that created SERN. Scientists found this jelly like body that seem to be associated with time travel; therefore, inadvertently create the idea of time travel as highly possible. Thus, eliminating all traces of the jelly man would prevent SERN from ever being created.
If you visual all events in a line, you will see that time travel was inevitable from the chain of events. Jelly man => SERN => John Titor => mad scientist => microwave phone => time machine => dystopia.
The jellymen aren’t the reason for SERN to start their experiments on time travel. They would never have any information on the jellymen before the Z Program ’cause they haven’t do it yet in the new timeline. The specimens of the program were all inscripted with a mark. Tho the scientists at SERN don’t possess power like the Reading Steiner, they can tell the experiment was a success by identifing the mark on the corpse. And time travelling wasn’t the idea of SERN. It’s merely a research institute. A dark power has been pulling strings behind the screen. Saddly the anime adaptation will never touch on this.
Butterfly effect dude. D-mailing has an inherent risk of altering the world line in an unfavorable manner. It’s much safer to negate the D-mail making it so it never happened.
For example in the VN, the alternate ending to the Feyris route has Okabe sending a D-mail that spares Feyris father and allows him to keep the IBN 5100. Then Show Spoiler ▼
Yes but then he could at least try it and then just undo it if it doesn’t work out. Simple as that. He’s taking the same risk of not being able to undo them each time and has with every dmail so one more experiment wouldn’t matter. LOL needless to say in his place I’d be playing with the timeline like crazy, slap the reset button if I could, or say well I had a nice run if I screw it up.
In Feiris’ ending, it’s implied that there is time travel technology in the future of Omega Worldline. Show Spoiler ▼
“seemingly all virgins (which busts the theory that Okarin slept with Feyris-nyan last week).”
This is because the show is derived from a visual novel. Therefore Okarin can go for Feyris-nyan route and sleep with her but obviously the anime will animated all the route out. Based on the same reasoning, Okarin can choose to make Ruka remain girl and there should be even Moeka route. Thus it will be possible to persuade her to send the D-mail.
P.S. Please bear in mind that I have not played SG, simply draw conclusion from it being a visual novel in the first place.
Point well made, but an anime adaptation of a VN is not a VN. Unless the anime expressly presents itself as some sort of omnibus like YnS or Amagami SS, there needs to be continuity between one ep and the next. So if Okarin is a virgin in episode 18, he didn’t sleep with Feyris in 17 – unless there was a change in the timeline (which there wasn’t from the end of 17, until the D-text to Rukako’s Mum).
I always giggle when anybody suspecting some kind of sleeping scene there. S;G is Visual Novel, but NOT an eroge ==a”
It’s the same sins as accusing Clannad as erotic game =w=
i didn’t think this ep was medicore :X
It was pretty good 😀
But i still liked the episodes at the beginning more :/
“How to save Mayushi without sacrificing American Virgin.”
That should be the name of the last episode.
she was an American babe last episode, it was only confirmed virgin this episode.
wanna be next week hopefully we will know what FB means :p
I have high suspicion that it is a codename for an special operation in a different culture. Since the anime made a high correlation names relating to Norse myth. I figure it is something along that line. I am not familiar with all the Norse gods so I can’t say for certain. Try looking up Norse gods that have the initial F.B…
If you can find the god, then the rest is elementary my dear watson. Look for what the god specially known for and you will discover what FB means and the meaning of its creation…
I am beginning to think that maybe Mayuri wasn’t suppose to be saved. Maybe her death is a vital event that trigger Okarin to overthrown SERN in the distant future. The anime did show a lot of the past, but nothing about the future. It stops at SERN’s Dsytopia, no mention of the point beyond that. Surely, no empire can rule for all eternity.
While there are two possible endings, I am not looking forward to the happily ever after ending seeing that it is too cliche. So, I am betting on the terminator ending for Steins;Gate where the future is unchangeable and Okarin will rise to defeat SERN in the 2050 thus freeing all humans and time itself, but will be killed shortly after letting his love Makise and his best friend Daru to re-build humanity and banning the use of time machine so humans can learn to live with what they have instead of constantly changing the past.
As for the year 2036,
Okarin is stated to be killed, but not before he created the resistance and the divergence meter as well as the time machine Daru help to created which was used by Suzuha.
Daru was stated to be killed as well.
Makise apparently is alive in this time and popularly hated for creating the first SERN time machine.
Mayuri is assumed to be dead.
Suzuha is assumed to be the last fraction of the remaining resistance. Thus, she used the time machine in a desperate attempt to change time. With her death in a few years after 1975, the resistance has failed.
This raise a very important question:
Where is SERN?
If SERN have absolute control of time in the year 2036, then wouldn’t we be seeing future SERN special force soldiers with laser guns teleporting through time and stopping Suzuha?!
You still don’t understand how fatalism works in Steins;Gate?
It’s a closed loop inside the Alpha Attractor Field. SERN’s dominance is predetermined by the world. They are not fighting against SERN but fate itself. Okabe still founded the resistence despite knowing that all will be in vain. Kurisu still becomes the Mother of Time Machines and got disposed of. Daru still gave birth to Suzuha. And Suzuha will eventually travel to 2010 and fail her mission. The cycle then repeats itself. The Alpha Worldline is doomed. It’s truely a distopia.
SERN did indeed sent an assassin after Suzuha in the spinoff manga Boukan no Rebellion.
@Kansokusha
LOL! That is not even a fair match. I can tell from your level of knowledge and using words such as “Alpha Attractor Field” that you have either read the manga or have played the game. The anime only mention Alpha timeline, it never used the terms Alpha Attractor Field implying that you have said something that will be shown in the storyline much later. We call that a spoiler.
I will add your name to the list of people who are the spoiler alert… 😀
PS Thanks, but no thanks (I have only known Steins;Gate up to this episode. Never read the manga nor played the game. But I do like to speculate. After episode 24, then we can have an argument…a fair argument)
It’s not a spoiler. Kurisu said it herself at the beginning of ep 17. The Attractor Feild Theory is basically what Suzuha explained in ep 14. The ropes. The term itself is supposed to be come from Suzuha. Instead it pops up from nowhere 3 episodes later. The official anime website even got an explanation section for the Attractor Field.
Plotwise another weak episode – I don’t really care about the sidecharacters Feyris, Ruka and Moeka, since they haven’t been fleshed out -, but damn funny thanks to Kurisu and Daru.
If I had to decide between Kurisu or Mayuri ending up with Okabe, I’d obviously choose the “American virgin”. A shame that it seems so obvious that it’ll be a Mayuri end. But who knows, maybe they’ll surprise us Kurisu fans.
I didn’t really get Kurisu’s talk about Okabe’s “Ultimate technique”. What’s that supposed to be? Anyone knows?
Oh, come on, nobody knows? Guess I’ll need to try my luck in the next episode’s comments.
Oh, and Kansokusha, I’d prefer it if you didn’t spread your game knowledge around the way you’re doing. For example that one about some dark power pulling the strings. You can tell us about it, once the show is over.
Did Ruka and Feyris remeber their other time lines that okabe has been in or is it just one?
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