Okay, so I’ve complained that the characters in this series are too one-sided. Okay, I take that back. With such brilliant acting as in this episode, Okabe and Mayuri have more than shown that they are awesome characters. This episode was just amazing.
Let alone the plot twist at the end of this episode, it rocked because of Okabe and Mayuri’s rock-solid performance. The trust between everyone also was incredibly well detailed, and I especially liked Mayuri as she got dragged around without knowing what’s going on, and how Okabe traced back what she had been doing in the past episode. With this episode the relationship between the two of them really shined.
The biggest questions were asked at the beginning of the episode, and most of them revolve around the part-timer: why didn’t she warn about the obvious villain of Shining Finger, but instead was so hung up over Makise Kurisu? She seemed to know her when she talked to her with those cryptic lines. Also, “42”? Was that really meant to reference the answer to life, the universe and everything or is it just technobabble that we’re only supposed to understand over a few months?
Rating: *** (Awesome)
My theory.
Moeka Kiryuu = MK
Makisu Kurisu = MK
> Also, “42″? Was that really meant to reference the answer to life, the universe and everything or is it just technobabble that we’re only supposed to understand over a few months?
I’m pretty sure “42” referred to the amount of inches on the tv, since she continued by saying “CRT”, “It’s on.”
I think It’s a reference to hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy where 42 was the meaning of life.
I agree with Linus.
In the previous episodes it was shown that one of the TVs in the shop had to be turned on for the D-Mail to work. I guess the Time-leap-machine only works under this condition too.
By saying that the 42 inch CRT TV is on, the part-timer tells Okarin to use the time machine to save themselves.
Maybe the 42 is a reference to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but I can only guess that it is.
Its obviously the tv she is talking about, maybe she ran downstairs to turn it on just in case.
Yep “42” is the answer to the “Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything” from the novel The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. It’s another meme you should know. I guess it goes to show that you won’t understand the random “blabbering” of the stuff if you’re not familiar with Internet/literature memes. Man, I’m absolutely in love with this show.
Loved this episode. They cut out some of the unneeded parts from the VN, such as Okabe witnessing the death of Mayuri in the same manner before he Time-Leaped.
The 42 is not a reference to Hitchhikers guide but the TV downstairs, according to the VN.
@spearOfDawn: Sort of like foreshadowing it somehow? Was it like a vision?
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This episode was incredible, so intense… And I dont really care if Mayuri stays dead, since shes so annoying, but whats up with the timeline concept changing completely?
Unless its a time leap vs D-mail thing, if they can change the sex of a guy, surely they can stop someone from dying as well
It’s actually quite genius if you think about it. By doing the “time leap” thing, Okabe doesn’t change world lines. And from the evidence in the episode, fate is locked in a particular world line. Mayuri is going to die no matter what he does in this world line, fate is sealed.
Time Leap – Time is linear, set in stone; you can’t change the overall outcome. [The kill your own dad impossibility paradox]
D-Mail – Change to an alternate universe where anything is possible. Only Okabe knows a change has occurred. [You could use a D-Mail to hire an assassin to kill your dad before you are born and the universe is completely ok with that.]
That’s what I’m inferring from the evidence in the past few eps, I’d love to see if I’m right.
@Spike
Wrong.
ANY time travel is about changing world lines. Its just that the worldline is identical till okabe does something different.
You can’t “CHANGE” stuff in the same worldline as your starter point.
I spent the whole episode trying to figure out a clever way to outsmart the ‘She must die’ fate’. The idea I had was to make sure that Mayuri was not with Okabe at that time, since CERN is after him…to only have that theory ruined by the final scene!
Every scenario I can think of most probably will have an incident to keep fate locked. Spike is right, he needs to use a D-mail. I think he needs to send D-mails undoing every previous D-mail up to the one Shining Finger sent and then send a D-mail to himself warning him to not trust her in the first place.
Up to think episode I didn’t think highly of Steins Gate, it was too slow. But this episode completely changed my opinion. Need next episode now!
The reason why future girl says “42 CRT On Downstairs” was because as the goons burst in the first thing they did was to smash the TV that was on upstairs so that they couldn’t Time Leap. 42 inch is just a common TV size that’s all, although it is kinda cool that it matches the answer to life the universe and everything 🙂
And of course it has to be a CRT not a flat screen as we found from previous episodes the Cathode ray tube plays some role in the time machine.
What I don’t get about this episode is why Okabe doesn’t tell everyone what’s going to happen to each other after he’s made the leap. Surely the others won’t find it so unbelievable, considering the sort of things they have already experienced. And I’m guessing 4 heads should be better than 1 (especially Okabe’s 1).
I’m not sure I entirely buy the whole ‘Mayuri must die’ situation… does the series agree that fate exists and that deaths are unchangeable in a particular world line? Some things may be different – for eg. in the earlier world line, Mayuri is shot by Moeka. Later, she gets pushed off by Braun’s daughter, who appears to have a mental breakdown after that. In the earlier wordline, Braun’s daughter would not have that breakdown.
So does that mean only all deaths are predetermined by fate? Sounds a bit too mystical to me…
@Prost…Mayruiii yeah she was being ESPECIALLY annoying in this episode like wtf, I was glad when she died for like the 4543634th time lol, I mean its really been her stupidity that got her killed in the first place (by telling Moeka of all the stuff that was happening in the lab when she wasn’t supposed to) At least people die for their stupidity in this show haha.
Haha appreciate the Hitchhiker’s reference from you psgels and (possibly unintentionally) from this show. Technically they do a lot of time-traveling in Hitchhiker’s( past and future) so it’s possible there’s a connection. I mean I always try to sneak in that number whenever I can for the sheer fun of it. OR it could just be one big coincidence. Who knows?:)
Arthur:Six by nine. Forty two.
Ford: That’s it. That’s all there is.
Arthur:I always thought something was fundamentally wrong with the universe
-Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
The commenter was 100% right when he said it was madoka all over again. Now I get shivers watching that scene… And when Okabe said that last line, it’s just… just… 0__o
@betawatcher
Except that Steins;Gate pre-dates Madoka by more than few years 🙂
Question: Did Mayuri died at the exact same time in all three iterations?
@ahelo: Yeah I think she did. I was trying to pay attention to the time as well.
I was kind of expecting Shining Finger to step off the train as it stopped at the station, like a visual ‘you can’t escape’ >.
Also, I agree with the first commenter. Suzu got the 2 characters confused, she was being cautious about the wrong person…
Watching this episode gives me a sense of depression & hopelessness.
this is getting exciting. in great anticipation to watch the next episode. preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri8-CcKmewc
“why didn’t she warn about the obvious villain of Shining Finger, but instead was so hung up over Makise Kurisu?”
You………have a point.
@betawatcher
And 2002 adaptation of The Time Machine pre-dates Steins gate. And surly something even pre-dates that as well. It’s a common setup in time travel stories.
… Why didn’t Rintarou think to just send another D-mail, instead of time leaping? At least then the world line would’ve changed….
The general consensus on the blogs seems to be that Mayuri is invariably killed in every alternate timeline because such things as birth and death have been predestined. I suppose Okabe’s realization in an earlier episode that, although events can be altered, relationships remain the same in every alternate timeline. In a way, that’s both comforting and distressing, isn’t it? Surely you’ve considered it: if you went back in time prior to your conception and did something that changed the instant of your conception by even a few minutes, would the same sperm still reach the egg? Would you be someone completely different? What of those loved ones of yours born after you? Would your potentially changed birthday change the timeline such that they would not be the same people? Herein, the series seems to be asserting that the answer would be a firm no, although it did, indeed, allow for gender changes. Yet, you would theoretically be able to travel back and give advice to your loved ones without suffering guilt from the knowledge of the possibility that your time-traveling might indirectly erase the existence of any of your younger acquaintances.
That having been said, I, too, wish that he had debriefed the Part-Timer. As soon as he encountered her near the alleyway, he should have grabbed her hand, sprinted with her to Mayuri, then explained everything. That’s what I would have done, anyway. Yet, we can’t chalk-up his having not done that to poor writing; he twice deliberately kept the information from Christine. Any normal person would have sucinctly explained everything, but Okabe is not a normal person. He’s consistently been portrayed as a bitt off-kilter. His desire to be the only person on the planet who knows that he has traveled through time might actually originate from a desire to possess and internalize something — anything — that makes him special from a scientific perspective.
@Wolf you are half right about the predestination thing, Im not gonna spoil it but John Titor Explained to Okabe that he CAN change those kinds of fates, There is a very specific explanation of this in the Side story Manga (which tells the story form Suzuhas perspective)if you wanna go look it up. but basically, if you don’t want to be spoiled, just go back and pay close attention to the conversations between okabe and Titor, as well as the numbers that appear when ever okabe sent a D-Mail.
One solution that Okabe could have done was just to give the time machine to sern. and not even ask about Mayuri. Or better yet, just call up sern and be like Hey heres the time machine you wanted it, come and get it, we will help you too etc. . . then they would have avoided all of that…but as the anime goes on you can understand why I said that…
No, the whole point is that Okabe can NOT just hand over the time machine to CERN. CERN is trying to eliminate ALL witnesses and there primary stake is the destruction of everything Okabe has done with time travel. That’s why assassins are hired to kill the entire Lab rather than just stealing the device to prevent further experimentation with the time line and spread of knowledge in relation to it. Thus, Okabe has no options except some form of escape lest he and everyone is knows is murdered to destroy knowledge of the secret.