[Klashikari]

Alright, I've just came back from ikebukuro sunshine movie theater. The movie lasts approximately 1h45 minutes and frankly, it was very good.

I first thought the movie would be some kind of rehash similar to madoka and nanoh movies, but they indeed promised something new and they didn't lie about that.

To describe a bit the structure of the movie without spoiling, the plot structure is similar to the originl series: a good balance between comedy and the serious stuff. And the transitions between these 2 parts are as smooth as in the tv series, with some creepy portions.

In general, I've appreciated a lot the movie for its actual continuity from the original series, making logical connections and references to it. It is always nice to see Okarin leading the lab members in his fantasies, leading to obvious tsukkomi with Kurisu.
And this is where things can go south: from what we know back in the original series, manipulating timelines was nothing but tedious. Without spoiling much, the movie gives an excellent introspect to every eventsdone up to this point.

Production wise, the movie was smooth although the character design didn't have any major improvement. However, Kurisu is noticably cuter, without overdoing it so it should probably rejoice ton of people (me included).
The music were sharper and less ambient: as such, you have much better emphasis on the heavy transitions around.

Finally, the performances of the seiyuu were as usual top nocht, especially Imai Asami who basically wiped the floor with everyone: she managed to outdid Miyano Mamoru by a fair margin, to the point Kurisu was plainly stealing the spotlight during the whole movie.

Satisfying and ties well with the themes and events of the first series. A must watch for any SG fans.

Anyhow, for those who are curious, here are the bullet points of the movie. Beware: these are plain spoilers, so you have been warned.

Spoiler for bullet summary of the movie:

-The movie is set 1 year after the event of the initial series including that part in america

-Okabe is goofing around with the other lab members while Kurisu comes back. things are a bit awkward between her and Okabe, but in the end, Okabe BBQ plan is exposed as feirys, Rukako and Moeka join them, saying they were invited.

-However, Okabe is having persistent "flashbacks" of the other timelines were Mayuri dies or when he actually demolish the other lab members timelines. These actually started when Kurisu is back to japan.

-During the BBQ, Kurisu confronts Okabe regarding their relationship. Of course, Okabe is caught offguard as Kurisu is drunk due to Mr Braun swapping their softdrinks with beers. Meanwhile, some shadow is observing them. Okabe brings Kurisu back to the living room and give her a welcome back present: some personal spoon and fork.

-Another day, Okabe has a very strong memory feedback: he remembers a scene where Moeka barges in a gun. Panicked, Okabe orders Mayuri to follow him, while Kurisu activates the time machine. As someone is going upstairs, Okabe draws out a kitchen knife and catch Mr braun offguard. Kurisu manages to reason him a bit and Okabe leaves, completely lost.

-Okabe has few discussions with Kurisu regarding his journey with the reading steiner and the dmail.

-One day, Kurisu is her bathroom and someone barges in her hotel room, and lock the bathroom from outside. The intruder leaves her a cryptic message: cell phone, microwave, Sern.
That person tells Kurisu not to forget these, no matter what happens.

-Kurisu meets Okabe at the laundry another day. She notices that Okabe lab coat is in bad shape and decides to sew it (yes, that scene, slightly different). Kurisu mentions that Okabe reading steiner is abnormal, as in why only him has it. As such, kurisu has a deja vu impression with her sewing the lab coat and asks Okabe if it is similar to before, which he can't argue back. As they were going more on that discussion, Okabe literally vanishes out of thin air.

-Kurisu panicks and get back in the lab room, asking where "that person" is. however, Mayuri and Daru have no idea whom she is talking about. No matter how hard she tries, Kurisu can't even remember Okabe's name. Feeling something is amiss, she is trying to remember who "that" person was. Upon glancing her fork, she has a vague memory of okabe.

-Back home, Kurisu tries to find some clues at home. she finds her notes of the key words of that weird intruder and after staring at one of her thesis, she rushes back to the lab room. She once again creates the time leap machine.

-Kurisu arrives back during the BBQ event, and Okabe is there afflicted by his flashback headache. However, like a flickering light, Okabe vanishes in front of her for 2sec. As Okabe is helped by Mayuri, Kurisu receives a phone call, which is of course the so called intruder, Suzuha.

-Suzuha explains that Okabe's existence is being unstable due to the very strong memories he got through the different timelines, to the point his brain no longer knows what is the real timeline.
Okabe joins them and finally understood why he had such vivid feedbacks. After a while, Okabe realize that Kurisu indeed performed a time leap and argued that no matter what, no one should change the past, as the consequences could be disastrous (other lab members anguish). kurisu argues back he will disappear if nothing is done, but Okabe calmly states it is fine, and asks Kurisu to understand they cannot continue such foolishness.

-Kurisu is trying to follow suite, staying in her hotel room on the day Okabe will disappear. As she receives a farewell message from Okabe, she can't give up and rushes back to the lab, but Okabe disappear right in front of her.

-For a while, Kurisu tries to forget Okabe, following his wish (as he told her he knows full well how painful it is to have memories that no one else has). However, every members feel something is off, and their deja vu feeling breaks Kurisu resolve.

-Suzuha confronts Kurisu, saying that she came back from the future due to future Kurisu, who created the time machine, but never had the courage to go through. Present Kurisu argues it is a logical conclusion from a scientist, but Suzuha wants to know her feelings and nothing else. In the end, Kurisu changes her mind.

-Suzuha learned from future Kurisu that Okabe existence would settle down with the steins gate line if he has a strong memory from it. So far, the steins gate line is a very unlikely timeline, a inbetween result of 2 specific timeline: the one where Kurisu dies, other one where Mayuri dies. So any interfence in Okabe existence would draw him back to one of these timelines.

-Kurisu settle their plan for 2005, the period where okabe reconforts Mayuri after she lost her parents. Kurisu tries to contact young Okabe once, but as she is about to get run over by a truck, Okabe intervenes. The scene implies that the attractor field prevented young Okabe death and we see kurisu exhausted back in 2010 with suzuha, realizing how hellish this journey was to okabe who repeated that countlessy.

-As Kurisu is sent again to 2005, she felt at loss, regarding what to do with Okabe. As she is sitting in a bus stop, Okabe does too, curious if she is lost too. Okabe explaining his plight regarding Mayuri, and Kurisu tells him the story of the mad scientist hoouin Kyouma, with a intwined vision that a yound kurisu did the same to a young okabe (circling the origin of Okabe chuunibyou?). In the end, Kurisu kisses Okabe and tells him to go.
Soon after, Okabe finds young Mayuri at the graveyard and conforts her.

-Present Okabe is in a different space, similar to the empty akiba where he first switched timelines in the first series. He is soon joined by Kurisu. As Okabe is progressively back to the steins gate timeline, he asks kurisu to give him back his first kiss, to which she refuses.

the end