Steins;Gate - Episode 24 (END) Discussion / Poll

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Darklord_bg

"Another Heaven" by Kanako Itou

TY! Needed that for my final blog post.

[CatOfTime]

Great ending for an awesome series. This episode deserves a solid 9/10.

The last episode (23) brought my hopes up for something a bit more epic than what the method of deceiving the world ended up being but of course the decision for this kind of ending was understandable as there was only 1 episode left (though the VN didn't have that kind of limits so they could have done something more "epic"). This was my main reason for not giving this episode a 10/10 Of course, even Okabe explains how Okabe tends to speak about simple things :P

Oh well, overall this episode wrapped things up very nicely and left, as far as I know, no things unexplained except for the time machine... what happened to it? Is it still on top of the roof... does the microwave time machine still work etc.? Whatever the case, the most important questions like who picked the metal upa were answered and that's what matters.

Most importantly, after this episode, I feel satisfied. I am not angry, I want more but because things are so well wrapped up, I don't need more in order to just feel satisfied. What an honorable ending! Some series should really take a lesson from Steins;Gate!

Overall, this series has been the best anime series I've seen in years. Overall score 9,5 out of 10 and shares my top1 anime spot with Death Note.

[RadiantBeam]

10/10 for me. I'm a sap like that. (Also, I need to go and listen to "Another Heaven" like, right now before my recitation period.)

While I loved the episode all around just for the sense of closure it gives, I especially love the last minute or so when Kurisu and Okabe meet; because while it obviously notes the fact that she remembers him to some extent, responding to her old nickname, she doesn't remember him completely, and I like that kind of touch. It's just enough to avoid the old idea of her remembering him out of love, and just enough to hint that even in this new world where she has buried memories of him, they still might have a future together.

(Now I'm curious as to how, exactly, Okabe goes about winning her back!)

Also, what exactly happened to Kurisu's father? Was he arrested, or did he just have a mental breakdown because he lost the time travel paper? I couldn't exactly tell from the few seconds or so they showed him.

Another small, nice touch: seeing Moeka actually interacting with other people, and tentatively forming bonds with them. I don't know why, but that scene really cemented for me that this was a new, unknown future for all of the characters.

[trinitem]

Kurisu's father is having an opposite moment of his praise to the Russian Airlines and himself. Instead, he is cursing the Russians for the delay of science by a century right before being taken away due to his spasm and non-possession of a history-changing thesis.

[SonOfHeaven]

Great ending to a great series. Won't repeat what others have said in detail. Definitely one of the best animes I've seen in years.

[Triple_R]

The ending went a bit too strong on the happy ending side for me.

Just too many happy, almost magical things going on here. Takes some of the punch out of the ending for me.

We had...

1) Okabe gets to meet up with Kurisu again. It would have felt a bit more poignant to me if the price for saving her was never getting to meet her again.

2) Okabe is back on his feet, recovered from the stab wound, happy as ever, before the episode is over.

3) Okabe is buddy-buddy with all his past lab members, including Moeka.


Either 2 of the 3 I could probably take, but all three?

Sorry, WhiteFox, you went a bit too far here, imo.

Still a good, satisfying conclusion, but I won't remember it as fondly as I otherwise would.


8/10 for a nice, neat and tidy ending, but not the classic that it could have been, imo.

[Hooves]

At first I would have thought this was going to end with Okabe sacrificing himself to fulfill the new world line that he ever so dreamed of. He did lose alot of blood from that stab and it would have taken a long time to get him to a hospital after losing that much. But magically he healed from that wound and is back up on his feet for (who knows how long). I liked the fact that Kurisu remembered him, that part was good, but apparently the 3rd one was awkward with all the lab members taking it so readily (Moeka was the only one I had doubts about).

[Kusa-San]

The last word should have been : Tuturuuuuuuuuuuu !

[trinitem]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

1) Okabe gets to meet up with Kurisu again. It would have felt a bit more poignant to me if the price for saving her was never getting to meet her again.

2) Okabe is back on his feet, recovered from the stab wound, happy as ever, before the episode is over.

3) Okabe is buddy-buddy with all his past lab members, including Moeka.


8/10 for a nice, neat and tidy ending, but not the classic that it could have been, imo.

These were explained better in the visual novel besides #1.

2) He actually spends a month in the hospital, but it's just never mentioned in the anime. That's also why he doesn't expect to meet her again. (The not expecting is kind of hinted at with the dialogue.)

3) He wasn't neccesarily buddy-buddy with Moeka. She still was a lab member though. Braun's comment was out of context. Inner thoughts from the vn also somewhat taken out of context:

//彼らへの憎しみは、もうない。
I don't hate them.

//俺はすでに“赦した”から。
I've already "forgiven" them.

//そして、タイムマシンに関する研究を俺たちがしない限り、彼らとは単なる“良き隣人”としてこれからも付き 合っていけるだろう。
And since we've stopped studying time machines, we can just be "good neighbors" from now on.

The translations are by Blick Winkel of The Illustrated Timeline blog (not me).

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

The ending went a bit too strong on the happy ending side for me.

Just too many happy, almost magical things going on here. Takes some of the punch out of the ending for me.

We had...

1) Okabe gets to meet up with Kurisu again. It would have felt a bit more poignant to me if the price for saving her was never getting to meet her again.

2) Okabe is back on his feet, recovered from the stab wound, happy as ever, before the episode is over.

3) Okabe is buddy-buddy with all his past lab members, including Moeka.


Either 2 of the 3 I could probably take, but all three?

Sorry, WhiteFox, you went a bit too far here, imo.

Still a good, satisfying conclusion, but I won't remember it as fondly as I otherwise would.


8/10 for a nice, neat and tidy ending, but not the classic that it could have been, imo.

I'll have to sort of agree with this one. While I am perfectly fine with Kurisu tracking him down since he did save her in one of the most epic ways imaginable and that was bound to make a very strong impression (coupled with that "steins gate light" ability everyone has that allows them to have fuzzy memories of parallel timelines) I am however finding it hard to believe that Moeka just popped up out of nowhere.

On the other hand and thinking back since we do know that Mr Braun was actually FB it wouldn't be that hard of a stretch to think he took her in (since even after all that he didn't seem like a truly bad guy).

As for the episode I enjoyed it but it did bring the tension crashing down quite a bit by going back a bit to that light-heartedness we had during the first half of the series. While I think that allowing things to come full circle and restore Okabe to his no cares in the world self was important I think it might have been handled better. I can't quite put the finger on what went wrong but I think it might have been the soundtrack that for the first half of the episode wasn't particularly engaging. Either that or a bit too many scenes crammed into 20 minutes due to not skipping the OP.

However I for one am very happy to see a truly and unequivocally happy ending on a show. It seems that for quite a bit of time anime has been stuck with a constant barrage of bittersweet or even downright brutal endings that getting something so unmistakeably happy is different and novel enough for me to enjoy. It wasn't perfect, far from it, but it suited the show well enough for me.

Oh and one more thing: I think I finally found a potential reason for Okabe's reading steiner. What if he has it because he was time travelling when the lines were changing and because of it he became capable of remembering the shifts? Either that or the same thing that allowed him to view the video from his future self triggered the steiner due to similar reasoning. Well those are my theories at least.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by trinitem

These were explained better in the visual novel besides #1.

2) He actually spends a month in the hospital, but it's just never mentioned in the anime. That's also why he doesn't expect to meet her again. (The not expecting is kind of hinted at with the dialogue.)

3) He wasn't neccesarily buddy-buddy with Moeka. She still was a lab member though. Braun's comment was out of context. Inner thoughts from the vn also somewhat taken out of context:

//彼らへの憎しみは、もうない。
I don't hate them.

//俺はすでに“赦した”から。
I've already "forgiven" them.

//そして、タイムマシンに関する研究を俺たちがしない限り、彼らとは単なる“良き隣人”としてこれからも付き 合っていけるだろう。
And since we've stopped studying time machines, we can just be "good neighbors" from now on.

I like those lines. They make sense. I don't think they made it into the anime ending (didn't notice them on quick re-watch of the last few minutes). That's too bad.

Anyway, yeah, that's why I specifically faulted WhiteFox a bit. I'm not surprised to learn that the VN handled this a bit better. Thanks for the info.


Still, on the whole, WhiteFox did an excellent job with the anime adaptation. VNs often aren't easy to adapt into anime after all.

[Reckoner]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Sorry, WhiteFox, you went a bit too far here, imo.

Well White Fox didn't write the story though .

Still I guess I reacted differently to the ending myself. I felt it was a very fitting conclusion because his whole struggle was essentially to preserve the jovial life they had before. If someone is losing out in the end, then he didn't succeed. We were hoping for them to succeed right? At least I was. This was the fight against fate, so it makes me happy to see them triumph over fate and give it the middle finger.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

2) Okabe is back on his feet, recovered from the stab wound, happy as ever, before the episode is over.

The anime did show he was hospitalized. It wasn't like he just got up after his stab wound and started doing jumping jacks. We don't know how long he spent there, but I think we should assume long enough to recover.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

3) Okabe is buddy-buddy with all his past lab members, including Moeka.

The only one he wasn't that close to prior to all these events was Moeka. Moeka he forgave in a previous episode and found pity for her. This was an extension of kindness on his part, and just shows how great of a person he really is imo.

[Hooves]

Well Anime Adaptation can't specifically grasp everything from visual novels. But I would say White Fox did a pretty good job (as usual) in getting the majority of the VN and still leaving a great ending. They stayed true to the VN to the very end with a little short-cutting of somethings but still acceptable. Not like many Animes allow you to hear what the other person is thinking after all besides the main character.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

Well White Fox didn't write the story though .

They left out elements that would have made it seem a bit more down-to-Earth. Elements that trinitem alluded to.

Still I guess I reacted differently to the ending myself. I felt it was a very fitting conclusion because his whole struggle was essentially to preserve the jovial life they had before.

His main struggle was to save Mayuri and Kurisu. Him succeeding at that much is perfectly fine with me. But this ending went farther than that. A bit too far, imo. There was not enough feeling of lasting sacrifice, imo. Nobody even seems worse for wear.

The anime did show he was hospitalized.

They didn't even show him in a hospital bed.

It wasn't like he just got up after his stab wound and started doing jumping jacks.

It's not like we ever get to see him suffer actual negative after-effects from the stab wound.

We don't know how long he spent there, but I think we should assume long enough to recover.

I would have preferred to have seen the price he paid captured better than what it was in this final episode, imo.

The only one he wasn't that close to prior to all these events was Moeka. Moeka he forgave in a previous episode and found pity for her.

So much so that he's now "hitting on her", apparently.

This was an extension of kindness on his part, and just shows how great of a person he really is imo.

Arguably, it shows an inconsistency in his character. He goes from almost brutalizing her a few episodes ago to this?

Sorry, Reck, it does stretch believability for me.


Most of this I could swallow, but collectively, it feels almost too good to be true.

[David_The_Gnome]

Now that the series is over, can somebody explain these points? I'm dying to find out:

1) What's the REAL explanation for Okarin having the Reading Steiner, while others can only recall faint memories?

2) Why didn't Okarin and Suzuha stumble onto an earlier version of themselves from their first time-travel a few minutes ago?

3) What's the deal with the worldline where Mayuri and Okarin being stuck millions in the past. Also, what's with Mayuri reaching out into space with a "weird glowing light" at the cemetery when Okarin saves her and officially calls her his "hostage"?

Overall, I dig this ending. Okarin digging into his blood and screaming had me cringing.

[matteas]

Great conclusion. I didn't expect anything epic from the final episode; we got a good deal of drama and unexpected twists in the previous episodes and this last episode was here to clean it up and conclude the series in a seemly, even if a bit predictable manner. Yet, we could see that Okarin, no, the mad scientist Hououin Kyouma is a man who will do anything to achieve his goal and he will do it his own way, befitting his self-proclaimed title. That was an awesome scene.

Regarding Dr. Pepper mentioned before, they sell it even at Kotobukiya store in Akihabara now. Furthermore, Dr. Pepper appears also in Kami-sama no Memochou as the NEET detective's favorite drink and the main source of nutrients. There's no doubt that the sales must have raised.

They didn't even show him in a hospital bed.

But they showed the hospital bed and flowers addressed to him. That's big enough a hint he was hospitalized.

It's not like we ever get to see him suffer actual negative after-effects from the stab wound.

And what was all the blood and his expression then? He did seem to be in a lot of pain to me.

Arguably, it shows an inconsistency in his character. He goes from almost brutalizing her a few episodes ago to this?

Remember that the few episodes represent countless time loops for Okarin, which means who knows how many weeks or months.

[DorkingtonPugsly]

Steins;Gate made my top 5 list. The music, the setting, the characters, and the plot, all came together and created this world. I love the atmosphere and all, it was great. From the day the first episode aired till today, woah what a trip. I'm pretty excited about the movie too. This means my my friends will continue to listen to me praise it and talk about it.

[Reckoner]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

His main struggle was to save Mayuri and Kurisu. Him succeeding at that much is perfectly fine with me. But this ending went farther than that. A bit too far, imo. There was not enough feeling of lasting sacrifice, imo. Nobody even seems worse for wear.

Well if you felt the ending was too idealistic that's OK, I was merely presenting a different perspective. I just felt that Okabe fighting against fate, and him triumphing over it in this manner was uplifting for me personally. If he got screwed over in the end in some way, I would have been disappointed.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

They didn't even show him in a hospital bed.

They skipped a certain amount of time, of which we don't know how much, and we had Mayuri visiting the hospital to discover he must have recovered. I just don't see why you have to assume that he had no recovery time, the common sense thing here would be to believe he spent time in the hospital instead of assuming he spent no time.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I would have preferred to have seen the price he paid captured better than what it was in this final episode, imo.

This is where our perspectives differ. A comparable ending for me would be the ending of Higurashi, which was also very idealistic in the end.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

So much so that he's now "hitting on her", apparently.

What does Mr.Braun's comments have to do with the actual itneraction we were shown on screen? Unless you think that qualifies as hitting on someone...

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Arguably, it shows an inconsistency in his character. He goes from almost brutalizing her a few episodes ago to this?

We were shown in a previous episode them interacting afterwards in a kinder way. They sat and talked on that bench, she came to understand her sorrow, she apologized to Okabe when she got shot, and Okabe forgave her.

She always felt she had no place anywhere, and that is what led to her being brainwashed by FB, Braun. Okabe is now offering her a place after coming to terms with their relationship previously.

That's just the way I see it though.

[coroloro]

I watch almost every new anime as it starts each season, keeping up with those that grab me within a few episodes. I have faithfully watched this anime from the start, and have found that of all the anime series in the last two seasons, this one is the "one" - the single one that really stood out in a class above the rest. It has that 'dating sim' property to it, while also retaining the focus on real plot that a lot of more recent anime has lost (it falls into an ecchi focus that it seems many anime have fallen into lately, to try to draw more money in or such). It's focus really is on the plot, but it has that wonderful genre-switching ability that is what really makes anime so good and unique in my opinion.

While I will admit, the episode that really held the most incredible impact and drama was ep 22, when he and Kurisu parted - but that doesn't lessen the quality of the ending. It wasn't quite as epic as it could have been, so I gave it a 9/10, but it was indeed a near perfect ending. The way they finished his connection with Kurisu really balanced a good feeling of closure, without crossing the line to cheesy. I felt very satisfied, and this anime definitely goes down as a solid excellent one- I love the way they really faked me out with the 'fake ending' in ep 22. I feel like for those who like inconclusive and bittersweet endings, that could be it- but for those of us who like happy ones, and more closure, then ep 24 was it.

It wasn't Kanon in terms of emotional impact at the very end, but it had such a solid, mind-expanding plot that surely I cannot fault it.

I will recommend, for those who enjoyed the time travel stuff here, taking a look at the American science series "Through the wormhole" hosted by Morgan Freeman, and find the episode in season 1 on "Is time travel possible?" It uses some excellent cutting edge science fact to delve into these very things!

[tsunade666]

So the two who is meant for each other finally meet again in the end. Truly a happy ending indeed it was kinda funny when Kurisu responded when Okabe called her Christina. I will miss this show but if they are going to make a movie. What part of the game is still not covered yet? and this ending might be a bit lacking for an ending and maybe because the past episodes are just too big and shocking that the ending is a bit lacking but I'm satisfied that those 2 meet again.