Steins;Gate - Episode 23 Discussion / Poll

[Offizier_Michael]

Epic future okarin speech.
"I call that timeline steins gate. You know why I named it that. Doesn't really mean anything!" (memory minutes)

[Saturn Beaver]

Awesome, another 10/10 from me. Such a rollercoaster of an episode, I love it. To wit:

- Suzuha alive: YAY
- Time machine is perfect (thanks to Daru having extra time to work on it in Beta timeline), which means there's a chance for Kurisu to be saved: Super YAY
- Lecturer is Kurisu's Dad: It's so obvious, how can I not see this coming?
- Okabe stabbed Kurisu: NO NO NO HELL NO
- Okabe crying, Tuturu slap: Mayuri is awesome
- Metal Oopa proves to be absolutely vital to prevent SERN: Okay, this one I can never see coming
- Future Okabe: +15 years = x15 awesomeness
- El Psy Congroo and Okabe laughing: Bring it on, next episode!

Seriously, I was so invested in the episode it doesn't feel like 20 minutes at all, and next Tuesday can not come any sooner. It's great to see shows that can go out with a bang as it reaches the climax, this is really going to be not just one of my favorite anime of the year, but one of all time, really.

[Darklord_bg]

Another fantastic episode this week...

My two choices for Kurisu's killer were her father and Dr. Nakabachi - who would have thought that they were one and the same.

For me the best part of the episode was when his future self was talking to him and how he used this language that only he could understand. He kept saying - "you know what I mean, right". Then present-day Okarin started laughing and said "What the hell? 15 years from now I will talk the same way".

I also thought Suzuha's reaction to Okarin's question whether the time machine can also go to the future was priceless. "Of course it can. It's a time machine." Looks like WW3 is a better future than SERN dystopia.

I have nothing more to say - this episode was phenomenal and I should just brace myself for an epic finale next week...

[ZGMF-X10A]

epic episode. Makes me want to watch the finale right now = =;;

[Kopi]

Epic episode!!

I really like "Deceive your other self. Deceive the world." that was actually used in the trailer PV to be the clue to move to Steins;Gate.

I didn't really like or dislike his mad scientist persona. But after this episode, sign me up on that "Mad Scientist is Badass" list.

[FlareKnight]

Definitely had my suspicions as we went through this episode that Okabe would be the one who killed Kurisu. That pained scream from the first episode could only come from someone who went through something that terrible.

Great job by Mayuri and the future Okabe. While cruel he knew that it was necessary to deal with the agony of failing to save Kurisu once before they could really make their attempt. Tough role for Suzuha to play out since she knew it wouldn't work. A great message though from the future Okabe and a perfect solution he's come up with. Everything Okabe endured during the past few weeks has been important. Knowledge of the failings of the previous time machine lead them to making a better one and creating a plan that can allow Mayuri and Kurisu to live.

Also personally thought Suzuha looked better in the other timeline, but whatever .

Now that Okabe truly has his spirit back they can do this. Even making this one attempt he wasn't completely in it since the doubts were in his mind. This time he can go in there with his full confidence and ready to fight. Time to save Kurisu and finish Operation Skuld .

[pampz21]

Finale is has come~
Future Okabe is like Tsuna~
"You can't curse your fate even though its cruel bcuz its part of who you are"

[Kanon]

THAT GODDAMN METAL UUUPA!!! I've heard numerous times that it was would extremely relevant to the plot, but I've always dismissed it as a joke. Who would have thought it would be responsible for WW3?

That episode was outstanding. I love it when everything in a series comes together. Never thought that loser Nakabachi was Kurisu's father. Worst dad ever.

33 years old Okabe was amazing. I'm pretty confused about Operation Skuld: deceiving his episode 1 self is easy enough to do, but how the hell is he going to be able to deceive the past self who stabbed Kurisu himself? That's impossible.

[viperdk1]

Originally Posted by Jean Claymore

Holy Shit!!! Good as hell as always Man, wish I could find a good replacement for another series when S;G ends. Ehh.... what is Steins;Gate anyways? I'm guessing it's some kind of another worldline which is not either alpha or beta...

Haha... and I had totally forgot the metal upa mentioned in the very first episode. Jeez, it seems Kurisu's father made a good use of it

EDIT: So, Okarin from 15 years in future also experienced the same worldline as Okarbe from now? Wow, that's some news to me, I thought his future self wouldn't recognize it

Don't forget, his future self is him - so whatever Okabe from the present experienced, his future self would have experienced the exact same things.

By what way do you mean he "wouldn't recognize it", by the way? What wouldn't he recognize - the alpha world line?


And now, to my opinion.

I thought this anime couldn't get any better after that peach of an episode last week. I was wrong - oh boy was I wrong.

Absolutely sensational episode from start to finish and I am more than confident that the finale will live up to what we have seen of late.

Episode 22 was 11/10 in terms of romantic emotion between Kurisu and Okabe (and was an outstanding episode in it's own right).

Episode 23 was 11/10 in terms of absolutely everything. Didn't expect the Dr. from Ep 1 to be Kurisu's dad (I'd completely forgotten about him - he had such little screen time after all) - and my heart sank when it turned out Okarin had murdered the one he loves (tears were forming, believe me).

However, my own thought is that such an event was one of many possibilities that could've led to Kurisu's death (look at Mayuri's multiple deaths - hardly any of them were the same. Moeka killed her every so often, but we had the death whereupon Nae pushed her in front of a train ) - it's just that Okabe badly lucked out in terms of which one occurred.

Intriguing how Mayuri claimed that Okabe's voice was deeper 15 years into the past - I honestly didn't think there was much of a change between now and 15 years in the future.

The return of our resident mad scientist for the finale? Oh yeah, I dig. Skyclad no Kansokusha as the ED theme was an absolute peach - very nice touch.


By every stretch of the imagination, in my eyes, S;G is the anime of Spring 2011. Period.

(Makes you wonder how good Chaos;Head would have been had it been 24 episodes long and by White Fox instead of Madhouse).

[Jean Claymore]

@viperdk1 Yeah, I know. While I did mean the future Okabe wouldn't recognize what had happened in the alpha worldline, it would have been also possible that he, in the future self wouldn't recognize them at all since the beta worldline (whether its persent or future) would consider the alpha worldline events as if never happened even though he has the ability to read stainers (and yes, my beliefs where wrong ). It's not like I'm complaining, but it's kinda surprising when the future himself also remembers these faded events (which it doesn't remark as a fact in history) and takes his perfect plan going into the Steins;Gate

[Triple_R]

There's really not much I can add to what everybody else is saying.

This episode is a truly flawless, character-driven, serious sci-fi drama, with an excellent plot to boot. It hits all the right notes. It knows exactly how to handle moments of high drama.

Steins;Gate is indeed the top anime of Spring 2011, imo. It's also one of a handful of contenders for anime of the year for me now.

10/10 for Episode 23.

[DasDingus]

The people over at White Fox have really stepped it up. 3 perfect 10s in a row from me and all for very different reasons. They slowed things down in episode 21 and made us feel the emotions the characters were going through leading up to the decision Okabe had to me. They turned up the romance in episode 22 and gave us a touching series of scenes between Okabe and Kurisu. Finally, they go back to the sci-fi/time travel/action for this episode and once again hit it out of the park.

-The realization of who Kurisu's father was and who her killer was
-Mayuri stepping up and letting Okabe know not to give up
-The message from future Okabe
-Okabe's transformation back into Hououin Kyouma and that laugh

All that comes together in yet another amazing episode. I am continually reminded why Steins;Gate is one of those shows I rush to watch as soon as I can each week.

[GDB]

Was it just me, or was the OP different? I don't mean the video (though that was tweaked a bit too), but the audio? I'm not sure if it was a different singer or just a different tone from the same singer, but I'm fairly sure that at least the words were different, as if it were the latter half of the song or a remix.

Guess it's the Beta World's version of Hack into the Gate, and we'd been hearing the Alpha version the whole time?

[Darklord_bg]

Originally Posted by GDB

Was it just me, or was the OP different? I don't mean the video (though that was tweaked a bit too), but the audio? I'm not sure if it was a different singer or just a different tone from the same singer, but I'm fairly sure that at least the words were different, as if it were the latter half of the song or a remix.

Guess it's the Beta World's version of Hack into the Gate, and we'd been hearing the Alpha version the whole time?

It was definitely different - both the music and the lyrics.

I think it was a different stanza of the same song, though VN players could probably tell you more.

[Midonin]

S;G 23 - Out of our dreams, into our souls

If this world wasn't a little ridiculous, I wouldn't be able to take it seriously. The strong sense of friendship and love overriding all, the names that sound cool and don't mean a damn thing, the true inspiration coming from oneself (in an incredibly roundabout way), the fact that a good ending is possible - I have so many things I want to say, but I'll save them for next week. I liked the idea of playing "Skyclad no Kansoukusha" at the end, and the second verse of the OP is also a good choice. But most of all, Hououin Kyouma is back, baby. He may be a fake, but that's why he's real. Embrace the ridiculous! Go all Back to the Future Part II on us! Tell destiny what it can do with itself using methods that make The Aristocrats sound tame!

Perhaps that's what Steins;Gate really means.

Originally Posted by Darklord_bg

I think it was a different stanza of the same song, though VN players could probably tell you more.

Why would VN players be of help here? The song originated with the anime. It's just the second verse. A cool choice, and one that more shows need to take advantage of.

[User165949]

23 didn't disappoint, for sure. i guess 22 was a tad better, but ymmv and we don't mind about comparisons, it's the same exact series that pulled two very good eps in a row.

nice "time-looping" explanation, but still it doesn't fit completely.:
- ooookay, okarin shouldn't try to get rid of the alternative worldlines to make the whole trip to SG possible (still, seems very possible that anyway he's not changing anything in the worldlines and just shifting is point of view in a more sefishly confortable one, but who can fight destiny and win? we can't blame him, right?)
- ok, the "fail once" route is needed to create the "15-year long future with a WW in the middle", in which okabe-san conceives his plan to fool the world.
- what's with the "you can't meet your previous self otherwise very bad things happen"? weren't the spectators lectured about worldlines etc and the fact that meeting (another worldline's previous self) was indeed perfectly possible? and in the end, his older self phones his younger self possibly triggering the paradox...
- if he succeed in fooling himself, the resulting current-time okabe (original WL) should be aware of the trick and thus not so sorry about Kurisu to build the TM

it's late and I cannot focus and thus articulate properly (I don't have Kurisu's brain anyway) but something is fishy; the concept of WLs seems to contrast the idea of cause and effect, but the "explanation" we are provided with reeks of cause and effect...

the "looping" explanation reminds me (in a good way) of some movie from a certain T.G. director, but I wouldn't say more to avoid spoilers...

a bravo to the creators, unless a miracle happens in the winter season, this could be the best series of the year, and a strong contender for a longer time frame.


and, much more importantly, among the touching things etc etc, it's been deeply, honestly entertaining, too.

[karuroso]

The sheer awesomeness of this ep...my god

[Student no.0]

Originally Posted by TheEroKing

"Open the Steins Gate"

Is it just me or Suzuha looked hotter in this timeline with those military clothes?

This.

Damn this episode was soooooo good I wish I could give it a 20/10 on the poll. Really liked how they used the VN's OP as the ED. But geezus, waiting suckz. I seriously want a week to come by already

I really hope they explain why Okabe has Reading Steiner in the next episode, unless I really missed something (please point it out for me if I did).

[Demoned Away]

Originally Posted by LKK

Some people had speculated that Okarin was Christina's killer. I didn't want that speculation to be right. When it was, I literally gasped with my hands to my mouth. That's how intensely I felt the scene.

I had the exact same reaction to that scene. Even though I saw it coming, I couldn't prepare myself for it.

[houkoholic]

Originally Posted by Mare Boy

I really hope they explain why Okabe has Reading Steiner in the next episode, unless I really missed something (please point it out for me if I did).

Everyone has it as told to us time and again (all the girls remember stuff from the other world lines), only that Okabe's is stronger than everyone elses.