This was a solid show. Sure, as someone who had not played the game, I had hoped for a more sordid and far-reaching plot (ie: more about dystopia and less about saving a friend, especially with 24 episodes to work with), so was a little disappointed at the scope of the story, but whatever. It wasn't an original series, so it's not like they could exactly take major liberties with the plot.
While I would rank it in my top 5 of the last year or two (I still think Madoka is the best show of the past year, though Drum is shaping out in my eyes to give it a run for its money-just to put my tastes in perspective), I'm not sure it means much.
Yes, I realize that sounds awfully negative, but...opinions...you know? Even now, for the last few episodes, I wasn't exactly dying for the next episode once it became abundantly clear that the plot wasn't really about dystopia (or WW3) as the saving Mayuri episodes continued to go on, and on, and on, and...you get the idea. That's me though, as I tend to enjoy big plots, or in the lack of one, zany wackiness, over what people like to call "character-driven" stories; an adjective I suspect will be the blogging buzz-word for this series.
Still, despite its visual novel roots and slight pandering to that audience with a large aesthetically pleasing female cast, the show was decidedly lacking in school harem tropes that both VN and anime have fallen into the rut of portraying non-stop for the last few years, which automatically makes it a show worth watching, and possibly more important, buying (just to show Japan school harems aren't the pinnacle of their industry) in my eyes.
As for this episode itself, it was fine, if a little too happy. I don't really get Suzahu's vanishing and how it works without Okabe vanishing. Yes, I can see that changing things maybe made it so WW3 never came about and Suzahu never travels back in time, but one would think if she never traveled back in time then neither does Okabe, so shouldn't this Okabe have vanished along with her? Still, I give Suzahu more props for having the balls to do what she did, knowing full well it meant...from a practical point of view, her death. It's easy to make lofty claims about sacrificing one's self for the greater good, but it's a whole different story when it comes to actually doing it, and I think she's been the one character in this series who consistently sacrifices the most, no matter what timeline we were in. Yes, I'm a fan. ;p
Overall, I'd give it (and the series as a whole) an 8/10.