Hello everyone; I've been a lurker for a while now, but after finishing Steins;Gate like the slowpoke I am, I joined the forums in order to make some comments and observations about the ending of this excellent series. Let me know if I'm on the ball here.
First, Steins;Gate seems to be unique in that it possesses two different mechanisms for handling time paradoxes; perhaps the most clever element of this show.
1) World lines/attractor fields. The rules of these are described in detail in the show and they resolve paradoxes for those who do not have Reading Steiner from the perspective of everyone (both those who do and don't have Reading Steiner). If the past is changed in a way that causes paradoxes, the world line simply changes. Dramatic changes result in world line shifts that change attractor fields, which result in a different set of "fated events".
Sensing a world line change can only be done by someone with Reading Steiner, and only through D-mails (that is, sending messages rather than YOURSELF) through time. As far as I know, time leaps and time machines do NOT change the world line due to the presence of fated events; they're just a way of buying more time.
2) Conventional time continuity, which only applies to those with Reading Steiner, namely Okabe. As a traveller of world lines that benefits from his experiences across time, Okarin's journey can be thought of as a single linear course across time and worlds. If Okarin were to affect his OWN past (his subjective past, not necessarily the objective past) as a time traveller, his own experiences would be erased (actually, we don't know how paradoxes of this type work, but this is what is implied). This is why it was so important that Past!Okabe believe Makise Kurisu was stabbed - because that caused him to send the D-mail that started this adventure in the first place. Otherwise, he would erase his own alpha worldline memories key to his desire of saving Kurisu in the first place.
In the penultimate episode, Future!Okabe sent a "D-video" to Present!Okabe, prompting him to rescue Kurisu and destroy her time travel thesis without violating his own continuity. He succeeds in doing this in the final episode, and Okabe traverses attractor fields to Steins Gate (but, I'd like to call it the "gamma attractor field" for the sake of clarity). In gamma world, the thesis is destroyed, WW III never happens, Kurisu and Mayuri are alive, and Suzu never goes back in time so she won't be around for another 7 years.
One point of confusion is the presence and disappearance of Suzu throughout all of this. Yes, she's present in beta world but gone in gamma world since she's no longer a time traveller. But, when did the world line transition actually occur? How did she rescue Okabe after he stabbed himself? The way I see it, capturing the metal Upa and tasing Kurisu were necessary to change the world line, but the act of Okabe leaving in the time machine was also necessary, destroying the possibility of type 2 conventional paradox. Only when the time machine blasted through time was the world line changed, and that's when Suzu disappeared from existence (until she becomes born in 7 years).
That being the case, I guess Okabe must have somehow landed in the future in gamma, with a cross-world line stab wound, and some passerby helped get him to the hospital? I'm still a little confused on that one, I guess.
A second question remains: WHICH Okabe made it to gamma world??? I would argue it is Future!Okabe who actually sent the "D-video", since this is the only mechanism we know of to change world lines. My hypothesis is that the second Okabe left that time machine and the world line changed, Future!Okabe took hold of his consciousness, now having transferred to gamma. If I'm right, I think that might be the most goddamn clever thing to happen in this show, nay, ever. But there was no indication of that in the ending, which is why I'm hoping to see if you guys agree or disagree with me.
Last thing - Okabe should have given the Metal Upa he absconded with to Mayushi after all of that. Would have been a nice touch
Well, that's my opinion on how all of these shenanigans worked out anyway. I thought this was a thrilling, thought-provoking, laugh-inspiring, heart-rending opus of a series with a lovable cast and stunning audio/visuals. Besides a few silly moves he made throughout the show, Okabe Rintarou might just be the best goddamn anime/VN protagonist ever. And even just the innovative way this series played with time and handled paradoxes is enough to awe and astound a sci-fi geek like me. I never played the VN, but from what I've read from others who have, all studios should take note - this is how you properly adapt a VN.
This concluding episode was a satisfying (if a little rushed) end, but it was really the emotional drama of Episode 22 (and I almost never care about romances, but MakisexOkabe was played so very well, best VAs ever) and the climactic turn brought with Episode 23 that topped the series for me.
So, I'll join the hordes of honorary Future Gadget Lab members in this thread and give this show a 10/10. El Psy Congroo.
