Drawing on Time - Steins;Gate: Gate Open

Welcome back to our look at Steins;Gate. At this point, the anime is showing us the “True Ending” of the visual novel. You may need a players guide to figure out how to achieve it, six flags had to be activated. So it’s handy that episodes 23 and 24 will take us on this journey regardless.

With this column, the series ends. As “episode 25” is an OVA – Original Video Animation – that came out five months later. (We’ll cover it next time.) There’s still a lot of ground to cover, so without further ado…

OPEN THE STEINS GATE

It’s August 21st, about 5:30pm. Suzuha (sporting a new beta world line look) explains about World War III, which caused 5.7 billion deaths. It’s origins were at Dr. Nakabachi’s Time Machine Press Conference, and so using her time machine, she and Okabe are going to travel back there to run interference.

Except Okabe refuses. He explains about the alpha world line, and sacrificing Makise. He can’t do this again.

Daru recalls that Makise was the scientist who got stabbed at the Radio Building. Suzuha adds that the circumstances surrounding her death is what they need to prevent. Though she doesn’t have all the details… Suzuha simply knows that they need to get to a world line free of attractor field interference.

A place called Steins Gate.

After the opening, Suzuha admits that Okabe’s future self is the one who came up with this theory (and the name). Present Okabe still hesitates, until Mayuri says he should take a chance for Kurisu, if not for World War III. With that, Okabe takes Suzuha’s hand.

We soon find this time machine comfortably seats two, and has the capability of going forwards in time. Beta world line! Okabe has to leave his phone behind though, so that they don’t cross the streams. Also, the G-Forces on the trip are pretty strong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SdyTpLzoKg?rel=0

The two arrive on the roof just before noon on July 28th. Suzuha immediately goes all Doc Brown on Okabe, saying to avoid running into his past self, to prevent a paradox. Cue Okabe having to avoid PastOkabe, who heard a crashing sound on the roof. (Remember Episode One? My very first “That’s Important Later”.)

Okabe uses the far stairs, sticking around long enough to hear Mayuri get her metal Oopa. That’s where he runs into Makise.

All Okabe can think to do is call her by name before running off.

We flash back to Suzuha saying don’t drag Makise away, since without knowing the circumstances of her death, they could cause the very thing they’re trying to prevent. A lesson Okabe knows all too well from Mayuri and the alpha line.

Okabe eavesdrops on PastOkabe calling out Dr. Nakabachi, and Makise going in to ask PastOkabe what he’d been trying to say fifteen minutes ago. He then goes to where Makise’s body was found, and hides. As such, he overhears Makise say that she wants Dr. Nakabachi to read her paper on time machines. And she calls him Dad.

That’s right! When Makise didn’t want to “repeat her father’s failure” in episode four, she was talking about Dr. Nakabachi. Who had called off his press conference in the alpha world line.

Nakabachi says the paper looks good… but no, they won’t be co-publishing it. It will go under HIS name. And when Makise says that’s theft, he hits her, and pins her to the floor, saying a daughter shouldn’t be smarter than her father. (Seriously, the Dad issues in this show…)

Okabe tackles Nakabachi. Nakabachi now thinks this is a conspiracy, since PastOkabe messed with his press conference. He pulls a switchblade. Okabe gets the blade away, only for Nakabachi to go after Makise with a screwdriver. Okabe charges Nakabachi… Makise pushes her father away… and Okabe stabs Makise.

Let me type that louder. OKABE JUST KILLED MAKISE. If you say you saw that coming, I’ll say you’re lying.

A series of blood red numbers scroll down the screen, and Nakabachi runs for it, with Makise’s paper on time travel. Makise dies in Okabe’s arms, apologizing for getting him involved. Okabe screams. This is the incoherent yell PastOkabe heard in episode one.

Suzuha returns with Okabe to August 21st. It’s okay, she says, they’ve got enough fuel for one more trip. Moreover, if they land at the exact same time and place, they’ll overwrite their prior attempt. (That’s never explained. We’ll have to assume it relates to the time fragment sparkles seen during their first trip.)

Okabe, understandably, is having none of this. He’s still in shock, but knows that whatever he does will always lead to Makise’s death, as it did with Mayuri.

That’s when a message arrives to Okabe’s phone, saying to turn on the news. Daru does, learning that Nakabachi has defected to Russia. The scientist arrived despite a fire in the cargo bay of his plane, and Nakabachi (also known as Shouichi Makise) gloats that an Oopa toy set off the metal detectors, leading to him keeping the time travel papers on his person.

Yes, it’s Mayuri’s Oopa, that she lost in the Radio Building on July 28th.

And this defection will spark an arms race to develop a time machine, leading to World War III.

Okabe’s sure they can’t change any of this, and trying will only cause more grief. He’s out, and starts walking away. Which is when Mayuri slaps him.

Mayuri declares that Okabe is not the sort of person to give up. She knows, as he went to her grandmother’s grave every day until Mayuri was ready to say goodbye. (Recall episode thirteen.) Which is what made her feel better, so she’s not going to let Okabe give up now.

And Suzuha says there’s something else. Back in episode one, after talking to Makise, PastOkabe got a message with an attachment (at 12:26pm). At that time, it was all static. Because Okabe had not yet been in Suzuha’s time machine. Turns out he HAD to fail at saving Makise once. Because the Okabe in Suzuha’s future ALSO failed.

The video message resolves into Okabe, 15 years in the future. (Seriously, this show, can you believe it?) FutureOkabe says the pain Okabe feels here was necessary, and that now two conditions must be met to proceed to Steins Gate. Makise’s paper on time machines must be destroyed, and she must be saved… without changing the fact that she died.

Consider the three weeks Okabe spent in the alpha world line. They can’t undo that, it makes him the person that he is now. And so PastOkabe still needs to see Makise lying in a pool of blood. Daru and Mayuri are confused, but Okabe gets it.

It’s Operation Skuld! Deceive the world. El Psy Congroo.

There is now background music playing (“0 is the past, 1 is the future, now is nowhere”) as Present Okabe laughs. The mad scientist Hououin Kyouma accepts this challenge. Deception is his forte, the world is in his hands, and with this, the lyrics of the opening make crystal clear sense to the viewer (“I must not ‘undo’ any of it, so I’ll use what tricks I have left to deceive time”), while John Titor’s comments in episode two are about to be put into practice.

We head into the credits (and final episode) with Okabe doing a “Stardust Handshake”, and then clenching his hand into a fist.

ACHIEVEMENT POINT

Okabe wonders about Suzuha returning to her own time, if the time machine only has enough fuel for one more round trip. Suzuha (who incidentally calls Okabe “uncle”) says that’s a non-issue, so long as the future changes enough that she never needed to be here in the first place. With that, operation Skuld sends us into the opening.

Back at the lab, Okabe finds the Glow Stick Saber, Future Gadget #6 (from episode twelve). It has fake blood in it, which can fly out on a hit, which Okabe will use in place of Makise’s blood. It’s now that Mayuri mentions having memories of Makise – maybe she dreamed it? Or Suzuha wonders, maybe she also has Reading Steiner?

Okabe shrugs it off, saying everyone has the Steiner ability to some degree, like how the other lab members recalled their similar world lines. The only remaining question before the time trip is from Daru, wondering who Suzuha’s mom is, and Suzuha says it’s a secret.

The first thing Okabe does on July 28th is obtains the metal Oopa from the machine. He then uses the far stairs, sticking around long enough to hear Mayuri get a non-rare Oopa. That’s where he runs into Makise.

All Okabe can think to do is say he’s there to save her life before running off.

But he sticks around long enough to spot Makise finding Mayuri’s lost Oopa, which the scientist drops into her envelope along with her paper on time machines. Okabe realizes that, since it’s not metal, Nakabachi (also known as Shouichi Makise) will not set off any detectors in this future, and thus leave his stolen paper in the airplane’s cargo bay, where it will burn up.

Okabe then pockets a taser, and goes to where Makise’s body was found… where he finds that the fake blood he brought along dried up months ago. So what can he do? There is not enough fuel for another time trip. Makise is already saying that she wants Dr. Nakabachi to read her paper on time machines.

Instead of tackling Nakabachi, Okabe calls out to him from the darkness, doing his Hououin Kyouma routine. Nakabachi now thinks this is a conspiracy, since PastOkabe messed with his press conference. He pulls a switchblade.

And Okabe goads Nakabachi into stabbing him.

Makise is horrified as Okabe bleeds out onto the floor. Okabe then pulls the knife out of his gut, and looks threatening. Nakabachi runs for it, with Makise’s paper on time travel.

Makise grabs her pho  ne and calls emergency services, saying someone’s been stabbed. (The dub has her say “a man” has been stabbed, which kind of screws things up, but never mind.) Before she can continue, Okabe reiterates that he’s there to save her life, and he tasers her.

Makise falls to the ground, unconscious in the pool of Okabe’s own blood.

Okabe then adds more of his blood, screaming in pain. This is the incoherent yell PastOkabe heard in episode one. Suzuha quickly pulls Okabe out of there, working to stop the bleeding, but he doesn’t want to completely leave until they know it worked.

PastOkabe arrives. Okabe quietly wishes himself luck, adding that the next three weeks will be the hardest and most important days of his life.

Cut to the time machine departing. And amid the sparkling time fragments, Suzuha gives Okabe her thanks, saying she’ll see him in seven years before she disappears. The credits start running over the following sequence.

Mayuri carries flowers “for Okarin”, only to find he’s been discharged from the hospital. Outside, a news channel has Nakabachi ranting about the loss of his paper, with Russian officials reconsidering his defection. Mayuri goes by the shrine, but she just missed Okabe, who left Luka with a pin identifying him as Lab Member 006.

The pin says OSHMKUFA 2010, so the stars from Suzuha’s pin in episode ten (first seen in episode five) have been replaced in this world line.

Mayuri also finds that Okabe was at Faris’ cafe, and at “Mr. Braun”‘s store, where Moeka is now working as a part timer. The credits end as Mayuri reaches the lab itself, Daru revealing pins for the both of them. Also, there’s one in a box for their eighth member, who “will arrive in seven years”. (Daru’s confused, seeing as Suzuha never brought a time machine to the Steins Gate world line.)

Cut to Okabe on the streets, wondering where Makise ended up. Only to have her pass by in the crowd. She’s been looking everywhere for him.

At this, Okabe does his Organization routine into his phone, like the first time they met (well, the first time for him, at any rate). He then calls her Christina, she says to stop calling her that, and then in the confusion she feels afterwards, he offers her a lab pin.

THIS is the choice of Steins Gate.

For the record, I needed at least six hours to process the brilliance of the show between those two episodes. That last episode in particular seems to make the rules of time travel clear for this anime, even as it makes sure to wipe out the possibility of any future time travel. There’s a lot to unpack.

This column is running long though, so I’ll get into my final thoughts next time, along with that OVA episode from 2012. Do feel free to offer up your thoughts beforehand though. Anything about this series surprise you? Annoy you? Confuse you? The comments are open. Thanks for reading, and as always, please do let me know your opinion, if you have the time.