Everything you’ve heard about Steins;Gate being a great time travel show is true. If you hadn’t heard, let me say it now: Steins;Gate is Back to the Future level good, especially with how it handles subtle details.
This is extra impressive when you consider that the anime version from 2011 was based on a visual novel. One of those games where you’re the male protagonist and different paths have you ending up with various girls. Then again, even the visual novel is impressive in that your choices don’t flash up on the screen, they’re encoded in how the character’s phone is used as the story plays out (for instance, whether you choose to answer a call, or not).
To that end, as we progress through the series, I’m going to include “TIL” tags, for “That’s Important Later”. Emphasizing why I may include seemingly unimportant events or dialogue, which you can then speculate on. I plan to link the tag directly to the later episode where the event gets explained or resolved (once those posts are up), as a handy tool for those reading this as an archive.
Now, don’t get the wrong idea. Steins;Gate is at its core a drama, not a romance. It is also, admittedly, a bit slow to get going during its 24 episode run (or 25, if you include the bonus episode). But once it does, watch out.
In particular, the explanation for how time travel affects the Steins;Gate universe won’t appear until much later on, and I won’t spoil the impact. It’s more fun to have you theorize first – in the comments, or otherwise.
A couple final remarks on the history before we get into Episode One.
The Steins;Gate novel was itself a sequel to the novel Chaos;Head, but only in the sense that they take place in the same universe. Chaos;Head is about a protagonist experiencing delusions (no time travel), taking place in 2009 (the game was released in 2008). Meanwhile, Steins;Gate takes place in 2010 (released in 2009). There was also a manga adaptation of the Steins;Gate story, serialized from 2009 to 2013, which was later collected into three volumes. The manga (and anime) follow the “true” end; I’ll mention the other game outcomes as we reach them.
There have also been visual novel sequels, Robotics;Notes (set in 2019, released in 2012) and Chaos;Child (set in 2015, released in 2014), where again, events take place in the same universe. After those, we have “Steins;Gate 0“, set within the run of the Steins;Gate series itself (so yes, back to time travel), released in 2015. (Another anime adaptation occurred as of 2018, not to be confused with the original. Maybe we’ll get to it.) For more information about these games, look up the “Science Adventure Series”, developed by 5pb and Nitroplus.
This is now your last chance to go and watch (or play) Steins;Gate yourself, before potentially being spoiled on the plot. Our first episode is “Turning Point”, hence the column title.
TIME TRAVEL CONFERENCE
We open with a monologue, much as the game did. In essence: “The universe has a beginning, but no end. Infinite. Stars have beginnings too, but meet an end of their own making. Finite. History has shown that those with wisdom are the greatest fools of all. This could be considered God’s final warning to those who resist.” (The dub is different, including a remark about how scientists make poor poets.)
We then see our protagonist on a roof, putting away his phone. (For the record, he’s 18 years old and in college, though looks somewhat older.) A girl (later identified as Mayuri) calls out to him (“Okarin”), and as he walks off, she reaches her hand up to the sun.
Cut to the streets of Akihabara. Rintarou Okabe (I’ll use “Okabe” going forwards) is again talking into his phone, signing off with “El Psy Congroo”. We learn later he’s not actually talking to anyone; Okabe believes there’s a shadowy “Organization” out there, so he sometimes has imaginary conversations to throw “them” off balance. Unsurprisingly, Okabe believes “The Organization” is lurking at “Dr. Nakabachi’s Successful Time Machine Development Press Conference”, as they arrive.
Immediately there’s a crashing sound from above. (TIL: That’s Important Later.) Okabe runs upstairs, seeing a couple people and some sort of satellite on the roof, but he is immediately distracted by his phone. He goes to meet Mayuri, who wanted an Oopa from a prize machine, but she has no 100 yen coins.
Okabe (revealed as her childhood friend) shows her “harsh reality” by buying one in her place. But when it’s metal, a rare type, he gives it to her anyway (TIL). Mayuri’s grateful, and when she thanks “Okarin”, Okabe reminds her he is “Hououin Kyouma” (his mad scientist pseudonym).
An announcement is now broadcast, saying the press conference is about to begin. Okabe heads off, only to receive a message shortly thereafter from Mayuri, who has lost the Oopa somewhere.
In the press conference room, Dr. Nakabachi has passed out information about time travel theory. Okabe interrupts, saying this theory is all a rip off of John Titor’s story from 2000. (TIL – and by the way, John Titor and his IBM 5100 was a real event in our world.) But Okabe is himself interrupted by a redhead, who drags him out of the room, asking him what he was trying to tell her fifteen minutes ago. (TIL) Okabe doesn’t know what the girl means, but recognizes her as Kurisu Makise, who published a paper in “Sciency”.
Okabe thinks “The Organization” sent Makise as an agent, and talks into his phone. (FWIW, as I’m using Okabe’s last name, I’ll do the same for Makise.) Makise points out the phone isn’t on, prompting Okabe to make up a reason, laugh, and run off. He thinks he’d have remembered meeting her. His phone then receives a message with an attachment, but it’s all static. (TIL) We also see here (if you pause) that it’s July 28th, 2010, at 12:26pm.
Mayuri now meets up with Okabe, mentioning the Oopa she lost is worth 10,000 yen. He’s now interested in the search, since their “Future Gadgets” lab is broke. (Mayuri wouldn’t want to sell the Oopa though.) Then an incoherent male yell echoes through the halls.
Okabe goes to investigate. He finds Makise Kurisu lying in a pool of blood in a room on the 8th floor. (Yeah, that’s important, later and now.) Okabe runs outside, shaken.
In a crowd of people, Okabe sends an email to his friend “Daru” (Subject: Not good) saying he thinks someone just stabbed Makise Kurisu. But as he hits send, there’s a visual effect of shadows and waveforms. Orange numbers flash on the screen (if you pause, you can see sets in the jumble like 1.516478, 1.500910 and 0.569010). The last set of digits shown is “0.571024”. (TIL)
Okabe is now standing by himself. Until Mayuri reappears with a “Dk Pepper” drink for him. She doesn’t know anything about other people having been around. Also, some sort of satellite seems to have crashed into the building where the conference was meant to be taking place. This takes us into the opening credits (where there would normally be a commercial break).
ALPHA WORLDLINE
We are now in the “Future Gadget Laboratory”, watching Okabe narrate. He identifies himself as Lab Member 001, “Hououin Kyouma”, lab founder and mad scientist. Mayuri Shiina is Lab Member 002 (cosplay costume creator, who prefers the name “Mayushii” – much like she prefers “Okarin”, mashing up first and last names). Itaru Hashida is Lab Member 003 (super hacker and otaku), the “Daru” from earlier. He’s short and stocky, looking a bit like a barrel. It’s here that Daru remarks on Okabe’s mystery “Organization” as being a delusion.
When Daru changes the TV channel (using a ray gun gadget), we get a news report about the space satellite crash into the Radio Building. It happened at about noon that day. Daru further reminds Okabe that Dr. Nakabachi had cancelled his press conference there that morning, while Mayuri says she and Okabe went over only to check out the satellite – apparently Okabe had stated “The Organization has made its move”. But Okabe has no memory of any of this.
Our protagonist decides “This must be the choice of Steins Gate”. Daru accuses Okabe of making nonsensical references. (And the funny thing is, Daru’s right. You’d think the title drop would be important, but it may very well be the least important thing in this particular conversation.)
The television then stops working, so Okabe brings it downstairs to “Mr. Braun”, their landlord. In fact, his real name’s Mr. Tennoji – Braun is a nickname Okabe uses, because of Tennoji’s love for Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs). (I swear, as someone who has trouble with names, this anime does not make that easy. Be glad how much I’m clarifying for you about aliases up front.) Mayuri comes along, mentioning how she’s a hostage to the laboratory (TIL), as she looks at a big screen TV (TIL). Okabe then has a flashback as he’s looking at Mayuri, seeing her standing in front of a gravestone.
Returning to the lab, Okabe decides they should conduct a field test of Future Gadget #8, which Daru identifies as their “Phone Microwave (Temporary Name)”. (In the game, “PhoneWave”.) It’s a microwave that Okabe can control with his phone. Mayuri puts in some bananas, and Okabe enters “120#” (for two minutes), starting the turntable rotation – which Daru observes is clockwise, opposite from normal microwaves.
They get a typical result. The bananas are neither warmed up nor cooled down, they’ve merely become some goopy green gel. Supposedly strengthening Okabe’s “Steins Gate” hypothesis. (Warning, most of Okabe’s self-deceptions are never really explained.)
Okabe and Daru then head out to a college lecture, the latter lamenting that they’re not going to Queen May (a maid cafe, which we will visit later). While in an elevator, the satellite crash comes up again, and Okabe asks Daru about the email he sent, regarding Makise’s murder. Daru says that was actually three messages, which he shows came in a week ago, on July 23rd, 12:56pm. (He thought Okabe was spamming him.) Baffled, Okabe checks his outbox – and he sent no message to Daru the afternoon of July 28th.
Okabe concludes that his email was sent back in time.
The elevator doors then open to reveal Kurisu Makise, alive and well.
That twist ends episode one, and let me tell you, it was a hell of a journey. I’ll admit that I wasn’t hooked the first time I watched; I was largely confused. Partially by “The Organization” (was it truly a delusion?) but also owing to how every character seemed to have two names. (I theorized at the time that was because characters might be meeting themselves. This turned out to be incorrect.) However, watching it again after knowing what’s to come, it’s amazing how much gets set up in so little time.
To expand on that, DigiBro uses the Steins;Gate first episode in his initial analysis of “how to recognize a good anime in one episode” (rather than in three, which some had said was common practice). So, if you want to see his analysis, which includes some of the visual style choices, go check that out here.
As for the time travel and Makise’s supposed death, you’ll need to settle in for the answers. It’s largely built up in the background, as we’ll next meet all the secondary players, and do some massive character building. Consider, once the whole situation goes to hell, you’ll need to be able to empathize with the people involved, right?
Please come back next time for “Steins;Gate: Paranoia“, a look at episodes two and three. Thanks for reading, and please do let me know your opinion, if you have the time.
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