Okabe’s plan becomes clear, but the pain in doing it is only starting to be realized.
What They Say:
Okabe realizes that to save the world from SERN, he needs to undo the effects of the D-Mails that have been sent so far. The first on the list is Feyris. But what message did she send? And why won’t she tell him?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the loss of Suzuha in such a significant way, finding out how her life went and still realizing the things they need in the present to try and bring everything back to where it was, Okabe is in the terrible position of having to do a whole lot more in order to accomplish it. The painful part is the loss of certain things that have happened over time as the divergences continued, and Makise makes it even more patently clear to him how much it will impact her, at least for the moment, to know that she’d lose the moment when he called her by her first name. The two have grown closer, and the potential for losing a lot of that does sting with her. At the same time, she understands the need to go and fix everything since it’s spiraling out of control both in the present and in the future.
Okabe’s plan is a decent one to try and correct some of the messages that have gone back before. Of course, he starts with one of the hardest ones when it comes to Feyris, as she made the deal with him to send one back without him knowing what the message was. Her request definitely had an impact in the present time as Akihabara changed significant afterwards, reverting to a place that was just an electronics marketplace rather than the rampant sideshow it had become with maid cafes, costume play and so forth that spiraled out from it. It puts Okabe on the right path to try and get the answers out of her, and he’s really motivated by everything as his overall focus is still trying to save Mayuri.
When they get down to it though, allowing Feyris to really explain everything, it gets a lot more interesting as we see the past through her eyes, the problems with her father and the fact that she could see both timelines and understand the pain and loss that comes with it. Feyris’ dream and email to the past is one that would help save her, but it’s one that would also cause her a great deal of pain. Having Okabe bring it all to the forefront again isn’t exactly unexpected on her part, but it’s what she needs. And while Okabe has pain himself, especially since we’ve seen him leap back countless times to try and save Mayuri, he’s now getting the truth of just how much it’s going to hurt others to do so, and that adds a wonderful/sad layer to the series.
In Summary:
Steins; Gate sets up the events more clearly for what’s to come as Okabe is getting himself in gear to do what needs to be done in order to bring the divergence back to zero so that the timelines are repaired from what he’s caused. Unfortunately, he’s learning more clearly just how difficult and painful it will be to do so because of how it will affect others that have found various kinds of happiness from the changes that they made to the past through the d-mail messages. The series spends its focus on Feyris, who I’ve been glad has been largely absent from the show since she got her wish, but they do a good job of making her interesting enough here to help carry the episode while nudging more of why it’ll be a painful experience for Okabe beyond just what she has to go through. The show continues to be fun, though I’m really looking forward to being able to marathon this thing to see if comes across as tightly written as it seems to be in these weekly chunks.
Grade: B+
Simulcast By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
