Steins;Gate – 17
Kurrrisstiiiinnnyaaa!
Overcooled: Nya nya~ Coolnyan was lonely so she kidnapped Jrow to help tag teameow~ Get pumped up for our super duo ultimate attack, nya! It gets really annoying to write like this because I read it in Feyris’ voice, nya! <_<
Jrow: Hey there reader! Lab Member 002 here, glad to be back along with OC for an S;G tag. Last time I dropped by the lab, Feyris-nyan had sent her D-mail to the past and disappeared for a while. Guess the timing was right for me to pay OC another visit for ep. 17 upon her return.
Overcooled: Just when we thought everyone was safe, Rounder comes and kills Mayuri again. Her death wasn’t stopped, just delayed. Of course, Okarin goes back in time to stop it, this time relying on Kurisu right from the get-go. She comes to an interesting solution: stop everyone from sending D-mails until they revert back to a timeline where they have possession of the IBN 5100. Once they get it back, they can sever the connection with SERN’s server so that they won’t come after them and kill Mayuri.
Once again, Okarin leaps back in time (deleting precious memories with Kurisu) and heads to his first target…Feyris. She was the last person to send a D-mail, so she has to undo it first. He finds her at a Rai-Net tournament, but she’s being chased by rival Rai-Netters who want to kidnap her for beating them. Whoaaa there guys…Since the two of them aren’t exactly trained to deal with those types of brutes, they make a run for it together.
They manage to shake the punks off their tail long enough for Okarin to start getting into the details of why he was looking for her. The problem is, Feyris doesn’t actually remember sending a D-mail so Okarin can’t ask what she wrote in it. The whole task would seem impossible to accomplish, until Okarin somehow jogs her memory of the moe-filled Akiba. The reason she never opened May Queen in this timeline is because her father told her not too. Before they can get into any more intricacies, the crazy hooligans find them AGAIN.
After more running and panting, they arrive at the ramen shop that replaced Feyris’ May Queen maid cafe. When they go inside, Feyris has a full-fledged flashback of her time in the cafe and nearly faints because of it. What’s the best course of action after someone collapses? Shake them violently and ask them what they wrote in the D-mail! Feyris finally remembers that she wrote a D-mail to prevent her father’s death 10 years ago. As Okarin realizes how much pain it would cause for her to undo that D-mail, he’s assaulted by the evil Rai-Netters.
DON’T MOVE! I need to find my contact lens and you might crush it!
They beat up Okarin pretty badly, while Feyris is escorted away to God-knows-where. It would have been the end of catgirls in Steins;Gate if her dad hadn’t suddenly pulled up in his car (by pulled up, I mean PLOWING AHEAD) and rescued them. They take Okarin home and treat his wounds while telling him about the IBN 5100. Feyris’ dad sold after getting it from Suzu in order to have enough ransom money to pay for her safe return.
It’s hard to weigh two lives against each other, but Feyris seems to come to the conclusion that saving Mayuri is worth having her dad die again. She’s still devastated that she will have to erase those past 10 years of happiness and live a life where he dies in a crash all over again, but she’s willing to do it for Mayuri. There isn’t a trace of “nya” in the air as she says all this to Okarin. The scene ends with her crying and hugging her “prince” as tightly as she can.
“I give my daughter to you now. Just no whips, okay? Wait, oh, you didn’t save her for that? Oh…uh…”
The next morning, Feyris reluctantly sends a D-mail saying “The kidnapping was a joke, I’ll see you soon.” or something to that effect. The result is a town full of moe again and yet another shift in time. The IBN 5100 still isn’t at the shrine and now the satellite is gone in this timeline. Guess Okarin will be targeting the next person who sent a D-mail now.
More Nya for your Buck:
Barrel Titor: genius scientist, co-founder of the resistance, and obese moe connoisseur
Axe body spray….bitches love it. NOW PROVEN BY SCIENCE.
Uhh…Prince Charming? Really?
Remember! Wear a seatbelt or you’ll end up like Okarin
End Thoughts:
Jrow: On principle, Kurisu’s idea of nullifying the effects of all the D-mails is an interesting one and seems to be a unique way to revisit past episodes and provide some much desired clarity. It’s not exactly a rewinding of time that’s happening here; it simply is Okarin doing patchwork to both find a world line with an attainable IBN5100 while upping his Divergence Meter closer to 1.0. However, this first go at it felt unusual to me. I’ll get to Feyris’ dilemma in a bit, but how will Ruka cope with going back to being a girl? Send a D-mail going, “Eat Mor Chikin”? I tease at S;G’s expense, but the toughest one to convert back will be Moeka since she’s all but expelled as a lab member.
For so long, we’ve assumed only Okarin had a Reading Steiner ability. None of the other lab members have shown signs of memorization before, and now suddenly we see Feyris-tan (in a different world line, no less) be reminded of both the fact that she sent a D-mail, and that she can properly identify both the past line where her father died and the new one where her she told her dad the kidnapping was a joke; all this capped off by the closing scene of Feyris saying she and Okarin were lovers in a past life. It seems as though the only way to move things along with this plot device is to have people remember what happened and to understand the consequences of changing their own histories. I’m not bothered a single bit by the potential of others displaying Steiner-like memorization. Why should only Okarin be allowed to have it?
I’m confused on the whole point about Feyris being kidnapped and its effect on Suzu getting the IBN. Feyris sends a text back in episode 9 saying that she was kidnapped so as to prevent her father from getting on the plane that crashes. Later in this episode, she mails him saying it was a joke. But as Daddy explains it to Okarin, she was kidnapped and the only way to collect the ransom was to sell the IBN. The problem I have is this: isn’t Feyris’ initial D-mail a lie to begin with? She wasn’t actually kidnapped, right? Or did her saying she was kidnapped actually put her in a situation where she was being held for ransom? That’s the convenient way, I suppose. We’ve seen the effects of the D-mails, but the D-mails are written as a way to warn people about something rather than forcing a person to eat vegetables or buy a lotto ticket. I think Steins;Gate created a situation that didn’t actually happen just to tie Feyris’ dad to the time-traveling Suzu.
Overcooled: Interesting to see Feyris make a comeback after being silent for so long. She’s not really a major plot piece (thank God….all that NYA gets annoying after a while). Looks like the next arc will be concentrating on going through all the D-mail people. I guess we’ll go through a character-per-episode type of thing until all the D-mails are reversed so that Okarin gets the IBN 5100. It seems that fate is still intervening to keep the IBN away from him though. Something tells me that the mysterious person offering to pay a huge sum of money for the old hunk of junk from Feyris’ father was either Moeka or someone from SERN. Whoever bought it, they must have been desperate…It’s all too convenient that they’d show up and offer money at such a critical time, is it not?
As Jrow said, Feyris’ Reading Steiner was a real shock to the system. Either Okarin somehow awakened it in her, or it’s just possible for someone to have their memories return if someone else is forceful enough. I don’t think she would have realized it without Okarin, whatever the case. Perhaps he’s able to invoke it just by jogging their memories. I kind of hope we see Feyris again, because when she’s not NYA-ing she is actually quite a nice character. A go-getter who not only believes in Okarin’s mad scientist act, but fully plays along with just as much vigor. It’s a shame she’s a catgirl.
I’m starting to wonder a bit about how Okarin is handling all this. The guy has practically been to hell and back so far just trying to save Mayuri. It’s a noble cause and all, but what about saving the future? First and foremost his goal is to save her..and then thoughts about the future come second. I don’t think he’s paying a lot of attention to that, and if he had a choice between a dystopian future or killing Mayuri, he might choose the former rather than the latter. His devotion to that girl is stunning. So much that he’d ruin Feyris’ life of happiness just to have her back. I can see his sacrifices, and the sacrifices of the other characters, getting bigger and bigger just to save her. Once again, we’ll just have to wait and see. Thanks for joining me again, Jrow. To both you and the readers I say: El Psy Congroo.
About Tag Team
We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
Honestly I think this was the worst episode with respect to the damage they seem to have done to the plot. Unless they have a damned good reason, they should not have opened the can of worms with Feyris remembering the alternate world-line. Also Jrow mentions some inconsistencies in the kidnapping story, how about this: at the time he died, Feyris’ dad was so poor that he would have needed to sell the computer (if the kidnap message is believed), but if he dies, he is so rich that Feyris owns all of Akihabara. It doesn’t make sense.
Is this the beginning of Steins;Gate falling apart? I hope not. It was so solid up to now, with only the sex-change being questionable. Now there is an episode that makes as little sense, AND we are about to revisit the sex-change mechanics (not a good sign). :crosses fingers:
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 36 comments
It’s definately NOT a plothole. Who said Okabe is the only one having the Reading Steiner? He’s not unique at all. He’s just stubborn. REALLY stubborn. Stubborn in a way that he’s extremely determined and unwilling to forgo anything. He’s his own reality and nothing will confuse him. See Feiris? She was terribly confused when she “remembers” the alternative timeline. Not a problem for Hououin Kyouma. He can detect the change of timeline right away too. It seems that everyone “remembers” what had happened if the divergence is too minor as there’s not a major change at all. They simply “forgot” the “past” events, or sees them as dreams and their own imaginations, when the divergence is severe. They never explained it clearly in the VN, but I think it’s the case.
Don’t you know that Yukitaka(Feiris’ papa) and the Akiha family own all of Akihabara? Actually, his business has been declining for several years since the recession at that time, so he couldn’t pay for the ransom in the previous timeline. Yukitaka’s backstory and his relationship with Suzuha is covered in the Drama CD Alpha “Babel of the grieved maze”. One can visit my translated drama cd thread on MAL once it’s all over.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
That explains the Reading Steiner and the case of money, so that’s out of the way. But the main issue Jrow pointed out was that the kidnapping shouldn’t have occurred. Feyris originally sent a D-mail saying she was kidnapped to get her dad to miss the flight that would crash and kill him…but that was a lie, she shouldn’t have actually been kidnapped. The only way for it to match up with the Dad’s story is if sending a D-mail saying “I want kidnapped” actually results in her being kidnapped…
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 36 comments
If I recall it right Rumiho actually ran away from home, blaming Yukitaka for working day and night and didn’t care about her. So she was really gone missing when Yukitaka receives the kidnapping D-mail… Damn, I’m gonna read through Feiris’ chapter again. Hum, I wonder if I still got a save point for that chapter…? =\
POWUH: 400-499 with 428 comments
I understand the D-mail reversal process and I agree with it, though how the divergence % actually goes up instead of returning to 0% is not that clear. If you’re reversing the events, it would usually return to the norm but I guess Steins;Gate is an exception to the rule. As for the Feyris remembering the previous world lines, I agree with the decision completely, since I understand the reason behind them being an amateur writer on time travel. It’s a good suggestion so that for each character that sent a D-mail, we get to look further into their past, like Feyris herself, and even if Ruka’s going to turn back into a guy, there’s going to be something more there since the Shrine is still a little opaque, especially with the original depositor of the IBN5100, a male instead of Terminator Suzuha. So, I think Steins;Gate is not going off the rails but towards a conclusion, one probably most of us know yet one we all want to know. The spiral is coming to the centre of everything…
POWUH: 400-499 with 428 comments
^Suppose to say a conclusion probably none of us know yet but one we all want to ;P
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 36 comments
The divergence has been decreasing toward 0% for each D-mail sent. It’s logical for it to climb when Okabe started to reverse those D-mails.
From this episode, we learnt that Suzuha did indeed retrieved the IBN in 1975. She entrusted it to Yukitaka and told him to donate it to the shrine as she knew that Okabe will eventually find it there in the future. And when Yukitaka too passed away, the only one that will fulfill his wish is the bulter Kuroki.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
It’s weird that D-mails make the divergence go towards 0% if that’s the case…Wouldn’t they increase the chaos in the timelines and change things even more? It almost goes against common sense. Oh well, at least it makes for an interesting turn of events. I’m certainly excited for that finale~
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 36 comments
Higher divergence doesn’t necessary mean it would be more chaotic. Timelines/divergences are merely possibilities. For each D-mail sent, the Butterfly Effect made the timeline leans closer to 0.000000%, as it’s the absolute value of SERN distopian future, the timeline where Suzuha originally came from. According to the Attractor Field Theory, major events like the distopian future are inevitable. It’s even more extreme for the Alpha Attractor Field, as it’s not only the results being converged, but time n space will eventually converge into the distopia for SERN’s monoploy on all time travel.
Reverting all D-mails… “Prologue of the beginning and the end”… yeah, that would be one hell of a finale…
POWUH: iLurker with 14 comments
er…..HAHAHA don’t remember? how shinning finger send the D-mail the IBN 5100 vanished…okarin knows that he just must to remember, as well he knows that Shinning Finger is the enemy, so of course she would’ve send something like that, so just undo her mail! or BETTER, FAR BETTER,Okarin sends an D-mail to himself to dodge that woman at all cost she meet her and named her Shinning Finger, few days later he got her into lab, and after she send an D-mail to go and take the IBN5100 from the lab….UNDO HER D-MAIL , OR HER WHOLE ACTION OF JOINING THE LAB~!
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Shining Finger needs to be dealt with ASAP. I bet once her D-mail is undone (he might have to resort to making it so he doesn’t meet her) Okarin will get the IBN 5100 back. I guess he’s going to go in order though, so Ruka is next. :/
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 29 comments
i dont think he can not “un-meet her” when he goes back to the past . I reckon she found or rather track down Okarin in the first place wasn’t it after all she is with SERN ?
=( shinning finger is one bad arse in this show..
POWUH: iLurker with 16 comments
From what I have gathered so far, the people that had significant and direct impact from the d mail sent would recover part of the memory of their alternate time line. Thus Feyris whose life is heavily altered due to the d mail sent would acquire the ‘reading Steiner’ I believe that would apply to all those who sent the dmail, namely rukako, moeka and maybe kurisu?
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Anyone with major changes can probably remember it, but not without a little coaxing from Okarin. I think Feyris would have gone about in her day to day life without recalling everything had he not tried to jog her memory. But the bigger the change, the easier to notice the disparity, I would imagine.
POWUH: Lovely-pyon~ with 305 comments
I just couldn’t take this episode seriously when Feyris had to attach “nya” to everything. It’s like “My dad is dead NYA”, “I was kidnapped NYA”, “I HAVE LOTS OF TRAUMA NYAAAA” =.= I just…couldn’t even feel bad for her because it was too annoying.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Those nyas really kill the mood. Even when she was being serious and stopped it, I kept holding my breath in case she started it up again >_<
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 36 comments
Actually I like her nyans… she would not be a catgirl if she stops nyaning. Okabe would not be a mad scientist without his insane laughter… =]