Steins;Gate – 02
We’re all mad here~
We’re up for round 2 of spring shows already? Man, that was fast. I’m still stuck in final exam period so my multi-tasking skills have been on overdrive the past week. Last exam period I technically was supposed to be on a break, but I ended up posting stuff anyways. I guess you’re lucky I’m too stubborn to take it easy during the busiest time of the year. /end of me trying to make you appreciate this post more.
How would you react if a girl you thought you saw get stabbed mere hours ago is standing there right as rain as you step out of the elevator? On the flip side, how would you react if some man in a lab coat ran his fingers through your hair, poked your cheek and started opening your jacket to inspect your body? Now that you have that unpleasant image of Okarin molesting you in your head, let’s move on to Kurisu’s version of the cancelled lecture.
The lecture was moved to a nicer place since, you know, there’s a satellite crashed into the other room, and Kurisu is giving her own take on time travel. She thinks it’s completely unfeasible. Okarin has a sudden outburst, as per usual, challenging her to really deny the possibility of time travel. It’s not long before she’s smirking ever so slightly in front of a whiteboard filled with crazy equations to prove her point.
U MAD?
Next on Okarin’s agenda is picking up Mayuri at a shrine since she needs help carrying some corn. The adorable shrine maiden there graciously donated it to Okarin, who she seems to really like. She even practices sword training and does exorcisms for him to entertain his crazy side. But wait, she’s voiced by Kobayashi Yuu. And that means….IT’S A TRAP! Ohhh, cruel fate….
WHO THE HELL THREW A Y CHROMOSOME IN THERE?
On the way home, Mayuri and Okarin pause in front of a closed off path to the back of the Radio Tower. Still perplexed by everything that happened, Okarin asks Mayuri yet again about everything. She’s still oblivious. Ah well. Okarin lets the lackadaisical lass trot off to her part time job while he talk to Mr. Braun and his new part time employee. Because you can’t have enough whacky character introductions in one episode.
You can have Dr. Pepper but not Google? Come on, guys. Okarin does some ‘Goodling’ to confirm that the conference was cancelled and that Kurisu wasn’t stabbed. -5 sanity points. He then stumbles upon a John Titor claiming to be from the future to try and fix it by going into the past. He goes on to say an organization called SERN has a time machine and use it to change reality to their personal whims. Just as Okarin gets ready to troll him, he notices that there’s no internet info on John Titor – despite him being a famous hoax in 2000. -20 sanity points! Furthermore, all his books on John Titor are gone and when he calls Daru, he just gets a bewildered “who is he?” -5 more sanity points when he asks the guy if he’s been to 2000 and he claims to have never been to that time. What is going on here?
I bet that’s Dr. Pepper
Steins;Gate is clearly upping the dosage of cute characters in episode 2. A demure little stalkerette takes a picture of Okarin with her cell phone “as proof of what she did that day.” You got short term memory or something? Anyways, she asks him if he can recognize a photo of a really old PC and he agrees to show it to his friend Daru (after a lot of his usual “Agency” paranoia banter).
So many mentally unstable girls to choose from!
From one weirdo to the next – a pink-twin-tailed-kitty-maid who completely plays along with Okarin’s antics. Hopefully she’s not as much as a maniac outside of her maid cafe costume. Why is Okarin in a maid cafe? Because that’s where Daru is, duh. He shows him the picture and he identifies it as a rare PC that was rumoured to have been for sale in Akihabara…but it was probably just a rumour since no one bought it and it kind of…vanished.
You would think microwaving the banana again would be a loss of momentum. “Not this crap again” you grumble, wanting more cute girls to show up on your screen. That is, until the banana disappears and reappears as a gel banana attached to the normal bunch as if it was there all along – the mutant brother of the family. In between Okarin’s OH SHIT and your OH SHIT, Kurisu just slides into view and comments on their experiment…….Oh shit.
Screenshots from the Future:
Waiting for a kiss that will never happen
*sniff sniff* Awww yeah, that’s some good stuff right there
Me during exams WHICH IS RIGHT NOW
ZETSUBOUSHIITTAAAAA!!!
End Thoughts: I liked Steins;Gate episode 1, but was tentative to really praise it until I had seen more. Now that I’ve seen more, I’m pleased. Very, very pleased. There was a lot less jumping around this episode since Okarin didn’t time travel, so that might be why I found this episode so much easier to like. A LOT happened this episode. All the character introductions are out of the way, so they can jump in and cause commotion whenever they want now. Who knows which character will show up when. Afterall, I feel like Steins;Gate is the show to spring stuff on you if you don’t stay on your toes. Each and every character they introduced, I wanted to know more about. None of them seemed flat. I am especially taken aback by the cellphone girl. What’s HER deal?
I like shows that genuinely surprise me. The show is usually so subtle in the way it shocks. Okarin doesn’t really freak out about the conference, he just thinks he must have imagined it. Immediately after we think his worry is waved away, the John Titor incident occurs. It’s nothing more than not being able to find a meme online anymore and misplacing some books, but it seems absolutely monumental. This John Titor guy is probably the real deal – a time traveller. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if they pull some crazy stunt and he’s Okarin himself given the fact he says you can meet your past self. But I’ll leave crazy speculations for another episode.
What really caught me off guard was the gel banana scene. The episode was winding down and I figured they would end it on a low key note given how much joking around there was in this episode. They set it up so that Daru and Okarin were just kind of vaguely surprised until they turned around to see the banana had teleported. Did NOT expect that. Holy crap, that was brilliant. The microwave is probably more of a time travelling device, based on the synopsis I MEAN, my intuition. Did the banana travel through space and time to be replaced with a banana in an alternate universe? Will I really spend all night thinking about a banana before exams? Oh, Steins;Gate…the things you do to me…
About Overcooled
A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 209 comments
NO MAN SHOULD BE THAT CUTE!? OMG!
I can’t get over that Okarin is voiced by Miyano Mamoru (Galactic Pretty Boy) but he sounds different enough to be a pretty good mad scientist.
Kurisu sure is awesome with her style and smarts. She can also be cute too 😀
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
RUKA TRICKED ME SO BADLY! T.T No one ever suspects the shrine maiden…
Miyano Mamoru really knows how to work those vocal chords. I swear that man can play ANY character and add his signature touch to all of them. <3
I wish I was as smart as Kurisu!!
POWUH: 600-699 and Wingman with 655 comments
One comment: ITS A TRAP!!
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
S…s…so…cute…
But it’s a guy ._.
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
Great ending, but really had some interesting stuff all throughout. I like that the character can’t tell if he is sane or not.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Okarin is kind of ambiguously crazy, I love it. He’s such a great lead character.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 99 comments
Daww, good luck on your exams! 😀
That’s most definitely Dr. Pepper. 😉 And I noticed the “Goodling,” too. That was pretty funny.
The time-traveling stuff is cool and all, but right now I think I’m more interested in Okarin’s potential harem. Main girl, redhead, and trap are my favorites as of right now. We’ll see where this one goes. B)
(PS I’m hoping this isn’t a double comment because this is second time I’m submitting it. First time it didn’t show up orz.)
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Ohh, thank you Renn :3 Ganbarimasu!
Is it cheating if he picks one girl then goes back in time and picks another? Endless possibilities.
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 74 comments
It’s actually “Dk. Pepper” THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
My bad XD You and your Dr. Pepper!
POWUH: 600-699 and Romance Expert with 652 comments
its now starting to look similar to chaos head.
protagonist meets girls that are weird and potentially crazy except that he’s not wimp and he also seems more crazier than the guy in chaos head.
oh and they fall for him…
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I wonder how many of them will fall for Okarin…Let’s hope this doesn’t become a harem anime >_<
POWUH: Metanorn Regular and Bassun-yo~ with 118 comments
I’m confused by how seemingly witty this show is. Either that or I’m just dumb.
Anywho, Stein;Gate’s got enough in it to have me giddy for more info next week. I really need to figure out what is happening here since it seems to be multi-multi-multi-tiered.
BBRRRAAAAAAHHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMWENEEDTOGODEEPERMMMMMMM
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Need me to clarify anything? I bet you’re just missing a minor detail and once you see it you’ll go “OOHHHHHH” and everything will come together. They really like using cliffhangers with Kurisu…I..I can’t wait that long!
INCEPTION
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 70 comments
now I’m reading about John Titor.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I should probably do that too. *cough*
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 75 comments
I’m sure Okarin is Toshio Ozaki’s brother!
Good Post :3
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
AHHH How could I miss the resemblance??! They need to meet up or something.
Thanks!
POWUH: 400-499 with 428 comments
Awesome episode is awesome, if again utterly confusing with the whole, wtf, what’s going on link.
Given some past experience as a noobish writer, I really like the time travel aspect of the series, especially with that little teaser at the beginning with okarin’s phone static. Something’s definitely going on there, and from experience, Mayuri-nyan nyan’s going to be very important since she’s going to be an anchor for okarin throughout all the time travelling: he’ll know that there’s at least one person who will not judge him when he comes back from the harem creation of his (lol jk), but seriously, thats the vibe im getting from her, unless she’s an actual evil person (for note, I haven’t ruined the plot for myself by reading it so I’m getting as much high tension out of this as possible:))
Steins;Gate, I wish to formally complain of you taking my story away from me and making it into an anime by jumping back from the future after my publishing :), aka can’t wait for the next ep!
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I want to know what the hell is going on with that microwave! I haven’t read the VN either so I’m in just as much suspense as everyone else. (I might read it/play it/however the hell a VN works after I watch the series though if I can find out how to get my hands on it)
Mayuri has the potential to be a very important anchor for Okarin, I agree. She seems to have a depressing past so I’m not sure how stable she is under those sunny smiles, but I can’t see her betraying him. :3
POWUH: 400-499 with 428 comments
Ah, and that shrine maiden…Kuragihime’s spreading the trap around…it’s the latest
diseasefad now 🙂POWUH: 400-499 with 428 comments
*My post got eaten again by the mysterious bug…:(
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
Not bug but spam bots. I rescued it. ^^
POWUH: 400-499 with 428 comments
Thank you!
POWUH: iLurker with 3 comments
i think why i like this series so much is that the John Titor incident really did happen in 2000!! And they are using all true information from it! Not many anime series do that.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
That’s not the main reason I like Steins;Gate, but it certainly adds a “je ne sais quoi” to the series :3
POWUH: with comments
What is the shrine maiden doing to exorcise his hand, anyhow? (How did I overlook bumpy corn at the asian grocer?) She (traps are for springing, if you ask me) seemed to run off rather than use the $10 sword.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I don’t think swords are for exorcism, I think he (TRAP REVEALED) went to get those exorcism wands the maidens use since they showed him running with one. That or someone else who knows how to actually exorcise something.
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
Oh yeah. Those sticks with long strips of paper at the end.
POWUH: 600-699 and Romance Expert with 652 comments
just wait for the 3rd ep.
ive learned a rule that says ep 3 is usually the “wham” episode.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 190 comments
Oh dear god thank god the trap was found. I vaguely remembered there being a trap but I was thinking that it was Mayuri, I can now enjoy moar Kana Hanazawa goodness without worrying (then again even if Mayuri was the trap all would be well since I would forget everything when I hear Kana Hanazawa’s voice xD)
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I like how despite people knew there was going to be a trap they couldn’t predict that it was the shrine maiden (shrine man? lol). He really does look exactly like a girl…
Kana Hanazawa as a trap…that would be way too girly for belief @_@
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
Well, in a way it is a reverse trap inside a trap, because even though Ruka (the character) is supposed to be a boy, dressed as a girl, our perception of Ruka as a boy is reverse-trap for Yuu Kobayashi (the seiyuu) who is all woman.
POWUH: iLurker with 1 comments
[…] “Now that I’ve seen more, I’m pleased. Very, very pleased. There was a lot less jumping around this episode since Okarin didn’t time travel, so that might be why I found this episode so much easier to like. A LOT happened this episode. All the character introductions are out of the way, so they can jump in and cause commotion whenever they want now.” – Metanorn […]