Steins;Gate – 12
Get ready to rage…in the best way possible
I was originally planning to just save my Steins;Gate post for tomorrow. I had spent two long weeks gradually tweaking my essay piece by piece and now that it had been handed in, I was ready to relax. That was, until I was bombarded on MSN by people telling me to watch the newest Steins;Gate. It’s one of those episodes where you can easily be a douche and spoil it for everyone, so it is my duty to quickly get this post up so you can safely discuss it here without ruining the surprise for others. Remember, SPOILERS KILL.
Last episode began with Suzu taking off her shirt, but this episode begins a lot less…topless. Okarin is in a desert and he hears Mayuri explaining some very shocking things to him. Okarin used a time machine to get here, 70 million years into the past, to find the original Mayuri. As the two originals, they are destined to die but have their wills pass on to the Okarin and Mayuri in the future. With that, they disappear and Okarin is jolted back into the present-day reality where Mayuri is innocently tugging at his sleeve.
As Mayuri makes a costume, Kurisu and Daru make a time leap machine. They finish at roughly the same time Mayuri finishes her outfit tinkering. What should be the big moment for them to start sending memories back in time is halted by Okarin. He’s terrified of SERN trying to hurt any of the members, and decides to just sell the time leap machine to another organization. It’s safer than doing human experimentation.
If only I had known all I needed to time travel were headphones and a microwave
We’ve been waiting so long to genuine time travel and wind up watching them prepare for a party? Sheesh. Okarin and Kurisu go shopping for supplies which quickly spirals into their usual serious discussions. Kurisu says how she’s both relieved and a little disappointed about his decision, and even graces Okarin with a glimpse of her dere dere side. The result is some adorable Kurisu x Okarin moments full of blushing, stuttering, and all manner of typical things people playing coy do.
The mushiness ends once Kurisu and Okarin return back to the lab where they can’t exactly be so liberal in their awkward blushing and such. Suzu and Mayuri are next to join the party, and you can imagine how well that goes over with Kurisu standing right there. The two of them argue, Suzu stating that she knows Kurisu will be a SERN spy because of a “prophecy.” Mayuri’s airheadedness convinces them to not fight at least for the night. The temporary truce leads to much festivity, cake and board games. Kurisu even helps Suzu win against Okarin! She’s still ungrateful, but it’s the thought that counts. Okarin storms out in response to his loss of delicious, delicious cake so Kurisu sends Mayuri to follow him. Never leave a mad scientist alone on a roof, especially a cake-less one.
HOLD IT RIGHT THERE! Don’t you DARE try to make a lame “the cake is a lie” joke!
Mayuri, never approach someone from behind with a glowing red light. I thought you had gone into murder mode for a second there…After approaching Okarin with a red light saber, Mayuri drums up serious one-on-one Okarin conversation number 2 for the episode. She tells Okarin that now he’s not lonely, he should be fine without Mayuri as his “hostage.” There’s a pregnant pause that is broken by Daru before they can say any more.
Upon returning to the lab from the roof, Okarin sees all the lab members crowded around the TV. All the subway lines are shut down due to a bomb threat, so everyone is stuck in the lab without a way home. Suzu is instantly suspicious and asks if Daru disconnected from SERN’s network. His answer? Nope. Suzu immediately panics once she realizes they must have heard everything about the time machine, and she high tails it out of there. As she leaves, Mayuri and Okarin start to realize that the hour glass and Mayuri’s pocket watch aren’t working…
I’m just going to tell you that you ARE NOT READY for SERN barging in and holding everyone at gunpoint. They’re here to claim the time leap machine as theirs and take Daru, Kurisu and Okarin into their custody. Why didn’t Feyris and Moeka come to the party, huh? Feyris, we’ll never know, but Moeka couldn’t come because she was too busy BUSTING IN WITH SERN AND SHOOTING MAYURI IN THE FACE. How’s that for an ending?
Leftover Grapefruit Salad:
HEY YOU! We’ve been getting complaints from your neighbours, so can you turn your music down? Thanks.
The moe force is strong with this one.
I hate to say this, Mayuri. But your Chun-Li cosplay is a bit off.
I put my hands up in the air sometimes and I go ayoooo~ Tuturu got K-O-ed~!
End Thoughts: Whenever I go to delay something, it’s a badass episode. It happened before with Panty and Stocking and now it happened for Steins;Gate. Thank God for eager anime fans pushing me to watch things earlier. This was one hell of a crazy episode, with a cryptic beginning and a heart-stopping ending. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? I guess now is a good time to make sense of it all. As for the beginning scene, it’s hard to say why that was placed there during this episode. It’s seemingly just there to make you wary, but I have a feeling it’s going to pop up again. How ironic would it be if that’s where Okarin ends up by the last episode, only to start the cycle all over again? For now, it serves to tell us that Mayuri has actually done (or will do) a lot of time traveling despite her ditzy demeanor. All I can say for sure is that Okarin and Mayuri are the key to something very big and very important.
The second confusing part is…well, most of the episode. Time actually stopped BEFORE Okarin noticed it when SERN busted in, and it stays frozen from then on. Well, I have to be careful how I use “frozen” seeing as the rest of the world is still moving and only time-keeping devices have stopped. What would stopping hour glasses and stop watches do other than freak out the audience watching the show? I have no idea what it does, but I’ll hazard a guess that SERN is behind it and they somehow used it to their advantage to close in on Okarin’s lab.
Last but not least, FOTHERMUCKING SERN BREAKS INTO THE LAB, HOLY SHIT. Furthermore, Moeka was behind it all. The inside man, or girl in this case, was the crazy Shining Finger. And yet I am still so stubborn as to think she’s secretly not really working for SERN. I know, I’m an irrational creature. But whispering that it was all for FB has me thinking she’s just following orders for SERN until she can betray them. She clearly didn’t want to shoot Mayuri, although that could just be because she got close to her. In all honestly, it’s just a vague hunch I refuse to let go of. :B
And now the big punch to the gut: Mayuri’s death. You’ll hate me for saying this, but I loved it. It means I get to see Okarin’s tortured reaction, afterall! Can’t you just see him desperately traveling through time to save her, much like Homura in Madoka? Oh, I would love to see him broken down into a mass of shot nerves, paranoia and obsession. Moreso than he is now, of course. I love vivid depictions of suffering in anime where the series successfully shows a tragedy and makes you FEEL it. THAT is how you do a character’s death. Build a connection over 12 episodes and make that death as meaningful as hell with slow-mo, bleached white lighting, and the suspenseful sound of heartbeats. Perfection!
On a final note (I say this to mentally remind myself to stop writing so damn much) I think Mayuri actually expected to die. Immediately before her fateful bullet to the brain, she said Okarin should be fine without her now that he’s got friends. That’s either EXTREMELY CONVENIENT FORESHADOWING or a big hint to Mayuri’s true role in all this. Now be sure to let out your “FFFUUUUU-“‘s here before you hurt someone. Or just sob in my arms, baby, it’s alright. ;D
Keep calm and El Psy Congroo.
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 Regular with 79 comments
Well damn. I was expecting something big to go down but not that. I’ve probably said this a couple of times, but this is definitely the episode of Steins;Gate I was waiting for. SERN and Shining Finger’s appearances could completely change the series, and while I don’t know if they can stop time it looks like they have some kind of control over it. I just want to know how Okarin and the crew are going to get out of this. Suzu, maybe? It seemed like she knew exactly what was about to happen…
S;G’s gotten really good lately. It was a lot of buildup to this point, but the stakes are at their highest by far and I can’t wait till next week. It’s definitely become one of my favorite shows this season, that’s for sure.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
It’s been really ramping up lately! Things are going to take a very different turn now. Everyone will be in custody of SERN except Ruka, Feyris and Suzu. Out of that lot, the only one I think who would save them is Suzu. She definitely knows what’s going on…
Steins;Gate just jumped to being one of my favourites too after this episode. It was so worth the wait.
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 39 comments
It was kind of obvious that Moeka was the SERN spy. Her eyes bugged out when Okabe told her about the time-leap machine and she’s been in and out of the lab like a phantom, hell, she even took the computer.
I don’t think that Mayuri’s death means she’s going to be gone from the series. She said it herself, that the original “her” is in that desolate place.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
She was suspicious as hell, but I thought she just wanted the time machine for herself…not for some huge organization like SERN. Aiyaa.
I doubt this is the last we’ll see of Mayuri too. It’s a time travel anime, so there will be some timeline jumping to try and save her…or just timeline jumps to a timeline where she WASN’T shot by chance.
POWUH: iLurker with 11 comments
Steins Gate episode 12 is executed very well and perfectly.
Next episode, we get to see part time warrior save the day and bust everybody out of the bad situation.My only hope is that the series remain true to the source material to the very end, other than that, it is shaping up to be a great series!
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
The last few minutes was pure perfection. I think it’s a pretty good adaptation so far, although I haven’t played the visual novel to be honest…
POWUH: iLurker with 11 comments
Wait.
POWUH: 400-499 with 428 comments
One helluva teaser at the beginning! Helluva teaser at the end! Mystery Food X in the middle! WHY!!!!!
I think my head just exploded from that episode…I don’t even have words to describe it…mindnumbing? An apt description…now I’ll be forever careful of people in black catsuits…
Show ▼
Now, the insufferable wait until the next episode…
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
LOL. and in the end we get a crazy mystery sandwich?
I loved Mayuri’s death scene too, it was just wonderfully executed. One shot is all it takes, and someone’s life is just…gone. Interesting theory about Kurisu and Mayuri representing different sides of him! I feel like only Mayuri has that extremely close, spiritual like connection right now but it definitely fits :3
The next episode releases during exam week for me…I’m going to have to turn on my super work-prioritizing skills to get this done lol
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Well wasn’t this a shocker O_O! I now know why I saw this being compared to Madoka over on Sankaku complex, not sure if this series really needs to have death thrown at us like that! But it might make this series stand out more? We are dealing in time soooo we can all predict what will go down.
Interesting turn of events! Dooo dooo a dooo T___T
And yes so much Moe force in Mayuri <3
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Yes, this show is starting to remind me a lot of Madoka now (well, not a LOT, but imagining Okarin as Homura is pretty amusing).
Not sure if death’s needed? It seems like a major part of the plot, I’m pretty sure it’s needed. Otherwise they wouldn’t randomly kill off a major character. They aimed to really shock us and make that death hit home and it worked.
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 36 comments
Madoka is nothing compared to S;G.
And it will be better if they can have a clear view of Mayuri’s face after she were shot. You gotta look rite into the eyes to fully feel the shock and despair. =(
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
Fuck, Moeka killed my woman. ME AND MY WAIFU’S WOMAN. HOW COULD SHE!?
I guess we’re going to have a couple of episodes of Okarin trying to save her with his time machine thingy. And he will fail, of course, With all the hints of the machine Okarin has, obviously he’s going to fail.
Unless miracles happen
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Your woman? Well. I learned something new today. :B
I don’t see a happy ending for this either. Bittersweet, maybe. Happy and fluffy, uh, no.
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 36 comments
The creator said they will follow the true ending of the original VN. You know, after Okabe has gone through all the shits, if it’s a bad end for him, it will drive people crazy (prob me too).
Come to think of bad ending… oh the haunting memories of School Days… they had guts to finish the anime in that style… nice boat. =\
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
That’s good news seeing as the VN seems to be praised pretty highly for the plot. Just anything but a nice boat ending. I haven’t even watched School Days for all the horror stories I’ve heard about how it wasted people’s time. XD
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 36 comments
I highly doubt you will ever watch it tho… it’s an eroge adaptation. XD
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Haha, yes, you must know I’m not a big eroge or even ecchi type of person XD
POWUH: iLurker with 9 comments
I can honestly say that no death scene in any anime got me like this one, it was so real and irrational at the same time. It’s almost like something human happened at the worst possible time.
Strange, a show about time travel seems more human than any slice of life anime out there, thanks steins gate
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
It was a really great scene, wasn’t it? I think part of what made it so great aside from how we were attached to Mayuri was, as you mentioned, timing. We knew they were all in danger from the texts, we didn’t know how severe the consequences would be, and now we’ve had our terrible, terrible warning. We expected something but not…THAT. Not now. Steins;Gate is getting really good at tugging at those heartstrings juuussst the right amount. It’s more human in a different way that slice of life shows, I would say :3
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 36 comments
Totally agreed. And sum1 said that the characters in S;G feel so human ’cause the dialogs are driven by the characters themselves but not the situation, unlike the other shows. Good saying. Kudos to the seiyuu too.
POWUH: iLurker with 19 comments
I’m wondering what game route the anime is going to take or if they are going to do an original one.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Noooo idea. Hopefully the anime has a good ending, be it original or adapted from one of the route. Just…as long as it’s good!
POWUH: 400-499 with 410 comments
“
TUTURUuuu…” MAYURIII!!! NO!!!When SERN barged in, I thought a Russian undercover army platoon came with their AK-47. Moeka in a body suit? (That’s badass…) She shot Mayuri (She’s evil).
It’s really an unexpected change of event. Suzu should have warn them instead of leaving the danger zone.
The ending would have end better if the ending theme song is nicely put together with the death of Mayuri like how they did it when Akiba became moe-less.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
*tries to avoid “in soviet russia…” joke*
Man, that ending was awesome! I guess Suzu thought they didn’t have enough time so she did some crazy part-time warrior parkour and hopped across rooftops or something. That or she’s just being a prick.
I quite liked the sterile, eerie silence paired with the heartbeats but the ending theme would have also hit the mark quite well :3
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Pirate King with 1048 comments
Remember that guy that was thinking this show would be just 12 episodes? Yeah, what a jackass xD
Those guys barging in was like, “holy hell, wtf is going on!”, and I really liked that death scene and how it was animated.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
And that stupid wench who thought 12 episodes would be fine? How can she live with herself!?
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Pirate King with 1048 comments
*sends a text to OC that reads, “S;G is 24 eps. Dont let any1 tell u diffrntly”*
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Urrr… I’m so tempted to spoil this but I won’t. (I just finished playing the game xD)
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
DON’T YOU DARE, WOMAN.
…But how was the game? Good? :3
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
It was awesome! Though with my broken moonspeak, I only understood 2/3rds of what was going on. I probably couldn’t spoil it effectively even if I wanted to. >w<
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 36 comments
Have you gone through all the routes? 0_o
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Oh no way, I only went through the Feris ending. I just read about the true ending (which is what I assume the anime is going to follow) on a walkthrough type thing.
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 36 comments
Aside from the TE, it’s possible to get all the other endings in ur 1st run. All of them are bittersweet that is. Um no. Rukako’s ending is the most disgusting ever. Strongly recommend u to try it first hand. =D
And sum sources said that the anime team gonna do all the routes in the process. IMO it’s impossible ‘cuase sum of them are irreverible. Let see how it will be done. =\
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 36 comments
Hum I wonder why I can’t see my last comment while it’s being counted… =\
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I think someone fished it out of the spam filter’s belly for me, haha. It should be back now!