Steins; Gate episode 24: Steins; Gate

Summary:

Okabe has one final chance to reach the world line he always wanted, He has one final chance to reach Steins; Gate.

 

Impression:

 

Why must it ends, why must everything good come to an end. I have no idea what to think of this episode. I’m really confused as to what I am feeling.

 

I love the sacrifice Okabe had to make to obtain the future he wanted, but I wish it had greater consequences. He risked a lot and it paid off, but I feel like the ending is just too perfect for me. But in the end wasn’t a perfect ending what was supposed to happen? If you look at it, you will realize that nothing ever changed from the beginning of the show. The first episode and the last episode are the same and everything in the middle has no meaning what so ever anymore. One could think that this is bad design for a plot of a show, but considering Steins;Gate time travel focus, it actually all make sense.

 

Okabe changed world line by accident after seeing Kurisu die in front of his eyes, then this lead to a world where World War III happens and the future become one hell of a place. Okabe proceed to change the world line multiple time for various reason, but in the end it leads to Mayuri’s death. Therefore he undo all the world line one at a time, but now while Mayuri can still live, Kurisu is bound to die. So he works for multiple years trying to recreate a time machine to give the Okabe of the past a change to go back in time and redo everything. Then with the end of himself from another world line Okabe is able to redo Kurisu’s death to save her life and prevent world war III at the same time. But in the end, he only saved the world from the mistake he made.

 

Okabe doomed the world to world war III with his stupid mistake to begin with, isn’t it just natural that he saves the world from such a failed future? Now he can finally live in a world where he never accidentally changed the world, but he now also has the memories of the longest three weeks of his life.

 

The end of the episode was really awesome when you think about it. While it felt natural for the viewer because they share Okabe’s experience, it is really awesome when you realize he now knows every one else even better even if nothing happened and everyone has this distant memory of the world line where everything was going so wrong. Okabe now has 7 friends, the 7 lab members who helped him grow as a person and become the awesome person he is now. Go ahead and compare Okabe from episode 1 to Okabe from episode 24, the difference is incredible. Okabe from episode 1 was a crazy scientist to hide his shyness and his fears of the world, while Okabe from episode 24 is a mad scientist to hide his wisdom and his knowledge. Same mask, but the reason for the use of such mask is what is really important here.

 

Now we can all remember everything that never happened. How Okabe saw Mayuri die countless time, how Moeka shot Mayuri, how Mr.Braun used Moeka, sold Okabe and killed himself, how Feiris sacrifice her father for a better future, how Daru will somehow get laid and have a daughter, how said daughter failed to change the past and goes crazy before killing herself, how Kurisu decided to sacrifice herself to see Mayuri live and how Okabe nearly died to save Kurisu in return. Everything, all those wonderful and crazy adventure, they never happened in this world line anymore and this is all for the best.

 

In the end, Kurisu and Okabe met again and I want to see an OVA or something, anything, where they are together. So much trouble, so much suffering, but the two of them are now reunited once again. This is Steins; Gate.

 

Conclusion:

The end of a story that never happened, the beautiful conclusion to what I without hesitation call the best show of 2011. We have finally reached Steins; Gate, enjoy your peaceful life, El Psy Congroo.

 

ZeroG signing off