Sunday 30 August 2020

Pandemic Parenting: August 2020

Week 111

-Rough night, up ~2-4am, then awake 6am. To African Lion Safari 8:30am, in rain.
-Stroller hijinks for half an hour until opening 10am. Car to 11am. Walk to 11:30am.
-Asleep in car, 11:50-12:30pm (I stay with) then in to Aunt's. Cousin bonding.
-Depart 2:45pm, home, I take 1+ hour recovery. Then water table and puzzles.
-Mini dinner 6:30pm, asleep before 7:30pm. Mini dinner, I bow out 9:30pm.
-Up before 6:30am; I organize photos, join 7:30am. Morning play outside (videos!).
-Leave after 10am for water mat and play structure. Much fun, home for noon lunch.
-Storms during snooze, I help with computers, etc. Mostly inside play from 3pm.
-Gift book. Buy gas. More play. More photos. Dinner and bath; asleep after 8pm.
-Finish photos, some RDA. Bed by 11:30pm. Quiet night, Dad morning, pack.
-Breakfast, dancing, finish loading car. Depart before 10am, I'm emotional.
-Animals at Apple before noon; no snooze, stop against after 1pm. Finally sleep.
-Unhappy from 2:30pm to home at 4pm (bad traffic); not physical? Empty car.
-2 hrs of back and forth play/books during rain. Bed before 7pm. CTP Discord ends.
-Wed: Dropoff then big shopping. Laundry, tidying, little else. Slide fun.
-Social medias, bed 11pm. Morning trucks and zoom call. Minor shopping, writing.
-Drive AL to meeting. Pickup (w/ art) and pool after waiting. Fall in pool.
-Inconsolable until ice cream. Rough evening but quiet night. New internet setup.
-Energetic morning, downstairs. Finished Epsilon that day. Almost paints; slides.
-Evening Board game. Dad time in morning*, mostly crib to start. Tatie's for Zoom.
-Brunch with friends; returned Rogers items. Rough nap, mostly mowed lawn.
-Downstairs play, phoning grandparents, slides, rough to bed. Tech Q&A.
-Mharz "Life is Strange" LIVE (#8)

===

Item counts to Saturday (Aug 8):
Step Count 2016: About 50,700
-Shelved Math Comic, wrote new T&T Book 4 passages, saw “Sailor Moon Crystal”.

Step Count 2017: About 60,200 (26 stars)
-LOTS on the creativity including RRL, Tapastic and Series’ Scans.

Step Count 2018: Over 72,900 (9 stars)
-First major baby monitor use, "Thank You" shower cards, more writing.

Step Count 2019: Over 76,200. (17 stars.)
-Aquarium, rough return to Canada, AC unit broken, much reading/edits.

STEP COUNT 2020
: Over 58,800. 8 stars.
SCHOOL EMAIL 2020: 24 New (1 sent)
 5 were Daycare posts

RH Stress Level: 2 (Divine Buster)

=======

Week 112

-Dad time from ~8am, including playground ~9am and duck pond ~10am. Tidied lawn.
-(She helped.) Ice creams. Brief break, then snooze; back in bed with Giraffe#1.
-Anniversary cards. Departed after 2:30pm to sister's. Pool time & early dinner.
-Home 7pm, towards bed. Online 7:30pm, RP before 8pm until ~10pm. Tidied files.
-Still wanted Mom from 8am. Daycare, shopping, tidying. Chauffeur for blood test.
-Dishes, laundry sorting. Pickup in thunderstorm. Early dinner; long play in room.
-Morning Dad time included reading in sack. Drop-off, roughed out her story.
-Started Steins;Gate 0. Pickup, play in house during rain. Video of words. RDA.
-Quiet night. Wet slides. More Steins viewing. Slides, pool, ice creams, bed. 
-Dad time Thurs, paints to downstairs. "Blue" added (after "Come" on Mon).
-Leaving giraffe upstairs has been working great, like the trading in her room.
-Steins and cleaning up. Drop-off for meds, some reading, return home.
-Over 10 min on swings, liked "high" (I was getting dizzy); didn't want to go.
-Bed after 7:30pm. Finish tidying before midnight. Photo sort in morning.
-More Steins and extended shopping. Get corn, gas, pickup and solo until 6+pm.
-Only swings, no slides; drops corn in. Quiet evening again. Princess dreams*.
-Dad time for an hour, she's sleepy. Brief break, play, then go to buy boots.
-She's over size 5; home 11am+. Phone and cooking... she wants nap before noon.
-Watch some Steins, disc has bad sector, eat. Lunch after 2pm, I'm out of sorts.
-Dad time 3-4pm, then family time out to see boats & planes. Buy ice creams.
-No desire for dinner. (What do I do with this corn?) Board plan not approved.
-Fireworks 9pm running. Dinner 10pm. File sorting. Bed 11:30pm. Peculiar dreams.
-Mharz "Life is Strange" LIVE (#9-11) & Daily Shows

===
Item counts to Saturday (Aug 15):
Step Count 2016: About 55,700
-I was pleased not to feel rushed on all the things on my To Do list. (Whelp.)

Step Count 2017: About 57,000 (23 stars)
-Marmalade Week, completing a fanfic from viewings; reading without coding.

Step Count 2018: Over 69,250 (8 stars)
-Cedar trim, many outings for little one, some recap writing (to 2am feed).

Step Count 2019: Over 58,350 (12 stars)
-Reviewed Steins;Gate movie, outings, scraped her nose, many comics caught up

STEP COUNT 2020: Over 62,750. 12 stars.
SCHOOL EMAIL 2020: 43 New (2 sent)
 9 were Daycare posts

RH Stress Level: 2 (Divine Buster)
 [Minister of Ed Lecce is an ass. What's the next manufactured crisis to be?]

=======

Week 113

-File catchups. Family time including slides. Dad trip to other park; hanging out.
-Home before noon, brief lunch, snooze. Some file tidying. 2:30pm break for Steins.
-3:30pm Dad time; rain as we try to go out. Downstairs instead. Phone parents.
-More inside time including magnets. Bath and bed after 7pm. File/Photo sorting.
-Dreamt I was teaching, then realized no one had masks. Cursed ministry, woke up.
-Dad time, gravitates to Mom. Shopping, Steins 0, dishes and misc. Slides.
-Inside for rain, hiding of trucks game. Math meeting 7:30pm; RDA 9pm.
-Dad time downstairs from 8:20am (Mom appt), day of Steins and dance video.
-Sunshower during slides. Unproductive evening, bed 11pm. Weird dreams*=*.
-Dad time with drowsy girl, shopping, Steins Disc 3 ends. Some writing.
-Road issues coming home. Other park trip, with impressive hang time. Bed.
-Character sheet work, closing tabs. Quiet night. Morning slides. Steins 0.
-Work phone tree. Assembling Her Book w/ photos. Trip to far slides again...
-15 min of swings. Insist on ice cream AFTER dinner. Camera flash breaks.
-Share Her Book later. Another schoolish dream**. Fri morn with toast and shapes.
-Finished Steins 0 after drop-off (to ep 23). Dad seminar after noon (schools).
-Caught up with emails, packed, hygiene, dishes. Mistimed. Gas after pickup.
-Swing by house for milk also. Renfrew after 6:30pm. Dorset about 9:45pm.
-Half hour of setup, eventual chatting to after 11pm. One wakeup. Morning write.
-Time with tiles, running around rooms, pingpong. Read more Trek novel.
-Lunch during snooze, jog. Fertility surprise call. Boat time, sand time.
-I take a rest time. More play, dinner includes corn. Bed routine starts <8pm.
-Cheese, some relative TV. Write to complete Epsilon draft, bed 11pm.
-Mharz "Life is Strange" LIVE (#12-13) & Daily Show Convention Coverage

==
Item counts to Saturday (Aug 22):
Step Count 2016: About 51,250
-Kept editing T&T instead of doing convention recaps. No school upcoming.

Step Count 2017: About 61,500 (24 stars)
-Sudden medical/fertility, met tech dept head, and cracked into 2016 school box.

Step Count 2018: Over 57,400 (7 stars)
-Got keys, COMA messages, new baby pillow, date night. More recaps finished.

Step Count 2019: Over 63,500 (20 stars)
-Daycare Transition, got school keys, bought comics, chair fall, Skype Interview.

STEP COUNT 2020: Over 55,650. 9 stars.
SCHOOL EMAIL 2020: 49 New (6 sent)
 18 were Daycare (4 sent)

RH Stress Level: 1 (Evasion: Flier Fin)
 [Whatever, I don't even know what I'm teaching any more.]

=======

Week 114

-Peculiar dreams*-*; Alexandra joined in bed 3:30am. Dad time from 7am, Cynthia joins after 8am for sandcastles. Go for jog after 9am, breakfast. Dad time after 10am, between rooms. Out in boat 11am, not for that long. Break for writing. Swim after noon; take for snooze before 1pm. ('Wheels on Bus' trumps usual books.) Awake after 2:30pm for lunch. Some Dad time until rain; I organize computer files during their soccer. More Dad time after 4pm at beach, on and off to early dinner at 5:45pm. Gift, ice cream, asleep in room by 7pm. Finish 'Trek' XOver book. Play Mansion game, dinner 8:30pm. Bed after 11pm.
-Quiet night. After breakfast, water pours with Dad by lake. Depart before 9am; stop at Kawartha Dairy. Home 1:30pm (after nap), lunch. Then Dad time for bike, slides and water table. Toilet pee? Shopping, return for grandparents call. Dinner, unpack somewhat (first as Dad, then again). Clinic message printing. Some RDA.
-Dad time for breakfast, then swings. Drive for AL blood work. Finish Steins;Gate 0 with the OVA, and research and the companion book with interviews (esp Glossary). Subdued after pickup but then to far slides. Troubles getting to sleep. Started queuing up Steins posts with images.
-Awake by 6am so finished queuing up Steins posts. Family time at slides. Blood work for clinic; two hours of catching up with yuri. Home around noon (hearing about more education changes on radio). Date lunch at 12:30pm. Home before 2pm, for finance call. Online sketching for first time since March, before commission. Slides, then pool, then dinner and laundry carrying. Much photo organizing.
-Teaching dreams again (lesson prep at a school?). Dad morning in rain, she eats more than one sausage. Drop off camera for flash fix, shopping. Dishes, 1pm staff meeting to learn no one knows anything (seriously, re-timetabling) and who knows where masks are. Random writing. Brief slides, sushis, then dress-up downstairs (until slip on sweater). Had to chase neighbourhood kids after 9:30pm for constant doorbell ringing (mercifully she slept through it). Some writing for blog.
-Before 2:20am, dreamt of saving her from people (or forest dwellers?). After 3:15am, dreamt of helping students in theatre by playing a role. Awake before 6am, tired. Family time included quick swings; bought masks en route home, then clinic appointment. Prep blog post on stress, 1pm car oil change squeezed in, some weeding, attempt at drawing (2019 banner) first time since March. Pickup (as well as shirts), early dinner in order to have ice cream sooner. Swings/Slides, starting to think "baby" is an invisible friend the way she points at other swing/slide for them (instead of leaving it free for a baby who might come). Running in park, and then downstairs too. Bath with nail trim, story 7:30pm. More doorbell, finalized stress post.
-Dreamt of two RP groups those characters were fighting until they realized they were on the same side? Awake 6:30am, queued post, Dad time from 7am. Much rain. Back and forth until trip to boats at 10:30am. Home for lunch; shopping during snooze (cards, etc). Rain again, phoned home. Dinner 6pm, play in basement. Bed after 7:30pm. Unproductive video evening.
-Mharz "Life is Strange" LIVE (#14-15) & Daily Show Convention Coverage

==
Item counts to Saturday (Aug 29):
Step Count 2016: About 57,550
-Posted ConBravo 2016 recaps, continued T&T rewrites, read and walked.

Step Count 2017: About 68,000 (20 stars)
-Spent 4 of 5 days dealing with teaching issues, launched on Tapas.

Step Count 2018: Over 59,100 (10 stars)
-More interest in mobile, vaccinations, to Hawkesbury, bassinet in crib.

Step Count 2019: Over 84,800 (24 stars)
-Humidifier, last Alexandra week issues, trip to Dorset, song parody.

STEP COUNT 2020
: Over 66,500. 12 stars.
SCHOOL EMAIL 2020: 66 New (2 sent)
 13 were Daycare

RH Stress Level: 4 (Accel Shooter)


*****
CONSTANT TO-DO LIST:
 -Recap for OAME 2020
 -2019 Banner for TPolys
 -Sketches for 2019 holiday parody
 -2020 Banner for TPolys
 -Write a TANDQ article on Polling and Bias
 -Write a post about types of praise/encouragement
 -Catching up with web serials/comics (from ~August 2018)
 -Read some of the books sitting at my desk

Saturday 29 August 2020

Pandemic Teaching: Stress Statistics

Picture it: You've done the best job you can under difficult conditions. You've reached a week that is recognized as an annual event to celebrate your profession. It's at the end of this week, meant to acknowledge education, when the Provincial Minister says you've been doing things all wrong.

Welcome to being a teacher in Ontario 2020. Please pardon a brief divergence.

You can tell I'm still bitter that, at the end of Education Week (the first week in May), Stephen Lecce came out and said all teachers were supposed to do "synchronous learning". It raised my workload as I had to explain the state of things through email to at least one parent. Raised my stress levels too. So my expectations for this September are low.


For context, Lecce's comments were an additional slam as part of the mandated "only three hours per week of work" for individual secondary courses, where many students had already been polled about online learning preferences, and employers were having students work during the school day even though they're not supposed to do that, et cetera, et cetera. Some of it makes sense, but some things cannot co-exist for everyone.

No check-in as to teachers' mental health, by the way. Then or now.

For even more context, I have a young daughter who only recently turned two. I was fortunate in that my wife and I were able to put together a schedule where I would work weekends while she had the majority of time with the little one, whereas I would spend time on Monday/Friday (while still working) with her.

Of course, this means I didn't get a day off from April through to July. But by all means, Education Minister, do go on this August about how educators never stayed an extra minute past any mandated time during the whole "working from home" phase. That phase where we apparently didn't do things the way you wanted, with your private education background.

With that rant out of the way, you're (presumably) here for some interesting statistics. Let's set that up.


UNIQUE TRACKING

I took a year off of teaching in 2016-2017.

I decided to track my emails at that time, to see if I'd get substantially less versus at the times when I was teaching. After all, there were still tons of items (daily attendance, field trip notifications, Board items) coming through my inbox that weren't relevant since I was off... but, of course, nothing to me from students or parents.

For whatever reason, I've kept that up now for four years without doing any analysis. So we can do that now, as well as compare pre-pandemic to what happened in 2020.

The other thing I decided to track was my average Stress Level during a week. (Perhaps not coincidentally, the week after I was told I'd be doing computer science in September 2017, the month of my return.) I rank Stress on a scale of 0 through 10.

It doesn't quite correspond to the graphic here (for example, I feel like their "4" is closer to my "5"), but that helps to give an idea, right?


I've been a "Zero" exactly once, the end of July 2017. I've been a "Ten" exactly twice, both of them involving hospital visits (in Oct 2017 and Dec 2019). Let's see how that all shakes out now.

A few final caveats before we (finally) get into it... these are personal statistics, and thus anecdotal. I decided to run a "year" from July to June, corresponding to a school year (in large part because I started tracking stress in July), and NOT starting in January.

Further, in 2017-18, I ended up on a reduced schedule for first semester for medical reasons starting in November (you can read this post if you want to know more). While in 2018-19, I was on a voluntary reduced schedule for first semester because my daughter had just been born. So that would have influenced both email and stress.

I'm now realizing that means I haven't had a normal teaching year since 2015-2016. Huh. Anyway. Statistics.


EMAIL NUMBERS

Mean emails received from Sept-June in 2016-17 (my year off) was 58 in one week. Mean emails received from Sept-June in 2017-18 (my year back) was 100 in one week. So definitely more... and the subsequent year (2018-19) was 97 in one week. The medians were roughly the same.

If we include the full year (starting July, not Sept), mean emails for 2017-18 is reduced to 85 (median still 93) and mean emails for 2018-19 is reduced to 82 (median still 96). That's where the median is probably more representative, given the lack of emails in the summer weeks. It might also be worth pointing out that there's a massive dip for two weeks at the end of December too.

Pandemic Year (2019-20) had a mean (and median) of 123 emails per week received from Sept-June. Which is around a 20% increase. If we go from July to June, the mean and median both drop to about 104. Interestingly, a much less substantial increase.

I don't know how that compares to other occupations, but then, other occupations are very different from teaching, so make of it what you will.

Of course, if we split it into Semester One (average of 109 emails per week) and Semester Two (average of 136 emails per week) we can better see the effect of the pandemic.

Mean emails sent from Sept-June in 2016-17 (my year off) was 3 per week. (I was still on a math committee.) Mean emails sent from Sept-June in 2017-18 (my year back) was 16 per week. That increase only makes sense, and the subsequent year (2018-19) was 20 per week. The medians (again) were roughly the same.

If we include the full year (starting July, not Sept), mean sent emails for 2017-18 is reduced to 13 per week and mean emails for 2018-19 is reduced to 17 per week. The medians were only slightly higher.

Pandemic Year (2019-20) had a mean of 37 emails sent in a week. The median was 20 emails sent. That's NOT including the automated messages that went out to send mark updates from the software, or Google Meet invitations. (It *is* including the almost 80 tests I had to scan in from early March and send off before a May revisit, that was a heck of a week.)

So over a 100% increase. If we go July to June 2019-20, we only drop to 30 emails sent per week (median of 17 per week).

Some of that was replies to student email questions, some was replies to parent inquiries, some was networking with other teachers, some was initiated towards students I hadn't heard from recently, et cetera. None of it was personal.

Incidentally, almost none of these emails are related to the OSSTF union either, those are routed through a separate personal account too. (There may have been the occasional reminder message from our President to check said personal account, plus I was serving in Teachers Council and Communications roles through those years, which is why I say "almost" none.)


STRESS NUMBERS

Medians are pretty close to the mean in this case, so I'm simply going to say "average".

Average Weekly Stress during my first year back (2017-18) was about 5, from Sept-June. If we include the summer, we drop to about 4.5 on any given week.

Average Weekly Stress from Sept-June in 2018-19 was about 5.5, and if we include the prior summer, we drop to about 5. Recall that this was my daughter's first year of life, so home life was a bit more stressful even as I worked less in first semester. Feels reasonable.

Average Weekly Stress from Sept-June in 2019-20 was 7. (And the median is about the same, so half the time I was equal or higher than that.) If we include the prior summer, we drop to about 6.

If we look only at Semester One (to Jan 31) it was about 6.2 (I did have three courses to prep), and if we look only at Semester Two (during the pandemic) it was about 7.2 EVERY week. (Some weeks were worse, the ones in late March were marginally better.)

Again, aside from at the school level, there was no check-in about our mental health. In fact, the Ontario Government (and Lecce in particular) actively made the job HARDER during the pandemic. I'm sorry to go on about it, but they do not seem to care.

And we're already at it again, Doug Ford wanting teachers to "Step Up", as if we weren't already taxed near our limits at the same time everyone else was. In fact we now have to learn how to identify Covid-19 cases as if we were medical professionals WHILE dealing with a NEW MATH CURRICULUM.

Did you hear? Without any warning, the Ontario Conservatives revised the Grades 1-8 math curriculum in the middle of this pandemic, with minimal to no consultation with actual teachers unions. So I'm not sure why I was expecting even the minimum of common decency from them.

Sorry, where was I?

I thought I'd conclude the "Stress" section by mentioning that my gut feeling has always been that January is the worst month for stress, what with having to transition between semesters while doing report cards with almost no time available. The numbers (pre-pandemic) do not back that up.

June is more stressful (a weekly average of between 7 and 8.5 regardless of year). By contrast, January is only between a 6.4 to 7.8 on the stress scale. The other report card times are November (about a 5.5 stress) and April (in theory also 5.5, though during the pandemic it was 7, like everything else). October is also high up there.

The lowest months are July and August (duh, an average of about 3) and March (about a 4.5, which I suppose makes sense given the week long break). A stress level of 5 is about standard, which to me makes sense.

So there's some data. What do we make of my mental health? Good question, and not one I feel qualified to answer. What do you think?


SUMMARY

There is a terrible double standard when it comes to teaching. Teachers must diversify instruction for students... and yet are told "this is the way you should diversify", implying teachers themselves must do things the same.

Then teachers must check in with students during emergencies to make sure they're okay... when no one is checking in on us (except other teachers, maybe a couple parents).

To be clear, I have no problem doing everything I can for students. But this Ontario Education Ministry not only seems to not give a damn about us, it's like they're now actively trying to kill us by not listening to medical professionals (while blaming unions, to get the public on their side).

Or maybe they're simply trying to kill public education, and killing us is... what, a fringe benefit?

At any rate, I shudder to think of what my graphics will look like after the coming insanity. Returning to schools without even knowing what we're teaching yet, on account of needing a central "virtual school" for the Board that re-timetables everybody. (About 22% of secondary students/parents opted not to enter schools, and I cannot blame them.)

I'm fortunate in that my daughter resumed Daycare in early July, which has been clear sailing, and has given me some time to mentally regroup. Others are not so fortunate.

Incidentally, I give us three weeks before everything has to be shut down... maybe seven weeks, since if schools doesn't do it, a complacent Thanksgiving at the start of October is liable to make things unsafe beyond reasonable limits.

The government will blame educators, of course... or worse, ECEs, office staff, custodians and others who tend not to get their due when people think about school buildings. And on we go.

Thank you for reading, and I wish you all the best. We'll keep trying our hardest.

Friday 28 August 2020

Series Scan: Steins;Gate Zero 4

I am a SLOW binge-watcher (and reader). Two hours is about my limit, after which I need processing time. At the same time, I enjoy watching online reviewers, and reactions to things that I’ve previously watched, to see if they’re similar to my own. So, why not take the time during a slow binge to chronicle my own reactions and speculations?

We're continuing our look at Steins;Gate 0. (If you wanted the original show, I did that as well.) Spoilers for that original Steins;Gate anime are inevitable, and I discuss the time travel theory, so don't read any further if you don't want to be spoiled about that.

Disc 1 analysis was here. Here's Disc 4, the last one. I've been watching about two episodes per day, having started August 11th, with an end date of August 25th (the day I posted Part 1).

I'm not sure if some of the things I've worked out (eg, why we kicked into the alpha timeline) will be explicitly explained, because a number of elements of the show are quite subtle.

We now know Alexis Leskinen is a mad scientist, but he was only feeding info while acting as an independent. Also the characters will revisit July 7th somehow (I mean, date stamps, and the Daru message we never saw). The actual war is behind the scenes, which makes sense as the whole show is built up as a character piece (again).

Of course, no matter what happens we'll need to go another 14 years into the future in order to generate the ending of the original show... but maybe there are more messages from said future? (Like Daru's?) The time machine is C203 instead of C204, so maybe that's allowed. Also Okabe needs to realize about "fooling himself/others" and maybe July 7th is what does that. (The time machine wasn't really destroyed? Or they make it seem that way?) Though Mayuri's past reaction needs to change too, based on her present self, so eeeh?

Again, I feel I simply need to watch. I suspect there's still some twists coming, and at present, I don't have the data to predict then. Note that at the end of this post, I will do a bit of research to tie things together.

There are two sections below, "Stream of Consciousness" which is typed as I watch the episode, and "Thoughts and Theories" which is written after the episode ends (before I watch the next one). Feel free to skip the former if you want my analysis more than my reactions (or vice versa).


Episode 19 - TimeLeap Machine

Stream of Consciousness:

-Terrorist Attack... pretty much. "You saw it"... but can you believe your eyes? There's the 48 hours note. Aw, poor Maho. Yeah, Daru nails it, Okabe was the one against it, that's why they're behind. Maho brings up a good point, stay focussed. "What did she need", yeah. Music swells.

-So there's SERN black holes and compressing memory to 36 bytes (ohhh yeah, guess they didn't know). The CRT (electron gun?). Braun has good questions; Okabe is on the clock, 48 hours to learn enough. "Something so far off", yeah, but not so much. No dead civilians? Someone did cleanup. (Where'd Leskinen end up? He must be pissed after all his work.)

-The lab crew are back, oh even with Moeka. Daru's making progress, Maho's unsure. Oh right, they have no way to verify it works... and she's not Kurisu. Amadeus' message, good call. WHOA, she's back? WOW Daru, finding Amadeus TOO? (He IS a super hacker.) Aw, her hair looks a bit red, eh?

-July 9, 4pm. The message helped them, yeah, for identifying Alexis. Aw, LabMem. "I will never give up", the Okabe we know. Kagari too, good point. Made it back to July 7, 3pm on the nose. (So, around when phones went out. Darn.) They have to delete the Amadeus data? (You don't think he backed it up?) "I don't have time to explain" -- I was gonna say, at least mention SERN, but they have other hacking to do.

-He doesn't know exact times, yeah. (We know it's 5:06pm for Kagari... actually, can he save Jenny?) His PTSD is kinda coming back. (Maybe don't get shot in the leg this time?) 4:19pm. He cuts to the chase. Fair point to Suzuha... she still wants to go though? Operation Arclight. (Oh, hold up - did SHE see Daru's whole message? No, it hasn't come yet.) Aug 21st, but I don't think Mayuri can convince him alone.

-Tender moment. He allows it? (I thought he'd do his mad science routine.) Uhoh, Jenny Reyes. They don't know it's her (again, reveal for audience though). NOW it's Kagari, yeah... huh, so she'd been programmed to kill Reyes? Or Alexis has accelerated the timetable (and he seems to know DURPA too). So he WASN'T completely an independent. 5:15pm, some additional reveals now?

-No, Okabe escaped. The time machine destruction a convergence, like Mayuri? Interesting thought. Oh, a fast forward without trying to get more info, didn't call that (is this another endless loop episode?). Maho's on board. Leaping July 8th at midnight now, so... oh, the clock just spins weird and the episode is over. That went fast.

-Post-Credits scene? July 6th, midnight... and my monitor cracks, cute. Next, the actual war, fighting, clocks, gun pulled on Okabe.

Thoughts and Theories:

*So "Operation Arclight" needs to be retooled, in whatever way Daru from the future thinks it'll work. It will have something to do with perceptions fooling everyone. Also, Alexis was working with DURPA (probably deceiving them, killing Reyes was his plan, apparently) and the only reason they won last time was because Kagari switched sides. So why feed info to StratFor? (Are Russians even involved yet?)

*It makes total sense for the time machine to be destroyed here, no matter what. Otherwise one of them WOULD go back to try and convince Okabe, rather than have Okabe himself sending video D-mails to do it (as in the original show). Right? So maybe it's only Mayuri's death that fools with perceptions. (I suppose the alternative is fuel gets depleted.)

*The main thing is, they cannot let Alexis know they're onto him, otherwise he pulls the trigger. And they can't win without Kagari. (Can they fool his perceptions into thinking he's won? He doesn't know the ship's almost out of fuel, maybe they can use that.) If they get Amadeus on board with the plan, that would have a chance. Trouble is, there's only so much you can do in 48 hours... really less than 24 hours, given the time to complete the machine.


Episode 20 - Promised Rinascimento

Stream of Consciousness:

-(Rinascimento is apparently a store for ladies apparel? Okay, it's Italian for "renaissance" aka "rebirth"... Kyouma coming back?) WOW, nice shot of everyone in the lab at once (Steins;Gate?). The 65,536th round table meeting? O.o It's so lifeless? Nice imagery with the clock (doomsday clock?). I take it this is the OP too, given the credits. And the logo.

-Someone has an IV? It's Okabe? (Reading Steiner?) Daru calling. Huh, he was in mid-time leap, weird... OH CRUD. Maybe they made the device WRONG this time? Throwing him into the future?! Well, that can't be good. (How FAR into the future? Dystopia of years? Only a few months?) Suzuha's there so... well, that can't be good. She doesn't know Okabe? (Was he brain dead or something?)

-Moe moe, bang bang, nice codewords. Gotta be Daru. He's fatter, yet overall slimmer, heh. It's already 2036, wow okay. "In 2025, I'm supposed to..." (oh right, die). Daru said Okabe was dead... not technically a lie? The leap machine failed (wheee, called it)... so they lost their 48 hour window. (Wait, it didn't throw him forwards, oh well.) Why does Okabe forget?

-"Operation" Valkyrie, began their war with the world, which was desperate for the theory. Then in 2025, Okabe was trapped by Stratfor. Tortured there. And braindead (can I get a called it there too?)... is that Faris saving him? Aw. Only his body functioned, but they didn't want everyone to keep fighting over him. Yeah, 11 years, did someone cut his hair? Apparently so.

-Overwrite his brain with memory data from 2011, WOW, I did NOT anticipate that possibility... data from an old PC. "Deceiving the world", and there's the seed. (So Rebirth not only of Okarin but of Steins;Gate. Kinda glad I didn't waste time on a lot of theories, I don't see how this could have been anticipated.)

-Cheshire Cat, hahaha. (And Ruka is 'Warrior', oy.) So THEY cut Okabe's hair. Uhoh, their mission was a setup? Ruka's sharp. Okabe going, for real? Okay then. Ruka with the sword, daaamn. I feel like this cannot end well. (I guess in the end Ruka knew about everything too, huh?) He's still standing? Oh, not for long. The Seihin Zanma sword fighting style, awwww, so sad. "Worthy enough". Of course you were from the start. (Yup, first time this series got me crying.)

-Hi Maho. Heh, about looking like a kid. "Being calm"... because so many have died, yeah. "I thought I knew", hubris. Only running from the truth, yeah. Didn't understand. Said the same thing 11 years ago, huh. "Nothing is meaningless, even if it seems that way", nice addition. Get the time leap machine ready? Oh hell, that's right... the 48 hour limit is only BECAUSE OF THE BRAIN CHANGING TOO MUCH. His HAS NOT. So can they? Next: Scenes in future and past.

Thoughts and Theories:

*My journey is the same as Okabe's. I thought I knew where the series was going, I thought I understood, and they pulled the rug out from under me, yet again. Oh, kudos.

*Will it be possible that they do this AGAIN? Like, whenever the time leap machine fails next, he can prevent Ruka's death in the future, get more intel and go back again? Effectively being like Alexis and conspiring with his "future self"? That's marvellously insane, if so.

*This future is not the same future that Suzuha came from initially. Because there's no Mayuri, hence no Kagari going back, hence the war cannot start... so there IS a paradox of some sort here. Yet they're all still in the beta line? I don't know how they're going to address that. Must be related to Operation Arclight. Does Okabe tell Daru to send that message from ep 17? (Or was it simply a final message to them before vanishing?)

*This might be a closed loop within a closed loop, ie- this future will be wiped out but still "existed" as it sends a message back. Then the new future of "Zero" as we know also sends its message back, wiping itself out and leaving Steins;Gate. Intertwining threads indeed.

*The show is very good at allowing two possibilities (eg. the time machine has to blow up versus it's simply useless with no fuel... or people working alone versus in league...) and then holding its cards close. But then it's always been good at that.

Episode 21 - Return of Phoenix

Stream of Consciousness:

-Maho narrates (again we're not getting an OP then). Oh, they can leap two weeks. Meaning to go back a year, they're leaping 20 times. (Thing is, eventually you're back so far that the tech doesn't exist, or you don't have your phone to receive, so...) 3,000 leaps planned?! Machine's C-203 still. (So IS this the future that Daru sends the message from? It must be, it's changed, no Mayuri. But then where's C-204?)

-Oh, hi Amadeus! Monitored his vitals, eh? "Time is irrelevant", heh. His companion? Oh, well then. So this *IS* only a one time thing. Mayuri's kindness became his excuse? (For it not being up to him?) It wasn't forced on him, he wants to carry the burden along with the others, nice. Hee hee, I like how the microwave is hooked up to other computers for the extended time. Backing up to July 10th, 2036...

-"Curse you, five hours from now me", cute memory. A favour? Yay, Ruka's alive. "I guess this means you'll be having this same conversation over and over" - pretty much. "No such thing as a fixed future", a veiled warning? (I thought he'd call her LabMem 006.) And June 26th, 2036. 1:29pm seems almost academic. "Two weeks before today, you're not even here", yeah, I wondered. Heh, "take a call".

-Fortunate he was only captured for two weeks, I guess? (336 hrs) Be proud, awww. Hm, she cannot modify the machine now, otherwise the current situation might be ruined since their future is his past, good point. OH WOW, Yuki's there with Suzuha?! Back again. So it's just before his capture. He told them he gets caught? Oh, because 2025.

-Interesting how the "world line convergence" could have worked in his favour before. Give Amadeus 10 minutes? (Ooooh, I like this music. Right, it's from ep 23 of the original.) Memorize this map? Uninstall her? Because she steers him wrong. Oh, just run for the time leap machine HIMSELF, huh. Trusting in the others, well that's sensible. "Ignore the rest of Valkyrie"... hm, is that Alexis back there?

-Multiple Okabes? He hears them like in the lab memory. Now he's running through 2024, 2021, warp star field (kinda), nice visual. Mar 3rd, 2017, GOOD LORD, and immediately right back through to... July 7th, 2011, 3:25pm. Unbelievable. (Did he bring back the knowledge of how to do a two week mind leap instead of two days?)

-Punch him? Dude, you just got back from 2036, I think you've suffered sufficiently. Wow, I didn't think he'd really do it. (Like, if Okabe's unconscious, that's a problem.) It's our mad scientist back?! Yeah, Maho doesn't get it. Daru loves it. Heck of a Kyouma laugh. Nice posing. Missing the coat.

-The Loli Girl, uh, really? (He's definitely in character.) It's a +1 lab coat. "He's back to our leader". Nice eyebrow twitch, animators. (Don't call me that, seriously.) Aw, she gets to be Lab Member 009, I'd kind of hoped for that. (Kuuuuu, OMG that pronunciation.) Hiyajo Safina?! (Maho = Safina how?) New operation. (Red star?) Operation Vega.

-"The Organization", yeah, that's... not inaccurate. They'll reply on pay phones? Okay, this is somehow hilarious, the pretending to talk to his phone. He wants to ensure the others get to the past? (I really didn't think that was possible, but...) El Psy Congroo, alrighty. They'll get Braun's help, makes sense.

-The vital mission to support the members. Rukako IS a treasure. (Hee, Maho sees why they like Okarin.) Good job, Daru. It's 5:06pm. Hmmm, in ep 17 that's when Kagari saw Mayuri and switched sides. (Shouldn't they have left by then? But no, Reyes would stop them.) Right, there is it, it played out as it would have without Okabe.

-Alexis knows about the Valkyrie thing. He's posturing now. Hmph, offering brainwashing over death, mad scientist to the end. OHH, there was so much conveyed in that single LOOK, wow. WHOAAAAA, Moeka?! WHOAAAAAAA, Braun already got her. WOW. WOOOOOW. (No ED for this ep either then, damn. Wait, the opening music? And still two eps so...??) Hee hee hee, so focussed on Okabe that he misses a taser.

-"I time leaped to come here" but yeah, from kinda FAR. So here it goes. 5:17pm. "It's too early", so there's some piece that he's missing. Boom. Next, things are very melancholy. (It really does make sense that Arclight cannot succeed, so what can they do?)

Thoughts and Theories:

*That was a lovely and dramatic failure. (I mean, not completely, they saved Kagari.) You kind of hate to see it overwritten, except it has to be, since Mayuri needs to live in the overall future. This has been a bizarre two episode diversion. And even with the future knowledge Okabe has, it still didn't work? (Is there a double cross happening behind Leskinen? We saw Reyes briefly.)

*So we had a one episode diversion into alpha, and then another into the future. But something's missing. (Will Okabe still be able to jump back two weeks? If so they have some time to work it out.) At the same time, we know Arclight isn't how things lead into the original series - so how do we make this a dramatic win with Mayuri surviving? Or is it possible to bring both timelines to a satisfactory conclusion, just Steins;Gate is better? (Daru did say that Suzuha and Mayuri had found another route.)

*Okabe deceived the world with his death, and he knows this. Is there some way to deceive the world about the time machine destruction? (Doubt it. It needs to go.) Some way to deceive the world about Mayuri's death? (Probably. Which would lead into finding a way to send himself the message.) The trouble is, they can take down Alexis (which was really satisfying, gotta say) but there's too many other moving parts. Both DURPA and Stratfor seem involved. (Weirdly Alexis was calling for DURPA in the past but we saw him with Stratfor in the future, and they were the ones he was informing.)

*Part of me muses that C203 to C204 might be because of the invention of an extra gadget in the interim (the device that lets you D-mail a whole video file instead of 36 bytes?). But the numbering was never that rigorous anyway.


Episode 22 - Project Amadeus

Stream of Consciousness:

-From July 8th, 6:32pm, back to the 6th, same time. (I guess after all his travels, they can get the mind leap machine working faster.) Okabe sees Mayuri's umbrella. So a while after she heard them talking (why is he walking upstairs, no Mayuri talk yet?). We've just given up on the OP now. (I mean, the music was just the ED.)

-Daru suggests just saving them. "That makes things unpredictable." It is a major element for starting WWIII, so might be a convergence (I think so). He told them about the future leaps too? But not details. And they never saw Kyouma in this timeline. Maho brings Amadeus, since it's a day earlier. "As long as the chance isn't zero, giving up is not an option." SERIES TITLE DROP.

-The lab members never change? Kyouma is back, Maho is confused. "It's like the Organization", heh. Hee hee, Christina. Aw, so he is embarrassed? "Okarin is so obnoxious, arguing and delusional, which is why is absurd logic works." Well, Daru's mind hasn't changed. Their reactions are so good to Kyouma. They let them board the time machine? (What, since it'll be destroyed?)

-They know how to foil Stratfor and Leskinen, as well as DURPA. Leaving foreign interference. "Can't you come up with a single plan of your own", heh. Maho says look into the WHY and WHAT. Goes on tiptoes - I don't get their reaction. I DO get her hitting them for that. :) (Books are good.) So how do the Russians know?

-"World line convergence" would correct for Leskinen's actions? (Tried to use to his advantage, much like Okabe did his death.) Where *did* DURPA get their info? "Same country", ehhh, I dunno. A thought? They find the clip about Nakabachi's stolen paper not being burned up (riiiight, they need that AND they didn't think to make the connection to Russia yet, DUH).

-If Russia had completed one, there wouldn't be conflict? They had wanted to destroy Kurisu's PC, to keep others away until their work could be done. Her knowledge... they want to destroy Amadeus? (But we see her in the future?) When Amadeus was taken over, the world line changed. Before Russians are involved?? (Spring of last year was when they got the data. Yeah, that was before the first PhoneWave. And D-Mail just results in SERN.)

-D-RINE? A sendable message over RINE? But the system was only in beta a year ago; only Daru had it then. He needs to protect Kurisu's data... not enough? A huge nation, they can make copies. They have to wipe her out? (Kurisu is serious about the suiciding.) Now Okabe wanders off and finds Mayuri. (I guess due to convergence, he has the same conversation?)

-Maho tells Amadeus there's a reason they can't do it. Okabe continues wandering. Talk with Amadeus? A view. At night. Very advanced AI. A final walk? (I still don't think this will work though.) Callback to prior ep... heh, and funny voice. Everything has reason and purpose, otherwise it's erased, interesting perspective of an AI. (Suzuha cutaway? Oh yeah, Daru's device.) The world is chaotic. The jumble allows miracles.

-Happy that he's sentimental, but there is a world line where they can be saved. "I killed the original you". (Literally. Not confessing to that though.) "I gave up" is what kind of killed her, fair. "My pride won't allow a sacrifice to be made for me." Like you never existed, no one will remember. Except him? 3,000 leaps of regret to get here.

-Not much joy in existing as the start of WWIII, fair. But within her power to save the original, if that's the reason she exists? Aw, that's actually nice. They've been up all night. July 7th, 7:15am, before Daru goes to see Suzuha. They can compress an attachment, that makes sense. (I guess Daru spent the night fixing the PhoneWave? Though it was already producing gels.)

-'Break into servers', with Maho's key. "Der Alte, wurfelt nicht". ED as we do emergency mode. "The possibilities are endless", final words of encouragement. Okabe also has words, "on that promised day where time intersects ... we will meet again". There they go, new ending music... oh, nice shattering effect for Amadeus. **1.123581** That's new. Next time? Looks like another attempt, which I think still fails.

Thoughts and Theories:

*They're still in beta, with WWIII, they just don't have Amadeus. (Would I be thinking this plan works, if it weren't for the original series? Maybe.) Yet instead of 1.097 (closer to alpha) putting us in 1.13 (the start of the show) we're in 1.1236... in between. But closer? I guess? (The closer you get to 1.2, the further you get from Kurisu Makise.) It also means that the future Okabe came from is definitively gone, since it included Amadeus.

*This is a BIZARRE wrinkle. On the one hand, it shows how their actions in the closed time loop can affect things outside... in the Steins;Gate line now, there will be no connection to Maho (aw, have we lost LabMem 009?). But even if they don't have Kurisu, have they eliminated the mind-to-data THEORY? Like, Leskinen might still be able to brainwash in the future (if perhaps not as effectively), and if Kagari's presence in the teaser is any indication, he does.

*So how does this help? They've likely also lost Maho... oh NO, without her I think they lose the Mind Leap machine too! Hell, everything to this point has been in the wrong world line, and there's only one episode to tidy all this up. (I guess we'll never know why Steiner activated in ep 5?) I don't see any way to predict what will happen. All I can think is Daru's future message somehow.

*Incidentally, RINE is a social messaging application that replaces emails (I guess like texts, or Facebook messenger?). In the visual novel game, it's how Okabe's been communicating with everyone, instead of through email. Aha, based on real-world "LINE" (similar logo and all), which was released March 2012 (huh, nice timing).


Episode 23 - Arclight of the Sky

Stream of Consciousness:

-Actually, Maho's still there. Okay. (I guess Leskinen still did want to be close to Okabe.) "Given up talking funny", so some of yesterday still took place? 7:39am. Met for different reasons (I am glad she's still there). Jump to 2:32pm. Mayuri's call to him about Suzuha leaving. (I'd forgotten.) He answers the same way, huh.

-3:21pm, no time, no kidding. "Can't even find out and confirm what exactly has changed", you and me both. (Orihime shout-out again.) They won't leave, dude... there's still convergence. OH, this time he sees Kagari? (And Moeka sees him?) Leskinen conversation as before... but Kagari escaped this time? Huh. Insufficient brainwashing (I somehow called that).

-Delay tactic. Go Moeka... crud, he's SHOT? (In the leg still, huh.) LabMem 005. Kagari kills Reyes, so that played out like that... and this time it wasn't word of God, it was all about meeting Mommy (riiiight). Kagari vs Suzuha, yowza. Mayuri needs to... WHOA, that was kinda badass. "That was scary", yeah. "Nothing good will come of it", fair point to Kagari (though I guess they could lie low, and just pop up after their past selves leave).

-Okarin has the power to change the future... no, everyone has it inside them (nice messaging there). Okarin is the guide, Mayuri gives Hikoboshi the push. Kagari come too? Mayuri's nice. "Do it for me too". He gives them the warning. "When I'm all pathetic, slap." Whoops, they're coming. Kagari asks him for advice about being Mommy. Awwww, precious hostage, nice callback. She'll help now. "I'm trusting you", sweet. (Tearing up a little.)

-Leskinen is making the call, damn him. This instant? The missile is enveloped by the machine?? Still an explosion, so it looks like it was destroyed. "1 new RINE message", hmmm. "Listen well, you fools," heh. He tells them it went through space-time? (Seems like a poor plan, why not let them think they succeeded.) 

-Aug 21st, 2010, 5:55pm. There's TWO time machines. (I seriously did NOT THINK THIS WOULD WORK.) A message to Mayuri from herself? And then the second machine is gone?? "Do you love Hououin Kyouma", he will have failed. So confront him and open his eyes. Talking in stereo, wow. "Thirty seconds left" (until they vanish? daaamn). Remember when Kyouma was born. "Feelings spanning 26 years and one more are entrusted to you." (Er, Okabe never said how far in the future he came from, technically.)

-Does Steins;Gate exist... I'm sure it does. The second machine is gone? (I guess that was the original two leaving, not them coming back?? So countdown was the time they had for a cloaked call.) The shards around them... they had to jump to avoid a paradox, and no fuel. Thrown to some random era? (Um, wait, so Mayuri really is gone for good, she can't hide out? Daaamn again.)

-Jealous of being able to remember world line changes, ehhhh, maybe you shouldn't be. Stardust handshake. Oooh, wow, travelling hundreds and thousands of hours like light from a star. NICE metaphor, she's so good at those. "Waiting for you"... in Steins;Gate. And now the return.

-Phone message on Okabe's phone (which they have, right). 6:12pm, turn on news. So they do get this info now, because this particular future will have Okabe send back that message. So this is the original show. Damn. And so here it comes. The slap that woke Steins;Gate. And the original show music. (Title "Milky-way Crossing"??) So this message from the future wasn't coming from anything in this series after all. (And we can see around him, the people of the future in this new timeline, that's nice. Aw, even Kagari.) "It doesn't really mean anything."

-Maho's there too, wheee. Talking with Daru. The 2010 Okabe being embarrassed? (I guess she did meet him after the message was received.) Deceive the world. Heh, Faris was recording. And Daru's message goes to Suzuha-chan in 2011?? Hold up. (I guess Mayuri at some point spoke about the message from her other self??)

-Maho says Okabe's testing? It's 2025, before he dies, that makes more sense than 2036 (and explains young Suzuha). "He doesn't die, he leaves from space-time", some crazy positive thinking. True enough. The world can be deceived. WHAT?!? He's going to FIND THEM? The Kerr black hole tracer, oh my God. Kagari says return the Oopa to Mommy, awwww. But this twist of people existing outside the closed loop, DAMN.

-So Steins;Gate exists, and it's going to overwrite their own, the same way the overwriting was... ow. Operation Altair. He makes the impossible into possible, yeah. A new song again. OHO, Maho is narrating the original opening information, that's a CLEVER twist. Again. Huh. So. Yeah. ("Gate of Steiner", which song was that? This one?)

-ACK, STILL GOING?! BC 18,000. Suzuha sees nothing outside but a big sand storm. And then a plume of light. Kyouma walking out of it. I can't even. "Sorry to keep you waiting", that's a hell of a closing line. Pan up to the stars, logo, bam. Little tear from me. (Next time: The OVA hijinks, I'm surprised they did one of these for that.)

Thoughts and Theories:

*That was a very clever ending (the first one, though the after credits one was good too). I see I was approaching the series wrong; I saw it as a tale of disillusioned Okabe until he sends the message, but of course that's completely WRONG for how time travel works on the show. He sends the message because he received it, that was never in question. The question is why DIDN'T he send it, and the answer is Mayuri didn't slap him. In the end, she's as much the path to Steins;Gate as him.

*I do question the execution of that plot, simply in terms of the number of lost threads. Why was Fubuki's Reading Steiner and Leskinen's tests on her never addressed? (Begs the question of how common it is.) Were the misdirection cutaways to Yuki's clumsy injuries necessary? (It sabotaged her character in a sense.) How was DURPA connected to all this? (Same country is a hand waving explanation... did they have Amadeus access?) Was there a reason for Mozart codes (aside from the name Amadeus)? The Russians being less involved on account of no Amadeus also needs to be interpreted by the viewer (particularly since they were probably still on the ball for destroying the PC).

*Again, don't get me wrong, I like that they weren't explicitly explaining everything. (Like the cloaking of the ship for the phone call, it took a moment to deduce that.) And the return of Kyouma was great. But too much felt unclear, in the end. At the same time, I guess this clarifies the start of Episode 12 in the original series? Mayuri seemed to be in a desert. I guess that's this ending. So they had to have this in mind initially, somehow (was it in the original video game?).

*I think another issue is it felt rushed. They were cutting out the opening and ending in order to do plot over the credits. Most of the time travel happened towards the end... which makes sense, but why only start the end at episode 17? I mean, the alpha episode was nice, and the Daru dating episode was a character piece, but in retrospect the show seemed to be dragging its feet early on. Particularly with Kagari. Even the Amadeus departure episode seemed dragged out. Maybe it was an adaptation issue, I'll have to look into how the original visual novel played out.

*23 eps is also kind of weird (not counting Ep 23Beta at the start, or the OVA). Had they planned on 24? Though I guess "Episode 23" has resonance. Ruka's death actually was the biggest emotional punch for me overall (even more than the end), so I'm glad we saw the future (even though it wasn't really the future). Capt Janeway's quote comes to mind... 'The future is the past, the past is the future. It all gives me a headache'. Anyway. One ep to finish up.

OVA Episode (Ep 24) - Bittersweet Intermedio

Stream of Consciousness:

-The Leskinen wants Oden poster again. This is just after New Years... so in the middle of Episode 11? Alexis has a silly pistol. Yeah, they're packing. Reyes, will you get a line? (Nope.) Looking at February. Hey, the OP, it's been a while. Oh, the OLD OP, Okabe in long sleeves.

-Working for Braun. Kagari's not used to being paid I guess. There it is. Valentine's Day event starts Feb 3rd. Right, in Japan it's about women giving chocolate to men (generally speaking). Amadeus wants Maho to give some to Okabe. -.- (Who convinces Maho in the path without Amadeus, only Leskinen?) Oooh, flashback.

-Nice way to convey the cultural differences there. Her quote, eh hehe. And turnabout is fair play. (They run away after losing arguments?) Nice philosophy; I liked that scene. Oh, Faris is eavesdropping. "Eye of the sky God, Horus"... I've kind of missed Faris' weird conspiracy things. Hahaha, Moeka's there the whole time. Moe-meow. ^^ (It's for FB, I guess?)

-Some Nae time. WTF Suzuha, what weird soap opera are you involved in?! (Of course, Kagari is the oldest, despite appearances.) Okabe finally appears. No attackers lead, checking in. Mayuri says pick out a phone. (Ahh, the chocolate's for Mayuri. Or Ruka?) WTF Suzuha, are you taking the wrong pills?

-Cosplay girls, sans Yuki. NO! Wrong fan service, oy oy. >.< Mayuri makes a good point, Fubuki's kinda fun (and this is the second time she's hitting on Mayuri). Faris is everything a scheme? Commercial. Aaaand she's pulling a Kyouma. With all the ladies. (Nice group shot, actually.) Suzuha's insecure? Wants to see Yuki though. ^.^ Montage? (Fubuki, you are fun.) Faris has a planned scheme.

-Maho is very much doing science. Kaede is apparently not a cook (but is spacy). Moeka put foil in the microwave?! Mayuri's having trouble too, this is backfiring on Faris. HAHAHA, "you'd expect someone to know what they're doing". Yuki and Ruka. An anime within an anime? Oh, it's Daru's game. Peaceful, unless you're at Faris'.

-Aw, praise from Mom. Oil? Oh no, the cosplay girls. NO! Wrong fan service, oy oy. >.< (Big sis did this to Big bro, indeed.) Um, did Braun make chocolates? Keep in the fridge, sure. Faris knows the animators. Ahhh, that's why they brought Nae. >.< Suzuha talked to DARU about Kagari and Okabe? Really? (I mean, I know the original was a harem anime, but seriously?) And yeah, weird relationship joke.

-I wouldn't worry about paradox until you know, like seriously. May Queen Nyan^2 event people, sure. Very trying for Faris. So Braun did make some for Nae. Um, did the cosplay girls exchange? (Can I ship Fubuki and Kaede??) Aww, Moeka to the butler. Yuki and Daru makes sense.

-So Kagari WAS for Okabe, but with the message to get along with Mommy. Ohhh, and Ruka, and Daru. "With the things Kagari left behind"... also Ruka, her Dad, Mayuri, Braun... ohhh, because she's gone now. Riiiight, we've time skipped past ep 13. Final thought from Suzuha. Hmmm, and the SECOND closing, that's clever. (Wait, what about Maho, who left?)

-Okay, good, closure for Maho. Gave it out? Bit late? Oh my God, Kurisu gave her some last year? It's... in the Radio building. With an apology. Way to sucker punch me for more tears, anime. (Incidentally, just noticing now that the DVDs don't seem to have the extra features. BluRay only?)

Thoughts and Theories:

*The episode probably works best after episode 13, before the massive time skip. Though given the final 60 seconds, it can work here, knowing what we know now about Maho and Kurisu's relationship... and I *did* like the flashback scenes. Pity there weren't more of those during the run of the show.

*I feel like maybe the whole anime would have worked better if I'd had slightly different expectations going in. Then I wouldn't be waiting for events that never pay off (like doubt over Okabe knowing Kurisu in such a short time, related to the jasmine tea... or some other shoe with the cosplay girls which was a long string of background...). The final payoff was good, but I think in the end I do prefer the original.

*Starting research. Someone points out that even though Okabe 2025 is "overwritten" by Steins;Gate, he still exists until Suzuha leaves in the future, which is why he can kick out of the closed loop into the far past, the way that Mayuri and Suzuha did. Leaves the question of how is Okabe gloating after the two of them travel back, maybe?


VISUAL NOVEL

*Quick research on the visual novel to see about the adapting... took inspiration from light novels "Epigraph Trilogy" (not an adaptation). "If you can't save the one you love, how can you save humanity" is a clever tagline (not sure if it's official). I like the opening; now I see why there were snowflakes in the first OP.

*Hm, apparently Yuki gets replaced by Kagari for the lab, in a Leskinen plot somewhere? (Yuki sent to Europe.) There's a branching decision to end the first chapter, not sure if that plays into it.

*Kagari varies wildly (personality) in the visual novel branches, interesting. Trying to research that and I'm getting info on some attack in a parking garage on Dec 15th... also maybe Kagari IS in the biker outfit instead of Reyes in a branch? Anyway.

*The Yuki fake-out is apparently something pursued by Okabe in a branch; a commenter points out that if Anime Yuki had any subconscious skills, they would have come out when Suzuha jumped her at the Christmas Party earlier. That is a good subtle detail. Yuki's just a massive clutz.

*Six endings... with routes that can branch to form a zero when mapped? Apparently to access the "true ending" you need to complete one of the main paths forking from the end of chapter one, before trying the other. (Due to a D-RINE message.) And most key gameplay is Amadeus and phone calls, not the RINE app.

*For the curious, the endings are categorized as: Bad/Leskinen Ending ; Kagari Ending ; Kurisu Ending ; Maho Ending ; Mayuri/VegaAltair Ending ; Milky-Way Crossing End.


REFERENCE;CODE BETA

This is the small (translated) book which came with the Elite version of Steins;Gate 0. It has a Glossary, animations/illustrations, and cast/staff interviews.

The Glossary is interesting, going in depth about terms, as they come up in a linear way through the episodes. This includes:

* A mention that while Leskinen fed info to Stratfor, Jenny Reyes was employed by DURPA... so that explains some things. (Like the throwaway line about them being in the same country. Try same University.) I guess they tried to convey this by having that DURPA guy call Kagari "Reyes", but it was never clear she wasn't somehow working for Leskinen. (Him killing her could have been a double cross, not a rival organization thing.)

* There's also an explanation of Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair) as depicted in Tanabata folklore, only able to meet once a year (separated by the Milky Way River). So that connects, and saves looking it up.

* Okabe's final time machine in 2025 is C193. And it makes sense that the future HQ of the resistance was at the Radio Building, they're not traveling in space.


***

That concludes my thoughts on the Disc 4 episodes and some supplemental materials. I guess there were definite challenges in doing the adapting, as it wasn't as linear. So that could explain some of my earlier complaints. Even some of the cosplay girls are playable in the visual novel as you swap around to get more character pieces, so that gives them more agency. (I swear Fubuki is, if not a lesbian, in love with Mayuri.)

Kudos for the anime creators making it work in the end, I was impressed by the time travel aspects. In particular the conclusion not simply being the end of the original... going to 2025 and having another time travel trip was very smart.

If you want to read someone else's opinions about the whole Steins;Gate 0 anime, here's a review by Dennis Carden and here's a review by Richard Elsenbeis (both from 2016).

Thank you for reading, and if you have any thoughts about my reactions, or the series itself, please do comment! (At this point, I don't think we need to worry about spoilers.)

Thursday 27 August 2020

Series Scan: Steins;Gate Zero 3

I am a SLOW binge-watcher (and reader). Two hours is about my limit, after which I need processing time. At the same time, I enjoy watching online reviewers, and reactions to things that I’ve previously watched, to see if they’re similar to my own. So, why not take the time during a slow binge to chronicle my own reactions and speculations?

We're continuing our look at Steins;Gate 0. (If you wanted the original show, I did that as well.) Spoilers for that original Steins;Gate show are inevitable, and I discuss the time travel theory, so don't read any further if you don't want to be spoiled about that.

Disc 1 analysis was here. We're into Disc 3 now, and it's questions all the way down.

New character Qs: How was Yuki conscripted into working with an American agency? How is it that Fubuki has Reading Steiner along with Okabe (and will they talk about it)? What's with Maho's creepy mother, and how is she connected to the attempted theft of Amadeus?

Plot Qs: What Russian change to the past had the present being in a war (ep 4), and how was it reversed? (Related, the alpha ep.) Why is the American agency using Mozart codes, and apparently has been for the last 15 years? (Also, animal brains?) I guess they know Kagari isn't Kurisu after all. How did they track Kurisu's computer and how does this become about saving Kurisu, rather than stopping Nakabachi? 

Current Qs: How did a song that never exists bring Kaguri and Mayuri together? Why did Kagari react to the car in that commercial? How will this lead to bringing Maho back into things? I feel like Ruka will have some things to say before we get into any of that. I also feel like I don't have enough data to really speculate on anything, being as out of the loop as Okabe.

Something I'm only fully taking note of as I open the second box, I like how the cardboard sleeve and the disc package are different images on the front (for both packages). I've also learned the listed titles are just the "short" English conclusions for the full titles. So there's something to look into, if you're curious.

There are two sections below, "Stream of Consciousness" which is typed as I watch the episode, and "Thoughts and Theories" which is written after the episode ends (before I watch the next one). Feel free to skip the former if you want my analysis more than my reactions (or vice versa).


Episode 13 - Diffraction Mother Goose

Stream of Consciousness:

-As anticipated, Ruka's there. Mayuri's doing her best here, with a daughter who is older than she is. Daru, don't say it... ack, you said it. Suzu to the roof? OP, I still love those clock noises. Daru makes a point about sanity. Six years old when adopted (so together for four years). I do like the graphic.

-Working together is now awkward too. WHOA, Mom and Dad slapdown. She remembers then. Suzuha does kind of fly off the handle, here. Uh-oh, different memories?! Braun bad timing. Different memory...? Okabe ponders. Calling it now, Kagari has Reading Steiner. She remembers the original history. When they made the Y2K change, Suzuha remembers different. Maybe Fubuki was her original mom? (too much?)

-Causes of memory loss and convenience. Artificial? They could have had Kagari remember things the wrong way too with brainwashing, yeah. Why is there a Mozart van driving around? O.o Moeka's still with Faris, uhhmmm is my yuri ship alive here? A building that shouldn't be there, hm.

-Envies Kagari not remembering? I can see it, but on the other hand, Suzuha DID lose her memory in the original show and it destroyed her completely. (I can't believe I didn't connect that already.) Not good at apologies, eh? Okay, Mozart van is SUSPICIOUS. Kagari knows Mayuri's habits, eh heh. Mayuri is good at bringing people together.

-I vaguely recall their last drive together, to track Braun. Uhmm, has DARU been brainwashed by Nae? Oh, Moeka does still drive crazy. Kagari, where are you going? Huh, they found it. Used recently?? New fragments, whoaaa. Abandoned when Kurisu died, perhaps? Yeah, I don't like the Mozart van. (Back up, was that Alexis?) PTSD... but WAS it for that? Or were the Americans PLANTING THINGS IN HER HEAD? To retrieve in the past? Because THEY HAVE AMADEUS? (Data into memories...) Oh. Once again, I'm 5 seconds ahead of the plot.

-So the Mozart music connection relates to the Amadeus of the future. (The van must be driving around to try and trigger Kagami. She was triggered last ep, from the radio station.) Explains why they can't let AMADEUS get out in the future either. (But then how would they tell their past selves? They'd need a phone microwave.) "Voice of God" wtf? So brainwashing.

-Important events over the closing music, I guess. Okabe's late too, I figured no signal. Hidden passage... American base? HOLY CRUD. She was kept in that room?! That's SO EERIE. Phone signal back, onwards. Next, they search, and return of Amadeus, it seems.

Thoughts and Theories:

*We started in 1.129848... but then the Americans decided that to battle the Russians, they would have to input time travel info into someone (using Amadeus, hence why Kurisu must be kept alive, to keep the wraps on it). Someone that would end up in the past. Hence the shift to 1.097302, when Kagari was put in the past, a person with ties to Okabe who was tied to Kurisu. They then have her triggered with Mozart, and from 1998 learned way too much even before 2010. (So did they send themselves a message about her, or was the trigger enough for her to go to the Americans?) But they must have been missing a piece, since they didn't get the jump on Russia... or they couldn't act until Kurisu's death/Amadeus was born.

*That feels pretty solid. So they'll get Maho back in because of the data-to-brain connection (which doesn't exist yet) and find the mole in her lab (probably her Mom) who's been trying to get Kagari back before she spills the beans. New question: How does Okabe realize that sending himself the message in the past will set things right? And how does he lock it to after Okabe's time jump? (It also means he'll have to reinvent the PhoneWave... unless he uses someone else's?)

*I now wonder if I'm too far ahead of the plot, or right where they figured I would be by showing us the 'Amadeus' thing "for PTSD". Actually, maybe the Americans have a COPY of Amadeus?? That would also explain the frantic "help me" call, as they tried to rewrite her software, resulting in a world line shift. (Also, "Voice of God" being Mozart, in the OP "there is no God" means no more AmaDEUS, so new world?)

*Seem to have gone from 'questions all the way down' to 'oh that makes sense' pretty fast. As far as the characters working things out, I think it'll have to be through exposing Yuki. (And just noticed now that Suzu and Yuki have the same voice actress.)

Episode 14 - Presage or Recognize

Stream of Consciousness:

-Okabe has an emoji? SEVERAL MONTHS? Well damn. WHOA, WHOA, new intro graphics?! I love the spinning zero effect. Sung differently? They all look a bit different, but it's a similar graphic (oooh, with Jenny). And red blood? Aw, no snowflakes. The running part is the same. But now there's time travel? And replacing people? Okaaaaay.

-Maho is in another time zone. They want the time leap machine? So they'll need Amadeus' knowledge I guess... or Salieri's. Aw, it's a no? Neither world line is good. ^_^ Daru still has his hope, that's good. Fubuki in the hospital? (Steiner?) A worldline variant without Suzu would be interesting, though wouldn't that mean no Kagari too? They wanted her back... they're not trying to monkey with Fubuki's memory too, are they??

-Alexis is there? Wanting private rooms? "Third Einstein", heh, oh Okabe's transferring in September? (Goal, at least. Hah, of unspecified year.) Heh, he asks about Maho. Still, that was all VERY suspicious. Maho's doing the research, nervously, that's nice. Had Maho forgotten about his question? Now asking time machine again. Hesitation confirmed, but of course she would do it.

-Kagari was there? Uhoh, evil afoot... they're looking for Kagari, I imagine. Suzu, you are GOOD. Yeah, it's not a practical outfit, but I doubt... oh, wait, seriously? They got her that bad? Ahh, she's back for her gift. She has crazy skills due to the brainwashing. But Mayuri is still the key. Suzu with hair down, that's a different look... and she's serious. So she got away.

-"Voice of God" mystery confirmed. But secrets, because yeah, too many people are looking at Okabe. Evil Future Professor, eh? Daru, your 'imagination' funnies may not be the best time. Maho is troubled by the very AI that's helping her. ^^ She needs to find a similar path, good for her. New ED too... new MUSIC for this one. Still English? Euuuuh. I'm not sure I like this. Yeah, I don't think so, but maybe it'll grow on me. Next, more on Suzu, Evil Professor, and maybe Yuki.

Thoughts and Theories:

*The time skip, new sequences... we've fully moved into the second half. I've seen nothing to disprove my theories from last time. I'm not sure how the mind leap machine is going to play a role (will they get it to work without hacking SERN?). I doubt they'll prevent Kagari from getting re-abducted, in fact I don't think they'll jump backwards past Maho's return, so we'll have to wait and see there.

*The brainwashing isn't perfect, Mayuri seems able to get through. Probably why Kagari went back to the lab, and then had to return again for her gift. But that was to kickstart the plot, I think they'll have to track her down now. My money's on Alexis Leskinen being the evil Professor, but probably due to Jenny's influence (she's now in the OP behind him).

*Bigger question - why hasn't Russia done more experiments? Cold war with America now that they both have somewhat useable devices? Or just lying low to avoid provoking Okabe, until they're sure they have the upper hand? (Some combination?) Or maybe the Russians want to get Kagari back before proceeding... their earlier experiments might have coincided with Kagari escaping.


Episode 15 - Recognize Asymptote

Stream of Consciousness:

-A week left? Until what? Ohh, Suzuha also has a treasure from her mother. Heh, Maho behind the luggage. Hm, helping the Professor is a good cover story. Suzu's worried about matchmaking, seriously? "Meet her more often", sheesh, you still exist, dontcha? (Though maybe this'll reveal Yuki's secrets.) Yeah, I'm with Daru here. ... Huh. Dropping "Back to the Future", interesting.

-"No future awaits those who refuse to take action" may be a valid point. Nice that it's his own advice. A-Are they trying to set him up on a date? Oh no, they are. Confidence boosts. (Faris says... hold on, did Suzuha DOCTOR that photo?? I wouldn't put it past her.) Confess? I wasn't a fan of the "Ruka Date" ep in the original series.

-A report for Okabe's classes...? (Why is Suzuha calling on Maho too?!) Mayuri to Okabe, probably symptomatic of something larger. Well, Daru WOULD listen to Faris. Moeka's on point. Maho, I can't believe this either. OHH, but PLOT here, "sleep learning" is getting closer to "brainwashing".

-SIGH. Idiots, Daru's not acting like usual, that's likely more of a turnoff. This is WORSE than the Okabe/Ruka date. Is Suzuha getting a clue? Yuki escapes, that's good at least. Ahh, Faris doctored the photo. Uh, uh, SUCH TRAUMA. Okay, Suzuha, it's not QUITE your fault like that future time (that was an accident, this was deliberate).

-Well, nice character piece for Suzuha at least, and she learned to apologize. Daru KNEW? But he wanted a push. So they were both a little selfish. Daru is a pretty awesome guy, behind all the perversions. Oh, a proper date. With a Moe scream? Oookay. So Suzuha is learning. And Okabe is drifting from Mayuri. Nice family photo. And Kagari's watching (likely thinking of her family?). Next, Mayuri leaves? (Or is taken by Kagari?)

Thoughts and Theories:

*Very conflicted about this episode. It's Suzuha centred, possibly my favourite character, with good character pieces for her and Daru... but it's SO LAME. Results kind of telegraphed from the start. And it doesn't get us closer to Yuki's connection (unless maybe she confesses it to Daru later or something). For that matter, WHAT asymptote are they approaching?

*Ya know, staring to wonder if they want Okabe to transfer so that they have him under their thumb and not able to be drafted by Russians. He may snap out of it next ep. Or Kagari may have to save her mom from wandering somewhere she shouldn't, as she looks for him.


Episode 16 - Vega and Altair

Stream of Consciousness:

-Braun? Whoops, fail. Yeah, lab's a pretty unassuming place. Mayuri? "Antinomic paradox" (law conflict paradox) in OP is only now registering. Also, the cosplay girls are headshots instead of a scene, huh. Oh, she was waiting for Okabe... and they want to meet Daru? (Yeah, Alexis et al are trying to get the Lab under their thumbs.)

-Does Okabe want to do it for Amadeus or for Maho? Um, if Daru leaves too, Mayuri has no Lab, think about it. Heh, Suzu in cosplay. Oh, Kurisu's lab coat? Okabe's moving on? You're making her unhappy, dude. Bad timing for a RINE message. Hm, Mayuri's remembering Episode 23B? Ruka needs an umbrella, hee hee. A Tanabata decoration like in the OP? She wished to be Orihime-sama? (Now I have Bleach on the brain.)

-Mayuri is his support, but it's true she's not connected like Makise or Maho. Ruka is a grounding force in all this. Heh, they locked the lab on him. Eroge, oh no, don't tell me this happens sometimes. -.- "Quit it with the illegal stuff", heh. Yeah, other concerns. Um, why is the banana a tell? Ohh, rumours of the Chiba facility on @channel, clever.

-'Chestnut Rice and Sage', yeah, wait, what? Is Amadeus online? (Did he start typing 'Salieri's...'?) Okabe's pretty shrewd... or is he just reminiscing? Oh. They have some of those gels. Oh dear. 'Phone Microwave (Temporary Name) Unit 02'. Yeah, this isn't a game to Okabe any more. Daru makes a VERY good point though, about this very timeline, they DO need a first step.

-Nice little recap for hidden Maho there. Okabe is kind of the idiot (claims to have moved on but not really) but Maho needs more clothes. Device is "terribly named", hee hee. Ohh, now I get it, they'll need to leap back here to where Kurisu's death is within reach of the machine (which we know isn't what happens, but still). OH NO, MAYURI NO.

-Okabe, you're obsessing, it doesn't mean that yet... Amadeus herself said she'd make it but possibly not use it. Daru, good job. Maho's not a murderer. They're trying to work within a framework, not play around the way it was before, yes. Okabe himself seems to realize this, good. (And then they'll find Mayuri's umbrella...) Daru being gentle, fair point. (Hiii umbrella, called it again.)

-Roof talk. "This world's law"? (antinomic?) Certain events converge as if orchestrated by God (or Amadeus?). Interesting discussion of science versus God, what laws are there. Yeah, if it's dictated by Fate, the idea of choices becomes a problem. (Not all things?) It's a nice image, with the reflected sky. "Tell me what can be changed", nice argument by Maho.

-Solve the formula of the world? The Steins;Gate formula, nice. Infinite possibilities, look again. Maho is awesome, along with the music. Yeah, the emotional side is harder. Oooh, failing over and over next to Kurisu, NICE one. I feel like they're getting through to him, it will take Mayuri. Maho sees herself in him, interesting.

-Here's the Mayuri bit. Times before Daru? Yeah, it's not the same. Less fun? She partially remembers, like before? Again, the impossible choice. He stopped coming because of her in both timelines? "All is well", no, saying that doesn't make it so, dude. Suffering in his eyes. Stars. Vega is the Arclight of the Sky? (I don't know that phrase.) Title drop. Next time: Progress? And Suzuha leaves.

Thoughts and Theories:

*We're getting somewhere. From one of the weakest episodes to one of the best ones. Interesting messages about failure. Not much there in the global time travel arena, making me think Kagari is the only twist they have. (Though it occurs that if they're trying to get Okabe and Daru away, they might be trying to see if Fubuki can be a backup Reading Steiner for them if they fail. Or they're implanting her with basic commands, that will stick even if timelines shift.)

*Hold on, maybe they're also brainwashing Yuki. She could be acting against the Lab and then have no memory of those events... which could even explain why she's closer to them now in this reality than she might be in the Steins;Gate reality? Embarrassing how it took me a while to suggest that. She could have even been a pilot project from 1998, if they know she's Suzuha's mom.

*Mayuri is an interesting case study. I can see why she's thinking about her actions from Chapter 23B, since "saving" Okabe there only seems to be haunting him and giving him more grief, versus actually saving both of them. Not sure how Mayuri will change her own actions to align with Steins;Gate though?

*Meanwhile Okabe does have the blinders on, in terms of wanting to believe everything's okay, and not recognizing that the beta timeline is it's own problem, where time machines still exist. Isn't it better for them to have the capability to alter events to keep themselves alive long enough to send Suzu back? (I think so, and Daru always has solid arguments, I notice.) I think he must come around next episode, the question is whether it takes more trauma.

*Also, Kurisu's channel name. I legit forgot about it until I rescanned my notes above. They did that on purpose, good job sneaking it in. Is it Amadeus? (Possibly the copy of Amadeus that I suspect the Americans have?) And if Suzuha leaves... to where? She has a year, max. We don't see her in the past, unless she's behind the scenes. And why not go to the future the long way?

Episode 17 - Beltrami Pseudosphere

Stream of Consciousness:

-Funny, Daru. Makes sense that she can't say much due to paradox. Daru was spying? Suzu is too happy, so she has to leave. Mayuri doesn't come here much, I take it. Ahh, she's not fully aware of future details. Date stamp?? July 7. 2011, 7:39am. Something is starting (well, the OP, but you know).

-Fast forward to 11:15am. Message about Einstein and Fizeau's basis. Maho might offer logic given her rough idea, okay. Mayuri used to be afraid of the future? But doesn't want a regret, yes. Good point about the world line mental changes. Nice graphics for the alpha and beta talk (series is always good about that). Interesting that we hear this talk too.

-Blames herself for stopping him (in 23B)? Reading Steiner, retaining the memories damages the heart, fair point. Suzuha's grateful? "If my Hikoboshi had come back to life" (and Kagari's there, WAS she in ep 1??). Sweets that Suzuha likes. When she returns to the past... who knows? (So true.) World line convergence? And that's that.

-Mayuri calls Okabe... and all he does is get upset at her for learning about the time machines?! Damn it, Okabe. No signal? (That worries me... why.) Daru has another good point, why send Suzuha back 25 years to this era (he's HERE, he knows how it turns out). Ah, to see the world before it was changed. What can Mayuri do? (She can be herself.)

-Oooh, she wants him to be himself, are they going to mind leap Mayuri back?? She does love him... ooh, even more than Kurisu, it's just unrequited. Can definitely feel the emotion here. And loves Hououin Kyouma even more?? Huh, didn't think of that. 2:45pm. She'll "stop being a hostage", wow, callback. (Overwriting this day would be bad... we need this Mayuri.)

-3:16pm. ALL the phones are out?! (Orihime station shout-out, cute.) Disruption only in Akihabara. Occult board got hacked?! ("Attention Salieri's Neighbor", that must be to Okabe.) "We twins will be temporarily driven from the place we belong", uh? About the second Amadeus? (Sacred Domains... cannot lie to Father, oh no, Nakabachi? Secrets of manipulating time.... eeesh.) "You were the person I always strove to be, and you... are the true Amadeus" to Maho, well that's nice.

-Try to access without phone. Data's missing? They broke deep protection? Daru knows something more?! Oh, about Suzuha, right. So Mayuri will delay her, that helps. And Mayuri is confident. Okabe is FAST. Um, talk about the time machine seal? Not just Mayuri? (I mean, I get it, emotion, but...) Suzuha's a good shot.

-"Let's not pretend some things never happened", oooh. Past the rain clouds, the stars are still there, that's a lovely metaphor. Wait, what just happened? (Bleeding biker girl? With another biker girl?) Okabe's inside. So it's possible that they'll run out of fuel and vanish? Oh, a message. ('Barrel Titor', nice one.) D-Mail from 2025?!

-Suzuha and Mayuri found another way to Steins;Gate? But it altered the world line. So Daru's not from her future, he's from another worldline (!!). "Operation Arclight"... and no details, because gunmen are here for the time machine. Lovely. Even Suzuha knows when she's outgunned. Biometric lock on the time machine? Yeeeah, well, she is from a dystopian future. Crud, is Mayuri hit?

-Well, that brought things to a halt. Kagari?! (She's not with them, I imagine. But shooting her mother?) 5:06pm? Trickle of blood, like in the OP. The end credits say 'DURPA Soldiers', so I guess we know who the organization is. ^_^ Next: More arrive... Mayuri's okay, and taking the time machine??

Thoughts and Theories:

*Back up. What did Suzuha call the time machine? (I didn't even bother to write it during the ep.) C203. Oh, that's DAMN subtle... it should be C204 (instead of Future Gadget 204 in alpha). Just went back to Ep 1 also, and Kagari WAS there, but the World Line WAS closer to 1.13. So, okay. In all my musings, I neglected how Okabe has to reset the world lines back to "true beta"... whatever that is. Hold on.

*So 203Daru sends Suzuha and Kagari back. Kagari is triggered in 1998 by Mozart to spill to the Americans about Amadeus in her head, and they learn of some of what is to come. They brainwash Yuki, as a way to get close to Daru, so that they're able to learn enough to ensure Kagari does go back.

*The Russians get time travel working. We get Okabe in a terrible future (that time he's on the roof) but it's quickly reset by the Americans, because their version of Kagari in that world line let them anticipate it (or if they had no Steiner, they were simply working against it anyway). The Russians try something more dire (namely saving Kurisu, so there is no Amadeus) but that results in alpha and SERN... Okabe and Makise themselves nix that. By this point we've diverged into 1.097.

*Now there's a message from 204Daru, which is still in the beta attractor field. (I just looked up Steins;Gate worldlines to see what was in the original show, and apparently there's a lot more beta than I thought. Oy, never mind.) 204Daru's presumably sent back 204Suzu, but also sends the message to July 7, 2011... 204Suzu never exists for it, but 203Suzu does get it. This is the same tech that 204Okabe uses, seen in the original show. The message isn't visible unless the world lines align close enough.

*The Americans are now trying to get the upper hand (using their future knowledge and stealing Amadeus), and the only way to stop them is Kurisu being alive... without alpha (which has SERN instead). Hence the plot. But how are Okabe/Daru able to send the later D-mail messages, and what do they know?

*Is Mayuri about to go back and talk to herself? Then hide out somewhere, as things play out slightly differently? (But isn't that a time loop, that will simply result in infinite Mayuris giving herself advice and hiding out? Uh. Unless Daru's message plays in full next time?) She can't be dead (she's Kagari's mom in the future)... but I guess she could be in a coma. Not sure how this gets us closer to C204. They need to not send Kagari back, I think? But how will they realize that? I need more info to answer any of that.

*I do think the sight of Mayuri "dead" will shock Kagari back to their side, unless she was just winging Mayuri to keep her out of danger in the first place (maybe she even mind leapt into herself, who knows). OH. Or maybe Mayuri dies, but the teaser shows a new Mayuri ARRIVING in the time machine? I can't see that working, but it'd be a twist.


Episode 18 - Translational Symmetry

Stream of Consciousness:

-Okabe puts lots of faith in world lines (again, comas, maybe). Alexis? I wondered when he would show his hand. (I guess the Americans think they've won, hence turning up now. Not sure why I decided to be on a first name basis with him.) Reyes? OHHHH, so the quick flash before was Kagari having killed Jenny Reyes, to take over, to protect Mayuri. (I assume.) You made her deadly, guys. Deal.

-Eep, did they get her? (Is Kagari expendable for them?) "Who gave you the big hint", heh, he doesn't know about the Suzuha connection? Just about the machine? Ohhh, the professor who created the system is father and God... NOT Nakabachi, that's the OTHER father. Interesting, duelling fathers (American and Russian). Guy can't know everything, presuming to kill Okabe here.

-"Strategic Focus"? Oh, StratFor (but then why did the credits say DURPA soldiers)? They escalate the conflict on this day... they needed convergence. Good point, how does Alexis know (and I guess he's in no way a patsy), put it together Okabe. With help, sure. Kagari is a force. And a distraction! Okabe's still shot in the leg though. Uh, you forgot the gun.

-So Kagari dies here, and Mayuri goes back to prevent it. Damn, that's some impressive brainwashing. Alexis is back... a joint effort by him and him, yeah, makes sense. C'mon Suzu, you referenced a future Professor. Oh no, Daru and Maho are backup prisoners. "Destined to happen", so he's living out his fantasy here. Kagari knew his phone number and spoke of "future you", fair.

-'Countless young girls and boys to act as spies', future Professor was a jerk. Present Professor is overconfident because of it, believing he cannot die, even revealing the music, geez. Good reaction by Maho. Shape the ways of this world as his own... yet he'll still need to become his future self, right? (Is not wanting to do that his downfall?) Experiment and observe, well that's fair, he has no guarantee he can rewrite things from here. "Time paradox".

-"If the world breaks ... I'd like to see it", well, that's scientific curiosity taken to an extreme. "Mad scientist", good call. ^_^ He even laughs. This place will be a battlefield? The machine is destroyed, then won't exist for 25 years, hmmm. "What if they faked its destruction and went into the past", oh, this guy is an INDEPENDENT, I'm only just picking up on that.

-Kagari, OMG, seriously. SUZUHA, BEST GIRL. Nice punch. Over the deep end now though. Daru, you the man. Yeah, don't be the same as him. ^_^ (Why did it come to this? Because you kinda avoided thinking about the future, man.) Helicopter. O.o Oh my, two of them. Mayuri has a good point, use the machine. "Is that DURPA?" Wait, BOTH American teams are fighting each OTHER?

-Okabe's too far away, Mayuri will get the win. "Operation Arclight"... she's the mad scientist, I love it. Timing? Uh... did it work? No? Crud. Yeah, he's having a PTSD flashback here, the thing won't work yet. (And yet, Mayuri must live to become Kagari's mommy so...??) New closing credit song.

-Might have been built on Kurisu's sacrifice, but you knew about WWIII. Mayuri message? What, now that the phones are working? "I hid him", not weight of the future on him but a worldline to find together, mmm. (These lyrics are literally her theme song, aren't they, they're on point.) Lab Member 002, awwww. Hououin Kyouma. But Okabe even more. ^.^ Mayuri goes badass. (It'll be like deja vu, heh.) Ruka sees Mayuri's message, nice end. Next time, the fallout.

Thoughts and Theories:

*Well played, they did manage to put in a twist... Alexis wasn't working for the Americans at all, he was playing his OWN game (admittedly feeding them some information). Mad scientist indeed (and Jenny died offscreen now that she's in the credits, geez).

*Unfortunately none of them know about Daru's message to Suzuha (also "Operation Arclight", so... it's from this weird 1.097 timeline, he likely named it after Mayuri). You kind of want to see it succeed just for Mayuri being so proactive. But how? So many are dead or missing. The war has started already. (And by the way, were they deliberately faking us out with Yuki, and it was Jenny Reyes all along? I'd wondered, but thought it was subtle enough to be a setup rather than a misdirect...)

*Can they get a mind leap machine working within 48 hours? (Without Amadeus, uhh, can Maho manage it? And will they need to hack SERN?) But Alexis knew how things would happen, and it didn't help him. How could it help Okabe? (If they get Mayuri to the past after all?)

*Or maybe the time machine threw Mayuri somewhere and she and Suzuha have been able to act behind the scenes... but I doubt it. Okabe's the protagonist and needs to make the connection. Actually, was the buildup worth it to this point, or a bit too much delay?

*All I can think is there's a fast forward to where they can do a better mind leap machine (it's managed in the non-canon movie, leaping back more than two days). Recall that the limitation was your brain wave patterns being too different, maybe Maho's knowledge can adjust for that?

*The C203 vs C204 thing is bothering me. That *is* subtle enough to be a setup. But I don't see how it applies yet either.

***

That concludes my thoughts on the Disc 3 episodes. I'll provide a brief summary at the start of the next (and last) post, which is a look at Steins;Gate 0, Disc 4. Thank you for reading, and if you have any thoughts about my reactions, or the series itself, please do comment! (Just avoid spoilers, for the sake of any other readers.)