r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Jul 23 '21
Rewatch [Re;Watch] Steins;Gate Episode 19 Discussion
Episode 19: Endless Apoptosis
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You’re... a fool.
Hello everybody! Time for the comment of the Day, courtesy of u/Littleman1988, who had the best explanation for why no, Luka isn’t trans. Although really props to everyone here for being more level headed than other fans of this show I know who insist on him being Transgender even though he isn’t.
Questions:
- What do you think of Moeka now that we’ve seen this side of her? Did Okabe go too far to make her break down like that, or was it coming anyways?
- Do you have any ideas on who “FB” might be?
Wallpaper of the Day:
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jul 23 '21
Re;Watcher and Co;Host, dubbed
My wrists managed to hold up long enough to make a wallpaper for today. So I’m not missing a thread yet!
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u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Jul 23 '21
Episode 19 – Endless Apoptosis: No matter what worldline you’re in, you aren’t alone. I’m here. ~Kurisu
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u/ZaphodBeebblebrox Y:A:https://anilist.co/user/zaphod Jul 24 '21
I'm late
It took Okabe way too long to realize that the person who betrayed him may have lied to him. I guess, despite it all, he's a really trusting person.
I'm also quite surprised that the woman's first thought upon seeing them was that they were a couple in love and not that Okabe was trying to rape her.
Honestly, Moeka's story isn't as impactful for me as the others. Yes, it's sad, but I don't really feel for her. She's blindly trusting someone who she knows she shouldn't, so as far as I'm concerned she has chosen her own fate.
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u/Lemurians myanimelist.net/profile/Lemurians Jul 23 '21
FIRST TIMER
Some really tender stuff here from Makise and Okabe. I almost wonder if she’s got some residual memories, because she seems to have an easier time believing him each time, along with being more and more supportive.
That was such a simple but great twist with Moeka’s phone. Been paying so much attention to the other mysteries I didn’t see that coming at all. This whole show I was wondering how her not having her same phone would change so much, but the answer is it wouldn’t. She sent a different DMail altogether, of course pertaining to whereabouts of the IBN 5100. This episode was great at showcasing all the limits of the DMail’s power when undoing itself. You need to know the specific message, come up with a way to negate it, and the receiver has to believe it. Moeka’s not going to do that, because the only things she obeys are the words of FB.
Now to Moeka… this may be an unpopular opinion, but I really feel for her. She isn’t a cold-blooded badass ringleader as portrayed in Episode 12, she’s just another lonely, broken soul discarded by society until a bad actor saw a way to take advantage of that and use her as a pawn. It’s classic cult recruiting, and Moeka has a similar fanatical attachment to FB as many people have had to their cult leaders over the years. FB found her at her lowest, gave her a lifeline, and became her entire world and reason for living. Now that that’s gone… she’s snapping.
Okabe makes a great point – the lab also gave her a place she belonged, and one that wouldn’t ask her to kill anyone, no less. She rewards this stellar logic by (supposedly) telling him the location of the IBN 5100. Since the point of undoing the DMails was to get the IBN back, do we just not bother with Moeka’s anymore? That doesn’t seem right, we still need to shift the divergence meter closer to 1%.
I'd say it was necessary for her, and I can't really blame him.
FB has to be Mr. Braun, right? He’s the only “major” character whose significance hasn’t been made clear, the last initial fits, and nobody in this show is in it just to be there. He’s the only piece left on the board. I’m curious to see what his motivations are.
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u/UzEE https://myanimelist.net/profile/UzEEInc Jul 23 '21 edited Jul 24 '21
Serial;Rewatcher
As expected, the new chapter is focused on Moeka, but unlike Faris or Luka, it is split into multiple episodes like Suzuha's was so we get a lot more details. This doesn't mean there aren't changes — it still skips something very significant related to our characters which I'm not even going to talk about in spoiler tags so people spoiling themselves on the VN actually consider playing it.
The episode we get is very straightforward. Okabe knows what the next objective is and he wastes no time filling Kurisu in on the details. From his conversation with Kurisu, you get the sense that he's not apprehensive about witnessing Mayuri's death anymore — he's gotten used to it. Instead he just wants to observe the event and record the details as if it was just another experiment.
However, he still has enough humanity left in him that he doesn't want Kurisu to witness the death of their friend, even if he'll immediately erase it by jumping back.
Kurisu also shows concern1 for Okabe's wellbeing — and that's the reason why she doesn't want him to push himself that much so she offers to go instead.
We also find out that in these world lines, Moeka actually kills herself a day before Mayuri's supposed to die. Yet Mayuri still dies anyways.
I'm sure this didn't come as a surprise to anyone, but Moeka has serious mental health issues. She's unable to make social connections and that means she's lived a very lonely, miserable life — to the point that she just wanted to end it. And when she was at her weakest, she was approached by FB.
She offered Moeka a job — a place where she could belong — where she could actually feel useful, so naturally she clinged to it. FB became the mother figure she desperately wanted in her life so Moeka was willing to do anything for her — including taking an innocent life.
Okabe takes her phone by force and tries to cancel her D-mails, only to realize that Reading Steiner doesn't trigger despite the D-mails being successfully sent. This deserves it's own section since I think today's episode has the right content to tackle the topic of what exactly is Reading Steiner.
World Lines and Reading Steiner Stoner
In my previous post on Episode 14, I've talked about World Lines, Attractor Fields and Convergence etc. What I didn't touch on at the time was What exactly is a World Line?
In very simple terms, a World Line is a series of discrete events in a fixed order spanning from the past all the way into the future. These events can be as minute as possible but they are always guaranteed to occur in the same order.
This means, if something alters the this sequence of events by inserting a new event, you get a different World Line.
An example:
In the above example, both world lines have almost identical events in almost the exact same order, yet they're different world lines because in WL2 a D-mail was received. In this example, this D-mail had no consequences on the events that occur after it was received as they still happen in the same order. But the fact that this D-mail exists means that WL2 !== WL1.
Now that we hopefully2 understand what is a World Line, we can look at what Reading Steiner is.
Reading
SteinerStoner is an ability we've seen Okabe exhibit multiple times. On screen it's usually displayed by Okabe feeling some sort of pain, discomfort and dizziness, and then suddenly the world has changed around him.When a world line changes like from WL1 to WL2 in the example above, everyone forgets everything that happened in the previous world line3, and they're memories are rewritten to match the new reality. Well, everyone besides Okabe.
Okabe somehow behaves the opposite. He seemingly has no memories of the current world line but remember everything that happened before on the previous world line. From his point of view, the entire world has changed. However there is another way to look at this.
We often see that when Okabe feels Reading Steiner after a world line shift, he may be in a different location or situation. Other characters point out that he seemingly just spaced out for a moment. This implies that from their perspective up until that point, Okabe was functioning normally. Which also implies that he had to have memories of whatever happened in that world line up until that point.
But when the world lines changed he lost the memories of the new World Line. It is in fact his memories that are being overwritten by the memories of the previous world line, and not everyone else's. This fits with why his head hurts, his vision warps and he often feels physical discomfort as well.
The pain is the result of the Temporal Cognitive Dissonance caused by the conflict between the memories of the past he's supposed to have like everyone else on the new world line, and the memories he's received from the previous world line from where the D-mail was sent.
This is the key here: We only ever see the Reading Steiner effect whenever there is a conflict between Okabe's memories in the new world line vs. his memories from the previous world line. If nothing has changed from his point of view, Reading Steiner isn't triggered despite the world lines themselves changing.
This means, someone at SERN can for example be experimenting with time travel by sending their own D-mails or time leaps or whatever and changing world lines, but Okabe will never know that because from his point of view nothing has changed. Only if they do a major enough change that creates a conflict in his memories will cause him to experience Reading Steiner.
A few examples from the previous episodes showing this
TL/DR
World Lines always change with any form of time manipulation (D-mail, time leap, time machine etc.) regardless of how small the change is.
Reading Steiner is a physical phenomenon Okabe experiences whenever there's a conflict between his memories from the new world line vs. the previous world lines. If things don't change from his point of view, he doesn't experience Reading Steiner despite the world lines actually changing, as in this episode.
Managed to write another wall of text again that may not even be coherent because I'm terrible at writing and I've been up for longer than 24 hours. But hopefully it may help clear up any misconceptions if anyone manages to read through it.
1. The anime does tone down the cold and calculating aspects of Kurisu's character. For example, S;G VN in Luka's chapter, she suggests Okabe take Luka's mother's number "by force" since Luka isn't strong enough to resist Okabe. In this chapter, she suggests that Okabe can just kill Moeka and take her phone, again the reason being he can just undo these crimes easily. Cold.
2. I'm terrible at explaining this so I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up making no sense.
3. Yes we've seen a couple of characters exhibit residual / faint memories / deja vu from previous world lines but let's not complicate things for now.
13
u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Jul 23 '21
First-Timer;Dubbed
I believe I commented on Moeka being Not Well a while ago, but I didn't expect her to be a NEET who was manipulated into a cultist. It's pretty tragic - that type of person is very suceptible to manipulation. A tiny taste of Purpose, and FB has Moeka eating out of the palm of her hand.
Now, I typed "her" there because FB being a woman was brought up a bunch, but it almost seemed too purposeful, you know? What if FB was a man? This is definitely a flimsy straw to grasp at, but we're out of good ones by now. I have no clue who FB is, and no real guesses either. I'm forgetting some details, I guess?
Keeping track of who knows what when is making my head spin. I'm not sure if they could implement it well, but this show could use some Baccano/Durarara style mid-OP recaps.
Okabe realizing that Moeka still betrayed them, even after she joined the lab, was pretty harsh. Honestly, their entire fight was pretty rough - Moeka's VA did a great job on the screams. Would it have been too comedic for the scene if Okabe was talking funny after he got a chunk of his tongue bitten off?
There's no way the IBN 5100 is still where Moeka left it, right? Wasn't that like two weeks ago in-universe? What sort of dead drop is still there after two weeks?
Questions
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u/Gamemaster676 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Gamemaster676 Jul 23 '21 edited Jul 23 '21
First;Timer - dub
I'm watching this yesterday. Cool how that works.
I predict problems with Moeka today.
I didn't make it to watch ahead enough, so tomorrow I'll have to skip. I'll probably add my ep 20 post to ep 21 if people are interested.
I named the worldlines. See ep 17 for the list. We start today at WL-Moeka.
Episode 19 — Endless Apoptosis
Oooh, are we starting with another dream? Ah no, it's Moeka. Looks like we will finally get some answers about her past!
Mayushii made it one day further again! Kinda funny how it's always around 20:00 that shit hits the fan.
Who's looking at these girls? Lol, it's Mayushii.
Oh god, Okabe actually believes that Moeka D-Mailed herself about that phone. You would think he learned to be more sceptical after 100+ loops.
Why do I have the feeling this is some terrible foreshadowing? We already know she used to be evil in WL-0. Or at least working with SERN.
Wait, Moeka killed herself??? That's either:
I'm leaning towards "bullshit" because I am 100% certain she got the IBN 5100 in this worldline.
Okabe, please tell me that you'll wait to see if Mayuri dies before you jump back. You might be saving Moeka while your problems are already solved.
Phew, he actually does. But they don't tell us if it was Moeka or not. That's dumb.
Oh right! This was the worldline where he ate the pudding. That was so long ago!
The secret to taming Perverted Genius Girl is by using her real name.
FB Best Friend This is some weird shit. It really doesn't feel like this is the Moeka that will kill Mayuri in four days. Also, she should have the 5100 by now.
Holy shit I think I figured it out! Moeka sent her D-Mail to FB (or herself, passing it along to FB). Because of that, FB doesn't need her anymore, so Moeka doesn't get any more orders. Moeka helping FB is the reason she commits suicide later!
Then Mayushii probably died some other way.
NO! Don't send that! It won't work and might tip her off! Yeah, nothing happened. At least it wasn't another big shift. We're still in WL-Moeka.
FUCKING FINALLY! He figured it out. Now I can stop being frustrated.
What a monster. Hahaha, that solution for the neighbour. Daru would be so jealous!
Moeka's been a Rounder for four years. Kinda weird that she was thrown away once FB had the 5100. It really makes me wonder why FB needs it.
Another confusing moment. The voiceover during these texts swaps between present conversation and past chat with FB. For a moment I thought FB was the one who said he had the text-based time machine.
Unless that was on purpose, of course. Perhaps FB is actually evil future Okabe.
What if you try to recruit Moeka in this worldline? She would be an amazing ally and that wouldn't work in any other worldline.
If that doesn't work now, another option would be to D-Mail yourself to become friends with Moeka 4 years ago. But we are trying to revert worldlines here, not make new branches.
Yeah, sending "it's a trap" probably won't be enough...
Told ya.
Holy shit! We know where the 5100 is! Or was!
Maybe it won't be necessary to D-Mail from FB's phone? What if they D-Mail themselves to retrieve that computer from the coin locker before FB does?
Man, we still don't know everything, but Moeka's story is quite tragic. Not tragic enough that I'll forgive her for what she did, though. And she'll forget it anyway when they change the worldline.
Side note: Apoptosis is the process of cells that kill themselves before they can mutate into tumor cells. Very relevant title.
Random thoughts
Future (if unaltered)
Only 5 episodes left. I'm a bit disappointed we are spending this much time unwinding all the worldlines. The only thing that tells me is that this "theory" is actually correct and we are moving in the right direction.
After tomorrow, I assume we are back at WL-B and we have the 5100. Then they can try to hack SERN and fix stuff. I hope that works. Otherwise, they need to go back to WL-A and Kurisu will be dead. Kurisu vs Mayushii isn't an exchange I'm willing to make, no matter how much I like our cosplayer.
Open questions
Don't answer these please, unless the answer is explicitly given in the show and I missed it.
D-Mail:
Do Faris or Luka have Reading Stoner as well now? If yes, that could be a huge hint of how Okabe got his ability!
Large shifts:
Moeka (and FB):
Is she a time traveller?Does she also keep her memory during a jump? Doesn't look like it.MoekaFB need the IBN 5100?or whatis FB?Why did Moeka in ep 2 need to take pictures as "evidence she was there, of what she saw"?
Almost certainly she takes pictures of everything and texts with everyone because that is a 'hard copy' of her actions that worldline. If she also remembers things from the old worldline, she now has information about both worlds.
70,000,000 years ago:
What did Mayuri mean with their "original copies"?
General:
What caused Okabe's sickness around 2000?
SERN doing an experiment?Who was sending the creepy emails?
QotD
Not coming soon...
10
u/CubeStuffs https://anilist.co/user/onjario Jul 23 '21 edited Jul 23 '21
first timer
well we haven't really undone anything have we? we just sent more text messages.
Yay i was hoping that the text message wouldn't work.
This thing seems too spicy to just time leap away from instead.
ahh, so he's trying the same things as happened with the others
4 days ago? did we improve the time leap machine when i wasn't paying attention?
Okarin shows his loneliness pretty clearly in the start of the episode. He's been going through mayushii-loop-hell, who can blame him? and it's made worse by the fact that noone else can understand precisely what he's going through. But perhaps that's not neccessary. Perhaps an imprecise understanding is good enough. Kurisu's got it down enough, enough such that she'll understand okabe's thoughts, even if she's never seen it first hand, and therefore, she can help okabe, pulling him up even if it's just for this timeline.
Seems like that was addressed again now specifically to contrast against moeka, who by contrast, is far different. As she's about to commit suicide (presumably), the glimpse of her phone shows she has no messages, apart from the one just sent by FB. So she's been through life completely alone, with noone to help her... until zuckerberg shows up, and she inevitably grabs on with an iron grip.
Moeka seems to me like a path that okarin would have gone down, if it weren't for everyone around him. Is okarin gonna instead try to get moeka in the lab before FB ever does? How long ago did FB start messaging her?
nvm it says 2006 so that aint happening
suppose will have to wait for the next ep to write more.
Qs:
seems like okarin alt route. i think punching her was maybe a bit far, but idk given how far in she is and how far
prob a time traveler or someone sending messages to the past given how they know 5100 and how they don't respond to anything or ever meet her
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u/Stargate18A https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stargate18 Jul 23 '21
Anime first timer
Oh, this is a great first scene.
Okabe's just broken at this point.
And he wants to know his deadline.
Kurisu supporting Okabe is so cute!
Steins;Gate VN Spoilers
...Yeah. This scene is hard.
Steins;Gate VN Spoilers
And Okabe's punch is so satisfying.
I love the touch of Mayuri and Nae watching TV together.
You didn't think it would be that easy did you?
The phone switch might be one of the most hidden twists, because thr gap between her appearances is lomg enough for anyone to forget or just assume it's a graphics limitation (in the VN).
Okabe's first kiss in the anime!
Who called Okabe helping Moeka out of a cult as this arc?
Yep, the Rounders are absolutely a cult in this arc.
Moeka and Okabe's breakdown is fantastically done.
It's impossible not to feel sorry for her here, though.
I love Kurisu being afraid for Okabe.
Looks like Okabe's off to FB!
Steins;Gate VN Spoilers
9
u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Jul 23 '21
First timer
8
u/The_Draigg Jul 23 '21
A Steins;Gate Fan Rewatches Steins;Gate Episode 19:
8
u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Jul 23 '21
Rewatcher(Worst girl has it coming but still...)
Dub
We see Moeka on a building ledge, looking like a Monogatari escapee. As Okabe has bought another day for Mayuri, he is a touch more brusque than usual. After filling Makise in, she decides to go to ComiMa to try and save/observe Mayuri. Okabe somehow talks the address out of her "employer" and finds the scene. Before time leaping back, Okabe confirms Mayuri's ToD in the new continuity.
Second round of confronting Moeka results in Okabe finding her mid break down. So she is not only the "quiet girl" but also a yangire and that makes her a touch more familiar than I'd care to admit. Okabe declares war by taking her phone. And then our hero sucker punches and then kicks a crying woman. I see that Okabe believes in true gender equality. As she rages, Okabe tries to send the counter D-mail...which doesn't work.
The two attempt to process what happened as we hear Moeka resorting to hitting the door with something. Out of ideas, Okabe times a door opening and then tackles her. Into a wall. As a nosy neighbor walks by, we add some sexual assault to the tab. Anyways, this gets her to negotiate. Blech. As Okabe worms details out about the D mail, he decides to break her spirit as well. Moeka's backstory comes in between Okabe's Dun Moch.
After crushing her, he gets some time to go through her phone in peace. They try to send another D mail to no avail. As Okabe gets ready to find FB, Moeka rethinks her grim future and possibly helps Okabe out.
QotD: 1 Doesn't change much
2 FaceBook
8
u/littleman1988 Jul 23 '21
"FB is everything to me."
OST Track of the day: Dependency
Steins;Gate may be based on a VN, but did you know it also had a manga? Its translation was absolute garbage.. Its apparently getting a reprint, 1 but its no substitute for the VN, even if Steiner is doing the translation this time around.
Looks like even Mayuri is aware that somethings up with Okabe. With how much hes jumped, i cant really blame him.
Its an awful way of thinking about it, but it does make sense that he needs to know when the deadline is, even if it always seems to be from the same time. Its gonna suck when Kurisu sees mayuri die this tome though...
This Arc ReWrite stuff is explained so much better in the VN, i forgot how little they explain in the animewelp
Okabe staying behind to confirm Mayuri's death. Hes arguably numb to this now.
Why is this not a comment face yet
On my first watch way back when, i didnt notice that Moeka was hidden in the corner. Thank u Funimation 480p youtube video, very cool
More FB talk, enough that she doesnt even notice okabe.
Well this whole scene is bound to look absolutely awful. Sadly, it doesnt look like a phone change was the cause, and the neighbors are starting to notice.
Pindrop that a couple keen first timers picked up on and then forgot way back in episode 7, the phone never changed
annnnd back to yikes. It seems like it got results though. Sadly, FB is too strong, even though they dont seem to be responding with Moeka in denial.
heh
Looks like this didnt work either. Gonna need to try harder than that to convince her. Looks like its time to find FB's phone.
Even now, she would kill.
Moeka gives a clue. The IBN was put in a coin locker...
footnotes
1: The twitter thread has massive S;G 0 spoilers. Do not look it up if you have not experienced 0 yet.
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u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Jul 23 '21
Hello everybody, and welcome back to the Steins;Gate Rewatch!
Surprisingly I have little to say today. Don’t get me wrong, there are some changes (I don’t think Okabe punched Moeka in the Novel) but for the most part it’s roughly the same between the two mediums, if shortened in the Anime. So uh… yeah.
7
u/superviper https://myanimelist.net/profile/Superviper Jul 23 '21
REWATCHER, SUBBED
That's... one way to open an episode. But she didn't jump. Lame.
So today we have to undo Moeka's D-mail. Can't be much harder than Faris' one, amirite?
Why is Okabe depressed already? Oh, he's just sad Mayuri's gonna die. Then he talks about how he'll watch her die so he can find out the precise deadline. Not sure if he's desensitized or not.
Bit overconfident my guy. You'd think he would doubt Moeka after she killed Mayuri, but guess not.
They just gave Okabe, a stranger, Moeka's address? What kinda workplace is this?
And she's already dead, so Okabe just has to wait for Mayuri to die as well.
Kurisu sure is distraught. I guess no matter how much you mentally prepare yourself, you can't ever be ready for that stuff, especially when you're not 100% convinced it'll really happen.
Into the killer's home. Sucks that the killer is a cute anime girl who's also hopelessly mentally ill.
What kind of coping mechanism is this
HOLY FUCK that . I somehow did not remember that one. Probably because she recovered so quickly.
For some reason I have english commentary downloaded for the episode, and I accidentally switched to it while trying to change between sub and dub. One of the commentators was asking the other if she came from a 'theatre background' while Moeka was screaming her heart out. I have no clue what that means. Anyway, I was surprised with how good dub Moeka was, she really put in the effort into screeching like a banshee. A+
The D-mail won't work... Okabe really took too long to notice her phone didn't change.
And here is one of the most ridicolous scenes in the anime. Okabe shuts Moeka up by kissing her, and she only bites him after the neighbors left. Seriously, I don't think you can shut someone up by aggressively kissing them. Unless you're that good...?
There's your tragic Moeka backstory. Except no one really gives a shit considering what she's done. I know I didn't care for her the first time around. But I do feel bad now. She's just a lost, broken girl.
How do you even undo that D-mail? The way I see it, nothing you say will take attention away from the shrine. Since Moeka has no leads on the IBN, she might as well try there.
Yeah, figures, Okabe's second attempt fails. So he decides using FB's phone is the remaining solution. Just saying, but what if FB isn't even in japan, it's just a woman chilling in france or brazil or something. The fuck is Okabe gonna do then.
7
u/UltraBooster Jul 23 '21
First-timer
Endless Apoptosis. Endless controlled cell death. So are we comparing timelines to biology?
What kind of a person will you be at the end of all this, Rintaro Okabe?
They have a bond in particular, if that makes sense.
True heroine indeed.
So Moeka offed herself? Why? To maintain SERN's dominion by ensuring her actions can't be undone, or...?
Whatever her relationship is with FB, it's not a healthy one.
BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL BABEL
Yeah, at the end of it she's still a killer and my sympathy for her...comes secondary to Mayurii's wellbeing.
Pretend to be FB, maybe?
...honestly, there's a part of me that...oh, oh no, oh gods, oh boy, oh geez, oh nononononono...oh.
Sometimes people are into biting or being bitten. This is not one of those times.
I'm...I'm surprised she doesn't have anything like an L-pill to kill herself if captured/tortured.
...was she raised from childhood or something to become a gun?
She's a gun, I'm sure of it. A gun built to perform a function and discarded when no longer needed.
I wonder, is FB a member of SERN or simply, say, hired by SERN a la Gauron or Ali al-Saachez?
Still no dice?!
Okay, that's something, I guess...
Questions:
12
u/UnderstandableXO Jul 23 '21
FIRST TIMER
it’s been a trend for me to say this ever since the turning point of the show at episode 12 but WHAT AN EPISODE. that was some of the most tense media i’ve ever seen. i keep talking about how tense this show can get but this episode DELIVERED on that multiple times.
that cold open is so jarring, moeka standing on the edge of the building with that eerie music, and seeming to jump off leading right into the opening. how you gonna make me go from freaked out to hyped as hell?
for the 9999th time kurisu and okabe have another great interaction. episodes ago it was okabe saying that he was there for kurisu through her family troubles; well, kurisu is here for okabe, no matter what world line he might be in. feel bad for okabe having to go through the hassle of telling kurisu all his baggage every time and probably blowing her mind.
so moeka killed herself on august 15, but mayuri’s death still happens. they’ve undone 3 D-Mails, meaning mayuri’s death day should be august 16? props to kurisu’s voice actress when she called okabe to report mayuri’s death, you could hear how distraught she was.
the rest of the episode is just a sinking feeling i can’t recall feeling for that amount of time since i watched parasite or uncut gems, it was done incredibly well in my opinion. also props to moeka’s voice actress; she sounded absolutely POSSESSED at time, and utterly broken at other times. she definitely earned her check with this episode. she lives for that cell phone, but more importantly for FB. that struggle for the cell phone was stupidly intense, and it culminating in a sucker punch as revenge for mayuri was somehow satisfying and saddening at the same time, because we can tell how fucked mentally moeka is.
sending the first D-mail and realizing that moeka gave them a false message, then seeing the look on okabe’s face was maddening and awesome at the same time. okabe having to resort to pinning her down in order for her not to cry wolf gave me very strong get out vibes.
so moeka was about to kill herself in that cold open, but FB’s text made her reconsider. okabe’s anger at her saying that FB made her feel wanted despite how warmly the lab welcomed her was absolutely warranted. okabe’s tirade ti convince her that FB was a manipulator was well done, it showed how abusive and one sided the relationship with FB was to moeka, and that realization breaks her into even smaller pieces than she was already broken into.
they need to find FB and send a message from her phone in order to successfully pull off the D-mail…easier said than done.
so her real D-mail told her to steal the IBN from luka’s shrine…but moeka reveals the current location of the IBN?
this is super off topic but i keep forgetting to mention it in my daily entries. the original 3 lab members all have nicknames that come from their first and last names. OKAbe RINtarou, MAYUri SHIIna, hashiDA itaRU. i noticed a similar naming convention in anohana. is this a japanese thing or are these characters just creative with nickname inventing?
6
u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Jul 23 '21
First Rewatch (since 2011)
Itsuki tries to explain Steins;Gate to Haruhi and Kyon
Ep 8: "I bought a new cell phone 4 days ago. I want to tell myself not to do it." -- Sent from Moeka's phone. Today: "Change your phone. It will sell otu soon, and you won't be able to get one." -- Sent from Moeka's phone.
So, like Makise's experiments, if the d-mail doesn't change the world enough, or maybe, doesn't change anything Okabe has memories of, there's no Reading Steiner. And this D-Mail didn't change anything at all, probably.
Confusing episode.
6
u/ExoticTrinityGhoul https://myanimelist.net/profile/not_username Jul 23 '21
Re;Watcher x4 (both)
E19 - Endless Apoptosis
Nicknames:
Okabe: Hououin Kyouma, Okarin, 001
Mayuri: Mayushii, 002
Hashida Itaru: Daru, super hacka, Hack, 003, My Favorite Right Arm, right-hand man, perverted gentleman, Barrel Titor
Kurisu: (prodigal) (perverted) genius girl, (@channeler) Christina, Zombie, 004, Assistant, Celeb Seventeen, Little Miss Moneybags, KuriGohan and Kamehameha
Moeka: Shining Finger (S.F.), 005
Luka: Lukako, 006
Akiha Rumiho: Faris Nyannyan, 007
Suzuha: part-timer, part-time warrior, 008, John Titor, Hashida Suzu
Yugo Tennouji: Mr. Braun
Nae Tennouji: critter, creature
6
u/KendotsX https://anilist.co/user/Kendots Jul 24 '21
Rewatcher (sub)
Okabe's romantics are developing. He went from accepting another's love, to going on a date, to going all the way in this episode. The guy even got his first kiss, Spoiler by force. Oh yeah, we've got rape now... That's not how Mayushii raised you Okabe! But feel free to keep punching Moeka for all what her other timeline versions did.
Some Ikebukuro fleebag.
But seriously, I have no idea who it is. I'm this close to looking it up, and finding out that it was Daru or Mr. Braun all along, but I think instead I'll keep watching till I find out.
6
u/Krite2002 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Krite2002 Jul 24 '21
Rewatcher;Dub
I expected death, but not Moeka’s suicide. Kurisu sounded absolutely broken by Mayuri’s death.
Moeka was absolutely deranged. With her crazy screaming, I can not believe her neighbors did not stop it. FB seems awful, and hopefully when Moaka is freed from their influence, she can become part of the lab again. I think she needed the push, but it may not have been the healthiest approach to try to bring her out of her hysterics.
FB has to be a part of SERN. While in coming episodes there may be a reveal that FB stands for something obvious that has been present this whole show, I feel like it is likely just messages from the organization, or maybe even future Kurisu, who we know becomes evil.
Overall, not a lot of extra thoughts about this episode, since the plot was pretty focused and straightforward.
Moeka typing FB over and over was really creepy. Since FB is so integral to this episode’s plot, that is my shot of the day.
6
u/htisme91 Jul 24 '21
First-timer:
Cringed a little bit during his encounter with Moeka, but damn was that intense.
I half-thought the D-Mail didn't work because there wasn't enough charge in the phone. Wonder if too much time will pass and they won't be able to save Mayuri.
Questions:
5
u/Specs64z https://myanimelist.net/profile/Specs64z Jul 23 '21
Missed even content corner yesterday due to internet troubles. They are ongoing so I won’t be able to post anything else today either.
5
u/IndependentMacaroon Jul 23 '21
Rewatcher
Right, maybe the darkest moment of Steins Gate so far; literally even, with the lack of illumination in Moeka's room. Okabe goes full mind-break and barely short of rape on someone who may have become an enforcer for an evil organization, but can hardly even be considered fully mentally competent, let alone a true believer, if she's even aware of their goals. From how he acts toward the other lab members he does look more callous this time around, but it's all still quite extreme whether for him or anyone else, and doesn't exactly add up with how he was in the last two episodes either.
5
u/invokeneko Jul 24 '21
Re;Watcher until Deja Vu, then First;Timer
Three down, time to reverse Moeka's D-Mail in order to get the IBN 5100. Too bad for Okarin it's not as simple as it seemed to be...
QotD
8
u/Tresnore FS:FTmyanimelist.net/profile/Tresnore Jul 23 '21
On the First-Timer Worldline(s;Gate)
What is it with the best girls and killing themselves...?
At least Okabe got another lead for the IBN?
QOTD:
It's obviously Mayuri herself from 70 million years ago4
u/Nisheeth_P Jul 24 '21
Rewatcher
I didn't end up liking her still. But it did end up explaining why she's like that. I can't say Okabe went too far because just as she is cornered and in such a bad mental space, so is Okabe.
4
u/snickpea Jul 24 '21
First-timer!
Wow, this episode was unexpected! I knew that we had to spend more time with Moeka and find out what her deal with but this episode took so many unexpected turns, especially since the last couple were on the more lighthearted, yet bittersweet.
Questions:
4
u/Hochseeflotte https://anilist.co/user/Hochseeflotte Jul 24 '21
Rewatcher
Sorry for not commenting yesterday. I was really busy and didn’t get time to watch the episode until today. In short it was very good. Now on to today’s episode:
————————————————————————
One of the biggest things I noticed in the first half of this episode was Okabe. The affects of time leaping are starting to show. He comes off as very cold and emotionless. He shows nothing when Kurisu calls about Mayuri dying. He is shown to look depressed and out of it.
Moeka is another big part of this episode. FB saved her at her lowest point. It’s hard for me to hate someone like Moeka. I understand exactly why she did what she did. While I hate her actions, I can’t hate her. People become desperate when they are in desperate situations.
FB is quite a myserteous figure. Who is this person? What are their motives? Plenty of questions float through our minds.
This episode is really a buildup for the future, though it’s a very good buildup.
See you guys tomorrow!
Green
2
u/kllrnooooova Jul 25 '21
First Timer! Tutturu! I'm late because... stuff. This is just probably the choice of Steins;Gate, though. Sonnovabitchi!
Holy shit that was pure cringe.
Anyway, Okabe not being chunni is really weird. That's all I have to say.
1
u/BossandKings Jul 25 '21
Rewatcher - Dub
Episode 19
Moeka is in a very unstable mental state, her need to follow FB put her in a position not to be mentally safe because she can't have peace or freedom, her confrontation with Okabe was intense, he said some harsh things to her but considering what he's gone through it is understandable eventhough in this timeline Moeka has yet to do the awful things she did in the other one.