science fiction – Anime QandA

Steins;Gate 0 – Full Season QandA Rundown

What’s the important information? Steins;Gate 0 is a Spring/Summer 2018 science fiction anime that aired 23 episodes from April to September. It is based off the visual novel of the same name which is a sequel to the first Steins;Gate anime and visual novel.

What’s it about? In a divergent timeline from the original Steins;Gate series, Rintaro Okabe fails to save the life of his love interest Kurisu and is presented with a world in which World War 3 will occur from the major global powers fighting over time machines. Several months have passed and Okabe is learning to live life again when he meets two former colleagues of Kurisu’s, Hiyajo Maho and Alexis Leskinen who have been working on an AI project called Amadeus—based on the compiled memories of Kurisu just months before her death.

Why did you watch it? The original Steins;Gate anime is one of my Top 10 anime of all time and any chance to have more experiences with the cast and setting that I loved so much was something I was eager to have! There’s no mistaking that it was my number 1 most anticipated show of Spring 2018!

Did you enjoy the show? I reviewed each of the 23 episodes weekly on the site (links can be found below) and almost immediately I was enraptured by the more personal, more contemplative version of Steins;Gate and specifically our protagonist Okabe. Everything was darker, more subdued, more meditative and I loved it so much for it, it wasn’t ~trying~ to recapture something from the past, it was its own show and all the better for it.

What was your favourite episode? I said it during the reviews and I’ll stick by it, Episode 22, struck a perfect balance and showed Akihabara—a city I have great fondness—for in such a reverent way. It also put to rest the long lingering mourning that Okabe had for Kurisu by getting rid of the AI Amadeus, but doing so in an appropriately emotional way for everyone concerned.

What were your most favourite things about the show? That this was its own show and not a lazy cash-in or fan-service laden rehash. With the exception of a few late-game moments Steins;Gate 0 is it’s own unique beast. I love that the series shows the effect of grief so thoroughly and doesn’t brush off the lasting impact losing someone (repeatedly) has on a person’s mind, body and soul.

What were your least favourite things about the show? I don’t know… while there were individual episodes that I nitpicked a lot in hindsight nothing really seemed especially egregious. If I were forced to choose, I’d say some characters were perhaps underutilised given we were introduced to new characters and had all the old ones return so content was perhaps stretched thin so that everyone had something to do—even if it was seemingly inconsequential.

Who was your favourite character? Maho! Maho is best girl, better than Kurisu, better than Mayuri. What’s that? You didn’t ask me who was ‘best girl’ but ‘best character’? I’m sorry, I don’t see the difference!

Thoughts on the OP (opening) and ED (ending) and the soundtrack in general? It’s a hard act to follow, having an OP that compares to the brilliance of the original Steins;Gate’s “Hacking To The Gate” by Kanako Ito. And kudos to the lady she comes close—arguably the lyrical content of Steins;Gate 0’s OP “Fatima” is better it’s just not quite as catchy as the original. The first ED, “LAST GAME” by Zwei is great, evoking almost a late 90’s James Bond credit aesthetic that I totally dig! While the second ED “World-Line” by Asami Imai is pretty much trash.

What’s something unique about this show? It’s hard to imagine something that is ostensibly alt-fiction of a different timeline to not only be so compelling but also almost supersede the original in terms of narrative satisfaction and yet here we are. My love for the original series perhaps makes me a little biased but I can’t help but be enraptured by this more mature approach to the series.

What other anime are most like it for the sake of comparison? For once this is an easy question to answer, put simply if you like Steins;Gate you should find something to like about this series unless all your after is more of the same as the original in which case just go watch the original again.

Who would you recommend it to? Firstly, watching the original Steins;Gate is absolutely a pre-requisite, you’ll be lost otherwise. So if you’ve watched the original and want a darker-alternate ending that not only compliments the original but expands the universe and narrative substantially then this is the show for you!

Sum up the season in one sentence: ‘The past is the past, let’s focus on the present and make the most of it.’

Final score? 95 out of 100.

Previous Steins;Gate 0 Reviews:

Episode 1 Review
Episode 2 Review
Episode 3 Review
Episode 4 Review
Episode 5 Review
Episode 6 Review
Episode 7 Review
Episode 8 Review
Episode 9 Review
Episode 10 Review
Episode 11 Review
Episode 12 Review
Episode 13 Review
Defying the Protagonist – Episode 14 Review
When Daru Met Yuki – Episode 15 Review
Truth Is A Mirror – Episode 16 Review
A Life Sentence – Episode 17 Review
Blowing Up The Gate – Episode 18 Review
The Definition Of Insanity – Episode 19 Review
Living On Sorrowed Time – Episode 20 Review
Making Up For Lost Time – Episode 21 Review
A Night To Remember – Episode 22 Review
A Means To An End – Episode 23 Review

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A Means To An End – ‘Steins;Gate 0’ Episode 23 (Finale) Review

A Means To An End – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Steins;Gate 0’ Episode 23

What’s the show? Steins;Gate 0, Episode 23.

So here we are—the season finale of the show that some months ago you said was “even better than the original Steins;Gate”, do you remember that? I can’t even remember what I said last week let alone ~months~ ago, cut me some slack, will ya?!

Well since you mention last week, here’s something you said then that’s worth repeating, and I quote: “Calling it now, this was my favourite episode of the season and no matter how good next week’s finale is nothing will be able to beat this one!” End quote. Listen, I say a lot of things in the heat of the moment and I’ve been known to engage in hyperbole on occasion…

Uh-huh, so regretting those words now, is this finale better than the previous episode? Actually you know what, no, it’s not, it’s ~as good~ as last week, that is to say it’s almost perfect—just in a different way than last week’s near-perfection.

Okay, so what’s so good about it? While last week was moody and contemplative, a fitting penultimate episode and almost like a eulogy—this week brings the high-energy and big drama and raised stakes. It’s also pretty damn complicated, which for this show is certainly saying something, I’m not saying I was ever confused at any point in this show but this is certainly not an episode you’d want to be distracted with other things while watching.

That’s a nervous look if ever I’ve seen one, not that I blame her!

So what happens in the episode? You know what, I’m not going to go into a full beat-by-beat analysis of everything that happened in the episode. What I will do is highlight a couple of things I felt this episode did exceptionally well and was utterly delighted with. If you want a full synopsis of the episode I’m sure you can find it elsewhere!

Well that’s a smart idea, turn away half the people reading this to other sites, but whatever you’re the boss… I loved that Okabe didn’t rob Mayuri and Suzuha of their importance in the narrative and Mayuri’s newfound confidence in her ‘role’ in Okabe’s life. They got to do what they intended to do and did a fine job of it too—the scene where Steins;Gate 0 Mayuri is talking to original Steins;Gate Mayuri over the phone was exceptional and emotional in all the right ways. Likewise their resignation to whatever fate was about to befall them as they slipped through history with the time machine being out of fuel was kind of beautiful.

Mayuri brought her A-game to this finale!

Wait, so Mayuri and Suzuha are lost in time? Come now… this is still Okabe’s story, he’s not going to let things end like that! Back in future time 2025 Okabe’s about to cheat his destiny by changing the “prophecy” that he dies that year by using the time machine to leave (and therefore technically not existing anymore) and with it he intends to track down Mayuri and Suzuha. And I’ll be honest, I don’t actually know if any of what Okabe was saying about being able to track them down made sense from a series technical continuity standpoint. I don’t remember the original Steins;Gate all that well, I loved it, it’s one of my top 10 anime of all time, but I’ve still only ever seen it once. Regardless of it though, I believed he would find them and as the time machine disappeared and the end credits started to roll I had a vague doubt about whether the show was going to leave things ~ambiguous~.

I like this younger version of Kagiri! Shame we didn’t see more of her!

And does it? Of course not! The post-credit scene not only gives Okabe his “big-win” that he’s been searching for all this time but ends the series on a monumental high!

Well the show might not have left things ambiguous but this review certainly contains more mystery that it oughta. Listen, I may have talked up this show plenty throughout the season but I’m definitely no expert on the series—if you want expert reviews go to people like Irina who’ve actually played the Visual Novels this series is based on, they’re far more qualified to talk about the rich detail of this series! As for me, I can just tell you what I thought about the episode as a series finale, it was fantastic, I loved every minute of it and I’m more than satisfied with this conclusion!

I guess he deserves to look that smug all things considered…

Previous Steins;Gate 0 Reviews:

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ISLAND – Full Season QandA Rundown

A Full Season QandA Rundown of ISLAND

What’s the important information? ‘ISLAND’ is a Summer 2018 anime that aired for 12 episodes from July through September. It is based on a Visual Novel game developed by Front Wing.

What’s it about? A man washes up on a beach with no memories of his own other than his name, Setsuna, and the mission in his heart—that he has to save a girl. Quickly he encounters three very different girls, each with their own unique problems, Rinne, Karen and Sara. Romance, time-travel and shenanigans ensue as Setsuna attempts to help these girls, while figuring out his own identity and the mysteries of the exclusionary and superstitious Island they call home.

Why did you watch it? Aside from the obvious that the anime’s poster featured three distinctive and incredibly cute looking girls the series is based on a visual novel and for better or worse visual novel adaptations are a unique beast—more difficult to adapt and therefore more prone to artistic license but also less beholden to genre stereotypes than manga.

Did you enjoy the show? From the get-go the show intrigued, enthralled and entertained me and didn’t relent for a moment. To say I enjoyed it would be an understatement as it was the series I looked forward to the most every week during the Summer 2018 season!

What was your favourite episode? While Episode 4 “This World Full Of Secrets” showed the series more than capable of offering a satisfying conclusion to Karen’s ‘problems’ and likewise Episode 5 “This Is Why I Trust You” with Sara’s. For sheer dramatic intensity it’s a toss-up between Episode 9’s “I Got To See You Again” and Episode 10’s “I Don’t Want To Grieve Anymore” that delivered the greatest shock as the series changed to a dystopian future setting and even changed the name of the show to ‘NEVER ISLAND’ for this two-episode arc. It was brave storytelling and delivered my most unexpected moment of the entire series.

Even for living in a futuristic dystopia Rinne knows how to style.

What were your most favourite things about the show? Aside from our female cast of characters; who are all pretty much perfection, the effortless blend of mystery and romance consistently made the show alluring.

Wbat were your least favourite things about the show? It might seem like a cop-out to say so but the fact that there weren’t more episodes was a detriment. Never to the point where I felt like I was missing out anything essential but rather that the experience could have been enriched further with a longer overall running time.

Who was your favourite character? As mentioned in my list of 10 Best Summer 2018 Waifu’s, Rinne was my best girl, though it was a close race as both Sara and Karen have more than enough superb qualities to be just as eligible. Ultimately though, it was aesthetically Rinne who won out over the others.

What’s something unique about this show? This is absolutely a spoiler so consider yourself warned for this question, but Episode 10’s end credits delivered to us a sex scene between future Rinne and Setsuna that was both unexpected but inevitably essential to the plot—the fact that they showed it at all (albeit subtly and with ample shadows) was the thing that stuck out as utterly unique—even among visual novel adaptations.

What other anime are most like it for the sake of comparison? While I’m sure there are undoubtedly anime that at least tonally resemble ‘ISLAND’ I personally haven’t seen an anime series like it. However, with regard to live-action US television series’ I feel it at least shares a passing resemblance to shows like ‘Lost’ and ‘Twin Peaks’ at least with regard to an adherence to mystery and ~feeling~ rather than things like concrete narrative cohesion and a reliance on over-explaining the more fanciful elements of the series.

This fan service is totally okay because it’s Rinne who is imagining it, right?!

Who would you recommend it to? For those who don’t need everything spelled out in explicit detail and can just kinda ‘go with the flow’ and appreciate a story being told the way it needs to be told, ‘ISLAND’ is ideal. Also for people who aren’t deterred by loli character designs and intermittent but no less obvious fan-service moments too.

Sum up the season in one sentence: ‘This Island holds many mysteries but none greater than those of the heart.’

Final score? 93 out of 100.

Previous ISLAND Reviews:

The Island of Mysterious Loli’s – Episode 1 Review
A Loli A Day… – Episode 2 Review
Dreams Of Fan Service – Episode 3 Review
One Wedding and a Belated Funeral – Episode 4 Review
Is Giving Birth To Yourself Possible? – Episode 5 Review
The World Will End With A Bang – Episode 6 Review
A Storm In An A-Cup – Episode 7 Review
An Ocean Between Us – Episode 8 Review
Long Time No Sea – Episode 9 Review
Rinne and Repeat – Episode 10 Review
A Fling Of The Past – Episode 11 Review
His And Hers Story Repeats – Episode 12 (Finale) Review

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

A Night To Remember – ‘Steins;Gate 0’ Episode 22 Review

A Night To Remember – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Steins;Gate 0’ Episode 22

What’s the show? Steins;Gate 0, Episode 22.

So what happens in th— Calling it now, this was my favourite episode of the season and no matter how good next week’s finale is nothing will be able to beat this one!

—Not even making people read a little bit of the review to find out your opinion on the episode, huh? Sorry, I got excited—but I’m not the only one who has problems containing their excitement when reviewing things!

Eh, whatever man, it’s your site. So what happens in this episode that’s got you so sold on this episode’s overall quality as legendary status? Well it starts off a bit uneven but by the time we get to Okabe showing Amadeus [Kurisu] around Akihabara I’d absolutely fallen in love with the episode.

I love this shot and I’m not even sure why exactly!

Ah… the tried and true ‘Akihabara Fan-Service’ technique, hmm? What ever do you mean?

Whenever any show even ~mentions~ the place—let alone shows it—you’re all over it, praising it like it’s the best thing since sliced bread! Fine, I’ll admit I’m a slut for Akiba but you know what, regardless of the reverent way this show presents Akihabara and the attention to detail, this was also a meditative, emotional and touching send-off to a character who’s kind of been overlooked for more than half the season. And letting us see Akiba through Amadeus [Kurisu’s] eyes was the perfect way—at least for me—to have us connect with a character who by all logic we shouldn’t have a connection with.

Night time has rarely looked better in this show than this episode.

Why shouldn’t we have a connection with her? Because she’s an AI, she may be based on someone we used to know, or rather someone Okabe used to love, but she’s not that person. And getting that stark reminder, while simultaneously reinforcing how real the illusion can feel and how genuine the emotions seem brought me back to the way this show was in the first 9 or so episodes when I was calling it “one of the best shows ever” and “better than the original”.

Oh yeah, I remember that, you sure did make a big deal about this show back then—feels like a lifetime ago… What’s more I think the way they decided to scale back the Hyouin Kyouma bits and allow Okabe to still be fragile and contemplative as well as occasionally manic made this episode a lot more believable. Had that other persona returned fully and without respite it would have made the show something it’s not.

Anything else you wanted to add? I don’t often talk about the production values of an episode and even more rarely do I speak of them when they’re good (after all we only usually comment when things are bad) but I was blown away at how gorgeous Akiba looked during the last half of the episode—they really committed to making those scenes look as good as they needed to look to sell Amadeus [Kurisu’s] sacrifice. Also that last scene where Amadeus [Kurisu] gives that pep talk to Maho and then she smiled that one last smile was gorgeously heartbreaking.

So you said you didn’t think next week’s finale could possibly beat this episode in terms of overall quality, are you predicting a lacklustre final episode then? I honestly have no idea where and how this show is going to end—and for once I love being completely at the mercy of this shows genius imagination. If they manage to pull it off and deliver a satisfying, emotional and intelligent ending then there’s very little in the way of me proclaiming this better than the original Steins;Gate and that’s not something I say lightly!

Previous Steins;Gate 0 Reviews:

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His and Hers Story Repeats – ‘ISLAND’ Episode 12 (Finale) Review

His and Hers Story Repeats – An Anime QandA Review for ‘ISLAND’ Episode 12

What’s the show? ISLAND, Episode 12.

So here we are, we’ve reached the end, the season finale of ISLAND! This is true, it’s been a long and emotional journey but we’re finally here and there’s always that bittersweet feeling about a series finale—especially one for a show I’ve enjoyed this much.

Well no point beating ‘round the bush, what happens in this episode? Well as teased last week, it turns out that Rinne’s shut-in mother Kuon is actually future Rinne from the ‘NEVER ISLAND’ arc. Which, after reading a journal from current Rinne’s ‘father’ we learn that future Rinne washed up on the beach without memories—much like Setsuna and not only that she was pregnant with Setsuna’s child (after the sex they had at the end of Episode 10).

Wait, does that mean… Yep! Setsuna is current Rinne’s father! Good thing they never went further than kissing, eh?

Yikes! That’s a tough revelation, how does current Rinne handle that? Not well initially, and that’s completely understandable—I mean she’s fallen for the guy and now he’s telling her that he’s her father that’s an incestuous pill to swallow.

For sure, what else do we learn? Okay, so this bits a little bit more complicated and kind of explained in a single-scene despite its rather impactful ramifications but basically time-travel doesn’t exist, least not backwards time-travel. I guess in a way that helps rule out pesky things like paradoxes and there being two of a person in any one time. What’s actually happening is that time itself is looping infinitely, from the stone-age to the period of time presumably around the new ice age that envelops the Earth and the last remnants of humanity living on the Island as seen in the ‘NEVER ISLAND’ arc. And so when Setsuna or anyone else enters the stasis pods they simply are in stasis for another lap of human history and wake-up roughly when they intend to. So everything that happened in the previous episodes still happened and time wasn’t changed via time travel it’s just that history repeats itself just with the people who enter stasis having the knowledge of their previous go around of history.

Exposition dump courtesy of this cutie whose name I’ve unfortunately forgotten!

That’s kinda confusing but kinda interesting? It’s way more interesting than the show gives it time to dwell on—but that’s kinda the point, much like how Darling in the FranXX was more about teenage angst and relationships than it was about robots, ISLAND is more about a fated couple throughout history trying to find the ‘right time’ to be together but missing out on a happy life for various reasons.

For a handmade ring it’s still pretty darn good!

And do they? Have a happy life that is. So Setsuna finally confronts Kuon—having to smash down her door to get her to acknowledge him but she doesn’t want to turn around and face him. She knows her daughter is in love with him and doesn’t want to get in the way of her happiness. Thankfully current Rinne has had some time to think about her life and has the maturity and clarity of thought to be appreciative of the happiness both her mother and Setsuna have given to her, and wants to be able to return that happiness by letting Setsuna and Kuon be together. And so Kuon and Setsuna kiss, just like they did before and then they get married and it’s so sweet and pure and I was crying and I love this show and this episode was pretty much exactly what I wanted it to be!

Oh you ol’ softy! I thought you didn’t go in for all this romantic ~stuff~? Yeah, normally I don’t but kudos to this show for finding a way to not only make a courtship across history interesting and dynamic and exciting and dramatic but also really sweet!

So overall thoughts? Well I won’t give my overall thoughts on the series itself—that much remains for my ‘QandA Rundown’, which will appear some time soon on the site. But as for how this fares as a final episode, I loved it—sure it’s not nearly as detailed and long as it could have been but it hit all the right emotional beats and delivered a satisfying conclusion for all involved while still leaving things open-ended enough to leave ~some~ details to your imagination.

I draw your attention to who’s hiding behind the tree and simply leave it at that!

Previous ISLAND Reviews:

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Making Up For Lost Time – ‘Steins;Gate 0’ Episode 21 Review

Making Up For Lost Time – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Steins;Gate 0’ Episode 21

What’s the show? Steins;Gate 0, Episode 21.

So last week you kinda hammered the episode for having the audacity to do time travel in a time travel anime… have you come to your senses now? Listen, you know it wasn’t ~just~ the time travel that bothered me—it was the fact that it felt like we’d gone to the future just for the sake of some edgy drama in the form of Ruka dying and seeing Okabe old and (more) distressed. Also the fact that it was more-or-less just so Okabe could confirm, “yep the future sucks, better go fix that” which I felt was a slap in the face to Suzuha who’d been saying as much for the whole damn season, it was like he didn’t even listen to her!

So you’re still on that high horse, huh? What about this episode then? It’s great and legitimises the previous episode completely and I’m going to retire from reviewing now because I’m obviously an idiot who has no idea what I’m talking about.

DJ Oldkabe about to drop a phat beat at da club.

Come on now, don’t be like that, you’re allowed to have gaping lapses in judgement from time to time. If only I was binge-watching this, I could have saved making such a fool of myself!

Nobody cares, also you’d find a way to make a fool of yourself in a different way anyway… That’s true.

So what’s so good about this episode then? It’s an ~extremely~ satisfying 25 minutes of television, not only does it give time-travel a meaningful place in the narrative it also finds a dynamic and possibly damaging way to do it that puts Okabe’s mind under unimaginable strain but in a completely different way than him repeatedly seeing Mayuri’s death from the original Steins;Gate series. There’s never a dull moment, never a wasted fame and it more or less culminates in something I didn’t even realise I was missing—the return of Houoin Kyouma, Okabe’s mad scientist alter-ego.

The poses are absolutely necessary. Why even ask?

Oh yeah? I seem to recall you saying a few episodes ago that you “didn’t miss him” and would be happier if he didn’t return. Why do you suddenly have such a good memory—tch! Yes, I said that too but that’s because at that stage in the narrative it felt unearned, like all the people who were saying they wanted him back at like Episode 2 kinda made me retroactively resent him. I was more than happy with ‘depressed Okabe’ I didn’t need the obnoxious mad-scientist. That was then and this is now and we’ve more than earned his return and it is particularly joyous—almost cathartic to have that ridiculous man back in our lives. Although for how long remains another matter…

If you don’t accept me at my Okabe you don’t deserve me at my Kyouma.

What do you mean by that? Well despite all the pieces seemingly falling into place with Okabe’s return to the past things—of course—don’t go to plan as once again the time-machine with Mayuri and Suzuha is blown up by an attack helicopter as its transitioning to the past. Although the episode ends ~somewhat~ ambiguously, so maybe they made it this time and the anime is just cliff hanger baiting us.

So, sounds like you had a pretty positive experience with the episode? Some final thoughts? I don’t often like to compare things to other things—especially when the other thing is something very specific and not at-all anime related. But this episode’s central plot, with Okabe having to “time-leap” 3000 times to make it back the 25 years to get to his starting point reminded me fondly of my favourite episode of Doctor Who—‘Heaven Sent’, which aired in 2015. I won’t explain the plot of the aforementioned as it’s complicated and best worth discovering on your own but it too is about the kind of mental sacrifices that come with facing insurmountable difficulties with only one—very tough solution. I really loved this episode, even if that cliff hanger ending suggests the true ending is going to be harder fought still.

Previous Steins;Gate 0 Reviews:

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A Fling Of The Past – ‘ISLAND’ Episode 11 Review

A Fling Of The Past – An Anime QandA Review for ‘ISLAND’ Episode 11

What’s the show? ISLAND, Episode 11.

So what happens in this, the penultimate episode? Well we’re back to it being regular old ‘ISLAND’ instead of ‘NEVER ISLAND’ as it was the previous two episodes and man, I didn’t realise how much I missed the sun-drenched sandy beaches of Urashima. But you know what, as the familiar opening credits rolled nervousness—borderline anxiety brewed inside me.

Why’s that? Because I realised—and I don’t know why it’d taken me a week to get to this thought but I’m glad I did otherwise I’d have been obsessing over it all week—I realised that everything that had come previous to this episode was almost voided by the fact that ~actual~ time travel had just occurred, and it’s a scary thought as a viewer to know that all the character development that’d come before was almost completely negated.

(Insert hilarious joke about having ‘wood’)

I guess that’s true, does that sour the experience with you then? Ah! But see that’s where this show is smarter than I perhaps gave it credit for, or if not smarter than at least more savvy and sensitive. So my biggest, initial fear was that they’d undo all the good Setsuna did for Karen and Sara’s lives and he’d just beeline for helping Rinne out. Thankfully, he still prioritises helping them through their troubles again, he in fact arguably does a better job of it—at least in Karen’s case, Sara’s is borderline.

So it’s not like just a rehash of the first few episodes in a condensed format. Indeed, and that was my second fear, that they’d just reuse old footage and kind of montage through their story arcs, but aside from establishing shots I don’t think any of what we saw was old footage! Again, me probably giving this show less credit than it deserved for delivering the goods.

I sometimes forget to mention how *good* this show can look.

And so what actually happens then? Well Setsuna wakes up on the beach—like in the first episode—but with the clarity of memory from when he left the future and this imbues him with a confidence and sense of purpose and swagger and there’s no skirting around the ‘why’ of him being here—he lays it all out to everyone he meets, that he’s from the future and he’s here to help. He goes about predicting things before they happen and telling people what they’re thinking because he has all this information from his past life here. If you’ve ever seen the classic 1993 comedy ‘Groundhog Day’ then you’ll feel a familiarity with these scenes, and that’s absolutely a good thing!

So what’s different about how he helps Karen and Sara compared to the first time? In Episode 4 we had what would be considered the adaptation of Karen’s ‘route’ from the visual novel (presumably, I haven’t played it yet). And rather than Setsuna returning to the mainland with Karen and being there for her to learn about her mother’s death, he lets her three school friends fill his emotional support role, and it’s a seemingly minor but important difference. Because firstly it means Karen doesn’t get too emotionally attached to Setsuna, he’s more of a caring friend or big brother now than a love interest and two it gives a substantial narrative purpose for these school friends to have. Also, sharing sad news with people you’ve known for a long time can be much more cathartic than with a relative stranger.

She may not be best girl or even second best girl but I’ll always have a special spot in my heart for Karen!

What about Sara’s, you said hers was “borderline” what did you mean by that? Episode 5 was an emotional one for Sara as she learnt about the true nature of her family and of the prophecy that she would die before turning 18 that she was convinced would come to pass. I think we’re led to believe that Setsuna more or less talks her out of this thinking, his superior knowledge of the future winning her over—and her ending now is more to do with her being able to just “be herself” rather than be beholden too strictly to traditions. I think more time devoted to this part would have been nice, but as it stands its good enough.

And finally Rinne, how does he ‘save’ her from the hands of fate? It’s not too dissimilar to how it transpired in the previous pre-NEVER ISLAND episodes, just Setsuna handles things with a bit more sensitivity and the added knowledge of what ‘revelations’ await on the second island assist too. And she starts falling for him—unfortunately this Setsuna is already in love with the Rinne from the future who he had to leave behind and there’s kind of something tragic about that.

But where does that leave this story? Oh, you think things are going to be that simple? ISLAND has a twist up its sleeve and delivers it perfectly right at the end of the episode! Big ol’ spoilers, but then again if you’re reading this far and are worried about those I think you’ve come too far anyway. But turns out that Rinne’s reclusive mother Kuon is working on a time-machine of her own in her room—and the ring on her finger in an old photograph that Setsuna discovers suggests that Kuon is actually future Rinne who came back in time to give birth to current Rinne and *mind implodes*

Wow, okay. That sure is some time travel shenanigans! So thoughts overall? I was so impressed with how this second-to-last episode was handled, maybe my trepidations tempered my expectations but regardless of the reason I’m very happy with what we’ve got and can’t wait for the finale to come!

Previous ISLAND Reviews:

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Living On Sorrowed Time – ‘Steins;Gate 0’ Episode 20 Review

Living On Sorrowed Time – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Steins;Gate 0’ Episode 20

What’s the show? Steins;Gate 0, Episode 20.

So what’s the episode about? You know, I was pretty content with my viewing experience after this episode ended, thinking—“yeah, lots happened, that was great!” But the more I thought about it the more doubt kept creeping into my mind…

Doubt about what? Whether that episode was completely meaningless.

Okay, you’re going to need to actually tell us what it was about, you know? So Okabe awakens in a hospital-like bed, old, frail and confused. He ventures outside to find the once vibrant and alive Akiba in war-torn ruins—quickly he realises he’s in the future and after being rescued by Suzuha is informed by a more svelte-looking Daru that the year is 2036 and everything is awful.

This version of Daru reminds me of someone but I can’t figure out who, any help from my readers?

Well that’s certainly a change in scenery! You’re telling me! I don’t think I was quite prepared emotionally for seeing my favourite place in the world—Akihabara, all destroyed like that. Seeing those familiar sights and landmarks that I hold such fondness for kinda was upsetting, but in a good way, like it made for evocative viewing and ~immediately~ cemented me in Okabe’s mindset.

Just when you thought Okabe couldn’t look any more distraught!

So it’s a war-torn future, who’s still alive from our main cast? Well Mayuri’s dead because she died in the time machine explosion from the previous episode. Obviously Suzuha is here since she was born in this world, fathered by Daru his running the show in Okabe’s absence. Faris and Ruka are still going strong, fighting the good-fight, Ruka looked amazingly cool in combat fatigues and that long flowing black-hair but well, that’s sadly shortlived…

Oh? Yeah, the show decides that Ruka has to die and in Okabe’s arms no-less, and I guess it was supposed to be a sweet moment but to me it felt intentionally manipulative.

So that’s the first strike you have against the episode. What next? Maho’s still alive too—looking exactly the same much like Faris didn’t look a day older despite it being 25 years later and a literal world war breaking out in the meantime. And that’s another thing that kind of rang hollow about this, Maho and Faris haven’t physically changed at all whereas all the men are wearing the passing of time on their faces. It’s almost like the show was too afraid to make the waifu’s less appealing by giving them age lines or anything to symbolise that life has been hard this past quarter of a decade!

And that’d be the second strike. You mentioned that you had some feeling that this episode was “completely meaningless”, where does that come in? So it comes after talking things through with Maho—in what’s probably the best scene of the episode—she’s seriously such a stable core to this series, but does so very much from the sidelines. Okabe mentions that “Suzuha warned me the future was bad but I didn’t believe it until I saw it for myself” or some crap and then says he intends to travel back once more and find ‘Steins Gate’ and fix things. And the more I thought about it the more I wondered, how self-centred do you have to be to not put stock in what Suzuha was saying, like did Okabe just think she was over-exaggerating how bad World War 3 was going to be? Like that really rubbed me the wrong way, that Okabe couldn’t just believe her and he had to see it for himself! I don’t know if that’s a character flaw or the flaw of the writer thinking the viewer wouldn’t take to heart the importance of avoiding World War 3 without having their analogue, in the form of Okabe, experience it first hand.

Just as legal loli as always–even as a 46 year old!

Okay. So it’s pointless because he’s going to change the bad future? No, it’s pointless because Okabe/the writer thought we needed to see all this and it’s going to all go away. I know that’s ~kinda~ the point of time-travel narratives that things will change and therefore events that have happened won’t happen. But usually there’s something important a character will learn from having experienced a bad ‘timeline’ but he already knew everything that was going to happen from Suzuha! There was nothing new learned from this episode existing, other than Ruka turning into a total badass in the future and even then that’s undercut with a death for the sake of drama.

So if young/normal aged Okabe reminds me of Matt Smith does that make old Okabe Peter Capaldi?

Right, so not a fan of this episode? Eh, it’s fine—in a binge watch it’ll be less egregious, it’s just having to have waited a week for an episode that doesn’t add anything more to the narrative just felt a bit galling. But it was still entertaining, and sometimes that’s enough, isn’t it?

Previous Steins;Gate 0 Reviews:

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Rinne and Repeat – ‘ISLAND’ Episode 10 Review

Rinne and Repeat – An Anime QandA Review for ‘ISLAND’ Episode 10

What’s the show? ISLAND, Episode 10.

So, last week was a bit of a game-changer for ISLAND, was it not? That’s an understatement. The fact is it almost became a completely different show, even bothering to title itself ‘NEVER ISLAND’—as it continues to do this week.

So what happens in this episode then? Oh you know, church conspiracies, mass-child murder, the death of two main characters and then an actual sex scene between our protagonists, you know just causal run-of-the-mill stuff like that.

Bet you didn’t expect dead kids from an anime like this!

…You’re gonna need to explain each one of those things individually because, uh… that’s a lot to take in! That’s what Rinne said! (probably)

*sigh* So I take it Rinne and Setsuna are the one’s who had sex? Yes! And it was unexpected and actually kind of sexy…even though it was very fleeting, but that happened during the end credits so we’ll get to that in a bit!

Look how excited he is! Like a kid at Christmas! I can’t help it!

It’s *pretty* insane but I love it all the same!

Okay, so let’s deal with the less exciting things like, ahem, “mass child-murder” jeez, I’m getting tonal whiplash here! Hey, I had to watch the damn thing. So basically all the ‘untagged’ children (all the orphans Karen were looking after) a straight up murdered by the church that controls the ‘island’ then Sara’s father the cardinal is murdered mid-sermon and Sara is framed for the murder. Mob mentality kicks in and the people of the town tie Sara, Karen and Setsuna to a pyre and decide to burn them alive (after some instigating words from the evil archbishop).

Burn the Witch. *Radiohead music intensifies*

Well jeez that escalated damn quickly! Thankfully Rinne (who’d stayed at home to work on her mysterious project) comes to save the day, scaring off the townsfolk with fireworks, pretending they are terrorist bombs and puts out the pyre with a nearby fire hydrant. The four of them then escape the main ‘island’ and head for the cave on the second island where Rinne and Setsuna originally found all the technology back in the past.

You just gotta wait til Episode 10 or later to find it out!

So things are okay now? Well no, Sara caught a bullet in the leg during an earlier confrontation with the church’s armed guards and while pretended it was just a graze was in-fact bleeding out the whole time and so she straight up dies! Then some days after getting to the cave Karen contracts ‘Soot-Blight Syndrome’ and while carrying her back to the main island to seek medical help she dies too!

This is the future remember, a future under religious oppression!

Wow. I can’t say I expected that, how were these deaths handled? Sara’s death was sudden and kind of shocking so it didn’t really have the time to resonate, whereas Karen’s death was pretty devastating. Setsuna carries her the whole way there on his back, they share some sweet words to each other, her commenting how nice it is to be held against such a broad and comforting back, then they arrive at the clinic only for the doctor to look at Karen—still draped over his back—and say there’s nothing he can do because she’s already dead. Yep, I cried!

Another main character death so quickly, isn’t that a bit fast after the first? I suppose we might as well talk about the pacing of the episode now as that’ll undoubtedly be an issue for some. Yes a lot happens in the space of this 24 minute episode, enough to fill three episodes easily—this is a comment I’ve made on previous episodes too, after all this is what happens when you adapt a 50+ hour visual novel into a mere 12 episodes! However, why it works here is because giving more time to these events would make that time spent felt wasted as ultimately these character aren’t (presumably) going to be dead for much longer because of the inevitable time-travel shenanigans! If we’d spent multiple episodes getting to know these character variants then episodes watching them die and grieving for them, when all that was reversed it would feel kinda pointless, at least in the grand scheme of things. I’m talking big picture here.

Yeah I suppose I get what you’re saying. So what about Rinne and Setsuna, how do they come out of all this? Oh they ‘come’ all right!

Ugh, I guess I walked right into that one… so how do they end up together in the marital way? I know you meant that as a polite way to say have sex but funnily enough they do end up getting married which is kinda quaint and cute in it’s own way. Not in any official capacity obviously as they are wanted fugitives but Setsuna makes a pair of wedding rings while Rinne finishes building the time machine they’re about to use to send him back in time to fix this whole shitty timeline, and being that they love each other and they’re married Rinne and Setsuna have sex. Heavily shadowed sex that emphasises silhouettes and shapes and arching of the back—it’s probably the most tasteful anime sex-scene I’ve ever scene, also completely unexpected but in all the right ways. Though it was a bit short for my liking—kinda hoping that Setsuna and OG Rinne get it on in the past/present too but I’m not holding my breath…

FYI, the sex scene is so heavily shadowed that I couldn’t even get a screencap of it, so yeah, ‘yay’ for that… enjoy this love confession instead!

So your overall thoughts on the episode? Maybe this read like a lot of nonsense, maybe this made you think this show is rushed, overwrought nonsense. Maybe you dropped the show and you’re now curious about it, or maybe you just don’t care. Ultimately, I do care a great deal for these characters and this show, yes, I wish it was longer (that’s hopefully not what Rinne said) but as it is, I adore how committed this show is to delivering an ‘experience’. For some it doesn’t work but for me it’s exactly what I want. Only two episodes left now and I’m no longer worried about how they’ll fit it all in, I’m just starting to prematurely grieve its end.

Edit: The AT-X (premium Japanese cable) version aired with a “less censored” version of the end credit sex-scene, basically just less shadows so you can see what’s happening a lot better.

Previous ISLAND Reviews:

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