"Sensei said it'd all make sense by episode 12, I trust him!"
Hearing this, Tabata and Tadakuni exchanged glances before reluctantly sitting back down.
"Wait, you're not giving up? We're the ones who're giving up now?"
"I wanna see what happens after episode 12, what could be so surprising to make Sensei so confident?"
The three of them continued watching with renewed determination.
Though they really wanted to skip ahead to the final episode, they felt that would be disrespecting the work itself.
And so they endured, finally reaching the relaxing moment of the twelfth and final episode!
"Finally!!" The three of them felt both relieved and excited, almost as if they were about to face a final boss in a game.
The earlier episodes were predictably dull, until...
"Huh, Mayushii's pocket watch stopped working?.."
"That's strange, I just wound it up earlier..."
In the next few seconds, they were hit with a chilling moment.
A terrifying figure, wearing a white mask and holding a gun, broke into the room.
With a gunshot, Mayuri collapsed in a pool of blood.
At that moment, the three of them felt a chill run down their spines.
Their minds were full of questions, with no answers in sight.
And the ending sequence played, showing Okabe Rintaro's desperate shout.
They had been so happy watching the ending before, but now they felt none of that joy.
"Why!! Why does it have to end here!?"
"Dammit, who are these people? Why did they kill Mayuri?!"
"As expected, when it's Sensei's work, no character is safe from the knife!!"
The sudden and shocking turn of events left them desperate to understand what had happened.
But the episode ended, and the screen seemed to mock them.
"Want to know what happens next? Tune in next time!"
Tanaka rolled his eyes, "Of course there's a setup! Didn't you get it? It's a time machine! If anyone knew they had this technology, what would they think?"
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[165] Mayuri's Pocket Watch Has Stopped!! The Inescapable Time Line Converges!!
Compared to the two who reluctantly kept watching with him, Tanaka was at least paying attention to the overall plot.
While there were occasional scenes that made no sense and left people confused, if you pushed those aside for the moment and didn't think too much about them, they didn't significantly impact the viewing experience.
The one thing that was undeniably central to the entire story so far was Okabe Rintaro's time machine!
If you thought about it for just a moment, the reasoning behind the events and the ultimate plot twists were quite clear, right?
Hearing Tanaka's comment, Tadakuni and Tabata paused for a moment, then exchanged confused glances.
"Tanaka," Tadakuni said, "are you sure you're still you? Did someone swap your soul out or something?"
"Yeah! I can't believe you came up with that! That's totally not you!"
Tanaka rolled his eyes. "It's just a logical development that any normal person would think of. Why wouldn't it be something I'd think of?"
"You two are the ones who are weird!"
"No no no, because it's a normal logical reaction, the fact that you thought of it is what's not normal!!"
"That's right!!"
Faced with his overly serious friends, Tanaka couldn't help but roll his eyes again, deciding to ignore them.
He sighed heavily.
"No wonder they said you'd understand after watching 12 episodesthis plot twist really took me by surprise!"
Logically speaking, the development seemed quite reasonable.
But in a typical anime, this wouldn't be the direction the story would take.
Since the main characters are special, everything they do makes perfect sense no matter what they create!
So, what impact will this have on the world? Does that even matter? That's never been the point of the story!
Yet, someone decided to make this seemingly irrelevant development the main plot point and ran with it.
"You can only say, of course, it's from sensei!"
Such a unique way of thinking!
But...
"Why did it have to end here!?"
What will happen next? Are they just going to get carried away? Did Mayuri just die like that?
Tanaka couldn't figure it out. He just couldn't imagine what the next steps would be!
If anything, no matter what direction the story goes in next, it will probably be a completely normal continuation!
Tanaka clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, feeling his frustration grow.
"Damn it!"
"Why did it have to stop here!?"
Why did it stop?
This thought ran through the minds of many fans after watching Steins;Gate.
After spending hours watching all the episodes released so far, they were left with nothing but a sense of frustration, not relief.
With this feeling, many fans took to the internet to vent their complaints.
And then... they found something shocking:
Steins;Gatea thoroughly disappointing work.
It was filled with cringe-worthy middle schooler fantasies, completely unrealistic!
If you could somehow remove the protagonist's "chuunibyou" (middle school syndrome), it could barely be called a slice-of-life series.
With those fantasy elements added in, the plot was so awkward, they felt like they needed to gouge out their eyes!
The once-glorious Warrior of Love and Hope myth? Gone.
In a stunning fall from grace, Warrior of Love and Hope had finally met his first major failure!
A genius' arrogance led to his inevitable downfall.
Hopefully, this failure would remind them that success in light novels doesn't guarantee success in other mediums!
Don't let pride blind you, and don't disappoint the fans who support you!
Such criticisms flooded the internet.
For those who had carefully watched the show, it made no sense.
Had they really been offline for just a few hours?
Why did it feel like they were disconnected from the world?
"Ridiculous" didn't even begin to cover their feelings.
After reading these critical comments, a fiery anger rose within them.
If those criticisms were true, they had nothing more to say.
But after seeing those comments, fans realized that these critics hadn't even watched all the episodes!
They watched maybe half, or not even half, and then went online to rant without understanding the whole story.
How could the fans who had watched the full series not be angry!?
Sure, the early episodes were a bit unclear, and Okabe Rintaro's chuunibyou moments were cringe-worthy, but the show was far from simple!
The arrival of episode 12 made this painfully clear!
The remaining plotwhether it becomes something incredible or simply ends hereat least deserved to be seen first before anyone made judgments!
It was certainly not the right of those who hadn't even watched a few episodes to criticize it!
So, some fans decided to push back:
"It's undeniable that Steins;Gate felt boring in the beginning, but how can those who haven't even watched all 12 episodes have the right to speak?"
"I still remember the chills I got at the end of episode 12! That was the moment the real shock hit!"
"Maybe it's not that sensei's story is bad, but that you guys just didn't understand it?"
"After watching episode 12, I'm finally starting to get a sense of the incredible story sensei was trying to tell us! I'm really looking forward to next week's updates!"
"Based on my years of experience watching anime, I can tell sensei is setting up something huge in the next step!"
"With all this buildup, if they cut away the unnecessary parts... just imagining that scene gives me chills!"
"Steins;Gate boring? Sure, because the best parts haven't even started yet!"
"You guys only saw the boring bits and missed all the exciting parts. It's sad, really."
"Sensei's myth? What myth? He's just doing what he loves!"
"Seriously, I don't understand why people idolize sensei so much. He's just a person like the rest of us."
"The success of the work comes from having a good story, and sensei's only role was to present that story to us."
"I still remember sensei's humble attitude."
"Whether it was signing for fans at a long event or giving out freebies for the New Year, you could tell he genuinely cared for us fans. The idea of 'successful arrogance' doesn't even exist in his case!"
"Well, sensei is so brilliant that it makes some people feel insecure. It's only natural that they would take advantage of any opportunity to tear him down!"
"I just have to say, watching all these clowns flaunting their ignorance in front of me is honestly entertaining."
Fans like Tanaka, who had truly followed the story, realized that Steins;Gate wasn't as simple as it seemed.
They had faith in Akifumi Mugiho's past work, and believed the next episodes would be worth the wait.
However, there were those who couldn't resist criticizing, no matter what.
The fact that the series started slow or felt boring was more than enough ammunition for them.
What they didn't expect was the swift and direct retaliation from fans who'd watched the entire thing.
The two sides engaged in a heated, no-holds-barred battle online.
Eventually, the critics kept clinging to the early boring episodes, frustrating many young fans.
After all, without knowing what happens next, it's impossible to understand the true meaning behind the earlier parts of the story!
However, even this wouldn't be enough to make the fans give upit was unrealistic to expect that.
So, under the heated debates between fans and haters, a week quickly passed by.
March 23rd.
At 8 PM, Tanaka finally got the update he had been eagerly waiting forSteins;Gate episode 13.
"Sensei is definitely going to slap these guys in the face!"
Filled with anticipation for episode 13 and trust in the creator, Tanaka clicked on the episode.
The scene immediately picked up where the previous one left off, with Kiryu Moeka's gun pointed at Okabe Rintaro.
It seemed like she was about to pull the trigger.
Unexpectedly, yet somehow predictably, the energetic part-time girl, Suzuha Amane, returned to the scene.
She swiftly dealt with the armed terrorists, and then faced off with Moeka, her gun raised.
At her reminder, Okabe began his first time leap in front of everyone!
The time rewound to 5 PM that afternoon.
The look of desperation on Okabe's face was unexplainable to those around him.
However, his sharp assistant, Kurisu, noticed it immediately, realizing that Okabe had just jumped back from the future.
There wasn't much conversationjust Kurisu's final words.
"You'll have to explain everything to me later."
"To save her, I have to save her!" Okabe declared, with determination.
In this state of mind, Okabe finally found Mayuri.
The events seemed to start changing, but...
When Mayuri once again fell into a pool of blood in a different way, the shock from episode 12 wasn't there anymore.
Instead, there was an overwhelming sense of discomfort!
It wasn't that the plot was flawed; rather, Tanaka suddenly realized that no matter how many times they rewound time, certain events were fated to happen.
They wouldn't changethey would only repeat in different forms!
This realization was confirmed in the following plot.
Okabe leapt back again to the moments before Mayuri's death, hours earlier.
This time, Okabe didn't search blindly.
Instead, he crafted a clever excuse to get everyone to leave, and then quickly found Mayuri.
However
"Huh, Mayushii's pocket watch stopped working?.."
"That's strange, I just wound it up earlier..."
After this brief exchange, despite having avoided the terrorists, when the time reached that crucial moment, the bullet train came rushing again and took Mayuri away.
This scene confirmed Tanaka's suspicions.
No matter how many times they tried, Mayuri's fate would always end the samedeath!
But
In the black-and-white scene, Okabe grasped Mayuri's broken pocket watch and firmly whispered to himself.
"I won't let you die!"
"Mayuri, I'll save you!"
At that moment, the same shocking feeling from episode 12 surged within Tanaka.
And amidst the rushing timeline, the ED credits started playing once more.
"Even though she can't be saved, you're still going to fight to save her?" Tanaka took a deep breath, trying to calm his excitement.
A wide grin spread across his face. "As expected from Sensei!"
"The storytelling is just so cool!!"
"This show is exactly what Sensei saidit gets better and better as it goes on!!"
Now then
"How will Okabe save Mayuri?" Tanaka was filled with anticipation!
But
"Damn it, why does it feel like we've barely seen anything of the climax?"
It was supposed to be back-to-back episodes starting from episode 12, but just as the plot hit the exciting part, they switched back to weekly updates!
The frustration was real!
"I just want to binge-watch it all at once!" Tanaka sighed.
And many fans shared his sentiment.
Yet, the only option they had was to wait.
So, after the episode ended, the internet was flooded with discussions.
"Damn! The first half was so hard to get through, the time dragged on endlessly. But after episode 12, it just flew by and ended so quickly!"
"Waaah, my Tu-tu-ruu !!"
"Seeing Tu-tu-ruu die so many times made me realize this is definitely the work of an old pro!!"
"After this episode, I can't help but feel like no matter how many times Okabe tries, Mayuri's death is inevitable. I have no idea how he's going to save her."
"Is the rest of the plot just going to be about Mayuri's hundred ways of dying?"
"My take? You can't predict where this story is going, not even a little bit!"
"I feel like Okabe really grew in this episode!"
"Did you notice how he referred to himself? That cringy 'chuunibyou' side of him is slowly disappearing."
"Huh? Really? I didn't even notice that."
"Thinking about waiting another week for the next episode makes me feel miserable!"
As fans began discussing, soon enough, dissenting opinions emerged.
"I watched the new episode, and my review is... is that it?"
"I don't understand why so many people like a story about such a tragic character."
"Isn't this just another example of a character getting tortured for no reason? It's getting kind of tiring."
"This episode clearly shows that no matter how many times they go back, they can't save Mayuri. So Okabe's determination to save her seems a bit nave, don't you think?"
