the fear of being genuine

what does it mean to be genuine say you struggle to express feelings directly to someone you wanted to be genuine with and so you can just come out and tell them how you felt but you can kind of do it through a few jokes here and there or acts of service or other means which are or seem non-direct to compensate for that are those genuine from the intent behind them or not so because they're not typically what we'd call a straight forward Act of care it's kind of like utilitarianism versus deontology is it the intent behind it or the action itself that actually matters I think in the age of responding to almost everything with memes or humor coming from an age where most acts that were genuine were called cringe this is a question worth asking what is being genuine can an act become a genuine part of us and how will these methods impact our futures together luckily for us a show you've probably seen has essentially asked and presented a case on all of this I really don't need to craft an introduction to Stein's gate so I'll be brief but just in case the 2011 anime follows okabe ruro and 18-year-old self-proclaimed mad scientist who goes by hen kioma and heads the future Gadget laboratory where he and his chronically otaku friend daru show at the very least engineering skill by mixing together bits of tech technology like a microwave you can activate from your phone even if they aren't quite physicists they're also joined by myor Sheena ok's childhood friend whose upbeat personality contrasts against the mad scientist at H game obsessive working on handcrafting cosplays as they tinker and well that's most of it they live out their lives primarily within this small bubble away from the worries of adulthood for half the series the conflict is just daily life there is no villain well that isn't until it turns out the phone wave is actually a time machine that allows data and so text to be sent backwards and time leading to a shifting of timelines that test the world on a course for tyrannical rule by corrupted CERN but we'll get to that in the daily life we see before things go completely arai there is an annoying character developing in okabe or rather in kyoma the name of his mad scientist Persona no matter where or when they are he's playing this outrageous role from interrupting scientific conferences with outbursts to speaking into a phone that's not turned on about organization plots which he'll do even in shops that don't allow talking on the phone and continue doing after the owner points this out and since he's not even actually talking to anyone he's being rude for an entirely madeup one person conversation with no regard for how he or his friends are seen he dives into this self- obsessive I am the main character only I can stop the secret end of the world Persona in a way that can't be ignored this seems a little bit selfish especially when you consider that his friends are often the ones supporting him mayeri is the one of the trio who works waiting tables at a local maid Cafe run by their friend Ferris a queen of akih habra's MOA culture whether it's using her food for experiments or taking in the donations they get from her friends the future Gadget lab would be going hungry without her and daru is the one who seemed to do most of that technical work building the actual devices even if are mostly pointless well okabe rants about the chaos to unleash on the world from them from hacking and discern to fixing a completely foreign time machine in just a couple nights his skills are invaluable to what okabe does without these two well he's nothing yet he's the one acting as the main character and there's even more their later development of their own time machine is mostly done by makis kurasu a published physicist at the age of 18 who brings the heavy scientific knowledge required as well as a heavy dose suere without her all they could do was keep turning bananas into green mush and she apprehensively joins their lab after a rough start with okabe to uncover the science behind this but you can't entirely blame him for that rough start he did think he saw her dead in a pool of blood but then found her alive soon after which will mess with your mind a bit but there's also how kioma treats Ferris and ruko a friend of theirs whose family runs a local Shrine as pupils of sorts having them somewhat Bend to his whims when he's around Ferris drops everything at work to greet him much to dar's annoyance and the same goes for ruko as he asks them how their special techniques are coming for his Grand Ambitions to stop the organization schemes once again we see clearly who the main character is the one who has to be special he skipped out on bills and insults the people who accomplish his work if you're just a neighbor or someone passing by you'd hate this immature child who never grew up and we see that with his landlord tanoi Yugo better known to the group as Mr braa who's constantly dealing with his Antics above his shop and wondering when it's going to even affect his daughter's safety to a normal person in this world and outside of their group Observer the only good thing about okabe is his rent check [Music] but we aren't normal people in their world we are an audience with deeper insights into these characters Minds well everything here may read as a selfish attempt for a small man to make himself feel large disingenuous babbling from someone with nothing to offer why does he have the friends he has there must be something within this which is actually positive then right and of course there is despite looking like a slap Dash mess what if we saw that this whole mad scientist Act was not at all for himself but actually a very genuine Act of care for his friends to make things clear from the start of this deeper analysis there are a few points in the anime where okabe himself directly says that kyoma is an act he puts on I'm not an evil genius hen K who gives a damn about him he fiction in these moments where he's pushed to his limits the facade drops to show a man who's actually annoyed by it in some anguish that he has to try and keep it up it's less enjoyment and more of almost a duty you could say so why does he do it well the base explanation is found that his pass with myori his longest friend as the story progresses the focus shifts from daily life to saving her due to the butterfly effect okabe and curse who discover their new time machine and how it works which allows their friends to test it by sending personal texts back in time known as dils to change their present at first this leads to seemingly inconsequential changes to the world like they simply didn't meet one new friend or one person's sex was changed although some end up changing a whole lot like turning akih Hab from otaku Central to just another boring part of Tokyo altering thousands of lives this begs the question what else has Chang change they just haven't noticed yet and it turns out that is Myer's fate now a quick overview of Stein's gate time rules each timeline is called a world line which are clustered into attractor Fields designated by the first digit on the Divergence meter here in these gatherings of numbers under that digit or within that digit certain events always occur for example under one Myer's death is a faded occurrence no matter what is done it will happen the most common occurrence of it is that when okabe Kuru and daru are captured by CERN she's disposed of and their phone wave turns into the prototype for cern's tyrannical control no matter what okabe tries time and time again he can't prevent her death because this cluster of timelines decrees it must happen so to prevent it they have to reach a cluster of w lines above the number one where that doesn't occur also ok is the only one to maintain memories across World lines everyone else forgets kind of but more on that later but this need to change attractor fields to save myari draws him out of the kyoma act for most of the second half of the anime as he tries to undo all the changes they made to time and reach a value above one and so he speaks a lot more honestly in timelines that no one will remember including about he and Myer's past myori was close with her grandmother and so when she passed the young girl was left distraught she'd stand by her grave all day never moving from the spot whether it was rain or shine while okabe watched from the sidelines one day she began to reach for the sky standing there which he seemingly correctly understood as a sign of her giving up if you will afraid that he'll lose is his only real friend he rushes in prevent her from leaving with the first excuse he could come up with you're my hostage do you hear me you can escape a mad scientist so don't even bother trying this explains the logical basis to what he does myori was ready to leave and he didn't know how to stop her from doing so it's a complex issue that's hard to recognize and harder to prevent but she can't leave if she's not allowed this solves the physicality of the issue that was being faced in a quick and effective way by putting on this act by creating an excuse for her not to be able to undertake this harmful action okabe is able able to help myori when she needs it most and this success as well as the need to keep up the act for the excuse to stay leads him down a path he probably could have never imagined with K as we detail this path though we have to correct the mistakes of our observational position from the sidelines what we criticize kioma for might seem accurate but what about when we look more directly and understand why his friends accept the ACT he puts on and how it even benefits them well its origination with myori was a pretty simple utility it evolves to be a bit more complex of an excuse with his other and newer friends first of all we said it was as if he was playing to be special but given he doesn't actually enjoy it this is actually for the sake of making others feel special and valuable not himself we could point to every character somewhere to show this which i' encourage you to consider as well because I couldn't fit it all all in here but the best example is definitely ruko working at their family's Shrine their duties in life are mostly spiritual okabe takes this and extends it into things like giving them a cheap sword he found at a pawn shop which definitely has a curse on it and tells them they need to practice how to properly use it he's exaggerated their role for emphasis of course this takes up their time and energy and doesn't really lead to any specific benefits as they're literally practicing for a skill for something that okab just made up out of thin air but it's also an excuse for him to provide them praise in any situation and with no contrary evidence whenever he goes to the shrine he can mention how their techniques are really improving from how hard they're working at it and no one else can say otherwise because only he even knows what the technique is even if they're going nowhere they can be made to feel like they are and that positive boost then actually will lead them somewhere it's like when he stops by they get a little boost to how they feel that day guaranteed maybe something went wrong earlier but something always goes right when okabe stops by he even extends this further into exorcisms when he puts his own discomfort into the ring for the same sake when muko begins to doubt their abilities he suddenly has an outburst of pain he's been possessed by a demon she needs to exercise it and she needs to right now definitely 100% legitimately for his sake he's throwing a fake physical fit complete with mad yells for help making himself look insane to anyone else all for the sake of trying to give someone evidence of their value using the Persona of kioma as an undeniable excuse that they are special and valuable to someone else there's also belonging in kioma now the way I wrote that appropriately set off every single grammar check but it's exactly what I mean within the character of kioma other people can easily find belonging this comes down to a game of perspective all of okabe's friends are weird in their own ways mayori reach for stars often dropping what she's doing to put her hand up to the sky daru well he's daru I can't mention his audities if I want this video to be visible curs who seems normal on the outside but for the sake of science she'll eat a banana that's been turned into a mysterious goo and has a secret internet culture side Ferris is the mo Queen working meow into her regular speech even well off the clock from Queen Mae ruko doesn't confirm to traditional gender standards and MOA a lab member we have an mentioned before now is someone OK met because she was taking random pictures of the street to remember her present and she can hardly speak to another human face to face and sua another new mention is the walking embodiment of is this what the kids say these days because well she's actually a time traveler who came back to prevent cern's takeover but that'll come in time these are all people who lie outside of the norm in distinct obvious ways but not as obvious as a mad scientist kilma is actually somewhat taking the heat off the people around him as the judgment is lumped onto him instead we see this pretty directly as daru apologizes for him in public and making someone called pervert in an actually meaningful way seem like the reasonable person in the room when you're standing next to a mad scientist suddenly cat ears or skimpy cosplay don't seem so weird this is probably something you didn't even really notice that much while watching the show they're all weird enough people that they'd probably be talked about behind their backs but okabe takes so much of that Focus that the others actually don't really seem to reach that same level of complete aity that he does but it's also about inhibition it's very hard to be the first person to do something which means it's difficult to do anything abnormal anything you're not seeing performed by other people every day being the only one to dress against your gender or live in MOA culture isn't something that's easy to take the first step at and so sometimes we won't be our genuine selves because of that and this is a true detriment to your quality of life but when kilma is out there flying the Freak Flag first it gets a lot easier suddenly someone else is doing a weird thing before you could even take a second to wonder about doing one yourself like it was damn near instinctual to him so would it really be wrong for to do whatever you thought would maybe get a few weird looks by living in this unabashed way he's setting an example that it's fine to get judgmental looks about being yourself they shouldn't stop you as they don't stop him he's also allowing them to be more genuine to who they are in that being the artist of the bunch makes it so much easier for the people around him to not have to stand out but without ever having to compromise on who they are just the same he provides them with the sweet spot of attention not just from himself but from Society too and speaking about The Oddities of this group of people they're a somewhat disperate Gathering there's some overlap like Doos into anime of course but in a more well specific way Ferris is of course going to be popular with anime fans but she's also into different games that someone like daru only plays to be around her mayi is all about Cosplay which is tangential but something she does with other people who are more specifically into that than say ruko who she can convince to get into cosplay but they only actually do it to make her happy maybe Kuru would but she's a closeted nerd engaging in Phantoms only behind a screen and out of sight and then okabe is a nerd but in the former sense into Science and Technology not into the new sense of Internet culture and then MOA and sua don't really have any overlap with the other lad members at all one of them can't communicate and the other literally comes from a different world and yet all of these people end up special within the hearts of the others the way most relationships are formed once you enter adulthood the exact point most of these characters are at is through common interest no longer forced to be around others in school you're instead made to rely on meeting people at work or through some kind of hobby for the most part whether that's cosplay rette or scientific conferences but there's usually some sort of common activity Common Thread running throughout here there really isn't the only through line is okabe or maybe rather kioma his evil scientist Persona is someone mad enough to basically invent a hobby for these people gather around to almost become the hobby for these people they all have a special duty to him in the lab whether that's being a loyal hack which is what he calls hacker for some reason or a diligent assistant these are vague roles that denote responsibility but without actually bothering them with it and only making them do things they want to do he creates a central pillar of just enough responsibility that they'll come back to each other again and again but never enough that's actually really annoying in any way they have those duties as lab members and they'll be expected to make meetings but the actuality of those duties is most often preparing for parties and the meetings are well the parties most of what we see them in lab is celebration there's a new lab member let's get everyone together and celebrate or someone just had a major event let's get together to celebrate if it was good or console if it wasn't but either way throwing a party Kuma reintroduces that bit of solidity both responsibility and commonality that people with nothing in common on the surface used to develop deeper relationships it's an excuse for people to be around each other without that fear of well maybe I'm just being a bother or maybe I don't know them well enough to hang out with them because this badman is shouting the excuse at your face there's no room to doubt plus he kind of is the common interest conversation would be easy with someone you didn't know if you had this person to talk about at least to break the ice it's like poking fun at a mutual friend when they leave the room to keep the conversation going with new people there's even more you can dig out of the series but what this all boils down to is that kioma is an excuse to be genuine with his friends to truly care for and help them based on his love for them in the way this is accomplished is entirely dependent upon the whims of a mad scientist throughout the anime kma uses as an excuse for everything they need kissu needs to patch things up with her father because a mad scientist assistant can't allow her Focus to sway onto other less important things than the fate of the world and tuaha can't travel back in time without having met her father because the will of a mad scientist says it can't be that will disrespects order itself and what more maintenance of order is there than time it is a challenge he must undertake it is the very core of his being his Persona that is his meth method of assistance is chaos and the thing about chaos is it's nonsense it can be crafted into whatever is needed at that moment and so kilma isn't just an excuse he's any excuse whatever problem someone has from mayor's loss to absent fathers kilma will find a reason to have a way to fix it even if that means messing with things beyond what he can truly control the thing is okabe himself is actually quite cons considerate of science having just uncovered the ability to send data back in time which anyone would use to outright win the lottery he settles on taking a low price simply to test its efficacy rather than getting rich he's actually aware of the butterfly effect and wants to avoid it as best as possible often thinking of it as he's about to send one of those dils that his friends requested but the issue is that they're requesting its use to better their lives MOA uses it to achieve her tasks as a a secret CERN agent yes which validates her from her Handler's praise ruko seeks to change Sexes to be appealing to okabe who she secretly loves not so secretly sometimes and Ferris wants to prevent her father's death by altering his travel on the day he died they don't outright Express the entire truth of these desires to okabe but he knows they're using it for their benefit and he is someone who desperately wants to help his friends and so despite worry very greatly very genuinely about its consequences he pushes through each time with the reasoning that a mad scientist must pursue this goal K is such a strong excuse for such a strong desire to help his friends that he'll risk throwing time itself into chaos for them that bravado is just an excuse to care Against All Odds it means the ACT has to be genuine right or is it the excuse that's strong and not the care was this all what someone who truly cared would do or is it the actions of a man who's simply covering for his own [Music] inability kioma is there because connecting with the others breaking through the at fields of if you will is difficult being genuine with people is terrifying how do you care for people and how do you express that you do when everyone's different and when you're different when is too soon and how much is too strong and how do you meet someone new and how do you react to their intricacies and learn about their specifics since they're someone new and then everyone is someone new because they're all unique so it's like a double new situation and then what words do you tell someone to use that you care about them what words actions make them feel better because again there's no formula for it there's no consistency almost each human each connection is a complex puzzle which takes a lifetime to understand just one of and at best is only ever solved in approximation because we could never spend an entire lifetime just on one person you know this most of us communicate almost entirely in humor or memes for some variation of this reason we work in group speak easily communicable Arch types which cover expression okabe is the same terrible at solving these puzzles called people take the initial moment with myori and keep in mind that this is all excusable because he was literally a child who didn't know any better but what was myori lacking in that loss of her grandmother it was probably a bit of attention familial affection praise and Care the overall sense that someone finds her valuable no matter what nothing could replace that specific connection no one just slots into that hole in the heart but other people could show her that same kind of value there was another way to show her that this tragic event didn't need to make her leave and it was providing these things to her it was being as direct as she could handle saying that she was valuable and cared for and worth having around it was being by her side directly to express that warmth in the most understandable way to literally feel it but he wasn't by our side he was off to the side wondering how to fix the problem now not how to solely provide evidence against it the better path would have been reassurance saying that he'll stay with her and that things could get better that he'll help to try and make them better but being genuine is full of those tough fearful things that require ton of attention and understanding on the part of the Observer that upfront cost to prevent future disaster is terrifying the real task is long and difficult stunted by this fear okabe found an instantaneous excuse on that moment rather than the constant Duty that care is he solved the logistics of the issue but he didn't understand or console the emotions everything behind it we can see that this is fear from his interactions with Kuru during timelines that won't be remembered as he's leaping back again and again to undo the demiles which create this awful future and lead to Myer's death okabe is forced to have these same conversation with kurasu again and again explaining the situation to her more times than we could count he's beaten and broken by this repetition enduring a mental torment that's unimaginable as he watches his best friend die many times over okabe has been hom right now part of what we're about to say is also due to this exhaustion one would find in that his simply horrid mental state but I think we can also say his genuinity with Kuru in these times that is not being K with her is because it won't be remembered by anyone but him he can call her by her name for the first time rather than calling her by the madeup Christina or simply assistant which function as distractions if he does something kind but annoys her with these names she won't catch on that he actually cares which is likely why he uses those names to care without facing those new tough situations that known caring brings but when she won't remember there's no need to keep up the ACT he can he cares for even loves her and it doesn't matter because it won't ever lead to that uncomfortable State Breaking the Barrier will have no consequences no new situations to learn how to explore in this much deeper connection they now share these new situations are genuine moments that follow from people knowing without a doubt that they are someone you love not just someone you find fun or exciting for a little bit intimacy is great but it does change things it takes a dynamic which is comfortable if sometimes anxious but less deep and in adding that depth introduces moments of responsibility and uncomfortability that are always new because well every single person is new and unique there are deeper secrets and emotional conversations that take a lot more mental stamina than just joking around or playing games it's a certain amount of obligation in moments of need you lose those questions like oh I don't know not just bothering them but you replace it with responsibility and the need to learn someone Yoma cares but also keeps everything at arms length a comfortable distance a plausible deniability fixing Logistics but offering little genuine support and that's the greatest trick of kioma and why those benefits fade away in the end it's still a somewhat selfish relatable selfishness born from a fear of genuine it there's really only one reason why his excuse worked so well with mayeri and that's because she's actually emotionally mature well beyond her age in appearance despite seeming like the fragile flower of the group if anyone has it together it's myi we can see this in how she compliments kioma filling in some of those gaps that a NeverEnding Persona creates sure he is the pillar they gather around but she's the glue which actually holds the group together the deeper feelings that make a hobby worthwhile when the m scientist brings them into the lab ranting and raving she's the one who gives them a tour of the admittedly small apartment making every single feature feel like something of genuine note those are meaningless things but every single one feels like it's worth a whole essay and how she shows it off he's the hook but she's the one actually reeling people in calming things down a bit as if to say almost he's crazy but we Bean well not to mention again that she's often the one providing food the one who prevents people from fighting if things get heated which can often occur because of ki's ridiculousness and even more she was the second member right alongside okabe without her there never would have been the future Gadget lab to begin with from the very foundations of how kioma House people she's always been there and been a huge part of it she is the true genuinity that he lacks and without that Ki is a failed experiment her follow-through is crucial to make his excuse worthwhile so since myi was the one who made it work in her case let's examine the other the dils his friends send specifically for time though because the script was originally 20 godamn pages long well zero ID on feris to be deep and specific without taking up your entire day as we said her text saved her father when she was a child she demanded her father make it home for her birthday like he said he would despite business calling which led to him getting on an earlier flight which crashed her text undid this by saying it was actually fine she wouldn't mind if he got home later which changes all of akih Habra because as it turns out her family basically owns it and he prevents her from turning it into a MOA Central in this new timeline where he's back we see that they have a very pure and strong connection he's on the good good spectrum of anime dads but she desires is a father but what comes from a father what is the point of the connection she brought back there's the warmth of a hug attention for important moments Tender Care on your worst days very ideal things like that this is what deep down she was reclaiming as we said with myari there's no way to replace these things just as a friend but one can prove through showing them that they do still exist stay by their side compliment them when it feels right support them with a laugh or a hug on a Bad Day by ensuring they feel these things and the value of someone taking the time and care to express them one can allow them to make peace with what's happened and be much more fulfilled and possibly have happy so why doesn't kioma work then we said he was all about providing these benefits outputting tons of constant effort to show these people they're valuable special and cared for well kioma was only kind of doing that it worked with myari because of her emotional maturity she could Intuit these things from knowing okabe for so long and a bit more deeply from that she'd seen him standing off to the side for that long known him before kioma was an excuse to Comm communicate and so she could see that what he was doing and the true care behind it how much effort it all was she even knows when he's acting up the ACT but the others can't Inuit it so much from him they've only known the act and so kioma might provide these benefits for an instant but they're not understood as a care which actually shows their value they can never be certain how genuine he is the bad scientist is a sort of shortcut he jump starts away to make them feel positively but because it's all under a ridiculous arms length to act there's no follow through that proves it in specific IND direct words or actions they're always left wandering deep down always left with a desire to fix their present from this Wonder humans are silly things full of doubt we need those direct exact moments to know Kyan never really solves the issue since it's a Band-Aid an excuse holding things together which will crumble if you stop he never gives them that directness with a soft tone and gentle touch sure being genuine upfront is difficult and more effort to start but it rubs off in a sense it becomes easier as it proves value in an understandable way rather than the confusing mess kioma provides it's something he has to maintain forever to provide those benefits and unyielding task and then even then it doesn't even fully accomplish the task of course he feels anguish from it it's an awful excuse to carry forward with an Ever compounding difficulty with more special techniques and more specific banter and more mad ramblings to remember with each and every lab member always on watch to provide whatever they need basically he's fishing with eight rods at once instead of teaching them all how to use one this all comes full circle when he has to undo the dils you think it would be easy to send a contradictory text like actually no dad get home right now still but this can't be done so easily because he doesn't actually know what she sent she wouldn't tell him it's ironic if they knew each other on a deep level she may have told them this when she was sending it without embarrassment but because he was slapping on a Band-Aid from a distance they never had anything like a heart-to- heart where she would admit to something like this in the timeline they came from the reason why he has to undertake this awful experience we're about to cover is specifically a result of trying to have the benefits of a deep connection without ever actually forming one but effectively what he has to do to undo these Diles is what he was meant to do in the first place assist them through understanding and dedication now I'm not saying that what he does are things we should reasonably expect any person to do this is still an overly dramatic show at the end of the day but at the core of his actions there are those two important traits to undo the dmail that fah sent okabe proved to her that she's worth fighting for by literally getting beat almost to death by some guys who were possibly trying to kill her long enough for her dad to find and save them and having witnessed how much he truly cares from this undeniable act and recovering some memories from their original timeline because everyone sort of has that ability deep down feris then feels comfortable sharing with okabe the text she sent the one which prevented her father's death she was just a little girl who couldn't have predicted that wanting attention from her father would lead to something so awful it's a genuine invulnerable admission that we never see her even think of saying to anyone else and she says it to okabe because he did that same thing for her that same kind of thing there's no k no safe distance there was only his desperate vulnerability drawn out in his quest to save his longest friend a time when he has no capacity to keep up the act and no ability to fear being genuine and so he simply is after his actions ones which without a doubt Express a care for her even beyond words they truly connected for the first time witnessing this from her as well and opening up about the situation plus how much my means to him he's able to convince her to undo her texts and send them closer to my's Survival by understanding her as they share the same base feelings with these people he was able to make the positive change he sought he was able to convince her that what she desired from her text would be able to exist in another world enough to give it up here this is what he needed to do all along only done now in a desperation so great he has to and in a timeline which will never be remembered to break past his fears eventually after undoing others for Ruka and Moa this leads back to Kuru as the first email okabe accidentally sent about her death was actually what changed the world enough to save her from ever dying to begin with but it's not far back enough to change attractor fields and keep mayeri from dying this means he has to decide if he wants a world with his oldest friend or his newest love as K is obvious it's not like I like you were anything signs turned into mutual affection okabe agonizes over the decision and if it was up to him he'd probably never decide just reliving the same couple days with them both again and again until he went truly mad but what fixes the situation is his ability to be genuine in this desperate unremembered timeline while he's agonizing he can curse who grow rather close he admits Kila is an act she sews up his lab code where it rips and they even share aiss in the lab as each un covers their feelings now that kioma is isn't in the way that there's no reason not to be genuine in this doomed timeline and in this deeper connection brought out from a forced overcoming of fear Kuru uncovers some memories of the other timelines just like Ferris and the others did maybe it's because of him maybe his genuine actions when kioma is dropped to draw forward these memories an almost cheesy level of Love conquering all by stating that connection so strong it binds time to its will whatever the case cursor feels the love that's been leading him down these repetitious timelines all the agony he endured dedicating himself to saving someone he loves it's him being truly genuine and the only way she can respect that and the side of him that she's grown to love which she only knows because of that Quest is to give herself up so he can accomplish that Quest just like with Ferris only by expressing clearly to her what he felt was the future he sought reached and so she chooses for him she leaves after the kiss and tells him to save myori and he undoes the first text the world line changes they ship off the computer used to hack and discern and discard time travel forever saving the world with no one but him knowing any of this ever happened upon finally escaping from this repetitious hell and overwhelmed okabe expresses his feelings in the only way he knows how kyoma he begins to shout about overcoming the organization schemes and the greatness of his mad science but myi says to him just be yourself you don't have to pretend to be hoen kioma for me you can cry now if you want go ahead just as he was putting on the most bombastic kioma act ever they share a look and he stops and it seems we reach a conclusion the ACT seemed positive it was simply a front brewing a much harsher future under its shortcut Solutions he doesn't have to act anymore said directly they share that kind of soft look that we've been saying is so important we must be fully genuine to a this kind of disaster in the credits role and I guess that's it an unsatisfactory end due to an unsatisfactory Act except the story isn't over this sad coping okabe would be a shitty answer to our question which disrespects just how tough our barriers can be and would leave us with only well try harder as a solution we can AR see cracks in this idea from earlier episodes when okab was at his worst when meeri had recently just started dying kers who actually uses his typical KY stance and style to motivate him to keep going even as time seemed undefeatable and in the collaboration gained from this he found the answer which led him to save myi a definitive statement that the togetherness formed from True care is best but that reaching that state quicker through an act was also crucial and this is the trick it is a shortcut It sped things ahead to the point where she could be genuine with him by breaking the ice of that situation shocking his system a bit and then it was followed up with that soft look and the hands touching and the knowledge that she cared for him which didn't just give a moment of motivation but proved he was worth continuing that motivation a little bit of kioma was used right in the right way was what helped save the day he's not inherently unhealthy he's just not for every single situation further the way he undoes ruka's text is by going on a date with them which they requested in exchange for the pager number used to contact their mother and change their sex he and kers who spend the day prepping for it with new clothes picking where to go reading books on being a gentleman and despite following it all even with some hiccups ruko is disappointed at the end of the night giving him the pager number he needs but running off crying although okabe is about to use it to undo their text he realizes the problem rukako wanted a date with kioma she actually really enjoys aspects of the mad scientist and the benefits he provides they truly did feel special from his whole training stick and enjoyed how his boldness complimented their reservedness how he could spit facts they'd listen to in amazement all day so he rushes back and treats them like he would his kioma and they practice their demon sword training all night and that is the effective version of the date some people actually want this more than okab Bay K isn't just an annoying excuse It's a part of okab bay that some enjoy and this is another look at how it should be used in some cases but not all each person is unique and what they need and want will differ some will react better to those shortcut versions of the benefits and some the deeper ones there is no on size fits-all shortcut there's only a caseby casee basis kilma can be good with this considered as he was truly positive for ruko but the true proof begins in the end credits of episode 22 when zaha returns from a different future one where World War III breaks out due to a new kind of arms race who can build the first time machine turns out K's father is Dr nakabachi the kind of mad guy obsessed with time travel so she writes a paper about time travel to try and get in his Good Fortune which he then steals from her seemingly kills her defects to Russia and that leads to the whole time machine arms face thing the only way to prevent it is to reach one specific World line in this attractive field where the paper is destroyed and kers who survives okab Bay has to ride once more to prevent total disaster which he agrees to do only because he wants to save the person he loves he gets in the time machine and they go back okabe and tuaha to save keru replaying the first episode of the anime from A New Perspective we find out the reason why he finds her lying dead in a puddle of blood after hearing a scream that was kind of similar okabe killed her and trying to save her from her abusive father okabe accidentally stabs kurasu himself perfectly matching the occurrences from episode one they fail and return to the Future to recoup but a broken bloodstained okabe babbling I killed Pur who over and over again refuses he's done this song and dance before with mayeri trying again and again to find an ideal future he knows it's only a shortcut a torture which doesn't work towards anything truly good he won't go back he won't try again billions of people dead in World War II or not that's fine actually that okabe won't go back because he isn't the one who was needed to save the day kioma was as it turns out that failure was part of the the plan to get him Prime for what follows Mari slaps some scent into him literally revealing one important moment where her emotional maturity gives way to an outburst sometimes people being able to see what they mean so much we lose our composure can mean a lot too we don't have to be absolutely mature in every situation another point for kioma suzaa follows us up by admitting that it was all a plan and says he should be able to finally see a video file he received weeks earlier in the first episode that appeared to just be static the video a grainy M chose only the speaker back is future okaay speaking to himself telling him that he has to see this through but it's a somewhat foreign okabe he talks about satisfying their Whimsy with meaningless operation names a staple of kioma but this is just after admitting that those names have utterly no point or reason he's calm but with all the dramatic phrasing that we've come to know from kioma and when he breaks his character he's not distraught like present okabe always is he's comfortable both being kioma and okabe throughout this speech to himself changing between statements whichever is best for it using him where it's best what we see feels like a more mature kioma one who's using the Aesthetics of the mad scientist but with a real purpose and a true goal behind it rather than just nonsense thrown at the wall what he's saying to himself without saying it is that okabe needs to use kioma to get through this and what follows is proof of that he laughs about how so many years in the future he never grows out of this childish act never matures but then he jumps back into the Persona anyway throwing himself forward with figure after just experiencing one of the worst moments of an already awful series of weeks Frau with mental torture to the amazement of the others he reaches his most dramatic yet but with real meaning behind his words and a true purpose to his actions he's not just ranting because he doesn't know how to speak to them he's ranting in service of a goal he truly wants to see accomplished he has one go to save the person he loves and the world he has to motivate himself to make it work no matter what in what better way than kioma using all that drama for himself bouncing from nothing back to everything we see how much kioma meant to okabe actually he was motivating himself this entire time and if you've seen Stein's gate zero you know how true that really is K also becomes how he solves this situation just the same the plan they execute is to make past okabe think he's seeing a dead Kuru but to actually leave her alive playing around the occurrence that's faded to maintain this attractor field doesn't actually have to die okab simply has to think she does so he can send that text so they return with fake blood okabe will fend off her father knock her out and spill the fake blood to trick himself in the past simple enough only problem when they arrive it turns out the source of the fake blood is dried up having to think on his feet okabe jumps into kma the most aggressive we've ever seen it used this time directly annoys someone as he antagonizes her father hoping for a brutal outcome he pushes him far enough and the real madman stabs the fake one providing the blood okabe then uses the opportunity to scare him off with a threat of Retribution a feat of enduring strength for him to maintain with such a wound only through kioma can he fake this kind of strength and after nakabachi flees okabe knocks out keru and improves this strength even further by drawing more blood to ensure he convinces himself waits for confirmation that he did before they leave despite his ever flowing wound and Hein usaha travel forwards in time to a future which should be clear from any awful Fates a timeline named by his future self as Stein gate the one in one million chance for things to work out and it's accomplished by the truly brilliant mind of okabe with the outrageous Persona of kioma putting it into the world he tried twice and the one which succeeds is the one which takes the Best of Both Worlds using each where they would be more appropriate K does what he does best drawing attention and pushing forward with Vigor Against All Odds for that's what a bad scientist does but he only does so after the careful contemplation of okame this time rather than running around at random it's a compromise between the two an excuse used when it's best to be used Kila can't solve every situation we saw that very clearly but he can be a means to move a situation forward to a point where it's better addressed he can be brought out for a moment to provide those benefits he does but then reinforced by an Oak Bay who's willing to back them up with genuinity after the fact this is seen pretty clearly in the final moments of the anime after getting out of the hospital he wanders around finding all the lab members who never were since time was reversed and gives them pins designating a member number it's a gesture of kioma since it's pretty random and Whimsical but with dedication behind it he's not just pulling some words out of thin air he had to go and have these made and take time and energy and money to make them a meaningful and unique gift for each one even if he presents it as a past Ender his mad laboratory it's something which is more definitively done with care a physical reminder of the time and attention and expresses love using kioma only as an excuse to break down the toughest barriers we find on the outside before tenderly approaching with what lies within he's much more like future okabe when he speaks with them still given to Whimsical phrasing but much more calm and collected it even mirrors the way that future okabe is presented not really showing his eyes whenever these people are speaking about him he is literally presented in the same way as his future more confident more uh synthesized self and when they speak about this all each member describes him as a much more meaningful person than before almost respecting him this go around his careful dedication is showing through this time making kioma truly useful and as he's passing out these pins he meets keru by nothing more than chance as they pass on the street remembering that he saved her from her father by getting stabbed of course she wants to say thank you but what she sees is a man who's speaking nonsense into his phone about the organization and mad plot and protecting her he pulls out his usual act when he doesn't know what to do he covers for his own inability to address a new situation he knows nothing about by speaking about the organization in their plots but this time it's really only as an excuse to make himself care in a more genuine way not just to blindly get through the interaction and he follows it up with a tender moment once the ice is broken by saying that the mission he's now tasked with is to protect her he's giving himself a reason to be around her to get to know her to truly and genuinely care about her he's using the excuse as an actual good excuse that's what it should be a momentary thing a barrier breaker used as a tool to get closer but not past the point where it can introduce that unforeseen danger once it's served its purpose it can't take over those things those important ones they can only be taken on in full without shortcuts even if the shortcut is the introduction the answer wasn't that Kila was wrong just that he was wrong sometimes without kioma OK would just be a lonely man sitting in an empty apartment but because of kioma he now gets to watch his lab fill up to the brim with new members who fill each other's Hearts it was a long journey to find that balance but he did and so he ends it with what he's learned he goes from talking to no one on his phone about mad plots to handing Cur who a pin just like the others sharing a soft look it takes it from mad scientist to caring friend now that the excuse served its purpose of breaking the ice this time will have the basis to love without going through such desperation all his friends will be able to find what they were lacking in this world and sought in a different one from when he's no longer always faking it that's the trick summarized in an old statement that every single person watching this knows with just two extra words fake it but only until you make it and that will wrap things up for this one this certainly isn't our first look at Stein's gate uh this is sort of like a much more expanded and somewhat tangential offshoot of some videos I made years ago discussing just okabe as a character um and I think there are definitely other ways or not well other ways to interpret his character but also uh other aspect of his character in the kioma ACT uh like focusing more on himself and kind of overcoming social anxiety uh that I discussed previously and other people have talked about and I think all that stuff is valid and pairs together with this uh to really make Stein's gate so great like it is it has its issues but rewatching it I kept it as a 10 out of 10 because even though I didn't think it would just because there's so much in okabe I could probably make five videos like this just discussing the K act uh each one with different interlock takes and that's something very special about this show um so I there's definitely other valid points to this I just couldn't put them in here today because this would have ended up being a 20page script and I I didn't want to take up that much time also if you've been around for a while you're probably noticing that um things look a bit different uh and I'm very excited about that because uh I have a much better setup now um this nice camera and a different desk to fit a new tripod and the camera and things and uh it's super exciting I between every section of script I was geeking out going this is so cool because I I have like a full awesome setup now um and that's it's just one of those things that's very validating uh uh to know that I I've come to the point where I can do that now and I can justify it and and it's it's such a special thing that I want to thank you for because um you're all who made this possible that I get to do something I find so endlessly cool just like almost every day now and that's so fantastic um but anyway I'll just stop rambling there and say that a big thank you to everyone for watching there's some more videos on screen and uh huge thanks to my patrons who support me and really helped me get to this stage here uh I appreciate them particularly but everyone alike for just spending some time with me here today so anyway thank you everyone for watching and I hope I'll see see you again soon

Channel: ProfessorViral

Views: 204,374

Keywords: anime, manga, video essay, professorviral, prof, analysis, discussion, explained, steins gate, steins;gate, okabe, kyouma, rintaro, rintarou, hououin, mayuri, daru, suzuha, rukako, faris, kurisu, moeka, fear, genuine, expression, themes

Id: daC6JnuNeQM

Length: 55min 2sec (3302 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 01 2024