Previously on “Steins;Gate,” Okabe drove Suzuha to suicide. He even made Feyris, another poor girl, kill her own father just to re-introduce otaku culture to Akihabara! This week, Okabe toys with Ruka(ko)’s feeling so that he can convince her to undergo gender reassignment! What won’t this monster do!
The love flag
Early in the episode, Kurisu and Okabe talk about Okabe possibly having triggered a love flag with Ruka(ko). When Okabe later seeks help for his upcoming date with the shrine maiden, Daru suggests that Okabe use an eroge walkthrough. Lately, there seems to be a lot of nods and winks to anime’s visual novel roots. Certainly, a lot of anime do originally start as visual novels (for instance, the Key series), but for what purpose do this meta-references serve? Yes, this episode really resembles a dating sim — so what? These callbacks don’t seem to be making any deeper point, so they just stick out like a sore thumb in the narrative, ruining the story’s immersion.
Of course, we always know that most films and TV shows we watch are fictional, but the artifice of reality is what makes storytelling such a treasured art form. That’s why we have something called “suspension of belief. There’s no such thing as a giant space station the size of a small moon that an idealistic farm boy has to blow up with proton torpedoes. A good story, however, allows us to pretend otherwise; we want to believe. In “Steins;Gate,” however, the meta-references make this harder to do. In other anime, meta-references can sometimes be clever and humorous, but I don’t see this in “Steins;Gate.” I just see something that constantly reminds me that what I’m seeing is fake.
Unfulfilling
We say filler episodes are filler because they literally fill up time in between the episodes with actual plot. At the same time, however, filler episodes are totally unfulfilling — oh, that crazy English language. This week’s episode isn’t technically a filler episode, as erasing Ruka(ko)’s D-mail is quite essential to the anime’s plot, but gosh, it sure does feel like a filler episode. Why? Because it’s so unfulfilling….
Ever since Moeka shot Mayuri halfway into the season, the anime has ratcheted up the tension exponentially. Nay, it isn’t just the future of the entire world that’s depending on Okabe’s very actions. Okabe’s childhood friend is dying before his very eyes over and over unless he does something about it! So even when we took time out to deal with Suzuha and Feyris, the anime’s despairing atmosphere and tone never once let up.
Well, until now, anyway. With Ruka(ko)’s story, “Steins;Gate” has completely slammed on its breaks and reverted back to dating game-esque storytelling. Essentially, Ruka(ko)’s story lacks any sense of urgency whatsoever. There isn’t really any present danger threatening either Okabe or Ruka(ko); there are merely a date and some tears. Why isn’t Ruka(ko)’s story remotely compelling?
Transgendered
This week, we got a very shallow exploration of a transgendered character. As a result, Ruka(ko)’s story just doesn’t feel authentic enough. At the back of the mind, there’s always that nagging feeling that Ruka(ko) is only in the story to appeal to a certain fetish in the anime-watching population.
So no matter how much Ruka(ko) cries onscreen, there’s always the sense that the anime is rather exploitative.
Well, Steins;Gate did come from the visual novel, so a reference possibly? Dunno.
Yes, I know.
I for one, never thought once of the visual novel. I thought they were just being the nerds they are. Hey, they spout 2chan nonsense so why not game trope references too? Not that much of a stretch there once you think about it that way.
I wasn’t particularly fond of the 2ch references either, but they were better integrated into the narrative at least.
You probably didn’t like this episode because it left you sexually confused. :3
2DPD.
tsuntsun :3
It failed the test, man. The test!
As an actual trans woman I’ve been pretty disgusted with Okabe’s treatment of Rukako since the very beginning of the series. The way he molested her to “check her gender” in the episode where she sends her d-mail pushed him over the moral event horizon for me – it was so fucked up I almost dropped the show, because of the implication in the scene that if she still had male genitalia it would have been “okay” for him to do that.
Okabe aside I guess she’s still a better character than what’s presented most “trap” trash in anime, but that’s not saying much. I just want to jump through the screen and explain hormonal replacement therapy to her.
Honestly, Okabe is so generally unlikable I’m not sure why I’m still watching. I was really surprised to learn that people were actually getting upset over the moeblob’s almost comical repeated deaths, too – I don’t find her sympathetic at all and wouldn’t really care if she stayed dead. Why am I watching this anime again?
If you feel that strongly against this anime, that’s a good question. Personally, I’m watching to see where the time traveling plot goes. I couldn’t care less about Okabe or his moeblob (I sort of taunted her deaths anyway). What I didn’t really mention, since it seemed like I had done so before, is how Okabe is going around and ruining people’s lives just to save his friend. It would be one thing if he thought saving Mayuri would prevent the SERN takeover of the world. But no, he’s telling a confused character that she must go back to feeling miserable just so that a moeblob with no real depth of character can survive. A human life is usually valuable, but it’s so hard to sympathize in this case. In Feyris’s story, he’s essentially trading a father’s life for the moeblob’s so the anime can’t even claim that it has any moral high ground.
Well, there goes a perfectly wasted character insight.
Who cares if a character is transgendered and is never fleshed out! In the anime world, you are but a mere fanserivice trap! XD
As with everything, HNNG trumps all.
HNNG and uguu. :)
There goes a perfectly wasted character insight and development.
I’m actually saddened that the transgendered characters in the media are portrayed as mere fanservice traps nowadays.
The internet here is kind of evil, so… sorry about the post above. :)
I think he’s working more toward obtaining the IBN, thinking that saving Mayuri is the key to obtaining it to set things right. Basically a means to an end, rather than being the end.
But I’ve been wrong before, and Rukako just wasn’t given enough development to be worth being sad over. Kind of sad that she still has more personality than Mayuri though, even with much less screentime.
I guess I’m not as optimistic about Okabe’s character. I personally find the man rather selfish.
I personally thought this was supposed to be almost a comic relief episode. I even got the sneaky feeling the arc in the VN probably wasn’t very serious.
If either my assumptions is correct god help the person who thought this schlock was funny.
I fell asleep.