October.
Saturday.
Rena, who had been busy with work all week, arrived in the northern district of Tokyo.
From a distance, several kilometers out, she could see the towering Shirogane Animation headquarters. Facing her direction, the glass curtain wall carried a massive, handsome illustration of the Bleach protagonist, Ichigo Kurosaki, in his Shihakusho and carrying his Zanpakuto.
She had woken up in the early hours of the morning, spent two hours on her makeup, put on a Rukia Kuchiki cosplay, and bought the latest issue of Dream Comic that had hit shelves the day before.
She was preparing to take part in an anime convention being held at a nearby stadium.
Tokyo is one of the top three metropolises in Japan, after all. Even before the rise of Shirogane, the city already hosted plenty of anime conventions.
With Shirogane risen, the count was even higher.
"It's a pity. There's construction near the Shirogane Animation headquarters, and the traffic is congested. Otherwise I could have gone over there to wait for Shirogane-sensei."
During the entry process, other ACGN fans glanced up at the Shirogane Animation headquarters building a few kilometers off every so often.
"The old stadium over there used to host several events. What's with the construction now?"
"That area is being turned into an ACGN downtown district centered on the Shirogane Animation headquarters. Shirogane-sensei made a huge investment, the government provided policy support. In a couple of years, I bet Tokyo, no, probably most large-scale anime conventions in Japan, will pick that as the primary venue."
"Why is Shirogane-sensei doing all this? If he has time, he should create more anime."
"What are you talking about? Shirogane-sensei has four anime airing at the same time, the Big Three plus Steins;Gate. What more do you want? Do you actually think he's a workhorse?"
"Just saying."
"Wow, look at that Rukia, she's pretty. Let's go ask for a photo."
A run of voices bubbled up around Rena's ears.
Two girls came over with their phones to ask if they could take a photo with her.
Rena agreed with a smile.
If no one asked for a photo, the couple hundred thousand yen she spent on the Rukia cosplay and the two hours of makeup would have been for nothing.
If no one looked at her with admiration, she might as well stay home and watch anime.
Cosplay is all about that emotional value.
Wandering around a convention isn't necessarily easier than working. On physical labor it runs past work by a margin. The thing is.
Walking the convention floor, she felt all the tension drop, and a week's worth of mental fatigue vanished.
She first went to one side of the convention to look at the doujinshi drawn by amateur artists.
Doujinshi for Demon Slayer and Hunter x Hunter often sold very well.
Rena only looked for a while before walking off.
She wasn't a fujoshi and couldn't stand the explicit BL doujinshi plots of some amateur artists.
The Hikaru no Go doujinshi displayed nearby was a different story. She was very interested.
In the original Hikaru no Go manga, the plot involving the protagonist duo after the Hokuto Cup had left a lot to the imagination.
As she wandered, a stack of people came to take photos with her, and she also swapped photos with other cosplayers.
Then she reached the game exhibition area.
"Shirogane-sensei's works really are everywhere."
Rena let out a soft breath.
Demon Slayer, Attack on Titan, Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, One-Punch Man, Arcane.
Across the past seven or eight years, every hit anime from Shirogane had derivative games in development.
Some were already on the market. Others.
Only had game trailers online.
Walk into a significant convention in a tier-one city, though, and you could play trial versions of those unreleased games as a visitor.
In the game exhibition area.
Long lines formed in front of the booths for these derivative games.
For many ACGN boys, the cute and pretty girls at the convention were always only the second most attractive thing.
These unreleased games and limited-edition merchandise sat at the top of their hearts.
Rena didn't like games, so after watching for a bit, she went to the next area and bought a first-release figure of Kurisu Makise at the official Shirogane Animation booth.
Then she met several friends from her circle and toured the food area.
In the end.
They watched a live-action stage play of the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Mugen Train arc, funded by Shirogane Animation, in the stage play area.
A lot of plot beats were cut, leaving only the main storyline, and the total length of the stage play didn't run over twenty-five minutes.
This was a convention. You can't put on a long-form stage play, so only the critical main plot stayed in.
"Big Brother."
"Damn that Akaza."
"Akaza is a pitiful man too."
"Damn Muzan."
"It's all Muzan's fault. Letting him vanish into thin air is too good an end for him."
"Next April, a derivative anime with the modern reincarnations of Giyu and Shinobu Kocho as the male and female leads is going to start airing. I hope Muzan's reincarnation shows up in the plot too, so we can make him suffer a little and vent some anger."
"Give it a rest. A demon can't be reincarnated. Shirogane-sensei said so in an interview."
"Demon Slayer is a thing of the past now. The current hits on the market are the Big Three. Oh, and Steins;Gate, which is airing tonight."
Even though the live-action performance was a bit cringeworthy, Rena watched it with interest. She closed out her weekend with dinner alongside the friends she had made plans with.
"Shirogane-sensei's influence is really frightening. At least 60% of the elements across this whole convention are tied to him. At this rate, are future conventions in Japan going to turn into Shirogane solo exhibitions?"
Riding the subway home, Rena ignored the strange looks from people around her because of her Rukia cosplay and turned that question over.
She brushed the stray thought aside in the end.
Back at home, Rena removed her makeup and took a shower.
Once she was ready, she switched on the living room TV and tuned to Kyoto Television.
"All right. What kind of plot is tonight's Steins;Gate going to have?"
Rena ran through her experience of following the show across the past twelve weeks.
The earlier plot of Steins;Gate had told one story.
A chuunibyou college student stumbled into a machine that could send text messages from his phone to the past.
By sending messages to his past self and the friends around him over and over, he manipulated their past selves and kept altering the timeline trying to make up for certain regrets.
In the end.
His actions were picked up by an organization on Earth that specialized in detecting space-time distortions.
To obtain the theory of the time machine, the organization launched an evil scheme against the male lead Okabe and his partners.
In the process, Rintaro Okabe's close friend Mayuri Shiina was killed by the organization.
To change the outcome of Mayuri's death, he chose to use the upgraded machine made by his assistant Kurisu Makise, the machine that could send a human consciousness into one's past self like an email. With help from the Part-time Warrior Suzuha.
He set off on a journey through time, going back no more than 48 hours.
After running through that plot in her head, Rena looked at the television.
At 8:00 PM, the Kyoto Television screen flickered, and the Steins;Gate theme song played.
The plot picked up from last week.
Before the first consciousness time leap.
The Part-time Warrior Suzuha had been wounded, and Kurisu Makise was shot by the organization while trying to help her.
Mayuri Shiina was shot in the head.
The only thing Okabe could rely on was this newly assembled machine that could in theory send a person's consciousness into their past body.
Time Leap Machine.
Then, at the start of episode thirteen.
Okabe returned to 48 hours earlier.
Even though Rena had guessed this would be the result, her heart still picked up pace.
To be honest, the first eleven episodes of this anime hadn't interested her at all.
Starting with episode 13, her heart was in her throat.
Can the past be changed?
Okabe.
You know that 48 hours from now, your close friend Mayuri will die.
Suzuha will die.
Makise will die.
Everyone around you will be controlled by the organization.
Can you turn the tide with these 48 hours?
"It's similar to Summer Time Rendering. But.
"I feel like, as the foreshadowing comes out bit by bit, it's even better than Summer Time Rendering."
Rena didn't know how many people agreed with her.
Honestly, after getting through the long setup of the early stretch, she felt that Steins;Gate had become very good all at once.
Rena's thoughts were cut off by the sound of the animation.
After traveling back 48 hours, the male lead Okabe's first reaction was the same as hers.
If I can't beat them, can't I just hide?
No matter how powerful the organization is, it can't take on the state machine, and it can't have eyes everywhere across the country, right?
And those friends who died because of Okabe, as long as Okabe disappears, they won't get shot.
Okabe's choice was.
Run away with Mayuri.
Sprinting toward the train station, hard as they could.
They evaded the organization's pursuit along the way and slipped into a crowded downtown area.
When they were one step away from escaping.
"Huh? Mayuri's pocket watch has stopped, even though I just wound it..."
In one beat.
Rena's scalp went numb.
If she remembered right, in the previous episode, before Mayuri died, she had said these exact same words before being shot in the head.
This time.
With heavy impact, a large truck sped across the road.
The stopped pocket watch was struck, its parts scattering everywhere.
Okabe, standing next to Mayuri, looked dazed and unharmed.
His face was splattered with Mayuri's blood.
"Huh?" Rena blinked.
She seemed to have caught a piece of the information, but it wasn't clear yet.
Then Okabe rushed back to the secret base in a panic, started the consciousness transmission machine again, and went back to 48 hours earlier.
This time, it was a critical moment in their escape again.
"Huh? Mayuri's pocket watch has stopped, even though I just wound it..."
The familiar line came up.
Rena got goosebumps.
Behind Mayuri, the repair shop owner's daughter, who knew Mayuri and had appeared in earlier episodes, ran toward her in a happy rush. The girl slipped on the way and pushed Mayuri off the platform by accident, where she was crushed beyond recognition by a speeding train.
"Huh?"
Rena understood.
"Causality?"
A veteran anime fan like Rena understood one of the most important settings in Steins;Gate at once. Timeline Convergence.
This was also thanks to the two previous time-loop masterpieces, Higurashi: When They Cry and Summer Time Rendering.
In Higurashi: When They Cry, no matter how many loops happened, one member of the main group would always succumb to the illness, leading to a total wipeout, which was another form of Timeline Convergence.
So at this moment on this night, Mayuri Shiina dies, no way around it.
Maybe at the hands of the organization.
Maybe by a truck.
Maybe crushed by a train.
Maybe a heart attack.
Either way, she dies.
Then why can Okabe restart the consciousness time leap machine again and again?
Even though many times the organization was close to Okabe and had plenty of force, they just watched him start the machine and leap back to the past.
Is this also a form of Causality?
Mayuri dies, locked in.
And you, the male lead Rintaro Okabe, are locked in on starting the time leap machine and sending your consciousness back.
You can keep Mayuri alive across countless 48-hour stretches, and then watch her death countless times.
Until.
Okabe's mind breaks, and he gives up on saving Mayuri.
He accepts reality and gets defeated by fate.
What is the theme and core idea of a work?
This is it.
In Rei's view, the reason Higurashi: When They Cry and Summer Time Rendering have a lower reputation than Steins;Gate among time-loop works is closely tied to these elements that viewers can't pinpoint but can perceive on instinct.
Rei even felt that the reason Bleach ranked last among the Big Three came down to similar reasons.
The core idea of One Piece leans toward freedom, peace, and liberation. Naruto also explores freedom and peace. Bleach doesn't. It's pure hot-blooded action and cool factor. Across the work, Ichigo is either saving someone here or there. He has no interest in transforming the world, no grand ideals, so the readers' resonance with the plot isn't as deep.
Fate is unbeatable.
But.
Okabe, you are the anime protagonist.
So.
After seeing his close friend Mayuri's death for the third time in the animation, even with his mind breaking and the organization catching him, Okabe still broke free from the restraints at the last moment, found his time leap machine, and started the fourth leap.
This time, he didn't choose to hide everything on his own.
Instead, he found Kurisu Makise and told her everything.
While on the edge of a mental breakdown, he received comfort from Makise and resolved his internal conflict.
Makise asked him to travel back to the past once more, find her at that point, and tell her a secret code only she would know.
And then.
Launch the great operation to save Mayuri Shiina.
The ED song for this episode played.
The scene ended with Makise, a gentle smile on her face:
"If you go back again, the past me won't know that you call me Kurisu."
A faint sadness gathered in her chest.
No matter what happens between Makise and Okabe in the future.
As long as Okabe travels back to the moment Makise completed the Time Leap Machine.
She and Okabe will always be a mad scientist and his assistant.
Only now did Rena snap out of it a little.
"It's so good."
"How is this animation. This good?"
Rena paced the living room.
Compared to anime like the Big Three that move the audience's emotions through hot-blooded battles.
Rena preferred stories like Steins;Gate that use tight, logically rigorous plots to depict and shape a world.
Plenty of anime fans shared Rena's thinking.
Everyone had a sense that the anime Steins;Gate wasn't going to be simple.
The previous plot had been boring only because the world-building hadn't unfolded yet.
This was everyone's absolute confidence in the Shirogane pen name.
But now.
Once the world-building unfolded, that irresistible thirst for knowledge tugged at every fan's chest.
How would the plot of this anime move from here?
Why did the organization find Okabe with such precision? How did they know he'd made progress in time machine research?
After the worldline changes, everyone's memories shift. Why don't Okabe's?
In the first episode, Makise had already died. Why did the timeline shift to one where she didn't die after Okabe sent a text message?
In the earlier episodes, the lab members used the Phone Microwave a few times to send messages to their past selves and changed the worldline. How will those plots affect the future?
And. Can someone who has been sentenced to death by the worldline's Convergence be saved?
Watching the first twelve episodes earlier had her wanting to doze off.
Thinking it through now.
It's all foreshadowing.
Not a single frame was wasted.