{"id":6911,"date":"2018-07-24T13:00:17","date_gmt":"2018-07-24T20:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=6911"},"modified":"2018-07-17T12:17:03","modified_gmt":"2018-07-17T19:17:03","slug":"mark-watches-steinsgate-episode-1-prologue-to-the-beginning-and-the-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2018\/07\/mark-watches-steinsgate-episode-1-prologue-to-the-beginning-and-the-end\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Steins;Gate’: Episode 1 – Prologue to the Beginning and the End"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the first episode of Steins;Gate<\/i>, WHAT THE HELL. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Steins;Gate<\/i>.<\/p>\n

HI, I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T KNOW WHAT I JUST EXPERIENCED, LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S ALL TALK ABOUT \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Prologue of the Beginning and the End.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Before we do: if you’re new here, it’s best to note that I do things a little different on Mark Watches:<\/p>\n

1) Spoilers are not allowed in any form on Mark Watches<\/b>. Please refrain from ever posting (in normal text) any sort of spoiler or reference to future storylines or developments while commenting on this site. This rule is probably a lot more strict than you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re used to, so if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re warned about spoilers or if your comment is edited because of it, trust me. This is for a reason. Please visit the\u00c2\u00a0Spoiler Policy<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0for guidance.<\/p>\n

2) You may, however, post spoilers in rot13.\u00c2\u00a0<\/b>You will inevitably see what looks like gibberish in the comments. We use\u00c2\u00a0rot13<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0to cipher all possible spoilers so that y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all\u00c2\u00a0can<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0still have a conversation about each episode if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen the entire show. Please cipher all spoilers.<\/p>\n

3) Please read the Site Rules before commenting<\/b>. My group of moderators and I try to make Mark Watches an exception to the rule when it comes to online conversations. This means that moderation is more evident here than other places. Please review the rules, as this is your only warning.<\/p>\n

4) Mark Watches videos are attached as a link at the end of the post.<\/b>\u00c2\u00a0They are $0.99 each, and you can download each video 15 times, meaning you can send them to friends or anyone else for free. The system is built to handle free downloads, so download away. The lovely folks over at Mark Spoils run a place called the\u00c2\u00a0Black Market<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0where you can find extra downloads of videos in case you cannot afford them or don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to pay for them. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s totally sanctioned (and adored!) by me, so go ahead! Test them out. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s basically me sitting and yelling at my TV, and I cry a lot because reasons.<\/p>\n

\n
What<\/li>\n
the<\/li>\n
FUCK<\/li>\n
was<\/li>\n
that???<\/li>\n
Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all know that, generally speaking, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a fan of shows and books that just drop the audience into the story without holding their hand through an introduction. This show does precisely<\/i> that, and I have to admit: this was a ton of fun. Images are thrown my way. People are barely introduced before they start referencing things I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never heard of. Someone is murdered, except they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not? EMAILS TO THE PAST… MAYBE? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fucking know.<\/li>\n
WHAT IS HAPPENING.<\/li>\n
As confusing as this all is, this episode is so distinct<\/i>. The characters are so fully formed and unique that I found myself drawn to their eccentricities, intrigued by how strange they are.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s start with Rintaro Okabe\u00c2\u00a0(called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Okarin\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by Mayuri), who imagines himself as some sort of mad scientist, though his grasp of scientific principles seems flimsy at best? What little I see of him in these twenty-odd minutes demonstrates that he is prone to fantastical theories, ones that feel more like conspiracy theories than scientific ones. He repeatedly references the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Organization,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but fails to ever define what it is, who belongs to it, and what their goals are.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
Does that mean he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wrong?<\/li>\n
Well… maybe??? I feel like he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right that something<\/i> is going on, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s close to the truth.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T KNOW WHAT THE TRUTH IS, THOUGH.<\/li>\n
Then there is Mayuri, the second member of this team, who is barely<\/i> a member of the team??? As Okabe says in his introduction of her, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s super into making cosplay, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually know why she sticks around. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I have decided I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually need<\/i> a reason, and I find this 100% funnier if it is never explained why she is part of the Future Gadget Laboratory. Like, she has been close friends with Okabe since they were kids, THAT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S ALL I NEED. Is she interested in the goals of this project? WHO CARES. She is just here to sew costumes and collect cute toys.<\/li>\n
Finally, there is Daru, who is<\/i> interested in scientific principles, but from a completely different place as Okabe. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a computer whiz and a hacker, and he has zero passion for the goals of the Future Gadget Lab. In fact, in practically every line of dialogue he has with Okabe, he is INSULTING his best friend or<\/i> correcting him. I love this??? I am so into the idea that there is a club where all but one member is reluctant to be in it or is disinterested in the whole point of it.<\/li>\n
WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHOW.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
And let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about this club, because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very much in line with the trope of mad scientists? They exist to sow chaos, to create because they can<\/i>, not because they should<\/i>. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the mission of the Future Gadget Lab, except… Okabe is really bad at all of it. What gadgets do we even see here? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a bizarre television channel with an Alpaca Man (I CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T EVEN MAKE THIS UP, IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO WEIRD) that Okabe tries to communicate with. (Though there are POV shots as if there is a camera inside the TV? What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that about?) Then he has a ray gun that can change the channel or turn the TV on. Then he has a means of controlling his microwave with his phone! Which is cool, except all it can \u00e2\u20ac\u0153do\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is turn bananas into a green gel or randomly freeze food.<\/li>\n
WHAT<\/li>\n
THE<\/li>\n
FUCK<\/li>\n
IS<\/li>\n
THIS<\/li>\n
SHOW<\/li>\n
I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t touched one major element of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Prologue to the Beginning and the End\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what to do with it. I truly don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. But y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, this is how to hook me. I am trash<\/i> for an inexplicable mystery, and if your book or show or movie introduces some impossible thing that needs to be explained very early on, I AM TRAPPED. EVERY. TIME.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
The first episode of this show introduces an impossibility in the first five minutes: Okabe and Mayuri go to a seminar where a professor is supposed to present his workable time travel theory, and then everything unravels. Initially, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because Okabe calls out the professor for copying his theory from someone who posted it to the Internet in the early 2000s. I barely know Okabe, and yet this seems so in-character for him that I just have to laugh.<\/li>\n
Because of COURSE he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d call out a professor for stealing time travel from THE INTERNET.<\/li>\n
However, there is<\/i> something wrong, either with the timeline in general or Okabe’s\u00c2\u00a0perception of it. Because then he meets a woman named Kurisu who swears<\/i> she met him fifteen minutes prior, despite that he has no memory of this, and then, minutes later, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a crash, Kurisu has been stabbed to death, and then EVERY SINGLE PERSON HAS DISAPPEARED AND THERE IS A SATELLITE IN THE TOP OF THE BUILDING.<\/li>\n
But no one else experienced this???<\/li>\n
And then Okabe’s\u00c2\u00a0text to Daru travels to the fucking past<\/i>??? WHAT THE FUCK.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
Because how the fuck is Kurisu alive<\/i>? WE SAW HER DEAD.<\/li>\n
Is this non-linear storytelling or multiple timelines or time travel or ALL THREE AT THE SAME FUCKING TIME.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
Oh my god, the seminar never happened?<\/i> BUT WE WATCHED IT.<\/li>\n
WHAT<\/li>\n
THE<\/li>\n
FUCK<\/li>\n
IS<\/li>\n
THIS<\/li>\n
SHOW.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Prologue to the Beginning and the End\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99.<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now out in the world!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the first episode of Steins;Gate, WHAT THE HELL. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch Steins;Gate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[688],"tags":[689],"class_list":["post-6911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-steinsgate","tag-mark-watches-steins-gate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6911\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}