Episode 17: Made in Complex

Made in Complex (虚像歪曲のコンプレックス, Kyozō Waikyoku no Konpurekkusu) is the seventeenth episode of the anime adaptation of the visual novel Steins;Gate.

Okabe and Makise realize that they cannot save Mayuri without the IBN-5100, but to find the missing computer, they must erase every D-Mail they ever sent. First up: Faris!

Synopsis
August 14th, 2010; 7:37 PM

Mayuri is alive, though the deadline for her death has passed.

Okabe, now in the Lab with Daru, Kurisu, and Mayuri, privately ponders over the current situation. He wonders if the D-Mail he sent Suzuha got them close enough to the 1% divergence barrier; he wonders if Mayuri’s fate has been changed.

While he ponders, Mayuri starts complaining that her pocket watch has stopped working. Okabe grimaces, recalling the innumerable times he has heard Mayuri say those words and what is soon to come afterward. Just seconds later, Rounder agents arrive and kill Mayuri.

August 13th, 2010; 5:02 PM

After time-leaping, Okabe once again seeks Kurisu’s help. On the roof, they discuss what needs to be done in order to jump from the Alpha Attractor Field to a Beta world line, as Suzuha had told them. It requires them to hack into SERN and delete all data the organization has on the Lab. The IBN 5100 is needed to hack into SERN. However, the computer in question is nowhere to be found.

Kurisu theorizes that, since undoing the D-Mail sent to Suzuha delayed Mayuri’s death, undoing all the time-altering D-Mails in reverse order could return them to a world line where they have the IBN. Not knowing if it’ll work or not, Okabe decides to take the chance and time-leaps, deciding to undo the D-mails that have been sent.

August 13th, 2010; 4:17 PM

Okabe tries to contact Faris since she sent the second-to-last D-Mail that changed the past. Daru tells him that she’s at the UPX building, where she has just won a Rai-Net Championship match. Okabe finds Faris there, only for her to hurriedly lead him out of the building. They are running away from a group of Rai-Netters who want revenge for being beaten during the tournament.

While evading their pursuers, Okabe realizes that the Faris of this world line doesn’t know anything about D-Mails. He tells her about May Queen, the maid café she worked in. He even takes her to where the café used to be. Gradually, Faris somehow starts to remember events that occurred in previous world lines.

Okabe pleads for Faris to tell him what the D-Mail she sent said, telling her that Mayuri’s life is on the line. Faris, who now remembers the contents of that D-Mail, refuses to tell him. She reveals to him that the D-Mail she sent prevented her father’s death.

After this revelation, the Rai-Netters find them and beat up Okabe. Just before they can take Faris as a hostage, they are saved when Faris’ father and butler arrive on the scene.

They take shelter at Faris’ apartment, where Okabe is bandaged up. He learns that Suzuha gave Faris’ father the IBN 5100 in this world line, but he later sold it to pay a ransom to get Faris back from kidnappers.

Later on, Okabe and Faris talk privately. She tells him about the events that occurred ten years ago—the events that lead to her father’s death. Though apprehensive, Faris agrees to undo her D-Mail.

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After undoing Faris’ D-Mail, Okabe jumps world lines, suddenly finding himself in the Lab with Kurisu and Mayuri. Faris, now back to her previous May Queen self, appears behind him. Okabe is in shock, and when Kurisu warns him about his weird behavior, Faris tells them that she and Okabe fought dark forces together in a previous lifetime.

Akihabara has returned to being full of moe culture. Unfortunately, the IBN 5100 is still missing. In this world line, the computer was donated to the Yanabayashi Shrine as before, but it’s no longer there now.

Wandering the streets of Akiba, Okabe wonders where it could be.

Characters

 * Rintaro Okabe
 * Mayuri Shiina
 * Kurisu Makise
 * Itaru Hashida
 * Luka Urushibara
 * Yukitaka Akiha
 * Faris Nyannyan

Made in complex