How does one approach a commentary on a work as noble and lofty as Steins;Gate? Do I collect its references to real world currents of sinister conspiracy? Do I laud the metaphysic undergirding it, analyzing it as a perfect fusion of Form and Content in how it abstracts the mechanics of visual novels and the choosing of 'best girls' into a system both pleasing and agonizing? Do I run a Kinbote-esque tally of strange overlaps between the series and my own life?
Initially I thoroughly considered all of the above and more. But in the end, there could only be one way to write this particular piece. This is the choice of Steins Gate.
I want to establish a ground for recognizing Steins;Gate as the ultimate anime+ vindication of Vision. I want to help differentiate the work from possible interpretations as either a mere Science tale on the one hand, or a "Heideggerian" expression of "Being" on the other hand. This is a work about the boldness to transgress established laws and the necessity of holding onto Vision, Imagination and Love in doing so. In other words, while it uses science as its base material (and contains many hidden, mind-blowing scientific/literary puzzles), Steins;Gate is a work of, and about, Poetry.
Being and Becoming
When we speak of Poetry, we mean it in the broader sense than merely "Verse". All throughout antiquity and early modernity it meant more than that. Often being used to mean all imaginative literature, it is more than even that. Ultimately, Science came from Philosophy (the early modern name for Science being "Natural Philosophy") and Philosophy came from Poetry in the broad sense. To speak of Poetry is really to speak of Worldviews. And in the end, there are ultimately two competing traditions of Poetry. The Way of Being and the Way of Appearances. These two modes of poetic perception were introduced by Parmenides who sided with "Being".
"Being", in this tradition's sense, is notoriously complicated to define. In the history of commentary it tends to be associated with things like stasis, eternity, unmoving, unchanging. While the way of "Appearances" or "Becoming", in contrast, historically represents change, things transforming into their opposite, paradox and fundamental conflict.
The best way to start to understand the "Way of Being" is to know that it is grounded in Parmenides' perception that "Existence is, non-existence is not". In other words 'Nothing' does not exist in this view. From here we get Spinoza's 'substance monism' and Heideggerian analysis and Einstein's Relativity and Block Universe. The Way of Being is fundamentally the path of the Sage. While its contrary tradition, the Way of Appearances, is the Path of the Artist. The former seeks unadorned perception and eternal truth while the latter seeks the movement of life and representation by symbol and narrative. But while Steins;Gate uses the ideas of Einsteinian Being as its ground rules, it does so not to model or stay in them, but to overcome these laws in ultimate adherence to Vision and Imagination.
After all, it is not called "Sein's Gate"
"Still, every natural phenomenon, no matter how immutable it might appear to be on the surface, is subject to change."
- Kurisu Makise on Becoming
At one point the heroine Kurisu Makise quotes Heidegger about temporal beings to try and comfort Okabe. It is no wonder such a figure would offer inspiration to the writers of S;G. But his role to the story is more that of a "fellow traveler" in his views on the history of science than for the poetic view of the world he subscribed to.
Heidegger viewed the history of the scientific endeavor initiated by figures like Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes, etc as too calculative in its type of thinking. That this mode of science was too Metaphysical and that it obscured Being. It makes sense that a series about scientists who are devoted to Comradery and Conviviality over the corrupt worldview of modern science would find a comforting companion in Heidegger. He is a comforting figure, if viewed from afar.
After his major work in detailing the history of the Metaphysical/Scientific project and his retrieval of "Being", Heidegger famously had a late-in-life "turn to poetry". In this he became extra devoted to his favorite Parmenides, putting his worldview into practice in a poetics that sought to reveal the nature of things in "thinking Being". But Heideggerian poetics has nothing to do with the artistry and vision of Steins;Gate, thankfully. Heidegger's poetry can definitely be very pleasing in a misty, wistful way.
But the highest poetry is not the poetry of Being but of Becoming (or, "Appearances"). The best writers of all time are the poets of Becoming, like Kierkegaard, Blake, Rabelais, Cervantes and Shakespeare. It is the Art which kaleidoscopically reconfigures all of life according to the highest Vision. And because they had true Vision, their art of Becoming also enfolds Being into its schemes. While Heidegger is name-checked in Steins;Gate at a crucial point, his worldview is not at all sufficient to explain the series. And he would have been outraged at the ultimate vindication of Metaphysics which this story necessitates.
Every cultural figure is something of both a Sage and an Artist in varying ratios. But everyone has a true allegiance to one tradition. So that if you are a devotee of Becoming, when you act the Sage it will be in service of an artistic outlook. And this works in reverse too as with the sage poetry of people like Parmenides and Heidegger. At bottom, the poetry of Being pursues unadorned perception. So, a poetry of Being is an oxymoron since poetry is the domain of symbol and metaphor. The Sage who actually serves an artistic outlook is one who enchants and ennobles with appealing metaphors and grand narratives. This is where we come to the Chuunibyo as type.
The Path of the Serpent: Chuunibyo as Promethean Visionary
"I am decidedly NOT a scientist. I am a MAD SCIENTIST!"
- Kyouma Hououin
In some poetic circles of Initiation and Illumination, the "Way of Becoming" is also known as the Path of the Serpent. It was sometimes known as this to the Irish poet and politician W.B. Yeats. But more often he called it "Hodos Chameliontos", adopting the 'hodos' convention from Parmenides who he grappled with. On some level Yeats felt compelled to enter the domain of eternal truth. But he wanted to reach it by the long, sinewy path of the serpent.
The way of 'Being' is considered the eternal truth of God, and so 'Becoming' is made to be a devilish path in contrast. This is commensurate with William Blake's perceptions that the true poets are of the Devil's party while philosophers and theologians are angels. In the system of Blake, the Devil brings Energy and Change to angelic Stasis in the marriage of Heaven and Hell. This is the true meaning of Okabe positioning himself as something of a dark lord, despite being one of the most heroic and caring figures in the history of anime+. In some sense he really is a devil, however noble, because he is "bringing hell" to the stagnant world of immutable physical laws that others obsequiously obey.
From this we start to get a better sense of the deeper significance of the "Chuunibyo" cultural type. Okabe's chuunibyo stance is given lackluster interpretation in the fandom. It is treated as either a mere joke or as a "coping mechanism". This fails to take into account that after a period of wounded idealism, Okabe's chuunibyo alter-ego is triumphantly reasserted in the most victorious moment of the story. The "Kyouma Hououin" persona is not a joke or a coping mechanism. It is one of the most fundamental thematic components of the work.
To be a chuunibyo is not to be an arrogant fool or someone running from reality. We see from the early history of the novel in Don Quixote down to Steins;Gate that the chuunibyo is rather a Promethean Visionary enchanting and ennobling the lives of those around him. The chuunibyo is a knight errant of the mind, a monk of free-thinking and a phoenix-like prophet. The chuunibyo is one who uses deep interpretation of reality, reading it like a text, and coming up with novel and beautiful metaphors and perspectives on it and lives those metaphors. He asks of others nothing except to follow him and to be more than what they think they are. And this is the real reason so many people find the chuunibyo type disconcerting.
The Promethean Visionary chuunibyo is the only figure who truly reads and lives life like a symbolic work of art. And for this reason he has the strongest and earliest developed form of what he calls the "Reading Steiner" power. This power seems to be interpretation itself. Because he can peer deeper into reality, he retains his memories across worldlines, not falling prey to the amnesiac world that wants us to forget Vision. As you move through life this way, you start awakening others too. And we see other characters gradually unlock "Reading Steiner" as well. This power of cross-worldline retention is one of the main tools for building Vision. Through it we can read other people deeply: see their Meaning, their Potential, their choices and the worlds these choices create. And to use the knowledge gathered from all these routes to build our highest and most imaginative world. This is why Okabe's most sacred task is fully unlocked through love.
Okabe's chuunibyo persona is awakened the moment he saves Mayushii from being gathered up into eternal Being as she reaches for the sun above her grandmother's grave. While it is true that this was partly an act of selfish love, he was still protecting her from oblivion. And more than that, he fashions the symbolic world of his newly awakened chuuni self in order to enchant her to make her "hostage" life enjoyable. From this she is able to enjoy her beautiful life with her beloved friends. Only the noble Chuunibyo, with his Promethean hubris, is a figure fit to save the world from static hellscapes. But to do so he must first awaken to the fuller vision of Love. He will have to preserve his faith through the highest torments to save his soulmate Kurisu and reach the truest ending.
At one point, Kurisu praises the Theory of Relativity for its romantic potential and curses it in nearly the same breath. She tries to take consolation that dying in one timeline could possibly redirect consciousness to another version of herself for all they know about it. In her most desperate moments she is trying to find compromise with the Parmenidean universe. This is because she has not yet seen the Phoenix-like rebirth of Vision from Kyouma Hououin at the end of the series. She has not been rescued from the amnesiac world by the awakening of her own "Reading Steiner" power. She has not yet been shown that all the paths can be discerned with Vision and that the Best Route, the Best of All Possible Worlds, can be accessed by an overcoming of what we call Fate. Only to have a reconciliation with a Fated feeling at the end. Ultimately, "Fate" as the supposedly immutable laws of limit and undifferentiated time give way to a "Fate" as the god-like reaching of higher potentialities of existence.
In the opening speech of the original subtitled version, the words are merely a melancholic warning about the hubris of those who would try to overcome the idea of God as the laws of nature. It is a mere prelude to the three weeks of hell Okabe is about to enter. But in the English dubbed version (primarily written by the voice actor for Okabe) this is rewritten with higher thematic resonance. The update of this prelude was not arbitrary. Rather, like many masterful poets before them, the writers chose to hide a capsule of the story's fuller meaning in the very beginning. It says
"Consider: can the universe be justifiably called infinite? Doubtful. It may not have a discernible end, but it had a beginning. And its component parts definitely have a limited cosmological shelf life. Splitting hairs or not, if history tells us anything it's that scientists often make very poor poets. We're all just a ship of fools chasing phantoms, heedless of what really underwrites natural law."
The part about scientists making lousy poets is a self-deprecatory remark of Okabe but can also be taken as a covert jab at Einstein, who wrote lousy verses dedicated to the Parmenidean Spinoza. Regardless, we see in this rewritten prelude a wry rejection of the infinite eternal universe. We are preparing for a long and harrowing journey that leads to knowledge of a created universe. A universe that is a work of art which must be "read" and have its seeming limits dramatically overcome to reveal higher states. The "gate" of Steins;Gate must be flown through to leave the determined, undifferentiated, infinite universe behind for the best world established by the visionary artist. By the end of the story, there will be no basis for Okabe to wonder what quality of poet he is. His chuuni enthusiasm is reawakened, he has understanding that the laws of limit can be surpassed, and that he can bring all his friends with him by saving his true love.
Biding Time Together
"While we're all fumbling in the dark, you always seem to know what's important."
- Kurisu to Mayushii
If this were really just a series about monistic Being or Schrodinger-themed puzzles, then the overwhelming air of devotion to Conviviality and Fraternity would not be ever present. And Mayushii would not exist and would not make sense in the story. But she is there and makes perfect sense. She is a kind of guiding light to the core group of friends.
Ostensibly, the Future Gadgets Lab is a kind of science-themed secret society, maybe a bit like a chuuni version of Rosicrucians. But far from being secret, it has practically an open door policy. Okabe initiates anyone he enjoys or thinks he can help. But no matter how many new members they acquire, the core group is always the four friends. Three who are genius scientists capable of creating their own form of time machine, and a girl who loves sewing costumes. But Mayushii is the only one who ever wonders if she is ill-suited for this science organization. Everyone else is devoted to her and knows without question that she belongs.
This is because, in her purity of heart and complete lack of chicanery, and in her devotion to everything good in life- baubles/trinkets, anime, delicious snacks, her friends- Mayushii continually aligns the group with what is good. Victory is a banquet, if you are going to get there then you better make sure you are with the ones you truly care about. Otherwise, what was the point? Vision matters because it gathers all that we love. A calculating and sterile organization like Sern would never shelter someone like Mayushii. This is why they can never win. But the Future Gadgets Lab break their brains and timelines continually to save her. They are united by both genius and a devotion to all that truly matters in life which is exemplified in Mayushii.
This is why an audience member who is paying attention would never truly suspect Kurisu of being sinister even though in the beginning we are given every reason to. She would be a perfect candidate for someone who turns out midway through to be a Sern mole. Except for the fact of her tender, unwavering, sisterly devotion to Mayushii from the moment they meet. Actually, Kurisu is something of a spy. But an unconscious one. She essentially defects from the world of actual evil science to the world of pretend evil (yet truly righteous) science. Okabe acknowledges as much with his chuunibyo narrative/poetic perception when he tells her:
"Anyone could see you're really a spy from the Organization. You had a change of heart and joined forces with the very lab you were sent to neutralize."
He is not wrong, in essence. Kurisu was born and raised in the world of blind, amnesiac, mainstream science. It betrayed her and temporarily robbed her of her enthusiasm. But she finds refuge in the Future Gadgets Lab and, above all, in the fiery eyes of Okabe. She feels at home in the ragtag apartment they call a lab. There was never any doubt that her Vision and Idealism would reawaken. It is the people worth destroying for that we must create with. And while we wait to break through to the True Ending, we are hostages in this fallen timeline. But we can spend it biding our time with the ones we love. While the corrupted form of science currently runs this world, it is the plucky, snacking friends who have the last laugh.
Before I end this transmission, please pass the Dr. Pepper if you would. El Psy Kongroo.