"It's over!"
"Eh? It's over already?"
"The ending is too strange, isn't it?"
"What is FB? A person? Why does Moeka think Okabe is FB?"
"Don't worry, there's still one minute and thirty seconds, it'll be quick."
"If it were any other anime, I'd be getting antsy, but this is steins;gate."
"Although I inexplicably feel like I haven't watched much, it's okay, the next episode will be soon."
"But if it's twelve episodes, the anime should be more than halfway through, right? Instead of worrying about the update speed, I'm starting to worry about the plot. Can the remaining half of the episodes finish the story? Is the pace too slow now?"
"No choice, Contestant No. 28 has no intention of coming out of the editor. It feels like the mentors are about to enter the endurance challenge (lol)."
"Some people might not have noticed, but I'll mention it briefly: Cowboy Hao secretly went to the restroom during the opening theme song and came back just as it finished."
"Cowboy Hao is that fast?"
"I understand what you mean (lol)."
"Why doesn't the production team install a restroom in the judges' seats? That way, the mentors wouldn't have to go to the restroom and could keep commenting, right?"
"Are you serious?"
"When it comes to being abstract, netizens are still the best."
Accompanying the rather abrupt transition to the ending credits, not only the bullet comments but also the audience seats below the stage had quite a few different voices.
"What did this episode talk about?"
"It gave a name to the email, then, it researched the Time Machine, exposed the Time Machine to outsiders, seems like that's all?"
"Although the momentum of updating everything at once is good, isn't the pace a bit slow?"
"Is it because the anime was so enjoyable to make that it accidentally got padded?"
"No matter how much you say, he can't hear it. Since just now, he hasn't had any intention of coming out of the editor, he can't even hear the judges' words, let alone ours."
"This definitely means the story was already finished and is now being used in the competition, right?"
"...Wasn't that conclusion already established from the beginning?"
Looking at the screen that abruptly switched to the ending credits, Host Fang Yuan, uncharacteristically, fell into a brief silence.
Fortunately, the director's voice in his earpiece reminded him to come back to his senses.
"Ahem." He cleared his throat and raised the microphone: "Now, our steins;gate Episode 6 has also concluded."
"The production team has been observing everyone's comments, so this time, let's ask the judges some questions based on the issues collected from the bullet comments, shall we?"
"Just as Teacher Cowboy Hao said before, if every episode of anime has to be observed and reviewed frame by frame, the difficulty is too great, and there's not nearly enough content to talk about. Even if all the mentors are experienced industry veterans, such work is still too busy for them." Host Fang Yuan smiled:
"So first, let's ask our five judges, what do they think about the overall pace of Episode 6?"
Dong Xuelian: "Slow."
Tang Sanshui: "Slow."
Cowboy Hao: "It's a bit slow."
Qihai: "Hmm, it is slow."
Uncle Big Nose: "Eh? Am I the only one who thinks it's actually fine?"
Almost all the judges gave incredibly consistent evaluations—except for Uncle Big Nose.
"Hmm, the other four judges have the same opinion, so we won't ask each judge for their individual views in too much detail." Host Fang Yuan nodded and looked at Uncle Big Nose:
"Uncle Big Nose, can you tell us why your evaluation differs from the other judges?"
"Mhm, mhm." Uncle Big Nose nodded: "Actually, it's understandable that everyone's feelings are different from mine, because due to my work, I always need to look at the anime itself from every possible angle. So, unless it's truly an anime that goes beyond the bottom line, I can still find its merits."
"Besides, the narration of steins;gate so far isn't bad, is it?"
"No one said it was bad." Cowboy Hao interjected: "It's just that for this episode, speaking objectively, it was indeed too slow, making people feel worried."
"After all, more than half of the length is already gone."
"I certainly understand that point." Uncle Big Nose said: "However, I really feel it's quite good. I mean, actually, although the main plot doesn't seem to have advanced much, and although it seems that there aren't many 'time'-related elements shown apart from the initial email and the existence of John Titor."
"But the creation of this everyday atmosphere, the interactions and dialogues of the characters, I all feel that the atmosphere is very good."
"So my personal viewing experience isn't bad."
"...But the chosen theme this time is 'time'." Tang Sanshui shook his head: "So if you can't distinguish between primary and secondary, and deviate from the topic, that will also be a problem."
"This is also something everyone needs to learn from; just because you put a Time Machine into the main plot of the story doesn't mean your theme is time."
"Of course, as Teacher Cowboy Hao said, this is only an evaluation for this episode, and subsequent developments can still be redeemed."
"A brief digression doesn't matter, as long as you realize it in time, you can quickly bring the story back." he said.
"Thank you for your responses, teachers." Host Fang Yuan took over the conversation again:
"Besides the pace, there are many questions everyone wants to ask, but considering the time, the next episode will start playing soon, so let's pick two key ones to ask."
"One, of course, is about the plot that appeared in the middle, where Okabe Rintaro inexplicably appeared in space. That very stream-of-consciousness performance left many viewers confused."
"So, we would still like to ask the mentors to try and interpret it from a professional perspective."
Although Host Fang Yuan said so, none of the mentors gave a straightforward response.
The mentors all fell into a brief thought.
The first to raise the microphone, surprisingly, was Dong Xuelian.
"I don't understand it." she said.
"I can roughly sense that he seems to want to make a little hint or metaphor, but the presentation is indeed too abstract."
Then, it was Qihai who spoke.
"Mhm, mhm, on this point, my feeling is the same as Lianlian's. After all, we are just voice actors and cannot provide any suitable interpretation." she nodded and said: "So, this question, after all, still needs to be answered by the remaining three teachers."
So, the camera turned to Uncle Big Nose: "Is it all up to me?"
"Then I'll just say a few words. It might not be accurate, it's just my personal opinion, so yo