Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes

The Droste effect is created when Kato positions his computer monitor to face the café's television. The computer shows what will happen two minutes in the future, while the TV shows what happened two minutes in the past. When these two screens reflect each other, the images feed back and forth, creating a loop that extends the time window to several minutes into the future.

Early on, Kato notices the two screens showing slightly different times, hinting at the connection between them.

A future version of Kato appears and advises him to ask Megumi on a date. This is meant to influence events and potentially prevent a paradox from occurring. The future Kato believes this action is necessary to keep the timeline stable.

The future Kato's appearance signals that small actions in the present can have significant consequences for the timeline.

After Megumi declines Kato's date invitation, Kato realizes he must prevent a paradox. To do this, he pretends to encourage his younger self to pursue the date anyway, choreographing a performance with others to keep the timelines aligned and avoid causing a temporal paradox.

This meta-game of cause and effect stems directly from the earlier advice from Kato's future self.

Using his knowledge of what will happen two minutes in the future, Kato leverages the information along with objects the group has collected. He anticipates the gang members' movements and actions, allowing him to confront them and reach Megumi, who has been taken upstairs, successfully rescuing her.

The group's attempts to exploit the time-window for profit had drawn them into the dangerous gang rivalry in the first place.

The time cops attempt to force memory-wiping powder on Kato and Megumi to erase their memories of the time loop. However, when the powder is used, both characters sneeze it away instead of inhaling it. This act creates or accelerates a paradox that causes the cops to vanish from reality entirely.

The timeline has been shown to be sensitive to paradoxes throughout the film.

The time cops sedate everyone in the café except Kato and Megumi, then try to force memory-wiping powder on them. Instead of working, both Kato and Megumi sneeze the powder away. This failure triggers a paradox that erases the time cops from existence, leaving only Kato and Megumi conscious in the café.

The cops' attempt to control the timeline backfires because of the characters' involuntary physical reaction.

The time window expands when Kato brings his computer down to face the television directly. This creates a feedback loop between the two screens, the computer showing the future and the TV showing the past. As the images reflect between the two devices, they extend the viewing window from just two minutes to several minutes into the future.

The initial setup shows two minutes on each screen, but the spatial arrangement is key to expanding the loop.

Megumi declines Kato's invitation to go on a date, though the specific reasons for her rejection are not detailed in the film. Despite this rejection, the situation becomes more complex when Kato must later pretend to encourage his past self to pursue the date anyway to prevent a paradox.

This rejection sets up the later paradox-prevention scene where Kato must perform for his past self.

After discovering the time-window, Kato's group attempts to exploit their near-future knowledge for profit and fun. Their meddling in upcoming events draws them into a gang rivalry that plays out on the city streets, putting them in danger and forcing them to navigate violence while trying to maintain timeline stability.

The group's initial excitement about using future knowledge for personal gain leads them into increasingly dangerous territory.

The café's television displays what happened two minutes in the past, while Kato's computer monitor shows what will happen two minutes in the future. This unusual phenomenon creates a temporal link between the two devices, and when positioned to face each other, they create a feedback loop that allows glimpses further into the future through the Droste effect.

Kato notices the discrepancy between the two screens early in the film, realizing there is a connection between them.