Yeah, if you pay attention you will see Okabe gets his every wish. So that when suddenly he has to pick what level of pain he is ok with for payment, it puts him in hell. And since he is a loner and doesnt think of everyone else he doesnt have anyone else to talk to to the point that he doesnt even realize that everyone else is still remembering what he did and that his actions have never been without consequences. And he has to live up to them to undo them.

But yeah wild how the wrapper on a story can make such a difference, I mean this is the same story as Its a wonderful Life and yet the method of telling it makes it completely different and makes a slightly different take on the answer. The author clearly thinks its still ok to be absurd with reality at the end as long as you take it seriously.

By the way I don’t know Maebashi Witches but I do love Studio Sunrise and how they do personal stories, so it will go on the list after I catch up to Frieren.