Alright. Originally this article was an eleven-hundred word piece on Steins;Gate as a whole, but I’ve decided to shift the focus towards solely Okabe Rintarou, because he is an extremely deep and complex character and is pretty much what carried Steins;Gate for me.

If anyone reading this is unfamiliar with the character, Okabe Rintarou (or Hououin Kyouma as he often refers to himself) is a self proclaimed mad scientist, running a lab out of his apartment and working on gadgets that will shape the future. Throughout the show we as the audience are exposed to his dual personalities, the confident and smug Hououin Kyouma and the more self conscious, caring Okabe Rintarou. This duality of Okabe’s character is what has drawn me in so much, it is akin to the superhero stories I read as a child: a more human and vulnerable man that takes on a cocky, arrogant persona to fight injustice, like Spiderman, Batman, and The Flash. I see parts of these characters in Okabe and the character is stronger for it.

One of the biggest issues for me when watching anime is association with the characters. I find it difficult to put myself into the shoes of many of the characters in anime, whether it be that they are a mixture of walking tropes or that the situations the characters are in are plain unrealistic. I can’t relate to the cast of Madoka Magica because I’m not a middle school magical girl, I can’t relate to Light or L in Death Note because I am neither evil nor emotionless. I can relate to Shirou from the Fate series or Akane from Psycho-Pass because these characters have struggles and environments that feel realistic. This is an area that Steins;Gate excels in: realism. While yes, the show is about time travel and is a work of science fiction, all of the character’s actions and motivations feel grounded in reality. Okabe’s use of “The Organization” to escape from reality, his desire to protect Mayuushii and Kurisu, his arrogance and confidence are all traits that I can either see reflected in myself or put myself in the shoes of. This level of realism in character design is something I rarely see in anime: a medium filled with tropes and stereotypes and flat, two dimensional characters.

Another major factor of Okabe’s character is his coming of age throughout the show. Most of the time the pain and suffering that Okabe has been going through as a result of his Reading Steiner and the constant traveling back in time is kept hidden beneath the surface, yet every so often it breaks through the surface and bursts out in a breathtaking display of raw emotion for the character. Those few times that Okabe broke down brought me so much closer to the character as a viewer, and really helped me to sympathize with his struggle and suffering. These major moments include Okabe’s conversation with Kurisu on how many times he’s tried to save Mayuushii, and his fight with Moeka towards the last arc of the show. I can’t mention Okabe’s journey to save Mayuushi without mentioning how it mirrors Homura’s in Madoka Magica. Both Okabe and Homura have to repeat a very short period of time where in someone extremely close to them dies over and over and over again. This is likely a large part of why I love Okabe’s character as much as I do: Homura is another of my all time favorite anime characters. If you don’t believe me just go check out my essay on her.

I also found the relationship that developed between Kurisu and Okabe to be extremely natural in its development. While Kurisu played heavily into the tsundere trope, I found myself enjoying it as well as the back and forth between her and Okabe. I loved the scenes where both comforted each other throughout the show, watching each other’s back even across world lines. There was also a bit of a tragic element with the two: the multiple mentions of “I won’t remember that you called me Kurisu, will I?” as Okabe had to keep traveling back in time. This relationship also perfectly illustrates Steins;Gate’s grasp on subtlety. Around the start of Kurisu’s position at the lab she teases Okabe for his over consumption of Dr.Pepper, and she herself isn’t too inclined to the soda. Yet by the end of her stay at the lab she is drinking Dr.Pepper as much as Okabe is, an extremely small detail but one that beautifully expresses how close her and Okabe have become.

I feel it’s also important to mention the art style. While it’s really nothing too special, the realistic style lends itself well to the messages that the show is trying to convey. It also stands out in a medium filled with chibi characters and other deforming transformations that serve as cute eye candy. For an example of what I’m talking about, check out episode seven of Orange. The show is trying to be a realistic high school romance and the “cute” transformations in art style with Naho in the most recent episode detract from that overall message and tone in my opinion.

Anyway, this seemed to turn out to be more of a character explanation rather than a case study, but this work is still filled with thoughts that I felt were worth sharing. I didn’t even delve into Okabe’s relationships with Mayuushii, Ferris, Rukako, etc. I haven’t written in a few months, so thanks for bearing with me through this.

El. Psy. Congroo.