Steins;Gate



Being a Mad Scientist is awesome. Converting your microwave so that you can send e-mails to the past? Awesome.

Being stalked by a secret organization doing their own Time Travel experiments and dead-set on capturing or eliminating you? Not so awesome.

The Spiritual Successor to Chaos;Head, Steins;Gate is set roughly one year after the events of the previous game, in the Akihabara area. Like most of his friends, Rintaro Okabe loves experimenting, tinkering with different gadgets and inventions. However, he's taken this love so far as to declare himself a Mad Scientist, and prefers to go by the alias Kyouma Hououin. One fateful morning--July 28, 2010, to be precise--he and his ditzy childhood friend Mayuri Shiina discover the body of Kurisu Makise, a celebrated researcher. As they flee the scene and he texts his buddy Hashida Itaru, everyone around them briefly vanishes... yet nobody else seems to have noticed the incident.

Shortly thereafter, Rintaro and Hashida run into Kurisu, very much alive, and Hashida mentions receiving a text babbling about the discovery one week ago. Investigating further, they realize that by constantly upgrading and customizing their microwave, they've stumbled across the secret of Time Travel--or, at least, sending text messages back in time, which is a starting point, right?

Unfortunately, they're not the only ones interested in time travel. The shadowy organization SERN has been running their own experiments, and thanks to Rintaro's frantic text to Hashida, they've clued in to what Rintaro and his friends have discovered, and are closing in...

Instead of the "delusion trigger" system introduced in Chaos;Head, Steins;Gate uses the similar "phone trigger": whenever somebody calls Rintaro, he can choose whether or not to answer. Text messages include blue hyperlinks that can be selected to reply to the text. The player's choices determine what sort of path the plot takes.

Two manga adaptations have begun: one by Sarachi Yomi is serialized in Monthly Comic Alive, while the other, by Kenji Mizuta, is printed in Monthly Comic Blade.

A 24-episode anime adaptation aired starting in the Spring 2011 Anime season. Following the end of the anime's broadcast, a twenty-fifth episode was released straight to video and a theatrical film was announced.

A full fan translation of the game exists; also the same thing which happened to Chaos;Head's translation project is true to this one, the fan translators pulled the patch from their site as JAST expressed interest in localizing the game. The fans are expecting the worst, as the original agreement with Chaos;Head lead to nowhere, resulting in fans losing the patch and hope for a licensed release.

An upcoming Spiritual Successor to Steins;Gate, Robotics;Notes, is expected to be released in Spring 2012.

Steins;Gate contains examples of:
"Faris: Ah...! But... [my] clothes might not fit on fit on you, nyan.
 * A Bloody Mess:
 * Accidental Innuendo: Itaru generally requests an immediate repeat whenever they come up.
 * Accidental Pervert: After receiving another threatening message, Rintaro rushes to his apartment, and finds Mayuri and Kurisu in the shower.
 * Before that: Rintaro's attempt to confirm Ruka's gender going wrong.
 * Alternate Character Reading: Invoked with Rintaro's name for the time machine e-mails, "Nostalgia Drive". It's written "time-travelling journey for nostalgia" (時を越えた郷愁への旅).
 * Anime of the Game
 * Another Dimension:
 * Arc Words: Subverted. Rintaro loves throwing around the words "Steins Gate" and "El Psy Congroo", but he himself admits that those words don't have any meaning whatsoever.
 * Bad Future: Alpha timeline where and Beta timeline
 * Gamma timeline takes it a step further, since in this timeline,
 * Based on a Great Big Lie: Based on John Titor's time travelling story, it could be either true or false
 * Because Destiny Says So:
 * Belligerent Sexual Tension: Rintaro and Kurisu
 * Berserk Button: When Faris mentions in the Alpha Drama CD that her maid outfits might not fit Kurisu, Kurisu gets awfully touchy.
 * Belligerent Sexual Tension: Rintaro and Kurisu
 * Berserk Button: When Faris mentions in the Alpha Drama CD that her maid outfits might not fit Kurisu, Kurisu gets awfully touchy.

Kurisu: By that... do you mean my breasts? MY BREASTS, RIGHT?!

Faris: Your height, nya.

Kurisu: You... forget I said that."

"Kurisu: One more word and I'll make your neocortex into a flowerpot!
 * Big Damn Heroes:
 * Big Fancy House:
 * Bishonen: Ruka,
 * Bishie Sparkle: Ruka. (But he's a guy.)
 * Bittersweet Ending:
 * However, despite that,.
 * Bland-Name Product: SERN and IBN play an important part in the plot. However, there's also Goodle, MewTube, CLADANDAN, KBA84, and Comima.
 * Averted with Dr. Pepper.
 * DK. Pepper. Also, UNIQLO, but the bottom half of the logo's blocked out.
 * Boobs of Steel:
 * Braids of Action:
 * Broken Bird: Kurisu, Suzuha and Moeka.
 * Broken Pedestal:
 * But Thou Must: Most calls or texts can be ignored at will, but there are certain points where Rintaro has to take some sort of action.
 * Butterfly of Doom: Multiple examples. At times, the things that randomly stay the same are even more bewildering than the things that randomly change; for example, alters nothing about  personality or appearance, and it also doesn't change anything about the group's dynamic. However, it also
 * Butt Monkey: Rintaro. Almost none of the cast takes him seriously during the first half of the story because of his behavior.
 * Call Back: Episode 25, that dude who was selling brooches in Japan is in fact also a taxi driver in LA. And another one which is much relevant to the plot,
 * Calling Your Attacks: Rintaro and Faris are anime, manga, and moe junkies. As a result, they role-play in some of the more comedic scenes of the anime, which usually involves them revealing that they've learned a secret technique or two while punching the air or doing some dramatic motion.
 * The Cameo: Takumi is briefly mentioned by his pseudonym Knighthart looking for IBN 5100. He has no involvement in the story, however.
 * A huge TV airing FES's performance in Alpha timeline. Giving the right reply to Faris's mail earns the player Ayase's portrait and FES's music, sang by Kanako Itō, including Chaos;Head OP: Find the Blue.
 * Even Seira-tan appears
 * Some of the characters from Steins;Gate have also found themselves in other media. Kurisu appears as a character spell in Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk 2; Mayuri also makes an appearance as a summon. Kurisu's also a character in Phantom Breaker, as well as in Nendoroid Generation.
 * Catch Phrase: Mayuri's "Tuturu~" whenever she greets someone as a phone wallpaper sent by Mayuri.
 * Cat Smile: Faris (of course), Mayuri and Suzuha.
 * Character Magnetic Team: Most of the cast are lab members. Though it's somewhat subverted because several years pass between the formation of the lab and the addition of new members apart from the original three, (Daru, Mayuri, Okabe).
 * Chekhov's Gun:
 * Chekhov's Gunman:.
 * Conspiracy Thriller
 * Cosplay Otaku Girl: Mayuri, Faris.
 * Crotch Grab Sex Check: Ruka is a girl?!
 * Cry Cute: Kurisu in episode 5 of the anime.
 * Cut His Heart Out With a Spoon:

Rintaro: What kind of threat is that?!"


 * Cyberpunk: It deals with cyberpunk themes
 * Death Is Cheap:
 * Lampshaded and deconstructed when
 * Deconstruction:
 * It also shows that
 * Design Student's Orgasm: The anime's opening credits sequence.
 * Despair Event Horizon:
 * Determinator:
 * Deus Angst Machina:
 * Disappeared Dad:
 * The Ditz: Mayuri, who can suddenly stop at a place doing Stardust Handshake, much to the dismay of Rintaro.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: In episode 19, taken out of context, the brawl Okabe has with looks very much like a rape in progress.
 * The Dog Was the Mastermind:
 * Driven to Suicide:
 * Several characters go through this actually.
 * Dropped a Bridge On Him:
 * Dropped a Bridget On Him: Kurisu, when Ruka's gender is revealed to her,
 * Dude Looks Like a Lady: Ruka, very much so.
 * Earn Your Happy Ending: And How!
 * The Empire:
 * Everything Trying to Kill You:
 * Fake Band: FES.
 * Fake Out Make Out:
 * Faking the Dead
 * First-Name Basis:
 * Rintaro to Kurisu.
 * Faris asks Rintaro to call her by her real name after he saves her from some kidnappers.
 * Five-Man Band
 * The Hero - Rintaro
 * The Lancer - Kurisu
 * The Smart Guy - Shared position between Itaru and Kurisu
 * The Big Guy - Itaru
 * The Chick - Mayuri, Ruka, Feyris
 * Sixth Ranger - Suzuha, Moeka
 * Foreshadowing: Since this is a series about time travel, there are too many instances of this to list.
 * Four Is Death:

"Kurisu: I'm not a tsundere!"
 * Full-Name Basis: Suzuha, with a few exception, calls people by their full name.
 * Funny Schizophrenia: If you are familiar with schizophrenia, then it becomes immediately obvious that Rintaro shows symptoms of it (such as his constant paranoia). However, his schizophrenia is typically used for the sake of humor and it can enjoyable to understand how his condition affects his mindset over course of the story.
 * It soon becomes apparent he does it on purpose, so it wouldn't really qualify as schizophrenia.
 * Gamer Chick: Mayuri and Faris.
 * Geek Physiques: Rintaro is skinny. Itaru, on the other hand, is extremely fat.
 * Gender Bender:
 * Gender Flip:
 * Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Done by Kurisu in chapter 6, and Mayuri and in chapter 11.
 * Gratuitous English: All over the place.
 * Gratuitous German: Every now and then. The series' title, for starters.
 * Groundhog Day Loop: Rintaro invokes this trope on himself to Set Right What Once Went Wrong using Time Leap Machine.
 * He Knows Too Much:
 * Heroic BSOD:
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * Heroes Want Redheads:
 * Hey It's That Voice: There are two Gundams amongst the cast (read, not Gundam pilots, Gundams): Setsuna F. Seiei and Nanoha Takamachi.
 * And an actual Gundam pilot: Domon Kasshu.
 * Hollywood Hacking:
 * Somewhat Justified
 * Hope Spot: Nope.
 * I Resemble That Remark
 * I Resemble That Remark

"Rintaro: My soul... My soul is being devoured!"
 * Improbable Age:
 * Innocent Innuendo: Lampshaded by Itaru every single time, much to Kurisu's annoyance.
 * Insane Equals Violent:
 * It Got Worse:
 * It's All My Fault: Upon realizing that his invention D-mail machine
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Rintaro, despite his childish and Jerkass antics, openly cares for his lab members.
 * Karma Houdini:
 * Kid From the Future:
 * Kill the Cutie:
 * The Lady's Favour: The only conceivable purpose for a handkerchief that Rintaro knows about.
 * Large Ham: Rintaro, oh SO MUCH! It makes him funny and awesome!
 * Not like anyone takes his ham seriously other than Ruka or possibly Faris.
 * Laser Blade: One of Rintaro's many inventions is the Cyalume Saber, which is pretty obviously Darth Vader's lightsaber.
 * Leaning On the Fourth Wall: When Rintaro tells Daru about his exploits in previous world lines, Daru jokes that it sounds fantastic enough to be the plot of a light novel.
 * A strange variety of this comes up when Mayuri gets Ruka to crossdress and Kurisu stares at him for a little bit (when she thought Ruka was a girl). Itaru even notes how yuri it is with Okabe quickly pointing out that it's not since Ruka's a guy.
 * Lighter and Softer: Steins;Gate Hiyoku Renri no Darling, the sequel that focuses less on time travel conspiracies and more on fun and relationships.
 * Locked Out of the Loop:
 * Loophole Abuse: The finale.
 * Love Confession:
 * He (and the audience) are left hanging at the credits.
 * Love Makes You Crazy:
 * Luke, You Are My Father:
 * MacGuffin: Nearly half the series is focused around Okabe and SERN's attempts to get their hands on an IBN 5100.
 * Madness Mantra:
 * Also
 * Mad Scientist: Rintaro, or, as he prefers to call himself, the Crazy Mad Scientist, Kyouma Hououin.
 * Magical Particle Accelerator: The plot is based on the idea that the Large Hadron Collider has some kind of massive world-ending powers.
 * Maybe Ever After:
 * Meido: Faris Nyannyan.
 * Mental Time Travel: D-mail and Time Leap Machine.
 * Mind Screw
 * The Mole:
 * My Name Is Not CHRISTINA!
 * Nakama: Being a Lab member of Future Gadget Circle is like being Rintaro's nakama.
 * Never the Selves Shall Meet: This is obviously not a problem considering that Rintaro uses Mental Time Travel, but it comes into play at the end of the series when
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
 * The Nicknamer: Rintaro, who enjoys giving other people nicknames based on their deeds, the only one who avoided this is his childhood friend, Mayuri. Mayuri also likes giving herself and Rintaro nicknames, much to dear Okarin's displeasure.
 * No Holds Barred Beatdown:
 * Oh Crap: Rintaro, every time Mayuri's watch stops, since it means
 * Ojou:
 * Otaku: Itaru, who likes both 2D and 3D girls.
 * Our Time Travel Is Different
 * Overprotective Dad: Yuugo.
 * Parental Neglect: Kurisu's father keeps a distance from her, downright refusing to see her.
 * Pettanko: Kurisu.
 * Phrase Catcher: Okabe tends to call people out on the things that he himself does, cue the "You are the last person I want to hear that from" reaction.
 * Police Are Useless: Police officers only serve to interfere with Rintaro's actions. They do absolutely nothing when
 * Poor Communication Kills: It takes Rintaro ages to think of telling anyone else about what's going on once things start to go bad. And he never even tries to tell some people, at all, even when they'd logically have a huge amount to contribute and plenty of incentive to do so.
 * Post Cyber Punk: It deals with post-cyberpunk themes
 * Pretty Little Headshots: and  deaths. The former only shows the requisite trickle of blood down the face, while in the case of the latter, there's no indication at all that that person has even been shot.
 * Product Placement: In the anime, Rintaro only drinks Dr Pepper.
 * Psychopathic Manchild: upon receiving her 15 years later memories via time leaping.
 * Redemption Equals Death:
 * Rescue Romance: This is how Ruka and Rintaro met.
 * This is actually a strange example since
 * In one of the drama CDs, However, it takes place in a separate world line, so take it as you will.
 * Revenge Before Reason:
 * Ripple Effect Indicator: The Divergence Meter, which shows the current world line's percent divergence and how close Rintaro is to succeeding in returning to the beta world line.
 * Ripple Effect Proof Memory: Rintaro's 'Reading Steiner,' the ability to retain memory of prior timelines.
 * Rock Beats Laser: The IBN 5100 is central to the series, despite being an antique computer, because.
 * Running Gag: Daru's "could you repeat that".
 * Sadistic Choice: Taking a third option won't work.
 * Samus Is a Girl: Done twice.
 * Screw Destiny:
 * This is actually a bit of a weird variety since it was
 * Set Right What Once Went Wrong: The latter half of the story
 * Serious Business: Rai-Net.
 * Daru, just about anything such as Super Hacker and Maid secret techniques.
 * Shout Out: Daru's dialogue is occasionally peppered with references to various anime and video games, and before the group manages to settle on D-Mail as the name of their time machine, some of the names they come up with reference The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Back to The Future.
 * In the visual novel, Kurisu mentions as one of the impossibilities of time travel the sheer amount of energy it would take to move at light speeds would almost certainly be at least 1.21 gigawatts.
 * Faris makes a mention in episode 2 of months of harsh training in the Guyana Highlands and the death of her master.
 * Kurisu's "One more word and I'll make your neocortex into a flowerpot!" line may come from the MO of the first barcode killer of MPD Psycho.
 * Shown Their Work: In one timeline of their first meeting, Kurisu lectures Okabe on the impossibilities of time travel; the lecture is cut quickly to a picture of Okabe straggling out of the lecture hall absolutely mauled by Kurisu's arguments. In the Visual Novel, this lecture scene is shown to the audience and is literally Turned Up to Eleven, with Kurisu mentioning exactly eleven different theories of time travel, subsequently shooting down two of these hypotheses. That the creators took the time to explain the absurdities of theoretical time travel in a visual novel/anime about time travel shows something pretty special.
 * Show Within a Show: Thunder Battle Net, as well as Chaos;Head's Blood Tune.
 * Shrinking Violet: Moeka is such an extreme case that she prefers texting over talking.
 * Ruka too, who is overly easy to spook.
 * The Slow Path:
 * Someone Has to Die: Occurs when
 * Something Only They Would Say:
 * Stable Time Loop:
 * Stealth Pun: Presumably the joke behind the term "D-mail".
 * Stepford Smiler: Suzuha.
 * Stupid Sexy Ruka: Rintaro's reactions toward Ruka.
 * Stealth Pun: Presumably the joke behind the term "D-mail".
 * Stepford Smiler: Suzuha.
 * Stupid Sexy Ruka: Rintaro's reactions toward Ruka.

"Kurisu: I'm not crying! I definitely wasn't terrified by a guy screaming in my face, so I definitely didn't start crying from relief afterwards! That's not what happened!
 * The Stinger: Episode 22. The episode also uses a different, instrumental ending credit track, presumably to entice the viewer into sticking around, since the series had no next episode previews and no real incentive to stay for the credits until this episode.
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: Kurisu just loves to do this.

Rintaro: So Daru, why is my assistant crying?"


 * Taking the Bullet:
 * Take a Third Option: Subverted in that it only causes more trouble later.
 * The Teaser: Used more often than not in the anime.
 * Techno Babble: To wit: The Mental Time Travel machine involves compression of computer data via black hole.
 * Teen Genius: Kurisu skirts the border of this; she's such a talented neuroscience researcher that she's had her research published in an academic journal at the tender age of 18.
 * Theme Naming: Rintaro tends to name endeavors "Operation (figure from Norse Mythology)". Lampshaded by Kurisu, and later by Rintaro when she makes up her own Norse-flavored Operation.
 * Third Person Person: Mayuri, referring to herself as Mayushii☆.
 * Thirteen Is Unlucky: occur on a Friday the 13th.
 * This Is Unforgivable!:
 * Time and Relative Dimensions In Space: Discussed in the VN as a reason that the jellymen end up in such random locations.
 * Time Paradox
 * Time Travel: Central to the plot, and hitting upon plenty of related tropes, with a healthy dose of Mind Screw and Deconstruction.
 * Time Travel Escape
 * Title Drop: "This is the choice of Steins Gate!" shows up from the beginning. However, the usual "this line obviously contains great weight by virtue of containing the title" version shows up near the end of the series, when.
 * Tomato Surprise:
 * You can change the cause, but never can you change the effect. I think this is more of the case here.
 * Took a Level In Badass: In the future, Okabe Rintaro becomes a founder and leader of La Résistance and is known as a famous terrorist working against SERN.
 * Trauma Conga Line:
 * Tricked Out Time
 * Tsundere: Kurisu, Lampshaded by Itaru of course.
 * A rare justified example in that Rintaro acts like a raving loon during their first few encounters, and it's only after he demonstrates that he's not a psychopath that she starts to lighten up.
 * Twenty Minutes Into the Future
 * Verbal Tic: Faris often ends her sentence with nya.
 * Villainous Breakdown: Dear god, when loses contact with, she becomes an emotional wreck. Her situation is only worsened when Okabe . In the world line where Okabe doesn't arrive at her apartment,  eventually commits suicide in despair.
 * Visual Novel: Described by the development team as "a Hypothetical Science ADV".
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy:
 * Wham Episode:
 * Wham Line
 * Episode 12:
 * Wham Episode:
 * Wham Line
 * Episode 12:


 * Episode 20:


 * Episode 22:


 * What Happened to The Mouse?: Amane claimed that Kurisu
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Rintaro, sometimes.
 * Wrong Genre Savvy: Rintaro is clearly trying hard to be a Magnificent Bastard like Lelouch, but his initially ordinary life frustrates these ambitions, twisting his lines into comedy, with his friend Itaru claiming he is simply "deluded", even admitting that he (Rintaro) is the only one who really cares about "destroying the ruling structure of the world".
 * Yandere:
 * On the Drama cd "Yandere Kurisu", Kurisu evolve to this, as you can hear here.
 * You Can't Fight Fate: Rintaro can change the cause, but can never change the effect.
 * You Fail Biology Forever: Ruko thinks that if a baby's mother eats lots of vegetables, the baby will be born female.
 * You Have Failed Me: After Moeka ,
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
 * Younger Than They Look: Both Okabe and Hashida are supposed to be 18, but look like they're closer to their late 20's. Their tall stature and Okabe's lab coat may have something to do with it. And even though she's like an Adult Child, Mayuri still does not look like a 16-year old.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
 * Younger Than They Look: Both Okabe and Hashida are supposed to be 18, but look like they're closer to their late 20's. Their tall stature and Okabe's lab coat may have something to do with it. And even though she's like an Adult Child, Mayuri still does not look like a 16-year old.
 * Younger Than They Look: Both Okabe and Hashida are supposed to be 18, but look like they're closer to their late 20's. Their tall stature and Okabe's lab coat may have something to do with it. And even though she's like an Adult Child, Mayuri still does not look like a 16-year old.