Steins;Gate/YMMV

Awesome Music: "Sky Clad Observer", which sung by Itou Kanako, is already awesome as it is for the PC version's opening, but when it is played as Hououin watches a video from his future self in episode 23 only adds a new layer of awesomeness to this scene.
Base-Breaking Character: Some fans love Mayuri for being the nicest and outgoing member of Future Gadget, her humorous quotes which are sufficiently hilarious, and the fact that she's fated to die many times in the Alpha worldline helps to play a role in Okabe's Character Development and the plot, but some fans dislike her for having a childish naive nature all of the time, lack of intellectual common sense and her countless deaths had fans paint her as the Damsel Scrappy.
Big Lipped Alligator Moment: In Episode 9, Okabe goes to the roof to air out some laundry, when he sees Kurisu up there arguing with someone on the phone. Aside from later on when she storms into the lab crying, this event is never mentioned again; we aren't even told who she was arguing with.
- Two episodes later, Okabe gets a threatening message, causing him to panic and rush back to the lab to check on Mayuri, only to find her (and Kurisu) in the shower together. Almost immediately afterwards, aside from a very brief scolding from Kurisu, the incident is brushed off in a matter of seconds and is never brought up again.
Complete Monster: Kurisu's father, who is willing to steal his own daughter's work and then kill her to keep her quiet, all out of jealousy since he can't handle the thought of his own daughter being smarter than him.
- Given some of the stuff said about the dystopian future, SERN seems to be this as well.
Ensemble Darkhorse: Okabe and Kurisu have proven to be very popular with fans for their character development, chemistry, and their constant banter. Okabe gets bonus points for his scenery chewing alter ego, Hououin Kyouma.
- Faris is an In-Universe example, due to her popularity in the RaiNet competitive scene, and being the big attraction to her maid café, May Queen Nyan². Her influence making Akihabara a Moe hotspot also helps, too.
Fetish Fuel: The girls at May Queen. Also Ruka, an extremely Bishonen male who often wears a Miko outfit, and one time cosplayed due to Mayuri's insistence. Goes even further when he changes his gender.
Gateway Series: The visual novel is cited as one of the best ones for new players to check out, as a popular anime series was based on it and it is one of the few to have an official English version.
Harsher in Hindsight:
- If you rewatch the series and see all those people sending D-mails, it seems much harsher since you know Okabe has to reverse them in order to save Mayuri.
- Okabe's rants about the Organization and people being secret agents becomes much harsher once SERN is introduced and Moeka turns out to be a secret SERN agent.
- Kurisu at one point warns Okabe that the constant time leaping could potentially cause him to blip out of existence. This becomes the movie's main conflict, and it's up to her to save him.
- By the end of the series, Okabe concludes that "Reading Steiner" is something that everyone has a degree of. Considering Steins;Gate 0 shows that he has flash-forwards of events that haven't even happened yet, we discover that this is not a good thing to have.
Hilarious in Hindsight: A few weeks after ending of anime, CERN published about neutrinos traveling faster than light.
- In Japanese, Kurisu is frequently addressed as "Chris-Chan" by Mayuri. Chris-Chan is also the nickname used by the infamous American YouTuber notorious for bizarre behaviour, e-begging, and poor Sonic/Pokémon fanfic. Considering that Kurisu had spent 7 years in the States, and her frequent posting on @channel, one has to wonder if she has some level of awareness of this...
- Kurisu wanting her own personalised fork and spoon becomes a lot funnier when you learn that "My Fork" and "My Spoon" are 2chan slang for "my lover" and my friend", respectively. No wonder she wanted to kick her future self's ass!
- In My Darling's Embrace, Okabe's has a dream in which he is being seduced by a bikini clad Mayuri. During this, he muses that he was lucky to not see her naked. This becomes more amusing when you realise that he did see her naked once.
  - During that same scene, Mayuri asks Okabe if he would prefer to see Kurisu naked. Once again though, he did actually see Kurisu naked that one time. Made even funnier by the fact that Okabe barged in on both Kurisu and Mayuri while they were showering together.
Ho Yay: Despite him insisting otherwise, it is hinted that Ruka does have romantic feelings for Okabe, even when he was male. Okabe also sees him as a Stupid Sexy Flanders.
Les Yay: At least that how Itaru sees Mayuri showing Kurisu around.
Memetic Mutation: Dr. Pepper: an intellectual drink for the chosen ones! It's to Steins;Gate as Pizza Hut is to Code Geass.
Moe: Faris, naturally. She is the reason Akihabara is a haven for otakus after all.
- Kurisu becomes utterly adorable when she tries (and fails) to hide her geeky side, and when her tsundere tendencies surface.
Moral Event Horizon:
- Moeka killing Mayuri in several timelines.
- Kurisu's father stealing his daughter's paper and then either gets her killed or stabs Okabe. Unlike Moeka, there isn't a single point of redemption in his favor.
Narm: In Episode 16, Suzuha is reunited with her father, who turns out to be Daru. In what is supposed to a heartfelt scene, he of course ruins its impact by asking her what her mother was like, making it More amusing than touching.
- Mayuri simply cannot pull off angry to save her soul, as demonstrated best when she scolds Okabe for making Ruka cry in Episode 18. In the game, Okabe lampshades this by saying that Mayuri is rather cute when she's angry,
Non Sequitur Scene: An insanely sleazy one, as Okabe seems to inexplicably completely forget about the entire attempt by Ruka to change her gender, leading to him sexually assaulting her in front of everyone. And then once the scene has passed, without any apparent explanation from him, not a single one of them holds it against him in the slightest.
- Also Unfortunate Implications that it's okay to grab people's genitals to check their gender.
Padding: The only major criticism levied towards the anime is that it is slow to start, as the main conflict of the series doesn't begin until 12 episodes in. One could argue that the first half exists mainly for world building purposes, but 12 episodes is still a long wait before anything major happens.
The Scrappy: Moeka became instantly hated when she revealed she was a SERN spy and murdered Mayuri.
- Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: For some viewers when her traumatic past was revealed as well as her Redemption Equals Death moment. Only some though.
  - Drama CD 3 is this for Moeka.
  - Her portrayal in Linear Bounded Phenogram and My Darling's Embrace also help improve perception of her.
- Kurisu's father. Unlike Moeka though, he has no redeeming qualities, nor does he have a redemption arc of any kind.
- 4°C/Shido is one for being an unlikable, arrogant, pompous ass with a worse case of chuunibyou than both Okabe and Faris combined that is also even less charming.
Sophomore Slump: Inverted to an insane degree. The visual novel is the first one in the Science Adventure series to be released overseas, and the anime is the most well-known and well-received adaption in the series.
Ugly Cute: Daru to some.
Uncanny Valley: Though little Nae is the embodiment of childlike innocence, some players have noticed how creepy she looks when her eyes are wide open, due to how bug-eyed she is.
- There's something about the smiling Daru sprite in Linear Bounded Phenogram that's just off-putting.
Viewer Gender Confusion: Ruka is very feminine, so much so that Mayuri asks him to try on her cosplay costumes. He also wears a Miko's traditional robes normally.

Rintaro:"But he's a guy."

What an Idiot!: There several examples throughout the series, mostly from Okabe himself.
- In the special episode of the anime, Okabe and co. arrive in Los Angeles and are questioned by airport security regarding their visit.
  - You Would Think: Okabe would play it safe and explain that they are in the States see their friend compete in the RaiNet tournament being held.
  - Instead: He goes full chuunibyou and begins rambling about overthrowing America's leaders right in front of two police officers, and gets his ass arrested as a result.
- Later on, he gets the bright idea to cancel the hotel reservations that Faris had made for the group prior to their trip and ends up having to stay in a dingy motel in the middle of nowhere as a result.
- In the My Darling's Embrace spin-off, Okabe initially turns down a day out at the local swimming pool with Mayuri, Kurisu, Daru, and Faris. Kurisu quickly realises this might be because he can't swim.
  - You Would Think: Okabe would do the sensible thing and just admit to the truth, especially since being in water can be risky if you're unprepared, and at the very least, Kurisu would admire him for being honest.
  - Instead: he won't let his ego be bruised and challenges Kurisu to a swimming contest despite knowing full well that he wasn't very athletic.
  - As a result: He tries a manoeuvre he had never done before, and almost paid with his life, showing how stupid he was to challenge Kurisu for the sake of his pride. It takes a heroic effort from Mayuri to save him.
  - Worse still: in one his more jerkass moments, he treats this near-death experience as if it was nothing but an inconvenience to him, acting as though nothing had happened, which hurts Mayuri emotionally, showing no consideration for how she was feeling in that moment.
- During Moeka's route in the same game, he finds himself in the middle of the music session with no clue as to what is going on. In panic, he mentions using a D-Mail to jump to this worldline.
  - You Would Think: the other lab mems would realise this was the case considering Okabe's behaviour isn't in line with his usual antics.
  - Better Yet: The worldline altering message is still in Okabe's phone, so he could simply show the D-Mail to everyone, thus confirming his claim.
  - Instead: Okabe doesn't show everyone the message in his phone, and no one questions why Okabe is acting strange, thinking he is just making excuses.
The Woobie: Pretty much all of the characters fill this role at least once during the series.
Tough Act to Follow: Is this to its successor, Steins;Gate 0. Many felt that the original adaption had better storytelling, better animation, and gave less relevant characters like Faris and Ruka some cohesive arcs and Character Development. That said, 0 still proved quite popular with an 8.6 rating on myanimelist, though still a step down from the original's 9.2 rating.
Woolseyism: The Crunchyroll subs replace references to 2chan memes with ones more familiar to native English speakers.