"Space has a beginning, but it has no end. —Infinite. Stars too have a beginning, but are by their own power destroyed. —Finite. He who holds wisdom can recognize extreme foolishness in history. The fish in the sea know not the land ashore. If they too hold wisdom, they too be destroyed. It is more ridiculous for man to exceed light speed than for fish to live ashore. This may also be called god's last warning to those who rebel."
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 ownTime Travel experiments and dead-set on capturing or eliminating you? Not so awesome.The sequel 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, Okabe Rintarou 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 Hououin Kyouma. One fateful morning—July 28, 2010, to be precise—he and his ditzy childhood friend Shiina Mayuri discover the body of Makise Kurisu, a celebrated researcher. As they flee the scene and he texts his buddy Hashida "Daru" Itaru, everyone around them briefly vanishes... yet nobody else seems to have noticed the incident.Shortly thereafter, Okabe and Daru run into Kurisu, very much alive, and Daru 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 Okabe's frantic text to Daru, they've clued in to what Okabe 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 Okabe, 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. Funimation acquired the rights to the anime in 2011 and has dubbed it. The core 24 episodes are available for viewing on FUNimation's Youtube. The movie will be dubbed in 2013.Other tie-ins include the Epigraph of Closed Curve and Pandora of Eternal Recurrence light novels, which continue the story of the beta world line. These novels are accompanied by drama cds.A sequel game called Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram was released in April 2013. Unlike the first game, the sequel is told from the perspective of all the lab members.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 amidst the hopes for a licensed release.Robotics Notes, the sequel to Steins;Gate, was released on the Xbox 360 and PS3 in June 2012. An anime adaptation begain airing in the noitaminA block in October of the same year.There's a movie in the works (Title: "Gekijouban Steins;Gate: Fuka Ryouiki no Deja vu"), in which, according to the trailers, the characters will continue to have problems with time travel.
A Bloody Mess: Averted. Okabe originally intends to use the red liquid inside a glow-in-the-dark lightsaber toy as part of his plan to fool his past self into thinking Kurisu's dead, but upon discovering that it's dried up and useless, he provokes Dr. Nakabachi into stabbing him so that he can use his own, genuine blood instead.
Accidental Innuendo: Invoked — Daru generally requests an immediate repeat whenever they come up.
Accidental Pervert: After receiving another threatening message, Okabe rushes to his apartment, and finds Mayuri and Kurisu in the shower.
Before that: Okabe's attempt to confirm Ruka's gender after making him a her going wrong.
Adaptation Distillation: The anime cuts out at least half of both Faris and Ruka's arcs and simplifies the Moeka section of the story by cutting out a lot of elements that aren't directly related to the climax of the story. It also has a tendency to remove a lot of the science from the story.
Alternate Character Reading: Invoked with Okabe'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).
Alternate Timeline: Of an unconventional sort - world lines aren't ongoing continuities so much as they're potential continuities for a single world. Altering time is more akin to changing lanes or exiting a freeway than actually building a new one.
And I Must Scream: Okabe's attempts to save Mayuri during the middle of the anime series. Having to watch his Childhood Friend die over and over, no matter what he tries to do, taxes him heavily. It gets so bad that even some of the other characters, such as Kurisu, Daru, and even Mayuri suspect something is wrong when they know next to nothing about the events he's witnessed.
Another Dimension: Invoked but averted. There is apparently only one single timeline, but there are multiple paths it can take such as a world where you won the lottery or you didn't. Once you're on one path, the others fundamentally don't exist anymore and the world will still largely progress exactly as it would have otherwise. If you manage to make a truly critical change at a key point in time you can create fundamental changes the world, such as the noted ability to jump between the α from the β lines, but it's still fundamentally one single timeline. The other doesn't exist anymore.
Arc Words: Subverted. Okabe loves throwing around the words "Steins Gate" and "El Psy Congroo", but he himself admits that those words don't have any meaning whatsoever. At least until the ending, where "Steins Gate" refers to the perfect timeline, but both the present and future Okabe lampshade that the meaning is assigned. Ragnarok, Urd, and other Norse terminologies also deserve mention.
Babies Ever After: Ruka's ending in the visual novel ends up kinda sorta with this.
Bad Future: Alpha timeline where SERN successfully creates the time machine, using it to create a Dystopia under their rule and Beta timeline where Kurisu dies and World War III happens.
Gamma timeline takes it a step further, since in this timeline, Okabe becomes a part of the rounders along with Moeka.
Based on a Great Big Lie: Based on John Titor's time travelling story, it could be either true or false and he's a girl.
Big Damn Heroes: Just when SERN is about to capture the group, Suzuha saves them and asks Okabe to time leap.
Big Fancy House: Played with considering Faris's living quarters. It's not necessarily big, but it's a lavish living space on the top floor of an expensive building that reveals just how rich Faris is.
In Suzuha's ending she and Okabe journey together into the past, where they'll get brain damage and never see their friends again. Nothing significant will be changed.
In Faris' ending, Okabe loses all his friends except Faris. On the bright side, he does have Faris and Mayuri will live. Somehow.
In Ruka's ending, she and Okabe are happy together, but Mayuri is dead. The group stays together.
In Mayuri's ending, Kurisu dies and a lot of Okabe's relationships are lost.
Broken Pedestal: Dr. Nakabachi is Makise Kurisu's father, and she does everything in her power to impress him and rebuild their damaged father-daughter relationship; she even gives offers him a co-writer credit on a paper on how to construct a time machine, and he repays the favor by beating her and stealing the paper for himself.
But Thou Must: Most calls or texts can be ignored at will, but there are certain points where Okabe 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;
If you change Ruka from a boy to a girl nothing changes regarding personality, appearance or relationships, but it causes the IBN 5100 to be broken.
In Faris' ending saving both her father and keeping Akiba the same somehow results in Okabe not knowing any of the people he's friends with. Not even Mayuri.
Butt Monkey: Okabe. 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, see Love Confession below.
Calling Your Attacks: Okabe 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 mk2; Mayuri also makes an appearance as a summon. Kurisu's also a character in Phantom Breaker, as well as in Nendoroid Generation.
Cant You Read The Sign: Okabe repeatedly uses his cellphone in a cafe while sitting in front of a "No Cellphones" sign.
Catch Phrase: Mayuri's "Tuturu~" whenever she greets someone as a phone wallpaper sent by Mayuri.
Cerebus Callback: There's an early running gag about how Ruka is incredibly feminine despite being a guy. About two third of the way through the story, it's not funny anymore when not only was Ruka transgender and finally given a chance to be a girl, but then has to return to normal. A clearly depressed Okabe repeats the lines in his head.
Cerebus Syndrome: Cerebus strikes in the middle of nowhere during the 13th when Moeka breaks in and kills Mayuri, sending the second half of the story into action.
Character Magnetic Team: Most of the cast wind up as lab members once the time travel experiments begin.
Remember the Metal Oopa that Mayuri lost in episode 1? 22 episodes later it was revealed that the Metal Oopa set off the metal detector, prevented Dr. Nakabachi from boarding the plane that was fated to crash. As a result, the documents and research data of Kurisu was not destroyed in the crash, setting off the events for the dystopia.
Also - the empty/static mail Okabe recieves in episode 1? It's actually a mail from his future self, telling him how to solve the unsolvable situation and save Kurisu.
Those wacky inventions Okabe and Daru made ends up saving their lives. For instance, the remote control gun and the smoke bomb.
When the plot gets going, Okabe quickly forgets the important fact that in the world where Kurisu was killed, the 'satellite' time machine was on the roof but otherwise the same. Meaning Suzuha was in that world too. And who is Suzuha? John Titor. What did John Titor say would happen in the future? An apocalyptic world that leaves 2036 a radioactive wasteland. Not a bit of this is addressed until the true ending starts up, which doesn't start until after the credits roll after getting the ending that takes the longest to get.
Chekhov's Gunman: Mister Braun is a SERN agent and Moeka's superior and contact. When uncovered, he shoots himself to keep Moeka safe.
Close Enough Timeline: The Faris ending results in a world line where Okabe knows none of his friends besides Faris and the Future Gadget Lab (and thus time machine) never came into being. However, after he confirms that Mayuri does not die in this time around, he decides that he's willing to accept this.
Continuity Nod: Steins;Gate is officially a sequel to Chaos Head, but the stories are almost completely unconnected. However, references are made to the ugly frog straps and even Takumi himself through his online avatar.
Cosplay Cafe: Mayuri and Faris both work at a maid cafe, which Faris has really embraced.
Cow Tools: There's a lot of junk lying around both literally and metaphorically. For example, the eight Future Gadgets aren't all used and are generally kind of useless and the plot overviews for RaiNet never amount to anything either. There are some things you need to pay attention to and a lot that you don't.
Death Is Cheap: Whenever Mayuri dies, Okabe time leaps back to several hours or days ago before her death.
Lampshaded and deconstructed when Okabe wants to keep time-leaping to try and Take A Third Option to avoid having to let Kurisu be killed; when she says that seeing Mayuri die so many times will destroy him, he notes that he's already gone numb to the experience. Possibly subverted, though, since Kurisu at least doesn't believe he could still have a heart and not feel anything at all at the sight; thus, she calls him out on it.
It also shows that undoing the alterations caused by time travel may reverse the bad things they caused, but it also negates all the good things, forcing you to let go of the gifts you got from time travel. And even if you go through all the trouble of unaltering the future so SERN doesn't turn the world into a dystopia, that does not mean that other disasters can't happen.
Disappeared Dad: Faris's father, who died in a plane crash. This makes her use D-mail to save her father and causes Akihabara to become well-known for electrical appliances instead of otaku culture. In addition, her father saved her from a kidnapping incident by selling his IBN 5100 to SERN in the past.
Also, the fate that befalls Nae after her father's suicide.
The Ditz: Mayuri, who can suddenly stop at a place doing Stardust Handshake, much to the dismay of Okabe.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: In episode 19, taken out of context, the brawl Okabe has with Moeka looks very much like a rape in progress.
Downer Ending: In the Visual Novel, Kurisu's ending is the same as Mayuri's, except now Okabe is going to be a miserable wreck since he sacrificed the woman he loved. Fortunately, the True Ending follows up on this and makes it better.
The Dog Was the Mastermind: The identity of FB turns out to be none other than Okabe's beleaguered landlord Mr. Braun.
Driven to Suicide: Suzuha, after she travels to 1975 using the time machine fixed by Daru, having lost her memories then recover it again 25 years later.
Several characters go through this actually. Moeka hangs herself in one timeline and Mr. Braun shoots himself in another. Even Okabe tries to kill himself at one point while trying to save Mayuri.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: Mayuri. Each time she dies, Okabe time leaps to make sure it never happens.
Dystopia: SERN's One World Order in 2036. John Titor describes is as a global framework of Communism with 19th century living standards where SERN has control of all scientific research, technology, and knowledge.
Easter Egg: If you send an email to the address sg-epk@jtk93.x29.jp (aka future Okabe of the beta world line), you will receive a fake error message indicating that the address does not exist on this current world line as well as the same string of hex code originally sent to Okabe.
Everything Trying to Kill You: You are fated to die when the world says so, no time traveling can change that. If the world doesn't want you dead on that moment, you will never die, no matter what.
Fake-Out Make-Out: Okabe does this to Moeka when a neighbor comes to see what the source is of all the racket caused by their struggle, and gets bitten for his efforts. Luckily for him the neighbor failed the spot check for the resulting spectacle ends up looking less like a make-out and more like a rape in progress.
Okabe to Kurisu. This specific instance occurs several times, actually, because Okabe continuously reverses the event due to his self-imposed Groundhog Day Loop.
Faris asks Okabe to call her by her real name after he saves her from some kidnappers.
Stage 4 of SERN's Z-Program involves human experiments.
Experiment Result: Human is dead, mismatch.
Mayuri's family name is Shiina. You can figure out the rest. Also, Kurisu is lab member number 004.
Fourth Wall Psych: Early on we see Okabe with his face pressed up against the screen, sneering at the other side of the monitor and proclaiming that he is the real one no matter what the observer thinks. He's actually talking to a piece of supposedly interactive software that won't react for some reason.
Full Name Basis: Suzuha, with a few exception, calls people by their full name.
Groundhog Day Loop: Okabe invokes this trope on himself to Set Right What Once Went Wrong using Time Leap Machine. In Suzuha's route, he refuses to erase Suzuha's memory with the group, using Time Leap Machine to trap himself in a continuous loop between August 11 to August 13 before Mayuri dies. His heart almost dies before Suzuha saves him and asks him to time travel with her.
Happy Ending: The True Ending has Okabe manage to save Mayuri and Kurisu, avert both bad futures and keep hold of all the relationships he made, though they've all suffered minor setbacks. At first it seems it might have the bittersweet factor of never seeing Kurisu again but in the end she manages to find him and they reunite which Kurisu having some very vague memories of Okabe, hinting they'll get together. Ruka and Faris get to be closer to the group like the wished to be and Moeka is finally finding some grounding for her life. Finally, the ending special for the anime confirms most of the above and introduces Yuki, Amane's mother.
He Knows Too Much: SERN is trying to silence Okabe and lab members for inventing the time-machine.
Heroic BSOD: Okabe, when he lost all his ways to save Mayuri and upon discovering that he is the one who stabbed Kurisu.
Heroic Sacrifice: Kurisu decides to sacrifice herself so Mayuri can survive. It doesn't help.
The Okabe from the alpha timeline was at least ready to do this (to fake Kurisu's death and to deceive the beta timeline Okabe), Suzuha saved him, though.
Heroes Want Redheads: Kurisu is Okabe's love interest and "most important person" in the route that leads to Chapter 11 and the Epilogue (aka the canon route). Essentially, she's the canon love interest.
Although in the original visual novel, she was a brunette.
Somewhat JustifiedWhen Daru was hacking into the SERN in episode 14, he mentions that SERN ports were already open as SERN had been watching the group since the first D-Mail was sent. It's somewhat justified that he would be able to hack into a system quickly that already has it's doors open into Daru's computer in the first place.
Hollywood Silencer: Suzuha's gun is very quiet. Then again, it's likely from the future.
Hope Spot: Okabe initially believes that additional divergence caused by Suzuha's trip to 1975 would subvert Mayuri's murder. Nope.
Hypocritical Humor: Okabe and Kurisu spend a great deal of time mocking each other for being scrawny, nerdy virgins - naturally ignoring their own scrawny, nerdy virgin-hood.
I Didn't Tell You Because You'd Be Unhappy: There is no good way to tell your best friend that they're going to die within hours and you've personally witnessed it countless times in your attempts to prevent it. So Okabe doesn't.
If It's You, It's Okay: As far as Daru is concerned, Ruka's just as ripe for Yuri Fanboy fantasies as any of his other non-Okabe friends, actual sex be damned.
Insane Equals Violent: Moeka totally loses it once she's accepted by FB, and kills Mayuri just because FB told her to.
In Spite of a Nail: While there can be surprising changes that come about as a result of D-mail usage, the world will fundamentally remain the same. For example, whether Ruka is a boy or girl will changing almost nothing in relation to their life or relationships.
It's All My Fault: Upon realizing that his invention D-mail machine causes all the troubles his lab members are facing.
Karma Houdini: Kurisu's father who does lose the paper that would have made him famous, but still seems to avoid any legal punishment for stabbing Okabe. Even worse in the other timeline where he was responsible for his daughter's death and then stole her paper, gaining fame and power.
The anime did not mention about Nakabachi's fate, but in the VN, he was arrested in Russia for his outburst and being a suspect for attempted murder in Radio Kaikan building.
Kill The Cutie: Mayuri is the first to go once things hit the fan...over and over again, thanks to the peculiarities of time travel.
The Lady's Favour: The only conceivable purpose for a handkerchief that Okabe knows about.
La Résistance: In the Alpha timeline future, there's a resistance movement founded by Okabe and Daru that seeks to overthrow SERN.
Laser Blade: One of Okabe's many inventions is the Cyalume Saber, which is pretty obviously Darth Vader's lightsaber.
Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When Okabe 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). Daru 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: Mayuri regarding her fated deaths. However, she frequently has feelings of deja vu about them.
Lonely Together: In Amane's ending, they travel to 1975 together knowing their memories will be broken up in the belief that together they can stay happy.
Love Confession: A very bittersweet one from Okabe to Kurisu in episode 22.
And a very very manly one from Okabe to Kurisu in episode 25. Note that this occurs in the Steins;Gate world line. He (and the audience) are left hanging at the credits. However, the last thing Kurisu tells him is "Close your eyes," a direct callback to episode 22 that makes it pretty clear what her answer will be.
Okabe himself isn't very good at handling confessions. He gets a few, but he handles the one from the female Ruka worst: He freaks out so badly that he staggers home and time travels back a few days.
Love Makes You Crazy: Tennouji Yuugo (Mr. Braun) loves Nae very dearly, and as a result, SERN threatens him with Nae's death to get him to manipulate Moeka and other people into killing and stealing just to keep the IBN 5100 from reaching Okabe's hands.
Luke, You Are My Father: Suzuha travels to year 2010 to look for her father. After Mayuri reveals that Daru is Suzuha's father, Suzuha hugs Daru. However, Daru has no idea why Suzuha hugged him and is left feeling both glad and confused.
MacGuffin: Nearly half the series is focused around Okabe and SERN's attempts to get their hands on an IBN 5100.
Madness Mantra: letter written by Suzuha to Okabe, filled with despair on how she failed her mission to get IBN 5100 and her life is meaningless. Mission Report: Failure... Failure... Failure... Failure... Failure... Failure... Failure... Failure... Failure... Failure... Failure... Failure... Failure... Failure... I failed... Failure... Failure... Failure... Failure... Failure... Failure...
Also Moeka. After she loses contact with FB the only thing she can text on her phone is: FBFBFBFBFBFBFBFBFBFBFBFBFBFBFB...
Mad Scientist: Okabe, or, as he prefers to call himself, the Crazy Mad Scientist, Hououin Kyouma.
Magical Particle Accelerator: The plot is based on the idea that the Large Hadron Collider has some kind of massive world-ending powers.
MotivationalHalf Truth: Beta Suzuha wasn't lying when she said that Okabe could save Kurisu's life. What she didn't say was he was required to fail first.
Never The Selves Shall Meet: This is obviously not a problem considering that Okabe uses Mental Time Travel, but it comes into play at the end of the series when Suzuha helps him alter the past with a "conventional" time machine.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: By choosing to use D-mail to mess up the past, Mayuri will die, and SERN is dead set on capturing you.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Okabe fights Moeka in her apartment in order to get her D-mail message.
Not What It Looks Like: Dubious of Okabe and Daru's intentions with Mayuri, Kurisu asks her if they used bribery or blackmail to rope her into Future Gadget Lab membership. Mayuri's response does not relive her.
Mayuri: Nothing like that - it's just I'm Okarin's hostage!
Kurisu: ... That's it. I'm calling the cops.
No Waterproofing in the Future: Amane's time machine is short circuited by rain and can't be repaired so they have to undo it being damaged in the first place.
Official Couple: Kurisu is the main heroine and the story revolves around her relationship with Okabe, both romantically and otherwise.
Oh Crap: Okabe, every time Mayuri's watch stops, since it means that she's about to die again.
Once More With Clarity: All those oddities in the first episode were the result of Okabe's first attempt to prevent Kurisu's murder.
Open Secret: Okabe is very bad at keeping his time-travel experiments under wraps.
Many of the characters are otakus and almost all of them have elements of it. Suzuha is unknown due to her situation, but both her parents were otaku. Okabe only likes mecha anime but his strange personality can be considered otakuish. Kurisu is teased about it but she only have very minor elements. Faris, meanwhile, appears to be in a perpetual state ofLARPingBig Eyes Small Mouth.
Parental Neglect: Kurisu's father keeps a distance from her, downright refusing to see her.
Phlebotinum Analogy: Okabe and Kurisu explain the mechanics of Kerr black holes and world lines to Daru and Mayuri through a more otaku-oriented lens. Kurisu's not amused when Daru starts making requests.
Daru: Can you compare it to an eroge? Tell me, oh erotic one.
Planning For The Future Before The End: In the second to last time loop in the Alpha world line, Okabe spends the last few minutes before Mayuri's regularly scheduled death discussing plans for next year's Comima and promising her that he'll cosplay next time around.
Police Are Useless: Police officers only serve to interfere with Okabe's actions. They do absolutely nothing when Okabe and Faris are being hunted by a group of angry mobs all over Akihabara!
Poor Communication Kills: It takes Okabe 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.
Pretty Little Head Shots: Mayuri's (initial) and Mr. Braun's 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.
Psychopathic Man Child: Nae upon receiving her 15 years later memories via time leaping.
Purple Prose: In the English dub, Okabe talks like this when acting like a mad scientist. No surprise there — his actor is the lead scriptwriter.
Putting the Band Back Together: In the true ending, Okabe seeks out and recruits everyone "back" into the lab, even though none of them remember their adventures together. Maybe...
Pyrrhic Victory: In Kurisu's ending Okabe does save Mayuri, but he's a broken wreck and had to sacrifice the woman he loved for it.
Redemption Equals Death: Moeka apologizes for her other world line self killing Mayuri after getting stabbed by Nae.
Relationship Reset Button: While Okabe is able to prevent SERN's dystopia, avert World War III, and prevent both Mayuri and Kurisu's deaths, doing so temporally wipes out the relationship he developed with Kurisu, save for their first encounter. That isn't to say that Kurisu forgot it entirely...
Rescue Romance: This is how Ruka and Okabe met. In the timeline where Ruka is a female, she fell in love with him. And hinted that Ruka fell in love in the timeline where he's a guy.
This is actually a strange example since in the timeline where Ruka is a girl, this didn't actually happen. She was just getting memories from the other timeline. It is interesting to note that she stated that this was the moment she started loving Okabe, implying that may actually be what the male Ruka felt.
In one of the drama CDs, Ruka's feelings seem to be confirmed when pretty much blurts out his attraction to Okabe to Suzuha (who is currently the victim of a romantic misunderstanding.) However, it takes place in a separate world line, so take it as you will.
Ripple Effect Indicator: The Divergence Meter, which shows the current world line's percent divergence and how close Okabe is to succeeding in returning to the beta world line.
Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Okabe's 'Reading Steiner,' the ability to retain memory of prior timelines. However, if their memories are prodded properly, other characters can remember other world lines; this occurs separately with Faris and Ruka. Later on we find out that Mayuri and Kurisu have both been dreaming of previous world lines.
Rock Beats Laser: The IBN 5100 is central to the series, despite being an antique computer, because it can translate the source code SERN uses in its computers, allowing its owner to hack SERN's computer networks with ease.
Rubber-Band History: Divergent world lines cluster together via Attractor Fields, meaning that most time alterations will eventually lead to the same outcome. Avoiding that outcome requires a world line divergence greater than 1%.
Sadistic Choice: Either undo the senders' D-mail, which cancels their wish and erase their memories, or choose not to and let Mayuri die and go to the respective sender's route. Taking a third option won't work.
Samus Is a Girl: Done twice. John Titor is revealed to be Suzuha. FB, whom Moeka and Okabe assume is female due to her writing voice, is revealed to be Mr. Braun.
Screw Destiny: Okabe's main goal is to save Mayuri from her fated death by undoing all the time traveling he did.
This is actually a bit of a weird variety since it was him screwing with destiny to begin with that all of this happened.
The latter half of the story deals with undoing all the D-mails Okabe's lab members did to save Mayuri.
After that, in the true ending, Okabe goes and abuses the hell out of time travel to create a world that avoids both dystopia and World War III by saving Kurisu and destroying her research after Nakabachi steals it.
Serious Business: Rai-Net. In one timeline, a group of Rai-Netters attempt to kidnap Faris and beat Okabe half to death just because she beat them in a tournament.
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.
Shining Finger, Moeka Kiryuu's nickname, given by Okabe.
The first person to directly point out the reference, complete with the "My hand glows with an awesome power" line, is Daru, who is voiced by none other than Domon Kasshu himself.
The name "D-Mail" was thought up after Mayuri came up with "Delorian Mail".
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.
In Episode 12, Okabe says in the dub that Suzuha won the cake unfairly. Quote, "Therefore, the cake is a lie!"
In the VN, Okabe accuses Suzuha of being an Organization assassin - code name: Miss Golgo.
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.
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: Alpha Suzuha's time machine is backwards only.
On a more constrained scale, so is the Time Leap machine.
Someone Has to Die: Occurs when the attempts to avert Mayuri's fate put them on track for the timeline where Kurisu died, forcing them to choose between saving Mayuri or Kurisu. However, when they choose to save Mayuri, their decision gets turned on its head when that just makes things worse.
Something Only They Would Say: FB gave each member of the Rounders specific codenames that no other member knows. It also becomes the key to finding out FB's true identity. (See Episode 20 Wham Line)
Sophisticated as Hell: "I believe in street argot the phrase is: 'Payback's a bitch.'"
Absolutely everything in the opening dictates the entire series in chronological order. It's just that it's too vague and pretty for it to look like there's any storyline. Also, the characters at the end of the opening vanish in a particular order. That and the exact reverse are how the timelines are set up.
The visual novel opening does little better and shows you Mayuri with a headshot and jellyman Mayuri among other things. There's even Mr. Braun about to commit suicide.
Stable Time Loop: In the True Ending you find out that the entire thing has been one long loop with multiple versions of Okabe jumping around to different points in time though there is always a very specific exit point in mind.
Stealth Pun: Presumably the joke behind the term "D-mail".
Stupid Sexy Ruka: Okabe's reactions toward Ruka, after he cosplays a she.
Okabe: My soul... My soul is being devoured!
He even gives Kurisu a Gay Moment, as she still believed he was a girl.
The Stinger: Episode 22. Despite returning to the beta world line and letting Kurisu die as she originally did, it turns out that the Bad Future has not been averted, but simply shifted from dystopia to World War III. 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.
The DVDs/Blu-rays starts a new chapter right before the voice over.
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! Okabe: So Daru, why is my assistant crying?
This is also an interesting moment because of the whole thing with her father later on.
Taking the Bullet: Kurisu blocked a stab from Okabe meant for Dr. Nakabachi, giving him a huge Heroic BSOD. Later, Okabe provokes Dr. Nakabachi into stabbing him.
In one of the timelines, when Okabe attempts suicide by getting hit by a car, Mayuri pushes him aside and gets killed that way.
Take A Third Option: Subverted in that it only causes more trouble later. Example: trying to save Faris's father while asking him to hold IBN 5100 until Okabe claims it causes Okabe to get stuck in a world where no one remembers him other than Faris, who is now his lover and Rai-Net Access Battlers partner. Both D-mail and the Time Leap Machine are never created, and he's forced to start a new life with her.
The Teaser: Used more often than not in the anime.
Theme Naming: Okabe tends to name endeavors "Operation (figure from Norse Mythology)". Lampshaded by Kurisu, and later by Okabe when she makes up her own Norse-flavored Operation.
Thirteen Is Unlucky: The SERN raid on the lab and Mayuri's murder in the initial timeline occur on a Friday the 13th.
This Is Unforgivable: Okabe hates Moeka with a passion for cold-heartedly killing Mayuri. Subverted later when Moeka dies.
Time and Relative Dimensions in Space: Discussed in the VN as a reason that the jellymen end up in such random locations. Also for that fact that, of the hundred or so tested, only fourteen were found.
Time Travel: Central to the plot, and hitting upon plenty of related tropes, with a healthy dose of Mind Screw and Deconstruction.
The Time Traveller's Dilemma: Preventing a Bad Futureand saving Mayuri's life requires a great deal of sacrifices, the most difficult one being Mikase's life.
Time Travel Romance: Time travel - the ultimate(ly traumatizing) matchmaker.
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 future!Okabe uses "Steins Gate" to refer to the ideal timeline where both Kurisu and Mayuri are alive and World War III and dystopia are both averted.
Immediately Subverted in the second case, as the future Okabe says to the present one "You know why I named it that, right?" and both of them answer in unison "It doesn't really mean anything."
Tomato Surprise: The reveal that Okabe kills Kurisu in beta timeline in an accident.
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 Rintarou becomes a founder and leader of La Résistance and is known as a famous terrorist working against SERN.
Trauma Conga Line: Okabe crosses this multiple times trying to save Mayuri and Kurisu.
Tricked Out Time: In the end, Okabe has to save Kurisu while making it look like she still died.
True Companions: Being a Lab member of Future Gadget Circle is like being in Okabe's true companions.
A rare justified example in that Okabe 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.
Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Use the contents of a toy lightsaber as fake blood to fabricate Kurisu's death? Easy! Unless, of course, you discover just as you were planning to use it that it expired and solidified some time ago...
Verbal Tic: Faris often ends her sentence with "-nya".
Villainous Breakdown: Dear god, when Moeka loses contact with FB, she becomes an emotional wreck. Her situation is only worsened when Okabe steals her phone. In the world line where Okabe doesn't arrive at her apartment, Moeka eventually commits suicide in despair.
Well Done Son Guy: Kurisu desperately wants her father's acknowledgement, which he will never give, and downright hates her. In beta timeline, he steals her thesis about time traveling, planning to take all the credit himself.
Wham Episode: Anime episode 12, when the lab members are surrounded by SERN, led by Moeka.
Moeka: "Shiina Mayuri is not needed." *fires gun at Mayuri*
Episode 20:
Yuugo: (to Moeka) "You sold us out, M4."
Episode 22:
Suzuha: "You must stop World War III."-*EPISODE ENDS*
A minor example from episode 3:
"Human is dead: Mismatch"
Counts as something named the Jellyman report doesn't sound particularly serious, but causes Okabe to have a minor Heroic BSOD.
White and Gray Morality: There are no truly evil characters in the story. SERN is a definite black when it comes to morality, but the individuals making it up are generally troubled people who don't have any real choice.
Woolseyism: Invoked Kurisu frequently drops memes into her speech, but since they would make no sense when translated literally the translators turned them into something more comprehensible to English speakers.
Wrong Genre Savvy: Okabe 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 Daru claiming he is simply "deluded", even admitting that he (Okabe) is the only one who really cares about "destroying the ruling structure of the world".
By the end, however, this is reversed, and those same lines sound downright awesome, and very convincing, notably at the end of episode 23.
You Can't Fight Fate: Once the world has decreed that something will happen, it's going to happen. No matter what you do, certain events will take place unless you remove their cause in the past. These tend to be the critical events that greatly shape the world such as the birth or death of a person or acquisition of an item that has drastic effects on the world.
Artistic License - Biology: Ruka thinks that if a baby's mother eats lots of vegetables, the baby will be born female. Okabe and Daru are somewhat dubious of his claim, but run along with it to keep him happy. At first glance it may seem that he's right, but in a series that deals extensively with the fallout of time travel it's probably not so simple.
You Have Failed Me: After Moeka helps Okabe track down FB, Braun executes her for betraying him.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The Fate of all Rounder members. After their mission, they are supposed to commit suicide to hide the mission's secret.
It appears that he kills her more because, if he didn't, SERN would go after Nae. Executing her and turning the gun on himself may assure she will be left unharmed.
Younger Than They Look: Both Okabe and Daru are supposed to be in their late teens, 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 a Womanchild, Mayuri still does not look like a 16-year old.
Your Princess Is In Another Castle: Congratulations, Okabe, you managed to save Mayuri and all you had to do is sacrifice the woman you love, the happiness of your friends and your own state of mind. Cue the credits! Then, right in the middle of the credits in comes a call from Amane Suzuha but not the one Okabe knows. Turns out he forgot a few important things, namely that the time travel machine was on the roof even in the restored timeline and that John Titor predicted a devastating war that would kill over five billion people.
. The movie will be dubbed in 2013.Other tie-ins include the Epigraph of Closed Curve and Pandora of Eternal Recurrence light novels, which continue the story of the beta world line. These novels are accompanied by drama cds.A sequel game called Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram was released in April 2013. Unlike the first game, the sequel is told from the perspective of all the lab members.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 amidst the hopes for a licensed release.Robotics Notes, the sequel to Steins;Gate, was released on the Xbox 360 and PS3 in June 2012. An anime adaptation begain airing in the noitaminA block in October of the same year.There's a movie in the works (Title: "Gekijouban Steins;Gate: Fuka Ryouiki no Deja vu"), in which, according to the trailers, the characters will continue to have problems with time travel.
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