Steins;Gate

Steins;Gate is a Japanese visual novel developed by 5pb. and Nitro+ and is a spiritual successor to Chaos;HEAd. The game was released on October 15, 2009 for the Xbox 360 and for the PC on August 26, 2010. A port for Sony's PlayStation Portable was announced and will be released in June, 2011.

The game is described by the developers as a "Hypothetical Science ADV" (想定科学ADV Soutei Kagaku ADV). As a visual novel, the gameplay follows a linear plot line which offers predetermined scenarios with courses of interaction throughout the game.

Currently an anime adaption by White Fox Ltd and is being aired in Japan starting from April 6th, 2011.

Plot Overview

Set approximately one year after Chaos;HEAd in the streets of Akihabara, Summer 2010, the story begins with Okabe Rintarou and Shiina Mayuri heading towards the Radio Kaikan building on July 28, 2010, in Akihabara for a seminar. During the

events inside the building, Rintarou discovered the body of Makise Kurisu, a famous researcher, dead in a pool of blood.

Taking Mayuri away from the murder scene in a state of panic, he types a text message to his friend Itaru Hishida about the incident. At the exact moment Rintarou send his message, everyone around him suddenly vanish but he is the only person to ever witness this bizarre phenomena.

Production Overview

Steins;Gate is the second collaborative work between 5pb. and Nitroplus after Chaos;HEAd, with Chiyomaru Shikura of 5pb. headed the planning, scenario written by Naotaka Hayashi of 5pb. wrote the with assistance from Vio Shimokura of Nitroplus. The character designs are done by huke and whereas the gadgets were designed by Sh@rp.

The game was created with the concept of "99% science (reality) and 1% fantasy" in mind. Matsuhara, who was the one originally thought of the concept of the phone trigger system, stated that they initially wanted to incorporate the player's own mobile phone into the system. However, the idea was abandoned due to concerns of clashing with Japan's privacy laws. The story was also a concern, with fear that the topic about time travelling itself feels overdone and concerns were expressed during the development of the story itself.

Characters

Main Cast

Okabe Rintarou（岡部倫太郎, おかべりんたろう）

The main protagonist. Okabe Rintarou is a student in Tokyo Denki University and is the founder of the Future Gadget Laboratory (未来ガジェット研究所 Mirai Gadget Kenkyuujo) where he spends most of his time there.

Rintarou is arrogant, self centered and delusional. He even calls himself the Insane Mad Scientist Hououin Kyouma (鳳凰院凶真, ほうおういんきょうま), a man on the run from a certain "organization". Despite his claims, Mayuri and Itaru calls him Okarin (オカリン), a portmanteau of his full name much to his chagrin.

Makise Kurisu（牧瀬紅莉栖, まきせくりす）

The main heroine. Kurisu is a neuroscience researcher in the fictional Victoral Condoria University. Having had her research published in an academic journal at age 18, Kurisu is extremely talented and is considered a genius for her standards. At the beginning of the story, she was murdered and Rintarou was the first person to find her body.

Shiina Mayuri（椎名まゆり, しいなまゆり）

Mayuri is Rintarou's childhood friend and studies at Hana Asagi University, a private academy in Ochanomizu, Kanda. A small stature yet well endowed figure, she calls herself Mayushii☆（まゆしぃ☆）and has a habit of saying "Tutturu~♪" whenever she is meeting someone. Mayuri is a bit of an airhead as she does not see what is happening around her sometimes.

Itaru Hashida（橋田至, はしだいたる)

Rintarou's friend since high school and goes to the same university with him, nicknamed "Daru". Itaru is an experienced hacker and gadget maker, producing gadgets in the Future Gadget Laboratory.

Itaru's represents the stereotypical obese otaku in anime culture as he frequently use many net memes and terms in his everyday speech.

Urushibara Ruka（漆原るか, うるしばらるか）

Mayuri's classmate and heir to the Yanabanagi Shrine. Ruka's physical looks does not fall short what a pretty girl lacks, but he is a guy. Due to Ruka's shy and well mannered behavior, Rintarou gave the nickname "Rukako", but he is a guy>.

Amane Suzuha（阿万音鈴羽, あまねすずは）

A part timer working in the Braun Tube Workshop. Suzuha is a friendly and lively girl but constantly slacks off by maintaining her bicycle whenever her boss is not around. Claims herself to be a warrior earning the nickname "Part Time Warrior".

Faris Nyan Nyan（フェイリス・ニャンニャン）

A 2nd year high school student studying in Kanaria Private Academy at Yotsuya, Tokyo and is currently the most famous maid working in Maid Cafe "Mayqueen Nyan Nyan". She is also Mayuri's friend, since they both work in the same cafe.

Moeka Kiryuu（桐生萌郁, きりゅうもえか）

A part time editor working in "Arc Rewrite" who wanders around Akihabara in search for the IBN5100. Mokea has difficulties talking to people and prefers communicating with her cellphone instead. Her messages however is totally different from her real personality and is able to sending messages at an extremely fast rate to the point of spamming.

Yuugo Tenouji（天王寺裕吾, てんのうじゆうご）

A shop manager who manages the Braun Tubes Workshop and Suzuha's boss. Yuugo is a lover of all CRT televisions and is very protective of his daughter, Nae. Rintarou does not go against Yuugo considering he is the one who allowed him to open his laboratory on top of his workshop(and a free CRT television).

Nae Tenouji（天王寺綯, てんのうじなえ）

Yuugo's daughter. Nae sometimes visits the store to play with Suzuha, and is on good terms with Mayuri. She is however afraid of both Okabe and Daru and dare not get close to them due to their weird personalities.

Sub Cast

4ºC（シド, Shido）

An extremely arrogant delinquent and thinks he's the best player in Rainet Access Battlers. While he represents Ikebukuro under his group Viral Attackers for the prefecture tournament, he climbed the ranks using cheap and dirty tricks.

Dr.Nakabachi（ドクター中鉢, どくたーなかばち）

An exiled scientist and physics researcher, and is known by most of the people as a fabric inventor. Opening a lecture to announce his finished study about time machine at Radio Kaikan, he was immediately exposed by Okabe as a fake because his research paper is directly copied from John Titor's.

Urushibara Eisuke（漆原栄輔, うるしばらえいすけ）

Ruka's father and the current head priest of Yanabanagi Shrine. Eisuke is a very gentle person and is someone even Rintarou respects.

John Titor（ジョン・タイター）

Based on the infamous self proclaimed time traveler but appeared in the year 2010. John Titor claims to be from the future and has a mission which is to travel back to the year 1975 and obtain the IBN 5100. Titor's time travel theories and explanations in a japanese message board caused a huge ruckus in the internet.