| “ | Consider, can the universe be justifiably called infinite? Doubtful. It may not have a discernible end, but it had a beginning and its component parts definitely have a limited cosmological shelf-life. Splitting hairs or not, if history tells us anything, it's that scientists often make very poor poets. We're all just a ship of fools chasing phantoms heedless of what really underwrites natural law. | „ |
| ~ Rintarou Okabe's opening monologue in the anime |
Template:InfoboxRintarou Okabe is the main protagonist of the visual novel Steins;Gate and the anime of the same name. He is a self-proclaimed mad scientist who calls himself Hoouin Kyouma which he claims is his true name. He is the founder of the Future Gadget Lab where he and his lab members invents various gadgets. His lab group invents the Phonewave (name subject to change) which enables him to send e-mails to the past. This would later put him against the shadowy organization named SERN who is also working on a time machine on its own to make their own version of a utopia and would doom his childhood friend, Mayuri Shiina, who happens to be the reason he adopted his 'mad scientist' persona in the first place.
He is voiced by Mamoru Miyano in the Japanese version and J. Michael Tatum in the English version, the former of whom also voices Death the Kid, Chrollo Lucifer and Masaomi Kida.
Appearance
Rintarou has the characteristics of a lanky young man, with a square jaw and bony cheeks. He has his short black hair swept back and has brown irises, with a small amount of stubble on his chin. Rintarou also wears a lab coat, which he wears over a simple shirt and slacks.
In the game Rintarou appeared much "dustier". His face was pale and unshaved and he seemed a lot more "messy" in contrast to his relatively "clean" appearance in the anime.
Personality
| “ | Okabe: Are you crying down there? Kurisu (sarcastically): What's there to cry about?! Just because some maniac jumped out of his chair and started screaming at me about his damn fake name and scared me half to death?! No, that's totally fine! No problem! Okabe: Daru, the woman is weeping. Why is this? Daru: Think about what she told you in that big breathless rant. |
„ |
| ~ An example of Okabe's social ineptness |
Rintarou is a melodramatic, eccentric and rarely tsundere individual. He is a self-proclaimed mad scientist, who likes to assume the nickname "Hououin Kyouma", and often uses this to introduce himself to others. For the most part, people do not seem to care and instead address him by his actual name or by 'Okarin' (his nickname), much to his chagrin. This makes him slightly hypocritical, due to the fact that there is essentially no-one he calls by their real names, and in particular calls Kurisu a number of names that irritate her to varying degrees.
He also likes to pose as an agent working against a certain "Organization" which he thinks is always after him, as he believes this kind of image gives him a cool and mysterious aura, though this seems to disappear as the story progresses, with SERN likely replacing the "Organization's" villainous image.
He usually gives off the impression of being delusional and paranoid, engaging in strange mannerisms such as talking to himself on the phone and engaging in fits of maniacal laughter often; he had a severe case of Chuunibyou as seen at the start of the series. This is in fact a façade he wears in order to make life interesting for his dear childhood friend Mayuri. Initially, he is portrayed as being rather arrogant, however, it is later suggested that this is due to Rintarou's eccentricities and social awkwardness. He later drops his Chuunibyou facade upon witnessing Mayuri's muitiple deaths, revealing a serious side of himself he has not shown for the first half of the series as he works had to undo all the previous D-mails he has made, while in order to obtain the IBN 5100 and prevent Mayuri's death. He also develops something of a guilt complex, frequently blaming himself whenever something goes wrong. An example is when he blamed himself for stopping Suzuha from leaving during the night of the storm, which resulted in the loss of her memory and her failure in finding the IBN 5100, despite Suzuha's insistence that the entire thing was her fault.
Despite the aforementioned traits, he is actually a kind and caring individual. This is particularly evident towards the end of the anime and the visual novel, where he casts aside his peculiar facade, to save the death of his friends from the seemingly unavoidable fate of the Alpha worldline.
In the Suzuha Ending, Okabe's personality becomes exceedingly warped and twisted, as a result of being forced to choose between saving Suzuha or Mayuri. Despite this, he soon returns to acting like his old self upon being confronted by Suzuha.
He has seemed to develop feelings for Kurisu, along with Ruka, Faris, and Mayuri as time passes, as he became lovers with any of them in their respective endings, though he openly displays his affections for Kurisu near the end of the story, regardless of the route chosen.