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Something i love about Steins;Gate (spoilers ahead; if you haven't watched it you should do that, you deserve to experience it spoiler-free)--

Is how it's a subtle inversion of anime's popular trope, "everyone is in love with our socially awkward protagonist and would do anything for him without hesitation; they exist for his character development"

Because, like, yes there are a lot of girls in the show who are inexplicably drawn to Okabe despite him being rude, awkward, overbearing and weird. Yes some of those girls would literally do anything for him. (It's me I'm girls)

But they also call him on his BS. And he also cares deeply about them--but in a way that respects them and learns not to assume he knows what's best for them. The story is about Okabe but the side characters are fleshed out and feel like they could exist even if he wasn't around at the moment.

AND, Kurisu (who is so frequently, wrongly waifu-ified) spends the entire series calling him out on his BS, drawing firm boundaries, not allowing him to get away with being rude to her, being rightfully upset with him when he is mean or makes others uncomfortable, etc. Is it any surprise the way their relationship develops?

These characters are the catalysts to his growth, but not in an accessory way or a "manic pixie" way.

At the end of the day, the catalysts for Okabe's growth were his own mistakes and his respect and care for the people around him. And i think that's beautiful.

#anime #okabe steins;gate #steins;gate #s;g #kart's very strong absolutely correct anime opinions #kurisu steins;gate

Do you ever think about how close we were to getting evil!Okabe

How many time leaps away was he from resolving to burn it all down if it meant saving the people he loved

By the end he's right on the verge of it.

He's sacrificed the hopes and dreams and even lives of his friends. He's sacrificed his own mind and heart and body. What's a little more sacrifice to get what he craves, what he needs in order to survive

Just... EVIL OKABE

#okabe steins;gate #steins gate #steins;gate #s;g #steins gate au #okabe rintaro

Ok if you haven't watched Steins;Gate, you definitely, definitely need to, and don't read this until you have

Because I'm going to do spoilers

And you do NOT want spoilers for this show

So stop reading 👍👍👍

Ok, here goes:

...

Thinking about the massively successful masterclass in storytelling that is this show and coming up with a few thoughts

1. What our protagonist "wants" and what our protagonist truly needs are in direct opposition to each other

2. The story is perfectly cyclical

3. Our narrator is unreliable, which disorients us in a way that heightens the fun (or misery/pain) of watching it

I saw a writer on Twitter say that the most important narrative tension you can have in your story is between your character's goal and what they truly need. They need some kind of fatal misconception that misdirects them to a wrong goal, so that by pursuing that goal, they ultimately get straightened out and get what they truly need; whether or not they ultimately accomplish what they set out to do is relatively unimportant compared to whether they learn the important lesson in the end.

Okabe is a great example of this. His stated goal is to "change the world's ruling structure," but it seems pretty clear (in my opinion; Okabe is a pretty controversial character and there are a lot of opinions out there about him) that his goals are a) avoiding the pain of reality (which is why he hides behind his Kyouma mask and is a metaphorical Peter Pan, acting childish and immature) and b) winning esteem (another function of his Kyouma mask, as well as the acts he does with Ruka and Feris especially).

What Okabe actually needs is to accept and engage with reality as it is, and to cherish the moment and the relationships he has within it.

The fact that his goals and needs are in such direct opposition with each other gives the story a phenomenal amount of tension.

The fact that the story is cyclical is something else that builds tension in a really interesting way. Instead of the sort of edge-of-your-seat suspense of wondering what comes next, you're dealing instead with the horror and heartbreak of knowing what comes next. You're coming to terms, alongside Okabe, with the inevitable.

I think there's a special kind of good pain involved in a story about "un-doing." Trying to make right. And Steins;Gate explores "making right" through a lens that's uncomfortably close.

In fact, i think it's really brilliant that the whole situation was so innocently got into, and yet so excruciating to get out of. In undoing the kindnesses he had done for them before, Okabe is causing his friends immense pain--pain that they will ultimately not remember--in the service of the greater good. Things he can't explain. You see this unfolding with clear eyes because the story is a perfect circle.

Finally, i think it's SUCH an interesting choice to make Okabe an unreliable narrator. This unreliability on his part (not literal unreliability, he's the most reliable boy in the world) draws us into the story by eroding our sense of what's "real" and what isn't. I almost wonder if this effect is what's teased in the opening scene where he's talking into the TV, seeming to address the viewer, before you realize he's talking to what's on the screen.

Because of Okabe's "Kyouma" persona, you aren't quite sure what to make of him at first. You don't know when he's being serious and when he's joking around, or how much of what he says is true and how much is just part of the act. We see Kurisu reflect our confusion at the beginning especially: when he tries to tell her anything, she's confused and concerned and unsure if any of it is real. (Daru and Mayuri basically universally dismiss anything he says as being part of the act, unless they witnessed it themselves.)

This dynamic feeds a sense of mystery into the first several episodes. It's also really interesting to observe how his facade hinders him from really communicating--something we can intuit has happened with relationships in the past (not being able to process complex feelings or express care for his friends without hiding behind Kyouma), but something that seems to be new to him in the realm of "communicating clear information".

What's also really interesting about this is that as Kyouma starts to break down and we see more of Okabe shining through, Okabe's mental state also begins to deteriorate, making him an unreliable narrator for completely different reasons.

What's real? What's an illusion? What's a dream? What's real but, in a moment, one time skip away, won't be?

Imo it's this fudging of reality that's the cherry on top for this show. Even though the story is cyclical, you're second-guessing reality *just* enough not to be completely certain what's next.

I just love this show so much. I feel like it got a lot of love from a specific type of fan, but I've seen relatively little appreciation for it from fans who analyze story and character and storytelling devices. I just want it to be appreciated for the masterpiece that it is!

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