Character Analysis - Relation to plot
In the general frame & focus of Steins;Gate you have two characters that drive the series forward, Makise Kurisu & Okabe Rintaro - Both of which are the nucleus of this series. At first, they both seem to fall within their own general archetypes. Okabe playing the role as an over eccentric mad scientist and Kurisu being a sharp and clever Tsundere character (with a guilty pleasure of being a secret otaku) .Where Okabe is not role playing as a mad scientist, he generally can be quite nice, also showing a keen determination in his desperation in trying to save "Future Gadget" lab members by altering the past. Though most of the time, he's busy provoking and butting heads with his antithesis Kurisu, while she does the same as well.
Though Makise Kurisu - A prodigal scientist from the U.S that's very much your classic Tsundere character, Often times is sharp tongued, sarcastic and confrontational, especially when it comes to sparring off with the likes Okabe. However, she also has a soft spot for Mayuuri as well as Ruka Urushibara - mostly because he is really a "She" as well, just with male components if you know what I mean.. Anyways, even despite bickering back and forth, Kurisu quickly develops feelings for Okabe, so we often times, can catch her off guard or embarrassed when an unexpectedly romantic or somewhat intimate scenario arises. Where the part of her the hates Okabe's guts, won't allow herself to be caught dead admitting she's developing feelings for that same dork. In other words she's not really true to herself, and usually has her guard up in maintaining a front, and distancing herself with a sharp tongued attitude. Though in the end, she's really just another hopeless romantic. As all of the characters within Steins;Gate are pretty simplistic overall, ranging from Mayuuri, Itaru or even Akiha Rumiho. Where I find that Suzuha Amane and Kiryuu Moeka are especially overly convenient plot serving characters, with Moeka being way too simplistic and unconvincing of a character within Stiens;Gate.
Pick your given character, asides from Okabe or Makise, and you'll find that pretty much every other character is often too simplistic, only having a singular conflict or particular ambition in their life, and once those issues are resolved, they really have no other purpose within the story, other than to be characters that just service the overarching narrative out of convenience, being relegated to a supporting character with little function or purpose, to simply provide small talk to fill in some odd minutes for each episode . Along with being a very linear heavily plot and event driven story, I realized that Steins;Gate's function as a story is too centric on the relationship between Okabe and Makise. If you remove those two characters you have an awfully weak story as a whole, since almost every other character has little depth to speak off in terms of their back story or ambitions as a person. This slightly changes from the original and the English sub, though more on that later.
Speaking of which, Mayuuri is somewhat of a weak character, with very little contribution to the story. The only thing Mayuuri offers generally is pretty casual dialogue, which often comes in the form of some needed comedic relief from some of Steins;Gates more intense subject matter. This is problematic, being that for someone with quite an awful a lot of screen time, she certainly doesn't show an equal amount of complexity or versatility as a character. She only becomes a critical component to the plot because like other "Future Gadget" lab members, Mayuuri's life becomes at risk - which the destined loop story gimmick is awfully unconvincing. She for the most part serves only as a Moe blob sidekick for both Kurisu and Okabe to accompany or perhaps protect and it isn't nearly as entertaining as it should be - In short Mayuuri as a character lacks a lot of character...
I do think that she appears to have more personality if you are watching the English dub, though that's just my opinion, none the less. She's not exactly a "quote" bad character, as I do find quite a few of her moments as a character within the story quite moving, like say when she's possibly arguing with Okabe or perhaps, when she's sad about something interestingly enough. In general, I feel a better job could have been done here in developing a character with more complexity and function, because she's seemingly entirely useless to the plot, other than to simply serve as baggage when people need race to her side to protect her. Hashida Itaru, or rather Daru is also a simplistic character that simply accompanies Okabe and team, assisting with his technological expertise when machines or computers are involved. Daru only serves as a perverted otaku whose main purpose is almost just to entirely either hack, repair or build something when the need arises. As he also generally pokes fun about Kurisu's shame about being a closet otaku, but other than that, rarely offers much else. Though some of his more redeeming moments as a character is when he's offering advice and just being a good pal to Okabe I guess.. His character in general is just alright.
With time travel and all, I really do think there's a lot of missed potential regarding the possibilities to create far better threads and character moments within the story. As I relate this concept to myself, I personally feel that many people who've commited terrible mistakes in their lives, which would include me, would want so badly to go back in time to change the events of the past. A primary example of missed potential would be Akiha Rumiho's story. I feel that both the original creator Nitro+/5pb and directing staff including Hamasaki Hiroshi and Satou Takuya could have put a far greater emphasis on her story. A story that could have been far more sad and touching. Instead, I don't feel don't feel the time spent on her was as effective as it could have been or had enough screen time for that matter. In my eyes she could have been quite a great main character. I have similar feelings about Okabe & Mayuri, your telling me, that asides from his mistakes when time travelling he has nothing important or significant in his life that has happened he personally wants to amend or change? a sadly missed opportunity. Also, what about Mayuri?
I feel other characters such as Suzuha as well as Urushibara didn't get enough screen time as well. When watching the English dub, I think Suzuha Amane was probably one of my favourite characters - Even despite being a little to convenient to the plot. I just feel that with 24 episodes, along with both a movie and a Ova, White Fox definitely could definitely have managed to create a far more lucrative cast of characters as well as developing more diverse and complex character stories and threads. Without the presence of Kurisu and Okabe the story overall becomes kinda weak. I think that speaks volumes to the lack of both character development and complexity Steins;Gate actually has. Moeka was also a god awful character that was way too plot convenient as well, not worth mentioning at all. The relationship between Mayuri and Okabe was also somewhat lame as well, and could've been better, personally I feel the only relationship that's particularly interesting at all would again be Okabe and Makise's, and for the most part, only their relationship takes centre place and ends up being significant.
However there's some truly genuine and potent moments of embarrassment, as well as laughter that can be both cheeky and sappy. Which we get our fair share of slice of life moments when they discover more and more about time travel, as well as more about each other. Where they very much (particularly Kurisu) indulge in denial in attempts to keep up appearances. Where on the surface it seems that Okabe & Kurisu despise each other, though we know deep down somewhere along the line it in fact becomes quite the opposite. It's these touchy and confrontational moments that creates this wonderful friction, creating a byproduct of great comedy and drama that nicely compliments the story in giving more gravity to it's more intense subject matter . Oddly enough despite the tension between the two, and Kurisu's generally overt personality, she almost acts as his limiter and helps Okabe keep himself sane in his neurotic experience of being crushed over and over again in the confusing loop of time travel, not being able to save a certain someone.When they bicker, to me it adds a particular flair and spice that the series needs and lacks from other characters, to which it does quite well. As Kurisu's general Tsundere character archetype in addition to her story as a character works wonderfully here, where I feel like the transition between Kurisu being confrontational and un-agreeable, to friendly but in denial, to then opening her heart and finally blossoming is something that always gets me when done right in an anime. I always love a little Tsundere in a romance sub plot, especially when mixed with other emotional flavours and spices. It's just too bad that the original creators 5pb and Nitro+ & White Fox's directing & screenplay staff didn't put the same amount of love into other characters and their corresponding relationships as they did with Kurisu & Okabe.
Something to note, before I end this segment, while the main series was beautifully constructed to have a strong beginning, middle and end - The movie as well as the OVA, while nice additions, almost seem a bit unnecessary or rather, because Steins;Gate ended such on a high note (At least for me) I really didn't see the need to extent the story beyond that. So in that respect the movie as well as the OVA felt a little more like extra spare parts to the story - As opposed to vitally important and integral parts of the main series. Though non the less both of which are still enjoyable and worth it by my standards.
