Rintaro Okabe

Rintarō Okabe (岡部倫太郎, Okabe Rintarō) is a self-proclaimed mad scientist and the main protagonist of Steins;Gate. He discovers the death of Kurisu Makise in an unexpected occurrence and with the help of long-time friend Itaru Hashida, attempts to save her life with the aid of a makeshift time machine.

Appearance
Rintarou has the characteristics of a lanky young man, with a square jaw and bony cheeks. He has his short black hair swept up and has brown irises. Rintarou also wears a lab coat, which he wears over a simple shirt and slacks.

Personality
Rintarou assumes the nick name "Kyoma Hououin" (鳳凰院凶真 Hououin Kyouma) and often uses this to introduce himself to others. He also likes to pose as an agent working against a certain "Organization" which he thinks is always after him, and this sort of roleplaying usually gives off an unusual image to him.

Despite being weird most of the time, Rintarou can also be seen caring for his childhood friend Mayuri Shiina, whom he shows his love in his own personal way.

Background
He and Itaru are both students of Tokyo Denki University, and have been friends for roughly three years, although Itaru convinces him that their friendship is actually a year short. The two have previously worked on several projects Rintarou calls "Futuristic Gadgets" and these include Futuristic Gadgets #1 (a remote control in the shape of a light-and-sound toy gun) and #8 (a microwave oven that is accessible using a cellphone).

Rintarou has also been close to his childhood friend Mayuri, who after experiencing a tragic past as a young girl has since been supporting him.

The Death(?) of Makise Kurisu
In order to gather additional units for his college course, Rintarou attends a seminar that tackles the impossibilities of the existence of a time machine. As a staunch believer of time machines, Rintarou makes a commotion by trying to debunk the speaker's proofs against the possibility of the existence of a time machine and eventually walks out of the seminar. On his way out, he meets Makise Kurisu for the first time.

Things appear normal for Rintarou for the few moments that followed, until he hears a painful scream. Rintarou rushed to the source of the sound to investigate, but finds something else inside: the bloody remains of Makise Kurisu on the floor.

Rintarou is shaken by the incident, and he contacts his friend Itaru about the incident through a text message. He would soon go to Itaru and realize that things have changed; not only did the satellite deployed in Akihabara Radio Hall crash, but there was no conference to begin with. Rintarou would also discover that the message he sent to Itaru on that day (the 28th) was received by Itaru on the 23rd, five days into the past.

Another surprise would await Rintarou as he discovers that Makise Kurisu is still alive.

John Titor and Futuristic Gadget #8
Although he was certain that the events that he experienced did happen, he double-checked the occurrences in the Internet, coming up with the confirmation of what Itaru has told him. He would soon stumble upon John Titor, a time-traveling character famous for his discussions of the world on the year 2036, and this sparked his interest in knowing more about John Titor and his ideas about time travel.