The world of Steins;Gate contains many references to real world subjects or people. This page contains all references found in both the original Steins;Gate video game (visual novel) and its anime adaptation.
List of references[]
- John Titor was the username of a real-life blogger who posted on various threads and pages in 2000, claiming to be a time traveller from 2036 trying to travel back to 1975 to find an IBM5100 personal computer. The real-life Titor also made various predictions of future events, however most of them did not actually happen.
- In March 2008, former nuclear safety officer Walter Wagner and Luis Sancho spearheaded a lawsuit that claimed the LHC could potentially destroy the world. One of their concerns was that the LHC would create micro black holes which would destroy the world. However, in July 2008, CERN released the LSAG safety report, which denied that the LHC could create micro black holes. The report stated that cosmic rays, which are much stronger than LHC beams, have bombarded the earth millions of times for millions of years, but there is no sign of micro black holes being created.
The real life IBM 5100.
- The IBN 5100 is an almost direct parody of the real-world IBM 5100 (both in name and appearance) produced by IBM in 1975 and discontinued in 1978. Like depicted in Steins;Gate, the real IBM 5100 supports APL and BASIC programming and offered 3 problem solving libraries.
- The organization SERN is based off of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, a.k.a CERN.
- The past-altering D-Mail is shortened from "Delorean Mail". Delorean is the brand of the time-travelling car from the Back to the Future series. The series is mentioned by Kurisu Makise and Itaru Hashida in the game.
- The Upa toy series is based on the fictional RaiNet Kakeru media franchise, which later receives a (fictional) anime series and a board game called RaiNet AccessBattlers. The Upa is a mascot of RaiNet Kakeru, who were based on a "mouse-like electrical creature" (a.k.a. Pikachu).
- The RaiNet game heavily resembles the playstyle from Yu-Gi-Oh! and Duel Masters.
- @channel was based on the real-life 2channel.
- The CRT Store and Yuugo Tennouji's nickname of Mr. Braun is a direct reference to the real-world inventor of Cathode Ray Tubes, German Physicist Ferdinand Braun.
- The Future Gadgets drew inspirations from fictional anime series, which are in turn parodies of real-world anime series:
- FG#1: "Bit Particle Cannon" - was inspired by the anime "Mobile Jacket Gunbam", which is a parody of "Mobile Suit Gundam".
- FG#2: "Bamboo Helicam" - was inspired by the manga "22 Emon", which is a parody of "Doraemon".
- FG#3: "Could This Be Ora Ora!?" - was inspired by the manga "Juju's Bizarre Adventure", which is a parody of "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure".
- FG#4: "Moad Snake" - was inspired by the by fictional stealth game "Metal Moa Solid: Rising", which is a nod to the then-introduced Metal Gear Solid: Rising.
- FG#5: "Once Again I've Made Something Worthless, by Goemon" - was inspired by the anime "Lupants the Third", which is a parody of "Lupin the Third".
- The name of the gadget is a reference to Goemon in Lupin, who was supposedly a great swordsman and could cut everything with his sword, except jelly. He would usually say "Once again, I've cut something worthless".
- FG#6: "Cyalume Saber" - was inspired by the fictional "Spark Wars" film series, which is a parody of "Star Wars".
- FG#7: "Ghost in the Ball" - influenced by the fictional manga "Ghost in the Husk", which is parodied from "Ghost in the Shell".
- Various Nordic mythological terms were used as "operation names" by Rintaro Okabe.
- The video streaming website featured in Steins;Gate is called MewTube, a parody of the real-world YouTube.
- In Episode 18 of the anime, when Kurisu brings Rintaro some new clothes for his date, the bags she brings back are from UNIQLO, a real clothing chain that has many stores around the world.
- In the anime, Rintaro used a search engine website called Goodle, a parody of Google.
- Rintaro's favorite drink is the Dk Pepper, a type of carbonated beverage first served in America during 1800s. At present, it is only avaliable in eastern Japan and some other small areas. It had a very unique taste, and its secret recipe is a combination of over 20 flavors. It is a parody of the real drink Dr Pepper.
- The salty snack Prangles mentioned in the game is a reference to the real word snack "Pringles".
- Suzuha rides a Rianchi, a reference to Bianchi, an italian bicycle manufacturing company and even the bicycle colour is a reference to typical Bianchi Green.
- 21 minutes in during Episode 17 there are posters with super sonico on them which is a reference to the anime soni comi.
- In the anime, it is shown that Faris' long-standing wish to set up a maid café is granted to her by her father, approximately 10 years prior to the beginning of the series' events. This is a reference to real life Maid Cafés, which became increasingly popular after the first permanent maid café was set up in March 2001 in Akihabara (the place where most of the series takes place).
- Daru says "All your bases belong to me." Which is in reference to a mistake from a 1991 Japanese video game "Zero Wing". A boss from the game had an infamous typo in their speech- "All your base are belong to us."