After all this time I still don't know if this guy was actually smart or not. He spends almost every moment of the story acting dumb but doesn't he build a time machine at some point?

>>280600136 (OP)
Okabe invented time travel, he's a genius.

He's smart, just not as much as Kuri Sue.

>>280600136 (OP)
He's smart but he's just happens to also be a faggot.

>>280600136 (OP)
Wasn't he not even a science student
He just bashed together shit until it kind of magiced into place. He was a raging chuuni who stumbled into something far bigger than himself. I love it

>>280600136 (OP)
Maybe try watching the show again but pay attention this time?

>>280600136 (OP)
It's actually the story writing that's dumb.

did you even like watch the show
it's explained why he acts that way

>>280600389
Yeah but Okabe is dumb even beyond just the chuuni thing. He does so much retarded stuff through the whole anime

>>280600337
I did watch it though.

>>280600136 (OP)
I think Takumi is smarter than him.

>>280600136 (OP)
The characters were all kind of retarded.

>>280600136 (OP)
For me it's ridiculous how Okabe never told anyone that Sern could be after them even after it became so obvious that was happening.

I'd say it's pretty clear that he is smart.
In Steins Gate 0 he loses the childish persona and actually goes to university and learns and is successful in spite of his depression.

In the first anime, even with his wacky personality, he still knows a bunch of concepts even if he might not have such an amazing formal education like Kurisu. But he will contribute to the time machine and time travel as an adult. So i'd say he is also smart in this but not taking things too seriously for the time being.

>>280601187
I feel like the characters in Steins;Gate are only theoretically smart for the purposes of building gadgets and hacking. When they're on screen they are kind of dumb.

>>280600136 (OP)
He's a midwit

>>280601437
It's... it's almost like... intelligence is not an all-encompassing, absolute metric that makes up someone's individuality... okashii...

>>280600136 (OP)
>After all this time I still don't know if
No you don't. You're just spamming garbage threads.

>>280601437
That's just a case of intelligence being used for plot convenice. It fails at all of the moment to moment storytelling.

>>280601437
Smart character written by dumb person

>>280602052
That's every character in the show except the ones that are already supposed to be dumb.

>>280600136 (OP)
he's just hyper autistic I guess

>>280600136 (OP)
I couldn't really tell in the game either. He never actually DOES anything all that smart. We're just TOLD he somehow builds a time machine in the future, even though when we actually see the future it seems like Daru is doing all the building. I guess we're told he builds the Divergence Meter as well. Given how it's a personal item, maybe he did that one without any help.

He just seems like a goofy college student, above average at least, but also nothing special. It doesn't really seem like he's some kind of latent Terrance Tao under his goofiness.

i suppose maybe the idea behind him was that he is a good project lead, at least that's the capability we're shown about him in the story and not just told. Good at thinking outside the box too, since he came up with the plan at the end.
But yeah I dunno.

>>280600136 (OP)
The truth is that Steins;Gate just isn't that well written

>>280600136 (OP)
He gets smarter I guess? He does build the time machine in the future.

>>280601187
maybe he was scared

Steins;Gate is one of the greatest displays of how tourists from /v/ have a foreign opinion to the actual otaku on /a/

>>280603545
Even if he was what a normal scared person does is run for help. Maybe he wanted to believe there was nothing wrong but eventually it became undeniable that people were after him and he was still too embarrassed to tell Kurisu and Mayuri after walking in on them showering. Which again would not have been a problem if he cleared his name by telling them what happened. It's all just so stupid.

>>280600136 (OP)
A writer can't make a character more intelligent than themselves. That's why they act mentally crippled.

>>280603907
It's almost like he isn't emotionally mature enough to handle the situation he finds himself in and comes to regret his passivity immensely as the consequences chip away at his soul

>>280604485
If Okabe was compelled to act like that because of some fatal or tragic character flaw I would be a lot more sympathetic. As it is now he just does dumb things for almost no real reason. A blanket "he's not mature enough" feels like such a handwave and a shallow excuse.

he's dumb but he's charismatic which is how he gets daru to build all the shit and do the tech stuff.

>>280604709
I read the VN and I dunno if I see any particularly stupid behavior that needs excusing anyway. He acts reasonably given his limited understanding early on. He doesn't request help immediately because there doesn't seem to be a need, instead he just tries the common sense solutions first (S.E.R.N. comes to the lab and kills Mayuri; let's leave the lab before they arrive). Once the common sense solutions fail and it becomes obvious he's stuck, he asks for help.

He’s a supposed to be a genius, but he’s written by a midwit. Only high-IQs can convincingly write high-IQ characters. When a lower-IQ creator tries is they end up just telling the audience how smart the character is and presenting him/her with an air of being in-control / knowing everything, etc.

>>280604878
It became obvious something has wrong way before gunmen barged into the lab.

>>280604709
You'll never be sympathetic, you're a hater who already decided it must be bad so you'll say anything to pretend that it sucks. Being immature and failing at communication despite his interest in others is central to his character. The entire mad scientist persona exists because he's too immature to be intimate and emotional without layers of pretense. It's to such an extent that he mirrors Kurisu's tsundere dynamic as she also has difficulty being honest about her emotions. There's nothing shallow about it and it can't be handwaved considering how many scenes are dedicated to showing the dynamics of how his immaturity plays into both how he treats others and the decisions he makes. We even get scenes of him losing at a strategy game because he plays childishly and refuses to consider more than a single step ahead.

>>280605008
Do smart people not know everything?

>>280605022
The restructuring of Akihabara was the only thing that could really spook someone into reconsidering, but it wasn't severe enough to get rid of his excitement and desire to plunge ahead. The disappearance of the computer, Luka's gender swap, and definitely the change in Akihabara all would have deterred a cautious person, but since they didn't cause Okabe any emotional pain there wasn't much motivation to stop. There was never a mild hurt or inconvenience prior to Mayuri's death to convince him to stop; he went straight from "Okay something weird happened but I'm also kind of glad because it proves we're making progress and the weird thing wasn't nearly bad enough to make me give up on this" to having his life destroyed. It was foolish but not really low IQ.

>>280605241
You forgot about the threatening text message with the decapitated head that he conveniently didn't do or say anything about.

>>280605470
I did forget. Okay, yeah, inarguably the point he should have stopped.

>>280605036
It’s not about knowledge for high-IQs, it’s about processing power. Thinking ability. Idiocracy is about what it’s like to be a high-IQ in today’s society; it’s not that you know much more, it’s that you are able to process logic better, make projections / predictions, etc, just like in the movie. Being a high-IQ is very much like being stuck in a barnyard full of barely-sentient animals.

>>280603907
>what a normal scared person does is run for help
.....no
you must be young

>>280605470
>>280605241
>>280605537
You mean the threatening messages that convinced him to give up the time leap machine without using it because he realized real dangers were around even if he didn't have the courage to tell his friends about it

>>280600136 (OP)
Steins;Gate is shit.

>>280606038
Okabe has to either tell someone, or do something. He doesn't have to go to the police if you don't want him to but at the minimum he needs to tell his friends, or buy a weapon, or set up an alarm, anything.
I am not asking for too much out of the writing in this story and if it can't even clear that bar it's just not very good.

>>280604709
>If Okabe was compelled to act like that because of some fatal or tragic character flaw I would be a lot more sympathetic
okabe's tragic character flaw is being retarded (this is true for every character in steins gate btw)

>>280600136 (OP)
He's a complete retard and when I thought he couldn't get more stupid, he pulled the "actual real stab" move

>>280600136 (OP)
Someone who builds a time machine is both incredibly brilliant and incredibly stupid.

>>280607317
>at the minimum he needs to tell his friends, or buy a weapon, or set up an alarm, anything
.....no.
people get scared of things and do absolutely nothing about it and tell nobody. it's extraordinarily believable.
you may be austim

>>280607317
>anything
He gets scared off from fighting SERN and decides to hand over their time machine so someone else can do it. He does react in a reasonable and thematically consistent way, you are just a dumb person trying to nitpick things that do not matter because your weird standards for what characters must do are irrelevant nonsense pulled out of your ass.

>>280607944
>He does react in a reasonable and thematically consistent way
I have seen no sign of this besides you constantly insisting that it is.

>>280600427
>>280604709
>>280600136 (OP)
>how is Okabe a genius when he is dum-
>History teaches that those who hold wisdom are often the most foolish. The fish in the sea know not the land. If they too hold wisdom, they too will be destroyed.
The detractors have once again failed to grasp a major theme of the show that is superbly foreshadowed. The ones with wisdom are often most foolish. Kino. I guess you need this a high iq to understand Steins;Gate.

>>280609064
this, but really-really unironically

>>280600136 (OP)
He's a midwit just like the fans of his show.

>>280609022
Again, he changes his mind about using the time machine and unraveling SERN's plots. You're trying to nitpick basic plot points but you're so stupid it's like you haven't even seen the show. You're a shitposting tourist who only hates Steins;Gate because that's the meta in your echo chamber. Unfortunately this is /a/ where we started posting pictures of Dr. Pepper alongside our monitors, figures, and merch. This is a board that continued to obsess over S;G for months and months after airing with translation of audio dramas and other content.

>>280609325
I genuinely do not care about your Dr Pepper pictures and that doesn't make the story seem less stupid in any way.
Very simply I find the fact that Okabe does nothing at all to be contrived and kind of ridiculous. And the thing is I'm not against characters making mistakes or bad decisions, but these are usually motivated by some kind of understandable personality trait or flaw. The only understandable reason I see for why any of the dumb things in the story happens is that Okabe is just kind of stupid. Not naive, stupid.
This anime really is a disappointment.

>>280601081
And that's part of the reason why I don't find anyone in this show to be likeable. The other part being all of the otaku meme pandering.

>>280609526
Okabe did try all there was among reasonable options (his goal was to save Myuri, btw. nothing else was important) before he was forced to accept that he couldn't fight the predetermined nature of worldlines.
what you suggest him to do is way more stupid and futile and he knows that. it really begs the question of who is stupid between you and him.
>This anime really is a disappointment.
i didn't even get the chance to ask, but yes, you clearly haven't read the source material. you attempt to judge the story basing everything upon your flawed interpretation of it

>>280609526
You're the stupid one lol
You want to try to shit on the series your echo chamber doesn't like but you're too unintelligent to actually find any of the numerous flaws in the show. Because you're such a retard you choose to try to nitpick over something that the show directly addresses. None of it is contrived, he's shown to be aware of the danger and consider back off but fails to do so before sealing fate. He does in fact react to the threats, giving up on the goals that define his facade persona. Your personal opinions on what is contrived or ridiculous do not matter because they're shitty opinions. You don't even know the story and you're trying to talk shit about it.

You tourists from /v/ are such idiotic trash

>>280609744
You think the show addresses all of this? Him being aware he's in danger doesn't absolve his stupidity, it's exactly because the danger is obvious that it makes no sense for him to do literally nothing at all.
>>280609737
I am definitely never reading the source material after this sad excuse of an anime.

>>280609889
He doesn't do nothing. He changes his mind about pursuing SERN and plans to give up the time machine.

You tourists from /v/ are so stupid that you can only choose these self-defeating nitpicks that anyone who watched the show already knows to be false.

>>280600136 (OP)
The thing is that I never got the sense at any point in the story that this was a person who was smart enough to build a time machine. They just say that he's going to do it, but it never feels believable at any point. Kind of feels like a failure of the story to get that across.

>>280609975
there's like at least 4 other characters that participate in building the supposed future time machine and Okabe isn't particularly useful for the task besides his Reading Steiner and is never implied to be THE builder of the time machine.
why do you retards keep bringing up THAT of all things lmao?

>>280609956
>He changes his mind about pursuing SERN
That is literally doing nothing.
>and plans to give up the time machine
God damn this character is an idiot. This makes me shake my head in disbelief.

>>280610100
>making a decision to change your plan is doing nothing
Yikes you tourists really have no shame in how retarded you will pretend to be just to shitpost about anime you dislike due to your group think indoctrination on /v/

>>280609975
Daru and Kurisu could
I mean they literally actually did in the course of the story, the time leap device is a time machine.
But i forget, was it the case that they said that there was a world line where Okabe developed his own time machine WITHOUT even knowledge of Kurisu's paper, let alone her help or time leap prototype? That would be BS

>>280610100
>he didn't become super saiyan like Goku and punch SERN in the face, see? he is doing nothing
damn

>>280610092
>why do you retards keep bringing up THAT of all things lmao?
That's literally what they say in the show. If Okabe doesn't actually make the time machine he's just useless.

>>280600136 (OP)
There's a scene in the fandisc from Kurisu's point of view where she points out that Okabe is actually smart enough to understand her explanations and even does so faster than Daru
He's only 18 during the events of Steins;Gate

>>280610289
his gang build the time machine, of course. doesn't mean and nobody says that it's thanks to his brainpower
>he's just useless.
the most important action that leads to the Steins Gate worldline is done without using a time machine in any form and is possible only due to his ability to retain his memories.

The real issue with Steins is that the show is just boring. I don't care if the MC is a retard or a genius or a retarded genius.

>>280600136 (OP)
He becomes smart later. Trust me bro.

>>280600136 (OP)
>Reddit;Gate

>>280611669
holy newfag
This show practically owned /a/ back when it was airing

>>280600136 (OP)
Fake it until you make it.

>>280611741
The really funny part is that the types of things they call reddit reveal that it's just culture war nonsense from /v/ motivating them rather than an understanding of why 4chan originally started feuding with reddit

>>280611741
Don't care, the show is mid at best.

>>280602806
Yes, he is smart in the sense that Steve Jobs is smart. He's the guy with the vision and is charming enough to keep and put together a team

>>280612547
Jobs was actually smart though.

>>280611741
Steins;Gate is shit and it literally doesn't matter if you spend every day calling it a 4chan or /a/ show, maybe the guy who made it could've put that kind of energy into making the plot not suck.

>>280611154
The problem is that he actually does become smart later but it happens entirely off screen. You don't see a single bone of genius in Okabe any time he's on screen, which is another problem I have with this show.

>>280613770
Steins;Gate is great and it doesn't matter how many days you tourists spend shitposting to create the illusion that it's not beloved by the actual community like you losers do on /v/ with video games, the very fact that the show pisses off a tourist like you proves all over again how good it is

No hes carried by his friends who do the actual work

>>280613997
He's the first person to think of controlling for time of day in their experiments, there are several moments where he impresses Kurisu with his intelligence. You are the problem, not the show, which is why you can only make up bullshit that anyone who watches the show can see is blatantly wrong.

>>280614059
>He's the first person to think of controlling for time of day in their experiments
This is mildly impressive, with an emphasis on the word mild.
>there are several moments where he impresses Kurisu with his intelligence
That's because the show was designed with Kurisu to be a waifubait character, not because Okabe is written in amy genuinely smart way.

>>280614110
>This is mildly impressive, with an emphasis on the word mild.
Heave those goalposts, disingenuous cunt

>>280614131
Even I could come up with an idea like that and I don't think of myself as having much more than average intelligence. You're trying so hard to avoid the reality that Okabe is just written in a sloppy way. And honestly this goes for more than just him in this show.

>>280614245
You're trying so hard to portray the writing as sloppy but your intelligence is so below average that you can only nitpick details of characterization that the show dedicates scenes to addressing. You would not think of time of day being a variable because you're a pathetic idiot.

>>280610304
He's obviously written to be a smart character on a similar level to his peers.
Not really sure why so many people in this thread find it so hard to grasp that.

>>280614312
Because he never actually acts smart? he just invents the time machine offscreen and thats most of what he has going for him.

>>280614312
Tourists from /v/ are petty people like Dr. Nakabachi who come here to shitpost about Steins;Gate because their echo chamber hates anime due to its inherent progressive messaging. Everything that real otaku like and value is what they set themselves to oppose as contrarians trying to change the board's culture.

>>280614539
>people like Dr. Nakabachi
Thanks for reminding of yet another terrible one-note character from this anime.

I thought it was pretty obvious that Okabe is very book-smart, he just acts like a dumbass because he's a socially-inept teenager and trying to cheer up Mayuri

>>280600136 (OP)
Another case of a "smart" person created by a dumb writer. This case is better than BBC Sherlock-tier but it still feels like they're not even trying.

>>280600136 (OP)
Imagine being such a chuuni sperg you create time travell. It's a level above being a genius.

>>280600136 (OP)
Retarded speed-watching zoomer.

>>280614351
what would you consider to be acting smart?

>>280614941
Maybe not passing around his time machine for every other character in the story to use?

>>280600136 (OP)
Ruka is the only good character in S;G.

>>280614983
why not? they are his friends

>>280615012
Moeka was indeed a great friend.

>>280615063
>"why didn't protag just look at the script to see how she would deceive them?"

if you accidentally discovered time travel IRL the shadow cabal would be on you in seconds

>>280600136 (OP)
Doesn't he becomes an electric engineer in 0? That's at least above average.

>>280615162
You don't have to be a genius to not give a time machine to a stranger, you just have to not be retarded, or not be a character stuck in a bad show like steins;gate.

>>280615371
you're just complaining about him not being paranoic enough. this has nothing to do with intelligence.
again,
>"can't he see that his friend will get shot if he uses the time machine??? it's right there in the next chapter's script!"

also, you obviously didn't watch the show, so I'll have to spoil that Mayuri dies regardless of whether he lets anyone use the time machine. the only d-mail that mattered is the one he had sent unknowingly at the beginning.

>>280615371
Exactly. The goalpost moving in this thread is crazy. Steins;Gate fags will defend any shit writing given to them in ridiculous ways.

>>280614351
iirc(it's been a while though) he's presented very early on as being a student at the anime equivalent of the University of Tokyo, which is the top school in Japan and generally considered an elite school globally.
For additional anime context, it's the same anime school that Light and L go to in Death Note.
It's a quick and easy way for a writer to present a character as 'smart' at the very least.
And while he obviously acts like a goofy idiot most of the time, Kurisu(who is apparently supposed to be the most intelligent, or at least the most accomplished with her publication(s?)) seems to quickly but begrudgingly accept the fact that he is not just some random idiot, but a peer who understands things on a sufficient level to where she can actually treat him as such.
That seems to be the way it is it written. Perhaps they missed the mark in communicating his character given all the confusion.

>>280615842
>Perhaps they missed the mark in communicating his character given all the confusion.
Not really.
You are replying to a schizo who pretends to be multiple people by addressing the same retarded point and conviniently ignoring everything that is being communicated to him (just like your post)

>>280616033
Don't forget all the samefagging he does to agree with himself

>>280616033
>Not really
Yes, really. I get what the other anon is saying but they missed the mark pretty seriously on giving Okabe any real tangible intelligence.

>>280615842
Felt like he came across as a midwit in the actual non meme sense. He's smart but not at the level of genius like Maho, Kurisu, or even Daru at times for that matter. A sharp engineer type, no doubt capable of understanding everything but also in over his head.

>>280605706
It's strange how it works in practice, just a natural effortless understanding of things many struggle with. All at a level below conscious cognition. Which I think in part is what makes an intelligent character hard to write. There's not necessarily any internal verbalized process to clever thinking. Just key thoughts or information that trigger a connection like magnets snapping in place.

>>280616110
his level of intellect is never the focus of the story.
even if we ignore everything that has already been discussed in this thread regarding that, Okabe's iq has no bearing on the story and if he acted like you wanted him to, it would simply result in a different plot. this is not how criticism works. you should be concerned about your intelligence first

>>280600136 (OP)
In my opinion he's "smart" in a way a lot of us are, and I mean our types specifically. Surface level knowledge on "scientific" crap from reading wikipedia articles that's better for trivia than building a time machine or some shit. The main benefit is it gives a bunch of handholds with which to make connections to discuss and sorta understand big topics.
But due to a lack of drive, focus, passion, etc, we are no Kirusu or are we Daru.

>>280616356
that's basically the gist of it when he's in a casual setting, yes.
you would think it to be obvious, but some people just can't help themselves and project their insecurities onto the most straightforwardly-written characters in fiction

>>280616356
Yeah.
Though he also starts the story as an 18 year old more focused on having fun than anything else. I'm sure he becomes competent after he applies himself. Which he does for pretty much the rest of his life.

>>280616356
>Surface level knowledge on "scientific" crap from reading wikipedia articles
He's a legit undergraduate student. It's not like he's a genius who can get published at an early age but he's in a competitive science and technology focused university so it's not like he's faking intelligence. Okabe is much smarter than the people who like to hype up being a bit clever. Remember, he keeps a small library of books on topics that he researches and went to Dr. Nakabachi's conference for fun before being assigned to go to Kurisu's lecture. He walks the walk.

>>280616314
>his level of intellect is never the focus of the story
There is an entire plot point about how this fucker builds a time machine in the future, yes his level of intellect matters and the fact he is missing any sign of that intelligence in the show itself is a flaw.

>>280600136 (OP)
time travel, as presented by the entertainment industry, is a lie.

so he's not actually smart, at best, he's an idiot, at worst, he's a liar.

>>280617416
>There is an entire plot point about how this fucker builds a time machine in the future
you just made that up.

>>280601081
>>280609720
it was basically japanese "big bang theory", just as gay, it even had a fag tranny in it.

>>280617460
Kill yourself back to /pol/

>>280617481

>>280600136 (OP)
both