The ‘Steins;Gate’ game reboot has the perfect opportunity to treat its trans character the way she deserves
Steins;Gate is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, and we just found out we’re getting one hell of an anniversary present. A new game, called Steins;Gate Re:Boot, is set for release in 2025. Steins;Gate is arguably the greatest visual novel game ever made, and it was turned into a top-ten all-timer anime. Now, though, there is one aspect of the story I’d love a new take on.
The new game will be a remake of the original Steins;Gate novel but will feature two new key elements. One is revamped graphics by the game’s original designer, huke. The other is “new story content.” What exactly this means will likely stay under wraps until much closer to the game’s release, but it’s a tantalizing tease, for many, many reasons.
As I thought about what I would most want out of a revamped Steins;Gate, one obvious update came to mind: treating Ruka Urushibara (sometimes Luka, depending on the localization) fully like a trans girl.
Ruka for life
For the uninitiated, the basic premise of Steins;Gate is that a group of college-age eccentrics semi-accidentally reprogram a microwave into a time machine of sorts, which is able to send messages back in time. It’s the exact kind of hyper-specific, limited time travel premise that offers infinite possibilities and Steins;Gate explores them impeccably.
One of the characters orbiting around the lab and its “charismatic” leader, Okabe, is Ruka Urshibara, the child of the head of a local shrine. Ruka even works at the shrine as a shrine maiden. The key word here is “maiden,” because Ruka presents as female, but was born male.
The fact that Ruka self-opted to work as a shrine maiden is one of many strong arguments that Ruka is a trans girl. In fact, until I took a peek at the internet discourse on the topic, I didn’t even think this was up for debate. But the Steins;Gate fan wiki and the MyAnimeList page for Ruka both use he/him pronouns, and I bet you won’t be surprised by how often—and exhaustively—this topic has been fought over on Reddit and other forums.
The fact remains that the way Ruka dresses, the way she carries herself, and the way she talks are all undeniably and intentionally feminine. In both Japanese and English, Ruka is voiced by women. Granted, women portray male characters in anime all the time (One Piece’s Monkey D. Luffy is my favorite example), but that casting decision hits differently here.
Even Okabe says Ruka is “more feminine than any woman.” But here’s the rub: that line is followed by Okabe saying, “But he’s a dude.”
It sounds harsher out of context than in context because especially by 2009 standards, Okabe is largely understanding and accepting of how Ruka presents herself. There are even spin-off games, like the dating sim Steins;Gate: My Darling’s Embrace, where Okabe can enter a romantic relationship with Ruka. But even there, the sweet is occasionally punctured by the cringy. The fact remains that “Ruka’s a guy” is a refrain throughout the game and the show.
She/her
It all culminates in a plot point further into the series. (Spoilers for Steins;Gate ahead!) Once Ruka finds out about the microwave time machine, she comes into the lab and asks to send a message to her mom during her pregnancy, telling her to eat more vegetables. Why? Because Ruka heard you’re more likely to give birth to a girl that way.
Whether that’s reflective of actual science or not, in Steins;Gate, it clearly communicates that Ruka wants to identify as female. But in the version of the world that Steins;Gate inhabits, Ruka isn’t able to. She presents as female, but whenever someone says, “She’s a guy!,” Ruka looks pained and embarrassed.
In the alternate timeline, Ruka is indeed born as female, and she’s so happy. When that happiness has to be undone, it’s one of the saddest moments in the whole series, and to its credit, the series leans into that sadness wholeheartedly. Still, I would love to see Ruka find that happiness, regardless of which timeline she’s experiencing. Showing someone struggling with their identity can be powerful and important, too. But it would be excellent if Ruka’s friends fully accepted her without the added shots misgendering her.
It all feels very 2009—the kind of thing that hopefully self-adjusts in an update. At the very least, I want a canonical statement strong enough to make the fan Wiki change Ruka’s pronouns to she/her. I still can’t believe it’s even up for debate.
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