When we talk about Steins;Gate live-action adaptation, the first thing that pops to our mind is the Hollywood one that went poof after its announcement. But are you aware that there were also plans for Steins;Gate Japanese live-action adaptation?

Steins;Gate visual novel creator Chiyomaru Shikura made some huge revelation regarding the same as he shared the story of how the plan was nipped in the bud due to some unfortunate disagreements.

Chiyomaru on his Twitter handle revealed that around the time Steins;Gate anime finished airing, a talk about a live-action adaptation surfaced. Amidst various uncertainties regarding this, a big time drama producer, whose name remains unrevealed, approached Chiyomaru with the offer.

As he was an admirer of the producer’s works, Chiyomaru couldn’t help but accept the offer put forth.

“Riding on this current, a regretful reminder of memories. It was around the time when the anime broadcast of Steins;Gate came to an end. The talk of a live-action adaptation on a commercial network arose. Amidst various concerns, the one who initiated it was an offer from a highly successful producer in the drama department of a certain commercial network. It was because I loved his work.“

According to Chiyomaru, the email exchanges between the two were quite enjoyable, as he spent most of the time coming up with various plot ideas for the live-action adaptation.

This went on until the producer sent a mail regarding the cast of Okabe Rintarou, “Regarding the casting, we would like to have a Johnny’s talent for the role of the protagonist, Rintaro Okabe”.

Johnny & Associates’ is a Japanese talent agency.

This disappointed Chiyomaru greatly, and even thought that it was unreasonable at first.

Although he admired Johnny & Associates’ talents, he was more concerned if any of the actors from the agency would fit the bill.

After much deliberation, he decided to go for it. He went on to put forth a condition regarding the actor who he believe could pull it off.

“Please consider Tomoya Nagase,” Chiyomaru said. His request was shot down immediately. No further discussion took place on the live-action after that.

“I realized that I was too optimistic, thinking I had met the requirements. ‘Tomoya Nagase is not suitable. I apologize, but we don’t have the authority to make that decision,’ they conveyed. And so, this tale comes to a close.“

Steins;Gate is a Japanese anime television series created by the animation studio White Fox based on 5pb. (now MAGES.) and Nitroplus’s 2009 visual novel of the same name. The series aired for 24 episodes, from April to September 2011.

It is part of the Science Adventure franchise along with Chaos;Head and Robotics;Notes.

The series was directed by Hiroshi Hamasaki and Takuya Sato, and written by Jukki Hanada, with animation direction and character design by Kyuuta Sakai, and music by Takeshi Abo. It was simulcast in North and South America, Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Europe by Crunchyroll and the United Kingdom by Anime on Demand.

A 25th episode was later included with the DVD and Blu-ray releases.

The series has spawned four original net animation episodes and a spinoff film. An anime adaptation of Steins;Gate 0, the sequel to the original Steins;Gate game, premiered in 2018.

Source: Twitter