I fucking hate Railgun. But not because it is “bad” in the traditional sense. I hate Railgun because it took over my life for a very long time. It was all I could think about. Every day I would go to sleep, having done nothing that day in any way related to the series. Yet, when I lay in my bed, ever hopeful that I would receive a long night’s rest, I found myself drowning in my raildex head-canons, storylines, the vast expanse of the city.
I’ve read stories with more profound themes, more interesting characters, better storylines, and even better waifus, but none, apart from
...
maybe Made in Abyss, have had a more intriguing world-building and power system.
Much like Made in Abyss, Academy City is as much of a character as any of the protagonists. It is both their best friend and their worst enemy. During the day, Academy City is a bustling utopia, with scientific development miles ahead of the world. Its inhabitants make for a charming background, and lead to many dainty encounters between characters. But at night, the empty streets and cold, blue lighting make for a bleak, deprived stage for the series’ many fights. The series uses the nighttime environment of the city to its advantage, setting many of the numerous fights at night. It often feels like the city itself is rooting against the several protagonists of the series.
(By the way, this review will mention many elements of A Certain Magical Index, as many of its plot points are integral to my review)
Since this review is about the Railgun Manga, I’ll mostly be focusing on Misaka and her friends, but I’ll also include segments about the Index protagonists.
Minor spoiler warning from here on out.
As for the protagonists, Misaka is obviously the best one. While she doesn’t receive as much development as some of the Index counterparts, the development she gets is as meaningful as Touma’s or Accelerator’s. Misaka is a strong character with tight morals, which she sticks to throughout her character arc, which mostly revolves around atoning for her past mistakes, and her coming to understand her role in the eyes of her sisters. As one of the city’s strongest, she understandably relies too much on herself, and throughout the course of several important arcs, (sort of) comes to realize her flaws and values less her strength, but values more her charisma.
Which leads me to the series' biggest flaw: arcs often contradict each other, and completely undoes the previous one’s development.
For example, in the Sisters Arc, which I would consider to be the series peak as a whole and as one of the best arcs of all time, Misaka, after previously resisting it, accepts Touma’s help in an extremely powerful scene. She abandons her belief that people should solve their own problems and lets Touma help her.
Yet, in the following arcs, while we see flashes of the person we saw at the end of the sisters’ arc, Misaka still refuses to let her friends into her life, and help her with her problems.
In the doppelganger arc, Misaka once again refuses the help of Kuroko when she leaves her dorm again without telling Kuroko why. I thought the height of the Sisters Arc was Misaka accepting that she can’t just fight all by herself? While yes, Shokuhou gains a more prominent role to remedy this, what is the point of the other three leads existing if this was not the lesson Misaka learns in the Sisters Arc?
I remember finding their role to be especially minimized after the Daihasei Festival Arc. (Which was also really great) After facing potentially the destruction of the entire city, Misaka’s life temporarily returns to normal. This is an arc which introduces amazing characters such as Sogiita and Shokuhou, reminds us why Touma is the best side character in the series, and gives yet another reason for Misaka to be more trusting. Her selfishness was arguably what led to things getting that bad in the first place.
Imagine my disbelief when the following arc, focused on Judgment, ends with Kuroko saving a dog from a fire. Yes. A dog from a fire. This is the kind of the shit you see in shitty cliche American cartoons. Yeah, yeah. You have to develop the other leads at some point, and I respect the author for doing that, but why now? We just saw the emotional and climatic potential the series has to offer, so why now? Being forced to put this arc here is the fault of the author for not doing it earlier in the series, and these ten or so chapters are far too long to waste for such a boring conclusion.
Railgun has possibly the highest peaks of any series. I’d put them up there with the likes of One Piece and Berserk. But where those series have extremely high peaks just like Railgun, the rest of their arcs, while not peak per se, are solid, entertaining action. But Railgun has arcs which I would straight-up consider to be bad.
Along with the previously mentioned dog rescue arc, the most recent flashback arc is just painful to sit through. I would consider Index’s largest flaw to be its egregious amount of fan service. While this is bad in every way possible (there are only so many times you can find a dude walking in on girls changing to be “funny”), the Kamachi at least knows his audience: teenage boys.
While writing Railgun, it’s like he forgot his audience all together. Railgun had effectively turned into a middle school drama, complete with bitch slaps, clique conflict, and overall superficial drama that I would equate to something like Mean Girls. Look. I have no problem with watching two chicks fight; it’s pretty hot. But if this is what I wanted, I’d go watch fucking Euphoria (not the hentai) or some shit. I came to this series for its clever and intelligent use of its masterful world building, not this. This is just one example, but others such as the level 6 upper arc, first half of the doppelganger arc, (while admittedly quite funny) and the anime-only arcs are just awful, and I struggled to get through them. I won’t fault the anime-only arcs though, since this is for the manga. Still. There are some serious stinkers in this one.
But what about those peaks though?
The Sisters arc and conclusion of the Daihasei Festival arc are peak fiction. I’d personally consider the Sisters arc to be my favourite story arc in any form of media.
I honestly have nothing bad to say about the Sisters arc, since this is the arc where Misaka realizes she is directly responsible for the bad things that happen to her. While Misaka’s selfishness becomes a problem for me later down the line, it is justified here. She hasn’t learned why her morals are a bad thing, and is humbled by her inability to change her situation. Until now, Misaka has been able to solve everything on her own and has developed this obnoxious sense of noblesse oblige.
It’s the Sisters arc’s bleak tone that acknowledges how fucked Academy City is. Like any metropolis, there are more working parts than one can actually see. Academy City, while seemingly a utopia, is a corrupt, power-centric dictatorship, where anyone will do anything they can to take advantage of you.
And the antagonists of this arc fit perfectly into that narrative. While they are admittedly pretty sadistic for no reason, they all have their reasons for contesting Misaka’s goals, and are quintessential products of the Academy City system.
So the lesson that Misaka learns is that the city is bigger than she thinks, and she can rely on others. Pretty wholesome.
Touma is the one she leans on. Let me just say that Touma is a very good character in Railgun. I find him to be kind of a weak character in Index, as they took his “unluckiness” to an obnoxious extent, effectively making him a generic harem protagonist.
He works better as a side character for two reasons. In Index, we understand Touma’s powers, and there’s pretty much always a way for him to overcome adversity. This is not so in Railgun. His ability is left unexplained, making him sort of mysterious. He is a sort of rival to Misaka, appearing only when she can’t do things on her own. His fights with Accelerator and level 6 Misaka are miles better than anything in Index, because we don’t know the extent of his powers, and whether or not he will actually win.
A lesser reason, but the element that makes him more likable is Railgun’s concentration of romance on Touma and Misaka. Touma isn’t forced to walk in on big titty nuns and look at loli panties in Railgun. Every moment that he has with Misaka feels like he actually earned it.
Anyways, this is three pages on my Google doc, so I guess I’ll finish it up here. (even though I have a lot more to say) So yeah. I feel like a 7 is actually a pretty generous rating, in the face of its appalling flaws. In the end, Raildex is something special. We’ll never see anything like it again, which is why it's a shame that Kamachi will never see to its full potential.
I guess I’m glad I found something to haunt my daydreams for awhile.
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May 15, 2022
I fucking hate Railgun. But not because it is “bad” in the traditional sense. I hate Railgun because it took over my life for a very long time. It was all I could think about. Every day I would go to sleep, having done nothing that day in any way related to the series. Yet, when I lay in my bed, ever hopeful that I would receive a long night’s rest, I found myself drowning in my raildex head-canons, storylines, the vast expanse of the city.
I’ve read stories with more profound themes, more interesting characters, better storylines, and even better waifus, but none, apart from ... 
Apr 30, 2022
Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san
(Anime)
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If you are a frequent user of MyAnimeList, as I know you are, I can assume two things about you: You are a lifeless husk of a person, living vicariously from each gratuitous rush of serotonin rush you receive from the animes, and you are not on the receiving end of these creatures known ubiquitously as “bitches.” Right now, you can watch the first 3 episodes of the anime called “Kawaii Dake Ja Nai Shikimori-san.” Don’t. It is meticulously designed to feed on us. It weakens our allies, and emboldens our enemies.
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(Anime)
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There is an anime called Takt Op. Destiny. You can go ahead and watch it, if you want. Actually, maybe even the first episode. Or maybe even the first five minutes. After you do that, tell me what you think. Or don’t, because I already know exactly what you’re thinking, seeing as I thought the same thing: why is everyone so cringe? What you have to understand is that the word “cringe” is probably the worst word in English. It’s funny; the word cringe, is itself, cringe. To be honest, I could think of 20 other negatively inclined words that would describe this show, but
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Mikkakan no Koufuku
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*SPOILER WARNING*
Am I a fool? I never knew what that word really meant. I still don’t. I spew out the word ad nauseum as a generic insult, never thinking too deeply about what I really mean. But what does that mean? Three Days of Happiness seeks the answer to that question. Does it mean to be dumb? Does it mean to be unsuccessful? Is it really just that: a generic insult? Certainly not. A person is not innately a "fool." While the word is too broad to assign an inclusive definition to, I can think of an interpretation: one who creates his own hell. ... |
