Toaru Kagaku no Railgun

I had watched Toaru Majutsu no Index and loved it. So I thought I would give this a try. What did I get? Nothing but retarded storylines and moeblobbery whenever the creator felt like it.

I will try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible, but beware regardless.

There was nothing wrong with the art/sound quality, they were the same as in Index. However, the storylines were much less enjoyable and...Kuroko was prevalent.

Kuroko's main purpose seems to be just the moe loli lesbian. Her shrill voice coupled with her annoying actions make her an extremely bad character. She's not as annoying when she's being useful, but ... as most of the scenes in Failgun seem to be just the characters messing around, the bad highly outweighs the good.

Since I could go on for pages about how much I hate Kuroko, the only reason I didn't rate this a 1 in character is because she's the only horrible one. Even though Mikoto is a tsundere (the bane of my existence), she's actually not too bad, at least compared to other characters I have seen (Taiga, Louise) from other anime (Toradora, Zero no Tsukaima). Uiharu is an airhead (which do annoy me from time to time) and I actually grew to like Saten after a while.

The story arcs were awful. At first, it was trying to be cute and funny, but after a while it started to get "serious." I put it in quotes because it was all extremely lame and unbelievable. And here is where the minor spoiler comes in. The end of the first "serious" arc completely spat in the face of science by playing binaural beats through speakers, when they actually require the sound to be played through stereo headphones to the recipient in order to work at all. And this is what resolved everything. And this really should stay true to some kind of science, this anime even has science in the title!

In conclusion, if you truly appreciate Index and science, stay very far away from this side story. It's not worth watching even one episode.

Good art, music, and easily likable characters make up for a weak story in this lighthearted comedy.

"Railgun" starts out as an easygong anime with little semblance of a plot. However, this was not a bad thing as each story is interesting on its own. Well drawn visuals and characters make it quite a good watch. Also, both ending and opening songs are worth listening to.

The problem starts when some story development starts, which could have been executed better. In fact it may have been better if it was left out and the anime had kept to its comedic style.

Despite its one major weakness, Railgun ... is enjoyable enough and I recommend this to anyone looking for some casual viewing.

This anime's name is tremendously long, therefore I'm gonna refer to it as 'railgun' from now on.

Having watched To aru majutsu no index and enjoyed it, I went into this with relatively high expectations, especially considering how likeable Mikoto is in Index.
Unfortunately, like that neighbour who you always thought was a nice person but who'd actually been poisoning your plants these last few years and leaving dog shit on your doorstep, Mikoto is not all she seems, or perhaps she was in index and they just wanted to create a character who could out-self righteous the main character from index (to the point that ... it would make the characters from freezing seem open minded) in the spin off.
Whatever you want to believe one thing is for sure. Mikoto is not a likeable character in railgun. But we'll get to that in the character segment.

STORY

The plot of this show is arc based, like Index, with an overarching plot that revolves around a teacher/scientist with a chronic condition that causes her to get the impulse to strip suddenly without warning and usually in public (whom I will henceforth refer to as stripper teach) and her quest to save the kids she unwittingly sold to a doctor death type scientist who enjoys human experiments that go bad simply because it gets him up in the morning... OK maybe that last one was a bit exaggerated but it is essentially the gist of the problem.

Like in index, those rascally scientists are still trying to create the elusive lvl 6 super esper and like in index they've taken a less than moral approach to it and it's up to Mikoto and her chums to save the day and stop the bad guys.

now don't get me wrong, I'm quite fond of science tbh and I'm also in favour of a little morality in science and thus I enjoy a show which prizes itself on highlighting the dangers of abusing science for your own gain. And while this show is just such a thing, it does it incredibly badly.

The level of immorality in the science in this show is just damn awful and unbelievable, and considering how strict and highly regulated this city is they sure get away with a tremendous amount of mass murder. But perhaps we should address the regulators in this city.

the police force are divided into two groups, the SWAT like group and the main investigation and minor arrest group called judgement, the latter of which is almost entirely run by....kids. Whose great idea was that. And it just so happens that Mikoto's sexually frustrated lesbian friend Kuroko (whose suicidally unrestrained lust for Mikoto is only marginally shown in index) just happens to be a member. With kids running intelligence no wonder the cities full of lunatic eugenicists.

All in all, whil;e index had a ridiculous plot of it's own this show outdoes itself to the point where it becomes an "are you kidding me" kind of series. but never the less it'll get your emotions boiling which is to its credit, however most of your anger and outrage will be directed at how poorly this city is run.



ART

The art and animation in the show much like in index is superb and very modern without adding the obvious 3D effects in. It's highly polished and fluidic so it is a sight to behold, the battles between Mikoto and her enemies are quite breathtaking but I feel that the animators didn't experiment enough with her ability and end up making it seem somewhat underwhelming at times.

SOUND

The sound effects where pretty good and the crackling sound of Mikoto's lightening is visceral and realistic. The music is modern and has that electronic rock sort of feel however while the main theme is good and works as a finisher song for when Mikoto finally decides to do what she could have done at the beginning of the fight to finish them off, the rest of the music is barely noticeable and relatively uninteresting.


CHARACTER

Now to get back to my panning of Mikoto as a character. She was likeable in index because she had that Yankee quality to her mixed in with a cute personality that sort of came through beneath the surface which coupled with her insecurity about her tastes (many of which indicated her childish character) made her seem genuine and cute, but once you drag her character into the main heroine chair she quickly cuts the appeal away. As a side character whose childish attitude conflicts nicely with Touma's realist and defeatist attitude but as a main character her childishness just makes her irritating.

Especially when she's spouting her self righteous, "quite complaining about being weak and try to become strong" speech...sheesh, she sounds just like another group of people I've heard about, hmm, who where they?, oh yeah it's the republican party in America who always like to say "why don't quit complaining about being poor and just work harder", I digress, but you can see the similarities and I'm not entirely convinced that her character wasn't created to draw attention to this problem with governments around the world, since she's just as hypocritical.

During the anime we get a glimpse of how Mikoto's path toward god-like power began with a scientist helping her raise her power to the max when she was a kid because her power could save lives....uh huh...right. So basically she talks about working hard, but like the republicans she was given the advantage over everyone else, in this case, help from an expert to get where she needed to be. Never the less she tries to tell people off for saying they can't do things cause their lvl 0 that with her power she finds easy (usually fighting more powerful opponents).

Basically Mikoto is naive to a stupendous degree, since she believes that people without power shouldn't complain and work harder despite living in a city where having esper powers is everything and if you have none to speak of you're basically cast aside as useless cannon fodder for the various people who abuse that power. (only about half way through the show do they actually start helping these people develop their abilities, or develop abilities period) and Mikoto tends to come save these people by using her electric power to kick the bully's ass then turns around and basically says see how easy it was for me you should be able to do the same....see how unlike-able she is?

That's basically like a tiger going up to a dog that's half dead because he picked a fight with a lion and saying "I could have taken that lion on easy, you're pathetic" despite the fact that the dog is small and at a greater disadvantage. Again I digress, needless to say during the anime Mikoto's fantasy world where everyone can become powerful if they work hard is usually shown to be complete nonsense regularly and she tends to constantly make naive and stupid decisions despite the clear and obvious answer (refer to the last arc, where she has to choose between stripper teach and crazy ponytail chick with a chip on her shoulder.

Mikoto has power but no responsibility, and do you think she learns from her mistake? sorta, but not really. She makes the same damn mistakes over and over again like a rat that still hasn't figured out that the left button gives a shock but not the cheese, and every time she makes a mistake that puts other people in jeopardy she never pays for her mistakes and in fact the very fact she was the one who put them in that position because of her stupidity is never addressed by any of the other characters and they act like it never happened, no one goes up to her at the end and tells her that it's her fault and she should live with the consequences of what happened or could have happened, therefore she doesn't have to feel the weight or guilt of her mistakes and so she doesn't really learn form them. In reality, she would have been slapped and told that she's too stupid to be trusted with big decisions and she tends to always make the big decisions because she's powerful and hat gives her opinions precedence and she does use that power to force her opinions on others. Yet she's fighting the guys abusing their power, how ironic.

Regarding the other characters Kuroko's depravity and obsession with Mikoto was so understated in index, in this show she's essentially a rapist exhibitionist who gladly drops the soap if you catch my drift, she is so disturbingly debauched in this anime that I couldn't believe my eyes, and her character is so all over the place, one minute she's serious and strict the next minute she's salivating at the mouth and man handling Mikoto despite the fact she gets shocked almost every time (seems Mikoto isn't the only rat looking for the illusive cheese that never seems to come from pressing the left button) her level of debauchery and tantamount rape make her equally unlikeable and ultimately disturbing. as for the other two Saten and Uiharu their characters are so weak and overshadowed by the insane and over the top behaviour of Kuroko and your anger at Mikoto that they just seem pretty negligible and only seem to be there to balance the power tables of the group since they have practically no power what so ever.

ENJOYMENT

Whether you can enjoy this anime or not is dependant on how much you like the fight scenes really since their pretty awesome, but the characters just tend to irritate you or in the case of Kuroko disturb you, so it's a matter of preference, and honestly there are only two likeable characters in this show, stripper teach since she seems to be the only character with a decent attitude to the world she lives in, no fairy tale outlooks, no preaching about how she's better than you, and she seems to be the only character that's really had any development in this series, and accelerator since he doesn't take crap from anyone and seems to be somewhat responsible with his power by comparison, (using it to keep everyone from disturbing him rather than using it to get an edge in life).


overall I've ranted quite a bit, but meh, this show isn't as good as index by a mile but there's certainly some enjoyment you can get out of it.

Toaru Kagaku no Railgun seemed like a stereotypical moe blob anime with random 'fanservice' thrown in for no reason; however after sitting down and viewing it I have to say it was surprisingly better than what I had expected.

So let's break this down,

Story: For the first five or so episodes, there is virtually no continuous storyline. Each episode in the beginning is just a variety of random happenings that the girls of 'Judgement' must fix. By the time you get to some actual story you won't be able to help but say 'Finally.' That is not however to say that the early episodes ... are unappealing, if anything they are just as good as the storyline episodes.

Art: This anime is very well animated, the art style is visually appealing, the characters are distinctive and the city itself is quite a mouthful as well.

Sound: Sound is pretty generic for the most part, nothing particularly outstanding here other than the OP and ED.

Character: The characters are very likable, and are the main attraction of the series. You'll find yourself laughing with them, or sharing a heartwarming moment with them as they go along, the character voices are very fitting and help make the mood complete. Aside from the main cast, there are several other characters introduced throughout the series, however most of them, at the very least for the most part, early on play no role other than to be fillers. This is my only complaint so far.

Enjoyment: The anime itself is very enjoyable, It has enough going on to keep watchers attached to the screen, the blend of action and comedy is done very well and it is an overall enjoyable experience.

Overall I'd give this anime an 8, it's a very fun and easy going anime, it doesn't takes itself too seriously, and it's a blast. I'd recommend it to anyone who's in need of something to watch.

I think the expression ,,spin-off'' should have been kind of changed for some anime. Some of those, like Railgun - show us another side of whats happening.
To Aru Kagaku no Railgun , or like in english ,,A Certain Scientific Railgun'' is an anime side-story from To Aru Majutsu no Index, a famous novel book series and naturally also a manga & an anime.
The same like Index, Railgun sets of in the city called ,,Academic City'' a city that is 30 years in front of humanit in things of technology and thus they have managed to grant their students super powers, the espers.

The beginning is a ... little bit weird, if you will. We see the main protagonist Misaka standing on a bridge, she opens up a drink and relaxes there before some thugs come over the way attempting to hit on her and maybe harm her. Little do they know, that they are the ones that will be harmed. Before her friend Kuroko , from the security group ,,judgement'', arrived- the thugs already lay defeated on the floor, a little bit coaled while a few sparks still flew around them.

It is in my opinion a little bit too fast paced and action scenes jump out of nothing, which can be interesting for some but also a little bit confusing for the next. What you will realise during the watch is the exagorating of a matter. Like in the very first episodes where they have to deal with a stalker that tends to tase strong espers from a known school.Kuroko and her partner Uiharu went to their Office to investigate as her colleague wanted to show her picture with an dark atmosphere like ,,Watch on your own concern.'' It makes you think that the victims were stabbed, penetrated, cut everywhere, punched and ready for hospital....and it turns out that the stalker only drew big eyebrows on them. I couldnt stop laughing there, but for others it may be a pointless exagoration.

I dont know what to say much to the Artstyle, im a fan of the drawn animes, instead of using too much CGI or 3-D effects. Railgun stays well in those boundaries and amazes with flashy fights and absolutely cool attacks. Just like the sound matches up to the situation, you always knew when a certain beat came up then shit had hit the fan and misaka starts to go out for real. It is kind of a techno mix, yet i wish some themes would have likely taken out. For example, there will be a very annoying piano theme when kuroko gets too attached. It is durable the first 2-3 times and i know its supposed to be annoying but at latest by the 5th time you will be like ,,Oh god..here we go again..''

Railgun also does not do much more then basic character progression, the only characters we learn about are Saten Ruiko and Harue and a small bit from kuroko and uiharus past but besides that it is unfortunately a bit left out. It is not that you feel that you need more backstorys etc. It is one of those ,,Wanna know more ? read the wiki/novel/manga'' progression. Something that might could have done better.

Overall I enjoyed Railgun very much, i laughed , it was exciting and the flaws i mentioned didnt draw my attention away. I personally hope that we can see more from this exciting universe, it surely seems to be fun.

My Score is a tough loved : 8

I hope my review could have been helpful to you guys. Dont let yourself be fooled by other saying ,,its a Shoujo manga'' it certainly is not :) with an open mind , you are guaranteed to have fun watching railgun.

Emmmmmmmmmmmm, friendship and camaraderie are good and all, but are you sure you are not using the wrong series to do it Nagai?

So Railgun S1, what to say about it, the fact Nagai butchered Kamachi's script?
The fact Nagai portrayed the series wrong?
The fact the anime can be considered non-canon because how much it conflicts with Kamachi?
Or the fact that the theme Nagai is advertising is horribly incompatible?

When you are doing an adaptation, you can change insignificant details but the core should remain the same. But with Nagai, the core is completely changed.

Nagai failed to understand how academy city is, especially shown with his villain, Therestina. ... What a disgrace of Kihara.

The fact is that academy city espers are all disposable, why are you, as a kihara, repeatedly stating the obvious and truth?

Yes, Toaru series setting is not one that tolerates the power of friendship. Friendship is nice and all, but its not going to cause a miracle and allow them to punch outside of their weight class. There is a reason that railgun is labelled as the kid zone of the toaru series.

Also having Misaka denying the claim is a joke, especially later on, which shows YES, she is a lab rat, living in her little comfort zone, while the big boys solve the real issues. And even LV5 are just slightly more valuable lab rat, but just as replaceable, and she is not even a piece on the board.

Now that is just sad, and it isn't something simple friendship can fix.

Really, just read the manga and ignore the anime, since it is non-canon anyway, if you want to just watch Railgun S 1-16 and ignore the rest.

While A Certain Magical Index follows the story of Touma, A Certain Scientific Railgun follows the story of another character in the anime, Misaka. A Certain Scientific Railgun follows Misaka in her endeavors with three of her friends, that occasionally overlap with the events in Index, but for the most part stays as a separate story. There is a technologically advanced city, that is 30 years further in science than any other city in the world known as Academy City, and in this city live people with powers like that out of a fantasy book, espers. The anime follows the story of our protagonist, Misaka, ... who is the third most powerful esper in Academy City, as she and her friends solve crime, fool around, and uncover the darker side of Academy City. There are times in Academy city when it is happy and calm, but inside the city is a darker side, one which directly affects Misaka, and she might be the only one able to stop it. I watched A Certain Magical Index before this, and while it was good, it lacked something. This picked up what it lacked. The events in this anime are basically what happens in between the episodes of Index, but it is shown by a different main character and cast, which results in a completely separate series. The character development is great, and it expands onto the times Misaka appears in Index, and introduces a whole new cast with their own quirks and objectives.

Railgun is a spinoff from To aru Majutsu no Index or A certain magical Index

While it is a spinoff, a lot of things are different and some people may form biases because of the different feels both anime have. If you disregard the fact that it's a spinoff and consider Railgun as a work of it's own, you can find the things to enjoy.

Story 8/10

Railgun has a few arcs to offer with slice of life-like episodes in between. These episodes however are not completely empty as they are used as tension builders and breakers. As for the arcs, I'll be reviewing them individually

Big spider arc ... 7/10 - This arc shows us a new character named Kurozuma: The Esper Punching machoman. With that being said, this could be considered a filler arc. Nevertheless this arc is still fairly interesting and is not something you would skip as you would something like a Naruto filler.

Level upper arc 9/10 - Here we get something really interesting, and a major part of the plot. "Level upper" sounds like some cheat doesn't it? Well in a way it is, but just like cheating in school, you're just screwing yourself over. Subtle foreshadowing is dropped on us from time to time and tension builds up as the true identity of the stripper lady is revealed as well as her backstory. From the horrifying failed mad scientist experiments to Mikoto failing to realize how Saten felt, we're delivered with the feels quite nicely. This is due to the fact that the tension was built on properly unlike other anime where drama just pops up out of nowhere, and they expect us to feel anything other than being annoyed. Not to forget the cool ability showcasing in this arc.

Poltergeist arc 9/10 - Just when the tension from the previous arc is almost gone, it comes back with even more piled on top of it. We're given a dirtbag character which was designed really well in the way that you just want to punch your screen at the sight of them. Everything is resolved in a somewhat shounen-action anime kind of way, but everything is resolved and concluded properly.

Art 8/10 - personally, I liked the character designs. The animation for sure was not half bad, however. We're given revamped esper animations in comparison to Index (I tried as hard as I could not to compare to Index). The anime was animated pretty well overall.

Sound 9/10 - just as the esper animations were revamped, so were the sounds. There's a "universal esper sound effect" in index which was removed and replaced with individual sound effects that, in my opinion, sound much better than that universal schwing. The soundtracks were seemingly perfect for the situations and let's not forget Only my Railgun and Dear my Friend. Two of my favorite songs up to date.

Character 8/10 - We're given a main cast of 4 girls as well as a couple of pretty important support characters who were shown enough of to see their characters. The characters are pretty colorful to say the least and while no mind shattering character development happened, but it's there - from Mikoto being more considerate, to Saten working hard instead of moping.

Enjoyment 10/10 - Yes that's right. I enjoyed this anime as much as I could. I thought it was executed perfectly but then if I said that it would kill my entire review right? Joking aside, Railgun is like a perfect balance of slice of life, action, and drama and can be pretty easily enjoyed. Don't take my word for it though, check out episode 1 - The hook, which was ACTUALLY executed perfectly

Overall - 10/10
This just says how much I like it. Now go form your own opinion of it! :)

I was off school sick; so what did I do? I watched the entire A Certain Scientific Railgun anime. Best thing I could have done.

Story: 9
The story only gets a 9 because each consecutive episode feels disconnected from the episode prior. Especially around the beginning and middle of the anime.
I could say that the story is about Railgun and her friends helping a scientist rescue some kids from eternal sleep.

Art: 10
ACSR is beautiful and modern. The characters look great and the setting of Academy City is stunning.

Sound: 10
I loved the soundtrack. It fits in well with the story and the beginning and end themes weren't ... too bad.

Character: 9
Misaka the 'Railgun' is a Level 5 esper who is extremely capable with her powers.

Kuroko is a level 4 esper who has an extreme yet hilarious obsession with her best friend Misaka. Her power is teleportation.

Saten is a Level 0 who has no power what-so-ever. Her arc consists of her coming to terms with being normal in an abnormal world.

Uiharu is annoying.

Enjoyment: 10
Thoroughly enjoyed this one. It is humorous and has a great story.

Overall: 9
Perhaps it would have been a 10 if the story was less disconnected; I mean - did they really need that weird fan-service bikini episode?

After Index and hearing by people how this anime was 'better' than its parent story, I was intrigued so I got down to watch it.

Boy, what a drag. I seriously cant see how people think Rail-gun is better than Index. It started better than index but as it progresses it turns into a train wreck loaded with manure. Nearly half of the episodes are extremely boring fillers, some which are saved when Touma (The hero from index) appears and makes everything funny.

The characters are plain shit, other than Misaki the rest of the cast are either useless and annoying (Uihara, Saten) or extreme headaches (Kuroko), ... for lord even Index is better than them.

The music is good and so is the art and animation, no problem there.

Its funny how his anime tried to do character development of people who will never make a big impact on the story due to not having barely any screen time. (A dorm mistress episode REALLY?) This is like watching a crappy soap opera.

Some episodes were good, most were crap. Its sad to think so many people actually thought this was good, but meh each to their own.

First off, im only on episode 15 right now. i've tried watching this before, but i got bored and ditched it. This time around, i pushed myself to watch it and started to get interested. . . and seemingly, the more i watched the more i began to like it and wouldn't stop, and i had to write a review. . . so here goes nothing.
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Story:
Well, it's fairly interesting and actually pretty unique for once- i thought it would be kind of like D. Gray Man, what with the new-problem-every-episode-or-two plot. I generally hate that kind of stuff and start to get sick of ... it very fast, and nothing besides extremely good humor will keep me watching. Well, for ACSR (for the sake of this review, i'll abbreviate the title) it was kind of like this at first. I thought it was nice, but not really my thing- i was staying pretty much for the comedy. However, i did like how the problems per episode were different from other cliche, girls-with-special powers episodes, so that booted the score up a little bit and got a 8/10 from me.
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Art:
The art is fantastic. The one thing that will stop me from watching an anime or manga, despite how good or funny it may be, is the art. If it's not my preferred type, I often dump it- sometimes, I even have to force myself to not get irritated by the art when watching an anime/ reading a manga with a good plot. Fortunately, I don't have that problem with ACSR- everything is drawn exactly the way i like it, and the best part was that this anime isn't one of those recently released ones with better art- this anime is 2-3 years old already. The character expressions are drawn perfectly to show how they're feeling, and the details are amazing- I usually ignore details and focus mainly on the characters, but I couldn't help but notice. 10/10.
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Sound:
Everything was perfect as far as sound was too- the crackle of Misaka's lightning, the voices of the other characters, the background noise, and the OP and ED's especially. The sound went perfectly with the art, which was another thing I loved- the only thing I thought that didn't fit was Kuroko's slightly annoying voice, although I did get use to it by episode 10. I expected her voice to be more smooth, although still haughty and naughty. (Haha. . . *shot*) Her voice irritated me a whole lot when I started watching ACSR, but as I said, I got use to it (although I still dont like it.) However, every other character's VA was perfect and so was the extra noise and the music used. Since Kuroko can be considered a main character and she talk alot, my rating for the sound went from a ten to a nine.
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Character:
10/10. It was perfect. At first I was worried that the characters would be so cliche and that Misaka would be ridiculously and unrealistically heroic and brave. That's the thing I hate most about a large amount of anime- the typical, predictable characters. The characters are all unique and awestrucking, but not in a way that just looks fake and stupid and makes you want to smack them and be like, "BUT THATS NOT EVEN POSSiBLE!" I can't show examples because that would spoil most of ACSR, but just trust me, you will love the characters. I would love to be friends with any of them.
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Enjoyment & Overall:
I enjoyed it quite alot- there was a lot of things that made me laugh, but made me emotional as well. The characters, despite not being particularly busty like most characters nowaday, are still eye candy while not necessarily being all lolita and cutesy. (Not that i have anything against lolitas. . . in fact, i love lolita fashion. Well, then again, i love all fashion. . . ) Overall, i would give it a 9/10. The story was better then i expected and fairly good, the art was wonderful as was the characters, and the sound was pretty damn good.
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if i change my opinion drastically after watching a few more episodes, i'll re-write this review, but i sincerely doubt it. The ratings are rather good for an anime i just started watching and it doesn't look like this anime will end badly.

First a disclaimer, I wrote some crap at the bottom that should be read first, but it ended up being more then I planned so I put the review portion up top and an explanation for some people on my thoughts of how some series of this nature get conflicting reviews.

This is a slightly episodic (with some story arcs, or at least events from multiple episodes tied in) series. However, it really should be approached more like a fusion of slice of life anime, and action. If you don't like slice of life, you probably won't like this anime, or at a bare minimum you ... will be bothered by the structure of the episodes.

I endorse this anime (as I would any that I personally write a review for) mainly for the fact that it was very enjoyable. I wasn't expecting to be moved to tears, or have some life altering moment watching this series, my only expectation is that the show is interesting enough and entertaining. I have found myself kind of moving away from high octane action shows (which used to be somewhat of a staple), and perhaps it is like an acquired taste. I really ended up liking the supporting characters (since paragons really aren't all that interesting, but unrequited lesbian love is), and got a good many laughs out of this series.

So this is what I guess is a somewhat unpopular view for how to rate things. But on the topic of entertainment (especially when I read what other people have to say about shows like this one) some people tend to have difficulty just watching things and basing them completely on their own merits. Meaning that when I review, I try not to constantly compare one series to the next unless what I feel the "intent" of the shows are consistent. (the intent of this show I feel is somewhat misinterpreted, its not JUST action/super-power, its also slice of life, which got misinterpreted as "filler" in my opinion, but in the entire series a lot of what happens occurs between or within slice of life applications).

To that extent this series I feel is somewhat underrated on MAL since a lot of what I read about on this site referred to this show having filler, a term which I think people like to use all too freely. I felt it was necessary to write a review from the standpoint of someone who does not mind when shows are not necessarily geared to be 100% serious or follow tight story arcs. That being said, I also don't read all the manga/light novels and whatnot, so I don't judge anime based on how it follows the original.

LOL, lastly I don't write any of the plot summery or that kind of bull in my reviews because you can just freaking click on the link and read it yourself if you really need to. Redundancy FTL, I notice how much people like to talk plot specifics in their reviews. I only offer my perspective to highten my own sense of self satisfaction, hah you read it now you can't unread it if you read this far!

This is one of the few anime that i like when i was in middle school unti now basically im gonna make a review but at the same time why you should watch it..... okay this series is a spin off of the main series of a series called index though i really recommend the ln of index rather than the anime im sure lot of people already heard of this truth if your trying to get into the toaru franchise so basically this show is really unique especially the power system the world it's really interesting and lot of interaction of characters from different ... series but has the same universe which is really incredible it feels the same as like marvel cinematics when a character in from thor meet a character from avengers so yeah this show is really unique that's why lot of fans in this franchise is really obsessed about this franchise like bakemonogatari or even jojo kind of obsession well im obsessed of the 3 franchise i just mentioned and also there's a lot of slice of life in this show so it's even rewarding for me because i like fights at the same time slice of life so this is like my cup of tea........


Story: 8 out of 10 honestly the story is just 7 out of 10 but the author really did put much effort of the power system blending science and supernatural and the knowledge he put in the power system is pretty accurate like misaka have electrical power and he can do lot of things about it because of the power of knowledge learning science in this world make you stonger

Art: 8 out of 10 it's just good especially when misaka use railgun man it's pretty good

Sound: 9 out of 10 amazing the soundtrack and the opening is a banger the sounds is one of the things that you can bragged about this series

Character: 9 out of 10 they're really just chill to see and i grow up with them and im emotionally invested of the characters because of the slice of life scenes that i get to know them better

Enjoyment: 10 out of 10 the more i discovered something about this series the more rewarding it would be and the more i get obsessed and this is one of the few shows that i rewatch

Overall: 9 out of 10 i highly recommended this to people who love shounen and slice of life.......

This review is short. If you want a refreshing action anime, this might be it. The whole show takes place in a city of advanced technology but not really cyberpunk-esque. It looks like a semi-modern world but with advanced tech.

The main cast are all girls, and so what makes this outstanding is the fact that as a viewer you get to enjoy a "slice-of-life"-esque show with "action" and an overarching antagonist per arc. Quite really fun, although the protagonist is surely overpowered (most of the time) there is clearly lacking aspects in them which the show tackles for character development.

So want all-girls, action, slice-of-life, and ... sci-fi all at once? This is it.

Ow man…This is good. This review will be so nice. So, to be honest, actually I want to make some review for To Aru Kagaku No Railgun S. But when this review was being written, Railgun S was still aired at first episode. Then I better don’t write some text of review for a while at least until this anime reaches ten episodes or more. Because I want to observe some differences between first and second season of these To Aru Series. Basically Railgun (it looks like I should say it “Railgun” since To Aru Kagaku No Railgun is pretty long title isn’t it?) is ... a spin off story. Spin off is just like side story which tells about detailed other character life story. So it means there’re some main stories that cover all of these characters act. That is To Aru Majutsu No Index. I won’t talk a lot about that because of the differences about the story. Index is a story about magic. In the other hand Railgun is story about science. Something’s like sun and moon eh? Although Index tells about magical things there’re still a few stories for science. Since the background of both of them is in sophisticated city named Academy City.

Academy City is issued as the most up-to-date city in science. Almost all of town inhabitant is academic community like student, teacher, lector, professor and scientist of course. One thing that’s really interesting from this city is people can not only study here but also train their special ability. They’re called esper. Every person has a unique ability which is commonly different to the other. The ability is categorized into five stage of level. The range of level is level 1 until level 5. So, the highest one is level 5. There’re only seven persons in Academy city have mastered level 5 and the main character in this story, named Misaka Mikoto, is level 5. Misaka is third year middle schooler. She has ability to control each electric charge around her. It means she can manipulate electricity as she wants. She also can produce it from herself. Electromaster is her title. But she is often called ‘Tokiwadai’s Railgun’ since she can shoot something with her electromagnetic force and Tokiwadai is the name of her school. Yeah, you know, electromagnetic riffle is already known as railgun. She uses a coin as bullet and that’s her best technique.

Misaka has three close friends who always hanging out with her. First is Kuroko. She is level four and her ability is teleport. She can move something, even herself, into different places in a sec. She is Misaka’s biggest fan. But her adoration at Misaka seems like perverted relationship for me. She often disturbs Misaka when she’s taking a bath. I hope she isn’t lesbian. Kuroko has some weapons which shaped like needle. She usually teleports it into certain point of her targets and then stops their movement. Second is Uiharu. She has been Kuroko friend for a long time ago. And then Kuroko introduces her to Misaka. She’s cute and tiny girl with flower ornament on her head. She’s good in computer things and esper as well. Uiharu and Koroko are member of city’s discipline enforcer named “Judgement”. The last one is general girl named Saten. In this group, she’s the one who doesn’t have any special ability. She’s level zero. Or maybe I may say that she hasn’t awoken her ability yet. So she is the real hard worker here because she lacks of skill. She’s Uiharu’s best friend. She often mistreats Uiharu with lifting Uiharu’s skirt and then sees what kind of “pantsu” that she uses today. All of them have a nice friendship. First time Saten met Misaka, she thought Misaka should be an arrogant person since she is the Tokiwadai’s ace. But that’s not true. Misaka is really hospitable person who never differentiates anyone who wants to be her friend. She is humble person as well. They always hang out into café, resto, and other common places that teenagers usually visit.

There are some important arcs in this anime and it’s never shown in the To Aru Majutsu No Index. The level upper arc. This arc tells about appearance of some methods that can increase esper’s level easily. Basically if espers want to increase their level they must practice hardly at the long periods. It means really difficult to get a level up in your ability. It’s like evolution I think. But this level upper is a cheat. Level upper method is hearing a song. If you hear this song frequently you can gain your level up in the short time without doing a lot of practice. Really easy eh? But a short way always serves a long risk. The fact is this method can’t increase your ability forever. After a certain period, you’ll lose all of your ability even your body will became so numb. Unfortunately Misaka’s friend, Saten, is one of this method’s victims. Saten was tempted to use this song because she thought that she will never gain any level progress. She’s desperate with her efforts. The culprit behind this accident is a scientist named Kiyama. Uiharu started suspecting her because she’s good in hacking network and analyzing data in computer. Misaka was immediately looking for her to make everything clear. She must account for all of this. But that’s not so fast. Kiyama gains a horrible ability because of this method. She can use all of people’s ability who uses level upper. So she’s a multi-esper now. Misaka had serious battle with her. I can say that’s the finest battle in this anime. You have to see it.

So, the main character of To Aru Majutsu No Index, Kamichou Touma has been appeared in this anime just at several short scenes. He is level zero but he has rare ability which allows him to cancel some energy impact. He had some light battle with Misaka because he pissed her off. Misaka was really surprised when her attack wasn’t working to him. He blocked all of Misaka’s electricity and then ran away from her. Misaka was really angry with his attitude. But I rather say it “like” since she’s “tsundere” after all. Hahaha. I hope it’s true that Misaka’s has a feeling to him because they are really interesting couple.

Here some of my opinions :
Plus :
-Great animation. The battle between Misaka and Kiyama isn’t really bad at all. Although I have watched a lot more superb battle at the other anime, I still can say this one is nice.

-Polite fanservice. I mean it is true that Kuroko is perverted freak. She does a lot of dirty jokes even sexual harassment to Misaka. But overall this is really polite anime. Look at Misaka. She doesn’t have “exaggerated body part” like other general heroine. Just a proper middle schooler. And her short is really good point for her appearance. So there aren’t some “pantsu-jokes”. It’s really rare for anime girl wears short behind her skirt , isn’t it? Haha… That is Misaka’s trade mark.

-Good execution. Commonly band of girls in anime just do “cute things with cute face”. But there isn’t something like that in Railgun. This Misaka’s gang is a band of girl which always learns together to be a better esper and increase their power properly. Nevertheless Misaka has reached the top of level she’s still trying to enlarge her ability in electro-control. And she’s good tutor for the other.

-Nice moral value. Always believe in your teachers. Because they will always support and save you no matter in how conditions you are. And they will never hesitate to do everything for you. And I think there’s another important moral value which tells about the cruelly of science. Level 5 is the highest but humans still want more. If this cruelty isn’t done well it’ll be disaster for human being.

-Intersting esper. You know, special ability isn’t new issue in action animes and it’s always interesting. I really enjoy when I have to understand each character abilities although they have involute mechanism. How about Kamichou Touma? It is seldom enough for protagonist has ability like that. He can negate some energy impact. Perhaps it means he can also negate Naruto’s Bijuu Dama or Goku’s Genki Dama. Just kidding. For naruto and goku fans don’t take it seriously. With this kind of ability he can form ultimate defend technique that nullifies all of enemy attack. It doesn’t simply make him becomes a godlike hero because Touma’s attacking technique isn’t more than bare hand punch.

-Just a proper ability. I’m sure sometimes you have been tired for super-superb character’s ability in anime. Like ability to destroy the mountain, slice the sea, make huge hole in the land, dismiss the city, etc. Nothing likes that in this anime. It’s true that Misaka can control electricity but she can’t make some exaggerated power like summoning the thunder, manipulating the weather, or maybe shooting the huge cannon light. Then what did you call her railgun? No, that’s not a big deal. Since she only can shot it once as final move and that obviously isn’t mainstream laser cannon thing.

Minus :
It’ll be so unfair if I give nothing in the minus because I’m the big fans of this anime. So I would like to say if there’re some extra battle scenes, this anime will be perfect. Because I counted there’re just two serious battles during 24 episodes of this anime. I want more. And it’ll be more fun if love story between Touma and Misaka have detailed a lot. Misaka’s tsundere entertain me well. Hehehe

So, this is my first time I give 9 score for anime in my review. And I don’t doubt to say this is the best spin off story that I ever see.

This is a review of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun and it's sequel, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S.

This story follows the daily life of Misaka Mikoto, the 3rd of the 7 level 5s in Academy city, and her friends.

Story :
in Railgun and Railgun S together, there are 4 major arcs. Each arc was built up wonderfully, and the pacing is superb. Every small detail was a plot point in the arc or the next, and supporting characters that appear to be left in the dust in the previous arc are brought back in future episodes. This is probably the anime with the best pacing among ... all those that I have watched.

Art :
The scenes were animated pretty well, and it does have it amazing moments during battles. Each Railgun that Misaka fires is also animated very well.

Sound :
The soundtracks don't stand out too much, it just is good for what it is. What stands out to me is the opening themes. ALL 4 OF THEM. Each opening theme somehow goes hand in hand with the arc that it is in. You can imagine me enjoying the whole of the last episode of Railgun S where they used 3 out of 4 of the opening themes as background music. It was epic.

Character :
Every character was well developed, and supporting characters are usually never left in the dust. Every character introduced has a purpose, and most of them reappear later on in the show, be it as a major or minor plot point. Most of the characters are likable, and the antagonists are also filled with great personalities, to the point where you empathize with them. But most of the time you find yourself rooting for Misaka.

Enjoyment :
As a sucker for super power shows, I really really enjoyed every bit of this. Not a single episode was wasted in my opinion, and every scene has an importance to future events. I also watched this show BEFORE Toaru Majutsu no Index, and that affected my view on Index because the science side of Academy City was so much more interesting thanks to Railgun. I also started following the novels thanks to this, so obviously I enjoyed this anime very much.

Overall, I give Toaru Kagaku no Railgun and Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S a combined score of 10/10

This is my completely opinion, bare with it.

Story: 7/10

The story is good. The arcs that we got in this anime was enjoyable.

Art 8/10

The animation was very good, didn't see anything about it.

... Sound: 9/10

This is one of the thing i loved the most of this anime, the soundtracks. They were used in the correct moment and the openings were superb.

Character: 8/10

This spin off shows some character developments towards mikoto, a character that barely had moments in Index S1, and her friends. We got later on characters that at first we think they're really the villains but they turn out to be great characters.

Enjoyment: 9/10

I enjoyed the anime a lot. Mikoto and her friends are really great characters and they're so likable. I can relate to kuroko and mikoto's friendship because my best friend and I act like that most of the times.

Overall: 9/10

I really enjoyed this season and I would recommend to everyone to give this anime a try if you want to sit, break some doritos and open a montain dew, to marathon and have some fun.

A certain scientific railgun follows misaka mikoto! The series of a certain magical index and a certain scientific railgun take place in the same universe. in fact, in the same town. they intertwine with one another through both series. railgun is more of the light hearted scientific side of the story, while index is more of the dark serious side of magic. So just because you do not like index, you might like railgun! and vise versa. which i personally liked both! So this story brings up the ancient delima of science vs magic. what can be proven and what can not. with ... that being said...all reviews for this series (i am including index as a part of this series, since they are both so closely related) will be almost identical. however my ranking for both will vary. Also, if you are curious of which series to watch, let me clear that up for you and tell you my personal opinion, which is how the time line goes.
1-a certain scientific railgun
2-a certain magical index
3-a certain scientific railgun s
4-a certain magical index 2

For this anime

story-The story is great! i give it a 9 easily for originality, the comedy, and the enjoyment of the story

art-this will get a 10 from me, the art style is amazing and well done

sound-the voice actors for both english and japanese are very well done, so this earns a 10 from me. the music is well placed and sounds good as well! (i love opening 1 and 2) i give this also a 10

character(s)-I love the characters. some might find them annoying, but i really loved them all. they are well written and serve all serve a purpose in this anime this is a 10 for me

enjoyment-I give this a 9 as well.

overall- Overall i will give this anime a 9 easily, the characters. the fact another anime goes with it so well, the plot development. its all great!

[Since this IS a spin-off of Magical Index and plays in the same universe, I have to compare Railgun to the parent story, so please stick with me here. If you don't know "A Certain Magical Index I-II", read my reviews on them. Don't worry, there are no spoilers.]

Not gonna lie, after watching Magical Index, I had doubts about it's spin-off. After all, spin-offs are usually just quick cash grab attempts utilizing fan favorite characters or side-stories and never really amount to anything. The weird thing, however, as I looked around, everyone seemed to praise Railgun to high heavens claiming, that it's way better than ... it's parent story. I had to investigate, so I watched it all.

Short opinion: Surprisingly good! Exception to the rule on the spin-off front. I never imagined something like this could grow out of that incoherent mess that's Magical Index, it's truly amazing!

Watching the first few episodes I still had the bad aftertaste Magic Index left me with. Seeing the same Academy City and the same characters reminded me of that nonsensical gibberish the parent story was. But all that passed real quick when the story started to take off a couple of episodes in. First of all, unlike Magical Index, Scientific Railgun has a good story arc. Finally, there is a coherent storyline focusing on the scientific side and ESPers, and none of that magical, religious mumbo-jumbo. Railgun is set before the timeline of Magical Index, it's a standalone story, so don't worry if you haven't seen Magical Index, you are not missing out. Although many of the story elements in Railgun are still need to be taken with mountains of salt and suspension of disbelief, it's an engaging and nicely though out story I never expected from this universe. Well done!

Also a huge change is in the characters. Instead of introducing tons of throwaway characters to act as one-off plot devices, in Railgun we finally have a core group of main and support characters who stay with us throughout the story. Misaka's character is finally fleshed out and feels alive, an integral part of the story, just like a protagonist should. Toma never managed to get this right, so it seems the writers finally found their calling. Even the support characters have distinct and well-rounded personalities, although some of them still suffer from trope-overload. In all fairness, it's a good bunch of characters and they are relatable, that's what counts.

One thing I have to mention is the art direction. The animation and design quality is obviously way better than Magical Index. It seems they learned a lot since then. The settings, the backdrops and the scenes are way better drawn out and pleasant to look at. There are really no weird angles or "artistic" BS, it's cool and collected, really suited for the scientific theme of the series.

There are some problems and weirdness, however. One thing I noticed is, the story switches between action scenes and exposition with an audible "CLANG". The characters eat and drink A LOT. Huge bits of story, explanations and techno-babble are regularly dumped on us by characters sitting on a bench or at a table ALWAYS either having a drink or eating food (or both) and just gushing exposition in the form of dry dialogue. When they are done, it's back to the action, where all the laid out story gets resolved. I don't mean it's a necessarily bad way for a narrative, after all, everything gets explained and shown to the viewer, but it's more than a little weird. I guess the ends justify the means.

Also, major props for the music. "Only My Railgun", the opening, officially made it to my favorite anime music list, but the rest of the tunes from the show are pretty great too. Well done!

All in all, the rumors where true, A Certain Scientific Railgun is one damn fine anime with a strong story, strong characters and WAY better than it's parent series. I can only recommend it!

~ Justice be done to cease this arms race! ~

A rigid, administrative infrastructure, a reliance on ironically ungodly, god-given superpowers, and the implementation of technologically advanced machines, all for the betterment of its population. That's the backbone of Academy City. A perfect place for in which future generations, and the future itself, blossoms. Or is it?

Unbeknownst to those who merely glance at the surface of this show, we are in fact looking at an arms race. A widespread hunger for power. Beneath the glistening lights of Railgun's (a shortening for the title) overly "perfect" setting, i found this to be a really interesting show ... that documents an on-going struggle for power, and a need to bring justice to those who place science above morals... This being the simplified meaning behind this 24 episode series...

If there's one thing that Railgun did right, it was this above described premise. The actual concept behind the show, though not revolutionary, always appealed to me as particularly interesting, and one of its strong suits. The focus on the somewhat oppressive nature of this society's administration, and the way that everything is valued logically according to the exact details of one's abilities, gave Railgun a very unique, heavily context-based style. It's definitely not bland, and fortunately strays from the "superpower" theme stereotype.

The show is a somewhat two-faced hybrid between a heavily action-based, cinematic journey, and a more lighthearted SoL. Consequently, there are occasions where the intensity and seriousness of the show, despite being quite emphasized, is a tad jeopardized by the "reality check" if you will, that main cast are schoolgirls. But don't run away just yet.

Railgun bears a formidable, overriding story; hidden mostly in the show's early stages. I guess you could say that Railgun's first "phase" was made to immerse you and give you a feeling for the premise, and the way in which everything works - a very "called for" introduction in my opinion, as like i implied before, without the context it would really work too well. The setting is really immersive and escapist. It gives the viewer a great feel and awareness of scale. Combine this with Railgun's first class art, and it's definitely up there in the visuals department.

In terms of content, Railgun give quite an even split between the characters' lives, and the action-based events that follow. This prevents it from being too sequential, and therefore allows you to go from eating ice cream, to beating up criminals in the blink of an eye. It's great for those with a short attention span, as a generalization, but on a more serious note... Railgun creates a correlation between lack of power, and frustration in its characters, which reflects the context really well. This undertones the main moral arguments that are brought up throughout, and allows surprisingly for more than just shallow emotions to be conveyed, despite the fairly casual presentation.

There's not an obvious method set to class Railgun as... The characters development techniques are primarily quite documentative and straight-up. It's therefore not too expansive, but makes up for this with dramatic and passionate emotional situations - though they are undermined occasionally due to the comedy/innuendo aspects. (a step too far in my opinion), but considering the identity of the characters again, i guess it's appropriate, despite that perhaps being the only flaw in the setup.

On the other (arguably slightly larger) side of the spectrum, Railgun is packed to the brim with action-packed situations that are integrated seamlessly, without being consumptive of depth. They're genuinely cool, VERY intense, and suspenseful too - all serving to give a good immediate scope. In-turn this allows the viewer to get a better understanding of everything works, and acts as an outwards reflection, an indicator of how the characters' emotional growth and cooperation allows them to deal justice.

It CLOSE to being cheesy is Railgun. And i would argue that it is an easy-watching addition to your list, that will have you without a doubt rooting for physics defying schoolgirls. The characters are very understandable, likable, and the action-oriented presentation makes it all particularly cinematic and exhilarating.

Railgun doesn't go without fault though, as i find it frustrating how the meaning evident in the show's brilliant context is not very effectively elaborated upon/conveyed, in the episodes themselves.
So unfortunately, i would have to say that this really epic name in the anime community, is violated by its identity issues. I feel as though JC crammed a bit too much content into this first season (so yes, i am aware that there's supposed to be room for expansion). By judging holistically, it's quite apparent at least to me that the show tries to appeal to too may different audiences at once, and so its very 2-sided nature conflicts by splitting the "allocation of depth", to the point where it's difficult to deduce what the series specializes in.

So i won't deny that this is a problem that leaves the show slightly lacking in terms of its own personality, and a bit generic... But as a whole, Railgun is nevertheless a very vivid and enjoyable, cinematic series. Based off the awesome context and overriding themes alone alone, i promised myself that would follow the series up with the next season: "S".

~ Blue stripes today! ~