Toaru Kagaku no Railgun

When I first heard about this from the MAL news, I decided to watch this, without watching the parent story (Toaru Kagaku no Index) since it would really influence my views on Railgun.

Yes, there are some random filler episodes, but this series was meant to be watched on TV, after all. The storytelling is well-done, since they explore various characters, such as the dorm mistress and the useless Antiskill member, in isolated episodes. For them, this is their moment to shine and shows that the Academy is multi-faceted. Plus, there is some fanservice, which can be annoying but anyone can skip over. I'm really not ... the one for fanservice, but it's not too overdone.

Moreover, the episodes that might seem isolated are actually connected in some way or another. I liked the Level Upper arc and the Poltergeist arc as well -- they are all connected together as part of a greater conspiracy in the Academy City.

This is where Misaka and her friends get caught up in this. The character development is quite nice, though there isn't a drastic change. Rather, if any, it is quite subtle. The best development shown so far, though, was that of Saten. As a friend of Misaka "Railgun," Saten in contrast has no abilities (Level 0). Yet, as the series progresses, Saten's views towards abilities do change and help further the theme of friendship and relying on one another.

However, there are some characters that can be annoying, such as Kuroko -- that one pink haired girl. Despite being a highly capable Level 4 teleporter and a member of Judgment, she does have her GL moments where she attempts to make Misaka fall in love with her. They can be amusing, but outright ridiculous at times. Saten's habit of flipping Uiharu's skirt, while a part of her personality, comes across as weird for me. It's a quirk, to be sure.

But most of all, most of the main characters are girls. Now, I'm not sure what this means, but most of the criminals shown are typically males. Girls make up a large part of Judgment and Antiskill and so can punish anyone who disrupts the order of the city. Plus, the "final boss" is also female. Railgun, then, gives off that feminist vibe that I can't just ignore.

The art is decent and quite generic, but the animation is slightly better when absolutely necessary, particularly during these action scenes. Misaka's status as a Level 5 is not a hyperbole; in fact, she rightfully deserves it, even though she persists in saying that level doesn't matter. One thing I've noticed is that the characters are not shaded whenever they are under the shade of some building or at night time. I actually like them flat-colored rather than with their hair being so shiny with unnecessary white, but that's anime for you. The animation does stagger at times, but not enough to hinder the enjoyment level.

Speaking of enjoyment, while I thoroughly enjoyed the story and characters' relationships in reaction to the plot, there were some things that I wish the anime would expand on. For instance, Touma appears but is not involved in any action in the second half as much. What is Misaka's relationship with him? I would assume that he is just a random character tossed in, to please the Index viewers even more. I would have liked an expansion on Touma's ability to block the others' abilities. Maybe that's what Index is for.

Overall, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun is good. Nothing far-reaching so as to make this my favorite, nor to have any staying impact on my mind. It is a simple casual and well-told story, with some action and the usual scientific plot mixed in. If you dislike moe (is that the term?), unrealized lesbian relationships, or slice of life, then this might not be for you. Even so, you can skip over them.

I gave Index a 6, but I liked Railgun a little bit better all around, so lets say 7+.

It brings us back to the world of Index, but focuses on Railgun and her friends, as well as explores various aspects of Academy City. It has good characters and mostly enjoyable episodes and interesting story arcs. The ways it flows in and around the intersecting events of Index is pretty good too, although it makes some slight changes to how those events play out. Not necessarily bad. Some are improvements.

There are still some issues with repetition in the writing and ... gags, but by spreading these out you don't feel like you've been beaten you over the head by these the way Index did.

After the successful To Aru Majutsu no Index anime series, it was expected that the spinoff based on one of Index’s heroines Misaka Mikoto, would be animated as well. That being said, the Railgun series that runs in parallel with Index’s storyline, with several interactions between the two series facilitated through Index’s main protagonist Kamijou Touma. There are some charming characters and intriguing plots in this series, which keeps things interesting and fun, but there is definitely room for improvement here.

Production quality wise, JC staff does a stellar job of maintaining consistent animation quality, with some notably well animated actions scenes, no doubt from JC ... Staff’s long time experience with more “superpowers” based anime adaptations, such as Shakugan no Shana, Zero no Tsukaima, and the counterpart to this series, To Aru Majutsu no Index.

The main attraction to this show is most certainly the main characters to this series. The main cast, consisting of our main heroine Misaka Mikoto, her roommate Kuroko, “Judgement” member Uiharu, and her class mate Saten, are all charming in their own unique way. Misaka’s tsundere righteous personality may turn some people off, but mostly, she’s a cute and fun character to watch, while Kuroko’s over the top tactics to try and get Misaka to fall in love with her (FYI, Kuroko is a lesbian) is both eyebrow raising yet hilarious. Uiharu and Saten both contribute to the quirkiness of the main cast in their own way, which makes watching the character interactions in this show truly entertaining to watch. Not to mention, the fact that most of the characters in this show have a unique special “power”, such as the ability to teleport or control electricity, makes the entire cast more diverse and intriguing to watch.

There are some good moments of character development as well, surprisingly with Saten and Uiharu. I feel that they both get the most amount of character development in this series, sometimes subtle and other times more blatant. Although Mikoto is my favorite character to this series, objectively speaking Saten get’s the most amount of character development and complexity to her personality.

The story is very arc oriented, with the entire series cut up into three or so arcs, with some filler episodes interspersed in between. Quite honestly, in terms of story, I felt that these arcs felt rather weak in terms of plot, with some very shallow villains (with the exception being the female scientist) that made the major conflicts themselves quite boring, even if the action scenes themselves were pretty good. I will admit that there were some battles with some creative usage of the characters’ powers that made them very interesting to watch.

The great part to this series would have to be how all the main characters interact with what is around them, resulting in some hilarious moments between characters such as Touma and Mikoto, or some laugh inducing moments at the sheer fangirlism of Uiharu.

As for the actual setting, the author of the original source material did a good job with detailing the setting of the story. The integration of quantum physics ideas, although almost certainly not applicable in the ways it is portrayed in this anime, was a nice touch adding some unique concepts and ideas to this series. Not to mention, the law enforcement groups “Judgement” and “Anti-skill” makes the setting more sensible, yet at the same time, adds a whole different aspect to the entire story.

Overall, this show is a fun to watch story with some serious story arcs, with a charming main cast that really gets you into the plot. I definitely feel that some of the filler episodes were unnecessary, but there was a decent amount of character development throughout the show, with a good amount of slice of life moments interspersed in between everything.

Production Quality: 8.5/10

Characters: 8.5/10

Story: 7.0/10

Setting: 8.0/10

Overall Score: 8.0/10

Feedback, comments, and most importantly criticisms, are always welcome :)

Love the anime, it's the first one I've watched over all the 'A Certain' series and it got me hooked up watching the whole esries thanks to this! Can't wait for Season 3 on both anime of Index and Railgun!

Also, of all anime I've watched, this one I liked both opening and ending songs. Usually I'd skip it but here, sometimes I do, sometimes I just listen to it. The characters are great, it's funny and full of humor, it's also action-packed and mixed with both science and magic. Mostly science though. Magic is Index's thing.

Great story too! The fighting scenes may not be as ... long as other anime, like using about 1-4 episode of only one battle. Sometimes it bores me to watch all four episodes only about the fight and a few or couple cuts to show other characters in other locations to make sure the audience isn't bored with watching the continuous fight.

I enjoy this overall!

Note: This will be a review of the first two seasons.

Overview:
"A Certain Scientific Railgun" is the spin-off of the science vs. magic series "A Certain Magical Index". While the former series focused primarily on the Magic Side of things, "A Certain Scientific Railgun" focuses exclusively on the Science Side, and puts us in the shoes of one of its most powerful espers, Mikoto Misaka, otherwise known as Railgun. While the series is definitely essential viewing if you're a fan of the franchise and does a good job at fleshing out the Science Side, I personally think that it's not quite as good as "Index".

Story ... & World (8.5/10):
The story takes place during the events of "A Certain Magical Index", though it actually opens a couple of weeks before it. Mikoto Misaka, one of seven Level 5 espers, is a student at Tokiwadai Middle School in Academy City, a highly advanced city dedicated to the development of psychic powers and where there is never a dull moment. Mikoto, along with her friends Kuroko Shirai, Kazari Uiharu and Ruiko Saten, the former two of whom are members of the law enforcement group Judgement (which consists entirely of young girls for some reason), works to protect the peace of Academy City from those who would threaten it, all while uncovering some of the city's unnerving secrets and mysteries.

Given that "A Certain Magical Index" focuses mainly on the Magic Side, having some extra world-building for the Science Side is definitely appreciated. In Academy City, espers are divided into 5 levels, with normal people being designated as Level 0s. Mikoto is one of seven Level 5s, making her extremely powerful, while her roommate, Kuroko is a Level 4, which while not as strong is still very impressive. The stronger you are, the more comfortable your life is, thereby making lower level people very jealous. This gets really explored in both seasons, and the dark underbelly of the city becomes especially apparent in the second. Now, I understand I'm being a little vague here, but to say anything about the major arcs is a huge spoiler. Trust me, I'm doing you a favour.

Then again, there are quite a few issues. The lack of magic in the series is kind of disappointing, since the science vs. magic theme is exactly what makes the main series so great. And while some could argue "Index" went too fast, I personally found "Railgun" to be pretty slow, which certainly isn't helped by the fact that more than half of the episodes are anime-only. The first arc of the second season particularly suffers from this problem, as it takes up nearly two-thirds of the whole season, which is especially tedious if you've seen "A Certain Magical Index", in which case you know full well how it's going to get resolved. Overall, while I would say "Railgun" edges out "Index" in terms of storytelling, in terms of the overall world, "Index" is the winner.

Art and Animation (9/10):
"A Certain Scientific Railgun" is animated by J.C. Staff, the same people who did "A Certain Magical Index". Therefore, it looks exactly the same as that series, by which I mean it looks fantastic. The characters looks great, the environments look great and the effects of the various powers look absolutely fantastic. There are a few instances of gratuitous fanservice, but that didn't really bother me, and to dismiss it as bad-looking just because of that would be ridiculous.

Sound & Dialogue (9/10):
The soundtrack is overall really good. There are four openings throughout the two seasons and all of them are worth listening to, albeit not every single time. My personal favourites are "Only my Railgun" and "Eternal Reality". The voice acting is similarly excellent, with Brittney Karbowski vocing Mikoto just as well as she does in "Index". Besides her, there's also quite a few favourites of mine in prominent roles, most notably Colleen Clinkenbeard, Brina Palencia and Cherami Leigh, the latter two of whom voice Saten and Uiharu respectively. I can definitely say the sound is one of the show's strengths, just like the parent series.

Characters (8/10):
I can't say we got to know Mikoto very well in "Index", but here we get to see how she acts around people other than Touma. Despite being a Level 5 and coming from a rich family, she is generally very friendly and kind to people, and makes friends with people very easily. However, due to her high status, she is also quite naive, and slowly starts to become more cynical after learning the darkness of her city, which shows how she got where she was in "Index". Overall, however, I just don't like her as much as Touma or Index (who only has a few cameos here), since as I stated in my review of "Index", her power and overall personality is pretty generic in comparison to theirs, and she's overall just a lot less likeable, though that's not to say I don't love her regardless. She's joined by Kuroko, her best friend and roommate who was only a minor character in "Index", and a member of Judgement. She can be quite annoying at times, largely due to her obsession with her "sissy". In the second episode, she attempts to celebrate the day one month after she became roommates with Mikoto as if it's an anniversary, even though as Mikoto reveals, she manipulated her way in there. There's also the fact that she's a teleporter, something she uses to its full perverted potential, which often borders on sexual harassment. Fortunately, this is balanced out by her being kind, selfless and a very responsible person who takes her job at Judgement very seriously, making her a very likeable and well-developed character.

Next up, we have Uiharu, Kuroko's co-worker in Judgement. She's not much of a fighter, but she still won me over easily due to her kindness and really shy nature, both of which make her absolutely adorable. Last, we have Uiharu's friend Saten, who is easily the weakest link. Despite being a main character, she does almost nothing throughout both seasons. Part of this is due to her being a Level 0, but even beyond that she has no distinguishable personality traits. She's kind, energetic, likes flipping Uiharu's skirt... and that's pretty much it. Even during an arc that you'd think would focus on her, she ends up in a coma and doesn't wake up until after the conflict of that arc is resolved. Her obvious role is to provide a "normal" perspective to the franchise's world of badass, but the fact that we hardly ever see things from her point-of-view and she gets put on the sidelines in the second season means she comes off as the load if anything. All of that being said, I can say that she gets a truly AWESOME moment in the final episode of season one. No spoilers, of course, as it has to be seen to be believed.

The supporting cast is pretty good, but they're called the supporting cast for a reason i.e. they don't get nearly as much screen time as the main characters. There's also a notable lack of prominent males. "Index" has a lot of female characters but it still has its guys (two of the main characters are male, after all). By chance that a male character does come in here, odds are they're not going to last very long, unless their name is Touma Kamijou. It just feels ill-fitting to have an improbably female cast in the same universe as the (mostly) gender-balanced "Index". Overall, this is a category that suffers in comparison to "Index".

Enjoyment (8.5/10):
I won't deny that I was sometimes pretty bored watching "Railgun". This was mainly the case in the first season, as the main arcs of the series took too long to get going. There are plenty of great action scenes and comedy, however, and when the main arcs do get going, you will absolutely want to watch them to the end.

Overall:
"A Certain Scientific Railgun" is a great addition to the franchise, which does a fine job at fleshing out the Science Side of the "Index" verse. While I didn't like it as much as "Index" and there are quite a few pacing problems, I still believe that any fan of "A Certain Magical Index" should watch this as well, especially if you're a hardcore Mikoto Misaka fan. For more on "A Certain Scientific Railgun", be sure to look out for my review of the third season, which is due to air sometime in 2019.

Score:
8.5+9+9+8+8.5=43/50=8.6/10

Futuristic Utopia in the modern world, where 'Super Powers' exist. Of course, with great power comes great responsibility. Or in the case of some, Great Greed. And the stories main antagonists are usually bringing the city near Dystruction for the sake of selfish ambitions.

But like any good 'superhero' story, the heroes attempt to stop them, and bring everything back to peace.

I like to keep my reviews short, so I'll end with the relation to 'Toaru Majutsu no Index', which is a Same Setting story, that happens prior-to, and possibly during, the events of Railgun. Railgun's story has more impact on the ... actual City. And the story is more about the City itself, while Index was more character oriented. The events of Railgun were more socialized is how I would put it, compared to Index's privatized story.
Which creates a good relation between the two anime, in my opinion.

You have to slowly burn through four episodes at the start, but with that out of the way, Railgun's well-structured narrative pays off with a stunning mid-season story arc that ends with a big, big bang. As an allegory of Japanese youth's angst over post-middle-school stratification, it's literal visualization of a hopeless future is both enthralling and downright frightening.

The second half of the season builds gradually, piece by piece, as the show seems content to tell the tangential backstory of whatever tertiary character has shown up to that point. But when the climax comes, the show's patience (as your's) is rewarded with an ... exciting and emotional finish.

The show also poses the question of how many times you care to see a fourteen year-old girl smoke some fools with lightning from her finger. It answers it, too: A lot. Highly recommended.

Action Total Score: 86/100

-Art Style: 16/20

Railgun is a show from 2009/2010, yet it looks like it can come off as being aired in 2018. Am I saying that quality of anime has stagnated, or that Railgun is beautiful? Both, but mainly the latter. It looks good enough, but it won't break that 17 point barrier because it's not KyoAni levels of eyegasm at every turn. Maybe I come off as a bit too harsh here since it is from 2010, but as I am grading it in 2018 I have to take off the rose-tinted glasses and judge it without bias. All in all, Railgun's ... art style has managed to stand the test of time.

-Animation: 15/20

It's nothing spectacular, but it's also not terrible. Doesn't feel like all of the studio's budget went into the animation but it's not shoddy work. The frame rate matches the action and I don't feel like I'm watching a Michael Bay film where I find it hard to keep up with the action going on the screen (this is bad). Once again, for a 2009/2010 show it's admirable that it can compare with the quality of 2018.

-Storyline: 18/20

I stumbled across Index, and by extension, Railgun in early 2015. I skipped past it since I wasn't interested in 2 cour shows at the time. Coming back 3 years later, I came across a post talking about "A sci-fi/fantasy series with an amazing universe, great characters, and interesting arcs and overall story as well as a fun premise: The Toaru Series". That post singlehandedly convinced me to start watching Railgun and explore the Toaru universe after watching Index from a while back.

Was it worth my time?

Yes.

Contrary to Index where their MC, Touma, can quite literally defeat most baddies with the use of his fist (or palm?), Railgun's MC, Misaka, is more innovative in taking down her opponents. Yes, she does use some of the same attacks but the Railgun is not the "one-size-fits-all" attack that you might think it to be. Some of her interactions with the environment are intriguing and Touma's One-Punch Man route pales in comparison to Misaka's. Railgun manages to keep us suspending our belief through clever use of how their esper abilities work and though some are left unexplained temporarily, they always come back and close the plot holes back up. That's not to say that their story is water-tight, but it is good enough for a simple man like me.

Railgun also raises some thought-provoking ideas. Some of the shorter ones such as "Does the good done in the name of science outweigh the evil?" can be near impossible to ever come up with a concise answer to, yet Railgun bravely takes on that challenge with the simple but heartening approach of "No, but the power of friendship can help achieve good without the evil!..."

That's not to say that Railgun dilutes such ideas to child's play or otherwise; but it is interesting to see how science interacts with morality in this fictional setting.

About the characters: They feel like people. Having 2-dimensional drawings on screen makes it hard enough to envision it, but they act like and talk like human beings, which is a big compliment. Maybe it's the 2 cour magic that allows for each character to have a character arc, and even then it's not like other characters are shafted when it's not their turn, unlike some To Love-Ru girls. Misaka, Shirai, Saten and Uihara put the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to shame when it comes to the conversations between them and the chemistry they have. Though Misaka is mostly independent (as she should be, being powerful and all), she can still be seen relying on them up till the very end, even if only for moral support. One complaint I do have is that I don't like unnecessarily high-pitched voices which Shirai sadly has, but I couldn't imagine her with any other voice after hearing her.

About the setting: I like school settings as much as anyone else would, but certainly after so many shows it's gotten a bit stale. Railgun (and Index) changes that with Academy City: A place where most of the inhabitants are students, it might as well be a school of its own. This allows for the backgrounds to be more vibrant rather than your typical window-loving, sitting-at-the-back-of-the-class view that everyone is already familiar with. Academy City isn't lush with greenery though; it's filled with tall buildings of the same grey-ish, white-ish hue as you'd expect of a metropolitan city, with the odd park here and there. Yet, that's just the city central. Go to the outskirts and you'll feel just at home in Compton where the thugs roam. This allows for Railgun (and Index) to feel like a much bigger place rather than the school, sidewalk, convenience store and home environments that I've been desensitised to. It's a nice change of pace and a breath of fresh air that some anime lack. Not this one.

There was also some filler beach episode in between, but it came right after the first big arc so I don't blame them for toning it down a bit before the next arc.

-Music: 19/20

Ah, the music. Even before watching Railgun, I've spent countless hours jamming to the OPs and it just gives you energy. Music for me, does this thing where it can make a shit show become average, but also can make a good show even greater. fripSide did a good job with both OPs but I can't say I'm a fan of ELISA's EDs.

Sound design was also pretty good, and I hadn't noticed this until further peer evaluation. It's something like the bassist - you don't realise it's there until it's actually not there.

-Enjoyment: 18/20

I covered it once in 'Storyline' above, but I'll say it again explicitly: I enjoyed Toaru Kagaku no Railgun. It doesn't leave you on the edge of your seat at the end of every episode, but the main cast and universe just keep you interested in what else the show has to offer.

I'm excited for the Season 2 that I'll watch after this, and I hope it doesn't let me down.

This anime takes place in a city where, despite being full of people who have superpowers, bullying takes place as an everyday matter. If there's a lonely girl, a gang of punks will surround her for harassment duty. If two people collide, one will try to beat the crap out of the other. This will happen without aggressors thinking about the possibility of being facing a serious threat.

I would have been interesting to see more of how this world works. I don't know how espers train, level up or discover their own powers. Instead, I know how they... have fun. Hum.

There's a big amount of ... non-arc episodes, about six or seven for each twelve episodes: you get this slice of life and then there is your story. This seems a bit excesive, as some of these episodes involve even tertiary characters which do not even appear quite much (anti-skill girl playing at an arcade, for example).

As for the story, it is interesting. But first half is way better than the second, because of the plot and it's evil final boss. Demiboss is better characterized than the final one. I have to note that being this a sci-fi anime, it makes use of science to develop its story. It is not just an excuse for renew a repeated theme, it plays with the limits of what a human being is and even sets up interesting premises. I think I will watch Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S.

Characters are light-hearted and not very complicated, but they work fairly good. Kuroko is probably the best one, partly because it has the best voice acting.

Sound is OK. First opening is one of best I've ever seen.

Art is correct. Characters seem not very sexuated as they have mostly stick thin legs.

Good:
First half of the series.
Every time crazy Kuroko moans "onee-samaa".

Bad:
Filler non-arc episodes can KO you.
Ending is rushed and a bit dissapointing, also is second best to mid-ending.
Evil laughts are stupid and an intent to cover character vacuum. Please make evil serious.

​"With great Power comes great Responsibility!" - Stan Lee
Power is something that every human being has dreamt of having at least once, being it the power of money, strength or simple influence. It is something that helps people change things around them and makes it possible for life to be a lot easier. However, Power does not come without a certain price tag, sticking onto it. With whatever power you obtain, you get the chance to not only change your life but that of others as well. A huge responsibility lies upon the shoulders of those ruling and having the powers that others long for ... and there are several ways to handle this responsibility and for everyone there are good examples for it. You can simply abuse your power, oppressing everyone that is weaker. You can simply ignore everyone around you and don't care about anyone but yourself. Society though in this age, sees it as the duty of anyone having power to help the ones that have less and speak up for them. Ladies and Gentlemen, todays Anime deals with the issue of obtaining power and having power. Today's topic shall be Index' first Spin-Off To Aru Kagaku no Railgun!

As this is a Review of both Seasons of Railgun, I am going to give two scores for every category! (One for the original and one for Railgun S)

Story:
To Aru Kagaku no Railgun's setting is almost exactly the same as Index'. The Anime takes place in Academic City, a fictional town, that dedicated itself to the advance of science. It has amazing technology and almost 80% of the people living there are students. Most of these,didn't come here for the science aspect though, but for the second big objective that the city was found because of. The training of Espers. Espers, to those who don't know, are people that mysteriously obtained power that they now can use for all kind of things, but for the most time for the sake of fighting. They are split into Levels ranging from 0, which indicates that you have no ability at all, to 5. There are only 7 Level 5 Espers and those are counted as the 7 strongest ones in the whole world. In that city, lives our main character Misaka Mikoto. She is pretty popular Esper, since she is known to be the third strongest Level 5, also known as the "Railgun". One day, she gets to know her roommate Kuroko's, a Level 4 Teleporter, acquaintance from her work at Judgment, an organization that focuses on keeping Academic City safe. The acquaintance Uiharu, a Level 1, has always been a huge fan of Misaka and brought her best friend Saten, who doesn't have any powers at all and is of the opinion that probably all Level 5 Espers are arrogant and annoying people. As they meet the "Railgun", a friendship quickly develops and the four of them hang out together more and more often. But at the same time, strange incidents start happening everywhere in the city and even though the four at first seem to have nothing to do with it, they get sucked into it faster than they thought they would...
The Story of Railgun starts of rather weak, presenting a lot of Slice of Life episode to begin with and only a few episodes that really go into the Setting itself. Not to say, that these are bad or anything, it's just not what is to be expected out of a setting that looks this way. After quite some while though, the pacing starts to get faster and more and more incidents start happening. Meanwhile, the show decides to bring in an actual plot. That is to it's better, as the story for Railgun's first season might not be as good as for Index, but it certainly is well done and while there always are a few filler episodes between different arcs, they get back to the actual plot fairly quickly. The strength of the arcs is just as with Index, it's climaxing. When Railgun wants to set it's climax, it gets amazing. Using epic fights great speeches and really well done villains for the sake of ending everything with a big blast.
The first season's story is while certainly not being bad not as good as Index, the second season blows everything out of the water. Entering the second season, we get to see the sisters arc, a part of the Index show that only had 3 episodes over there, from Misaka's point of view. In Index it was a fairly decent part of the show, but now in Railgun, it gets extended to more than a half of the season and a lot of things get shown that people who watched Index didn't know about. It suddenly shifts into a part that is really dark compared to everything Index has ever done and is what I loved about it. That said the first season did something similar but not to the extent that Railgun S did!
Railgun: 7.7/10
Railgun S: 8.7/10

Characters:Even though getting amazing at points, the story of Railgun is not what drives the Anime. The strongest point that the Spin-Off has is in it's characters. Other than it's predecessor, this show uses it's characters a lot more and is working towards their development. While Index often only used them as a plot device, Railgun rather uses both parts to bring each other further. The story advances the characters and the characters advance the story. We have our main protagonist Misaka Mikoto, aka the "Railgun". She is a pretty popular Esper, as she is listed as the third strongest Level 5 in the world. Still, she stays really levelheaded and often doesn't really think that her powers are anything to show off with, but rather sees them as a practical tool. That's what makes her friendship with the other three characters possible. Nonetheless, she is a really strong woman in total while caring for everyone around her. Caring this much for people, often makes her vulnerable though, since she never wants anyone around her to get involved into things happening around her. The next character is Misaka's roommate Shirai Kuroko. Kuroko is a Level 4 Teleporter that is (at least it gets strongly hinted) sexually attracted to Misaka. She has a rather bold personality and is the one that the most comedy relief comes from, mostly using her tries to get close to her roommate. She can get really serious at times, though most of the time being when it is about her work at Judgment, an organization that keeps the streets of Academic City in order. Next up is her Judgment Colleague Uiharu Kazaro. Uiharu is a really quite and kind girl. She is Kuroko's team partner in Judgment, but she normally only sits at their base though, as she is really good with computers. The last one is Saten Ruiko. She is an energetic girl, that has a unique fascination for urban rumors and is Uiharu's best friend. She is a Level 0, meaning that she has no power at all.

The side characters in Railgun are pretty much the same as for Index. While all being fairly interesting to watch, they often lack a little depth and character development. They are all given background and motivation, but they don't seem to stand out as much as they used to in the first instance of the franchise. That is not due to them being bad though, but due to us now having strong lead characters. For Index, the main characters were really generic and didn't have any interesting characteristics. This made the characters shine, since they were a lot better written than Touma and Index themselves. For Railgun, this is not the case. In Railgun, the main characters are really well done, making the side characters only remain in their shadows and not seem as amazing as they were in Index. They still are quite good though.
The characters in Railgun are a lot better as in Index, as Railgun focuses a lot more on them than it's parent story does. It is able to let them grow on you really fast and manages to capture their mentalities really well! This can be seen best, whenever the show enters a darker part of the story, such as middle parts of the Level-Upper incident and the Sisters Arc. They are in no way one-dimensional and everyone has a believable and likeable side to him. Heck, even the villains in the end often turn out to either be pretty cool or just amazingly well written for the most part. There aren't quite as many side characters in Railgun as there were in Index, but the amount of them still is pretty high compared to other shows. They all are well written though and almost none of them is boring.
Railgun: 8.5/10
Railgun S: 9.1/10

Art:
The Art in Railgun's first season is pretty good. As expected from J.C. Staff, the animation is pretty well done, while not being outstanding. It is detailed and fluent during the action scenes, but is kept to a rather standard level in the Slice of Life parts. The use of CG-Animation is quite obvious though, as it does stand out quite a bit and does not look good! This gets really annoying, when they start doing the background purely based on CGI. For the second season, the standards of Animation rises quite a bit, as there were several years of a gap between the production of the two shows. The Animation does get more fluent and even though it doesn't get any more detailed it doesn't need to. However compared to other shows of it's time, both are only above average and could've been better. One plus point for Railgun S though is, that they use a lot less CGI than any other Raildex show. The character designs don't look too original, but are nothing to complain about, since they for the most part are bound to the original show. However the ones that are new aren't too original either.
Railgun: 7.5/10
Railgun S: 7.7/10

Sound:
Railgun's Soundtrack was done by Maiko Iuchi, who is part of the company "I've", that did the OST for Index. He also did the Soundtrack for Ano Natsu de Matteru. The Music in Railgun is really good, having a great variety of tracks, ranging from energetic electronic music for the fight scenes, light hearted tracks for the Slice of Life parts and quite piano OSTs for the sad scenes. It suits the show really well and is really good to get you either hyped up or breaking to the ground. Of course it is not something that a Hiroyuki Sawano (Attack on Titan, Guilty Crown) would have created, but it does it's job. Even outside the Anime, the OST still has an impact, as it is a lot of fun to listen to even while not watching the show. That is an attribute, that makes an amazing OST. The only part that I don't like about it are just as in Index the light hearted tracks, that often annoy the hell out of me. They are fine when not being noticed or really quite, but they don't really sound good to me. The Openings on the other hand are amazing. All four of them capture the show really well and are able to get you hyped for the show itself. The songs are amazing and I've been listening to them on my phone all day long. As for now, there is no dub available and the Japanese voice acting is as always really good (I can't judge too much though since my Japanese is not good enough).
Railgun: 7,9/10
Railgun S: 7,8/10

Despite being part of the same franchise and even being set in the same city as Index, the themes presented in the two Raildex instances are entirely different. While the parent story focuses more on the war between church and science, the church doesn't play any roll in the spin-off. Instead, Railgun is more about Power, how to obtain it and what to do with it. It deals with the lack of power and how the wish of having it can effect people and it deals with the responsibility of having a lot of power and how it can effect people's life. It does so amazingly well, presenting it in the characters in a great way and never disappoints in good and flashy action. The story and setting both are really interesting and both seasons of it are great.
Now as I calculated the scores I gave to To Aru Kagaku no Railgun and To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S (being Story, Characters, Art, Sound and my personal enjoyment) I got to a score of 8.02/10 for Railgun and a score of 8.52/10 for Railgun S. The first season already is good mostly for it's characters, but the second season then proceeds to get lengths better and is simply amazing. As it stands now, both Seasons are currently unlicensed and is available for legal streaming on Crunchyroll.
And with that, I hoped you enjoyed this Review and until the next post!

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STORY - 8
ART - 9
SOUND - 8
CHARACTER - 8
ENJOYMENT - 9

We all know electricity can be an elemental awesomeness. It's powerful, it's shocking, and it sparks with brilliance. What better ways to describe Railgun than with all those words? This is the energized spinoff that does everything better than Index.

Switch on the power. We're going to let all these cheerful cuteness and electrifying excitement flow through the circuit. As opposed to Index's focus on magic, Railgun places an innovative emphasis on science. The kind of science that's not really science but more like conceptual science, granting a magical and mysterious vibe. Structured from serious followed ... by episodes of lightheartedness, the story is able to flow more seamlessly rather than jumping from arc to arc in a confused mess. Having episodics and serious arcs may be a weird structure at first glance, but there's an advantageous side to this. Delving into the everyday lives of four girls unlocks investment, giving way for us to care and worry about the characters when they deal with the nasty sides of science. Their outward appearance may say entertainingly cute, yet they hold a deeper persona than mere adorableness. Through a multifaceted perspective, thoughtful themes and ideas from morality to guilt and innocence of victims are explored with intrigue. None of the characters are the same. Their power and background differs and this creates various developmental focus, notably Saten who feels like a useless underdog along with the competent tsundere by the name of Misaka. Despite their differences, it's clear that in the end, their friendship is something meaningful. Side characters are also given focus so we can understand them further but not necessarily for development. The most negative part I find throughout is the comedy. Many of them are recycled, sometimes appearing at the wrong times and stunning the mood quite awkwardly.

Academy City, while technologically ahead of its time, is a city that looks very similar to our first world cities. Regardless, a futuristic setting can still be felt with its blue tinges and subtle glints, reinforced by a number of techs surrounding the metropolis. And among the buildings of this city is a world full of espers, situated in a life of daily activities or energetically charged with hidden secrets as they fight and protect. Sending a rush of rapid excitement, fight scenes can power up to overflowing exhilaration in a matter of light speed. The slick animation helps in achieving that as flowing smoothness makes up for an engaging action. But there's no denying the sound effects of powerful electricity and other abilities amplify it even more. Everyday episodes have consistent animation, entertaining me with character expressions that show their personality and humor. It's like two sides of the same coin. I could describe the atmosphere as a fierce adorableness because of the seamless switch from bubbliness to graveness. The seiyuus allow both spectrum to be expressed. The reminders of a CGDCT is felt with their cheery voices. Then the hype of a battle Shounen takes over when their voices turn to serious determination. An assemble of varying soundtracks also supplement with these transitions, fabricating all kinds of mood. While bland at times, the more calming to the reverberating tracks pin the mood in place, so they serve reasonably well. On a more kickass note, the opening songs have electrifyingly cool beats that really gets me going and the ending songs are just as great.

All in all, Railgun is the improved addition needed for the Toaru series. Similarities executed differently, Index short-circuited its ideas while Railgun maintained its flow of charged-up ideas with consistency. Truly a certain awesome plasma.

I straight up watched the anime btw no manga geek.

This show has been so impressive for me personally I rate it 11/10 for endless reasons, I watched the first two seasons of a certain scientific railgun almost a decade ago and thought that was it but no, a third season came out and I was thrilled at the same time very anxious about it being a flop so I gave it a chance and the more I did the more it rewarded me for that, after those seasons I started a bit of digging and found out that there were seasons these mad lads kept ... secret from me for all these years so I went ahead watched those and I'm very proud of the day I gave this series a chance it's been so entertaining and thrilling but you must have faith and patience if you want all that.

this is by far the most enjoyable way to watch this series since I'm a big fan and haven't seen any other good watch guide, at first I was upset with this show but now understand why I felt that way please give it a shot there will be a point where you will fall in love with it and keep in mind these folks are on a tight budget and they still made sure to put in the extra mile of effort and love into their show and that earned them my respect 11/10 for many personal reasons but it doesn't fall below 8/10 you may not love it but you will be entertained it's absurd and ridiculous but just in the best way.

A Certain Scientific Railgun (s1)

A Certain Scientific Railgun S (s2)

A Certain Magical Index (s1)

A Certain Magical Index (s2)

A Certain Magical Index: The Movie – The Miracle of Endymion

A Certain Scientific Railgun T (s3)

A Certain Scientific Accelerator (s1)

I've tried several times to get through Railgun and Index, but man, it's just too painful.

The first season of Railgun is honestly just plain awful. Mediocre slice of life and boring build-up with little to no regard for actual character development make this season unbearable.

I was always told "Hey Ian, this series gets really good starting with the second season! Stick with it!"

But no, no it doesn't. An uninteresting main character with powers that make no sense render the second season almost unbearable as the first. If the series makes me unable to care about the MC, then what's the point?

Story: 5

While the ... storytelling does improve ever-so-slightly in season 2, it's still not enjoyable. I had a hard time caring for any of the characters, and the humor wasn't presented well.

Art: 6

Nothing special. The art is generic for 2010. I wasn't blown out of the water or anything.

Sound: 7

Well used sound effects and a generic soundtrack. Wasn't overly impressed, but it was well done.

Character: 5

Generic MC with a lack of a three dimensional personality. I've seen generic moe main characters pulled off better than this.

Enjoyment: 3

A horrendous first season and a stale second gave me intestinal problems.

Overall: 5

It's mediocre. I enjoy Sci-Fi anime as much as the next guy, but Railgun offered me nothing. I wasn't impressed by anything. As i said before, the characters weren't enjoyable to watch and the story wasn't presented well.

Would you like to order a meal and get served only half of it? Well, this show is 50% filler. Yes, the 2nd half, ep 13 - 24, is all boring filler, check animefillerlist if you don't believe me. I didn't realize that until *after* I suffered through it all. So, I guess to be fair, I'll give this show half of a review score. Thanks for wasting my time, Railgun.

If you watch it, just watch the first 12 episodes. Although episode 3 is also apparently all filler.

Is there anything positive I can say about the show? ... Sure, [oops, we're now switching to filler]

Stumbled upon this one by complete accident. I'm honestly not sure why I kept watching it after the first few episodes; it sets up an interesting world and a cast with potential, but completely ruins a lot of its interest with awful writing, ecchi moments that really, really didn't need to happen, and little to no serious plotlines.

The show does have three or four "arcs," all of which are boring and unfulfilling in terms of story, development, and action. This show was actually at its best when it focused purely on the slice-of-life elements. Seeing this group of four friends just hang out and enjoy ... life together was surprisingly refreshing and their personalities all mesh quite well. That beach episode genuinely became one of the most pleasant surprises I've had when watching anime.

It also sets up one or two interesting threads to pull on in the second season, most notably the mysterious rival for the main character. He very rarely appears, but is certainly the most fascinating characters in the show thus far. I expect something above average from him later on.

Probably not worth watching for most people, but I'm kind of glad I watched it for those six or so episodes that are quite enjoyable. I'll watch Season 2, but I'm sure going into it expecting anything grandiose would be a major mistake. Just...please, more of that slice of life stuff. You could almost have a good show on your hands if you went that route.

To Aru Kagaku No Railgun (A Certain Scientific Railgun) is a spinoff of the To Aru Mautsu No Index (A Certain Magical Index) set in the same universe and area, following one of the characters from the main series a little deeper, that character being Mikasa Mikoto, the Railgun, as she leads her daily life and deals with issues and threats to herself and her friends.

Story & Characters: The story gives you an alternate look on some of the events from the main series, though most of what happens is unrelated. There are a few thing that seem to contradict things from the main series, ... such as the extent of Mikoto's powers, but it is negligible. The story stands on it's own and is good, and the same can be said for the characters. It's nice to get a more in depth look into them. My main gripe with the story is that they seem to neglect the fact that Mikoto should during Kagaku No Railgun's events be an active part in the Sisters-experiment from Majutsu No Index, but it's never mentioned or even hinted at during the whole show, even though Mikoto encounters struggles in which she should be able to draw from her experience and knowledge from the Sisters-experiment. There also seems to be some issues with the timeline...

Art & Sound: The art and sound are the same as in Majutsu No Index, quite good, but not great. I have no problems with it. There has only ever been a single show where I gave the sound design a 9/10 or higher rating, that being the Mushishi-series...

Overall: To Aru Kagaku No Railgun is a good show. Fans of the To Aru Majutsu No Index will most likely enjoy it, some more than Majutsu No Index, some less. It's made in such a way that it's fully possible to watch it without ever seeing Mautsu No Index, though I recommend doing so. IMO, it is suited for those that enjoy Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Slice Of Life type shows.

Enjoy!

I dunno why i decided to write my first review on this anime

This part is a waste of time tbh, it's just like a filler season,, nothing new or important was added to the story you'll be watching a bunch of girls having fun and kicking ass most of the times, Honestly there was only one good arc and that was the Harumi Kiyama arc her character and backstory was pretty interesting other than that don't expect something reaaaallly good,,

Most of the characters are pretty boring i'm sure you'll only find Misaka and Kiyama interesting to watch

the art and animation were as ... amazing as the previous seasons, JC STUFF did a grreat job in this part

The soundtracks were meh nothing special

In the end it's a decent anime but just enjoy yourself especially if you're a fan of the Index-verse.

Very unlike his sister series, railgun for its part is not tied to a novel, here have been invented some characters and stories. Railgun works better as anime, because the studio has more freedom to do so, a much simpler plot that sometimes seems like a Slice of Life, but with some episodes that left clues to more important events in the story. Obviously it is not perfect has many boring episodes where nothing happens, it is a moeblob, but has the advantage of having a much better protagonist group that compensates in charisma and time where they dedicate a lot of episodes that they ... can loveling the public. If there are better examples of anime like this, but the merit of being an anime of everyday life in a science fiction scenario that feels functional still good, something that has not really been seen unless you include Aria, humility and the functional narrative of its simple plot puts it above the pretentious epic of index

railgun anime was realy fun to watch specially because of misaka ! she is indeed one of the best female character I've ever saw. she is strong, dependable, fun and most importantly she is tsundere xD. railgun is far the best spin off. story is realy good and characters are realy great !

railgun have a few problems though, but they are small ones. like touma has no part in it (I know I know it's an spin off and it suppose to be like this but come on they could make touma a little more important in railgun, it would be realy awesome)
but ... for me so far the best thing about railgun is misaka herself to be honest.

long story short : railgun worth watching and misaka is one the bests ( but not THE BEST :D )

I mildly enjoyed Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, although I think people who like these types of shows will rate it higher than I have. While I thought a few of the characters were interesting and fun to watch (namely Kuroko, Mikoto, and Mitsuko), the rest of the cast was shallow and/or boring. I'll specifically call out Ruiko and Kazari as they are two of the main cast. While I don't think they received less development than the other characters, their archetypal styling renders them bland and uninteresting.

The show is mostly episodic with a few short narrative arcs (typically 3-4 episodes in length). Sans the narrative ... arcs which tend to be dramatic, most of the episodes are comedic, slice-of-life style stories. In general, the show is light-hearted and comedic; none of the drama is very heavy. The action scenes, too few in my opinion, tend to be formulaic and boring. I really disliked this as the show's theme lends itself to having cool fight scenes (pitting various abilities against each other). Given the nature of the show you're not going to find a deep, compelling story.

I thought the production quality was solid. The voice acting (Japanese) was pleasant and I enjoyed the vocal character of Kuroko and Mitsuko in particular. The actresses for those two did a really good job giving them unique flair. The art and animation aren't amazing, but certainly aren't bad. They are more or less on par with shows of this caliber.