Toaru Majutsu no Index Gaiden: Toaru Kagaku no Railgun
A Certain Scientific Railgun

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Surprised that there isn't a review for this manga yet given it's been running for so long, so here's one. I'll keep it as spoiler-free as possible. Other than the paragraph aimed at anime viewers which is marked by spoiler tags, the rest of the review is meant for people who have completely not touched anything in the Raildex franchise.

Story-wise, it’s great for an action manga. It has cool action sequences, a logical story flow, and of course some great comedic moments. By shounen manga standards, it does stand out as being rather unique for the many different applications of science. Basically, it starts off with a utopian-like setting of a technological dreamland, but the darker parts of the city manifest over the course of the story.
However, keep in mind it's meant as a complement to the A Certain Magical Index light novel series. It's a good read on its own, but the manga does not explain a number of things as the novels have already gone into detail for them, or does time skips because that time was apparently filled in the novels. Also, although the synopsis mentions a clash of science and magic, that was the premise for the novels; the manga focuses more on expanding the Science side, Academy City, through the eyes of the protagonist Misaka Mikoto. Basically, expect side stories and a few huge arcs that are impressive in their own right.

(If you've somehow not watched the anime series yet, skip the next paragraph)

Additionally, if you came over to the manga from the anime series, the anime ends at chapter 39 at the end of the Sisters arc for Misaka. However, it's highly recommended to read from the start. The anime changed up some scenes like how Kongo and the gang met, slight changes to the very first scene of the anime, etc. The tone of the anime series is also very different: The anime focus more on the girls' cuteness, while the manga takes on a more serious tone. The Sisters' arc felt very different from what was expected of the anime, because for that arc it followed the manga more closely and conveyed the tone and atmosphere pretty well, or in fact better in my opinion because it had the advantage of animation and sound. Also, the anime tends to 'glorify' Misaka as an altruistic absurdly good natured saviour of justice especially in its filler arcs like Silent Party and Big Spider etc, so if you found that unbelievably cheesy or cringey like I did, the manga's Misaka may be more preferable or tolerable. Shirai and the rest were given a lot more spotlight in the anime as well, so expect relatively lesser screen time for them in the manga.

(Spoiler end)

(I have not read the novels completely yet so I'm not qualified to do a similar comparison between the novels and manga for those coming over from novel to manga. Sorry about that. I do know the manga teases at many events that already happened in the novels however, so if you're a novel -> manga person you're in for a very fun ride ;) )

About the art, it's decent, but the artstyle noticably improves over time. I'm not an artsy person so I can't exactly commentate on how good it is, other than that it's easy enough to know what's going on without having to decipher a sea of squiggles and black ink.

Characters? It really depends on personal tastes here. I'm admittedly extremely biased towards Misaka Mikoto, because she has both strengths and flaws. She has your typical tsundere personality, but it only surfaces when she's around her love interest (who appears sporadically). Other times, she's a cool person who’s the opposite of her supposed status as an ojou-sama, with some cuteness thrown in. Sometimes however, she may come off as rather selfish and understandably immature and rash for a 14 year old. But as a whole it does add some depth to her character instead of being that one-dimensional bull-headed main character whose sole purpose is to protect their friends or whatnot like some protagonists from other shounen manga. She's the most powerful electromaster in the city, and what really made me invested in her character is the ways she plays around with that ability. She can do so much more than just shooting lightning bolts like other average shounen protagonists, especially so when the setting is in a technologically advanced city.
As for the other main characters, they are also multi-faceted like Misaka, but relatively less so since this is Misaka's story: The pervert roommate Shirai Kuroko, the meek and shy Uiharu Kazari, and the upbeat Saten Ruiko. These are all archetypes that have been done to death before in many other mediums, but what makes them special (to me) is that the author gives them enough development to expand them beyond their archetypes. The archetype is just a foundation from which to grow a character from, the easiest way to define a character but is not necessarily the entire definition of the character. Many of the other characters in the manga seem one-dimensional at first, but the series does put in the effort to try to add on to their character and develop them as well alongside the main cast, although understandably not as much. However, that basically only applies to the characters on the good side. Sadly, the ‘bad guys’ often turn out to be rather simple minded one-time goons with the exception of the final few ‘bosses’.


Finally, enjoyment. I, for one, really enjoyed reading the manga. I loved the cool action scenes, I love the interactions between the characters, I loved the ways in which it further exposed Academy City for what it was. Ultimately, what I like in the series is that it sets up a situation, then throws the characters into it and think of relatively logical ways to help them escape the adversary, each time unveiling even more about the characters themselves or add on to the already complex world. The characters act rather like themselves rather than what the plot demands of them, and although are based off stereotypes, it is only one part of their personality.

(And the main cast are all flat-chested! Any fanserive is also not overblown to the extents of Fairy Tail, which, to me, gives the girls the respect they deserve as human beings rather than objectifying them as something for the male readers to fap off to.)

Finally, if I had to give an overall score, it would be an 8. Despite how much I love the manga, it has its flaws, and sometimes the flaws are so glaringly obvious it can disrupts the enjoyment of the manga. (The way things build up is great... the resolution? Not very satisfying sometimes.)

I hope you enjoyed reading the only review (so far) of this manga on this site, and thank you for maintaining your attention span up until here.

(By the way it's my first review so feel free to inform me on how I can improve =D)

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I discovered the anime version first, I was so happy when they began to release this manga in english (I'm Frensh by the way). I was supprised that this side story of To Aru Majutsu no Index would be that great. This series is now one of my favorite.

Story : 9
Art : 8
Character : 10
Enjoyment : 10
Overall : 9

NB : A point that seems important to me is that all the volumes are quite big ! the 10th must be more than 50% bigger than a regular manga.

The best point of this series are the characters, even though 80% of the characters are little girls (don't wanna be a macho, but for a shonen manga it's not that commun...), it's not a problem at all. All of the main characters have clearly defined and intersesting personnalities, and the autor develop very precisely their super power, they all have worked to increase their capabilities and found many interesting ways of using it, all of them have limits... Some of they are spectacular and innovative such as Accelerator (not gonna spoil) and Misaka Mikoto, the main character, which is able to manipulate electro-magnetic field but doesn't content herself to throw electricity, she uses many other aspect of its power (even though those powers are irrational, they have their own logic, and that's a point that is lacking in Index in which powers are so confusing). Characters are so endearing, espacially Misaka, to me it's one of the best character ever made, it worth reading this manga only to see Misaka's adventure.

But that's obviously not the only motivator to read this serie, indeed, the story is also very interesting and surprising. It deals with the dark side of the academy city. It illustrate perfectly the madness of scientists and you would be surprised to see how far they can go for the love of science. The story is a bit complex, and a lot of mysteries remain unsolved to keep the reader's hand in. The atmoshere oscillate between grave, death and insecurity and childish jokes, moments of joy and friendship that will always raise a smile on your face. Fights between characters are also super effetcive, badass (not as badass as the anime that i would highly recommend to you) and well-conducted, this is not a Nekketsu, characters will fight just when they have to, but action is a huge part of this series. I will also shed ilght on the fact that characters are already trained and badass from the begining contrary to most of action shonen, and it offers spectacular battles even at the very begining, which is quite enjoyable. The idea of ranking esper regarding their power is pretty interesting (because this time it makes sence, and there is a clear difference between level 5 and level 4), it add this insane aspect of social inequity, those who have the better powers are privileged. This fight to obtain more and more power is at the heart of story.

About the art, the design of characters isn't groundbreacking, personnaly I can't identify a personnal style of the author, it's like stardard drawing (but good quality standard !). However fights are well done, and backgrounds are absolutly beatiful and realistic, and because of the the story takes place in modern area with many building ect... it's a real plus.


The manga is still ongoing with now 11 tomes, personnaly I really love reading it. This series gather both badass and feelings that move you. You'd be attached rapidly to the characters, it will lead you to want to learn more about them and reading To Aru Majutsu no Index see them again.

To enhance your experience I recommend you to whatch the anime adaptation too, JC staff and seiyus made an awesome job that add other aspect vis-a-vis characters personnalities and behaviours (regardless some fan-service episodes that can be a little to much sometimes). The second arc of each season isn't part of the manga and are also pretty cool.

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Hello everyone, since you're reading this, you wanna hear my opinion and review of this, so let's just get right into it!

The Story, (8/10)

The story is fairy unique if you compare it to other shounen manga, if you read the story description it takes place in a scientific city that is far ahead of the rest of the world technology-wise and the only place in the world that has people with abilities. I personally enjoy the story because it touches upon many scientific themes (that are actually interesting) than it's main counterpart, Toaru Majutsu no Index. Mind you that Railgun is actually a spin off of that series, and is usually regarded as better than it's main counterpart.

The Art, (8/10)

I especially love the art, how it is simple-ish yet very appealing to me. I myself have included certain parts of the art into my own drawing style (eyes and nose) and overall Motoi Fuyukawa does a very good job portraying the scenes in the manga. Now of course the art would never be up there like the artists of Berserk and Vagabond, but for what the manga is in a whole, it fits it perfectly.

The Characters, (6/10)

Now the characters aren't anything amazing, you have Misaka Mikoto the 3rd ranked level 5 in academy city, she has her tsundere persona only around her, I guess you could say crush, but she also has a kiddie tomboyish side that most people do not know about, since if they do not know her personally, they generally view her as a prim and proper girl, especially if you consider she goes to a prestigious all-girls school, Tokiwadai. Then you have Shirai Kuroko, Misaka's partner, she is generally a pervy lesbian (only to Misaka) but has a strong sense of justice and is part of Judgement, academy city's form of police. Then you also have their friends Uiharu and Saten, which both are not too special, but they have their odd quirks. Uiharu is shy, but has a strange thing with flowers on her head, (which you may think might grow out of her head at some point) and Saten which has a strange thing for flipping only Uiharu's skirt, and she loves urban legends.

MY OFFICIAL OPINION:

The Good,

Now I originally watched the anime series, which became my favorite, which led me to the manga.
But since I've read the manga, I actually dislike the anime more since I've seen the original content now. I mainly dislike the anime for it's filler arcs and strange change of personas of the characters sometimes, but I'm not here to rant on the anime.

Now the good, is the art, Motoi-san draws the action scenes very well and they are definitely unique.
I also like the arcs better in the manga then the filler ones in the anime. The only arcs in the anime and manga that relate is the Level Upper arc and the Sister's arc. But there are basically 2 arcs in the manga not in the anime, and three arcs in the anime that are not in the manga.

I also like the development of certain characters in the manga. While Shirai, Uiharu and Saten get much less development, you see more development especially with Shokuhou and Kongou (if you've watched the anime)
While in the anime you get so little development of Shokuhou in the anime you're left saying,"Shokuhou Misaki? Hmph, she's a bitch" But in the manga you get much more insight into her and her sense of purpose and justice.
With Kongou, you're left with a rich girl who is very prideful and stubborn but is actually kind of humble with praise, but in the manga, you get to see just how much she can be humbled, and how much she cares for her friends and respects people.

Also, as the series goes on, the volumes gradually get larger, which I find awesome.

The Bad,

Now, as much as I'd like to fangirl because this is my favorite manga (I have not read much)
I have to reveal it's bad points. Now I have read all 11 volumes that are out right now. And in volume 11 they begin a new strange arc, which I don't find very promising. At the end of volume 11 you're literally left with a stupid mystery that is very opposite of all the other arcs you have seen before in the manga. But granted volume 11 is pretty funny and maybe a new fresh lighter-hearted take than the other arcs.

But still you will definitely be left wondering, "What?"
Another thing that I don't quite like is multiple plot conviniences that kind of annoy me, (I'm talking about Uiharu's ridiculous hacking skills) But other than that, not much more to say until the series continues.

So, why should you read it?

If you want a fresh take on the shounen genre definitely give this a go, considering 90% of the characters are girls. Also if you like sci-fi, but not too much sci-fi like space and gundams this is a good read too. Also read this if you want better development of the characters and hate those filler arcs like I do!

So yeah, that's my review!

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I fucking hate Railgun. But not because it is “bad” in the traditional sense. I hate Railgun because it took over my life for a very long time. It was all I could think about. Every day I would go to sleep, having done nothing that day in any way related to the series. Yet, when I lay in my bed, ever hopeful that I would receive a long night’s rest, I found myself drowning in my raildex head-canons, storylines, the vast expanse of the city.

I’ve read stories with more profound themes, more interesting characters, better storylines, and even better waifus, but none, bar one about a hole as deep as Riley Reid’s asshole, have had a more intriguing world-building and power system.

Much like Made in Abyss, Academy City is as much of a character as any of the protagonists. It is both their best friend and their worst enemy. During the day, Academy City is a bustling utopia, with scientific development miles ahead of the world. Its inhabitants make for a charming background, and lead to many dainty encounters between characters. But at night, the empty streets and cold, blue lighting make for a bleak, deprived stage for the series’ many fights. The series uses the nighttime environment of the city to its advantage, setting many of the numerous fights at night. It often feels like the city itself is rooting against the several protagonists of the series.

(By the way, this review will mention many elements of A Certain Magical Index, as many of its plot points are integral to my review)

Since this review is about the Railgun Manga, I’ll mostly be focusing on Misaka and her friends, but I’ll also include segments about the Index protagonists.

Minor spoiler warning from here on out.

As for the protagonists, Misaka is obviously the best one. While she doesn’t receive as much development as some of the Index counterparts, the development she gets is as meaningful as Touma’s or Accelerator’s. Misaka is a strong character with tight morals, which she sticks to throughout her character arc, which mostly revolves around atoning for her past mistakes, and her coming to understand her role in the eyes of her sisters. As one of the city’s strongest, she understandably relies too much on herself, and throughout the course of several important arcs, (sort of) comes to realize her flaws and values less her strength, but values more her charisma.

Which leads me to the series' biggest flaw: arcs often contradict each other, and completely undoes the previous one’s development.

For example, in the Sisters Arc, which I would consider to be the series peak as a whole and as one of the best arcs of all time, Misaka, after previously resisting it, accepts Touma’s help in an extremely powerful scene. She abandons her belief that people should solve their own problems and lets Touma help her.

Yet, in the following arcs, while we see flashes of the person we saw at the end of the sisters’ arc, Misaka still refuses to let her friends into her life, and help her with her problems.

In the doppelganger arc, Misaka once again refuses the help of Kuroko when she leaves her dorm again without telling Kuroko why. I thought the height of the Sisters Arc was Misaka accepting that she can’t just fight all by herself? While yes, Shokuhou gains a more prominent role to remedy this, what is the point of the other three leads existing if this was not the lesson Misaka learns in the Sisters Arc?

I remember finding their role to be especially minimized after the Daihasei Festival Arc. (Which was also really great) After facing potentially the destruction of the entire city, Misaka’s life temporarily returns to normal. This is an arc which introduces amazing characters such as Sogiita and Shokuhou, reminds us why Touma is the best side character in the series, and gives yet another reason for Misaka to be more trusting. Her selfishness was arguably what led to things getting that bad in the first place.

Imagine my disbelief when the following arc, focused on Judgment, ends with Kuroko saving a dog from a fire. Yes. A dog from a fire. This is the kind of the shit you see in shitty cliche American cartoons. Yeah, yeah. You have to develop the other leads at some point, and I respect the author for doing that, but why now? We just saw the emotional and climatic potential the series has to offer, so why now? Being forced to put this arc here is the fault of the author for not doing it earlier in the series, and these ten or so chapters are far too long to waste for such a boring conclusion.

Railgun has possibly the highest peaks of any series. I’d put them up there with the likes of One Piece and Berserk. But where those series have extremely high peaks just like Railgun, the rest of their arcs, while not peak per se, are solid, entertaining action. But Railgun has arcs which I would straight-up consider to be bad.

Along with the previously mentioned dog rescue arc, the most recent flashback arc is just painful to sit through. I would consider Index’s largest flaw to be its egregious amount of fan service. While this is bad in every way possible (there are only so many times you can find a dude walking in on girls changing to be “funny”), the Kamachi at least knows his audience: teenage boys.

While writing Railgun, it’s like he forgot his audience all together. Railgun had effectively turned into a middle school drama, complete with bitch slaps, clique conflict, and overall superficial drama that I would equate to something like Mean Girls. Look. I have no problem with watching two chicks fight; it’s pretty hot. But if this is what I wanted, I’d go watch fucking Euphoria (not the hentai) or some shit. I came to this series for its clever and intelligent use of its masterful world building, not this. This is just one example, but others such as the level 6 upper arc, first half of the doppelganger arc, (while admittedly quite funny) and the anime-only arcs are just awful, and I struggled to get through them. I won’t fault the anime-only arcs though, since this is for the manga. Still. There are some serious stinkers in this one.

But what about those peaks though?

The Sisters arc and conclusion of the Daihasei Festival arc are peak fiction. I’d personally consider the Sisters arc to be my favourite story arc in any form of media.

I honestly have nothing bad to say about the Sisters arc, since this is the arc where Misaka realizes she is directly responsible for the bad things that happen to her. While Misaka’s selfishness becomes a problem for me later down the line, it is justified here. She hasn’t learned why her morals are a bad thing, and is humbled by her inability to change her situation. Until now, Misaka has been able to solve everything on her own and has developed this obnoxious sense of noblesse oblige.

It’s the Sisters arc’s bleak tone that acknowledges how fucked Academy City is. Like any metropolis, there are more working parts than one can actually see. Academy City, while seemingly a utopia, is a corrupt, power-centric dictatorship, where anyone will do anything they can to take advantage of you.

And the antagonists of this arc fit perfectly into that narrative. While they are admittedly pretty sadistic for no reason, they all have their reasons for contesting Misaka’s goals, and are quintessential products of the Academy City system.

So the lesson that Misaka learns is that the city is bigger than she thinks, and she can rely on others. Pretty wholesome.

Touma is the one she leans on. Let me just say that Touma is a very good character in Railgun. I find him to be kind of a weak character in Index, as they took his “unluckiness” to an obnoxious extent, effectively making him a generic harem protagonist.

He works better as a side character for two reasons. In Index, we understand Touma’s powers, and there’s pretty much always a way for him to overcome adversity. This is not so in Railgun. His ability is left unexplained, making him sort of mysterious. He is a sort of rival to Misaka, appearing only when she can’t do things on her own. His fights with Accelerator and level 6 Misaka are miles better than anything in Index, because we don’t know the extent of his powers, and whether or not he will actually win.

A lesser reason, but the element that makes him more likable is Railgun’s concentration of romance on Touma and Misaka. Touma isn’t forced to walk in on big titty nuns and look at loli panties in Railgun. Every moment that he has with Misaka feels like he actually earned it.

Anyways, this is three pages on my Google doc, so I guess I’ll finish it up here. (even though I have a lot more to say) So yeah. I feel like a 7 is actually a pretty generous rating, in the face of its appalling flaws. In the end, Raildex is something special. We’ll never see anything like it again, which is why it's a shame that Kamachi will never see to its full potential.

I guess I’m glad I found something to haunt my daydreams for awhile.

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