To Aru
Kagaku no
Railgun
Number of episodes: TBA
Production Studio: J.C. Staff
Fansub Release Viewed: Mazui
Likelihood of US Release: Medium
Mikoto and Kuroko maintain peace and order in the University District of Academy city, where the population is 80 percent students involved in the Brain Development Program.
Episode Summary
Shirai Kuroko is a member of Judgment, and organization in Academy city that helps to regulate the peace and catch criminals. While it’s her job to give chase to some trouble-makers, she finds that her friend, Mikoto, has already taken care of them using her considerable power. Mikoto’s power is so considerable, in fact, that when testing her electric acceleration skill, it must be done at the school pool so as not to do damage to the surrounding buildings and infrastructure. After school, Kuroko asks Mikoto if she’d be willing to meet with a couple of her friends who are big fans. Though it’s obvious the meeting is a thinly-veiled plan for Kuroko to get closer to Mikoto, Mikoto agrees.
After meeting Uihara-san and Saten-san, Mikoto decides that she’d rather go to an arcade that follow Kuroko’s plan, but they stop for crêpes first. This puts them in the perfect position to witness an explosion at a bank. Kuroko does her part to thwart the robbers using her teleportation powers, then Mikoto steps in to finish them off using her electric railgun to overturn the escape vehicle.
Thoughts
I’m not shy in saying that I found this show’s parent series, To Aru Majutsu no Index, fairly unimpressive. While the visuals appeared very high quality, the forgettable male lead and the fact that Index’s clothes burst off within the first episode sort of sealed its fate in my eyes and I went on to more satisfying programs. Which is probably why I don’t honestly feel much of anything towards this series. Sure, it retains its predecessor’s impressive visuals (J.C. Staff seems to have a very good eye for balancing action animation with more static visuals) but it comes off as nothing more than fanservice. No, I’m not talking about panties and boobs (although this first episode has them in moderation as well), what I mean is that this series is aimed at fans of the original by featuring a fan-favorite side character in a major role, and as someone who wasn’t thrilled by the original, I have no frame of reference to really enjoy this story, and there’s nothing within the episode that compels me to watch more.
To be fair, though, my disinterest in the show doesn’t mean that it’s without merit. Like I mentioned, the visuals are impressive thanks to the animating chops of J.C. Staff, a studio which seems to be able to animate natural movement very well. I see a lot of visual similarity here with Toradora, especially in some of the scenes involving movement of hair. The animation is somewhat manic and at times seems nearly off-model and could be misconstrued as amateurish under certain circumstances, but the individual frames work very well together and demonstrate a unique look and feel without seeming shoddy. The CG, which appears in moderation to animate some vehicles, actually blends pretty well because it doesn’t include a lot of excess detail; I find that a problem with a lot of CG is that it doesn’t match the overall style of the animation and sticks out like a sore thumb, but here it wasn’t as irritatingly obvious. The character designs are modern and cute but otherwise aren’t particularly distinguishable from many other series, though to their credit they do avoid many visual tropes and remain fairly realistic in terms of body type and hair color.
The world itself is also fairly interesting, although the high concentration of students in the city makes it highly unlikely that the majority of the characters in this series or the previous one would be very relatable to me. Series showcasing teens with magical powers are nothing new, but I find myself losing interest in the genre as I get older and feel like I can’t sympathize as readily with what the characters are going through. Visually I like how the backgrounds portray the idea that this city is somewhat in the future relative to the rest of the world, but doesn’t feel unrealistic by any means.
One pet peeve that I have is the yuri-themed sub plot involving Kuroko. What bothers me is that the nature of it seems like pandering to the lowest common denominator and it upholds a stereotype of the lesbian who just can’t keep her hands off of her target. After watching something as well-written and sensitive as Aoi Hana, having to tolerate a character who seems like nothing more than a male fantasy of what lesbians might be like is frustrating.
Still, unfortunately, I find the final result to be a little bland, which probably means that this series will enjoy lots of popularity amongst the fan population at large. There’s something to be said for series with wide appeal and this show seems to exhibit all the markers of something that many people could really like. I just find that I often don’t connect with these types of shows, and Railgun is no exception. I can say that it has a good blend of action, some humor, and a cool premise that many people will ultimately enjoy.
Pros
- The visual aspect of the show is quite good
- This series’ vision of the future is pretty realistic (aside from the magic-users, of course)
Cons
- The yuri aspects are over the top
- The whole package feels a bit too “wide appeal” to me
