4 stars for this engaging and fun fantasy tale.
A Certain Scientific Railgun is a spin off from A Certain Magical Index, created by Kazuma Kamachi, made by the studio J.C. Staff (Okami-san and her Seven Companions) and directed by Tatsuyuki Nagai (Toradora!).
The story this time centres around Mikoto Misaka (Brittney Karbowski – Jormungand), a fairly important character and rival of Touma Kamijou in A Certain Magical Index.
Misaka is a Level 5 Esper, ranked 3rd most powerful in all of Academy City, where she lives and studies. She attends the prestigious Tokiwadai Middle School, where she is known as “Railgun” due to her highly destructive Esper ability of controlling and using electricity (poorly judged attacks have been known to take out power to the entire city). Academy City is extremely technologically advanced and is home to many students, all working towards controlling and improving upon their Esper powers.
Her life seems to be an ongoing battle, not least with her roommate Kuroko Shirai (Alison Viktorin – Space Dandy) who is completely besotted with her and obsessed with trying to sneak her aphrodisiacs. She is also always trying to persuade her to wear panties rather than shorts under her skirt.
Kuroko is a member of Judgement, a group consisting of highly trained students devoted to maintaining law and order in Academy City. She arranges for two of her friends who are big fans of Misaka to meet up with her and to the surprise of all concerned the four become firm friends. Kazari Uiharu (Cherami Leigh – Sword Art Online II) is a fellow member of Judgement and Ruiko Saten (Brina Palencia – Good Luck Girl) is a Level 0 Esper, desperately trying to find her Esper ability.
It is a rare thing to find a spin off that is as good as the series which spawned it, but this one certainly is. There is an ongoing storyline, but a lot of the episodes do stand up as separate entities and the antics of the four friends are very entertaining and at times quite moving.
It is a bit less self important than A Certain Magical Index and I found it much easier to get into. Well worth sticking with this one as it gets better and better as it goes on.
Highly enjoyable and well worth adding to your collection.
A Certain Scientific Railgun is available to buy now on Blu-ray and DVD.
| Director | Tatsuyuki Nagai |
| Author | Kazuma Kamachi |
| Genre | anime, fantasy |
| Starring | Brittney Karbowski, Alison Viktorin, Cherami Leigh, Brina Palencia |
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