Otaku CC Sanctuary: Admin's Anime Review: Toaru Kagaku no Railgun

Title: Toaru Kagaku no Railgun
Studio: J.C. Staff
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Action, Science-fiction
Original Run: October 3, 2009 - March 20, 2010.
Episodes: 24
Director: Tatsuyuki Nagai
Original Character Design: Kiyotaka Haimura
Number One Theme Song: Opening Theme "Only My Railgun" by fripSide

Admin's Score:
Story: 90
Character Development: 90
Artwork: 90
Songs: 88
Animation/ Battle Depiction: 90

Toaru Kagaku no Railgun main protagonists (left to right): Misaka Mikoto, Shirai Kuroko, Uiharu Kazari, and Saten Ruiko.

Toaru Kagaku no Railgun is a spinoff of the series Toaru Majutsu no Index. 5 volumes of manga have been published by Dengeki Daioh, illustrated by Motoi Fukuyama.

Synopsis
This is Toaru Majutsu no Index's side story that took place in the same Academy City, except that the story tells about the life events of Misaka Mikoto and her friends before the events in the original novel happened. Misaka Mikoto, AKA the Railgun AKA the Ace of Tokiwadai facing conflicts that involved Academy City. With her friend in Judgment, Shirai Kuroko and her new 2 friends, Uiharu Kazari and Saten Ruiko, they often involved themselves in threats that endanger Academy City and its citizens. The story's mainly can be dissected into several parts that connect with each other:
1. Introduction and Daily life of Misaka Mikoto and her friends
2. Level Upper Arc
3. Skillout Arc
4. Poltergeist Arc

Strength:
Nice artwork and background as usual, never degrade a bit from its predecessor: Toaru Majutsu no Index. The graphic is always cool and the battles' becoming more thrilling this time (especially the last battle with the giant robot, it's like the transformers !, the depiction of high-tech vehicles , the use of theme song to enhance the effect ), giving more suspense to the story. Nice original idea, plot, and complications development (one conflict happens after another and well-planned), spicing up the story and giving more curiosity and interests to the audience, and the characters are well depicted here with each of their own personality. The addition of more espers and organizations also colors the anime even more.

Weakness:
May be boring in some part, especially the normal life dialogue, even not enhanced with potential comedy, unlike Index.

Screenshot:

Misaka Mikoto's disappointment as Saten Ruiko got the last Gekota bonus strap from the crepes. She is lucky, because Ruiko gave it to her then. Mikoto's taste a bit childish and one of her favorite character that is emphasized in this anime is the frog Gekota.

Photo from the modelling event in the swimsuit company. Warm friendship of girls is nicely depicted here by cooking kare together, and of course, satisfying fans of these girls. I wonder how Misaka will react if she knew Touma saw her wearing childish swimsuit in the end of this episode.

Toaru Majutsu no Index's main character's reappearance, now with more details that he loves to stick his nose into others' problems. He was helping Kiyama Harumi, one of the scientists that made an experiment on crystallized espers essence and desperately wanted to revive the children she used as a guinea pigs back then. I wonder how Touma would solve Misaka's conflict if he was involved in the story. Looking forward to Touma-Misaka combination !