Yesterday I finished Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, or A Certain Scientific Railgun, and I must say, it was quite disappointing. A while back, I watched Toaru Majutsu no Index, and enjoyed it quite a bit. There were plenty of fights, good character development, and an adequate plot. The show introduced a character named Mikoto Misaka, A.K.A. Tokiwadai's Railgun. She's called the Railgun because of her ability. See, most people that populate this anime, and Academy City (the city where the anime takes place), have special powers, and Misaka's power is control over electricity. This control allows her to focus electricity around a metallic object, usually a coin, and shoot it at a target with incredible power. So when I found out that Misaka was the main character of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, I was understandably excited. That's when the show slashed me across the face savagely with a couple of butter knives.
I'll cut to the chase here, and not pad things out like the show did. Railgun is mostly slice-of-life. And mostly not about Misaka. Instead its 24 episodes of "look at me being moe in my school uniform, eating a popsicle, typing on a computer, or shopping." Now I'll give it that there is one underlying story arc, and several overlying ones. But what I really wanted from a spin-off show featuring the name “Railgun” was, well, a lot more railgun.
Seeing as how she was one of four main characters, she only showed up less than a quarter of the time. And even when she did show up, she didn’t do anything. There were a handful of fights she was involved in, and the railgun technique was used a few times; however, even when there were fights, they were mostly unsatisfying and short without a good back-and-forth between any combatants.
Since there were 24 episodes, you can split the show into two semi-seasons with a relative climax around the middle, and final climax at the end. The fight at the end was only slightly more satisfying than the fight at the middle. The fight in the middle was longer and spanned two episodes, although not completely. But the fight at the end wins out only just; the power expended in it is incredible when compared to the rest of the show. But great power for an episode or two doesn’t make up for 20-some episodes of boring.
Overall, this show is only alright. If I had gone into the show with lower expectations, I'm sure I would've enjoyed it more, but that could be said of anything. If you watched the first series, Toaru Majutsu no Index, and enjoyed the fights in it and want to see more Misaka, skip to the middle and the end battles. If you cared more about the intricacies of the plot, go ahead and watch the whole thing, but don’t expect much speed in plot development.
