"A Certain Scientific Railgun" is a manga that has been serialized in Dengeki Comic Daioh since 2007 as a spin-off of "A Certain Magical Index". Its official name is "A Certain Magical Index Gaiden, A Certain Scientific Railgun". The first season of the anime aired in 2009, and the second season in 2013. Both seasons are two cours long.
Synopsis of Railgun
Source: A Certain Scientific Railgun ©Kamachi Kazuma/Fuyukawa Motoi/ASCII Media Works/PROJECT-RAILGUN S
A city called "Academy City" has a total population of 2.3 million, 80% of which are students. Students in the city learn to develop psychic powers as part of their curriculum, and students are mainly divided by level. There are levels ranging from Level 0 (non-powerful) to Level 5 (esper), and students are constantly studying every day to reach higher levels. A Certain Scientific Railgun is a story that centers around Misaka Mikoto, one of the seven Level 5s in Academy City, and follows her as she takes on various incidents related to the city's darkness.
Overview of the Genso-Otome Incident
Source: A Certain Scientific Railgun ©Kamachi Kazuma/Fuyukawa Motoi/ASCII Media Works/PROJECT-RAILGUN S
The incident began with a series of bombings. The perpetrators of the bombings seriously injured members of the Judgment Committee, and the damage increased with each episode. The culprit then happens to be at the location he has chosen as his next crime scene, and is apprehended by Misaka Mikoto and disciplinary committee member Uiharu Kazari, but the culprit falls into a coma in hospital for unknown reasons. The scale of the explosion led the culprit to believe he was at least Level 3, but in reality he had not reached that level at all. This suddenly gave credence to the existence of the Level Upper, a device that can forcibly raise a person's level, which had been rumored to exist. Saten Ruiko, a friend of Misaka and Uiharu, also falls victim to the Level Upper and falls into a coma.
Main characters of the Level Upper arc
Misaka Mikoto CV: Sato Rina
Source: A Certain Scientific Railgun ©Kamachi Kazuma/Fuyukawa Motoi/ASCII Media Works/PROJECT-RAILGUN S
The well-known protagonist of A Certain Scientific Railgun, she is one of only seven Level 5s in Academy City who attend Tokiwadai Middle School, the highest-ranking electromaster and third in Academy City, and is the strongest electric princess, nicknamed the Railgun.
Shirai Kuroko CV: Arai Satomi
Source: A Certain Scientific Railgun ©Kamachi Kazuma/Fuyukawa Motoi/ASCII Media Works/PROJECT-RAILGUN S
A first-year student at Tokiwadai Junior High School, the same school as Misaka. She is a member of the Judgment Committee, which maintains peace, and has the ability to teleport at level 4. He worships Misaka Mikoto to the point of insanity and dotes on her. They get along well and are a pretty good partner.
Uiharu Kazari CV: Aki Toyosaki
Source: A Certain Scientific Railgun ©Kamachi Kazuma/Fuyukawa Motoi/ASCII Media Works/PROJECT-RAILGUN S
A first year junior high school student who is a member of the discipline committee, just like Shirai, who attends Sakagawa Junior High School. Her abilities are quite low at level 1, and her physical abilities are also below average, but she is exceptionally skilled with computers and is a genius at processing information. It is Uiharu who is referred to as the "Goalkeeper," a genius hacker who is spoken of as an urban legend by some. She has a very good relationship with Saten-san.
Saten Ruiko CV: Ito Kanae
Source: A Certain Scientific Railgun ©Kamachi Kazuma/Fuyukawa Motoi/ASCII Media Works/PROJECT-RAILGUN S
A first-year student at Sakagawa Junior High School, the same school as Uiharu, who is a level 0 non-powered person. Initially, he would make statements that suggested he was jealous or envious of high-level beings, but after getting to know Misaka and Shirai, he changed his view and came to believe that there are good people among those with high-level abilities. Despite being a Level 0, he has an extremely strong sense of justice and has a tendency to get caught up in trouble easily, so he is often at the center of problems when they arise. Flipping up Uiharu's skirts has become a daily routine for him.
Haruo Kiyama CV: Atsuko Tanaka
Source: A Certain Scientific Railgun ©Kamachi Kazuma/Fuyukawa Motoi/ASCII Media Works/PROJECT-RAILGUN S
One of the prominent scientists in Academy City, a scientist specializing in brain science. He was originally a teacher at a facility that gathered orphans called "child errors." However, the children become victims of inhumane experiments and fall into a coma. As she continues her research to help these children, she comes across a certain research topic. She has a good appearance and good proportions, but she is not aware of this and has a habit of taking off her clothes wherever she goes, believing that no one is aroused by her body.
Kaitabi Hatsuya (CV: Nojima Kenji)
Source: A Certain Scientific Railgun ©Kamachi Kazuma/Fuyukawa Motoi/ASCII Media Works/PROJECT-RAILGUN S
The culprit behind the bombing incident that could be said to be the beginning of the Phantom Hand incident. Despite only having a level 2 ability, the specifications of the Phantom Hand raised him to the equivalent of a level 4, and he is now using his ability to get revenge on the grudges he received when he was at a lower level. He was captured by Misaka.
Edasaki Banri (CV: Sato Satomi)
Source: A Certain Scientific Railgun ©Kamachi Kazuma/Fuyukawa Motoi/ASCII Media Works/PROJECT-RAILGUN S
She was a student when Kiyama was being forceful, and she was very cheerful. Kiyama thought that dealing with children was troublesome, but her presence was the trigger for him to change his mind.
Side effects from the form of the Genso-te (Level Upper)
Source: A Certain Scientific Railgun ©Kamachi Kazuma/Fuyukawa Motoi/ASCII Media Works/PROJECT-RAILGUN S
The system allows anyone to level up very easily by downloading music from the site and listening to it. The system uses a special calculation method called synesthesia on the brain to raise the level, but it places a heavy burden on the user's brain, causing aftereffects from performing calculations that would normally be impossible, and causing the user to fall into a coma.
Saten Ruiko's Conflict
Source: A Certain Scientific Railgun ©Kamachi Kazuma/Fuyukawa Motoi/ASCII Media Works/PROJECT-RAILGUN S
Unfortunately, Saten Ruiko is a level 0 powerless person, and as she comes into contact with level 5 Misaka Mikoto and level 4 Shirai Kuroko, she gradually begins to feel inferior about being level 0. In the midst of all this, he accidentally accesses a hidden site for installing Genso Gote. Although he installs it, he refrains from using it, but his desire for psychic powers gives way, and he gets his friends involved and tries it out, later falling into a coma due to the aftereffects.
Friendship between Uiharu and Saten
Source: A Certain Scientific Railgun ©Kamachi Kazuma/Fuyukawa Motoi/ASCII Media Works/PROJECT-RAILGUN S
Saten, who had her friend fall into a coma first because she had used her own Level Upper, contacts Uiharu in tears, feeling guilty. Saten continues to cry and regrets having used the Gensouketsu's hand, and as she is Level 0, she makes self-deprecating remarks calling herself a defective product, to which Uiharu scolds her. Uiharu then rushes to Saten's side, only to find her unconscious and collapsed. The two of them crying over the phone in this scene was very moving.
Progress of the incident
Source: A Certain Scientific Railgun ©Kamachi Kazuma/Fuyukawa Motoi/ASCII Media Works/PROJECT-RAILGUN S
While investigating the Gensoukoku, the disciplinary committee members Uiharu and Kuroko, along with Misaka, meet Haruo Kiyama at the hospital where the culprit of the bombing incident was taken. Kiyama is researching the weak magnetic field of abilities that are unconsciously emitted by people with special abilities, known as the AIM diffusion field, and after hearing about the Gensoukoku, he offers to help by investigating in his own way.
The truth behind the incident
Source: A Certain Scientific Railgun ©Kamachi Kazuma/Fuyukawa Motoi/ASCII Media Works/PROJECT-RAILGUN S
When Uiharu heads to Kiyama, who had requested an investigation, she discovers data from Kiyama's experiment. It is a research into a system that uses music to interfere with the brain, and the inventor and developer is Haruo Kiyama. Kiyama was the developer of the Genso Hand and the one who spread it around to the public. When Uiharu asked him why he did such a thing, Kiyama explained that people who have used the Genso Hand can be networked together using brainwaves and other methods, and when these are gathered together they become an enormous amount of computing power, and that he wanted to temporarily borrow the computing power of users for something he wanted to do. He then handed Uiharu the software to uninstall the Genso Hand, saying that she could release it immediately once she was done.
The End of the Incident
Source: A Certain Scientific Railgun ©Kamachi Kazuma/Fuyukawa Motoi/ASCII Media Works/PROJECT-RAILGUN S
At the end of the incident, Misaka from Railgun confronts Kiyama, who has consciously connected with many people with abilities through the power of the Illusionary Hand and is now able to use multiple abilities. Misaka struggles against the various abilities, but overwhelms them by showing them the difference in their cores. He then battles AIM Burst, a monster created from the sadness and abilities of 10,000 people born from the rampage of the Gensoukyou. However, Misaka easily defeats them with her special move, the Railgun, saying there is no way she will lose to the power of people who rely on objects and other people to increase their levels.
After the incident
Source: A Certain Scientific Railgun ©Kamachi Kazuma/Fuyukawa Motoi/ASCII Media Works/PROJECT-RAILGUN S
Kiyama developed the Illusion Hand on his own to save the students he taught in the past, as the higher-ups of Academy City would not lend him a hand. However, he had not anticipated the rampage that would result from this and was dejected, but with encouragement from Uiharu and Misaka, he decided to atone for his sins. The victims were also awakened by the uninstallation software, and the incident came to a close.
Summary of the Level Upper Incident
Source: A Certain Scientific Railgun ©Kamachi Kazuma/Fuyukawa Motoi/ASCII Media Works/PROJECT-RAILGUN S
There's a catch to the good news that you can easily improve your abilities, and that it can't beat the level you get by working hard. That's the kind of story it is. Haruo Kiyama is also a victim in a way, and if there is no one to help him, he has to do it on his own, which ends up being tragic. It was a story that was very Index-like, or rather, Railgun-like. The Index series has quite deep and difficult stories, so I hope you will read the manga and watch the anime. Thank you for reading to the end.
