The first season of the Japanese animated television series A Certain Scientific Railgun, based on the manga series of the same name written by Kazuma Kamachi and illustrated by , follows the third Level 5 esper in Academy City named Mikoto Misaka. Produced by J.C.Staff, the season was directed by Tatsuyuki Nagai with series composition supervised by .
An anime adaptation of the manga series was announced in March 2009, with Nagai and Minakami being revealed to be part of the staff in June. That month, Rina Satō, who voiced Misaka in A Certain Magical Index (2008), was announced to be reprising the character, along with Satomi Arai as Kuroko Shirai and Atsushi Abe as Toma Kamijo. Additionally, Aki Toyosaki, and Kanae Itō joined the cast as Kazari Uiharu and Ruiko Saten, respectively.
The first season consists of 24 episodes and ran on Tokyo MX from October 3, 2009 to March 20, 2010, with other networks following days later. A second season was announced in October 2012. __TOC__
Episodes
Production Development and writing In March 2009, a flyer announced the anime television series adaptation of Motoi Fuyukawa's manga series A Certain Scientific Railgun. The final episode's ending of A Certain Magical Index (2008) confirmed that the series was greenlit. In June 2009, Tatsuyuki Nagai joined the staff at J.C.Staff as the director, along with Seishi Minakami as the series composition writer and Yuichi Tanaka as the character animation designer. Rina Satō, the voice of Mikoto Misaka, revealed that the series would explore her character's daily life and her interaction with other characters aside Toma Kamijo, the main character of A Certain Magical Index franchise. The series would also explore the science side since Index mainly focused on the magic side. With the Railgun series, Satomi Arai, the voice of Kuroko Shirai, hoped that her character and Misaka would have more interaction than what they had in Index.
Casting In June 2009, Satō, Arai, and Atsushi Abe were confirmed to be reprising their respective roles from A Certain Magical Index as Misaka, Shirai, and Kamijo, along with Aki Toyosaki as Kazari Uiharu and Kanae Itō as Ruiko Saten.
Music
Maiko Iuchi was revealed to be composing the series in August 2009, after previously doing so for A Certain Magical Index (2008). For the first fourteen episodes, the opening theme music is "Only My Railgun" by fripSide, while the ending theme music is by Elisa. A special ending theme music, titled "Smile: You & Me" by Elisa, was aired on episode 12. From episodes 15 onwards, the opening theme music is "Level 5 Judgelight" by fripSide, while the ending theme music is "Real Force" by Elisa.
Marketing In August 2009, the official website of A Certain Scientific Railgun was launched, and a promotional video for the series was released. Satō, Arai, Toyosaki, and Itō attended a stage event at in October to promote the series.
Release Broadcast A Certain Scientific Railgun began airing in Japan on Tokyo MX on October 3, 2009, on TVS, CTC, MBS, and tvk on October 4, on AT-X on October 5, and on CBC on October 8. The season was also broadcast on Funimation Channel in the United States in 2013.
Home media + Japanese Blu-ray & DVD release Vol. Episodes Release date Ref. 1 1–3 January 29, 2010 2 4–6 February 26, 2010 3 7–9 March 26, 2010 4 10–12 April 28, 2010 5 13–15 May 28, 2010 6 16–18 June 25, 2010 7 19–21 July 30, 2010 8 22–24 August 27, 2010
Geneon Universal Entertainment released eight Blu-ray and DVD volumes of the series in Japan starting January 29, 2010. Each volume contains a bonus novel written by Kazuma Kamachi titled A Certain Magical Index SS: Kaori Kanzaki, which follows one of the most powerful Saint named Kaori Kanzaki. The fifth volume is bundled with an episode of the bonus anime Much More Railgun.
In December 2016, Crunchyroll added the series to their catalog. Hulu released the series in Japan on March 24, 2022, while Muse Asia began streaming it on their official YouTube channel on May 13.
Reception Critical response Theron Martin of Anime News Network gave a 'B' rating to A Certain Scientific Railgun, feeling that it was a "fun and engaging series that effectively mixes comedy, action, and some more serious elements and can stand plenty well on its own". He lauded the core cast's dynamics and chemistry, and praised the lack of "preachiness", which he claimed was the "biggest downfall" of A Certain Magical Index . Ian Wolf of Anime UK News gave the series 8 out of 10, finding it "funnier" than Index. Despite praising the creative team for getting the right balance of humor, he criticized the music as being "not that exciting", characterized plots as "a bit badly written", and described the show's central villain as "stereotypically evil rather than anything more subtle".
Accolade Satomi Arai was nominated for Best Actress in Supporting Roles at the 5th Seiyu Awards for her role as Kuroko Shirai.
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