Toaru Kagaku no Railgun (manga)

Toaru Kagaku no Railgun (とある科学の), formally known as Toaru Majutsu no Index Gaiden: Toaru Kagaku no Railgun (とある魔術の外伝 とある科学の), is the first manga series that is based off the Toaru Majutsu no Index franchise. The Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga is an original side story written by Kamachi Kazuma and illustrated by Fuyukawa Motoi; the series is edited by Ogino Kentarou.

The Railgun manga series is released as a monthly manga in the Dengeki Daioh magazine since February 2007, and currently has seventeen tankōbon  volumes released.

The manga series has been first adapted into a 24-episode anime series based on the first three volumes of the manga from October 2009 to March 2010, followed by an OVA released on October 2010. A sequel to the anime series entitled Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S was green-lit, which was confirmed to cover the Sisters Arc in the original manga, specifically Volumes 4 to 7. It ran from April to September 2013. A third season titled Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T, covering the end of Volume 7 to 13 is aired from January 2020 to September 2020.

Plot
Diverging from the plot of Index, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun focuses more on Academy City and the third ranked of the seven Level 5 espers Misaka Mikoto.

Misaka Mikoto, despite being part of the most powerful espers in Academy City, also has a more carefree side to her life. She has to fend off constant "love attacks" from devoted friend and roommate Shirai Kuroko but despite of being the Ace of Tokiwadai Middle School she still acts like a normal student as in nobody is better than the other. However, with various problems arising in Academy City — both noticeable and out from plain sight — she moves as Academy City's unseen savior, using her powers to save people, loved ones and strangers alike.

Development
The concept used in Toaru Kagaku no Railgun began when the future editor (Ogino Kentarou) of Railgun made a request to Miki Kazuma, Kamachi Kazuma's editor, on how he wanted to have an Index manga in Dengeki Daioh. Due to the fact that the Index manga was already serialized in Monthly Shōnen Gangan, the editor asked for a Daioh to have one for the science side, specifically that of Misaka Mikoto.

The idea was well received by Miki, and after a general idea was drafted, the producers asked Kazuma to write the original concept of it. Kamachi Kazuma, at that point, was told that the manga would be using Academy City as a primary state, as such, he wrote the original draft with Shirai Kuroko as the protagonist, feeling that Mikoto was too powerful a character from who he could make an an entertaining manga. He was later corrected, and clarified that the plot was meant for Mikoto, despite having written "quite a bit". Because of this, he was forced to rethink everything from the ground up in order to use. It is unknown what would have become of the side story had Kuroko been accepted as the protagonist.

Motoi was later called up to be the artist of the manga, and started serialization in the April issue of Dengeki Daioh on March 2007. The first volume was later released on November 10, 2007.

Overseas Release
Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the manga in North America and began releasing the series in North America starting with the first volume on June 2011. Like the rest of the printed series by Kamachi, the manga is distributed by Kadokawa Taiwan for the Chinese market, with the first volume being released on April 29, 2009.

Chapters Not Yet in Volume Format

 * 136.5. Ryōyū (寮友)
 * 137. Kougeki (口撃)
 * 138. Taiji (対峙)
 * 139-1. Hakaku (Zenpen) (破格 (前編))

Manga
The Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga series started serialization in Dengeki Daioh in May 2007, and is released once every month. The manga series currently has seventeen tankōbon volumes. Seven Seas Entertainment has licensed the manga series for North America under the title A Certain Scientific Railgun, and began releasing the volumes on June 7, 2011.

In March 2017, a side-story illustrated by Nogi Yasuhito, entitled Astral Buddy, began serialization in Dengeki Daioh on April 2017 and finished on July 2020. It details another incident which occurred during the manga's Dream Ranker Arc and features Hokaze Junko, the ringlet curl girl from Shokuhou Misaki's Clique as the main character. Seven Seas Entertainment licensed this manga under the title A Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy, and began releasing the volumes on February 19, 2019.

Anime Series
An anime series adaptation of the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga was announced on March 18, 2009 on the official site of the Toaru Majutsu no Index anime series, which aired in October 2008. Roughly one year after the release of the Index anime series, the anime adaptation of Railgun began airing, with its broadcast run ending in March 2010. The anime adapted the only complete arc of the manga at the time, the Level Upper Arc, before delving into original storylines, including one that gave closure to the backstory of the Level Upper Arc's antagonist. Following this, there was also an extra anime episode bundled on a DVD with the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Official Visual Book which was released later, on July 24, 2010. An OVA of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun was released later, on October 29, 2010.

In October 2012, a second season of the anime adaptation entitled Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S was announced. The series began airing on April 12, 2013 at 11:30 p.m. on AT-X. The series began with adapting the manga's retelling of the infamous Sisters Arc, showing Misaka Mikoto's perspective of events. Following the Sisters Arc, the anime-original Silent Party Arc, which introduces a new character, Febrie, as well as the mystery surrounding her, began from episode 18 of the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S series.

In October 2018, alongside the debut of the third season of Index, the third season of the anime adaptation of Railgun was announced. The official title of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T was revealed following the conclusion of the Toaru Kagaku no Accelerator anime at the end of September 2019. The series began airing on January 10, 2020 at 10:00 p.m. on AT-X. The series began with Railgun ' s version of the Daihasei Festival Arc, showing off the science-side events that occurred during the festival. It was then followed by the Dream Ranker Arc, which began on the 16th episode of the series.

At Anime Expo 2010, North American anime distributor Funimation Entertainment announced that they had acquired licenses for both Toaru Kagaku no Railgun and Toaru Majutsu no Index TV series to be released on 2011. On March 22, 2014, Funimation established on their website that they acquired the license for Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S. On January 5, 2020, Crunchyroll and Funimation announced that they intend to simulcast Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T, with the latter planning a SimulDub beginning January 24.

Music
The anime adaptation of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun has seven pieces of theme music, three opening themes and four ending themes. The first opening theme is "only my railgun" by fripSide, the 2nd Opening Theme is "LEVEL 5-judgelight-" also by fripSide. The 1st ending theme is "Dear My Friend -Mada Minu Mirai e-" by ELISA, and the 2nd ending theme is "SMILE -You & Me-" also by ELISA, the 3rd ending theme is "Real Force" also by ELISA. The OVA also has its own opening and ending song; "future gazer" by fripSide for the opening, and "Special "ONE"" by ELISA for the ending.

Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S has six pieces of theme music, consisting of two opening theme songs, two ending theme songs, and two insert songs. The first opening theme is "sister's noise" by fripSide. The 1st ending theme is "Grow Slowly" by Iguchi Yuka, which was released on May 15, 2013. The second opening theme is "eternal reality" by fripSide and the second ending theme is "Links" by. The first insert song is "stand still" by Iguchi Yuka and used as the ending theme for episode 11 and episode 14. The second insert song is "Infinia" by Misawa Sachika and is used as the ending theme for episode 23.

Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T has five pieces of theme music, two opening theme songs, two ending theme songs, and an insert song. The first opening theme song is "final phase" by fripSide. The first ending theme song is "nameless story" by Kishida Kyoudan & THE Akeboshi Rockets. An insert song is "Aoarashi no Ato de" by sajou no hana. The second opening theme is "dual existence" by fripSide, and the second ending theme is "Aoarashi no Ato de" by sajou no hana.

Light Novels
Toaru Kagaku no Railgun currently has four light novel titles, three of which are side stories that were released in parts as additional content for the limited-edition releases of the Toaru Majutsu no Index anime series on DVD and Blu-ray. The first volume, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS: Liberal Arts City, was bundled with the first season of Index and focuses on an overseas field trip by the main cast. The second volume, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS2: Shopping Mall Demonstration, was bundled with the second season of Index and involves Mikoto's trip in Russia and the ensuing contact with the members of the magic cabal New Light. The third volume, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun: Cold Game, was released on December 27th 2017 as a celebration of the manga's 10th anniversary and involves an attempted murder case connected to a notorious criminal. The fourth volume, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS3, was bundled with the third season of Index and features a plot where the main cast investigates an attack on them after Shirai Kuroko wins a violin competition against a member of Shokuhou Misaki's Clique and her antique Stativarius. The fifth volume, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS (tentative) will be released for celebrating the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga ' s 15th anniversary.

Liberal Arts City, Shopping Mall Demonstration, and Cold Game were later bundled together in of Toaru Majutsu no Index: Gaiten Shoku omnibus series, released in August 2020.

Games
A game entitled Toaru Kagaku no Railgun was released for the PlayStation Portable handheld console on December 8, 2011. The game has the predominant features of a visual novel, and includes an original story by Kamachi Kazuma, detailing Misaka Mikoto's adventures while investigating an urban legend in Academy City. The game has close tie-ups with the PSP game released for Toaru Majutsu no Index, and the story itself is teased in portions of the Railgun manga.

Due to the nature of Railgun as part of the Index universe, characters from Railgun also appear in games based on the light novel series, notably Toaru Majutsu to Kagaku no Ensemble, Toaru Majutsu to Kagaku no Puzzdex and Toaru Majutsu no Index Struggle Battle.

Trivia

 * The chapters of the manga series initially adopted a titling pattern corresponding to the day the events of the chapter would take place. However, starting from, each chapter is composed of two kanji characters. Take note, however, that there are exceptions to both titling conventions.
 * Toaru Kagaku no Railgun ' s chapter title is named by Ogino Kentarou, the editor for the series.

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