Toaru Kagaku no Railgun (manga)

Toaru Kagaku no Railgun (とある科学の超電磁砲（レールガン）) or A Certain Scientific Railgun is the second manga series that is based off the Toaru Majutsu no Index franchise. Unlike the Toaru Majutsu no Index Manga, which is an adaptation of the Toaru Majutsu no Index light novels, the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga is an original side story written by Kamachi Kazuma and illustrated by Fuyukawa Motoi.

The Railgun manga series is released as a monthly manga in the Dengeki Daioh magazine since February 2007, and is an ongoing manga with ten tankoubon volumes currently released.

The manga series has been adapted into two 24-episode anime series based on the first six 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.

Plot
Diverging from the plot of Index, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun focuses more on Academy City and the third of seven Level 5 espers named 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) 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 was asked to use Mikoto instead, 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

 * 89. Unlucky Day (厄日)
 * 90. Deception (欺瞞)
 * 91. Negotiation (折衝)
 * 92. Colossus (巨像)
 * 93. Sacrifice (犠牲)
 * 94. Guess (推量)
 * 95. Original Intent (初心)
 * 96. Rank (位階)
 * 97. Reunion (再会)

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 seven tankoubon volumes and a total of 94 chapters have been released as of March 27th 2017. Seven Seas has licensed the manga series for North America under the title A Certain Scientific Railgun.

In March 2017, it was announced that a side-story illustrated by Nogi Youji, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Gaiden: Astral Buddy (とある科学の 超電磁砲 (レールガン)  外伝 アストラル・バディ), would begin running in Dengeki Daioh in April 2017. It details another incident which occurred during the manga's Dream Ranker Arc and features the ringlet curl girl from Shokuhou Misaki's clique as the main character.

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. 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 is expected to entail the infamous Sisters Arc, entirely from Misaka Mikoto's perspective as it was depicted in the Railgun Manga. It has been announced that the series will air April 12, 2013 at 11:30 p.m. on A-TX. Following the arc, the Silent Party Arc, which introduces a new character, Febrie, as well as the mystery surrounding her, begins from episode 18 of the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S 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 in 2011. On March 22 2014, Funimation established on their website that they acquired the license for Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S.

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 he-" (Dear My Friend －まだ見ぬ未来へ－, lit. "Dear My Friend: Towards an Unseen Future") by ELISA, and the 2nd ending theme is "SMILE －You And 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. The second season of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun: Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S is confirmed to have first opening theme "Sister's noise" by fripSide. The 1st ending theme is confirmed to be "Grow Slowly" by Yuka Iguchi. the latter of which was released on May 15, 2013. The second opening theme is "eternal reality" by fripSide and the second ending theme is "Links" by Sachika Misawa.