I was introduced to this anime by a quiz comparing Asuka from Neon Genesis and Mikoto from Railgun. A lot of people said that they liked Mikoto better so I decided why not check it out. This anime looks kind of cute.
It's a shame that the series had a lot of potential and I really wanted to enjoy it, but the writing and characters needed work and there are parts where the drama just doesn't work. This has some of the worst writing I have ever seen. There is not much interesting characters to be found here, they're all pretty archetypal and overwritten.
Railgun could've been put in my favorites had it not disappointed me the way it did. I liked the concept behind it but it wasn't executed very well.
Story
Mikoto is a young girl who has been training to be an esper since she was like seven. Now, she has incredible electricity powers and along with her friends, Kuroko, a lesbian girl, Saten, an angsty girl, and Uiharu, a bashful girl must battle off monsters, espers, and bullying men that come their way. The characters are all archetypes of other anime characters and there is nothing too special about them. They are unoriginal clichés. I am actually quite in disbelief of what J.C. Staff has come to. They gave me Azumanga Daioh and now this? What actually has anime come to?
Characters
There are some complexity to the series and a lot of character development, but I still did not care much for the characters as their fight scenes were pretty lame and they can change from acting in-character to out of character. The dialogue is not obvious but it's weird. The only good thing about them is that I can empathize with the protagonist and there are some funny moments but they can also be annoying and unlikeable.
Sound
The shows' songs are too relaxing for this series' tone. And what I mean by that is that there is a lot of slow and emotional songs and are not totally fitting. The show has a friendly atmosphere so they may sound nice at first but then they start to get worse hearing them over and over again. Overall, not repeatable songs. Except for the opening and ending songs, the intensity in them fits the action of the series.
Now the voice acting compared to the dub was less whiny, though Kuroko's voice sounded too sarcastic and snarky but otherwise deep and strong. But I love that stripper woman's sexy voice! The skill put into it was imaginative. And the director for the voice actors and the series itself was pretty good.
But the writing, ugh, the characterization was stupid and it had one of the most uninteresting writing in anime. This show was quite annoying to sit through and at one episode, it made me want to flip the table. It is so mundane and it is not for people looking for very creative work. Also, that OP for the second half made me want to scream.
Overall, a pretty bad series. Do not watch.
13 out of 32 found this helpful