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.StoryMikoto 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?CharactersThere 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.SoundThe 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.

"To Aru Kagaku no Railgun" (A Certain Scientific Railgun) is a spin off series of "To Aru Majutsu no Index" (A Certain Magical Index). The story is centered around a 'Level 5' power user Misaka Mikoto AKA "Railgun", who was a supporting character in the original anime series.The original series for me was very average, but this series just blew me away. The pace is MUCH slower, and focuses more on everyday life of 4 friends and what it means to be special, to have power above all others or having no power at all when it's expected of you. The direction for the series was absolutely phenomenal. In fact, it felt like a Japanese movie rather than a sci-fi super power action anime. By far the best I've seen in any anime series thus far. The characters are very well-developed, and I really connected with the 4 main girls in the story.The sound was also very impressive. Musical score was wonderful, perfectly matching peaceful everyday scenes to exciting action scenes, making abrupt pace change possible. Voice acting was stunning, especially with Misaka and Saten exceptionally well-done and memorable.I have to admit the villains were plain stupid and some unlikely plot development just like the original, as well as a bit too much fan service in every episode, but the drama and cool action scenes were more than enough to offset the flaws.One thing that disappointed me a bit was that the episode 18 in "Index" was not reenacted Misaka's point of view in the spin off. I can guess Touma said something in line of "I'll come and save her without the promise" in the silent scene, but I'm curious to what exactly he said. Perhaps it will be revealed in "Index" season 2, but I wished my favorite episode in the original was concluded here.Needless to say, Misaka Mikoto is by far my favorite character in the "To Aru Majutsu no Index" universe, but this series really met and exceeded my expectations. Be prepared for cheesy storyline and cornier villains, but overall, this is an excellent everyday-life/drama anime by J.C. Staff. I would recommend "Ga-rei:Zero", which is also an action anime with superior drama than action and super powers to those who liked this series.