A Certain Scientific Railgun ep. 1 – The Ultimate Fanservice For Digitalboy

(I literally have over 200 screen shots from this episode, courtesy of No Name. If you want to see them all, check out this album)

I’ve watched the first episode of Railgun twice already, and I wouldn’t be opposed to be seeing it a third time. Railgun episode one made me JIZZ IN MY PANTS, and I’m hear to talk about all the delicious reasons for such feelings of love towards this show~~

1. City Porn – Although I’m a bigger fan of dark urban settings, I’m generally a total sucker for the big city. Railgun’s city is one with personality, too; It is said to be far more technologically advanced than the rest of the world, and there are all kinds of neat trinkets in town, though it mostly functions as a regular city. the first episode explores many busy streets, alleyways, and notable locales with buckets of background porn such as bilboards, busses, and bullet trains.

2. Badass Babes – The two main characters of Railgun, Misaka Mikoto and Shirai Kuroko, are high levels of badass. Kuroko is cool enough in her own right, using her teleportation powers to bring the pain on the baddies while dispensing sage-like wisdom at every turn, but then we have Mikoto. Mikoto is so powerful that she puts literally everyone else in town to shame. Whereas most of the fighters can use about enough scientific magic to combat with each-other on normal fighting terms, Mikoto can pretty much just blow everyone else to kingdom come without breaking a sweat, and look cool as shit doing it.

3. Muchos Excellente Character Designs – I’ve been a Mikoto fan for a while and have always considered her the standout piece of art from Index. Now I get to see that everyone she hangs out with is cute as well! Kuroko is a feisty devil with a tendency to make glorious facial expressions. Saten’s design isn’t the most original, but works perfectly for her personality. Then we have Uihara, who is super-cute with her little flower headdress and short hair!

4. Exemplary Vocal Talent – The more anime I watch, the more I seem to become enamored with seiyuu. Satomi Arai is my favorite as Kuroko – she needs more roles, because she was also great as the leading lady with multiple personalities in Mahoraba. Aki Toyosaki walks just on the right side of the line in terms of high-pitched moe as Uihara and sells it home, much as she did as Yui in K-On. Rina Satou plays it real cool as Mikoto and doesn’t go overboard in her pissed-off moments. Finally, Itou Kanae reminds me once again why she’s one of my favorite up-and-coming seiyuu with her superb performance as Saten.

5. Fuckwin Action – Railgun is sporting one big-ass budget as the aforementioned background porn reveals, but it’s not just in artwork. This first episode takes a lot of opportunities to show off some great animation, and none more spectacularly than in the fight scenes. Excellent fight direction, dramatic timing, and fluid action make this a total winner.

6. Spiffy Dialog – Now, Railgun isn’t exactly going to take home some kind of award for terrific writing, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t impressive. No stupid jokes, no expository dialog dumps, and plenty of character development. All four of the leading ladies got me attached to them in no time flat – a feat I don’t think has been accomplished since Kamichu! – a show that definitely helps being compared to. There wasn’t a single moment in the episode that bored me or felt pointless, and I had so much fun that I watched the episode twice within a couple of hours.

7. Rampant Lesbianism – You had to know that this was coming. I have been reading yuri doujins of Kuroko and Misaka for quite a while now, and they are probably one of my favorite yuri couples, being as both of them are hyper-attractive as well. It doesn’t stop with them, either. Perhaps Uihara and Saten are just really close friends, but our first moment with them is Saten flipping Uihara’s skirt into the air, so who knows~

8. Toradora Approved! – You know you’re in for something good when the cast of Toradora is in your anime!

For all of these reasons, this has been one of my favorite opening episodes and certainly my favorite of the year. With that, I give you badass Mikoto:

Ya'll done fucked with the wrong bitch!