Toaru Majutsu no Index / Kagaku no Railgun Series

Off-Topic
#1

Let’s talk about the Raildex series! I’m opening up the floor to Light Novel spoilers. If there’s enough demand we can have an Anime-only thread as well, but I wanna discuss the Light Novel with people if enough people have read it.

Index is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. It’s like a box of shounen tropes, but I appreciate that it’s very self-aware about them and plays with them. It’s almost like a case study on the ‘protagonist’, and what it means to be a protagonist of a light novel. There are many different types of protagonist displayed, and the story of each protagonist seems to follow a different subgenre. I find it interesting and very entertaining, it doesn’t really get old.

So far I’m reading the 5th volume of New Testament. The baggage city arc was a bit of a grind for me, and felt a bit too alien (even if that was the intention), so I’m glad to see a more familiar setting for this story arc.

What are your favourite arcs? Try to tag significant spoilers for people if you can.

Light Novel Discussion Topic
Light Novel Discussion Topic
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#2

Need to read it all :
The only Raildex I’ve got in me is the Railgun anime lololol
I loved it though and want to know the rest of the universe. xP

#3

My god it’s like every not Key series that gets a thread in this forum is terrible.

#4

I never said it was good, but I really like it anyway. It’s a weird complex.

#5

It has characters almost as overpowered as the Muscle Sensation. That’s reason enough for me to like it :>

#6

This seems to be the case for most people, which kinda bugs me because Railgun is meant to be a spinoff of the main series, yet most people who’ve watched Railgun don’t even realise this :stuck_out_tongue:

Not to say Railgun itself is a bad introduction to the series. I’d be interested to know what it’s like going from Railgun to Index.

#7

I’m sure I can help with that lol

And not just my thoughts- I think @Gnashes watched Railgun first as well. Doubt he’s read any written works, however.

#8

I think the index LN is quite amazing for encompasing an enormous, constantly expanding, yet detailed universe. I always enjoy seeing new technology/new magic spells and there’s almost an infinite amount of spin-off material just from how much thought the author puts into the raildex universe. Both the magic side and the science side work by certain principles and it never gets weird no matter how many new characters with new tricks up their sleeve join the fray.

Even the overpowered characters - no, especially the overpowered characters are managed really well by being matched with similarly powerful characters or put in disadvantageous situations.
Let’s take my favorite character for example: Accelerator. He started off as completely overpowered, then he got beaten once. After that, he literally became more badass after taking a bullet to the head. He aqcuired a significant weakness, which made him a more balanced character, but he evolved due to having to deal with that weakness. He doesn’t rely solely on his powers anymore.

My favorite arc is vol. 15, the clash of Academy City’s dark side organizations GROUP, SCHOOL, ITEM, BLOCK and MEMBER. For some reason, I like the pure Academy City stories more and not having Touma around is kind of a plus, too, since he’s involved far too often, which gets boring.

I’m currently on NT 7 and I have yet to lose interest in the series.
What I like most about it, is, as mentioned before, the sheer amount of thought the author puts into it. Not only the technologies and magic spells, but also the characters and their principles, their thought patterns, etc. I really like Kamachi’s narration style overall. It makes certain scenes really powerfull, like Misaka Mikoto’s bridge scene in the Radio Noise arc (including the part before Touma arrives).

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#9

I think Index’ blatantly overpowered characters is actually one of the best parts about it. It’s kind of like how Valve balances their games - Index doesn’t nerf characters down to a reasonable level, it builds a whole world full of one-man armies where everyone is so broken that people’s brokenness cancel each other out and it loops back to balanced.

And all this while still operating within a sensible set of rules, without ever getting stupid and self-contradictory, unlike some other series that try to do this. Sure, some of the science has a bit much artistic license over it (Newton would like to have a word with Kihara Amata…), and there are a couple of minor inaccuracies in the lore on the magic side, but it’s all so entertaining that it can actually make me not care about any of this and just keep reading.

And this is coming from someone who goes completely ecstatic over worldbuilding and for whom faulty science or Hollywood Hacking can completely ruin movies =w=

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#10

Finally this topic is getting some more love! Reading the Index novels each day on the way back from Uni and before bed each night became my happy place for the longest time. It’s great to get invested in such a massive series with such an interesting world. To be honest, the early arcs featured in the anime were pretty bad. But once you get into the God’s Right Seat arcs and beyond, the quality just goes way up. I’ve already caught up to date with all of the NT volumes up to 10.

And this is pretty timely, because I just noticed that Volume 11 has been translated! I just finished reading the first chapter today. It’s great to finally get to hear Shokuhou Misaki’s story after all this time waiting to hear it. They’ve been keeping the stories of the 7 level 5s spread out pretty evenly over the course of the story, we still have 2 more to get to know properly before the end (though I somehow doubt Sogiita will get an arc…).

#11

Actually, I appreciated the baggage city arc, since it introduced the new monsters that are joining the conflict actively from that point on. It’s like the author has showcased the new ‘caliber’ of battles to come.
Especially the entrance of the Kihara clan, which explained why a ‘mere researcher’ like Kihara Amata could wipe the floor with Academy City’s strongest and remain completely unimpressed by a member of god’s right seat. Seriously, the Kiharas are badass, considering that they don’t actually specialize in combat…
When you think about how Kihara Telestina (from railgun) is supposed to be a Kihara too, she seems quite pathetic in comparison to the rest of her family.

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#12

I have recently finished reading the Index special “Road to Endymion”. I knew I had to do that after watching the movie (Endymion no Kiseki), due to the many things that just didn’t fit with Kamachi Kazuma’s usual writing.
And boy, the novel was even more different from the movie than I imagined. “Endymion” is pretty much the only thing those two have in common xD

After finishing Endymion, I grabbed New Testament vol. 9. And boy, it’s amazing.
Reading the introduction on the cover has already given me goozebumps. “This is the story that will crush Kamijou Toma’s heart”. That sentence, along with the initial illustrations made a very strong impression. What followed did not disappoint. This is by far one of the most emotional volumes of Index. The one-on-one Umineko-like setting is quite interesting and does well on setting the mood. I’m only halfway through. There is a lot of things that don’t make sense to me, primarily Othinus’ twisted logic. But boy, am I enjoying this!

EDIT: Aaaaaaaand the other half was amazing as well! Especially the ending!

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#13

Yeah that volume was AMAZING, and really helps the Othinus arc stand out on its own for me. My favourite scene was probably Kamijou’s counselling session with the WILL, where what do you know, we finally see Kamijou actually has feelings of his own. Seeing him break down into tears was really emotional for me.

#14

Finished reading New Testament vol. 10.
such Touma
much win
wow

It was an awesome finale for the Othinus arc. What a boss rush. I guess only Kamijou Touma has the willpower and skills to make an enemy of the entire world, fight his way through and get everyone on his side in the very end. All of that just to save a single girl who used to be his greatest enemy!
Incredible performance, really. And it wasn’t just Touma punching his way through all the time. He really used all of his resources and skills in all fields. He took on the pope with his rapidly improving understanding of magic, won over people he had created bonds with in the past, even talked his way out of captivity with emotion-laden speeches and negotiation skills. And let’s not forget that he managed to turn the ice-cold goddess into a dere-dere heroine xD
Just wow.

So many lines I want to quote. So many scenes I want to comment on…

#15

I have finished reading NT Volume 11 yesterday.
HELL YEAH, another amazing story!
Is it just me, or did Kamachi Kazuma’s writing become exponentially better since NT vol. 9? I mean, it’s always been great but now it’s even better!
I was also excited to read a story from Shokuhou Misaki’s point of view ever since seeing her in the Manga.
I definitely liked the feels in this book. The happy memories of the girl who was saved. The despair of the girl who wasn’t saved. And finally, the tragedy that separated Misaki from her hero a long time ago, revealed at just the perfect moment, leaving a bittersweet aftertaste.
I was a bit surprised when I read the synopsis. I was like ‘What? This womanizer actually got his hands on the #5, too?’ xD
And I always thought that Misaki only flirted with Touma to piss off Misaka…

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#16

Believe it or not, the Raildex LN’s are what I keep on my phone to read when I’ve got time to kill not at home.

Currently on volume 7, which isn’t too bad considering I read them in 5 minute increments. lol

#17

One thing that bugs me about the Raildex universe is how often we get scenes like “You’re a kid?? What can you possibly do- GWAAARGH!”. Wouldn’t thugs living in academy city be aware that the place is crawling with high-level espers, most of which happen to be young teenagers? There’s a lot of poor writing I overlook out of love, haah.

#18

About 2,3 students in Academy city participate in the esper development program. Just under 60% of them are Level 0s and there’s only 7 Level 5s. You need to be at least level 3 to be able to seriously harm people (assuming your power is an offensive type) and that doesn’t even guarantee you a victory against someone who’s used to violence.
Only level 4s and 5s are capable of one-shotting most opponents, and those should be quite rare.
If anything, I’d look at the school uniform of whoever I’m dealing with. If they’re from Tokiwadai or a similarly prestigious elite school, I’d stay the heck away, but otherwise, there’s no need to panic. Then again, do thugs memorize school uniforms before going out to look for trouble?

#19

So I read vol. 12 of Index NT recently and as usual, I totally enjoyed it. (spoilers in this post are obviously NT vol. 12 spoilers)

I wonder where the story is going now, though. I mean, now that multiple beings such as magic gods are entering the stage, what’s gonna happen? As we have seen in this volume, even Kamijou Touma totally paniked at the thought of a magic god being on the move. Then again, Aleister seems to have a chance against those. And I don’t even know how. Is he using magic? Or did he switch to scientific methods at some point? While we’re at it, does a science-side counterpart to magic gods even exist?

Of course, the writing was excellent as always. I mean, just look at this wonderful narration:

[quote]Aihana Etsu felt something stabbing into his own heart with each word he spoke. Each time, the crumbling remains of his memories would break away a little more.
Revenge was not an act of harming your opponent.
He belatedly realized it was an act of dirtying your own hands, showing contempt for yourself, and killing yourself.
But even as he realized that, he could no longer stop.
After all, what else was he supposed to do?[/quote]

[quote]Revenge was an act of tearing at your own flesh, not your enemy’s.
It was an act of killing yourself through your enemy.
(Yes.)
Aihana Etsu felt like he was gradually seeing the truth of his own being.[/quote]

Also:
Othinus-chan kawaii.
Looking forward to seeing more of Kihara Noukan.
Touma is getting extremely good at figuring people out, not just magic. He did quite a number on St. Germain there.

Lastly, it was said that the magic gods have their sights set on Kamijou Touma. Why is that? Is it safe to assume that beings such as them, who could destroy the world, or change it beyond recognition, even unintentionally, require him as a sort of insurance?

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#20

I’d say this is the most likely explanation. There’s not much mystery left to Kamijou’s right arm, which I was a little bit disappointed about. It was a huge mystery of the final volume of old testament, and it just got thrown away when Othinus destroyed it without any trouble. It’s like it doesn’t even matter anymore, aside from working as a tool to restore things to their original form.

Not a bad volume, but not amazing either. It bugged me a little how they gave Hamazura the power lifter this time around; he’s definitely at his best when he’s armed with nothing but his fists and his wits.

And yeah… If the threat of the magic gods ever meets Kamijou, there’s no way he’ll be able to take that on directly. This volume really made that clear; his victory against Othinus was merely because she lacked the will to fight with all her strength from the beginning. A real magic god will likely not have any easy weakness like that. I think Kamijou is going to become less of a player in the coming arc, maybe something more like a ball to be tossed around… I’m not sure how they’re gonna handle it. That said, I am very excited to see Aleister make a return here. We might finally be heading in the direction of a conclusion to the Toaru Majutsu no Index series. Aleister is and always will be the big bad, after all.

And also. Can you think of any other works where one of the most powerful beings in the world is a golden retriever? We need illustrations of Kihara Noukan ASAP.