#to aru

[bauhin]

railgun & accelerator sketch from last year

I have been obsessed with the concept of these two as friends and found family since 2016! Begrudgingly seeing each others humanity and being older siblings to the sisters

[figurecollection]

[sachi]

☆ Shokuhou Misaki // Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T "Negligee ver." ☆ 1/6 / Solarain ☆ August 2026 ¥21,780 ☆ Sculpt Solarain Paint oneamaoo

[dailyfigures]

Shirai Kuroko & Misaka Mikoto ; A Certain Scientific Railgun ☆ Good Smile Arts Shanghai

[hopeymchope]

A quick overview of my current hyperfixation, the "A Certain Magical/Scientific" franchise

I've been hyperfixated on the "To Aru" or "A Certain" universe for the past couple of months. It started with just rewatching all the animes and then reading some of the manga that those animes were adapted from, then I was playing various PSP/Vita video games based in the franchise and reading some side novels, and now I'm about to move on and start reading the various light novels/manga that go beyond the timeline of the animated stuff.

Mikoto Misaka, Touma Kamijo, and Accelerator. And that's not even all of the eventual focal protagonists in the franchise, but... it's a start.

For the uninitiated, here's a quick rundown of how this whole universe "works":

A Certain Magical Index is the original series that started it all. It began as a series of light novels back in 2004; by the end of the year, the series was up to four novels, and Japanese readership was already devouring it.

The core conceit is the struggle between magic/sorcerers who mostly work for various powerful churches around the globe vs the scientific community centered in the fictional nation-state of "Academy City," which now makes up 2/3 of the land that used to be Tokyo. Academy City is primarily made up of tons of students and researches focused on the study and development of "Esper" or "Psychic" abilities that manifest in so many different ways that... look, they're basically like the mutants from the X-Men. As the stories go on, there are tons of competing factions vying for power in both the magic and scientific spaces, conspiracies within Academy City

The series has gone on to inspire tons of spinoffs, including numerous manga centered on Academy City espers (A Certain Scientific Railgun, A Certain Scientific Accelerator, A Certain Scientific Dark Matter, A Certain Scientific Mental Out), and most recently, a series of spinoff light novels focused on a criminal "underworld" organization within Academy City called A Certain Dark Side ITEM.

In addition to both Magical Index and Dark Side ITEM getting manga adaptions of their novels, three branches of the franchise have gotten adapted into anime: three seasons of A Certain Magical Index, three seasons (so far) of A Certain Scientific Railgun, and one season of A Certain Scientific Accelerator. An anime based on A Certain Dark Side ITEM is schedule to premiere this fall (2026), and a fourth season of the Railgun anime is coming in 2027. (And it's worth noting that the Index anime only covers the first 22 of what is — as of this writing — 59 light novels to date).

...but the truth is that the one branch of the franchise that REALLY blew up, the one that is generally considered the best part of the whole thing? Is A Certain Scientific Railgun, the manga/anime focused on the adventures of esper Mikoto Misaka and her friends. And although I usually have minority opinions on a lot of fandom-related things... this is one common opinion where I tend to agree. Railgun is definitely the peak so far. There's a reason why there are so many viewers/readers who ONLY experience this one branch of the series and just choose to remain slightly confused whenever crossovers with the other branches occur.

"You don't know it yet, but I'm the reason you're here."

Somewhat surprisingly, ALL of the many stories in this universe are penned by the same insanely prolific author. Kazuma Kamachi is the pen name for the secretive author. He's done interviews via phone and has met with his manga artists and publishers/editors, but manages to remain largely anonymous despite that. (And in all fairness, the mangaka tend to expand on the storylines he provides quite a bit.) This guy writes so incessantly that my closest point of comparison is the speech and drive Taylor Swift puts into writing songs.

The in-universe timeline of all the various novels/manga/anime is complicated at first glance, but honestly? If you're interested, ignore the "chronological order" aspect. It's best to just experience the stories in the order they were released, in whichever medium you choose to consume them. The timeline will adequately reveal/explain itself as you go along.

When I first started watching season of A Certain Magical Index, I remember thinking I wasn't sure how I felt about it. By the third storyline, though, I was hooked and had found my favorite character. And then I found that character had their own spinoff, and there was no going back once I sampled THAT.

[ardour-87]

[sorciels]

me and my disturbingly numerous emotional support androginous, emotionally disturbed, albino boys