To Aru Kagaku no Railgun Manga, Volume 1

April 16th, 2010

When I reviewed the anime for To Aru Kagaku no Railgun I said that the overall impression I had of it was that it was “entertaining.” This holds true for Volume 1 of the To Aru Kagaku no Railgun manga as well.

The main thing that made the anime so watchable is maintained in the manga – the characters are all people I’d have over for lunch. Mikoto might be one of the seven most powerful people in the city, but she likes cute pajamas and stuffed frogs and is a very down-to-earth person. Saten and Uiharu are not wallowing in their lack of skill, they are living within their limitations. Do they wish they had more – of course. I wish I had more energy, more time, more money. Does it depress them – of course it does! But they aren’t wallowing in it, as we see others do.

And then there’s Kuroko. She’s manic, undisciplined, a little crazy. She’s an ojousama at a powerful school, she’s got a high level of skill – and she’s nice. She’s a hard-working member of Judgement. She’s kind to those who are powerless, and a good friend to people she could easily treat like dirt and get away with it. She’s in a hopeless, pointless lust for Mikoto and despite the fact that it’s played for laughs, there’s no reason to think that her feelings aren’t legitimate.

There is nothing about this manga that is not the same as in the anime – plot, character, everything. So basically all my impressions of the anime are the same for the manga. The *only* thing that disappointed me about the manga is that it is *exactly the same* as the anime. We enter the manga in the middle of the Graviton case and head right into the Level Upper situation. It was a bit rushed, but it makes me hope that maybe later volumes will branch out into something new, if only because the manga is moving so fast.

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 4
Service – 3

Overall – 7

I’ll keep an eye out for more of this – it’s enjoyable enough to keep reading even if it goes nowhere new.

6 Responses

  1. Katherine says:

    After volume 3, the manga will follow a new story arc that isn’t covered in the anime.

  2. sarcastic_weasel says:

    Just keep in mind that the manga came a good while before the anime, so criticizing it for not covering any new ground that the anime covered isn’t really fair. The manga egg led to the anime chicken in this case.

    In later volumes, the manga has another story arc that will most likely be the basis of the second season of the Railgun anime. (Which is why it didn’t make it into the first season, and instead we got a lot of filler eps that weren’t in the manga.)

    The best thing about this manga is that for the most part, it avoids the gobbledygook that plagues To Aru Majutsu no Index. It’s much more enjoyable, and I feel much less like throwing things at the author/creators.

  3. @sarcastic_weasel – I said that that that was the only disappointing thing. If that’s “criticizing” to you, you wouldn’t last a day in my house. :-)

  4. Pocky says:

    Oh, I’d it’s the anime that went to ‘new’ places (and kind of toned down some darker elements in the later parts of the manga)

    though I think people have already spoke of that fact

    if there’s anything I’d like to mention, I’d mention that the anime of to Aru Kagaku no Railgun feels more fun.

    probably due to 2 things;

    1. It requires less knowledge of Index. I’ve never read Index, and I really don’t plan to, so it’s nice to know Railgun keeps the cameos and terminology to a minimum.

    2. Kuroko’s voice. She is easily the funnies/sexiest/coolest voiced character I’ve ever heard, I want to see/hear more of her in the future!

  5. furei kinoko says:

    Yuri manga with action and magic. pick it and read it. well, i am not a big fan of ToAru series, but i will read it because Kiyama Harumi ^^

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