You Don't Tug on The Railgun's Skirt

Today I'm going to do something that "Respectable" Anime Anyalists do a lot more often and discus Character Arcs, well one in particular.  I'm not against Character Arcs, I'm just against the common attitude that they are required for a story to be good, or that a story is required for fiction to be good art.

As much as I might like to I can't actually spend all of June watching and talking about only one Genre.  But A Certain Scientific Railgun is an interesting companion to the Magical Girl Genre.  It shows the variety in options Anime provides us by showing that Magical Girls are not the only kind of Superheroines Anime has.  In addition to all the technical reasons that Railgun doesn't qualify as a Magical Girl show or even come close to following that formula.  Mikoto Misaka is simply a very different kind of character from a typical Magical Girl protagonist, a personality type like her could be a supporting character in one but not likely the main character.  But she's not the antithesis of a Magical Girl either, if you're looking for the Anime version of an Edgy 90s Anti-Heroine I'm afraid I'm not currently the one qualified to make that recommendation.

In one of RavorFists's more recent Noirchives he talks about how one of the Flanderizations of the Film Noir genre is that their protagonists were all cynical nihilist anti-heroes.  He mentions that  quote of Raymond Chandler "Down these means streets a man must go who is not himself mean".  That quote was also used but changed slightly in the Pretty Little Liars episode Shadow Play "Down these means streets a girl must go who is not herself mean", that fits Mikoto Misaka in Academy City perfectly, she is a true traditional Film Noir protagonist in the form of an Japanese Middle School Girl who can do everything Pikachu and Magneto can do, but do it better.

The second season of Railgun, A Certain Scientific Railgun S, has spoiled me for all other Cyberpunk, nothing else in my mind could possibly do Cyberpunk as well.  Railgun S was missing from my previous discussion of Film Noir in Anime for two reasons.  1, I hadn't watched any Raildex yet back then.  2, I chose to dodge the entire Cyberpunk sub section of that topic, I didn't think it was really possible for me to enjoy Cyberpunk before I watched Railgun S.

RazorFist also said, possibly in the same video, that he considers the number one non-negotiable requirement for qualifying as a Noir to be "setting as character".  That may well make the Anime called Noir impossible to qualify, which I would want to fight him on.  But it certainly helps Railgun, in fact the entire Raildex franchise is largely built around Academy City itself being the real ultimate main character, but it works better on Railgun since Index often leaves the city to get into the Magick and Religion based story-lines which Railgun has so far ignored sticking to being pure SciFi.

Misaka's main character Arc is also in Railgun S.  But Railgun S needs the groundwork of season 1 in order to fully work.  Season 1 is great television on it's own, though I recommend skipping the second episode.  Still there will be some people to whom Railgun S is the story that they would be into, so I'm asking them to just trust me and take a 25 episode leap of faith.  Misaka does learn some important lessons in season 1, but the main Character Arc there is Saten's.  But I don't mind that, I actually wish more Batman stories would be about other characters and let Batman just be Batman.

From this point on I'm going to get into Spoiler territory as I talk about Misaka's Character Arc and some other subjects.



Spoiler Warning!!!!!!!




A Certain Scientific Railgun S is a three act story (though the first episode is more of an epilogue to season 1 and reintroduction to everyone, and setting up a character who won't matter till season 3).  The middle act is what is revisiting the events of the original Sisters Arc from A Certain Magical Index season 1 from a different perspective, while the first act is a prequel to that and the final act is it's sequel.  All three are about Misaka's Arc of learning to turn to her friends for help.

Now at first glance you might think it's weird that she'd need to learn this now after working with them to deal with the problems of season 1.  But remember in season 1 these were not her problems in origin, they're situations she got involved with because she has friends in the student police force.  There is an episode where she runs off at night to try and resolve the problem on her own foreshadowing what season 2 will be about.

The first act of Railgun S is about Misaka refusing to get her friends involved because she feels responsible for the situation.  She doesn't seek help and she doesn't get help and so nothing she did accomplished anything even though she went through a lot.

The middle act of Railgun S plays out how it does partly because this show is a semi-prequel spin off so it's Misaka's perspective on a story that was originally conceived of as one where Touma is the Hero.  But the Genius of Railgun S is how it makes that fit perfectly into the Journey it has for Misaka.  Misaka continues to refuse help but gets it because Touma stumbles upon the situation and forces himself into it like he always does, and it's mainly him who saves the day but Misaka and the Sisters contributed.

It seems a few people don't like the Febri Arc because it's technically filler in that it's not in the Manga.  But everything I've learned about the Manga of Railgun just makes me think of it as an inherently incomplete product, just side material they pumped out to hold people over between Index novels, it's the Anime that has elevated Railgun to being a story that can potentially surpass Index.  In season 1 even more of the total percentage of the story is not from the Manga, but almost all of it is good and I feel necessary to perfect the story.  Only the second episode which I already said to skip is bad filler, at least I hope that's not in the Manga.

The Febri Arc is needed to finalize the story of Railgun S because it's here Misaka completes her Character Arc, where she finalizes learning her lesson by applying it.  At first she's about to go off and try to do everything on her own again, but then she decides not to.  And this time when she chooses to ask for help she turns to her friends not Touma.  And so the Febri Arc provides Railgun S with a truly great emotionally satisfying finale.

And that is why Railgun S is a Masterpiece.