You would think that the only thing I would dread more than a manga adaptation of a light novel is a manga adaptation of a light novel spinoff. Yet this one actually turned to be kind of OK for once.
I guess there has to be an exception out there once in a while.
A CERTAIN SCIENTIFIC
RAILGUN (Toaru Kagaku no Rerugan), based on the light novel by Kazumi Kamachi & art by Moto Fuyuawa. First published in 2007 and first published in North America in 2011.
PLOT:
In Academy
City, young children with extraordinary powers are gathered together so they
can control and hone their skills. One
of the most talented of the lot is Mikoto Misaka, a tomboy with such incredible
electric powers that she’s been nicknamed ‘the Railgun.’ She finds herself caught up in the
investigation of a rash of bombings around town, but the only mystery more
compelling than the identity of the bomber is the identity of the weird guy who
can block Misaka’s every attack.
STORY:
A Certain Scientific Railgun has a lot of the usual elements one would associate with light novels: a magic high
school, a guy who is seemingly weak but actually has a super-special power, a
bunch of cute girls doing cute girl things, even a bit of yuri
fanservice. This all would have been
intolerable if not for one thing: that the protagonist Mikoto is cool enough to rise above it
all.
I was kind of surprised to discover how much I enjoyed
Mikoto as a character. It certainly
helps that her powers are just plain cool and that she gets plenty of
opportunity to show them off. It also
helps that her casual style and aloof attitude help to distinguish her from her
more traditionally feminine (and more traditionally moe) friends. She doesn’t have a hero complex, in spite of
her powers. She’s willing to help others
when asked, but she’s not picking for a fight either. If anything, she’s rather unwittingly swept
up into the larger plot thanks to her teleporting friend Kuroko. It’s nice that such a normal and
down-to-earth kid can be found in this otherwise outrageous setting. She’s an audience stand-in done right, for
once.
It’s good that Mikoto is so cool because everyone else
around her is various degrees of annoying.
First and foremost of that group is Kuroko. She’s the biggest source of said yuri fanservice in this series, as when she’s not fighting delinquents she’s doing her best to
molest Mikoto and steal a kiss. Her
obsessive crush on Mikoto is a gag that falls flat straight from the start and
never gets any better in spite of its many, MANY repetitions. At least Kuroko is relevant to the plot,
though, which is more than one can say for their other friend Uiharu. As far as I can tell, she’s there solely to
be as moe as hell with her ever-present flower garland and her ability
to…um….be mildly feverish at all times?
By the end I started to wonder if that wasn’t in fact her superpower. Oh, and she also has a friend that serves no
purpose beyond adding more yuri fanservice, just in case you missed it somehow.
Then there’s Kajima.
His ability is the ability to negate any superpower, a fact that
absolutely grinds Mikoto’s gears.
Strictly speaking, he’s a crossover character from this manga’s sister
series, A Certain Magical Index, and his role here is fairly minor. That’s a good thing as Kajima is pretty much
the platonic ideal of a light novel hero.
He’s a hapless schmuck with a hero complex, a secret super-special
power, and the story plays up his rivalry with Mikoto as a potential romance. Considering that his presence starts to turn
Mikoto into your standard tsundere, he’s pretty much the worst.
So what abot the plot itself? It tend to vacililate between slice-of-life
fluff and superhero-style crime fighting.
It’s only halfway through the volume that the bombing plot comes into
play. I will concede that the bomber’s
plot and Kajima’s introduction actually dovetail into one another nicely. Still, it’s prone to the occasional light-novel-style info
drop, especially at the beginning. I
swear these kids can’t get anywhere near a classroom without it turning into
one long screed of exposition, right down to the “As you all know.” Weirdly enough, it never stops to explain the
weirdness of this universe itself, such as why they need an entire city
dedicated to this high school. I can’t
tell whether this is laziness on the writer’s part or just something that
requires reading the other manga/light novels in the franchise to understand.
For all of my complaints, I would consider A Certain
Scientific Railgun one of the better light novel to manga adaptations I've come across. The superhero-style premise is one that’s a
natural fit for a comic and Mikoto makes for a great, reliable heroine. It’s nowhere near as extraordinary as the
powers on display, but it’s decent enough to be entertaining.
ART:
I’m not entirely
sure if I like Fuyukawa’s artstyle or not, but it’s certainly lively enough to
get a pass. The girls do tend to look
the same around the face and everyone tends to be a bit bobble-headed, but
they’re all wildly expressive and lively, and the same is true for the fight
scenes. He does overuse the Dutch
angles, but otherwise everything is
easy to follow, even in mid-battle. If anything, he could stand to give the story
some scale and breathing room by expanding the panels and giving Academy City
some greater visual identity. As it is,
it tends to be the same old shops, schoolrooms and interiors. It’s not bad by any means, but it never quite
distinguishes itself enough to become truly good.
PRESENTATION:
Like a
number of older Seven Seas titles, there’s a preview for another manga. Sometimes the previews make sense, and
sometimes they’re like this instance, where the preview is for Toradora. Call me crazy, but you’d think that Seven
Seas would use this spot to promote their own release of the Index manga.
RATING:
A Certain
Scientific Railgun has a neat concept , a great heroine, and some occasionally
lively art which do go a long way towards making the more stereotypically light
novel elements more tolerable. It
manages to stand on its own for the most part and it’s fun enough to be a
diverting read.
This series is published by Seven Seas. This series is ongoing in Japan with 13 volumes available. All 13 have been released and are currently in print.
