To Aru Kagaku no Railgun - Episode 3 Discussion / Poll

[Joe_fh]

I doubt they'll cut anything. The seem to think they lack material to work with (which isn't really the case as I said earlier) so that's why thy're putting these so called fillers which aren' really fillers but the make an event drag for a long time when it could move faster.
They should either focus more on interactions between the girls or on the plot and leave the interactios as only a means to an end. Like in Index and many other animes.

I agree there Wilfriback - I'm quite sure they didn't consult the author on that part about Academy city since well it's supposed to be the most advanced city in the world and not a copy of the ones during the European Renaissance Sure the buildings look pretty but the're not practical nor do they show any advaced techonlogy.

[velderia]

Finally, no more "ONESAMAAAA! ;_;" bitchin'.

This episode was nice. It ended very well too. n___n I lol'd.

[Proto]

Hehe, I can feel this series polarizing the plot lovers vs the slice of life lovers in the future.

Well, in any case, it wasn't a bad episode for me. Plot wise it wasn't all that great, but exploring the academy city setting is interesting enough for me.

[KholdStare]

This episode's "plot" is among the lines of "Chika, Miu, and Matsuri makes a birthday present for Nobue." It's not there to turn heads, but it's there to provide different situations for character interactions. And don't say that Railgun needs to be a "plot" anime, because who are you to say what this is? It is what it is, and it's doing a great job of it.

[Joe_fh]

I do like it I just feel they're just doing episodes that feel like "fillers" without actually developing the characters. That's the wierd part. If they want to do more character interaction why not put more effort in that. They are way too random to develop them. From what we've seen so far they are trying to introduce the plot but the're doing it really slowly.

Either way I can't say I didn't enjoy the episodes. In fact as I said it had it's funny and interesting moments. It's just they lacks action and that plot element which makes an anime move forward, even though the story has a lot of potential. The characters are very likable as well. I'm sure they'll pick up the pase soon though.

[BlueDo]

Oh well, at least Touma moments are saved for later.

That aside, can anyone decipher what's happening in the preview?

[Reckoner]

Originally Posted by KholdStare

This episode's "plot" is among the lines of "Chika, Miu, and Matsuri makes a birthday present for Nobue." It's not there to turn heads, but it's there to provide different situations for character interactions. And don't say that Railgun needs to be a "plot" anime, because who are you to say what this is? It is what it is, and it's doing a great job of it.

Yes. I wanted to see Frodo in LoTR go fishing in the shire for 23 minutes. Yeah, that's for sure.

Yeah, we got a really cool city with espers, and the main character is a powerful esper, but lets just focus on her interactions with a few people, who offer nothing interesting, for 23 minuets 2 weeks in a row.

That totally makes sense. Look, the setting really says a lot about a fictional work. Otherwise, you render the setting completely useless, when it otherwise could have been very interesting.

And I do not see how it is doing a great job... Has this show done anything note worthy in comparison to other animes that makes us say "wow!" This slice of life is pretty worthless in large amounts.

[Ashlotte]

Originally Posted by Proto

Hehe, I can feel this series polarizing the plot lovers vs the slice of life lovers in the future.

Well, in any case, it wasn't a bad episode for me. Plot wise it wasn't all that great, but exploring the academy city setting is interesting enough for me.

Oh I think were already there after skimming through the thread...

Meh well being in the SoL camp I enjoyed the episode quite alot...Ofcourse anything with a Yukarin voiced character is generally win for me by default so I'm rather bias...

[KholdStare]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

Has this show done anything note worthy in comparison to other animes that makes us say "wow!" This slice of life is pretty worthless in large amounts.

I say "wow" at entertainment, not noteworthy epics. How is the setting completely useless? Oh right, you are under the unwarranted assumption that technology + esper = action.

"Nothing interesting" is subjective. While you may find Mikoto's interactions with "few people" not interesting, I find the first two episodes worthy of highest praise.

[ac195]

Originally Posted by KholdStare

This episode's "plot" is among the lines of "Chika, Miu, and Matsuri makes a birthday present for Nobue." It's not there to turn heads, but it's there to provide different situations for character interactions. And don't say that Railgun needs to be a "plot" anime, because who are you to say what this is? It is what it is, and it's doing a great job of it.

The difference is that Ichigo Mashimaro did those scenes very well. I don't know how to describe what they did very well exactly... but the series just seemed to have some heart behind it. It had a soul.

Railgun so far... comes off as generic and soulless. It just feels like they are banking on the notoriety of Mikoto and Kuroko.

[luckyssol]

This episode was much better than the last one in my opinion. I'm glad they toned down on the Mikoto and Kuroko fanservice scenes. There was enough in the first two episodes for the whole series.

I'll give it a 7/10 for the unshockable Mikoto scene and signs that we might get some actual plot soon.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

And I do not see how it is doing a great job... Has this show done anything note worthy in comparison to other animes that makes us say "wow!" This slice of life is pretty worthless in large amounts.

As far as I'm concerned, one of the best anime in recent years was Aria and all its seasons. Nothing happens. It's great. You don't like Slice of Life? Too bad, your loss.

[Joe_fh]

Well come on you can't say that what they're doing right now is a slice of life can you? Ok that's a really broand genre and if you look at it like that it has a bit of the elemnts. You could say that since it shows every day life but not random events and character interactions ( which in most slice of life animations are done very well and have some element that makes them interesting - like sharp dialogues the topic of the conversation, a heartwarming situation, something that shows the characters feeling and stuff like that) actually concetrates on something bigger.

It's jsut missing those dialogues that actually develop the characters that are present in other slice of life anime, ones that provide jokes and many funny moments or ones that clearly have no story no character development but they have that "thing" to them like ac195 sait they have a soul. Either of those is fine with me. Right now Railgun is going for the first two and for a plot at the same time which basically is saying they're tring too many things at once.

If they're introducing the plot, and they are, they're doing it really slowly Look at it this way - since episode one (which was the best one so far) we got interesting background information on all the characters. But well since then the dialogues never quite gave us anything new. There were some funny things in episode 3 but still the interactions weren't that good.

That's why the first episode was the best one siince it did a great job at what it had to do. The second faelt like a complete filler with all that oneesama, and the 3rd was funny and moved the plot a bit but it felt a bit strange. The reason being was probably the "eyebrow" girl thing. They could have gone with something more serious there. And that part of Academy city felt really out of place. Either way by the look of things it's going to be 24 episodes so no complains even if they move it slowly.

I think these plot demands are because people already know some of the characters and some of them have watched Index (which well has the same setting but does things quite better, and you could call that a slice of life as well) or read the manga of Railgun. Thus the expectations are qite different from what we're getting so far.

Anyways I perosnally don't mind how the episodes are going at all. Sure it's slow and all that but it still has it's moments, as I said I like the characters and the stting so it's all good. You could say I a fan of both so that's why I'll stick with it.
I don't see why someone can;t enjoy the series and still say what could have been done better. If there were two camps I'll be right in the middle.
And why am I always writing such long post that no one reads

[MrTerrorist]

Originally Posted by Joe_fh

I'm quite sure they didn't consult the author on that part about Academy city since well it's supposed to be the most advanced city in the world and not a copy of the ones during the European Renaissance Sure the buildings look pretty but they're not practical nor do they show any advanced technology.

Fixed your grammar.

You do realize that place is a special district cater for the rich & elite?
There's nothing wrong or impractical about it since it's suppose to cater for the children of the rich & elite for whatever their needs like shopping, eating luxury food and anything else rich people do at those places. Those kind places are normal in any big city you go so why not Academy City too?

Just because Academy City is the most advanced city in the world doesn't mean it can't be chic, classy and stylish for it's citizens.

And besides, any young girl would go to any boarding school that has something glamorous next door like Harrods, Tiffanys or any high class store you know.
If you take away the things girls love to do the most and you got yourself a disaster.

[KaneDragon]

Originally Posted by Ashlotte

Oh I think were already there after skimming through the thread...

Just like last episode, might as well remove my thread subscription now that that argument's taken root.

[al103]

It would be nice episode... if not the previous one. Previous one would be nice episode... if not as second, but somewhere after first serious arc. They are obviously suck at placing and pacing

[Joe_fh]

Originally Posted by MrTerrorist

Fixed your grammar.

You do realize that place is a special district cater for the rich & elite?
There's nothing wrong or impractical about it since it's suppose to cater for the children of the rich & elite for whatever their needs like shopping, eating luxury food and anything else rich people do at those places. Those kind places are normal in any big city you go so why not Academy City too?

Just because Academy City is the most advanced city in the world doesn't mean it can't be chic, classy and stylish for it's citizens.

And besides, any young girl would go to any boarding school that has something glamorous next door like Harrods, Tiffanys or any high class store you know.
If you take away the things girls love to do the most and you got yourself a disaster.

Yeah my grammar is bad when I type fast
Well to tell you the truth those building are really impracital from a modern day point of view as a building. Or just maybe they're normal on the insade but have fancy facades? Who knows? It's just that it doesn't quite fit in with all the rest of the stuff. Maybe it's just me though. Either way there are enough shopping centers, baths, arcades, cinemas, resturants and stuff like that throughout the city. So I don't think that the things that girls like aren't there as well even without this district.

Well yes there's no reason it can't be chic or classy and stylish but doesn't it really feel strange. And even in the OP do you see any of those things around when the show the city? For me this city is an embodiment of the progress humankind has made and a place to study and learn new things. As such the image of rich girls having their own little town seems wierd.

Spoiler for For Index and Railgun:

One other thing is that in both Index and in the Railgun manga there are no hints to this. Even Touma visited Misaka's dorm which if it indeed was in such a place it wouldn't have been possible. It would also make interactiosn between the characters quite difficult

Either way it served to show the difference in status and how high class those schools are so let's leave it at that.

[Nayrael]

but somewhere after first serious arc

When first "serious arc" ends, the anime ends (or at least season 1).

Either way there are enough shopping centers, baths, arcades, cinemas, restaurants and stuff like that throughout the city. So I don't think that the things that girls like aren't there as well even without this district.

Didn't the episode make it clear that luxury stuff was in this district?
It is a district made for rich students and since rich people have money, Academy City will build ANYTHING to suit their tastes, no matter how it fits with the rest of the city.

And even in the OP do you see any of those things around when the show the city?

Why would they show it in OP when 90% is high-tech and district like these make only a small part of it?

As such the image of rich girls having their own little town seems weird.

Why? It is not like the Academy City promotes equality of classes (actually, it seems to be very unequal). If families of those rich girls will give them more money (which can be used in increasing their science budget) for stuff like this, then they will build it without a second thought.

Spoiler:

One other thing is that in both Index and in the Railgun manga there are no hints to this. Even Touma visited Misaka's dorm which if it indeed was in such a place it wouldn't have been possible. It would also make interactions between the characters quite difficult

Neither Tokiwadai nor its dorm seem to be located in that district.

[Joe_fh]

Originally Posted by Nayrael

When first "serious arc" ends, the anime ends (or at least season 1).

Probably yes but as I suggested earlier they could make a connection with Index that will probaly turn out great if they do it right.
You could read that spoiler post if you want (mind you there are spoilers there ). Though I don't think that's going to happen.

Originally Posted by Nayrael

Didn't the episode make it clear that luxury stuff was in this district?
It is a district made for rich students and since rich people have money, Academy City will build ANYTHING to suit their tastes, no matter how it fits with the rest of the city.

Yes it did. That doesn't mean the district fits in with the rest of the things from the To aru series. At least for me. Everyone's got their opinion though.

Originally Posted by Nayrael

Why would they show it in OP when 90% is high-tech and district like these make only a small part of it?

Not show it plain as day. It's just that the OP shows panoramic images from all around the city and this image doesn't fit in there. Again persoanl opinion.

Originally Posted by Nayrael

Why? It is not like the Academy City promotes equality of classes (actually, it seems to be very unequal). If families of those rich girls will give them more money (which can be used in increasing their science budget) for stuff like this, then they will build it without a second thought.

Indeed it doesn't promote equality. But it seems money isn't waht's necessery to get there but ability. Though the rich also seem to get in there which I kind of don't get since they said all of the onese there are level 3+. So that makes it sound like all the rich people are level 3+ and every single one of them is there. And that's just not possible.
That's why I think the facilites throught the city, which probably offer high end services for the rich as well, would make more sense. They could get even more money like that since more people will have acces to it.

Originally Posted by Nayrael

Neither Tokiwadai nor its dorm seem to be located in that district.

[/QUOTE] Misaka and Kuroko were waitng in front of their school to show Uiharu and Saten around it so it's there. Thus the dorm should be there as well. I mean where have you seen a uni or school where the dorms are not it the same neighbourhood? That won't make sense especiall since it won't be convient at all. Especially if it's for rich girls as you said.

Anyway it's going to be 24 episode right? It's not confirmed as far as I know but it seems that way.

[Haak]

This episode wasted a good 20 minutes of my life...