A Certain Scientific Railgun

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

The fact that I have seen a least a few dozens memes related to this topic tells me that we are well into that phase of quarantine. Ya know, the one where everyone has tried all of the new stuff that people said they were going to do and has gone back to just re-watching their favorite shows. Yeah, well, I never really tried to much new stuff. In fact, this last season is probably the most amount of new anime I have consumed at one time. I know, I know, fake fan, I get.

But, hey, that’s kind of just who I am, I really like what I am already comfortable with, so for today, I thought I would go over some of the shows I am most excited to Re-watch in the near future. With that being said, lets get started.

Toradora!

“Toradora” is one that I have already started on again and, if I am being completely honest, I am not exactly sure why. At least so far, the show has the same decent qualities I vaguely remember. However, I can’t help but feel I was spurred on by a bit of leftover high school nostalgia and the legacy that the show has with long time anime fans. Like, do not get me wrong, there is plenty there worth watching again, but this is probably the series I want to re-watch the least at of these five if for no other reason than I am not sure how I will end up feeling about it on the other side.

Log Horizon

On the other hand, “Log Horizon” is a series that I have been meaning to re-visit for a long time now, as it is one of my favorite series of all time. The series was one of the first to come out of the early Isekai boom that followed the immense success of “Sword Art Online,” but had significantly more of a focus on worldbuilding and politics that I found to be much more interesting. It is a series that dares to questions fundamentally aspects of living and how those things work inside this video game world, something that a lot of modern Isekai do not even attempt, let alone succeed at. Plus, with the latest season just about to wrap up, and me having watched none of it, there will be a nice little surprise at the end.

The Toaru Series

A lot of this list could just be boiled down to “x series has new material, therefore I would like to re-watch said series for full context” and it would be entirely true. However, the “Toaru” series is also a franchise that is just a lot of fun. Its confusing system of “magic” vs “science” powers combined with the weird jumps from the main character to side stories about other areas of the city makes it so that there is so much going on all at once. Like, its not good, but it does have its moments. Also, hot take, “Railgun” is significantly better than “Index,” just sayin’.

Psycho-Pass

If I were to do an anime studio tier list, which, in all likelihood, I probably will at some point, expect production I.G. to be fairly high up on that list. It will be for a number of reasons, obviously, but one of the big ones will be “Psycho-Pass,” a show that explores the ideas of criminal justice from the perspective of a futuristic society in which people are judged by a system that gives them a number from a gun based on how likely they are to commit crime. This show has a lot of re-watch value because of how intense some of its best moments are and also because with each passing day I am reminded of just how important this show’s message really is.

*stares in George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Philando Castile, and literally hundreds of other names have died at the hands of cops who only saw them as a crime*

America is kind of an awful country, huh…well that’s a separate post entirely.

Re:Creators

While there is not as much a focus on world-building, much like “Log Horizon,” “Re:Creators” questions fundamental assumptions about how its own world even works. Rather than hold your hand through some boring plot, it presents the idea that creators, i.e., novelists, video game creators, mangaka and the like are gods, and that their creations have now come to this world for some undisclosed purpose. For some that might not sound like the most original idea, but the series presents it in a way that makes it a matter of literal life and death.

What series are you planning on/are re-watching at the moment? Let me know in the comments below.

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Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

It has been a while since the last time I did one of these, but since I have not had much time to write, I figured it would be a good time to bring it back. For those who have not seen this series before, What Else Should You Watch is simply where I take an anime and try my best to recommend other anime based on that show. For this one, since It has been become pretty popular, I thought I would give Doctor Stone a crack. So, without further adieu, here are some alternatives.

Steins;Gate

For those who are unaware, which is likely not many, Steins;Gate is a series about Rintaro Okabe, a scientist working out of a small lab in Akihabara with a few of his friends acting as lab assistants. One day, while working on figuring out how one of the devices he has created, he figures out the secret to time. Specifically, he discovers the ability to send emails back through time.

There are many ways that Doctor Stone approaches science that are fairly similar to Steins;Gate. For example, Doctor Stone takes a somewhat educational approach to its topics, especially when Senku is around to explain. Steins;Gate is like-minded in this regard, although much narrower in its topic selection. Time Travel still exists almost entirely in the theoretically, but the show still takes the time to explain the mechanics of time travel and how it could work.

However, for those who are looking for something a bit more serious in its portrayal of a science, Steins;Gate delivers that in a large way. While most of its science still does exist as purely theoretically, its does provide an interesting amount of detail for what could potentially happen if time travel were real.

It is also worth noting that the story is also just wonderfully written, aside from a bit of the middle which just kind of awkwardly shoves in stuff from the visual novel. Everything else about the story is so expertly crafted that it was honestly surprising to hear that it was a video game adaptation. I generally like to avoid giving credit to voters on MyAnimeList, but it is in the top 10 for a reason.

There is also A Certain Scientific Railgun, a show which is tonally more in line with Doctor Stone. The show is a spinoff of A Certain Magical Index, but can be watched as a stand alone series without much confusion. It follows Mikoto Misaka, a powerful being known as an esper, who wields the ability to control lightning. In fact, Misaka is one of the most powerful in Academy City, which is full of espers, and she soon realizes that because of this her life will become much harder.

Railgun utilizes science as a way of explaining the characters powers, and arguably not much else. In that way it is quite different from Doctor Stone, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. The lack of explanation leaves more time for exploring the various situations Misaka, along with her other friends, finds herself in.

The show takes a lot of time to explore one character in particular, Accelerator, who becomes somewhat of an anti-hero as the story progresses. His power allows him to control the movement of things, including large objects like cars.

Railgun also has a lot more in the way of action, which is something that does not come up much in Doctor Stone. The show regularly features espers using their abilities to battle across academy city. In fact, many of the major arcs of the series feature fights between the most powerful espers, known as level fives.

In some respects the show can come across as a bit simplistic, but it more than makes up for that with more adventure based story that will leave you wanting to keep on watching.

Have you already seen these shows? How do you feel about them? Let me know in the comments below.