It's interesting the way this series has seized my imagination considering my general disappointment with the way it's been developed. I think it's because I really like all four of the main characters. I just wish a different story had been tol about them.

I downloaded a batch which contained all the Chihiro subs of the series through episode 19, all they've done. It included updates to a couple of the early series which they didn't post independently, and I'm trying to convince myself I should watch all the way to the end, including someone else's subs of 20-24.

24 is the last episode and it will broadcast this Friday. I'm still holding out hope that Saten is going to manifest a useful power at a moment of need. Maybe it'll make her able to defeat people in powered armor with her baseball bat...

I've been comparing Railgun to Index in my mind trying to figure out why I like Railgun so much better. I have to confess that one reason is simply that I prefer watching 4 girls to watching one guy.

But that isn't the main reason. The four girls are better realized as characters in this series. Touma is the only continuing character in Index, and he's a cipher as a result of an accident in ep 6 of Index.

These four girls are well conceived as people, enough different so that their interactions are fun. They're complicated enough to not seem to be stereotypes. They're all likeable. They're all admirable, each in her own way. They're people I'd like to know. They're characters I enjoy spending time with.

None of 'em are saints. Each has flaws. Mikoto is kind of immature in some ways, and she's ashamed of it. Things like the way she likes frilly jammies and swimsuits and Gekota but doesn't want to admit it. And her obvious confusion about Touma is an ongoing source of comedy.

Saten can be pretty obnoxious. Flipping Uiharu's skirt in public is really nasty. Searching Mikoto and Kuroko's room is really pretty cheeky.

Uiharu's fangrrlism is certainly a flaw, though it only really shows up early.

Kuroko's flaming lesbianism and her ongoing attempts to seduce Mikoto are obviously a flaw, though I think it's possible to misunderstand that. Some of the time she is serious about that, but I really think that the extent to which she takes it is a deliberate attempt to get a rise out of Mikoto. There's at least one time when she makes a pass at Mikoto simply to distract Mikoto from depressing thoughts.

Each of them has virtues, too. Kuroko and Uiharu are seriously competent police auxiliaries, and they make a hell of a team. Uiharu's competence with Judgement's computer system is noteworthy.

Saten? As the series goes on she becomes stronger -- not in terms of power (at least not yet) but in other ways. In the final arc she looks particularly good. And there was the boy she helped save in the first episode.

One of the things I like is that I believe all four of these girls are in middle school. Sometimes kids in anime are presented in ways that make them seem much more mature than they should be, or much less. These four girls seem to be just right -- becoming adults, but not really there yet. Making mistakes, but learning from their mistakes. (Especially Saten.)

They're amazing characters. Too bad they're not in an amazing series, isn't it?

UPDATE: Another thing about Railgun is that there is virtually no fan service. There was a shower scene in the first ep. There was a swimsuit episode. But no panchira, for instance. Virtually no jiggle, and what there is of that is adult women, not our four girls. Yeah, there's the stripping researcher, but how much does she really show?

I think there was more fan service of Mikoto in Index than in Railgun, and she's a supporting character in Index.

Someone at JC Staff made a deliberate decision to deemphasize the fan service in this show -- and you know what? I think it was the right decision. These girls are jail bait, after all, and the way it is I don't get any squicks from watching.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 03:40 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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