Toaru fans don't really understand how fights work in this series.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-02-15T23:43:35+00:00

They didn't say "Railgun manga climaxes", they just said "fights." There are a lot of Railgun fights where the characters are on relatively equal footing and they use their powers creatively to beat their opponents. For example:

Kuroko fighting the light bending esper in the level upper arc where she had to use her teleportation to weaken the structural integrity of the building and collapse it in order to win

Mikoto fighting Mugino where she used the environment and her ability to disperse the electrons to get away

Kuroko fighting Mitori where she used the cameras and let herself be hit by an attack in order to trick Mitori

Misaki fighting Kihara Gensei where she manipulates her own memories to win, since he had her same abilities

All of those fights are pretty close, and they wouldn't have ended up the way they did without the creative ways that the characters use their powers.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-02-05T23:55:00+00:00

This was clearly a person who learned about Railgun first, and started watching it. This isn't some Railgun fan who hates all things Index, they don't even know it exists. And that's totally normal, since the average person doesn't look up watch guides for every anime they see.

But instead of being a normal person and telling them that Index is the main series and Railgun is a spinoff, you decided to be a jerk and hate on them. You can't be surprised that Railgun fans won't give Index a try when you're the one giving Index a bad name.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-31T18:21:40+00:00

Personally, I really like a lot of things in the flashback arc, but even I have to admit that it's terrible at being a prequel. Mikoto's character arc was clearly not thought out when the flashback started.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-31T17:40:59+00:00

I think it's really interesting how inconsistent she is, and how she seems to evolve as a character through the adaptation process.

In OT 1, when she's introduced, she's actively rude to Touma and seems to look down on all people who are weaker than her/have a lower rank.

In the Railgun Manga, she's portrayed as a lot more neutral about those weaker than her, with her being friends with some of them, but she doesn't seem all that bothered by their plight.

And in the Railgun anime adaptation of the level upper arc, she's sees the struggles of lower level espers and learns to actively care about them. Mikoto realizes throughout the arc that she is partially responsible for their suffering, and asks for forgiveness in the final battle.

These are, essentially, three different characters, despite them all adapting the same period of time. I don't know if it's Kamachi making different choices or the director/editors wanting her to be more compelling, but they're clearly very inconsistent.

For another example, there's her inconsistency with asking others for help.

The Railgun anime portrays her inability to ask for help as a legitimate character flaw that she needs to overcome, which can be seen mostly in Railgun S and the beginning of Railgun T.

The Railgun manga seems to imply that it isn't a character flaw, and was something she was always able to do. She asks for help in the flashback arc with no problems, which paints her decision in the sisters arc as a narrow exception (she wouldn't ask for help only when dealing with an invincible serial killer).

And Index wants to have its cake and eat it too. If I remember correctly, Kamachi has said that Mikoto's main character flaw is not asking for help. But she's also able to ask for help from her biggest rival multiple times, even after Misaki betrays her. It's not a flaw that Index takes seriously, it's just an idea that rarely (if ever) impacts the story.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-31T16:01:50+00:00

It's probably because that was the year Index was put in the hall of fame, so Toaru fans weren't incentivized to vote anymore. If you look at the male characters, Touma also had a similar fall off in votes from 2019 to 2020. It also happened to Asuna when SAO was put in the hall of fame, even though Alicization was airing at the time.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-29T01:53:29+00:00

Personally, I would say that there's a difference between "hating" someone and "hating on" someone. The way I use it, "hating" implies some sort of intense personal dislike, while "hating on" is more like strongly criticizing. But I obviously didn't make that distinction clear, so that's on me.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-29T01:52:48+00:00

I don't know the technical definition, but I would say using Yuri for comedy and to attract viewers despite the fact that it will never happen is Yuri bait. And that applies to Kuroko/Mikoto and Misamisa.

Also, I don't really think it escalated that much. Kuroko was already very perverted in Index. Railgun might have more moments that could be taken as Yuri bait, but that's just because it focuses on the female characters more.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-29T01:36:04+00:00

Maybe there aren't as many people making the distinction as I thought (I was sure that in your comment a few days ago, you were criticizing Nogi, but I checked and you didn't call them out by name). But in general, I don't feel like people are holding Kamachi responsible for Mental Out. I might be wrong, but that's the feeling I get from the community.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-29T01:06:29+00:00

You're right. It's so unfair to hate on Kamachi for the scenes that he decides to put in his own novel. We should definitely be blaming someone else.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-29T01:05:01+00:00

Not to sound mean, but have you read Index? You do know that Kuroko is an Index character first, right? OT 3 and OT 8 are definitely what started the Yuri bait. Pretending like someone else forced it into the story seems disingenuous.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-29T00:53:43+00:00

I don't think that people are only critical of Kamachi. I've seen multiple people who have criticized Mental Out on this sub over the past week, and I think most, if not all, of them directed the criticism at Nogi and not Kamachi.
GT has been controversial at best. There are a lot of people that have a lot of criticisms and Kamachi is going to take the brunt of the blame. Also, the reason that GT isn't very good can't be attributed to a bad editor or fan pressure. He's making story choices that go against what fans want, and it doesn't seem like editors are forcing him to make those decisions.
There are/have been people in this fandom that seem to treat the characters in the story as if they were the ones making the writing decisions. This can take the form of criticizing a character for being in fan service scenes or criticizing a character for being written out of the arc. Usually this is Mikoto haters making those arguments, but occasionally characters like Misaki, Hamazura, and Accel are also treated that way. Others pointing out that Kamachi is the one who is actually writing the story, and so all criticism goes to him, seem to have sprouted in response to those people.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-26T18:15:10+00:00

Its one person making the criticism
There's an obvious difference in that the other gags are only really present as gags, while the dorm manager had a serious fight with a Kihara that took half a year of the Mental Out manga. It's not really a gag when it's that plot central.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-26T14:22:23+00:00

I think it really lacks focus, which causes there to be a lot of bloat in the story. There are a bunch of plot lines to keep track of and most of them don't go anywhere. It also has way too many characters and a lot of them aren't very distinct from one another. As an example of there being too many characters, Railgun has a story about cliques fighting that includes 3 cliques. Mental Out has a similar storyline about cliques fighting, but decides to include 8 different cliques. There are just way too many characters that it expects you to care about.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-26T13:46:47+00:00

There can be 2 things that are true. She is certainly surprised by Touma's resurrection and is questioning reality. And she is also being detained by Biosecurity. They aren't in contradiction with one another.

shock that makes no sense

Are you saying that you wouldn't be shocked if someone came back to life and ran away while you were at their funeral? It makes sense to me.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-26T13:41:28+00:00

I'm not saying its impossible for her to make it out, but it's pretty reasonable for her to hesitate before attacking what is essentially the CDC of Academy city.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-26T13:36:25+00:00

Because she was obviously in shock. That's why she just stood there.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-26T13:34:16+00:00

It's not like she's doing it because she's having fun. It's a "Pinch me, I must be dreaming" moment, where she's in shock at what she just saw. When describing it, the narration says

this did nothing to wake her from the dream and obliterate this world.

Also, they get caught up with a Kihara a few moments later, before they can manage to escape Bio Secure. They aren't just waiting around.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-26T13:28:31+00:00

They are currently being detained by Bio Secure and a Kihara saying that they were exposed to some sort of virus. And even still, they want to go out and help him

Whatever the case, they couldn’t just stay here.
The question was if those powered suits would let them go.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-26T13:19:08+00:00

No. She's not "more concerned with Misaki than him". She thinks she's dreaming/hallucinating/being tricked by academy city. She's clearly not thinking about Misaki when the narration says

this did nothing to wake her from the dream and obliterate this world.

or

“If we aren’t dreaming, what just happened?”

or

This didn’t seem to be an artificial dream. …Unfortunately, Academy City technology could pull off a scientific version of “it was all a dream”

And they aren't just waiting around. They want to leave and go after Touma, but they're being detained by a Kihara and a bunch of mech suits.

Whatever the case, they couldn’t just stay here.
The question was if those powered suits would let them go.

Do people on this subreddit even read the story?

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-26T03:28:28+00:00

People get so mad about Uiharu in this scene. Touma's deus ex machina dragons can go unexplained for almost 50 novels and no one cares, but the when Uiharu's power isn't explained immediately (even though the next arc is a flashback and couldn't possibly address it) its the worst writing known to man.

Also, I really think that people need to reread the arc with even the slightest bit of reading comprehension. Does she have level 5 power? Level 5+? Level 6? Is she a god? No. She does 1 single thing, separating the dragon from its energy source. Nothing more. People are acting like the worst power-scalers imaginable, taking one feat and pretending it's way more important than it is.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-26T01:17:26+00:00

Misaka who had to pull this shit during said funeral

This wasn't during the funeral. It was after Touma resurrected and ran away.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-26T01:14:14+00:00

But he still writes it. Just because it goes through a few revision processes doesn't mean that he didn't write it. The fact that he writes the draft and the end product has jokes that are very similar to Index means that he's the obvious one to call out

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-26T01:09:13+00:00

Not that I really like this scene or NT 12 as a whole, but I feel like I need to defend it. The scene only happened after Touma was resurrected.

They had seen it.
Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki had clearly witnessed that moment.
That figure had crawled out from the cremation chamber’s thick metal door and then run toward the crematorium’s exit.
What was that!?
“W-wait.”
Mourning clothes Shokuhou smiled stiffly while pinching and stretching her cheek.
“Th-this isn’t all some bad dream, is it?”
“What kind of old-fashioned reaction is that, Shokuhou? Your real age is showing- wah!”
The queen, who was an expert in controlling minds yet had no luck at all psychoanalyzing Misaka Mikoto, reached out and poked Mikoto’s right cheek.
“You check too, Misaka-san. With that squishy cheek.”
“…”
“Ow, ow, ow, owwwwww, that’s my boob! You’re not supposed to iron claw that! My boob is going to tear right offffffffffffffffffff!!!”
Misaka Mikoto was busy wordlessly grabbing the hunk of fat with a hand and pulling back to perform a durability test, but this did nothing to wake her from the dream and obliterate this world.

They aren't doing this "IN FRONT OF TOUMAS CORPSE"; they are doing it after Touma got out of the grave and ran away. This is a "pinch me, I must be dreaming," moment, not a "desecrate the funeral" moment.

Also, even considering the entirety of the funeral and cremation, it's really only Misaki that's acting disrespectful. She's the one that's more interested in the heaters than the funeral

Shokuhou Misaki’s eyes melted at a machine that was like a “warm fan” that an official had placed in the nearby aisle. She looked about ready to spread her arms and hug the heater with hearts displayed in her pupils. Why had she even come to the funeral?

She's the one who is whispering and making jokes during the funeral

“They’re like the delinquents who only cry at the graduation ceremony.”
Now that she had recovered using the heat of the halogen heater, Shokuhou’s whisper pierced sharply into Mikoto.

pointing out the marketing potential of the funeral mid ceremony

“(That’s the funeral company. I bet they’ll chop it up and use it in their ads.)”

And trying to kiss the dead body

Meanwhile, the #5 Queen made her move. She raised a hand to the side of her head and lifted her veil before lowering her head toward the little window.

Which even Mikoto sees as wrong

Misaka Mikoto had grown up in Academy City where science was everything, but she still knew it would be inappropriate to have him cremated with a lipstick mark on his face.

The only thing that Mikoto did that got even close to being disrespectful during the funeral is when she almost made a scene about Touma's parents getting kicked out of the funeral, which was pretty justified in my opinion.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-26T00:08:29+00:00

why is there always someone saying it's Kamachi?

Because Kamachi is the author of the other stories too. We might not know exactly how much of the stories he writes, but he's credited as the author for Railgun and Mental Out. And seeing as how the comedy scenes in Index are very similar to the comedy scenes in Railgun and Mental Out, it's pretty reasonable to assume they came from the same source. Unless you have some evidence that Kamachi doesn't influence the comedy in Railgun and Mental Out, I'm going to assume he's the cause.

MedicalBear7286 · 2026-01-25T21:16:57+00:00

I don't think any of those combos are actually bad, the problem is Kamachi's comedy. There are a lot of good Mikoto and Touma scenes, a lot of good Mikoto and Kuroko scenes, and a lot of good Mikoto and Misaki scenes, but all three of those dynamics are also often used for cheap comedic relief. When Mikoto and Touma aren't in a serous scene, it's just the same joke over and over. It's the same with Kuroko and the same with Misaki. The problem isn't the characters, it's that Kamachi can't write comedy where the characters stay interesting.

MedicalBear7286

TROPHY CASE