A Certain Scientific Railgun



Mikoto Misaka is the third most powerful esper in Academy City, a state-of-the-art city dedicated to the study and development of superpowers. Along with her friends, she protects the city from the daily threats which disturb the city's peace. However, behind this idyllic, advanced city lurks a darkness which even the third most powerful esper in the city can't take on her own.

A Certain Scientific Railgun (とある科学の超電磁砲, Toaru Kagaku no Rērugan) is a manga spin-off and supplementary reading to the A Certain Magical Index Light Novel series. Similar to the original, it has received an Animated Adaptation courtesy of J.C.Staff, which covers the first major arc of the manga as well as some anime-original material penned by the author. In addition, there are side-story novels which involve the protagonists with the Magic side.

This series shares a character sheet with A Certain Magical Index.

A Certain Wiki may help in understanding various terminologies that may be found on this wiki.

The anime has been licensed and released by FUNimation entertainment, along with both seasons and the movie of A Certain Magical Index.

A note on timelines: The manga's events begin two weeks before the Index novel and anime. The anime, however, violates this by adapting events from Volume 8 of the novels into the anime's first episode. As it stands, Chapters 18 to 39 occur around the time of Volume 3 in the novels, Chapter 40 is around volume 5, Chapters 41-42 and around volume 8 and Chapters 43-current take place around volume 9. -

A-E

 * Adaptational Attractiveness In the manga, Saten was shorter than Mikoto and had a flat chest. In the anime her height is sometimes the same as Mikoto's. Her bust in some official art (when she is in a bikini) is increased to a C cup. JC Staff really likes her (Director's Pet).
 * Adaptation Expansion: The anime gives more character development to the cast from the Railgun manga and even explains more details about Academy City and the people who live there. Furthermore,
 * The entire series is essentially this, especially Railgun's version of the arc, which explains Mikoto's struggles against  in more detail compared to the Index version. It also shows a more introspective side of Accelerator,.
 * Adult Fear: What made the tragedy of so easy to relate to for adult audiences is the very human fear in every mother that society would hurt, betray and take their beloved children away from them. This
 * Affably Evil:
 * Alertness Blink
 * All Part of the Show: In the Railgun Side Story: Liberal Arts City,  is passed off as a show to everyone else,   Once things get completely out of hand later on, they couldn't keep it up.
 * All Your Powers Combined:, when an esper is only supposed to have one. By the time of The Reveal, this count is literally 'over nine thousand''.
 * Alpha Bitch: Mitsuko Kongo usually looks down on Kuroko or any "ruffians" who dare disrespect her but she is kind to children and her kohai's, Kinoho Wannai and Maaya Awatsuki.
 * Surprisingly even Kuroko acts like the Alpha Bitch towards those she see as below her and does it unintentionally sometimes.
 * Considering they're both from Tokiwadai, a school for girls of the elite rich, there are bound to be some Alpha Bitches at that school.
 * Averted with Mikoto whom despite coming from a rich family, grew up like a normal girl thanks to her mother and acts kind and friendly to all people, no matter what social class they come from.
 * Amusing Injuries: Kuroko would not have survived getting her darned neck broken  by the dorm supervisor in Episode 2 if it wasn't so darned funny.
 * Anti-Magic: Touma's right hand, the "Imagine Breaker".
 * Anti-Villain:, whose motivation of is noble enough to earn Mikoto's sympathy and offer to help her accomplish it.
 * Artistic License Physics: In reality, lightning travels extremely fast (about 92,000 miles per second, or 148,000 kilometers per second) so dodging or blocking Misaka's attacks should probably be out of the question. That's just the first one. This series isn't about the clash of Magic and Science, but the clash of Magic and Techno Babble. Given it opens with a acknowledged psychic powers, you should really expect that sort of thing.
 * Also, Misaka herself comments on the fact that she is limiting her power just so they can get a reading in the first episode. The people administering the test are probably too scared by her power to notice anything odd.
 * Artificial Riverbank: Where Misaka and Touma have a duel.
 * Ascended Extra: Saten and Uiharu. In the manga, while they were very prominent during the Level Upper arc, they have extremely minimal appearances in subsequent ones. Even Shirai doesn't have nearly as many appearances in the manga as she does in the anime.
 * Back-to-Back Badasses:
 * Badass Normal: A couple, including:
 * Kurozuma Wataru, a former Skillout member whose fighting skills border on One-Man Army against the other Skillout members
 * And the Dorm Supervisor of Tokiwadai Dormitories.
 * Just so you know, there's a couple of reason why she is very scary. She's in charge of a Girls Dormitory who students are mostly Level 3 or 4 psychics, is quick enough to , defeat and has Scary Shiny Glasses too. (Did i forget to mention she also voiced by Hitomi Nabatame too?) With the things she does, it's no wonder why Mikoto, Kuroko and the rest of Tokidwai are scared of her and haven't been abusing their powers or breaking the rules in the first place. But what's more scary is the fact there's not one but two of them! God help us if the other one is scary like her too.
 * In a special Railgun Light novel, Dorm Supervisor stopped a fight between Mikoto to and Gunha Sogiita(7th Lv5) by snapping Mikoto's neck before she could even respond. Gunha retreated immediately!!
 * Bait the Dog: In the manga, two scientists are around when 9982 cleans up. They joke and laugh and 9982 criticizes the tea. All very friendly and affable. Oh, by the way 9982, don't forget to clean up the half dozen bloody corpses of your sisters before you change into the uniform, or you're just going to have to do it again. Toodles!
 * Balloon Belly: Tsuduri
 * Barely-There Swimwear: Kuroko's in episode 13. Mikoto was not amused.
 * Same in Liberal Arts City.
 * Beach Episode: Episode 13, with holograms.
 * Big Damn Heroes: Touma
 * Not to be outdone, previous Butt Monkey pulls this off twice. The first time was, unfortunately off screen. The second time she  Not bad.
 * Big Eater: Index's and Himegami's respective appetites haven't vanished even while cameoing over to this series.
 * Big Ol' Eyebrows:
 * Black Bra and Panties: Saten rummages through Kuroko's underwear drawer, pulling a progression of worse and worse items. It starts with a pair of these, and ends with.
 * Bland-Name Product: A brief shot in episode 10 (when the characters are discussing ) reveals that Konori uses a "Macindows" laptop equipped with an "Outel" processor.
 * And then averted when the Dorm Supervisor is seen going into a Pizza Hut.
 * Blood Sisters: Mikoto, Kuroko, Saten and Uiharu.
 * Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Much of the humor in Kuroko and Mikoto's friendship stems from this: the former says or does something spectacularly stupid/perverted, and the latter rewards it with a hard knock to the head.
 * Book Ends: In the beginning of the first episode of Railgun, Mikoto is humming at a bridge. The last episode ends with Mikoto at the same bridge but now with her friends Kuroko, Saten and Uiharu watching a blimp
 * Breather Episode: The Beach Episode provides a much-needed break after the close of the Level Upper arc.
 * Brown Note: The main plot in the first half of the anime centers around an audio file. It works by --not, sadly, The Power of Rock--in order to . Unfortunately, its users inevitably fall into comas...
 * Here's the audiofile itself.
 * The real file is on the second soundtrack of Railgun as the 12th track. It is not as harsh as the one on YouTube.
 * In the second half of the anime, there's some importance given to another Brown Note
 * Butt Monkey: Kongo Mitsuko.
 * Call Back: In the beginning of episode 1, Mikoto is humming a particular tune. Later in the end of episode 7, Touma is humming the same tune.
 * Call Forward: In the Sister's arc, Mikoto has to fight
 * The AIM Burst in episode 11/12 is a more subtle Call Forward. Notice that halo on top of its head? Now fast forward to the Academy City Invasion arc. That's right, the AIM Burst is a forerunner of.
 * Canon Immigrant: Anything from characters to plotlines in the Railgun manga/anime is canon in the main Index series as it was made by the author of the novels. This include Saten who makes a cameo appearance in the novels and This also counts in the Railgun manga where anything that happen in the Railgun anime actually did happen in the manga hence why Erii is canon including
 * There's also Shinobu Nunotaba, a scientist formerly working on the Radio Noise project, and Nayuta Kihara, who has already ascended to canon through Word of God.
 * Catch Phrase: Nearly everyone has one.
 * Kuroko's catchphrase: "Judgment desu no!".
 * Saten's catchphrase: "UUU-III-HAAA-RRUUUU!!!", plus with a skirt flipping.
 * Kurozuma's catchphrase: "If it's milk, it has to be Musashino!"
 * Cat Smile: Komoe-Sensei, and other characters during the Furo Scenes in Railgun episode 17.
 * Continuity Cameo: Index and Aisa appears in Railgun episode 17. And everyone in Index appears in the ending of episode 24.
 * The Queen of Tokiwadai finally makes an appearance in Chapter 41 of the manga, complete with a reveal of her full name.
 * Chainsaw Good: Mikoto attacks Touma with a chainsword materialized from iron in the air and sand, nearly lopping off a few limbs before she turns it into a Whip Sword and he's able to dispel it.
 * Character Development: Mikoto started as an idealist but later becomes an understanding realist when she learns not everyone has the will and effort to become a higher level esper and learns to respect and be sensitive to other people's feelings especially But
 * Saten start as a cheerful Genki Girl despite being a Level 0. As the series progress,
 * Character Exaggeration: Yes J.C. Staff, we know Kuroko is madly in love with Mikoto, but was it necessary to make it over the top in the Railgun anime?
 * Chekhov's Gun: Episode 4: Similarly, closeups of a pair of headphones playing some music,
 * Episode 12: The camera focuses to a group of 4 girls at a restaurant and a mysterious lady who likes Margery Daw at the nuclear power plant.
 * Remember episode 17? The one featuring a mysterious girl whose pendant has a picture and the earthquake that happen in that episode? Guess who's the new transfer student at Uiharu's school and what the Anti-skills and Judgment are talking about in episode 20?
 * Remember the Capacity Down? Yeah, we get to know who built it, and see it in use again.
 * Chapter 44: Saten's urban legends strike again. She briefly mentions that there's a legend that the hundreds of clashing espers can create a kind of Unobtanium that can only be made during the Daihasei because that's the only time that so many espers are actively fighting against each other. Anyone want to place bets on what the conflict of the current arc is going to revolve around?
 * Chekhov's Gunman: Saten Ruiko is a Level Zero, so even with an aluminum baseball bat she can't do much in a battle, yet
 * Continuity Nod: Railgun is filled with nods to the To Aru series if you look closely.
 * Episode 20 shows Mii on the computer, and next to it is a bin, overflowing with milk cartons. Remember that?
 * Episode 19 helps explain why the Tokiwadai Dorm supervisor in Index is different from the one in Railgun, explaining there are in fact 2 Tokiwadai dorms.
 * Remember episode 18 when Uiharu's & Saten's teacher wanted to propose Guess what's on his hand in episode 20.
 * In episode 15, everyone except Kuroko still haven't forgotten that
 * In episode 6, we see a girl who is suspected of being the Graviton bomber. We meet her again,
 * Several characters from the Railgun anime appeared in the manga like Erii and that female gangster Mikoto fought.
 * A minor one. The Judgement member who saved a girl from the Graviton Bomb by knocking her down and protecting her with his own body was an instant hit with the fans. We later found out in the manga that he's dating her. Good job Hero!
 * Chapter 43 references Misaka's experiences during the Someone's Watching incident of the OVA.
 * The railgun manga has recently added many nods towards the side stories. In chapter 43 Mikoto is mentioned to have experience doing demonstations in Russia (Shopping Mall Demonstration SS), in chapter 44.5 a disguised Xochitl runs into and remember Saten from the Liberal Arts City SS, and even more subtly, in chapter 42 Saten makes an offhand comment about how the jeans she ordered from England haven't arrived yet (Norse Mythology SS).
 * Cool Airship: The Mixcoatls in Railgun SS, made of obsidian, wood, and cloth, that can out fly fighter planes.
 * Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Esper powers affect reality based on their users' internal reality. According to the pseudoscience of the series, if a Schrödinger's cat experiment was set up, espers would find the cat in the state that they believed it to be, because they believed strongly enough that the cat was that way. Hypnosis, brainwashing and drugs are used to throw the subjects internal reality out of whack. So, it might be argued that the strongest espers like Mikoto and Accelerator are the most stubbornly out of touch with the reality normal people live in.
 * Clingy Jealous Girl: Kuroko, who threatens Touma the moment she sees him out of suspicion over his relationship with Mikoto, telling him that if he wants to make a go at Mikoto he'll have to go through her first. Though despite her jealousy, she never tries to sabotage or otherwise impede Touma's conversations with Mikoto. While clingy and jealous, Kuroko has the best interest for Mikoto at heart.
 * Cry Cute: Misaka in Episode 4.
 * Cool Car: Kiyama's Lamborghini. Saten is also seen cross-stitching a different Lamborghini during the school festival.
 * Cutting the Knot: Averted with Touma. A lot of Railgun's plots could have been solved in about three seconds if he were there.
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy:
 * Date Crepe: Kuroko gets the same flavor of crepe as Mikoto in an effort to get more intimate with her, and is horrified when Mikoto shares a bite with someone who got a different flavor.
 * A Day in the Limelight: Episode 17 is about the teacher and Anti-skill officer Tsuzuri Tessou.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: When it comes to orphans and love, . Too bad the love part didn't last.
 * Delinquents: They sure like to hit on Misaka.
 * Designated Girl Fight: When the scientist in charge of the learns that, he decides to sent in a team of mercenaries. Said team is Team ITEM, but it's a subversion as they hired not because they were girls, but because the team is composed of professional mercenaries and their leader is a Level 5.
 * Eagle Land: definitely flavor 2 in the Railgun SS: Liberal Arts City, almost to the point of being anvilicious; the author sees America (in a very stereotypically Japanese way) as the movie-obsessed land of women with huge breasts, overly large vehicles and people toting guns everywhere.
 * Early-Bird Cameo: The Railgun manga and it's anime adaptation has characters from the later novels appearing much earlier.
 * In manga Chapter 1, Aiho Yomikawa makes a cameo appearance after the crime scene.
 * In Chapter 8, you can see Stiyl passing by Uiharu.
 * In Chapter 11, Mikoto & Kuroko meets a certain Frog-face doctor.
 * In Chapter 15, the, and in the same chapter we have the appearance of a group of girls hanging out. Those girls led by
 * Eldritch Abomination: The
 * Ensemble Cast: In the anime, the core main characters consist of Misaka, Shirai, Saten and Uiharu and they all have ample turns in the spotlight. In the manga, the only real "main" character is Misaka. Shirai is a recurring secondary character while Saten and Uiharu aren't very important outside of the Level Upper arc.
 * Eureka Moment: Episode 3: The girls are stumped over why a girl shows up on camera but isn't seen by her victims, since everyone with the power to turn invisible has an alibi. After Kuroko remarks that she "didn't notice" the pigeon Uiharu saw fly by, Mikoto realizes that the girl must have the power to erase her presence from the minds of people who see her directly.
 * Epic Fail: Episode 17 makes very clear Tessou is the resident Butt Monkey. In one-and-a-half minute.
 * Another was when Mikoto tries to blow away the graviton bomb with her railgun but drops her coin..
 * Evil Laugh: The opening credits already mark out as an obvious bad guy but she invokes this trope in Episode 23 with such furious insanity that it is utterly scary.
 * Even the Girls Want Her: The students of Tokiwadai adore Mikoto.
 * Every Girl Is Cuter With Hair Decs: All the main characters have some form of hair decs, but Uiharu is definitely overdoing it with the flower bouquet on her head. The four main girls' are highlighted in the first ending.
 * Evil Albino: Accelerator.
 * Evil Old Folks:
 * What's worse is It Runs in The Family, as his is an evil bastard just
 * Surprisingly
 * What's worse is It Runs in The Family, as his is an evil bastard just
 * Surprisingly
 * Surprisingly

F-J

 * Failure Is the Only Option: For Mikoto in the Railgun Sisters Arc and when fighting Touma.
 * Fandom Nod/Sure Why Not: A minor one. The Tokiwadai Dorm supervisor's appearance changes from the Index anime to the Railgun anime. Some fans think it was change to match her looks in the manga while others think they are just two different people with the same job. Along came episode 19, which mentions there are two Tokiwadai Dorms, which suggest there are indeed two different dorm supervisors.
 * Fan Service: With a huge female-only cast including at least one perverse loli and skirt-chaser, you can guess there is LOTS of it. Though it manages to be self-conscious, tongue-in-cheek and good-natured.
 * Fantastic Racism: Though everyone in Academy city is treated with equal rights in theory, in practice your chances of getting passed over for jobs, universities and all other opportunities in life steadily increases the lower your Power Level gets. Well meaning Level 5's such as Mikoto try to reassure their "lesser" peers with ultimately hollow mantras of "Do your best!! Your power level doesn't matter!!" oblivious to the fact that certain people are simply born incapable of crossing certain hurdles no matter how hard they try. Naturally, this breeds intensely bitter resentment, especially amongst the Level 0's of the city's population; ripe for exploitation by people like through schemes like the "Level Upper" incident... Scientists such as  don't even treat espers as humans; merely test subjects for their experiments.
 * Fetus Terrible:
 * Filler: Because there were only 4 manga volumes of Railgun at that time, with the current arc still ongoing, filler episodes were created after the first arc in the Railgun anime to fill in its 24 episode slot. Thankfully, most of the filler episodes and the characters introduced in the anime were written by the author of the novels so it's Canon.
 * Flip-Flop of God: In the beginning of the Index novel and anime, Mikoto fires a railgun which passes by Touma but in the Railgun manga drawn by Motoi Fukuyama, she fires the Railgun at him which he stops using Imagine Breaker. Unfortunately, this caused some backlash with fans since it is contested by the fandom if this is possible. To avoid this contradiction, the Railgun anime has the events that lead to the Railgun incident Retcon to an earlier date before the time of the first Index arc.
 * Flower in Her Hair: Uiharu practically wears a flowerbed on her head, while Saten wears a lone white flower. As Uiharu has both refused to answer Kiyama about what they are, and only answered "What are you talking about?" when someone pointed them out to her at the Tokiwadai Midsummer festival, they may be more than a headband.
 * The novels state they are artificial flowers.
 * Foreshadowing: In the manga gives a hint to Mikoto over where she got the idea to create . The origin of that idea?  Skipped in Railgun anime which is switched to
 * Remember some of those Urban Legends the girls were talking at episode 4?
 * For Great Justice: The Liberal Arts City
 * For Science!!: We get a flashback of a previous incident in which orphaned children (complete with one girl talking about how grateful she was to the city for taking care of them) are used as research experiments (you see where this is going, right?).
 * It doesn't help that the allows this kind of activity.
 * It doesn't help even more that, at least that's what said.
 * Four-Girl Ensemble: Mikoto, Kuroko, Uiharu and Saten... they complement each other well, don't they?
 * can count too despite being,
 * Goofy Print Underwear: Mikoto's so fond of bunnies and frogs it's no wonder she wears shorts under her skirt... (nervous laugh)
 * Some of what Uiharu wears may also qualify (though we don't actually see it).
 * Gratuitous English: As partially explained in the main entry under Alternate Character Reading, all the Gratuitous English skill names and terms are simply readings assigned to that name/term's kanji. eg. Anti-Skill (kanji reads Guardsmen), Dummy Check, Imagine Breaker (kanji reads Illusion/Fantasy Killer), Judgment (kanji reads Disciplinary Committee), Skill-out, AIM (kanji reads No Awareness), as well as the anime openings.
 * Also the English terms "Level Zero", "Level One", etc. are used for the super power levels.
 * Guilty Pleasure: In-universe example: Mikoto has a love for childish cute things like the Gekota franchise, but feels incredibly embarrassed about it and tries to hide it because many characters point out how her likings are rather childish.
 * Head Desk: When given the idea that Mikoto could contract the stripper lady disease, Kuroko does this
 * Heart Is an Awesome Power: X-Ray vision may not seem to be that impressive on its own, but when that means Konori Mii can never be surprised by concealed weapons, coupled with her bone-breaking martial-arts skills, makes her more than a formidable match in battle.
 * Heroic BSOD: suffers a bad one after she failed to save  from being  and spends a night moping about it until she decides to . Unfortunately,
 * Hero of Another Story: The Anti-Skills, Academy City's real police force. Despite the fact that always seem to be 10 seconds too late to help Kuroko arrest criminals, or stop Misaka from using them as a lightening rod, they really are useful at times, and actually have a bit of a cavalry / The Rest Shall Pass moment when
 * This can also be applied to Touma, who is literally the hero of the ''other' story. Most of the time he will show up just walking in the background, and a few times he encourages Misaka, or points out how stupid she's being, there are occasions when he becomes The Cavalry and saves her from various threats, ranging from, or just the son of the head of her school.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Miho Jufuku shares the same voice as Nanoha
 * Kurozuma Wataru is voiced by Katsuyuki Konishi, who has also voiced Kamina of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
 * Hive Mind: The true purpose of the.
 * And of course, also makes an appearance here.
 * Hollywood Hacking: Misaka Mikoto herself. Granted, she's a master of electricity, but bypassing passcard locks, hijacking security robots, erasing herself from security footage, and breaking into a secure facility's network from a phone booth can't be THAT easy, even if you can control electricity.
 * Of course, she IS a Level 5, one of the strongest and most skilled Espers there is. And then there's the Rule of Cool to consider.
 * Hot-Blooded: Mikoto's battles,
 * Hypocritical Humor: Kuroko berates Kiyama for undressing in public as it's immoral yet Kuroko will do the same things to Mikoto.
 * Also done by Mikoto chastising Kiyama's This one's lampshaded immediately by Kuroko and Saten.
 * The Heartless: The Fetus Terrible, above.
 * Hand Wave: In the first Railgun DVD extra, Mikoto wonders why there are so many windmills in Academy City and wonders whether there are really enough to power the city before the whole cast agrees that anything is possible in Academy City and they should stop talking about it.
 * I Am Not Left-Handed: When is chasing Mikoto, she says that her railgun has a range of 50 meters. Mikoto then tells her that, and proves it by  It could also count as a Power Limiter.
 * On a more general note, any time a Level 5 doesn't instantly vaporize their enemy, they were holding back.
 * I Just Want to Be Special: A large part of Ruiko's angst, as she has absolutely no potential in Esper ability, in a city full of people training to be Espers.
 * Fundamentally Female Cast: Aside from Touma, there is a conspicuous lack of male characters of any significance in this particular series.
 * However, Kurozuma, a badass guy is introduced in episode 15... just to be Put on a Bus at the end of the next episode.
 * Accelerator also makes an appearance as the main villain of the Sisters arc.
 * Incompatible Orientation: Poor Kuroko.
 * Indirect Kiss: Kuroko becomes elated at the prospect of getting a bite of something after Mikoto and later freaks out when Mikoto and Saten innocently spoon-feed each other samples of their ice-cream. Kuroko desperately asks for equal treatment, but Mikoto refuses--after all, didn't they order the same thing?.
 * Inverse Law of Complexity to Power: The level 5's of the world seem to have very broad powers. Misaka boasts power over electricity, while Accelerator has control over all physical vectors. Lesser espers have abilities like Jufuku Miho's Dummy Check, which simply makes her less noticeable to those around her.
 * Invisibility: The anime mentions offhand that there are 47 students with the power to turn completely invisible, and that count doesn't include more specific powers like the ability to not be noticed by direct sight.
 * Ironic Echo: During the Tokiwadai Midsummer festival, Uiharu berates Saten for eating a beautiful flower made of sugar. Later, Saten berates Uiharu for cutting and eating a beautiful cake.
 * Ironic Echo: During the Tokiwadai Midsummer festival, Uiharu berates Saten for eating a beautiful flower made of sugar. Later, Saten berates Uiharu for cutting and eating a beautiful cake.

K-O

 * Kid Detective: Our heroines' favourite pastime when together, the main source of their many adventures.
 * Limited Special Collectors' Ultimate Edition - The Index DVDs contain an 8-part Railgun side story mini novel written by the author of the novels, Kazuma Kamachi and art drawn by Motoi Fuyukawa of the Railgun manga. Wanna have good reasons why you want to read this mini novel? Lets see:
 * The Railgun cast vacationing in the USA with a Beach Episode too.
 * Get the Limited Edition DVDs now!
 * For the Railgun DVDs, the limited editions contains an 8-part Index side story mini novel staring Kaori Kanzaki, written by the author of the novels, Kazuma Kamachi and art drawn by Kiyotaka Haimura of A Certain Magical Index light novels in each DVD. So what's it's about?:
 * And also don't forget the BeachEpisode too!
 * Limited Wardrobe: It's stated in Railgun that Tokiwadai requires its students to wear their uniforms at all times when out in public. This becomes a plot point twice.
 * Love At First Punch: Inverted. Mikoto first met and took an interest in Touma after he blocked her electric attack.
 * Love Potion: Kuroko laces this in the sports drinks she gives Mikoto... which backfires on her...
 * Luminescent Blush: Misaka in some situations involving Touma where she isn't trying to kill him, and some where she is.
 * Mama Bear:  :  "I will do anything to save those children!  Even if it involves making this entire city my enemy, I WON'T STOP!! "
 * Meaningful Name: Shirai Kuroko's name literally translates as "White-Well Black-Girl", a nice contrast that reflects her outwardly cute but inwardly perverted persona. Mikoto even points this out in Episode 2 before beating her senseless, shouting "I'm gonna fry you as black as your name!!"
 * Mission Control: Uiharu puts her computer skills to good use in episode 3, watching the action through an extensive web of surveillance cameras and giving directions to the other three girls through their earpieces.
 * Modesty Shorts: Misaka is currently the poster girl for the trope.
 * More Dakka: Episode 24 is filled with this trope.
 * Mundane Utility: Mikoto using her electric powers to cook rice and curry.
 * And Kuroko uses hers to tele-hug Mikoto, not to mention take sexier photos of her and grope her deliciously flat chest in the shower.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
 * Not So Different:.
 * Only Sane Woman: Yoshikawa berates her fellow scientists over wasting their time figuring out what type of panties Mikoto wear so they could make wear the same panties when they only need the cheap discount panties she bought for them. Even the Supercomputer Tree Diagram thought their idea was stupid too.
 * On a similar note chapter 43 of the Railgun manga Lampshades Mikoto as "the only sane level 5".
 * Ojou: Most, if not all, of the Tokiwadai students are Ojous.
 * Mundane Utility: Mikoto using her electric powers to cook rice and curry.
 * And Kuroko uses hers to tele-hug Mikoto, not to mention take sexier photos of her and grope her deliciously flat chest in the shower.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
 * Not So Different:.
 * Only Sane Woman: Yoshikawa berates her fellow scientists over wasting their time figuring out what type of panties Mikoto wear so they could make wear the same panties when they only need the cheap discount panties she bought for them. Even the Supercomputer Tree Diagram thought their idea was stupid too.
 * On a similar note chapter 43 of the Railgun manga Lampshades Mikoto as "the only sane level 5".
 * Ojou: Most, if not all, of the Tokiwadai students are Ojous.

P-T
"Harumi: You uh... You like him? Mikoto: W-What? Harumi: You know, when a girl behaves all cold towards the guy she likes. It was popular a while back... Tsun... Tsun... Tsundara? No... Tsunjire? Mikoto: Not a chance!"
 * Panty Shot: Subverted with Saten and Uiharu. Despite Saten always flipping Uiharu's skirt, we never see the contents.
 * Played with when we are shown Kuroko's collection of erm...tasteful underwear. Does it still count if no one is wearing them?.
 * Earlier in that episode it blurs this line by showing Kuroko putting on panties.
 * Pettanko: Mikoto is very self conscious of the fact she is not as... "developed" as other girls her age, if not younger. Meanwhile, Kuroko on the other hand is "less-developed" than Mikoto and is not ashamed of it.
 * Power Perversion Potential: Kuroko has used her ability to spy on, take pictures of, cop a feel of, and even strip Misaka of her underwear. Yeah, the potential for teleportation's misuse has been touched upon.
 * There is also Kuroko's reaction to being electrocuted by Misaka, but that is more to do with Kuroko than some of the uses of electricity.
 * Psycho Lesbian: Fondling Mikoto in the shower? Yup. Taking stalker picture albums of her? Sure. Lacing her drinks with aphrodisiacs "Computer parts?" You bet!
 * Rape Is Love: Kuroko's idea of her "first meeting of fate with her beloved Onee-sama" is forcing herself into her room and onto her...
 * Relationship Voice Actor: Definitely NOT easy to spot unless you've been doing your research. Kanae Ito, who is the seiyuu of Amu in Shugo Chara is the skirt flipping Ruiko Saten. Aki Toyosaki, who is Su, is Kazari Uiharu.
 * They also play Nana and Momo respectively, twin sisters.
 * Also Atsushi Abe(Touma's seiyuu) is Amu's friend, Kuukai in Shugo Chara.
 * Speaking of Aki Toyosaki, her fellow seiyuus, Satomi Satou and Minako Kotobuki who played as Ritsu and Mugi respectively in K-On!! (which Aki also voiced in), with the former voiced Edasaki Anri, in Railgun, who looks like a mini Ritsu and the later voiced Mitsuko Kongo;, who is not like Mugi in anyway except being rich.
 * The Tokiwadai Dorm Supervisor in Railgun (the one who always break Kuroko's neck) is voiced by Hitomi Nabatame while 'her wife' Shizuka Ito voiced Kaori Kanzaki in Index.
 * Required Spinoff Crossover: Mikoto running into Touma, which happens time to time before and during the events of the first and third novels.
 * Since the Sisters arc is included in the manga, Accelerator also makes an appearance.
 * Rescue Romance: Subverted. Touma's and Mikoto's first meeting has Touma trying to safely lead her away from another gang and unintentionally pissing her off with repeated references to her being just a brat while talking to the guys. Electricity ensues.
 * Retcon: The events of the Level Upper arc in the anime took place two weeks before the 1st Index novel which the latest manga chapters confirms it.
 * In the 12th novel of Index Mikoto greets Uiharu with "You are Uiharu Kazari, right?" as if they had only met once or twice before. Odd considering that they spent the whole summer solving cases together. This was of course before the Railgun manga (and their adventures together) was published. In an omake in the 4th Volume of Railgun this is explained as Mikoto just having forgotten Uiharu's first name. The omake is even called "Matching consistency"
 * The Reveal:
 * We finally learn
 * There's also the Queen of Tokiwadai's name and face, finally revealed after being in hiding for 20+ volumes in the novels.
 * The United States is fully aware of Academy City's true technological prowess, including the fact that it has a military.
 * Revision: More details are given about certain people in the novels without changing the plot much like.
 * Running Gag: Several including:
 * Kuroko trying to get kinky with Mikoto and getting a beating by her.
 * Saten flipping Uiharu's skirt to show her panties.
 * Kuroko's punishments from the Dorm supervisor.
 * Mitsuko trying to be serious only to get Butt Monkeyed.
 * Dr. Kiyama stripping in public.
 * Scary Shiny Glasses: The Dorm Supervisor of Tokiwadai Dormitories. Also Mii Konori in the manga, especially around Kuroko.
 * Scissors Cuts Rock: During the Sisters Arc, Frenda Seivelun makes the mistake of underestimating Level 5 Electromaster Mikoto by using ceramic, the strongest insulator of electricity, against her. Unfortunately, however, ceramic doesn't take heat very well.
 * School Festival: Episode 19.
 * Schoolgirl Lesbians: Kuroko, who gets concerned at how much fun Mikoto seems to be having in her rivalry with Touma. Clingy Jealous Girl, too.
 * Schrödinger's Cat: Used to explain why Espers are able to use their abilities.
 * Your Mind Makes It Real: Or a variation of it.
 * Reality Warper
 * Senseless Violins: Played straight by one of the Misaka clones in the manga.
 * Serious Business: In Railgun, a team of top scientists spending an entire omake chapter speculating on what kind of panties Mikoto wears under her shorts, even sending a special ops team in a (thwarted) attempt to steal them.
 * Shock and Awe: Mikoto has power over electricity, which she exploits in her signature railgun attack, accelerating a coin to multiple times the speed of sound. She also uses it to materialize a chainsaw whip out of nearby iron particles in Railgun. Whatever else you say about her, she certainly is creative as a Level 5.
 * Shout-Out: A Shout-Out to the 1942 classic Casablanca appears in Kuroko's imagination in Episode 2, with Mikoto playing Humphrey Bogart's Rick and Kuroko as Ingrid Bergman's Ilsa on the mist-filled runway in the finale; right down to Mikoto/Rick lovingly caressing Kuroko/Isla's cheek saying "Here's looking at you, kid!"
 * Another one to Stanley Kubrick's A Space Odyssey featuring The Monolith (and bone) appearing in episode 13 of Railgun.
 * Episode 14 has Kuroko referring to an exact replica of the "Vivian Leigh and Clark Gable kissing 1939 poster for Gone with the Wind in a supposed 21st-century teens pop-culture magazine.
 * A screamingly funny one occurs in an Extra of the First Railgun DVD, wherein the Dorm Supervisor breaks Kuroko's neck thrice in a row, and the poor Kuroko screams "Abeshi!! Hidebu!! Tawaba!!" each time like the villains whose heads Kenshiro detonates with Hokuto Shinken in Fist of the North Star.
 * In Chapter 25 of the manga, as Mikoto resolves to, she says "Just who do you think I am?" This is a more-than-likely Shout-Out, as she is attempting to touch the untouchable and break the unbreakable.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal: Delivered by both Saten AND Mikoto to hateful declaration of the worthlessness of human life. Saten  Mikoto then shoves the rest of
 * Single-Target Sexuality: Kuroko towards Misaka, obviously, but also Saten towards Uiharu. At one point she's warned not to flip the new girl's skirt, and she can't understand why she would want to.
 * Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Misaka uses electromagnetism on the sand and dirt around her to create a Whip Sword out of iron sand.
 * Stalker with a Crush: Misaka chases Touma around the city, once for a whole night.
 * Slapstick Knows No Gender: Misaka to Kuroko.
 * Stock Footage: Averted, making it difficult to determine when events are occurring compared to Index.
 * Stupid Sexy Flanders: During episode 13, most of the girls are just talking or bickering before posing for photos. Then comes Mii in her swimsuit. All the girls immediately shut up and just stare in awe at her. Hell, even a female snake! This is history in the making, when a trope surpasses the boundaries of species!
 * Technopath: Mikoto can directly control security computers, cameras, robots and read the circuitry of computers directly as an extension of her electricity powers. Truly a Level 5 indeed.
 * Tele Frag: Kuroko's teleportation ability displaces anything in the target area, so she can use it to stick metal needles directly into a person's body...or use plate glass windows to topple a building by slicing all the support beams.
 * Teleporters and Transporters: Kuroko can teleport herself or anything she comes in contact with as long as it weighs 137kg. The higher concentration required relative to other types of powers prevents her from using it if she can't stay focused.
 * Theme Music Power-Up: During the final part of the fight with the.
 * Happens twice in Episode 24, when.
 * Theme Tune Cameo: Mikoto singing "Only My Railgun", the first OP theme in episode 13 and her violin solo of "Real Force", the second ED theme in episode 19.
 * Too Kinky to Torture: Kuruko seems to enjoy the electric shocks Misaka gives her.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Loosely with Misaka and Kuroko, but definitely present with Saten and Uiharu.
 * Tsundere: Misaka, so much that it is lampshaded.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Loosely with Misaka and Kuroko, but definitely present with Saten and Uiharu.
 * Tsundere: Misaka, so much that it is lampshaded.

U-Z

 * Unknown Rival: Misaka to Touma, as she thinks his Imagine Breaker is the sign of immense power. It isn't helped by the fact that his nonchalant attitude towards her and her power hurts her pride.
 * Kuroko also considers herself Touma's rival for Misaka's affections, not that he would ever notice.
 * Urban Legends: Episode 4 shows us that there are a few of these around. The Undressing Woman and The ability to nullify other abilities are... well the former is shown in the episode and the other is obviously Touma, so those two are confirmed. There are others though.
 * Except for Undressing Woman and, every urban legend listed (in the subtitled version) is shown in the first season of A Certain Magical Index.
 * Goes further than that. Heck, the entire plot of the Railgun anime is based on these. From the to  in the OVA.
 * Vapor Wear: When Dr. Kiyama takes off her skirt, she doesn't appear to be wearing panties.
 * Don't forget the time that Kuroko teleports off Mikoto's underwear!
 * Waif Fu: Kuroko.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Uiharu calls out to Kuroko when she learns.
 * Of course, fans said the same thing
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Accelerator. The manga explains that his appearance and physique are due to his power unconsciously reflecting UV rays, eliminating the need for pigmentation and making it difficult to produce certain hormones.
 * We Have Reserves: The Sisters. See For Science for details.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist:
 * Wisdom from the Gutter: Subverted horribly. Mikoto gives some advice to telling her Level's aren't important in life yet she is quietly offended by this since Mikoto's a Level 5 while she's a Level . Mikoto realizes the consequence of what she said when she learns
 * What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: This was the fan's immediate reaction to Uiharu's power. Then a little bit of Fridge Logic kicks in - she is only a Level 1, her power was never going to be very impressive. Give it time to grow though, and depending on how it works, it could be a very useful power indeed.
 * Episode 20
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?: Episode 3 is about a culprit who sneaks up on girls, stuns them with a taser and while they are unconscious performs on them the depraved, heinous act of.
 * Because tasing someone to the point of unconsciousness is totally not bad on its own.
 * X Meets Y: Nancy Drew meets X-Men.
 * You Leave Them Alone: Invoked by Saten.
 * X Meets Y: Nancy Drew meets X-Men.
 * You Leave Them Alone: Invoked by Saten.