A Certain Magical Index/Characters/Protagonists

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The eponymous heroines and the heroes of A Certain Magical Index and A Certain Scientific Railgun. These are the characters whose personal conflicts and choices drive the story. Chances are you'll find at least one of them you can identify with, and they each seem tailored to appeal to a certain portion of the fanbase.

The Eponymous Heroines

Tropes shared between the two

Index Librorum Prohibitorum

Feed her or she will eat you.

Dedicatus545 -- The Lamb is Devoted to Protecting the Wisdom of the Strongest

Voiced by Yuka Iguchi

The eponymous character of A Certain Magical Index. Also known by her nickname of "Index", she is the main female character of the series and considered the main heroine of the Magic side. She’s a member of Necessarius and holds within her the 103,000 grimoires. Index was specifically chosen as the vessel for the 103,000 grimoires as she both has the ability to perfectly remember things and is unaffected by the books' madness-inducing effects since she possesses no mana to power the grimoires. She’s also known for her temper and un-Nun like activities, such as being a Freeloader Glutton. Much of her background is currently unknown, due to the periodic memory lost inflicted upon her.

Tropes exhibited by Index include:

Touma: So... the English way of wearing a robe is such that the below (body) is not covered by any other clothes besides the robe itself. I didn't know that!"

1. Her tendency to bite Touma whenever he somehow pisses her off.
2. Her large appetite, much to the chagrin of those who pay for her food, like Accelerator.

3. Her tendency of being hit by Touma whenever she’s changing clothes or taking a bath. Even Index herself lampshades this after being hit once again by Touma during the Daihaseisai:

Index: Touma?! How many times has it been?!

Touma: Wahhh! I’m really sorry! Please don't bite me again!

Mikoto Misaka

DANGER: HIGH VOLTAGE.

Sobriquets: Railgun ; The Ace of Tokiwadai ; The Electric Princess

"Do you know what a railgun is?"

Voiced by: Sato Rina

Mikoto Misaka is the protagonist (in the dictionary definition sense, not the "redefine words we don't understand" Tropes sense) of the A Certain Scientific Railgun side-stories and a major recurring character in the A Certain Magical Index stories.

Nicknamed Biri-Biri by Touma Kamijo, her power is Electromaster, and with it she is the third most powerful Level 5 (the highest rank attainable for an Esper). She has a love/hate relationship with Touma.

Tropes exhibited by Railgun include:
  • A-Cup Angst: It does not help that some of Academy City's younger girls are more endowed than she is. And it's hinted that her Hot Mom (who's really well endowed herself, also to Mikoto's chagrin) wants to rectify this fast (through food). Considering she's no more than fourteen you have to wonder why she's so bothered about it. This is again Played for Laughs during her first meeting with Misaka Worst.
  • Abhorrent Admirer: Zig-zagged; she doesn't like it when Kuroko gets too clingy, but she does obviously care for her roommate.
  • Action Girl: She has slightly violent tendencies, and is ranked third among the Level 5 Espers.
  • Alliterative Name
  • Armor-Piercing Slap: Subverted. Try as she might, Mikoto just cannot get a hit in.
  • Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence: Suffers from an involuntary version of this in the Daihaseisai arc of Railgun. The villains forcefully link her to the Misaka Network, causing her to gradually shift to a Level 6. In this state, she goes through several transformations and her power grows rapidly, eventually being capable of overpowering both Touma's Imagine Breaker and Gunha's power. She's eventually forced out of it when dragons emerge from the severed stump of Touma's arm and devour her power.
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: At the climax of the Dream Ranker arc, she creates a massive humanoid puppet out of iron sand to fight against the Doppelganger's similarly-gigantic construct. The puppet is relatively weak and fragile for its size, due to its composition. However, it's capable of shapeshifting and entering openings in its opponent to destroy them from the inside. The iron sand constantly rubs together and builds up electricity, which Mikoto can use to fire a powerful Railgun.
  • Ax Crazy: In Episode 4 of Railgun, fighting Touma.
  • Badass Adorable
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Touma.
  • Big Damn Heroes: To Lessar, twice, in the second Railgun SS.
  • Big Sister Instinct: Though not her sisters per se, she really loves her clones as if they were and would go to hell and back to protect them.
  • Blood Knight: Though more from her inability to forgive slights than any actual bloodlust: she will forgive you after shes pounded the snerd out of you.
  • Blush Sticker: At times, especially as a child.[1]
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall

If she let him get away, things would get very bad.
To put it in concrete terms, it was possible that she would end up with no scenes for three whole volumes.
Wait! Wait just a second!! This is my scene! If you’re going to do this, do it later!! Dammit, the guy-to-girl ratio here is completely out of balance. And is that group of huge breasts specifically targeted at me!? A-at this rate, I’ll be lost in the background…!! Did they create a forest to hide a leaf!?

  • Breakout Character: Got her own spin-off series for a reason.
  • Break the Cutie: During the Sisters Arc.
  • Code Name / Badass Nickname: The Railgun, The Ace of Tokiwadai, The Electric Princess, The Electromaster. Take your pick.
  • Cloning Blues: The Sisters.
  • Combination Attack: In NT Volume 18, she combines her power with Misaki's to fire the Liquid-Proof Railgun, an enhanced version of her Railgun that uses Misaki's moisture manipulation to prevent it being destroyed by air resistance, allowing it to achieve greater speeds.
  • Combining Mecha: She gains a copy of the Anti-Art Attachment at the end of NT Volume 15, and modifies it for her own use. It allows her to fly and has a range of powerful weapons that can easily destroy Elements.
  • Cry Cute: When she cradles a hideously injured Touma in her lap. After all, she was the one who injured him.
  • Cuteness Proximity: Frogs. More specifically, she has a serious weakness in the form of the frog mascot "Gekota", so much so that she sees a real-life version of it in “Heaven Canceller”, of all people.
  • Death Seeker: For causing the suffering of her clone "sisters". Touma snaps her out of it.
  • Despair Event Horizon: She comes dangerously close to this during the Sisters Arc, becoming a little bit unstable towards the end.
  • Electric Torture: How she usually rewards Kuroko's attempts to have sex with her, and is always Played for Laughs.
  • Elegant Classical Musician: Yup.
  • Embarrassing Nickname: Touma used to call her "Biri-Biri" (translated in the anime as "Zapper"), a name she doesn't like.
  • Enemy Mine: She's forced to work with Misaki several times in both Index and Railgun.
  • Erotic Dream: Has one of Touma in the beginning of Season II Episode 17. Sadly we don't get to see it, just her writhing and moaning in her bed while sleep-talking about what she will do to him.
  • Even the Girls Want Her: Much to her chagrin.
  • Failure Is the Only Option: All her attempts to stop the Level 6 Shift Project are squashed by the Academy City's administration before Touma lends a hand.
  • Fan Nickname:
    • "Terrorist Biri-Biri" because of the Railgun manga.
    • The Thundere.
  • Foil: To Misaki. Both are Level 5s who are students of Tokiwadai, and are in the same year. Mikoto has a small band of friends who she has close relationships with, while Misaki has a large clique whom she often mind-controls. Mikoto's power is extremely versatile and is particularly effective against machines, while Misaki's is limited to the human brain (though it's still very versatile within that domain) and is useless against machines. Both of them know about Touma's amnesia, but Misaki is implied to have figured it out much earlier and is also one of the few people to know about his second case of amnesia. Both of them fell in love with Touma after he saved them, but Mikoto doesn't know this about Misaki until NT Volume 18.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper
  • High-Pressure Emotion
  • Goofy Print Underwear: Kuroko finds out, much to her delight, that Mikoto's underpants share the same "thumbs-up bunny" that the T-shirt she was given as a present has... unfortunately she then just had to skip and sing "Matches! Matches! It matches with Onee-sama's!", which equates to repeatedly jumping up and down on Mikoto's biggest Berserk Button...
  • Hair Flip: On occasion.
  • Hard Work Hardly Works: Subverted, as her quick rise from Level 1 to Level 5 is often held up as an example of how anyone can succeed with hard work. However, with the revelation that scientists in the Sisters experiment obtained her DNA map when she was much lower level, and the much later revelation of the existence of the parameter list, this becomes a Double Subversion since these mean that Mikoto had actually been pegged for greatness very early on in her development and was helped along the way much more than the average student.
  • The Hero: Shares this trope with Touma in her own series.
    • Though he still upstages her whenever he appears in Railgun.
  • Heroic BSOD: After seeing one of her sisters die and being unable to do anything to stop it.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: A plot point during the Shopping Mall Demonstration SS. Using a method of spreading rumors of a possible nuclear attack by her, every rioter in the area targeted her with rifles, axes, and every other weapon they could. This also counts as Mugging the Monster because if she wasn't The Fettered, she could have simply killed them all and been done with it.
  • Hey, You: She has yet to call Touma by his name. Save the PSP game intro and a small part in Volume 22 where she calls out to him.
  • Honor Before Reason: Especially during the SISTERS arc. Note that "honor" and "obeying the law" are two completely different things.
  • Hot-Blooded: More so than the comparatively laid-back Touma.
  • I Am Not His Girlfriend: She gets put into this situation by Index, and in front of Touma and their parents too (cue massive blushing).
    • Then it gets hilariously played with along with drops of Les Yay when Kuroko arrives to meet the Misakas, acting her usual perverted self towards Misuzu (who thinks it's towards Mikoto), with the latter lampshading the Les Yay part.

Misuzu: Mikoto, I didn't know you swung that way.
Mikoto: NO I DON'T!

  • I Am Not Left-Handed: She usually holds back her power to avoid killing people or causing unneeded destruction. When she cuts loose, it's clear why she's ranked as the third-best esper. One example of this is when she creates an enormous iron sand puppet to fight the Doppelganger in the Dream Ranker arc.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold
  • Last-Name Basis: Virtually everyone refers her as Misaka.
  • Megaton Punch: The most common method to stop a clingy Kuroko.
  • Me's a Crowd: There are at least three different kinds of clones of her running around. The Imouto series counted 20,000 at the beginning, and is currently at 9969 members.
  • Modesty Shorts: Trope Picture. Much to Kuroko Shirai's dismay.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: She's call the Railgun and is a Level 5. What did you expect?
  • Oblivious to Love/What Is This Thing You Call Love?: She's actually oblivious to her own love. It takes her until Volume 16 to realize that she likes Touma.
  • The Ojou
  • Onee-Sama: To Kuroko and a legion of admirers.
  • Only Sane Man: Is considered the only sane Level 5. However, this may be because some of her less savory hobbies are intentionally kept quiet, specifically in order to promote her image as the unofficial face of Academy City.
  • Out of Focus: In the Index series, where despite often being billed as a main character, she hasn't been very plot relevant since the SISTERS Arc.
  • Red Oni: To Touma.
  • Self Made Girl: Mikoto climbed all the way from Level 1 to level 5 through hard work, but...
    • Subverted when it was revealed that the researchers of Academy City already know what level every esper would grow to be.
  • Shock and Awe: The nature of her abilities. She's called "Railgun" for a reason.
  • Shut UP, Hannibal: Delivered to Therestina via railgun.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: She looks like a younger version of her mother.
  • The Rival:
    • Supposedly has a rivalry with Misaki, the other Level 5 of Tokiwadai. In a subversion, neither of them are interested of being either rivals or friends with each other. The real rivalry is between their followers and their fanbases, which makes this an in-universe example of Fandom Rivalry. However, in later volumes, they're rivals in love for Touma.
    • The girl she really sees as a rival is Index, because she's often with Touma.
  • Shorttank: And one who is quite embarrassed to show any sort of girlish behavior at that.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Although at that point the crush part was debatable, Mikoto did follow Touma quite excessively (including once chasing him around for a whole night).
  • Tender Tears
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Mikoto is the tomboy to Kuroko's girly-girl.
  • Took A Level In Badass: After gaining the Anti-Art Attachment.
  • Tsundere: Again with Touma.
  • Unknown Rival: For Touma. Since his memories were destroyed, he doesn't remember beating her the first time.
  • Unstoppable Rage: While destroying the facilities involved in the Level 6 Shift Project. Most notable in the case of one she attacked after she found out Tree Diagram had been shot down, ruining her plan of hacking it to save her sisters - her rage only broke when she witnessed the death of Sister 10031 on a security monitor.
  • Weirdness Censor: With magic. She's met several magicians and seen magic preformed on a few occasions, but every time she either attributes it to Esper powers or some other scientific explanation. This is justified due to the city where she lives being full of supernatural powers and no one ever trying to explain it to her properly. The one time someone did, they gave up before they even got to the point because Misaka asked a question while still trying to frame it from a scientific point of view.
    • May also cross with Genre Blindness considering she is a prominent character in a show centered around the conflict between Science and Magic.
  • The Worf Effect: Versus Touma.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: One of her methods to stop with a clingly Kuroko.
  • You Are Not Alone: When she properly reunites with Touma in New Testament Volume 2, she says this to him. Word of God states that she's now "entering the fight" meaning she's going to involve herself with Touma's next adventure with the magic side.

The Three "Heroes"

Touma Kamijou

One Who Purifies God and Exorcises the Devil

Such misfortune, indeed.

"I don't need a reason to save someone."

Voiced by Atsushi Abe

Touma Kamijou is the protagonist (in the dictionary definition sense, not the "redefine words we don't understand" Tropes sense) of A Certain Magical Index and a recurring character in the A Certain Scientific Railgun side stories.

He is a Level 0 Academy City high school student in his first year and possesses the mysterious Imagine Breaker, which cancels any magical, Esper-related, or divine power his right hand comes into contact with, but also brings him incredibly bad luck. Possessing a strong sense of justice, he helps anyone who is in need and will not hesitate to challenge anyone who is several times more powerful than himself. This willingness to help those in need has resulted in him receiving the affection of many females.

Tropes exhibited by Touma include:
  • A God Am I: Pre-amnesia Touma often told people his right hand was capable of negating miracles from God. Of course, he does later start backing up these claims... and then you consider the "Invisible Thing" inside of him.
  • Above Good and Evil: According to Aiwass, Touma is this, someone who doesn't care about labels such as good and evil, but just doing what he considers to be the right thing to do. That would explain at least, why in one minute he can beat the crap out of someone, and in the next, risk his life to protect the same person. Heck, Touma even says something to that effect, when he gets out his funk, after Fiamma said that he isn't such a good person, because he lied to Index about his memory loss.
  • Accidental Pervert: During his stay in Italy, walked in on Orsola in the shower, before Index opens the door of the adjacent one where she's in, giving Touma a second eyeful. In general, he constantly ends up bumping into a girl and accidentally touching her breasts or some other awkward situation.
  • Almost Kiss: Itsuwa almost kisses Touma when he is lying in his bed in Volume 16.
    • Touma and Fukiyose nearly have one in Episode 8 of season two.
  • Almighty Janitor: Justified in that he's not really powerless — Imagine Breaker just can't be measured by Academy City's Power Levels.
  • Always Save the Girl: Touma is frequently more concerned with the individuals than the long term consequences.
  • Anime Hair: It's actually invoked! You find out that Touma once saw someone with hair like that in a magazine and started to treat it to look like that.
  • Anti-Magic / Power Nullifier: Imagine Breaker.
    • Achilles' Heel: Imagine Breaker can only negate the power itself, not the after effects. For example: He can cancel out magical fire, but not the ash and smoke it creates. Then there's the fact that the effect only applies from his wrist down, so if a power hits somewhere besides his right hand first, he's screwed. It cannot instantly negate a power if it is extremely massive or maintained by an outside source.
      • Which he later learns to use to his advantage in Volume 20 when fighting Accelerator again. He grabs one of Accelerator's wings and uses it to throw Accelerator off balance allowing him to get close.
    • Blessed with Suck: Touma's power also negates his luck, is probably the reason why he's attracting such deadly trouble in the first place, causes him to be classified Level 0 because his power can't be detected, and isn't of any use in mundane situations, either. Imagine Breaker prevents telepathy from affecting him, so he can't hear telepathic warnings. Healing magic is automatically negated in his presence. He can't be teleported to safety, etc.
    • Born Unlucky: Imagine Breaker gives him bad luck but on the other hand gives him a great advantage against supernatural foes. However, before he entered Academy City, he caused misfortune to people around him as well, but that stopped at one point, hinting something caused the misfortune to not spill out onto the world.
    • Born Winner: He's had Imagine Breaker since the beginning of his life, with all its benefits and drawbacks.
    • Catch and Return: He learns to do this to attacks that are too strong for him to negate instantly.
    • Chick Magnet: Index and Komoe theorize that this is another side effect of his Imagine Breaker, both from a magical and scientific perspective.
    • Cursed with Awesome: His powers are actually of divine origin, but he doesn't know it yet. As of Volume 2 of New Testament, he is aware of this and decides to learn more about it.
    • MacGuffin: Imagine Breaker becomes this for Fiamma, and we learn Aleister plans to use it for his plan, albeit in a far different way.
    • Power Incontinence: Imagine Breaker is always on. Which sucks because he could accidentally negate and destroy something he doesn't want to just by touching it, like someone's magical outfit. Kazakiri is made of AIM, so he can never touch her with his right hand or she may be erased.
    • The Nudifier: WARNING: Don't touch Touma's right hand if you're wearing magical clothes.
    • Power Limiter: Imagine Breaker is sealing one, and possibly multiple, superpowered entities.
    • Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can: The "Invisible Thing". NT Volume 15 suggests that there may be more than one entity.
    • Story-Breaker Power: The "Invisible Thing" that made someone as Fiamma of the Right think that everything he has isn't enough to defeat it. The Imagine Breaker is a borderline case as it can counter any power but in turn it can be countered if the opponent uses a gun or has superior physical abilities.
    • Superpower Lottery: First is Imagine Breaker, which makes most Esper powers and magics useless against him. Then he develops his Spider Sense, which means that he can see an attack coming and react accordingly, although he does it subconsciously. This combined with his Imagine Breaker means it's very hard to get under his guard and attack him fatally with any kind of supernatural attack. Finally, when his right arm is chopped off, he unleashes a power that makes everything Fiamma of the Right have pale in comparison. However, he's reluctant to use the last of these, due to knowing basically nothing about it.
  • Alternate Character Reading: His name, Kamijou Touma, is written as (上条 當麻). Kanzaki re-interprets this name in Volume 1 as (神浄 討魔), which is his epithet, "The One Who Purifies Gods and Slays Demons". In the afterword to Volume 14, Kamachi gives an alternate reading to his last name: (神上), which means "The One Above God.", or La Persona Superiore a Dio. His first name can also be read as (透魔), meaning "Invisible Demon", which may be a reference to the being sealed inside him.
  • Anime Hair: Invoked. He deliberately styled his hair in this manner after seeing it in a magazine.
  • Awesomeness By Analysis: Mostly shown in Vol. 20 — He was able to determine the location of an enemy camp by using a simple map he bought from a local Russian Store.
  • Badass: Very much so.
  • The Beard: Mikoto tries to get Touma to pretend to be her boyfriend to discourage another guy who keeps following her around—the grandson of her school's superintendent, so she can't just blow him off the usual way.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: With the tsunderes in his harem.
  • Berserk Button: Don't hurt innocent people, or he will beat you down. But if you do, make sure you do it somewhere he can't see it, because if he does he won't just knock you out, he will beat the everloving shit out of you. Just ask the terrorist who tried to strangle Index.
  • Beware the Honest Ones
  • Beware the Nice Ones
  • Big Damn Heroes: Is quite fond of these, usually coming out of nowhere. Examples include:
    • In the Sisters arc he interrupts Accelerator, who's Curb Kicking Misaka Imouto.
    • In Volume 7 he goes to fight against 250 battle nuns all by himself, all to protect this woman he met 6 hours ago.
    • In Episode 7 of the second season Touma, with the help of Misaka, charges up a very loose series of platforms in order to catch a falling-to-her-death Kuroko and then, as a follow up, punches a 4,500 kg object mid-teleport, breaking several laws of physics as he interferes with the 11th dimension to send it back. Yeah, Touma's been messing with space and time to save people.
  • Bishie Sparkle: In Misaka vision.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Actually have elements of both, but it depends on who you compare him to (he's the blue to Misaka's red, and red to Accelerator's blue).
  • Book Dumb: Averted. He's actually quite smart academically, and is at least decent in a number of subjects. The problem is that he's incapable of grasping the subjects in the Power Curriculum Program due to his inability to use any apparent powers.
    • It's a bit more complicated than that. Though he can calculate the flight path of a supersonic jet and his practical knowledge of physics and geography are very good, he only seems to be able to call upon such knowledge during critical situations. In other words, he just hates studying. Also, he seems to be genuinely bad at a number of subjects, mainly anything to do with language.
  • Butt Monkey: For Touma, every day is a bad day.
  • Catch Phrase: "Such misfortune." (Fukou Da.) To a lesser extent, Touma is also fond of telling people that he's going to "break that illusion".
    • Inverted in Episode 23, where he says "Let me show you now that in this world you reside in there's still hope! And I'll show you that your illusion won't break down because of small things like this!" to reassure Hyouka who isn't human.
  • Chaste Hero
  • Characterization Marches On: As the series progresses, the fact that Touma lost his memories becomes less and less significant and is barely ever brought up after the Angel Fall arc. Given that the readers are introduced to Touma only shortly before his memory loss occurs, it's understandable that his characterization wouldn't change all that much as we never really got to know the "old" Touma. The fact that his memories are gone is barely remembered until he faces Terra of the Left and only really becomes important again when Fiamma of the Right uses the revelation to make Index go berserk.
  • Character-Magnetic Team: With Index.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: He's a normal human except for his Imagine Breaker, but he can take far more punishment than the average guy. He has also demonstrated some impressive feats of strength, including blocking a massive concrete golem's punch with one hand and not budging an inch, and later punching another concrete golem hard enough to shatter it.
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome: And HOW!
    • Taken to a certain extreme in New Testament Volume 4. Basically, one of the characters (a Kihara, at that) seems to truly believe that Kamijou Touma can and will save anyone he sets his eyes on. On the other hand, he also believed that those who couldn't meet up with him would definitely die, at least in the particular catastrophe that was occurring in that volume. He wasn't too far off from the truth; at the end of the volume, just when all hope seems lost, it's Kamijou Touma's unexpected presence that manages to prevent further tragedies from occurring. Ironically, he was also too late; even though he managed to save many innocents, he was too late to save Kihara Kagun himself. One of the main villains of the volume and Touma himself believe that if he got there sooner, Kagun would have lived.
  • Clueless Chick Magnet: He has possibly more people interested in him than any other fictional character, yet remains entirely oblivious to all of them. Best illustrated by a scene in NT Volume 13 where he receives what looks like a love letter, and jumps for joy at "finally getting attention from a girl". This is right next to Seria and Mikoto, both of whom are already interested. Seria even does everything short of explicitly saying "I love you", but he doesn't notice and runs off.
  • Code Name: On the Magic side, he's known as "Imagine Breaker".
  • Combat Pragmatist: He's not above splashing boiling coffee to a terrorist's face to blind him.
  • Crippling Overspecialization: Imagine Breaker makes him great at fighting a single supernatural opponent at a time. Against multiple opponents, or opponents who don't rely on supernatural powers, he's at a disadvantage.
  • Cursed with Awesome: Wanna know why so many women fall for him? Index theorizes that his Imagine Breaker even cancels out the Red String of Fate, effectively making almost every woman fall for him instead of just a few that he's "fated to connect with."
  • Dare to Be Badass:

"Just answer me one question, Magician: Don't you want to save Index?! You guys have been waiting for this haven't you?! A method where you don't need to take away Index's memories... a method where you don't need to be Index's enemies... a method where everyone is smiling and that everyone wants... ...that leads to the ultimate happy ending?! You've been waiting forever for this haven't you?! For this development? What have you guys been clenching your teeth all this time for?! Didn't you swear you'd save this one girl with your own hands?! You'd like to be the main characters of the story too, right?! Quit being content staying a side character! Didn't you put your lives on the line to protect this one girl?! Then it's not over yet! It hasn't even begun! Quit getting depressed in this kinda long prologue! You can reach her if you stretch your hand out! Let's get this thing started already, Magician!"

  • Dating Sim: According to Aisa, his life is a Dating Sim.
  • David Versus Goliath: All of his fights, but especially the ones against Accelerator, spoiler.
  • Defeating the Undefeatable: He's made an art of it.
  • Delinquent: Touma's not really a delinquent, but to most outsiders he probably seems like one. It's not like he's not trying to do well in school, but it's pretty much gotten to the point where the forces of karma are against it.
  • Desperately Looking for a Purpose In Life: Touma saw his right hand as a useless bother, and couldn't find a reason for it. Then he meets Index, and realizes that his useless right hand is the only thing that can save her, and with a glorious rant as narration does so, only to lose all his memory and that person effectively dies. In his place is the Touma afterwards, who is always helping people and values his right hand as a tool that can save lives. Effectively the Kamijou Touma who always wanted to help people dies as he finally succeeds and the Touma that follows saves people as a matter of course with no idea he is doing something his past self always wanted.}
  • Determinator: Without a doubt. This is best shown in NT Volume 9, where he persists through countless hells, any one of which would break most people, and only succumbs in a perfect world where everyone has been saved without his intervention. And once he regains hope (thanks to a little outside intervention), he fights a true goddess, dying countless times, and eventually manages to convince her to restore his world.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: He literally punched out: Innocentius (a 3000 degree fire demon), Accelerator, Ellis (a massive concrete golem), Fiamma of the Right, and Archangel Gabriel.
  • The Dreaded:
    • Although most of the science side have no clue who he is, most of the magic side is utterly terrified of him (or to be more precise, Imagine Breaker). It gets to the point that GREMLIN is perfectly willing to destroy the world, if it means they will be absolutely sure they'll be killing him.
    • In New Testament Volume 4, there's Byouri Kihara, an absolute sociopath who goes up against GREMLIN with a cheerful (if not disturbing) smile on her face. The one time she ever shows fear in that entire volume is when Touma's name is brought up. The narrative itself seems to imply that Kamijou Touma is the worst possible opponent for a Kihara to face. For comparison, the previous noteworthy Kihara of the series, Amata, showed absolutely no fear whatsoever when facing Accelerator, the most powerful Esper in Academy City.
    • Played For Laughs in NT Volume 12, where Shinka Kanou is immediately terrified of Touma upon hearing his name. He thinks of Touma as a legendary fighter who can knock out anyone with a single punch and seduce any girl he comes across. Touma is mortified at this.
  • Evil Laugh: He invokes this during his battle against Aureolus, with a Slasher Smile for additional bonus points.
  • Famous-Named Foreigner: To the Magic side.
  • Fan Nickname: TouMAN.
  • Fastball Special:
    • Performs a variation of one where Acqua launches Touma using Ascalon straight at Carissa to destroy Curtana Original. It earns extra points due to Touma and Aqcua doing it wordlessly in true Bash Brothers fashion, and to the ridiculous bullet-like speed Touma is sent flying.
    • The Railgun manga has an example that (chronologically) occurred before the previous one. This time, Gunha throws him at a rampaging Mikoto.
  • Fetish: For Cool Big Sis type girls.
  • Fighter, Mage, Thief: The Fighter.
  • Fights Like a Normal: Since his power is to nullify others' powers, he has to get down-and-dirty to deal damage.
  • First Episode Spoiler: He loses his memories irrevocably. This goes on to have massive implications for the rest of the series. Pre-memory loss Touma however was a very different person, and is treated as a Posthumous Character.
  • Good Old Fisticuffs: His general fighting style.
  • The Greatest Story Never Told: Despite all his incredible heroic deeds, most of Academy City is completely oblivious to his existence. Not that he's interested in becoming famous. This is taken to its logical extreme in NT Volume 9, where he fights a Magic God singlehandedly to restore his world, knowing that no one would ever know about this (save the Will of the Misaka Network).
  • Harem Hero: A definite Type 2B.
  • Healing Factor: Not stated explicitly, but considering all the punishment he tends to receive in incredibly short periods of time, there's no way he could function otherwise. It is very explicit whenever his right hand/arm is cut off, which causes it regenerate rapidly in order to reseal the "Invisible Thing".
  • The Hero
  • Heroic BSOD: Suffers a heart-breaking example in NT Volume 9. After withstanding countless hells, he's faced with the opposite - a world where absolutely everyone is safe and content, without him ever needing to intervene. Everything he ever accomplished, all rendered meaningless before a god's power. And Othinus claims that, if he wants to preserve this world, he has to die. It takes the intervention of the Will of the Misaka Network to snap him out of it.
  • Heroic Resolve: After getting beaten by Accelerator he stands up after Mikoto shows up. Asswhupping ensues.
  • Honor Before Reason: To the severe detriment of his own health.
  • Hot-Blooded: Very much so.
  • Identity Amnesia: After the first book. Surprisingly, he never gets his memories back.
  • Implacable Man: Get your arm chopped off? Keep going. Have a car dropped on you? Walk it off. Get hit with a massive bolt of electricity? Twice? Gonna have to do better than that.
  • Innocent Cohabitation: Living with Index and later Itsuwa. And thanks to his memory loss, he doesn't even know why.
  • In-Series Nickname: Called "Kamiyan" by Tsuchimikado and Aogami Pierce.
  • Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons: A roaring giant dragon head grows out of the stump of Touma's arm in his battle against Aureolus, after he'd managed to cut off Touma's Imagine Breaker. This was initially dismissed (by Stiyl) as an illusion created by the terrified Aureolus. But in Chapter 69 of Railgun, his arm is cut off again... and eight dragons appear. It's not clear whether these dragons are the same as the "Invisible Thing".
  • Japanese Pronouns: Switches between ore and watakushi.
  • Killed Off for Real: In a sense. Touma's memories are completely gone, period, essentially meaning the person he was before is dead.
  • Laser Guided Amnesia: Loses all his memories at the end of Volume 1, never getting them back. He manages to hide this rather well - it helps that most people wouldn't suspect someone they knew to just lose all their memories like that. NT Volume 11 reveals that, even before this, he had a very specific case of amnesia. Due to brain damage, he can't remember or form new memories of Misaki.
  • Made of Iron: Say, how the hell does he have enough stamina for all of these:
    • Survived his encounter against Kanzaki and managed to throw a punch in her face before he got his ass handed over to him;
    • Challenged Accelerator of all people and won, despite being mortally electrocuted by Mikoto shortly beforehand;
    • Chased Oriana Thomson all over Academy City by running, then fought and defeated her;
    • Defeated several Skill-Outs and Shiage Hamazura in combat shortly after getting shot in the side;
    • Got beaten within an inch of his life by Acqua of the Back but survives. Then he goes to the Amakusa's rescue and managed to buy them some time for their "Saint Destroyer" spell even when he still hasn't recovered from his injuries from his encounter with Acqua;
    • Defeated Accelerator for the second time after he "awakened" and went berserk!
    • Heck, it's pretty much implied that the reason he's developed the ability to sense AIM fields and intercept incoming attacks is that he's simply gotten the shit kicked out of him by supernatural powers so many times that he's developed an affinity for sensing them.
  • Mage Killer: His specialty, obviously minus the "killer" part.
  • Magnetic Hero: A definite example. It's to the point where his collection of allies is officially recognized in-universe as a significant force, the "Kamijou Faction". This was lampshaded as early as Volume 5, where Etzali noted that his ability to gather allies from both the science and magic sides was incredibly dangerous.
  • Manly Tears
  • Martial Pacifist: He always tries to talk things out with his opponents before resorting to kicking their ass.
  • Martyr Without a Cause: He always says "I don't need a reason to save people", but always ends up badly injured.
  • Meaningful Name: His surname (Kamijou) is translated as "The One Above God". In Italian, it is "La Persona Superiore a Dio" which arguably makes it even more awesome. His given name can be translated as "Invisible Demon", a possible reference to the entity sealed inside him. His full name can also be read as "The One Who Purifies Gods and Slays Demons". Given that he's defeated more than one god in the series, it's certainly a fitting name.
  • Never Got to Say Goodbye: To Index in the beginning of the series, and again in the ending of Volume 22.
  • Nice Guy: Even to his enemies.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: While most of his actions do at least some good, many of his decisions cause a lot of trouble later on.
  • No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: No matter what he does or who he saves, the one who will inevitably pay the price for it is Kamijou Touma. He will suffer terrible injuries in the place of others, and his efforts will never be rewarded. He even has to pay for the resulting hospital bills.

"In other words, even if he does anything for Himegami, Kamijou is just helping others pay the bill meaninglessly. In most situations, what he pays would often become his wounds."

Kazakiri: "He's also the kind of guy who speaks to you with a straight face even when you're naked..."

  • Not So Different: Heaven Canceller compares Touma's ideals with Accelerator's: Both want to save those they care for, but the big difference is that the former wants to do it without sacrificing anyone but the later will kill anyone in his way.
  • Oblivious to Love: Touma, are you faking you're obliviousness to how many girls worship the ground you walk on or are you really that big of a bloody tool?
    • In Volume 18 we get "Itsuwa’s face was all red and the others were physically holding her back from going with me. She must have really wanted to save Index. I guess the two of them must have become friends during all that Acqua of the Back stuff." when he's recalling meeting the Amasuka's on his way to help Index.
  • Ordinary High School Student: He constantly describes himself as such, no matter how outlandish the situation he's in.
  • Our Hero Is Dead: The end of Volume 22. It didn't last.
  • The Paragon: If you get preached to or punched out by him, chances are high you'll become quite heroic somewhere down the road.
  • Power User Horror Show: When Touma fights, we see a Badass highschooler struggling to fight with opponents who are objectively much more powerful than him, and winning thanks to his tenacity, hard earned street fighting skills, and a Power Nullifier right arm. But that isn't what his opponents see. What they see, is something that can utterly nullify their powers, no matter how deadly they should normally be, and something that just won't go down no matter what they do, and it is terrifying. It's good to remember that the thing Accelerator fears the most is Touma.
  • Pre-Asskicking One Liner: Every time he utters his Catch Phrase or a variation of it: "I'll kill that illusion of yours!"
  • Properly Paranoid: Touma is extremely suspicious of a generous bounty of good luck, believing that in the end, he will only somehow get screwed over. When he won a trip to Italy, he went through every possible scenerio of what could go wrong on the trip, from a terrorist attack, all the way to landing in a Necessarius/Roman Catholic Church-controlled airport. Ironically, he actually wasn't too wrong about his guess.
  • Rage Against the Heavens: "God, if the world really goes by your rules then I'm gonna smash that illusion apart!"
  • Relationship Voice Actor: With Accelerator as his more gifted rival on two different occasions. Also he interacted with Seiri Fukuyose in said series.
  • Running Gag: Whenever he gets injured he always ends up in the same hospital, in the same room, treated by the same doctor.
    • When he wasn't fantastically injured (for once), he still popped into the hospital to say "Hi" to everybody.

Touma: Hey, frog-man! I didn't get injured this time!
Heaven Canceler: That's not something most people would be proud of...

    • If there is a girl in a closed room, and Touma does not open the door and walk in, is she still naked?
  • Save Scumming: This is how he gains the experience needed to dodge Othinus' attacks, without even needing to think.
  • Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Never mind Imagine Breaker's theorized ability to attract women. Touma's a genuinely Nice Guy, and that turns women on (especially after he rescues them).
  • Sobriquet: "Imagine Breaker" from the Magic side and "The Boy Who Defeated Accelerator" from the Science side.
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Not in Index where he's the main character. However, in Railgun, where Misaka Mikoto is the protagonist, Touma essentially becomes this. This is particularly obvious in the SISTERS arc, where Touma essentially takes on the Big Bad all on his own while Misaka can do little more than watch. Since the two stories happen in the same city and often overlap, this can't really be avoided.
  • Spanner in the Works: While he's not as good at this as Shiage, he can derail villain's complex plans by simply showing up and punching the crap out of anybody he sees threatening others.
  • Spider Sense: He has always had this power (or at least has been slowly developing it) but its only recently been pointed out. He can sense changes in AIM Fields (Espers) and, although not outright stated, it is also been hinted he can do the same with Mana (Magicians). This allows him to react before the attack has even been properly launched.
  • Star-Making Role: Earned Atsushi Abe the Best Rookie Actor of 2010.
  • Stone Wall: Touma is a fairly average street fighter, but his Imagine Breaker combined with Spider Sense makes him Nigh Invulnerable against superpowered foes.
  • Sympathy Sue: An in-universe example. Touma's constant, constant, constant stream of bad luck has earned the sympathy of just about every single female student in his class, and as a result nearly all of them have a crush on him. The boys, on the other hand...
  • Tender Tears: He's got a kind heart.
  • Think Nothing of It: He helps people not for praise, honor, or reward, but simply because it's "the right thing for a man to do".
  • Third Person Person: On occasion.
  • Theme Music Power-Up: Gensou Koroshi (Illusion Killer/Imagine Breaker).Somebody is gonna get punched in the face. Also serves as a leitmotif along with Break Through which is basically the former in allegro.
  • Turn the Other Cheek: Move over, Son Goku, we have a new contender.
  • Unlucky Everydude
  • Unskilled but Strong: Unlike most characters, Touma relies on the simple yet powerful effect of his right hand to combat complex spells and esper abilities. He's also a tough and experienced street fighter, though Kaori and Motoharu have beaten him.
    • Basically, his power means he's a holy terror to people who rely on supernatural abilities like magic or esper powers, but in terms of hand-to-hand combat, whenever Touma runs into someone who knows what they're doing (official assessments state that he's fairly competent as a street fighter but that's about it) he gets schooled. He also tends to get his ass whupped if the opponent just plain outclasses him in physical ability, meaning he has a hard time against Saints like Kaori and Acqua.
  • Unwanted Harem: You lucky bastard. Even lampshaded by Aisa.
    • The guys in his class hate him because all of their female classmates crush on him, and his whole class got pissed at him when a busty waitress showed him sympathy. That class is incredibly Genre Savvy to his charms.
    • It seems to be genetic. When his father first meets Mikoto's mother, she immediately starts getting close — at which point Touma's mother says "Dear, you're doing it again."
    • He pretty much shatters whatever the previous record was when he beats Accelerator in Book 3, his heroic rescue prompting every single one of Misaka's Sisters to fall in love with him. That's right, as of book 3, Touma has a harem count that is literally Over Nine Thousand! And as a run of some nineteen books later will demonstrate, he's just getting warmed up.
    • Alcohol apparently dials Touma's harem making ability Up to Eleven. As in, when Touma walks home drunk one night, about a dozen girls come with him. One of whom he only met a few minutes ago.
  • Unwitting Pawn: He's always someone's pawn without realizing it until it is too late, which winds up crippling Academy City because of his involvement with GREMLIN. It later turns out that he's been a pawn to both the true GREMLIN and to Aleister for the entire series.
  • Warrior Therapist: In some ways, it's his modus operandi. Notable victims include Misaka, Accelerator (twice:The first time began the conversion from Ax Crazy to Byronic Hero, the second seems to have finished the job), and Unabara.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist
  • Wife-Basher Basher: Even though he's more than willing to hit a woman if she tries to cause the deaths of millions to further her own selfish agenda, he will hunt you down like a dog and kick you into the middle of next week if you harm helpless and nice girls.
  • Would Hit a Girl: While he's normally a gentleman, if you dare hurt innocent people Touma will smash your face in, male or female.
  • You Leave Her Alone! His challenge to stop Accelerator from murdering Misaka 10032, armed with nothing but bravery, kindness and a mean right jab.

Accelerator

The One Who Wields the Power of God

Let's not get him too excited...

"They may all look the same to you, but there are different kinds and different levels of evil. A first-class villain doesn't target honest lives."

Voiced by Nobuhiko Okamoto

See this scrawny albino kid? If you do, be afraid. Be very afraid. You can run, but you'll only die tired. Accelerator is the most powerful Level 5 Esper in Academy City. His power is called Redirection, which is a type of telekinesis where the vector direction of anything, anything that acts upon his body can be controlled. His powers are also automatic, so anything that tries to hit him, regardless of whether he's aware of it or not, gets sent back where it came from -- hard.

He was part of an experiment called the "Level 6 Shift", the goal of which was to make him the first Level 6 by killing 20,000 clones of Mikoto. The Level 6 Shift was actually meaningless and the true goal was to cover up the Sisters' purpose in Aleister's Artificial Heaven plan. It was meant to stop, but it hadn't been planned that it would occur at the hands of Touma. After the Experiment was cancelled, and some soul searching, he pulled a Heel Face Turn to make amends for his sins -- starting by saving Last Order. Since then, he's become one of the main characters.

Tropes exhibited by Accelerator include:
  • A God Am I: Accelerator's ambition, at least early on. He doesn't state it in so many words, but he does say that he wants to become so powerful that it "would be a sin" to fight him. The implication is crystal clear.
  • Accidental Pervert/Ignore the Fanservice: When he enters the bathroom to take a shower and finds Yoshikawa, Yomikawa, and Last Order naked inside, he just gets pissed that they didn't close the door.
  • The Ace: He is pretty much good at everything he does. He even displayed a perfect control at a sub-atomic level.
    • Broken Ace: But considering the childhood and the torture he's endured to attain his powers, he's this. At least until Volume 22, where he turns over a new leaf.
  • Anti-Hero: Type IV, until New Testament, where he's shifted to Type III.
  • Above Good and Evil: What he ultimately becomes due to Character Development.
  • Always Someone Better: Touma, Touma, fuckin' Touma. Accelerator sees him as his personal idol, and as time goes by, he adopts his philosophy.
  • Always Save the Girl: Well let's name a few. Last Order, Index, Misaka WORST, Fremea, Birdway (almost in NT volume 3), Yomikawa, Yoshikawa, etc. At this rate, he will end up with a Unwanted Harem.
  • All Guys Want Sorority Women: Played for laughs, but seriously, It's a wonder why he puts up with Misaka WORST.
  • Alternate Character Reading: The name "Accelerator" is spelled in kanji as 一方通行 (one-way road).
  • Attack Reflector: His whole power.
  • The Atoner: To the boy's credit, he's come to know the error of his ways and is trying to be a better person... not that he's going to be particularly nice about it, though.
  • Ax Crazy: Much throughout the first series of novels. But as demonstrated by the New Testament series, after ascending to the Age of Horus, he shows a composed and cool attitude towards his opponents and refrains from killing them. For example, Umidori.
  • Badass

Accelerator: "I strive for something beyond the strongest, that challenging me would be the most ridiculous thought ever, that fighting me would be an unforgivable sin!"

Accelerator: "This is not a negotiation, a suggestion, a deal, an entreaty, an agreement, a compromise, or a capitulation. It’s my triumphant return, you fuckers."

    • Badass Pacifist: This is more or less confirmed to be the reason why he's so ruthless and blood-thirsty in battle (most of the time), and why he strives to be the strongest ever. By being the most powerful, he figures no one would dare raise a finger against him, hence he wouldn't have to be involved in any sort of fights or conflicts--something he dearly wants. From the way he behaves in New Testament, he has taken a level in Technical Pacifist and has dropped the psycho element. If nothing where to come his way and threaten the people he cares for, he'd be a complete pacifist.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Musujime Awaki (they even mockingly call one another husband and wife), and later on, Misaka Worst.
  • Berserk Button: Don't even think about harming Last Order, or the Sisters, or Yomikawa and Yoshikawa, or Misaka Worst, or any little girls — hell, ANYBODY who's innocent—because he will fuck you up!
  • Big Bad: Of the Sisters Arc.
  • Black and White Insanity: Suffers from this for quite a while, until Touma tells him it's a load of crap.
  • Blood Knight
  • Blue Oni: To Misaka Worst's and Touma's red.
  • Broken Bird: For a good part of the series; to the point of calling himself an evil bastard who can't reach the light anymore. But since his rematch with Touma, he stopped caring about labels like good and evil as it only serves to drag him down and never helps him protect what he wants.
  • Brought Down to Normal: Played with. After Volume 5 he could only use his powers for 15 minutes at a time, but thanks to GROUP technicians that limit was increased to 30 minutes. Still, because the Sisters can't match him in processing power he’s weaker than before. His calculations become quite unstable if he's underground because the Sisters' signal gets distorted. Also, GROUP's employer and the higher-ups put a kill switch in his choker — probably when they tweaked it so he got 30 minutes of esper mode — to disable it, and outright block the basic calculations needed so he can walk and speak. Accelerator recovers his choker's plans from Heaven Canceller to attempt to build a new one, only to see it is nearly impossible. He instead uses his custom built cane in Volume 19 to discover what frequency is used to mess with his choker, and blocks it out using a sort of jammer installed in his cane.
    • Brought Down to Badass: On two separate occasions (in the warehouse against the Hound Dogs during the September 30 incident and during the Skill-Out uprising shortly afterward) he has found himself facing a large number of armed opponents without the use of his powers, and only possessing a gun to fight with. He still manages to take down all his foes and accomplish his objectives.
  • Byronic Hero
    • Furthermore, he sometimes tries to invoke Even Evil Has Standards when he decides to do something heroic, with lines like "A high-class villain doesn't target honest civilians." And then there's the time when he decided to rescue Misuzu from assassination, but since he's a "villain," he decides to do so in the most traumatizing way possible in order to make up for it.
  • Character Development: He's introduced as an Ax Crazy (very close to being a Complete Monster) antagonist in Volume 3 with a Dark and Troubled Past. After a humbling defeat by Touma and gaining a sense of purpose in protecting Last Order, this trope is in full force. Accelerator is one of few characters to cross the Moral Event Horizon by accepting the 'Level 6 Shift' that involves massacring the 20,000 Misaka clones, over half of which he personally killed and all of it For the Evulz and yet gained and earned (the The Atoner, Brought Down to Normal, and Irony tropes are his punishment) enough development to become one of the main characters.
  • Comes Great Responsibility: Since he decided to change his life his responsibilities have increased a lot, and he barely manages to handle them.
  • Death Glare: His default expression.
    • Though it is noted he has developed a softer expression and voice around small girls, like Last Order and Birdway, which the latter lampshades.
  • Death Seeker: He's trying to redeem himself for the sins he's committed, so he tries to protect the remaining clones and the people he cares for even if that means throwing away his life.
  • Deuteragonist
  • The Dreaded: Everyone in Academy City fears Accelerator, with the exception of the other two protagonists, his legal guardians, and some bullies who are Too Dumb to Live.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Lampshaded and outright shown by Accelerator himself during his fight with Kakine Teitoku.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Doubles as his sobriquet. As not even Accelerator remembers his original name, and considers "Accelerator" his name, it could technically be a case of His Name Really Is "Barkeep".
  • Evil Albino → Heroic Albino
  • Evil Counterpart: To Touma.
  • Evil Laugh
  • For the Evulz: He loves to tell his victims how they are going to die to bring fear into them because it's fun and funny.
  • Fight Off the Kryptonite: When fighting Kihara for the last time. Not only can Kihara nullify Accelerator's powers, but also can hit him. Accelerator keeps attacking, until his collar battery runs out, removing his powers and mental ability completely. Despite being in a state where he shouldn't be able to think, let alone stand, Accelerator gets back up and keeps fighting Kihara. Doing more damage than he did with his powers, largely because his "strategy" caught Kihara completely off guard. Accelerator keeps this up for a while until he awakens for the first time, where it elevates to a Curb Stomp Battle.
  • Fighter, Mage, Thief: The Mage.
  • Finger-Poke of Doom/Touch of Death: With a single touch, he can pulverize objects or reverse the blood-flow in people.
  • Gender Bender: Yes, Accelerator has one called Yuriko! What started as a joke on Accelerator's gender by the novel artist, Yuriko became a hit with the fans.
  • The Gunslinger: He almost always carries a pistol with him in case he can't find an opportune time to use Redirect. If he doesn't, he'll usually strip a hapless Mook off of one. And while not quite as good as Shiage, he is very deadly with one.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper
  • Has Two Mommies: After he and Last Order are adopted by Yomikawa Aiho and Yoshikawa Kikyou.
  • Heel Realization: During his internal monologue in the fight with Touma in the Railgun manga.
  • Heroic BSOD: A few times. His worst was in Volume 20 when he was forced to fight Misaka WORST, resulting in him losing all faith in everything and lashing out at the world in Black Wings mode. It takes a visit from Touma to snap him out of it.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: He risks his life to save Last Order. He survives.
  • Heroic Willpower: In Volume 15, after losing his mind against Kakine, he goes on a rampage, causing massive destruction. Even then there’s only one thing he doesn't do: Kill.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: He wanted to become stronger so that no one could challenge him, and so no one would get hurt by his power. But in the process, he willingly killed over ten thousand people.
  • Hidden Heart of Gold: Tried to keep the Elizalinian people safe by getting away from their country so they wouldn't get involved in his battles... only to be discovered by Misaka WORST to his great embarrassment.
  • Hot-Blooded: With a shotgun and even without his powers!
  • I Just Want To Be A Hero: Since his Heel Face Turn he wants to be a hero like Touma, to the point he imitates him by using only his right hand. In Volume 20, he comments that using the right hand doesn't suit him.
  • I Let You Win: In NT Volume 10, he fights and deliberately loses to Touma. This didn't just allow Touma and Othinus to move on - the fact that such a powerful esper lost also made others reluctant to pursue them.
  • Improvised Weapon: Once he threw a building.
    • The original attack was even more Badass: He took five minutes-worth of energy from the Earth's rotation and fired it. An anonymous poster did the math and found that the sheer amount of force involved was enough to shatter the planet several times over.
  • Incoming Ham: All the damn time, but especially around Kihara.

Accelerator: KIIIIIHAAAAARAAAAAAAAAAAA-KUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!

  • Irony: The very continuation of his life is now dependent on the very girls he gleefully butchered in his quest for godhood.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite still being a Jerkass, he's at least somewhat nice, especially to Last Order.
  • Knight Templar / Knight Templar Big Brother: For the sake of the people he cares about like Last Order, Yomikawa, Yoshikawa, and many others.
  • Lack of Empathy: At least until Last Order came into his life and showed him that even he had hope of connecting with the rest of humanity as a human rather than a monster.
  • Lolicon: Not in-universe, but is widely regarded as one jokingly.
    • Misaka Worst even highlights this when he wants to save Fremea.
    • Birdway also points this out in NT volume 3.
  • Lonely at the Top: As a kid, which was what convinced him to accept the experiment at first. He thought if he could achieve ultimate power no one would try to fight him and he would be accepted.
  • Manly Tears: Of blood.
  • Mook Horror Show: Big time. Even after he’s Brought Down to Normal!
  • Morality Pet: The most important people in his life: Last Order and the world around her and her guardians, Yomikawa and Kikyou.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: The Railgun manga shows much of the fight with Touma from his perspective. During these moments, there's a gradual creeping horror in his internal monologue as he realizes A. the Sisters really are people unlike what he was told B. they're not willing to go through with it anymore and C. he was doing all this in the first place to avoid having to hurt anyone again. Net result? An implication that he only lost because he was freaking out and didn't really want to win anymore.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Though there are people who still think he can be defeated.
  • Never Hurt an Innocent: During his fight against Kakine, Kakine was stunned when he noticed Accelerator was restraining himself the whole time to protect the people around them.
  • Noble Demon: Progressively moreso with his gradual Character Development.
  • Nobuhiko Okamoto
  • No One Could Survive That: The bullet which pierced his brain and made him a Handicapped Badass.
  • Normally I Would Be Dead Now: Detonating a grenade in his face or cutting him in half are good examples.
  • Not So Different: Heaven Canceller compares his ideals with Touma's who both want to save those they care about. The difference between the both of them is that the former will do it by killing anyone in his way while the latter wants to do it without sacrificing anyone. Interestingly enough, Accelerator wishes he could do the same.
  • One-Man Army
    • Angel Mode Sue: When he fully awakens, Accelerator's power approaches that of Archangel Gabriel!
    • Determinator
    • Glass Cannon: His powers usually make him a Lightning Bruiser but if you have a way to get past his Redirection he can be taken down with only a few punches.
    • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: The administer of them.
    • Made of Iron: While initially frail, he toughens up over the course of the series. In his third fight with Touma, he shrugs off multiple punches without flinching.
    • Person of Mass Destruction: He’s the strongest of the seven Level 5s and was able to slow down the Earth's rotation for 5 minutes! It's also not just that he's able to. He did that "casually" to use the absorbed energy to launch an attack at Crowley's 'fortress' to no effect.
  • Odd Friendship: Him and Birdway in New Testament 3.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: He used to have a real, normal name. He even tells how many characters were in it but doesn't remember what it was. He's only called Accelerator now.
  • Parental Substitute: What he basically is to Last Order. In New Testament, he even pulls this on Misaka Worst. Funnily enough, Kamachi mentions this in his author's notes and says that it’s unknown whether Accelerator is the father or mother figure to Last Order.
  • Photographic Memory: He comments after looking at a page of computer code once that memorizing it is easy.
  • Physical God: He has the epithet "The One Who Wields The Power of God", and it definitely fits. With his power active, he's essentially untouchable and can literally destroy the world. When awakened, he can match an archangel.
  • Punny Name: Accelerator's name in kanji means "one-way street", referring to his personality.

Accelerator: I'm sorry, from here on the path is only a "one-way street"! You can't advance, just hide your tail and cry your way to home!

Accelerator: "... Ah, but just because I've became weaker doesn't mean you've became stronger, right?"

  • Screaming Warrior: Especially noticeable when he's up against Kihara.
    • One Youtube commenter even pointed out how Okamoto must have super-strong vocal chords to perform Accelerator's role without going mute.
  • Sincerest Form of Flattery: For quite a while he tries to copy Touma, such as using only his right hand to fight, or finishing up by punching the enemy in the face. However, he quickly realiszs just how difficult this is, causing his inferiority complex to grow even larger.
  • Sir Swearsalot: This boy's normal everyday vocabulary would make Samuel L. Jackson blush in embarrassment.
    • He very rarely even calls Last Order by name, preferring "kusogaki" (lit. "shitty brat") instead.
  • Slasher Smile: If you see one of these on him, you are fucked...
  • Sophisticated As Hell: Does this a lot.
  • Spell My Name with a "The": He's often refered to as 'The' Accelerator.
  • Squishy Wizard: His automatic and near-perfect defense means that he’s nigh untouchable. Still, if it's turned off for whatever reason, or otherwise negated, he's physically weak with almost zero defense and endurance. Subverted in later volumes, where he demonstrates a reasonable degree of endurance (shrugging off multiple punches).
  • Star-Making Role: Landed Nobuhiko Okamoto the Best New Voice Actor of 2009 Trophy for his blood-chillingly evil performance, as a matter of fact.
    • Also one of three role that landed him Best Supporting Actor of 2010. The other two are Takumi Usui and Nizuma Eiji.
  • Super Mode: Awakening, which causes white wings to unfurl on his back and increases his power massively.
  • Super-Powered Evil Side: Dark Awakening.
  • Tears of Blood: The first time he cries.
  • 'Tis Only a Bullet in the Brain: And he survives it!!
  • Theme Music Power-Up: Ippou Tsuukou (One-Way Road) in the first season. Doubles as Hell Is That Noise and as his Leitmotif. This is your cue to run.
  • Tsundere: The general consensus within fandom on what exactly he is.
    • Misaka Worst apparently agrees.
    • A non-romantic variation comes up in NT Volume 10. He tells Touma, while seemingly fighting him seriously, that he'll only bother fighting for those in his cell phone's memory. He and Touma have traded phone numbers.
  • Tragic Villain: Because of his life from his childhood until he meets Last Order.
  • Undying Loyalty: While they usually move in different circles, he has this to Touma. Best illustrated in NT Volume 10, where he (and the rest of the Level 5s) are ordered to assassinate Touma and Othinus. Despite only knowing that Touma has sided with the leader of the terrorist organization threatening the world, he immediately sides with him, deliberately losing a fight to him to discourage other Level 5s being sent out. Note that, while other opponents in the volume sided with Touma after he explained the situation to them, Accelerator did so right from the start.
  • Unskilled but Strong: In his first fight with Touma, Accelerator finds himself at a bit of a loss when he can't just curbstomp Touma like his previous enemies.
  • Villain Protagonist: The earlier stories centered around him, which carry a blood curdling, unwholesome cynicism and brutality that is lacking in the stories centered around Touma. Over time, he sheds the "villain" part entirely.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: He originally wanted to become stronger to ensure that no one would challenge him and get hurt.
  • White-Haired Pretty Boy: Oh Boy.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Thanks to his Training from Hell by Amata Kihara.
  • The Worf Effect: An in-universe example. After being defeated by Touma (a Level 0 Esper), gangs of punks challenged Accelerator on the assumption that he's really a pussy. This is followed by brutal No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
  • Would Hit a Girl: When he was evil, he killed several thousand Misaka clones. When he became good, he absolutely wrecked Awaki's face with his fist. And he beat the crap out of Misaka WORST so hard that he broke her arm.

Shiage Hamazura

He Who Defies Finality

Another unfortunate man...

“Everyone has things I don’t. No matter how much I struggle, I just can’t obtain them and yet I still have a final goal that I want to grab no matter what.”

Voiced by Satoshi Hino

A Level 0 and former Skill-Out gangster. As a former lacky, grunt, chaffeur, and informant of Team ITEM, he delved into Academy City's Dark Side and turned into an anomaly that made a habit of spectacularly derailing Aleister's plans, making him the most wanted man in Academy City and placing him firmly at the top of Aleister's hit-list. It must suck to be him.

Tropes exhibited by Hamazura-san include:
  • AI: Aneri, the AI in the Dragon Rider, who becomes attached to Shiage. It turns out that it's a weaker version of the Reading Thoth 78, Aleister's personal AI.
  • Always Someone Better: Poor guy feels this way about both Accelerator and Touma.
  • Anti-Hero: Type III.
  • Badass Normal: Unlike Touma, he's a true Level 0 with absolutely no powers or abilities, yet still he manages to take down a Level 5, more than once. Also unlike Touma, that was without anyone's help.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: Implied to be the reason he decided to save Rikou in the first place.
  • Beware the Honest Ones
  • Blessed with Suck: One could argue that his luck is even worse than Touma's.
  • Book Dumb: He’s a Level 0 drop out, but that doesn't mean he's stupid in fights.
  • Butt Monkey: He gets his ass kicked by Accelerator, who succeeds in killing his boss. He then took over as leader of one of the biggest Skill Out gangs in the city.... only to get his ass kicked by Touma and Accelerator again on his first day! Then he became a informant/servant boy for ITEM, who treat him with no respect. Then, when he finally manned up, he is forced to runaway with his girlfriend after pissing off the head of Academy City and a psychotic Shizuri! Good God, is he unlucky.
  • The Champion: For Rikou.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Esper powers? Magic? Screw that! He's got a gun.
  • Cool Bike: The Dragon Rider in New Testament 1.
  • David Versus Goliath: Despite the overwhelming odds he faces, he somehow manages to survive and win his fights. Unfortunately, this is one of the reasons some fans don't like him.
  • Defeating the Undefeatable: He can't claim to win against someone with a Superpower Lottery like Touma, but he still beat a Level 5, who are said to only to be capable of being defeated by other Level 5s, twice.
    • There's also him being a Spanner in the Works to Aleister, when no one else has been able to derail his plans quite like Shiage. This earned him his epithet, "He Who Defies Finality".
    • On the other hand, he did lose to Touma in a straight-up fight, where Touma's Superpower Lottery would have made no difference, seeing as they were both Level 0s.
  • Delinquents: A former Skill Out.
  • Determinator: Another reason why he is called "He who defies finality".
  • Do Not Go Gentle: To Acqua of the Back in Volume 21. The injured and now-powerless Acqua tells Shiage that he was nothing but dead weight, and Shiage should just leave him there to die and continue on to complete his objective. Shiage's response doubles as both a Crowning Moment of Awesome and a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming:

"... what about the person who is waiting for you at home? You've managed to survive in these situations for such a long time. That time you saved me and my friends, it didn't seem like anything special to you, as that was the path you walked. So a guy like you will never be alone. Even if you don't think about it, there are several people relying on you. What will happen to them? To die for the sake of the world, to die to protect others, who would accept such stupid excuses?! They are unacceptable! The reason you fight is not to let those waiting for you to not be able to do anything other than cry! Stand up, hero! STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPPPP!!!"

  1. ↑ Last Order is proof
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