The official NBC Anime Music account has announced that the first opening of the anime adaptation of A Certain Scientific Railgun, “only my railgun,” has achieved a whopping 30 million listens on Spotify alone.
This vocal track by fripSide is undeniably the most iconic opening of the entire To Aru series. Considering how it’s been 15 years since the song’s arrival, this feat isn’t exactly all that surprising; it was genuinely an unparalleled phenomenon for a brief while when it was first released.
My favorite opening is the first of A Certain Magical Index, “PSI Missing,” but “only my railgun” still has that nostalgic, catchy flair.
Despite being a spinoff of the franchise’s origin point and still ongoing light novel series, A Certain Magical Index, A Certain Scientific Railgun is immeasurably more beloved. Its anime adaption blew up, and its three seasons have been met with generally favorable acclaim, unlike Index and Accelerator.
This series follows Mikoto Misaka, the third-ranked Level 5 Esper of Academy City, alongside her close friends, Shirai Kuroko, Saten Ruiko, and Uiharu Kazari. The group finds themselves dealing with several issues plaguing the world’s Science side, as its title suggests.
Chronologically speaking, the first season of Railgun occurs before the first season of Index, leading to intriguing encounters with that entry’s primary protagonist, Touma Kamijou, if one is aware of what particular plight his character faces.
The second season of Railgun runs roughly parallel to Index’s first season, with a certain arc even being told from two differing perspectives. Lastly, the third and most recent season, Railgun T, takes place somewhat parallel to Index’s second season, also depicting an Index arc from a new side.
Railgun joined the global version of the mobile game Blue Archive in an expansive collab.
An official A Certain Scientific Railgun 15th anniversary concert for the anime was announced.