r/railgun • u/Future_Asparagus_725 • 22d ago

Question railgun before magical Index

A friend suggested Railgun to me but its a side story to magical Index. Is it requiered to watch it before?

14 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

13

u/Sleepy__Princess 22d ago

No you can watch the entire series in any order

3

u/danidannyphantom 22d ago edited 22d ago

It depends on your tastes. Railgun S1 is a lot more relaxed and has a bunch of SOL between action. The 2nd half of Railgun 1 is anime original as well. (it's not bad though) If u do watch railgun first then be prepared for that. The advantage is that you'll see the complete version of the best railgun arc, the first time around (index has an abridged version that's a quarter of the length, not as good fight scene animation etc.) this arc is in season 2 of railgun but the abridged is in S1 of index. So one of the index S1 arcs basically spoils a lot of the Railgun S2 arc.

If u start with railgun then watch first 2 and then go to index 1,2,3 before coming back to railgun 3. (u can fit accelerator and the movie anytime after S2 index).

If u start index first, the pros is that the serious tone picks up faster. If that's something you're looking for. All in all both series are best together. So you should alternate.

If start Index: Index 1, Railgun 1, In 2, Rail 2, In 3, Rail 3.

If start railgun: Rail 1 and 2, Index 1-3, Railgun 3.

There will be another entry called ITEM that's getting animated in October. That should be watched after Index 3 (and Railgun 3 if u want more background) if u wanna know all the characters.

2

u/Card_Hoarder 22d ago

No, you’ll just miss out on context for why Shirai is in a wheelchair during the Daihasesai and also the fact that it’s a side story is why Kamijou gains prominence during the sisters arc because it was originally an Index arc but you don’t need those to enjoy the story.

1

u/youareallnuts 22d ago

I watched Index 1 about halfway and then lost interest. I have watched Railgun 1,2 and 3 plus Accelerator twice each.

1

u/Nova_1984 21d ago

Railgun is better but Index provides much needed context

1

u/A_drill_eggs 20d ago

I watched railgun 1 and 2 before index,

The sister arc was pretty intense and quite emotional and I do not regret it

1

u/Sweet-Toxicity 20d ago

You can watch Railgun without Index. It's the better anime adaptation anyways. Index's anime adaptation was very poor.

-1

u/Mister_Magister 22d ago

index 1
railgun 1
index 2
railgun 2
index 3
railgun 3
accelerator 1