The second season of the Japanese animated television series ''A Certain Scientific Railgun'', based on the manga of the same name, follows

Mikoto Misaka is a fictional character created by Kazuma Kamachi and first illustrated by Kiyotaka Haimura. She is a major character in the ''A Certain Magical Index'' light novel series and the main protagonist of its manga spin-off series ''A Certain Sci ...

in her attempt to stop the deadly project that involves her clones and the most powerful esper in Academy City named Accelerator, with unlikely help from

Toma Kamijo is a fictional character created by Kazuma Kamachi and first illustrated by Kiyotaka Haimura. He is the main protagonist of the light novel series ''A Certain Magical Index'' and a major character in its manga spin-off series ''A Certain Sci ...

. The season, known as ''A Certain Scientific Railgun S'', was produced by

J.C.Staff , is a Japanese animation studio founded in January 1986 by Tomoyuki Miyata, who previously worked at Tatsunoko Production. The studio's first release was ''Yōtōden'' in 1987. They have produced several well-known anime series, such as '' Food ...

and directed by

Tatsuyuki Nagai is a Japanese anime storyboard artist and director. He made his full directorial debut in 2006 with '' Honey and Clover II'', after which he had directed 2007's '' Idolmaster: Xenoglossia'', 2008's ''Toradora!'', 2009's ''A Certain Scientific Rai ...

with series composition supervised by Seishi Minakami. The series sees the return of the main cast members

Rina Satō is a Japanese voice actress with hundreds of television and video game productions, many multi-year, and is active in film and as a singer as well. She won the Best Lead Actress Award at the 8th Seiyu Awards. Satō has been appearing since 2003 ...

Satomi Arai is a Japanese voice actress from Saitama Prefecture. She married voice actor Yoshimitsu Shimoyama is a male Japanese voice actor from Kanagawa Prefecture. He revealed himself as Satomi Arai's husband, having married since 2008 and had a son in ...

Aki Toyosaki is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Tokushima (city), Tokushima, Tokushima Prefecture. She had her first major voice acting roles in 2007, voicing Amuro Ninagawa in ''Kenkō Zenrakei Suieibu Umishō'' and Su (Shugo Chara!), Su in ''Shug ...

, and

Kanae Itō is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Nagano Prefecture. Biography After graduating from high school, Ito attended thAmusement Media Academyin 2007. She was a member of the groups and , before they were disbanded between December 16, 200 ...

, with the addition of Nozomi Sasaki and

Atsushi Abe is a Japanese voice actor and narrator represented by Ken Production. Some of his major roles include Toma Kamijo in the ''A Certain Magical Index'' / ''A Certain Scientific Railgun'' series, Kukai Soma in ''Shugo Chara'', Moritaka Mashiro in ' ...

from ''

A Certain Magical Index is a Japanese light novel series written by Kazuma Kamachi and illustrated by Kiyotaka Haimura, which has been published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint since April 2004 in a total of three sepa ...

'' television series. A sequel was announced in October 2012, with the cast and staff from the first season confirming their return in the same month. ''A Certain Scientific Railgun S'' aired in Japan on April 12, 2013, consisting of twenty-four episodes, and concluded on September 27. A third season was announced in October 2018. __TOC__

Episode list

Cast and characters

Main

Recurring

Production

Development

A sequel to the 2009

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series ''

A Certain Scientific Railgun is a Japanese manga series written by Kazuma Kamachi and illustrated by Motoi Fuyukawa, which began serialization in the April 2007 issue of ASCII Media Works' ''Dengeki Daioh'' magazine. The manga is a spin-off of Kamachi's ''A Certa ...

'' was announced at Dengeki 20th Anniversary Festival in October 2012. A few days after it was announced,

was confirmed to be returning from the first season to produce the sequel, with the returning staff members

as the director, Seishi Minakami as the series composition writer, and Yuichi Tanaka as the character animation designer. The series would be premiered in 2013, later announced to be on April 12, and consists of twenty-four episodes.

Writing

The series adapted the Sisters

story arc A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, board games, vide ...

from ''

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series. J.C.Staff producer Yuji Matsukura was glad that the popular story arc would be animated in the second season since it was still in the middle of serialization during the production of the first season. Nagai revealed that an original summer vacation story would be included in the series upon the conclusion of the Sisters story arc.

Casting

In October 2012,

, and

were confirmed to be reprising their respective roles from the first season as

Kuroko Shirai The following is a list of characters from ''A Certain Magical Index'' light novel, manga and anime series, and its side-story manga and anime series titled ''A Certain Scientific Railgun'' and '' A Certain Scientific Accelerator''. The series pr ...

, Kazari Uiharu, and Ruiko Saten, with the addition of Nozomi Sasaki as the

Sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

and

, both reprising their roles from ''

'' television series. In March 2013,

Ikumi Hayama , also known as , is a Japanese voice actress and narrator. Biography After working at Beeface Creative and Osawa Office, she joined Vi-Vo. Hayama reported on her blog she was married on March 29, 2014. In December 2014, she left Vi-Vo and announ ...

was revealed to be voicing Shinobu Nunotaba, a researcher associated with Level 6 Shift Project. In May 2013, additional voice actors were announced to be voicing the members of dark side organization

ITEM Item may refer to: Organizations * ''Instituto del Tercer Mundo'' (ITeM), the Third World Institute * ITEM club, an economic forecasting group based in the United Kingdom Newspapers * ''The Item'', an American independent, morning newspaper ...

, including

Ami Koshimizu is a Japanese actress and singer. She has voiced many different types of characters, from young girls to adult women, as well as boys and animals. Her roles include leads such as Ryuko Matoi in '' Kill la Kill'', Kallen Stadtfeld in ''Code Geass ...

as Shizuri Mugino,

Chinatsu Akasaki is a Japanese voice actress affiliated with 81 Produce. Biography Akasaki graduated from Kagoshima Prefectural Kinkōwan High School and Tokyo Gakugei University. She studied Italian as a second foreign language. She won the Nippon Cultural Broa ...

as Saiai Kinuhata,

Maaya Uchida is a Japanese voice actress and singer who works for I'm Enterprise. She won the Best Rookie Actress Award at the 8th Seiyu Awards. She is best known for her roles such as Rikka Takanashi in ''Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions'', Ranko Kanzaki i ...

as Frenda Seivelun, and

Aya Suzaki is a Japanese voice actress and narrator affiliated with I'm Enterprise. She is widely known for her work, such as Tamako Kitashirakawa in ''Tamako Market''. Biography Suzaki is good at singing, and lists soft tennis and scuba diving as her fav ...

as Rikō Takitsubo.

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

announced in April 2014 the English dub cast for the series, including

Mariela Ortiz Mariela Ortiz (born August 5, 1976) is an American voice actress, who previously worked for ADV Films and currently for Funimation. She's also an accomplished stage performer who has appeared in productions in both Texas and New York, including T ...

as Nunotaba,

Leah Clark Leah Clark is an American voice actress, ADR director and ADR script writer working for Funimation. She has provided voices for Japanese anime series and video games. Some of her major roles include Mavis Vermillion in '' Fairy Tail'', Suzuka As ...

as Seivelun, Lydia Mackay as Mugino,

Apphia Yu Apphia Yu, also known as Ayu Sakata, is an American voice actress. She has worked on games such as ''Loren The Amazon Princess'' and ''Tales of Aravorn: Seasons of the Wolf'', and on anime like ''Assassination Classroom''. She is the founder of ...

as Kinuhata, and

Megan Shipman Megan Shipman is an American voice actress, known for providing voices in English dubs of Japanese anime series. Some of her notable roles include Yuzu Aihara in ''Citrus'', Aoba Suzukaze in ''New Game!'', Grey in ''Black Clover'', Maple in ''Bo ...

as Takitsubo.

Music

Maiko Iuchi is a Japanese composer and arranger. Much of her work is for video games and anime. Biography Iuchi was born in Hiroshima. She learned piano and percussion from a young age. As a high school student, she performed as a drummer in various band ...

I've Sound I've Sound, or simply called , is a Japanese techno/trance music production group based in Sapporo, Hokkaidō, Japan. Led by Kazuya Takase, it features the talents of seasoned "sound creators" and many different vocalists, known as to their fa ...

served as the

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

of ''A Certain Scientific Railgun S''. The second season uses six pieces of

theme music Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

: two openings and four endings. For the first sixteen episodes, the opening theme is "Sisters' Noise" by

fripSide fripSide is a Japanese pop and trance duo originally formed by composer Satoshi Yaginuma (Sat) and singer Nao in February 2002. History In a 2008 interview, Satoshi said that he was a fan of TM Network and its member Tetsuya Komuro in his elem ...

whilst the main ending theme is "Grow Slowly" by

Yuka Iguchi is a Japanese voice actress and singer. Biography She auditioned for Broccoli Broccoli (''Brassica oleracea'' var. ''italica'') is an edible green plant in the cabbage family (family Brassicaceae, genus ''Brassica'') whose large flowering ...

. The ending theme for episodes 11 and 14 is "Stand Still" by Iguchi. From episode 17 onwards, the opening theme is "Eternal Reality" by fripSide whilst the ending theme is by

Sachika Misawa is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Yamanashi Prefecture who is affiliated with Stardust Promotion. As a singer, she is signed to Universal Music Japan. Some of her main roles include Kuroyukihime in ''Accel World'', Minami Azuma in ''To ...

. The ending theme for episode 23 is by Misawa.

Marketing

A TV commercial ad, narrated by Satō, for ''A Certain Scientific Railgun S'' was aired on AT-X in March 2013. In the same month, Satō, Arai, Toyosaki, and Itō were present at Anime Contents Expo 2013 in

Makuhari Messe is a Japanese convention center outside Tokyo, located in the Mihama-ku ward of Chiba City, in the northwest corner of Chiba Prefecture. Designed by Fumihiko Maki, it is accessible by Tokyo's commuter rail system. ''Makuhari'' is the name of ...

to promote the series, where a 90-second promo video was released. Additional three TV commercial ads were aired on

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

in April 2013, each narrated by Arai, Toyosaki, and Itō.

Release

Broadcast

''A Certain Scientific Railgun S'' began airing in Japan on AT-X and

on April 12, 2013, on

MBS MBS may refer for: People * Mohammed bin Salman (born 1985), crown prince and prime minister of Saudi Arabia * Mohan Bikram Singh (born 1935), Nepalese politician Places * MBS International Airport (IATA code: MBS), Freeland, Michigan, US * Mari ...

on April 13, on CBC on April 17, on BS11 on April 19, and on Tochigi TV on April 24.

Home media

Geneon Universal Entertainment (abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo. It is primarily involved in the production and distribution of anime within Japan. Th ...

released eight

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

volumes of ''A Certain Scientific Railgun S'' in Japan starting July 24, 2013. Each volume contains a

bonus Bonus commonly means: * Bonus, a Commonwealth term for a distribution of profits to a with-profits insurance policy * Bonus payment, an extra payment received as a reward for doing one's job well or as an incentive Bonus may also refer to: Plac ...

novel written by

Kazuma Kamachi is the pen name of a Japanese author who has published over 100 light novel volumes. He is best known for the creation of the ''A Certain Magical Index'' franchise which, as of 2019, has sold over 30 million copies worldwide and has been license ...

titled ''A Certain Magical Index: Necessarius Special Admission Test''. Funimation released a DVD volume containing the first twelve episodes of the series in North America on July 1, 2014, and another DVD volume containing the final twelve episodes on August 19, while a Blu-ray and DVD combo set containing the full season was released on January 19, 2016.

Manga Entertainment Manga Entertainment was a producer, licensee, and distributor of anime in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally founded in the UK in 1987, the UK branch became Funimation UK and Ireland in 2021, also currently known as Crunchyro ...

released a Blu-ray and DVD combo set for the series in the United Kingdom on August 21, 2017. Funimation began streaming the series on April 14, 2013, while it was added to

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...

in December 2016 and to

Tubi TV Tubi is an American over-the-top content platform and ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox Corporation. The service was launched on April 1, 2014, and is based in Los Angeles, California. In January 2021, Tubi reached 33 million monthly ...

in December 2017.

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

released the series in Japan on March 24, 2022. Muse Asia began streaming the series on their official

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel on June 30, 2022.

Reception

Critical response

Rebecca Silverman of

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...

graded ''A Certain Scientific Railgun S'' 'B', feeling that the Sisters story arc in the series was not rehashed as compared to its earlier portrayal from the first season of ''

'' and lauding Misaka's appearance in it. Ian Wolf of ''Anime UK News'' scored the series 8 out of 10, describing the Sisters story arc as having a "lack of imagination" despite being told in a different approach (from Misaka's viewpoint rather than Kamijo's) but finding its story "feel nga lot more emotional".

Scientific accuracy

Tsukasa Kano, a science writer who graduated from

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice (Japan), Minister of Justice, in 1889. ...

and member of the Space Authors Club, discussed

human cloning Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy (or clone) of a human. The term is generally used to refer to artificial human cloning, which is the reproduction of human cells and tissue. It does not refer to the natural concepti ...

in ''A Certain Scientific Railgun S''. He stated that there is a possibility but currently impractical due to the low yield rate among humans, while contradicted the 14-day development of a clone to a full appearance of a junior high school student as depicted in the series since it naturally needs to grow for up to 14 years, which requires 80,000 eggs harvested from people and 80,000 women to serve as "borrowed bellies" for impregnation.

Other media

puzzle game A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzle ...

ASCII Media Works ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...

based on ''A Certain Scientific Railgun S'', titled '' A Certain Scientific Railgun S Puzzle'', was released on July 26, 2013. An 80-page official visual book for the series was released on March 27, 2014, which was bundled with a Blu-ray disc containing a brand-new episode titled .

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Kazuma Kamachi A Certain Magical Index episode lists A Certain Magical Index Certain Scientific Railgun S, A