1) MIKOTO. I mean
BLAM yeah what were you saying?
WHOOPS I MIGHT HAVE LEFT A SCRATCH ON YOUR MECHA
I mean people this badass should need a registered certificate permitting their existence because they could damage some poor fan's heart.
2) THE WORLD. [shameless copy-paste from Facebook] The thing I find really appealing about the Raildex world is how 1) everyone 2) has a near-unique power 3) and an officially-determined skill level.
Normally in scifi/fantasy what you see is a narrow set of stock powers from which characters can choose (e.g. Avatar). Barring superhero fiction, of course, and you could say this is pretty similar to superhero fiction. But then superheroes tend to be the exception rather than the norm in their societies. What is REALLY refreshing about Index/Railgun is that powers are the common thing. They're TAUGHT. And level system is reminiscent of ranks and levels in games--but limiting it to 5 levels leaves enough ambiguity that they don't define a character's exact standing in terms of power, while still maintaining the weight they carry because they're determined via tests rather than speculatively-assigned.
3) I really REALLY like how it manages to discuss many issues of real world education systems despite being about a school for KEWL SUPERPOWERZ. Saten Ruiko's arc had me in tears for majority of it because she was basically lamenting her natural inability and the marginalisation it may have caused in a city that basically values academic standard over everything else.
Add.) Cool nicknames. aGHDG. I mean, Electromaster. Vector Change. Aero Hand. Judgment. Accelerator. Railgun. Mental Out. Heck, even "Dummy Check" is cool for something that makes people forget they saw you. Everything seems to have a nickname and for some reason that REALLY GETS ME ;A;
/this has been a gush post, second in a few days...
