A Certain Scientific Accelerator

The Index Franchise is a massive one with a bunch of OVAs, Spin-offs, and movies. It is evident from the title of “A Certain Scientific Accelerator” that it is another spin-off and will be focusing on the most loved antagonist, Accelerator. Spin-offs are very risky when it comes to gaining popularity. However, we’ve watched the spinoff “A Certain Scientific Railgun” from the Index Franchise, and it totally blew our mind with its top-notch quality and a great storyline. Will, “A Certain Scientific Accelerator”, grace us with the same quality, or will it disappoint us like the original Index Series? Let’s look for the answers in our in-depth review of the series below!

Story

The story opens in Academy City that is known for its tremendous knowledge about both science and magic. This time, the main character is Accelerator, and the whole focus is around him. He’s a level 5 esper and stands at the top among everyone. Even though he has a brain injury, he still surpasses everyone who tries to compete with him. A girl named Last Order gets involved with him, who, at first, gets treated very coldly by Accelerator. However, there’s something in Accelerator that makes him want to protect Last Order.

A woman approaches Accelerator to take Last Order away from him. The dark and mysterious Organizations of the Academy City are on the loose and are searching for Last Order to obtain her. However, Accelerator is in no mood to back down and will fight till the end to protect Last Order.

Let us make one thing very clear here. The Accelerator Series deals with the scientific and even darker aspects of the Original Index Series. Instead of seeing Accelerator as an anti-hero, we’re going to see him as an actual hero in this series which is pretty new for us. However, Accelerator is nowhere near a noble hero. He has his weaknesses and still retains the “Bad boy” traits. But we do see his soft side with Last Order, whom he wants to protect. The creators have graced us with the best of both worlds in the form of Accelerator, a softie who will not hesitate to destroy anyone who tries to challenge him.

Now, we were expecting that the series would enlighten us about the background of Accelerator as its absent in the original Index Series. But we don’t really get any information about his past and any kind of background information about him.

The Necromancer Arc that we’re introduced to feels very promising at first. But the poor execution is just glaring at us blatantly. You will need to watch the Original Index Series before watching this one. It would’ve been really great if the creators dedicated a few episodes to the background of the whole story (Index Series) and the characters. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to understand a thing that’s happening in this series.

Characters

As the main focus of the series is mainly on Accelerator, we have no complaints about the series’s main characters. Accelerator is one such character that, despite being a villain, was able to steal our hearts. He has a twisted nature and is a massive edge lord. However, that can’t stop us from loving him.

We have Last Order, who is as adorable as ever. Even after being treated like trash by Accelerator, she still chooses to stick with Accelerator. There are other side characters, including Esther and Misaka’s clone, who are very lovable.

Though the villains in the series were quite stupid and very cringe to watch, we could still sympathize with them at some moments. Overall, the characters, including the main ones, the side characters, and the villains, all were adapted well, and we don’t have much to complain about them.

Animation

Comparing the animation of season 3 of the original Index Series and this one makes it pretty clear which one is better. The animation of the Accelerator series is far better than the original one, and J.C Staff did a phenomenal job in animating the entire series.

The girls in the series look so adorable, and we can tell by merely looking at them that they are incredibly soft. Their skin looks extremely shiny and clean. The fight scenes were correctly animated and were not choppy at all.

The facial expressions also felt natural and genuine to the emotions they were depicting. The background also looked very fresh and colorful, complementing well with the characters and blending properly with them.

Overall, the animation department maintained the quality that was always there with the previous series.

Sound

There are some anime soundtracks that you just keep listening to and never get tired of them? The opening theme song of the Accelerator Series is one such song that we are absolutely hooked on. It is so pumping and exciting, setting the mood to watch the events in the series.

We really commend the voice actors of the Accelerator series, especially the guy who voiced Accelerator. We don’t expect anything less from Nobuhiko Okamoto, who is also famous for voicing Bakugo from My Hero Academia and Nishinoya From Haikyuu. Last Order sounds too adorable and fragile, just like her character. The other characters are also voiced by some of the best voice actors working in the anime industry. We will give a 10/10 to the Accelerator series for doing phenomenally well in the sound department.

Final Verdict

Having watched the Railgun spin-off before, we were expecting a lot from the Accelerator series. This spin-off series was pretty enjoyable but had its weak points that were pretty clear from the start. If you enjoyed the original Index series, you’re going to love this one without a doubt! That, however, doesn’t change the fact that there was a lot of effort put into the other departments of the anime that made our overall experience pretty enjoyable.