Why are the A certain magical Index anime arcs so rushed?

I am currently watching the „A certain“ animes, but this just applies to Index. The railgun arcs, like the Sisters Arc or the Daihasei Festival Arcs were really nice, perfectly paced, the same is with the Necromancer Arc in Accelerator.

But why are the Index arcs so weirdly rushed? Just to give one example, the Battle Royale Arc has 17 manga chapters, but only 3 anime episodes, why? Was there not enough time?

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Commentaires

MusubiKazesaru2026-01-03 03:19

One is based on manga and Index are based on novels, I assume that was a factor, but it's really just poor planning Index is primarily a light novel not a manga and S3 was rushed to hell. The series prior to it had a few slightly rushed arcs prior to it, but it wasn't a mess until then. Just like most of the arcs it that arc was based on an entire novel, which was rushed because they wanted to finish all of part 1 in only two cours.

Niceguy1256jj2026-01-03 03:22

Okay thanks, I‘m glad I am not the only one who had this weird feeling on S3. It was like they tried to put so many things in one season.

MusubiKazesaru2026-01-03 03:23

It's hated on for a reason. That section should've been the highlight of the series.

n080dy1232026-01-03 08:24

To this day it appears to have killed the Index anime, and it did so for a reason, which is unfortunate since it means they can't really make more Railgun after they made T following Index 3.

And like... New Testament seems like a great opportunity to start clean and maybe onboard new people, so the fact they haven't seems like it speaks to the series' future prospects.

MusubiKazesaru2026-01-03 08:27

They announced Railgun S4 and an ITEM spinoff anime (I didn't even know about that particular spinoff beforehand tbh).

n080dy1232026-01-03 08:52

Oh yeah I forgot about that, I think those are the last bits of unadapted material before Index 3 though. So we'll see what happens after that.

MusubiKazesaru2026-01-03 08:54

Nah, there's plenty especially since no side material at least that I'm aware of has passed WWIII. Railgun's next arc will cover a new arc, but the one after that is a flashback arc set in Misaka's freshman year at Tokiwadai as a freshly declared Level 5.

n080dy1232026-01-03 09:02

Ah, didn't realizue that. I just knew Jailbreaker ran up to like right before the final arc of Index 3.

PiFlavoredPie2026-01-03 03:20

Don’t feel like googling the specifics, but I remember seeing stories at the time of the production committee wanting to jump straight to New Testament, but the director didn’t want to skip content, so there was a weird compromise where the studio was only given 24-26 episodes to adapt the remainder of the Old Testament arcs, which naturally ended up rushed despite best efforts.

Niceguy1256jj2026-01-03 03:25

It for sure felt like that and this weird mini arc with these 4 different criminal groups for sure needed 100% of my brain power, to not mix them up, that was so odd.

PiFlavoredPie2026-01-03 03:33

Yea it's definitely very unfortunate because I could see in each arc the seeds of a potentially great adaptation if they were given twice the time, but at the end of the day the poor reception to S3 seems to have killed any interest in a future S4. At least Railgun is still supported, and the new ITEM anime was announced as well.

WOLKsite2026-01-03 03:23

Because they're giving each light novel (afaik the anime is adopting the light novels, not the manga which is also an adaptation of the light novels) 2-4 episodes which is a pretty normal pacing for light novel adaptations. There's also a LOT of light novels to adapt, so I'd imagine that's another reason they blitz through them. Railgun meanwhile is a manga adaptation, with the manga being the original story material for it, but I think that consequently also means there's probably a lot more manga chapters per "arc" for Railgun? My knowledge on this is very vague though.

Now, in my personal opinion, I find Railgun's stories are generally just a lot more interesting and I think if the Index arcs were longer, they'd probably be boring, but maybe that is colored by the adaptation choices.

Bikerider422026-01-03 04:54

I’ve noticed a pattern with Index. It seems like they tend to explain a lot at the beginning of each arc so they can jump straight into the deep end.

In railgun they start each arc with a SOL episode or two to give a breather and set up the next story arc. I’ve seen some people call them filler, but I completely disagree personally. Then it’s a much slower burn where you learn everything along with the characters.

At least in my opinion railgun’s direction is a lot more engaging.

timpkmn892026-01-03 04:08

Spending more time on each LN volume would require more money

StonahHill2026-01-03 09:06

Is a certain magical index worth the watch? It’s been on my radar

Niceguy1256jj2026-01-03 09:11

The A certain anime series is splitted up in three series: „A certain magical Index“, „A certain scientific Railgun“ and „A certain scientific Accelerator“

I personally can recommend A certain scientific railgun and A certain scientific Accelerator, A certain magical Index is „okay“, but as I said, very rushed.

The_Persistence2026-01-03 09:59

Railgun and Accelerator are pretty good.

Index is a *mixed bag*. Like other people said, it's based on a LN while the other two are based on Manga. The overall narrative is REALLY good, but there are several parts that aren't adapted well and that slogs down the series.

Also, Index, Railgun, and Accelerator are all canon, but their stories are so far apart from each other, it doesn't even matter. The city the three anime take place in is a BIG city.

* If you don't intend to watch Index, you can just watch Railgun and/or Accelerator without consequence
* If you do intend to watch all three, then here's the watch order
* Railgun -> Railgun S -> Index -> Accelerator -> Index II -> Railgun T -> Index Movie (Endymion) -> Index III