A Certain Scientific Railgun is a very old anime series that first met the audience in 2009. The series, whose manga was written by Kazuma Kamachi and illustrated by Motoi Fuyukawa, was adapted into anime by J.C.Staff two years after the manga’s debut. The studio, which has also signed on popular works such as One Punch Man and DanMachi, undertook the animations for the later seasons of the series. It most recently appeared before the audience with its third season titled “A Certain Scientific Railgun T“. The anime, which originally aired on AT-X from January 10, 2020, to September 25, 2020, has also been listed by Crunchyroll and Funimation. Now, the followers of the series from worldwide are wondering if there will be a new season. In the continuation of our article, we have compiled all that is known about the fourth season so far.
What is the Plotline of A Certain Scientific Railgun?
University City, also known as the student city, is a high-tech place where people with ESP powers are trained. Students make up 80% of the city’s 2.3 million population. Students who have ESP powers try to improve themselves to certain levels, but people with high-level ESP powers are very few. Besides, some people have no ESP power at all, and they are known as zero levels. Kamijou Touma is one of them, but although he has no ESP power, he has a different innate power. Thanks to his right hand, he can destroy all spells and thus can protect himself against people with ESP powers. However, Touma has bad luck and dozens of unfortunate events happen to him almost every day. One of them changes his entire destiny. He meets a young girl named Index. Index, a priestess, has a memory containing 103,000 forbidden spellbooks, and the bad guys who want to access it are after Index. At this point, the paths of science and magic intersect, and Touma makes a great effort to protect Index. Another character, Misaka Mikoto’s ESP ability, is one of the best in the city. Her roommate Kuroko Shirai, who has the same power, is madly in love with Misaka. Kuroko is also a member of the community that protects the student-formed city, The Judgment. Kazari Uiharu, who still has 1 ESP power, and Ruiko Satin, who has zero ESP power, meet Misaka thanks to Kuroko. And so, the four of them embark on exciting adventures together in this science city. The anime is also about the limits of the human brain, the relationship between religion and science, and human cloning.
Will there be a fourth season of A Certain Scientific Railgun?
J.C.Staff or any anime-related company has yet to renew the anime for a fourth season. Although there is no official news, it is possible to speculate about the new season under some key factors. Before anything else, we saw that the anime was able to get the new season approvals even though years had passed. This is the biggest point that increases the possibilities of the new season. However, it is not enough by itself. Popularity is paramount, as animes are for-profit productions.
The anime is currently ranked as the 309th most popular anime, according to Myanimelist data. Since its algorithm works according to the count of members, this ranking can be considered average according to the animes first released in those years. When we look at the popularity of the series in Google Searches, we see that it is below the average. On the contrary, it has a strong following on Twitter. It seems that anime is quite popular in Japan also with its manga.
The manga of the series published by ASCII Media Works is still ongoing and has reached 16 volumes in total. However, 13 volumes were adapted for the first three seasons of the anime. Since there are only 3 volumes left, it may take some time for enough source material to form for a new season. However, since the manga is still being published, this will not be a problem in the future.
When is the fourth season of the anime?
The anime has not been renewed for a new season, but as a result of the evaluation we made above, we think that the positive factors outweigh the negatives and, therefore, we can see a new season. However, the decision for a new season could be risky for the creators as the anime’s worldwide popularity is not very high. Furthermore, it is difficult to predict a release date as there is no renewal. However, when we look at the time between previous seasons and consider that the manga is currently not providing enough source material for a new season, we can say that a new season will not be possible before 2023. Till then, we recommend you to watch Dr. Stone in the sci-fi and adventure genre. Stay tuned.