A Certain Scientific Accelerator: Season 1, Episode 1 “Accelerator (Academy City’s Mightiest Esper)” [Series Premiere] – Recap, Review (with Spoilers)

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A Certain Scientific Accelerator won’t blow you away, or seem like a must-see anime, but if you got nothing else to watch, it’s worth spending time with.

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Network
Crunchyroll
Creator(s)		Yamaji Arata, Kamachi Kazuma
Director(s)		Kamanaka Nobuharu
Writer(s)		Sugihara Kenji
Air Date		7/12/2019
Genre(s)		Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Good If You Like		·       Seemingly Crazy Protagonist With Deadly Powers ·       Equally Strange & Powerful Enemies ·       Cute Sidekicks
Isn’t For You If You		·       Are Looking For Something Heavy or Notably Violent ·       Want Something Which Feels Like It Is Part Of A Larger Universe That Pressures You To Consume The Seasons Which Came Before This
Introduced This Episode
Accelerator	Okamoto Nobuhiko
Yo	?
Misaka Misaka	Hidaka Rina

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A Certain Scientific Accelerator – The Introduction

Accelerator, after being shot in the head with a bullet, has lived in a hospital to recover. However, being that he is young, and restless, he sneaks out regularly to get some air and tap into his powers. Powers of which, so we’re told, are one of the most powerful around and so rare that just having a drop of his blood could have you set for life.

Which, naturally, causes him to be hunted. Yet, between his guardian Misaka Misaka, and what looks like a private army, many support him and make it so he doesn’t always have to get his hands dirty. Even though he likes to.

Highlights

Accelerator

For those who like a smart mouth on their lead, someone who seems a little devious, but is presented as a bad guy, you’ll love Accelerator. Especially since, even though he can be sarcastic, he doesn’t lean towards being an ass. This is seen with Misaka Misaka who can be a tad annoying but also seen as adorable. Also, we see this in him not killing someone who was hunting him just because a friend of the villain asks him not to. Thus showing that, while he can be brutal, he can also listen to reason.

On The Fence

The First Villain We Meet Is Not The Most Interesting, But The Next Might Be

While A Certain Scientific is a franchise, this is our first introduction to it and based off the villain Yo is, compared to the strength of Accelerator, it’s hard not to be a little disappointed. Which isn’t to say Yo’s weapon and team weren’t a good combination, and likely deadly against others, but it’s all about precedent. Which is why the next villain, some kind of necromancer, could be interesting.

However, it also sets up that escalation system where each villain, be it episodic or by arc, has to be more of a challenge than the next. Which, as seen in most action anime, can get old if said villains don’t have much of a personality. Making the idea of watching Accelerator just play off them, maybe with Misaka Misaka adding her two cents in the back, not the most appealing.

Misaka Misaka Speaking Like An Elcor (From Mass Effect)

When it comes to anime, and cute character, usually less is more. For example, the less said, the longer they can maintain a cute appearance. Misaka Misaka doesn’t believe in that. She goes off on tangents, and while physically adorable, there might be times when you wish she’d just shut up. One of the reasons being, she talks like an Elcor and ends all her dialog explaining how what she said should be taken. Be it her trying to sound worried, mischievous, or things of that nature. Which, for us, doesn’t add a sense of how adorable she is but create what could be a very annoying trait.

A Certain Scientific Accelerator First Impression: Mixed (Stick Around)

To be honest, I was expecting something like Rage of Bahamut in the form of seeing a show which makes you think, independent of its predecessors or not, you need to watch the other seasons in the franchise. A Certain Scientific Accelerator doesn’t do that. Not to imply it makes the franchise look bad, but it does present you the need to question if this might be one of the more fun or lighter entries into the series? If not just is one of those shows with a dedicated fan base so more and more seasons are pumped out.

Leading to why we chose the mixed label. To us, there isn’t anything exemplary about A Certain Scientific Accelerator. It’s worth checking out if you have the time to, but if you had only a few hours of free time in a week, this might not be one of your go-to shows. It might be worth binging when the season is over, but around the time it airs new episodes? Not really.

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