Railgun - "Electromaster" - On Academy City

"A Certain Scientific Railgun" and "A Certain Magical Index" are two series which center around a fictional metropolis for gifted students. Espers, sorcerers, and other paranormal entities fight for dominance below the city's surface, and it's up to a handful of students to figure out the truth behind it all. Index centers around a boy named Touma Kamijou, while Railgun centers around a girl named Mikoto Misaka. Since both series tell the same story in a sense, characters from both series are constantly interacting with one another.

The first episode of Railgun serves primarily to introduce the protagonists, and to show off some of the elements of Academy City. Housing twenty-eight million people (mostly students), it acts as a sort of research colony. While parapsychology is the priority, the city is home to technology which is 20-30 years ahead of the rest of the world.

• The city is powered by giant windmill towers producing several gigawatts of electricity. In some episodes, the protagonist interacts with the electricity generated by this system, as her esper powers are electro-centric.
• Blimps circle the skies of the cities, displaying information to the citizens and helping to maintain the city's public Wi-Fi network. Other dynamic display systems can also be seen throughout the city, at the schools, etc.
• Autonomous trash-collecting robots patrol the streets, and also report criminal activity to a central hub.
• While automotive travel is present, alternate forms of transport, such as buses and monorails, are highly prevalent.

Those are just the elements which can be found in the first episode; countless others will show up later on. Nonetheless, Academy City is an amazing specimen to analyze when looking at ideas for real-world applications. Current wind generation techniques are still not as efficient as they could be, due to problems with durability and transfer of energy. On the other hand, Wi-Fi enabled blimps are already becoming practical mechanisms. And many cities are adopting mass-transit over the next few years.

But above all that, perhaps the most important consideration is the culture which is brought on by taking a college-like setting, and applying it to primary and secondary level students. In Academy City, students live on their own, work at various jobs within the city, and are essentially treated as adults for all intents and purposes. Some would call it an example of an Elaborate University High. And many anime seem to play into this idea, from Mahora Academy in the Negima universe, to Ouran Academy in the Host Club universe.

How often in real life, however, do you see such instances happen? Yes, the real world contains boarding schools; however, nothing with the socioeconomic or technological magnitudes as Academy City. Davis, a small California city, certainly comes close with a senior high school rivaling the nearby University, but that's the greatest parallel you'll find in the western US. On the other end of the country, New York City has a few high schools with a similar layout. Nations on other continents have a more traditional layout, which is to be expected. The closest you will get from them is college preparatory programs within the campuses.

Still, the notion of a student body holding and maintaining a large land area is fascinating. They can gain valuable job experience while in school, by learning the mechanics through which a township is run and maintained. Additionally, students will be more motivated if they're working together with relative freedom.

College-like settings should not be a reward for slaving away through twelve years of traditional schooling. Rather, they should be a radical new perspective through which to revitalize the educational system and bring real world situations to the next generation. It's more beneficial.