"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.
