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According to MAL, the
[former](http://myanimelist.net/anime/4654/Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index) is the
parent story of the
[latter](http://myanimelist.net/anime/6213/Toaru_Kagaku_no_Railgun), that
appears described as a side story. However, I find no reference to these
questions:

**Do both stories take place in the same universe?  
Are they somewhat dependent on each other?  
If so, in which order should the series be watched?**


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a-certain-scientific-railgun a-certain-magical-index
How are "A Certain Magical Index" and "A Certain Scientific Railgun" connected?


Railgun is a non-canon spinoff using the characters and setting of Index.

by that definition:

  1. I guess they take place in alternate universes.

  2. They are indepedent besides setting and characters.

  3. Watching both seasons of Index before Railgun is in my opinion for the better.


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Chronologically, _Railgun_ comes first. Then near the middle of _Railgun_ (the
Level Upper Arc), the events and timeline start to converge with _Index_.

For an example, in episode 17 of the _Railgun_ anime, Komoe-sensei mentions
how she likes all her students, even the ones that blow up her roof, which is
probably a reference to when Index used Dragon's Breath (episode 6 of _Index_
).

The manga gives a better frame of reference, since it gives a exact date (July
16th). So the events in _Railgun_ begin 4 days before the Index novel (July
20th), where Touma first meets Index. Touma [meets](http://www.baka-
tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index%3aVolume1_Prologue)
Mikoto on the eve of July 19th.

According to the [TV
Tropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun?from=Manga.ToAruKagakuNoRailgun):

> The anime, however, violates this by adapting events from Volume 8 of the
> novels into the anime's first episode. As it stands, Chapters 18 to 39 occur
> around the time of Volume 3 in the novels, Chapter 40 is around volume 5,
> Chapters 41-42 and around volume 8 and Chapters 43-current take place around
> volume 9.


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Adding onto [кяαzєя's answer](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/3055), a good
resource that specifies the chronology of Index and Railgun in much more
detail is the [Baka-Tsuki Unified Index Calendar](https://www.baka-
tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Index_Calendar), which is an fan-compiled
calendar of all events in the Toaru Majutsu no Index franchise.

As of January 2018, the calendar includes the following source materials, up
to the specified issue (with the latest in-universe date specified in
parentheses):

  * (Light Novel) **A Certain Magical Index** : NT volume 19 ( _Dec. 12_ )
  * (Manga) **A Certain Magical Index** : chapter 123 ( _~Oct. 7_ )
  * (Manga) **A Certain Scientific Railgun** : chapter 100 ( _~Oct. 14_ )
  * (Manga) **A Certain Scientific Accelerator** : chapter 42 ( _~Sep. 10_ )
  * (Manga) **Astral Buddy** : chapter 7 ( _~Sep. 28_ )
  * (Anime) **A Certain Magical Index** : II episode 24 ( _Oct. 3_ )
  * (Anime) **A Certain Scientific Railgun** : S episode 24 ( _Sep. 2_ )

[![A Certain Unified Calendar.png](https://www.baka-
tsuki.org/project/images/7/7d/A_Certain_Unified_Calendar.png)](https://www.baka-
tsuki.org/project/images/7/7d/A_Certain_Unified_Calendar.png)

The calendar is frequently updated.


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