I highly recommend this work to anyone who enjoys fiction with a lot of powerful characters and crazy plots. The magic system is refreshingly different from all the others I've seen - everything is based off of some legend or religious story, which guides it away from being the normal beam/elemental spam magic, and includes some awesome bonuses for those who know their myths. All the fights against power users, whether magic or otherwise, are won by analyzing the opponent's power and finding its weak points, so the fights are not only spectacular but intellectually interesting.
Now for my big complaints about the series. If you were hoping for epic face-offs between espers and magicians, you're going to be disappointed most of the time. Excepting Kamijou and Motoharu, espers fight espers and magi fight magi. (And these characters have some of the blandest powers in the work.) Even at the end of the light novels, there is very little hostile interaction between the two sides.
As for the other complaint? Most of the harem stuff, but especially the 'outfits' and 'power levels'. The bothersome part is that they treat it almost as seriously as they treat the fights, and it's not funny most of the time. Sorry, but it's hard to take sneaking into a secret base seriously when the girl is trying to slip and 'accidentally' show the hero her panties (or just outright come on to him) every seven lines. The real humor killer is that it's monotonous without becoming a running gag. You just know what's going to happen when this guy meets a girl.
The main hero, Kamijou, although he's fun to watch in action, experiences little growth during the course of the series. (Not even a Shonen Upgrade.) As a secondary protagonist, Accelerator makes up for this by experiencing plenty of development, which includes being 'game-balanced' so he can participate in fights without being a Boring Invincible Hero. And then, after being crippled, there's the time he uses a shotgun as a crutch... The few times girls actually comes on to him, it's hilarious, because it's so rare. (For good reason, may I add. The guy's amazingly violent and unbalanced. IIRC, one girl was drunk and the other fell in love with his carnage.)
In short, it's a cool work with a unique concept. Go read it. (Or watch it, if that's your thing.)
Magic, Espers, and crazy tech.
I highly recommend this work to anyone who enjoys fiction with a lot of powerful characters and crazy plots. The magic system is refreshingly different from all the others I've seen - everything is based off of some legend or religious story, which guides it away from being the normal beam/elemental spam magic, and includes some awesome bonuses for those who know their myths. All the fights against power users, whether magic or otherwise, are won by analyzing the opponent's power and finding its weak points, so the fights are not only spectacular but intellectually interesting.
Now for my big complaints about the series. If you were hoping for epic face-offs between espers and magicians, you're going to be disappointed most of the time. Excepting Kamijou and Motoharu, espers fight espers and magi fight magi. (And these characters have some of the blandest powers in the work.) Even at the end of the light novels, there is very little hostile interaction between the two sides.
As for the other complaint? Most of the harem stuff, but especially the 'outfits' and 'power levels'. The bothersome part is that they treat it almost as seriously as they treat the fights, and it's not funny most of the time. Sorry, but it's hard to take sneaking into a secret base seriously when the girl is trying to slip and 'accidentally' show the hero her panties (or just outright come on to him) every seven lines. The real humor killer is that it's monotonous without becoming a running gag. You just know what's going to happen when this guy meets a girl.
The main hero, Kamijou, although he's fun to watch in action, experiences little growth during the course of the series. (Not even a Shonen Upgrade.) As a secondary protagonist, Accelerator makes up for this by experiencing plenty of development, which includes being 'game-balanced' so he can participate in fights without being a Boring Invincible Hero. And then, after being crippled, there's the time he uses a shotgun as a crutch... The few times girls actually comes on to him, it's hilarious, because it's so rare. (For good reason, may I add. The guy's amazingly violent and unbalanced. IIRC, one girl was drunk and the other fell in love with his carnage.)
In short, it's a cool work with a unique concept. Go read it. (Or watch it, if that's your thing.)