Toaru Kagaku no Railgun

[Kraco]

This stuff is better than any fight Touma could pull off, since all he can do is talk to them and/or punch them.

Even so Mikoto is still talking too much and pulling her punches, when the opponent is obviously trying to kill her. You'd think she learned humility from being completely helpless against Accelerator and on the other hand determination from her desperate fight to save the sisters. I guess a person can't change overnight. But then again, she wouldn't be the good old cute Mikoto anymore if she did...

With her opponents multiplying, she ought to start to regret trying to solve everything by herself.

[shinta|hikari]

The blonde girl is probably the most annoying member of item so far. That speech pattern really irks me to no end.

Mikoto is being really annoying with her strange restraint. Why didn't she just pour electricity directly into the blonde's body when they touched?

[Ryllharu]

Because she actually doesn't want to kill someone, and in this case, also wanted more information. That would make her as bad as Accelerator. On some level, she knows she can go further on Touma, because nothing really works on him. Each time she steps it up a little, but even against him it's not her full strength.

This is a repeat of what we saw when she fought Kiyama. The doctor noticed that once Mikoto had switched to fighting the AIM fetus, her power apparently quadrupled. Kiyama and the AIM fetus both used the same shield to disperse Mikoto's powers, but she severely damaged the AIM fetus by going all out against it, superheating the atmosphere. Kiyama only got a good jolt of electricity at the end of their fight, and regained consciousness moments later.

Mikoto always holds back against humans, even Touma to a degree. Kuroko, as often as she gets shocked, doesn't end up with her tongue paralyzed. Frenda got maybe the equivalent to a tazer hit. You get the feeling that Mikoto knows precisely how dangerous she is, and how lethal her powers can be if used incorrectly.

That's why she's one of the good guys. She thinks about how she uses her powers and who she uses them on. It is what separates her from the other Level 5s, who so far have all been sociopaths or flat out psychopaths. Accelerator has been getting better in the Index timeline, but he's still pretty vicious.

edit:
As bad as the Telestina arc was, we also learned that Mikoto uses the coins to limit the range on her railgun. The larger an object she uses, the further it goes, and the more it destroys. The coins disintegrate at exactly 50 meters. Her true range is measured in kilometers.

[Buffalobiian]

edit:
As bad as the Telestina arc was, we also learned that Mikoto uses the coins to limit the range on her railgun. The larger an object she uses, the further it goes, and the more it destroys. The coins disintegrate at exactly 50 meters. Her true range is measured in kilometers.

Not exactly. The coin's range is 50 meters because it disintegrates. Something heavier could arguably travel further given that Mikoto has the energy to propel it (she does, but to what extent we do not know). In the end, it's the durability of the object less so than the size or mass. Size in particular would increase drag and further reduce the durability of the shot.

The blonde girl is probably the most annoying member of item so far. That speech pattern really irks me to no end.

I thought it was kinda cute, but she's a bitch.

[KrayZ33]

The blonde girl is probably the most annoying member of item so far. That speech pattern really irks me to no end.

Mikoto is being really annoying with her strange restraint. Why didn't she just pour electricity directly into the blonde's body when they touched?

cause it would have caused a spark, most likely, at least I don't think its possible to do that without it happening
what was most annoying for me was that weird fuse ability.. so easy to counter especially for mikoto and she managed to get cornered so often

[Kraco]

As bad as the Telestina arc was, we also learned that Mikoto uses the coins to limit the range on her railgun. The larger an object she uses, the further it goes, and the more it destroys. The coins disintegrate at exactly 50 meters. Her true range is measured in kilometers.

I'm pretty sure she uses coins because they are everywhere and they are all the same, within quite a decent error marginal (coins of the same value), so she would know how they behave. They are ammunition she can acquire extremely easily (she's just a middle school girl even if rich, so it could be annoying to try to order special projectiles from some factory), they are standard size and weight, they aren't suspicious (everybody can have coins) and thus can't be even used as evidence against her.

[shinta|hikari]

If Mikoto cannot control the amount of electricity when she pours electricity directly into someone she is touching so that she hurts them but does not kill them, she does not deserve her level 5 rating. She does it to Kuroko all the time, so it should be a piece of cake.

So she can electrocute the air, but not the inside of human body she is directly in contact with? That is pretty fail for a top electromaster. Electricity travels much better on human bodies than air after all. Sparks won't appear if the energy is directed to the body itself. If done in low voltages, the body won't heat up enough to ignite the explosives.

I'd rather think that she simply did not come up with the idea at that time because she was being pressured by kicks than she being unable to control her powers properly.

[KrayZ33]

everytime she does anything sparks fly around her.
the same actually happened when she shocked that blonde chick

do we even know if she is able to generate an electric field "inside" her body, or won't it stun her too if she does?
a pyromancer probably can't boil up his body either without suffering the consequences
I wonder how they are able to control the heat anyway.... whatever, powers vary each episode anyway, the show is doing a poor job in that regard

[shinta|hikari]

whatever, powers vary each episode anyway, the show is doing a poor job in that regard

Exactly my point.

EDIT: Actually, I think the bigger problem for me would be how the espers don't use their powers efficiently. Mikoto can fly around and stick to walls using magnetism, but she chases her enemy on foot, and even maintains the shape of the stairs after it blew up. She could have just zipped directly to the enemy and zap her a bit. It was like the entire fight was there just to show how versatile Mikoto's power are at the expense of her tactical ability.

[Buffalobiian]

Exactly my point.

EDIT: Actually, I think the bigger problem for me would be how the espers don't use their powers efficiently.

I'm glad Mikoto brought up that using her powers uses up energy though. I don't think it was ever really mentioned that using their powers actually costs them anything. I'm honestly not sure how much I can count on this being fact, or just being an inconsistent, one-off comment. If this is true, that means Accelerator can be overwhelmed if we forced him to use his Reflect enough times.

One nuke wouldn't work, but how about 3?

[shinta|hikari]

Esper powers use up mental capacity. They have to concentrate to use them, and concentration eventually runs out. Maybe there is such a thing as overusing your powers, but that would likely be more of a mental breakdown than a physical breakdown.

For accelerator, even using 100 nukes would be pointless because his default reflect will protect him. I think that in order to tire him out, one should make him use his ability in different ways, directions (targets) and magnitudes, like making him protect his surroundings while forcing him to attack and defend all at the same time, for a long period of time.

Yeah, he isn't number 1 for nothing.

[Buffalobiian]

For accelerator, even using 100 nukes would be pointless because his default reflect will protect him. I think that in order to tire him out, one should make him use his ability in different ways, directions (targets) and magnitudes, like making him protect his surroundings while forcing him to attack and defend all at the same time, for a long period of time.

For that to work (because all the attacks wouldn't be directed at him), you'll be making him jump back and forth to use himself as a human shield? That would be a sight to watch. (it should just be reflect + increase vector of leg power though)

Adding to the whole Misaka inconsistency, I remember a previous episode where she has trouble with powering a rice cooker without overloading it. It further adds to our previous perception that Mikoto's forte was power (railgun) and not fine control. Here, it seems she's capable of both.

[Kraco]

Accelerator wouldn't survive a nuclear attack. He would suffocate during it. It's also why he wouldn't survive a far more simpler chemical weapon attack, provided he wouldn't notice it quickly enough to simply escape.

[shinta|hikari]

No he won't. Accelerator is a freak who blocks out sunlight because it is "harmful" to his skin, all while walking on the ground and not repelling his clothes. He can probably filter any harmful matter in the air, and if there is simply no oxygen to breath in, he can just fly up faster than the speed of sound, take a breath, and fly away to grab a burger.

[David75]

Accelerator can probably hold his breath longer than anyone as he probably can control his own blood circulation to prioritize brain and heart oxygenation. He probably can finetune his body/mind functions to a minimal outuput needed to get his ass off of most dire situations.
He probably even could deconstruct molecules to get oxygen (like underwater)

He's a strong level 5 after all.

[Kraco]

It's one thing to filter a band of EM radiation and to choose which molecules to inhale from the surrounding air. Well, it would be actually plasma in the center of a nuclear explosion - and I'm pretty sure you'd be dead if you took in much of that.

In episode 14 of Index, Accelerator already lamented he had troubles breathing after the dust explosion of his own making. And that's a tiny thing compared to a nuke. His escape would also be slowed down by acceleration, of all things. After all, it's not speed which harms the body but too fast acceleration or deceleration. And who knows, considering how fast a nuclear explosion is, he might not even have the time to filter anything at all. He could be dead before he knew what happened.

Edit: You guys also forget he's currently a half-vegetable only functioning with the help of the sisters network. He couldn't stop one ordinary bullet when he was concentrating on Last Order. So, what makes you think he could concentrate on repelling all the EM and other forces from a nuclear explosion, choosing what to breath or not to breath, very quickly escaping from the site (without seeing anything)... All at the same time. He already proved he couldn't do too much at the same time.

[shinta|hikari]

His auto reflect will handle everything harmful that the nuclear blast will do. He does not even have to do anything or react to anything. Then he can simply escape by flying up (I mean seriously, where else would you fly after a nuke..?) afterwards. He does not even have to filter the air really because he can just hold his breath for like 10 seconds. Acceleration or deceleration does nothing to Accelerator. He mentioned in Index that he can negate Newton's third law, converting the direction of the opposite force to be directed, amplified/weakened, any way he wants.

When he saved Last Order, the entire point was that he did not have any leeway to do anything else except save her. The complexity of the operation needed to save her was just that high. It has nothing to do with his ability to protect himself without any distraction.

He is only a vegetable if the electrode is off. If it is on, he is still as strong as before. He is still the number 1 level 5 even while walking around with a cane after all.

The manipulation of vectors is simply an overpowered ability.

[Xelbair]

I remember that Reflect works like a program - he sets minimum values of different forces, light intensity, air density etc that can pass through and reflects the rest(which is a error that leads to him getting punched in index s2 - he should've set 'change vector to outwards from my body' to be perfectly immune).

Nuke's explosion wouldn't kill him - but lack of air probably would - its just matter of time - how long it takes for 'air' to arrive near him after explosion. - i bet that he would hold his breath for at least minute, and then there is usual 4m30s before any brain damage starts to happen.

[shinta|hikari]

Yeah, if for some stupid reason he wanted to stand around at ground zero after the blast.

[KrayZ33]

I always wondered how he would go against a teleporter, since there won't be a vector to control to prevent anything and once something is inside his body its to late.
isn't kuroko (thats her name right?) the strongest esper, that ability is way to powerful