Toaru Kagaku no Railgun

[Ryllharu]

Nothing much to comment on, other than the fact I found Uiharu's lack of fear towards snakes kind of cute.

Best part of the episode as far as I was concerned. Uiharu is becoming my favorite character in this spinoff. Kuroko is great for a laugh, but Uiharu is a moe overload, and the incredible mystery about what her ability actually is has me craving more.

Kuroko knows what it is, but it feels like no one else in the entire city does. It might be something that is only useful in the perfect circumstances that Kuroko was alluding to, but should those be fulfilled, she'd be unstoppable. Or, they might just be tactically useless, but good for comedic effect.

[Archangel]

Toaru Shirai no Kuroko for the next spinoff !! I laughed my ass off when she was showing off her swimsuit

Bah, Touma could have made an appearance sooner... being seen on her swimsuit was sure to bring out some very enjoyable tsun tsun moments

[RyougaZell]

I didn't like most of the episode surprisingly. The focus on Mitsuko, who so far has being very unimportant, was the reason of this. I would have preferred they focused on Konori-senpai.

Regardless... the parts with Kuroko, Uiharu, Saten and Mikoto were the best. Specially Uiharu's non-fear of snakes, Kuroko's showing of her swimsuit and Mikoto broadcasting her swimsuit to a freaked out Touma.

[digitalrurouni]

The best part was Touma and his reaction. This episode was crap other than when Konori-senpai stepped out in her swimsuit...yes!

[Marik]

[Mazui]​ To​ Aru​ Kagaku​ no​ Railgun​ -​ 13v2​ - HD | SD

[RyougaZell]

what changed?

[Marik]

The scrolling text was fixed.

[Archangel]

Why not just a patch then? >_>

[David75]

The scrolling text was fixed.

Did they fix the typos, misplaced text and so on?

Other than that, well not much to say about the ep.

[Marik]

[1:35:03:am] <@Skyward> re-encoded from ts, few gramar fixes, xvid, scrolling text fix, and a few other things

[Kraco]

I certainly expected Touma to make a bigger appearance in this episode. He was, naturally, absent during the big plot events of the previous episodes to give the stage to the actual main characters but in a no-content episode like this he should have had a significant role for a better comedy effect. As it is, without him, this episode pushed Mikoto, the title character, to the background and instead gave most screentime to characters I hardly even remembered. There were a few good scenes but I consider this episode mostly sad waste.

[Marik]

[Ayako] A Certain Scientific Railgun - 13 - HQ | LQ

[Archangel]

They sure were late on the uptake this time

[LaZie]

[Mazui]​ To​ Aru​ Kagaku​ no​ Railgun​ -​ 14 - HD | SD

[Kraco]

I guess building a personal reality is harder than building a personal computer...

It's getting somewhat cruel how they are underlining time after time ways and methods of getting stronger yet Saten stays a solid zero after every attempt. If she's destined to be without powers, it's a good question why we get these kind of episodes. Unless she becomes a mage at some point. That would explain why she keeps staring at that old good luck charm.

At least the next ep seems to have some action again.

[Ryllharu]

Having her become a mage would be interesting, but I wonder if that is possible anymore due to her use of the Level Upper. She might suffer backlash if she attempts to use it because she still exhibited a personal reality for a brief period.

I wouldn't mind seeing that kind of development though, since the one thing we never got to see in Index is how one trains to become a mage. We just know the basics (theory, magic name, origin). One thing we do know is that being trained for effective combat magic emphasizes hard work almost as much espers do, if not more so. Komoe was given the basic introduction, and since it was a powerful spell, it took a long time and was very dangerous.

[Buffalobiian]

Having her become a mage would be interesting, but I wonder if that is possible anymore due to her use of the Level Upper. She might suffer backlash if she attempts to use it because she still exhibited a personal reality for a brief period.

I think it'll be more to do with her "stats" that she retains, more than anything else. since that should be the source of any AIM field interference.

I liked the re-introduction of loli-sensei. I liked those (cute) ankle shots even more.

[David75]

Well, Saten sure has an esper power.
But it's ridiculously weak even with the help of the Power Upper.
Her wind control was extremely small scale, and it seems she still passed out very quickly.

I don't know if there's meaning in the time you need to pass out, but if there is, that would mean that either her powers are so small that it needed too much energy to get even those small results. Or she has in fact a normal or even great power, but her psychological barriers are so strong that it prevents her from expressing that power.

I'm thinking that her good luck charm is what creates those limits, because it gets too much screentime. It also keeps reminding her of her familly. And for some reason, if I'm not wrong, the other great level 0 we know of also has strong ties with his familly.
I do not remember other espers having familly ties, or at least we did not get to know that.
We do know that espers to be HAVE to be separated from their famillies. I don't know if there's a relationship.

Then, there's the idea that using powers is a danger for the user... explaining why most (if not all) espers are so young. If Saten deep inside, knows that, that could explain why she doesn't express powers. After all, she got the power upper through social pressure, not totally by her own free will.

[Ryllharu]

I'm thinking that her good luck charm is what creates those limits, because it gets too much screentime. It also keeps reminding her of her familly. And for some reason, if I'm not wrong, the other great level 0 we know of also has strong ties with his familly.
I do not remember other espers having familly ties, or at least we did not get to know that.
We do know that espers to be HAVE to be separated from their famillies. I don't know if there's a relationship.

Then, there's the idea that using powers is a danger for the user... explaining why most (if not all) espers are so young. If Saten deep inside, knows that, that could explain why she doesn't express powers. After all, she got the power upper through social pressure, not totally by her own free will.

Using powers are not a danger. Using magic when you have esper powers are, or using esper abilities improperly is (the same as magic). There are so many young espers compared to older ones because research is exploding on how to invoke or develop them, especially in younger individuals, who are more imaginative by nature and should have an easier time creating a personal reality.

While I do think you may be on to something with her charm, being an item of faith that she clings to, most espers not having a close connection to their families is false, same goes for Touma having an especially close one.

Remember that Touma isn't a Level 0 because he doesn't have an ability like Saten does. He is a Level 0 because it is impossible to evaluate his ability by the standards used. In fact, if you were to give him an appropriate level, it would probably be more like negative 5, since he can nullify the powers of two Level 5s that we have seen. Touma's Imagine Breaker is at least equivalent to Level 5.

Most espers appear to not have close ties to their families because their families live elsewhere. Touma's (current) home is within an hour of the shore. Saten's is somewhere in a metropolitan suburb, and so is Mikoto's. Students all gather in Academy City because it has a huge collection of high-end and high-profile schools, and not just for ones that are meant to develop Esper abilities. Touma and Mikoto's schools are both geared towards Esper development, which is why the Level Uppers got a lesson from one of Academy City's leading experts. Tomoe-sensei has a huge collection of books on esper abilities in her apartment, she's very well versed in it, even though she does not have one herself. Saten and Uiharu's school seems more geared towards regular studies, though they have esper development classes.

Espers are only separated from their families because the only places in Japan to develop esper abilities is in Academy City. Touma is as close to his family as any normal person would be. It is his parents that are especially concerned about his well being, at least his father anyway. His mother is certainly the, "ara ara," type of airhead. I think Mikoto and Kuroko are exceptions to the rule, rather than definitions of it. There was that little girl who lost her backback, who also kept a reminder of her family very precious. Most students seem to be that way, rather than isolationists like Mikoto, who certainly has exceptional circumstances.

[Buffalobiian]

Remember that Touma isn't a Level 0 because he doesn't have an ability like Saten does. He is a Level 0 because it is impossible to evaluate his ability by the standards used. In fact, if you were to give him an appropriate level, it would probably be more like negative 5, since he can nullify the powers of two Level 5s that we have seen. Touma's Imagine Breaker is at least equivalent to Level 5.

After an episode about personal reality, I'm now more convinced that Touma being rated a Level 0 is somewhat appropriate. Instead of looking at the ability/power thing, if we instead define "levels" as the "power to modify nature to match the user's personal reality", then Touma really is a level zero in that regard. In fact, he's as much of a level zero as one can get, since not only does he ground himself to reality, but he also destroys other people's personal realities with his rightly named Imagine Breaker