To Aru Kagaku no Railgun - 07 November 14
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Summary:
The members of Judgment have been very busy with all of the graviton incidents, meaning that Kuroko and Uiharu have had little time for their friends. Saten in particular feels left out because of her own lack of abilities, and she jokes to Mikoto about using the urban legend Level Upper which supposedly increases ability levels. Seeing Saten like this, Mikoto suggests that all four of them go shopping together, but she finds out later that Kuroko is still too busy to come. Nevertheless, Mikoto, Saten, and Uiharu go out together, and unbeknownst to them, Uiharu’s Judgment armband is spotted by a certain someone who is constantly getting bullied and holds a grudge against Judgment members. Inside a store, Mikoto runs into Touma who is helping a little girl around, and the two part ways without any major incident. A short while later, Uiharu gets a phone call from Kuroko warning her that the next incident will be taking place at the store she’s currently at, so she and the others begin evacuating everyone. They succeed in doing so, but Mikoto runs into Touma again, and he’s lost sight of the little girl, so the two go back inside.
The pair arrives just as the little girl is passing to Uiharu a stuffed animal that was given to her by a guy with glasses. Realizing that something is wrong with it, Uiharu tosses the stuffed animal aside and tries to protect the little girl while Mikoto springs into action and attempts to use her railgun against it. Unfortunately, Mikoto fumbles the coin she was going to use, and an explosion envelops the area. Believing that he was successful, the culprit slinks off, happy with his success and power. Mikoto, however, had survived and now finds this culprit in an alleyway. She counters his power with her railgun, and when he starts yelling about the evils of people with power, she punches him. Kuroko arrives soon after and explains to the guy that even Mikoto started out as a Level 1 and had to put in a lot of work to get to Level 5. In the aftermath, Kuroko goes up to the scene of the explosion, and even though everyone thinks that Mikoto saved the day, Kuroko is confused at how Mikoto’s power protected the others. What Mikoto doesn’t tell anyone is that she wasn’t able to do anything back then, and it was actually Touma who had stepped in and used his right arm. When she runs into him again, she suggests that he could be known as hero, but Touma doesn’t care about anything like that as long as everyone is safe.
Preview
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For the most part, I thought this was a pretty good episode. I loved Touma’s role and attitude here - I hate to say it like this (and I think I’m repeating myself), but he’s a lot more fun of a character to watch and cheer for when he appears in a limited fashion like this, without his annoying parts. The one thing I didn’t really understand though is how his power stopped the blast. I was under the impression that the Imagine Breaker could have stopped the reaction in the toy/spoon that caused the explosion, but once the explosion happened, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything against it (akin to a regular bomb going off).
Anyway, Mikoto was also fun to watch this episode because of the way she acted around Touma, but what I didn’t really like was the portrayal of the villain. I mean, I can appreciate the emphasis on power and the lesson that Kuroko and Mikoto taught the guy, but it seemed very stupid for him to be targeting Judgment instead of just going after his bullies. Plus he was just a really weak and whiny kind of guy in the first place, so there’s not much to be impressed by. The Level Upper, on the other hand, is more interesting story-wise, and it’s what they’re pointing to (perhaps a bit too obviously) as having powered him up. It also looks to be what next episode will be focused on.
FlareKnight at 3:20 am on November 14th, 2009
Agree Touma really does well in a limited role. He comes in and can save the say without things going too far. Besides in Railgun when he does show up it’s to fool around with Mikoto and drive her crazy which is pretty fun as it is. I’m guessing his power worked because the explosion was caused by an esper ability. If it had been a normal explosion he couldn’t do anything but because it was abnormal it was enough for him to get involved.
Well the criminal is pretty much what you’d expect. Someone that is willing to blow up a little girl to get his target clearly is trash that doesn’t think clearly anyways. You’d think he’d target those who bullied him but instead he directed his rage at those not involved in it. Maybe he’s just crazy or is just a loser who thinks he’s so important that Judgment should have of course been protecting him 24/7.
Pretty good episode though.
rofl at 3:22 am on November 14th, 2009
he has the power to stop other peoples powers.. that dudes power being explosives in a sense Touma can stop his power if you compare it to Mikotos lightning he can stop it when it is airborne being shot at him and when she just tried to zap him by grabbing him. Whatever their power make do or cause he can usually stop it unless its something like a building collapsing in which case he would just be screwed..either way Touma is badass! i love his appearances in this anime he always shines in at just the right time and as much as i liked when he would goof around with more screen time he did have too much dialogue in the other series.
ahelo at 3:22 am on November 14th, 2009
the bomb was part of the guy’s power so touma can stop it. i think.
anyway biribiri was full of awesomeness today as always.
Samurai Pumpkin at 3:23 am on November 14th, 2009
Touma’s limited showing is due to how he is portrayed in the manga. If I remember the manga basically had a single frame showing how the floor was perfect and you had to figure out the rest as to how that happened. The bit at the end of the episode between those 2 was a nice touch.
I wonder if that scene was present in the novel? Hum.
Siege at 3:28 am on November 14th, 2009
Yay now we getting somewhere interesting, more Touma and Mikoto plzz
Actar at 3:50 am on November 14th, 2009
Indeed, Touma’s Imagine Breaker can stop anything that was caused by psychic or magic power. Since the explosion was the result of the accelerated Gravitons, it was negated. Just like Mikoto’s ionized Iron particles.
X at 4:21 am on November 14th, 2009
I agree with you about Touma being a lot better like this, he’s like a “passing by hero of justice” (HnG reference). Also what shines the most is Mikoto’s interactions with Touma, man I never get tired of them! From To Aru majutsu no index, this series, and their respective mangas, still awesome to watch the two interact.
Also about your question OMNI, this is just what I thought from reading other materials, but it seems like Touma can also stop the explosion and other related effects due to magic, psychic, and divine abilities. This is evident with the fact that he can also stop Mikoto’s railgun, which of course means that he shouldn’t be able to stop the force of the coin, but since it was still an effect of an ability or created by an ability. He can still stop it. Anyways just my 2 cents.
Phosphatide at 4:23 am on November 14th, 2009
Touma is so badass. He gets to use super auras and punch people.
samu at 4:46 am on November 14th, 2009
So, if someone with a gun shot a few rounds at Touma, he’d be screwed (full of holes, dead) since it’s a normal weapon–no magic, psychic or divine ability was used. Good to hear that his weakness is being human, after all.
Wayne at 5:31 am on November 14th, 2009
I kind of figured that Touma would be the one to save the day instead of Mikoto. I had that one figured out last week. Just one question, if the level upper is legit, doesn’t that make one of the story arcs from Index kind of pointless? Also, I am not sure, does this series take place before or after Index? I didn’t watch Index that much but plan on watching it soon.
I love Mikoto’s reaction to Touma not caring who got the credit.
Maximatum99 at 5:42 am on November 14th, 2009
Technically and scientifically speaking (since the anime is a bit scientific) is that it doesn’t need to be an esper caused explosion for him to block it because technically speaking… it’s just an explosion with normal compression of sound waves and fire. So… yeah. Although that’s digging to deep into it.
Samurai Pumpkin at 6:04 am on November 14th, 2009
Does Touma have a Japanese reference behind his name? “Tou” and “ma”. Anybody know? I’m a Japanese self study that’s curious.
KrebMarkt at 6:46 am on November 14th, 2009
@Samurai Pumpkin
People discussed Touma’s last name which is “Kamijō”.
Koroshiya at 6:54 am on November 14th, 2009
I really think they need to play down the hints they give in the series… It makes for less “I saw that coming” moments.
Tenkou at 7:38 am on November 14th, 2009
Wow, another nice episode. Even though I read the manga beforehand, its still impressive and interesting to watch haha. I’m just curious that although the kanji in the preview is “Imagine Breaker”, the katakana is “Level Upper” Hm… puzzling. Or am I just interpreting it wrongly?
Samurai Pumpkin at 7:42 am on November 14th, 2009
Pretty sure that’s intentional.
Yufankun at 7:53 am on November 14th, 2009
@Tenkou
Imagine Breaker is written 幻想殺し while the Level Upper is 幻想御手.
duh at 7:55 am on November 14th, 2009
I always found Touma’s power to be portrayed irregularly in Index and Railgun.
Take Mikoto’s railgun move with a coin - Touma may be able to dissipate the electricity on the coin or whatever, but the coin is still a piece of metal travelling at mach speeds and so would surely still kill him. The same with the blast from this episode.
I guess you’ll have to take everything with a pinch of salt and suspend your disbelief a little more.
Still, Touma annoys me however long his appearances are…
Mincemaker at 9:17 am on November 14th, 2009
Well, anything directly caused by psychic and magic powers are negated by Imagine Breaker. That’s why even convection currents from Styl’s fire powers in Index doesn’t even burn him when it’s supposed to. It takes indirect damage from supernatural powers, or pure physical attack, to bypass Imagine Breaker. Meaning, blowing up a city block to collapse the building on Touma with Graviton would work, but a direct Graviton explosion is not going to leave a mark.
TheDude at 9:20 am on November 14th, 2009
@Wayne
It is easy to make the level upper story fit with the Index Misaka Misaka plot. Either:
- make the source of level upper vanish.
- make it have serious side effects which curtail its use in a long term basis.
- make it only work for increasing people’s level upto level 4.