To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S - 12

The Loss of the Diagram

Our commoner hero makes an appearance, which is not much of a change in situation for our heroine (who isn't quite yet in love). The episode begins with a childhood memory of Mikoto, when she was very young (biologically younger than Last Order, I presume). Misuzu, her mother, fixes her thumbless Gekota plushie (which I found strange, as Mikoto was supposedly attached to a different merchandise series called 'Kiruguma' according to an episode in season 1) in her sleep to cheer her up. Mikoto knows that this heartwarming scene is nowhere near a depiction of the real world she faces, but wishes that all of the past few weeks was all a dream. She declares to herself that she will end it all.

The more wild-looking Misuzu with Mikoto in Last-Order form.

After 'sister's noise', Mikoto ponders what will happen to her friends after the public finds out of her terrorism acts before giving a thought about the Tree Diagram. An unfortunate man appears, which marks the start of an important scene in Index I, a conversation between the two on the Supercomputer in space. However, in this version Mikoto doesn't end the conversation with 'I was just being a poet.' The heavy atmosphere of the series didn't allow it.

The daily life to be left behind.

Picking up on the line: '(I don't like that aircraft) because it makes the plans and humans follow it.' I think this is something interesting to think about. Academy City almost operates entirely on this system, in which a computer does  the calculations and the humans follow the suggested plan. Are we the same in any way? Will we be the same? The fact that Mikoto doesn't make the poet remark brings a new level of consideration into how we should live as humans.

Perspective switch to Touma. He meets Clone #10032 trying to approach a cat. She explains why the cat has problems approaching her, and then remembers the time she asked two scientists what they would do if a clone of themselves appeared after seeing Mikoto's very rejecting response.The conclusion was that they would do so too. This is also an interesting scene, although I have nothing to elaborate.

Dat' change in quality

Mikoto infiltrates the Tree Diagram reception centre in order to hack it and give false data, which happens to be completely unmanned. Her astonishment is increased after reading that the Tree Diagram had in fact been mysteriously destroyed on the 28th of July, and its remnants were retrieved. 

Meanwhile, Accelerator emerges from the darkness of an alleyway to initiate experiment #10031. Clone #10032, who was looking after a cat with Kamijo, responds...

Slowly sliding into the Index storyline. Comparing the art in this and Index I was interesting, I might add. The art budget must have been significantly different.