Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S Episode 13 - Narrowing Paths

To begin, I need to say that this episode was almost the same as watching Index's corresponding scenes. This, however, was no let-down, due to the improved art, and in-depth story J.C. Staff has put their effort into. Starting with Accelerator's face-off (could be counted as one-sided slaughter, you can decide) with Clone #10031 (the individual clone which was the first to appear before Kamijou), the episode covers only from the 10031st experiment and Kamijou finding the truth of his acquaintance's 'Sisters'.

Mikoto, throughout the first half spends her screen time vandalising another of the labs which were part of the project. It is still intriguing that the researchers are unable to identify their attacker as the Railgun, even when she uses her ability as if to show her power in their faces. Although successful in destroying (nope, not deleting, DESTROYING) the data as per usual, the sight of a human firework happening to be her clone being screened in front of her was too much for her 14-year old mentality to handle.

Breaking the wall is always better than entering the intended way

One of the many factors that make Mikoto a popular character, to the extent she wins the 'Favourite Female Character' Award for the past 4 years consecutively in the KonoRano (Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!), is the range from her normal, tsundere self to her determined, strong side. The normally bright, happy and shy girl is fighting in the darkness, not asking for help, with her heart about to break any moment. This element of her does make her a truly lovable, even respectable character.

The details of Accelerator and #10031's fight were much the same as in Index I, but there was a move which only this version included: what I would like to refer to as the 'BB Cannon' (Beer Bottle Cannon).　Sorry for the bad pun on BB Guns. The move showed the control of vectors being used to launch an array of beer bottles at the enemy from their basket. Although impractical considering the limits of Accelerator's ability, this was an original move included in the anime which was eye-catching. It ends with Accelerator reversing the blood flow in his prey's body to create the explosion noted before.

Using his ability to avoid the blood. Elegant

There is a flashback depicting Accelerator's first experiment in the project. Interestingly, he didn't know that the clones were far from equally powerful to their original, and he was disgusted when he had a pistol shot at him rather than a railgun. Ironically, the clone dies when a bullet reflects in her direction. The researcher tells him the battles will get harder as they progress due to the clones' shared memory. Ignore the fact that #10031 still decided it would be a good idea to use firearms as a main weapon.

Ready for combat

Kamijou's discovery of the corpse leads him into the darkness Mikoto has concealed even from her dearest Kuroko...

Worried Kamijou

Although I did say that the episode was not a let down, I may start getting bored if the same thing is recapped. I am looking forward to the concluding episodes.

Extra: A potentially misleading scene.