To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S - 18

You know last time when I mentioned my concern over how they were going to fit the entirety of the next arc into the final few episodes? Well, that has now been answered, with a dreaded filler arc. They never intended to animate the Daihasei Festival Arc, making Shokuhou Misaki's prior introduction utterly useless. Consolation was delivered, with our less stellar replacement Mugino Shizuri taking the spotlight as the fellow Level 5 in this filler, not to mention Kongou-Sama seems to be retaining a fair proportion of involvement, making me excited for the upcoming future prospect. If anything, I truly believe this arc has potential to exceed that of the original material... a statement I'll revoke after careful consideration.

Though the first impression left a better taste in my mouth compared to the Daihasei Festival, this is partially weighted down by the weaker aspects supporting this filler, namely the bunch of scientific nerds obsessing over their lack of esper power. Why Shinobu chose to throw her weight behind them is difficult to understand, but another thing I'd like to point out is that she has no correlation whatsoever to the main storyline, having never appeared ever again in either Railgun or Index. Her return has been subject of mixed reception, but if in doubt, bringing back an old, familiar character is a strong addition to any story.

When Railgun isn't busy pulling off Sci-Fi Action, it does a brilliant job at Slice of Life. In any genre, Friendship is one of the greatest power, being second to love only. In a SoL, friendship is observed under heavy scrutiny, almost a cross examination, and parallel to real life. Whereas Misaka’s return following the Sisters’ Arc highlighted how she has a lot of great friends around her, Harrue’s separation arguably demonstrates a situation that takes this an extra step—as Harrue not only clearly realizes how much Uiharu has done for her at this point, she’s able to thank her for it, and she’s also taking that realization and planning to help Edasaki with it as well. All very touching, to the point a tear was brought to my eye (I'm a sucker for Crowning Moments of Heartwarming).

Shifting off to the next big thing this week though, we get the revelation of a new “enemy” in terms of “Aritomi” and his group of white coats. Continuing the trend of “scientists” being behind virtually everything this season, it seems as if they're planning to create a Mech with powers rivaling that of the strongest espers. Like many villains in anime, Aritomi finds a way to completely piss me off straight away, that is to say he was utter jerk to Kongo (who is up there as being one of my favourite characters). His arguments were extremely biased, filled with unconcrete 'what-ifs', and twisted away any noble intention Kongo had. If anything, it feels like an argument bought forth by someone with no real esper powers of his own, and it’s something that may be twisting his views away from whatever potentially “noble” intents it might have had otherwise.

My favourite part of the episode was definitely the emergence of a blonde loli sucking a... lolly. Found in the flower beds, I have suspicions this young girl has the potential to entirely influence the plot revolving around the current arc. With ITEM also wrapped up in this, I'm fully expecting some killer combinations between ITEM, Judgement, and most importantly, the two Level 5 Espers.