Recap: Mikoto finally encounters one of her clones and accidentally spends the afternoon with her as she tries to get more information. The situation changes drastically when she discovers the true, horrifying nature of their existence.

Jel’s Thoughts: It’s been a bumpy start and I’m sure there’s a few more bumps to come, but Railgun S if finally handlin’ its business. Considering the last time most fans saw Accelerator he was being force-fed to us as an anti-hero, it was good (in a bad way?) to see him back in his pure, unadulterated villain days. His display of brutal inhumanity and overwhelming (aka “stupidly broken”) power were a not so friendly reminder how intense and graphic this series can be when it swings back to its action side. There’s not too many other shows I can thing of that can go from rescuing cats from trees and eating ice cream one moment to dismemberment and murder the next.

It’s really those saving cats from trees and eating ice cream bits that made this episode work though. Exploring the Sisters’ innocent naiveté was not only amusing on the surface level (I forgot how much I love their deadpan humor), it made it that much more gut-wrenching to see one of them literally ripped apart and crushed. The bit with the froggy pin might have seemed a little ham-fisted in any other situation, but I thought it worked great here. It was a perfect way to tie in the Sister’s childlike mindset with Mikoto’s big sister instincts we caught a glimpse of last week. Could you imagine if someone had brutally murdered one of those children under her watch? That’s essentially what happened, and suddenly it made complete sense for the normally level-headed Mikoto to blindly rush an opponent as the episode came to a close.

By far the weakest part of this episode was the return of Mikoto’s super hacking, made even more egregious by the fact the security she broke was even impervious to Uiharu, who actually is a super hacker. It was an incredibly lazy, inelegant way to keep the story moving and deflated the situation a bit, but there’s no sense in continuing to beat that dead horse. The important thing is Railgun S got the intensity and emotions right, and that’s probably the best we can expect from this particular series.

Zigg’s Thoughts: See guys, you can do it when you put your mind to it. After a month of mostly stale, poorly delivered exposition, this episode sees Railgun explode into life. It’s funny, it’s clever, it’s heartbreaking, it has great, well paced action, it’s a winner in every regard.

I think what did surprise me about this episode though was the lengthy buildup to the big shock, and how much I enjoyed it. Railgun‘s comedy is at its best when it remembers it can get laughs from simple character interaction and the decision to downplay Mikoto’s first interaction with her clone into a brief set of comedy skits sounds terrible but works amazingly. There’s a lot of humour in MISAKA’s unshakable calmness opposed to her source being constantly off-balance, and it helps build a relationship between the two without screaming YOU ARE MEANT TO CARE. It’s cute and delivers plot advancement without being clunky and obvious, a problem the show has had so far.

The relaxed nature of this first segment also acts as a brilliant contrast against the violent, gory back half of the episode, heightening the shock value considerably. For those of us who know what’s coming, the mere mention of ‘the experiment’ creates a horrible knowledge of what lies ahead, while those who don’t know will no doubt be taken utterly by surprise at the brutality of it all. I’m on the record as being an Accelerator hater due to the extraordinarily ill-advised attempt to push him as a lead character for the franchise, but seeing him here is a reminder of what made him such a great villain in the first place. The grin, the cocky asides, the near-limitless power – he works extremely well as a totally characterless engine of destruction, content to quip and wreck everything in his path.

The show helps drive home this impression by cranking the violence and gore up to the max and while it’s cool that MISAKA gets a pretty decent shot in, Accelerator’s complete no-sell just makes him look even more of a badass in comparison. Her death might have felt a touch cheap considering we know another one will be along soon, but smart direction, good animation and shot choice and the sheer brutality of the kill pretty much overcome any nagging doubts like that. Jel correctly points out the one weak point in this episode is the return of the super-hacking. You’ve got Uiharu right there – why not have her break the code and prove how useful she is? In contrast, the expodump this week is very well handled. By superimposing Mikoto’s explanation over the Accelerator/MISAKA fight, you’re providing context to events as they’re happening, without being boring or slowing the pace. Good choice to skip the credits too, keeping the dark mood right to the end.

This show reminded me of what we love about the ‘Raildex’ universe so much – the mixture of high concept ideas with punchy, pulpy storytelling, great art and appealing characters, with just a dash of silly anime humour. After a few weeks banging the drum against Railgun, the show has finally delivered the shot of adrenaline needed to get me back on board, and I’m legitimately excited for next week.