Recap: Febri finally seems to be warming up to Mikoto, but after enjoying a trip to the bath house the girls find themselves in unexpected danger.

Jel’s Thoughts: I keep waiting for Railgun to jump into the deep end of the Slice of Life Fan Service pool and to my delight it’s just not happening. Even this week’s deliberate trip to the bath house was over before I had time to roll my eyes. I’m enjoying keeping the lighter moments focused on the characters themselves and not what they look like in swimsuits, particularly with Kongou joining the group. It’s been an impressive amount of restraint for a franchise not known for it, so I suppose I should just gladly accept that this is the way things are now.

Unfortunately what we have been getting is a pretty half backed plot as the nerds unveil their science fair project and absolutely no one is shocked by Febri’s man made origins. I’m a bit concerned that Shinobu seems to have gotten herself into some more morally questionable research as you would think she already learned her lesson. Seeing as the Evil Nerds plan on offing Febri, I can totally see us re-treading the same thematic ground as the clones and Shinobu trying to redeem herself yet again. Yawn.

Overall these post-Sisters episodes have been good by filler standards, but it doesn’t change the fact that they are still filler. I applaud their efforts to actually make something out of the anime original content and it has certainly been serviceable, but the gap in quality compared to the first two thirds of the series is quite noticeable. Honestly though, if the last couple of episodes are just more fun antics with the girls and a little mech smashing, I won’t complain about that.

Zigg’s Thoughts: Just a quick one from me this week. As charming as it all is, I’m becoming a little wearied of the show being ‘A Certain Scientific Babysitter’ for several episodes in a row now. Extremely cutesy children are like my anime kryptonite – I can’t stand them, and while Febri is clearly here as a plot device, as the end of the episode indicates, her presence is increasingly grating to me, as is the fascination all the cast seem to hold with her.

Nevertheless, it’s good that we’re getting the cast hanging out with each other and such is the personality and history of the characters it’s pleasant just spending time with the, I’m particularly down with Kongou clumsily trying to integrate herself into the group, which leads to some good laughs and a pleasant thawing of her ice queen traits. Way less enamoured by the new villains, who are perhaps the least threatening bunch of geeks to ever grace a darkened meeting room. The presence of Shinobu does add an interesting wrinkle to them though, and that’s enough to keep me invested, or at least keep me hoping we see them royally beaten down. Railgun is clearly coasting towards the finish here, but even so there’s enough charm left in the tank to keep me watching.