Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S Episode 16
とある科学の超電磁砲（レールガン）S
To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Accelerator can’t fathom why Touma and Mikoto would risk their lives to protect worthless clones. He asks if it is because Mikoto is jealous, or if it is because she feels guilty for allowing the Sisters to be created. Mikoto says it is because all of the Sisters are her younger sisters.  With that, she asks Misaka-10032 if she can stand up for them. Misaka-10032 agrees, causing Accelerator to laugh hysterically. With that, he decides he’s going to kill both girls, but he then notices the bloodied Touma standing up. Accelerator is shocked because Touma really should be dead, but Accelerator can’t figure out why he isn’t.

Touma lurches forward, so Accelerator decides he’ll kill Touma. Mikoto grabs a token and tosses it in the air to fire a railgun shot at Accelerator. However, when Accelerator reaches Touma, his hand breaks on contact with Touma’s right hand. With his last bit of strength, Touma punches Accelerator hard in the face, sending him flying back. Before losing consciousness, Accelerator has a vision and for the the first time, see’s himself in the darkness, but all the while, he had truly wanted a friend and a normal life. He also begins to understand what Touma and Mikoto see in the Sisters. Touma falls to the ground, as does Mikoto’s unfired token as the fight is over.

In the hospital, a bandaged Misaka Imouto visits Touma, informing him the experiments were over. Later, Mikoto comes by with expensive cookies she bought him as a thank you. He remarks that he prefers homemade ones, even if they were burnt, causing Mikoto to express her frustration. The two chat a bit, where Mikoto expresses her regret over her part in causing the Sisters to be created in the first place. Touma points out the positive side, saying that there are a lot of people alive because of Mikoto. Leaving the hospital, Mikoto happens upon Misaka-10032, and the two walk and talk until they reach a nearby park with two sisters playing. Misaka-10032 plays with them despite her injuries, and tells them Mikoto is her older sister. Mikoto and Misaka Imouto talk more, with Mikoto happy to be there for her and them.

With things settled between Misaka Imouto and Mikoto, Mikoto has dropped by Saten’s place to make cookies for Touma. Uiharu comes by after Mikoto leaves, where she and Saten talk about this and their happiness that Mikoto is back to normal. Mikoto heads to the hospital, amazed she got talked into making cookies, when she encounters Touma on the way. They talk, but Mikoto can’t be honest and ends up not giving him the cookies. She does get him to address her as “Misaka” instead of “Biribiri” like he usually does. After Touma leaves, Kuroko teleports in, revealing that the dorm supervisor has become aware of Mikoto’s not being in the dorm after curfew. Kuroko is surprised by the look on Mikoto’s face as it is one she’s never seen before.

Thoughts/Review:

This episode adapts original manga chapters 38 & 39 from volume 7.

Changes to the adaptation start with the scenes of Mikoto actually making the cookies with Saten being dropped in favor of showing what happened afterward when Uiharu came by Saten’s place for a visit. Also, Kuroko popping in to warn Mikoto has Mikoto punish Kuroko for spying on her, which did not happen in the anime, mainly because the anime doesn’t have Kuroko actually explain how she found Mikoto.

With this, the Sisters arc comes to an end.  I have to say, this was so very awesome. I loved every minute of seeing this on screen.  Sure, I’d seen a limited version of this from Touma’s perspective during the A Certain Magical Index anime series. I’d read Mikoto’s version via the A Certain Scientific Railgun manga. It was just awesome seeing everything put together to get the complete story in this series (or very close to everything).

One thing this episode pointed out to me were the small moments that I’d mostly forgetting in the original manga (not because the manga was boring, but because one thing pushes out another in my insanely busy life). As such, it was a delight seeing the aftermath scene between Misaka Imouto and Mikoto.  Misaka Imouto’s wondering about the now unknown future had much greater impact with the anime.

Ditto Accelerator, who starts shifting here from a pure, insane psycho to someone who suddenly learns a valuable lesson and gets a chance to make it right (even if his personality means he won’t be happy about it every step of the way).

Also, I hadn’t remembered that Mikoto had almost blasted Accelerator railgun up until Accelerator got taken out by Touma. I liked how the anime played that, giving it so much more impact than the manga could. That’s not a slam on the manga, but an acknowledgement that there are some things a proper anime adaption to make what was already good and take it to the next level.

I smiled to see Index’s cameo in this episode. Sadly, we didn’t get to see her face, but then again, her cameo for the splash page of the manga also had her face hidden (though it was for a different part of the Sister’s arc).

The manga next goes into the story of KONGOU Mitsuko (almost two chapters) before picking up the introduction of Misaki (which the anime has already done). I would love to see Mitsuko’s arrival and friendship with Mikoto revealed, but it doesn’t look like the series is going to do that, at least, not now. I figure they’ll wrap things up with some anime-original stories and leave the next arc for the next anime series. That’ll be fine with me.