A Certain Scientific Railgun T 17
とある科学の超電磁砲T

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Shaei provides a demonstration to Uiharu and Kuroko about his precognitive powers. They don’t notice that this causes him to bleed a bit. However, they are able to save a middle school girl from drowning as a result, proving that Kuroko’s teleport abilities do counteract Shaei’s abilities to an extent. However, he wants to help Judgement, so Kuroko agrees, allowing her to help lots of people.

Sometime later, Shaei reports to Kuroko and Uiharu about two incidents happening at nearly the same time in close proximity at a nearby park. Kuroko decides to get more Judgement help since Shaei believes fire is involved. As such, Konori is able to use her powers to scan people for explosives and such. Uiharu provides Kuroko with a monocle with a hacked satellite feed.

Shaei contacts Kuroko with more predictions about the park. However, he passes out. At the hospital, the “frog-faced” doctor informs Kuroko that Shaei has been overexerting himself. Kuroko wonders why. In the past, Shaei is unable to help others, which is why he’s determined to make the bad things not happen. Shaei wakes up, realizing his stray dog friend will die.

Meanwhile in the park, a short in a vending machine starts a fire. Kuroko realizes the plant food ampules will cause the explosion. Judgement gathers them. Shaei shows up and explains about Pero, the stray dog. Kuroko goes with Konori to rescue the dog. Shaei is worried about being selfish, but Kuroko rejects this and rescues the dog. Later, it is discovered that students, using Indian Poker, gained knowledge to feed the Sakura trees to allow them to bloom all year.

Afterward, Kuroko encourages Shaei to study hard, grow in power, and come see her again in the future.

Thoughts/Review

Kuroko is a character who can be amazing, but she can also be quite annoying, especially when she’s sexually harassing Mikoto. However, A Certain Scientific Railgun T 17 shows Kuroko at her best.

Changes to the Source Material

This episode was adapted from the remaining part of chapter 74, all of chapter 75 and 76, and parts of the first half of chapter 77. For the most part, A Certain Scientific Railgun T 17 was pretty accurate to the source manga material. That included Shaie’s flashback to the female classmate who bullied him, but whom he was unable to help later on. However, there were some modifications.

• The incidents where Kuroko saved people based on Shaei’s information were extended a bit. For the sake of visual purposes in the anime, this makes sense.
• At the end, Uiharu is removed, thus removing a comedic bit where Kuroko attacks her for telling Shaei that Kuroko is a pervert.

I do miss the comedic bit, and I’m guessing it was cut for time. And maybe it does detract from the moving bit at the end between Kuroko and Shaei.

A Kuroko Tale

As I said earlier, Kuroko can be a really annoying character. As much as I enjoy her “Oneesama” shtick, I don’t like it when she tries to rape or otherwise sexually harass Mikoto. I get it that this is done for comedy effect, and that Mikoto is in no real danger. After all, whenever Kuroko crosses the line Mikoto has set, Kuroko pays a heavy price for it.

Still, A Certain Scientific Railgun T 17 allows us to see Kuroko at her best. She’s not fighting some powerful opponent. She’s simply helping a troubled schoolboy who has sought her help. And as she stated, she saw a lot of herself in Shaei. She respects him for wanting to save others and gladly puts in extra work to make that happen. And in future, she’s willing to partner up with him to do more good works. I loved that.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, A Certain Scientific Railgun T 17 was a very enjoyable episode, allowing us to see Kuroko at her best.

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