A Certain Scientific Railgun T 23
とある科学の超電磁砲T

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Now that Level 5 “Railgun” Mikoto is on the scene, Rita has to pretend that they aren’t a Dark Side group, but rather a recovery team from Judgement. Mikoto is suspicious, but Rita says enough right things that match what Kuroko has stated. However, when Misaki calls Mikoto, Rita realizes her increasing bad luck at having two Level 5s to deal with. Misaki gives Mikoto intel on a cloaked airship involved in the Doppelganger project.

Rita is freaked out and attempts to compliment Misaki. She is surprised when Mikoto shows disdain. Rita gives Mikoto a Gekota communicator. She thinks she has screwed up and states that she likes Gekota. This earns Mikoto’s favor. Rita leads Mikoto to an old, industrial area where Doppelganger is at. Mikoto attempts to trap Doppelganger, but gets surprised repels Mikoto’s “cage”.

Rita realizes that if she can get Mikoto to send Doppelganger to the abandoned warehouse where Scavenger was supposed to deliver her, their mission will have been a success. However, she has to pretend to be Judgement and evacuate the area. Because Rita has an injured arm, Mikoto sends her packing to deal with the growing Doppelganger. As planned, Mikoto sends it to the warehouse area.

Meanwhile, Rita forces her client to sign for delivery. Scavenger bails, though Rita starts having pangs of guilt for abandoning Mikoto. Doppelganger realizes Mikoto is a bigger threat due to her ability to perform battlefield analysis. As such, Doppelganger increases its mass so that it won’t be affected by Mikoto any longer.

Thoughts/Review

More interesting action as well as taking advantage of Mikoto’s good nature in A Certain Scientific Railgun T 23.

Changes to the Source Material

To create A Certain Scientific Railgun T 23, source manga material had to be derived from the end of chapter 89, all of chapters 90 and 91, and the start of chapter 92.

Outside of a few, very minor elements, the anime adaptation was spot on with the source manga. As I’ve mentioned before, I really appreciate it when an anime adaptation is faithful to the source material.

Pretending to Be Good

Since all of the Scavenger members are working for the dark side of Academy City, I appreciated how Rita had to pretend to be part of Judgement in A Certain Scientific Railgun T 23. Of course the danger here is that having Mikoto believe these lies could make her look gullible and stupid. However, the way the story is crafted is done in a way where Mikoto could believe, yet not look stupid.

Kuroko is part of Judgement, and she’s always scolding Mikoto for doing things just because Mikoto is a civilian. Thus Rita’s cover story about Seike attacking Mikoto as a civilian who was helping Judgement mostly fit. Further, many of the things Rita said or did fit in with what Judgement would do. As such, I appreciated the writers not making Mikoto some gullible fool for believing Rita.

Still, it was nice to see Rita feeling some guilt over lying to Mikoto and ultimately abandoning her. I don’t remember for sure, but I think we’ll see Rita come back next episode.

Railgun vs. Doppelganger

Mikoto doesn’t get to do serious battle against Doppelganger until the second half of A Certain Scientific Railgun T 23. The battle scenes were pretty good. I rather enjoyed seeing Mikoto use a metal sheet like a surfboard. For some reason, I found myself thinking about Magneto from the X-Men franchise. Many things Mikoto does are in line with what Magneto could do. And yet Mikoto has the power of electricity, which gives her that added bonus, and thus makes her so awesome.

That aside, Mikoto feels more mature as she battles Doppelganger. I really like this element to Mikoto’s character. After all, Mikoto has been through some very touch battles against big opponents, and multiple opponents. With each fight, she gains wisdom and with each victory, she gains more confidence. She’s able to analyze the situation and adjust her tactics accordingly. There’s no cliched moment for her to use her ultimate, Railgun attack. Mikoto just quietly fires it at the opportune time.

Even when Doppelganger grows to the size of Godzilla, Mikoto doesn’t freak out. This “boss fight” has just gotten tougher, meaning she’ll have to come up with something new. Although based on the previews for the next episode, it does look like Ryoko returns to assist. But then sometimes one needs a helping hand.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, A Certain Scientific Railgun T 23 was more good stuff. It really makes me want to go back and reread the manga, then catch up on the volumes I haven’t read yet.