Episode 16 – “Sisters”

And thus ends the retelling of the Sisters Arc from Index I, and I don’t think I could have asked for more. I enjoyed the Railgun S rendition of the showdown with Accelerator more than in Index I, and I think it’s impossible to make the fight anymore exciting or suspenseful because of the nature of Touma’s ability. Still, I love how things were extrapolated upon, even Accelerator’s past.

Even though it’s very difficult to forgive him for what he’s done, I think it’s important to know about his motivation with the experiment, which is something that was missing from the first half of Index I. Of course, later in the series we see a different side of Accelerator following the end of the Level 6 Shift experiment, but I’m not sure if we’ll see that continuation in Railgun S. During this episode’s fight, we get a brief glimpse into Accelerator’s past, showing how much his powers isolated him. Because of this, it’s a little more understandable why he agreed to do the experiments. Still messed up though.

Something I’m a little surprised was cut out of Railgun S is a scene between Misaka Imouto and Touma in the hospital. While they do show them together a little bit, there’s no dialogue exchanged. What we get instead are more scenes between Misaka Imouto and Misaka, which I greatly prefer, thankfully. We get a nice little scene between the two of them and two little girls who also happen to be sisters. I thought the whole interaction was going to be serious, but thankfully Misaka Imouto knows how to keep the atmosphere light. I wonder where she learned how to play on a swing set though.

I also thought it was hilarious how the little girl thought Misaka was the younger “twin” because she has a Gekota phone. I’d probably think the same thing, though. Plus, Misaka Imouto looks so badass with all of her bandages! It was pretty cute when Misaka Imouto said she accepts Misaka as her older sister despite all of her “flaws.” Same for when Misaka accepts all of her clones as her little sisters. Oh! And the scene where Misaka Imouto buys another Gekota button to replace the one lost in experiment 9982 was the icing on the cake this episode.

This episode also brought about some good shipping moments between Touma and Misaka, and while I’m personally not into shipping (much), it was still a nice addition. I really wanted her to throw the cookies at Touma though, and I’m not sure why. Also, we only get the briefest of glimpses at a certain magical head crab running to visit Touma. I know it was mentioned that Railgun S would end with happy-go-lucky slice-of-life episodes, but I’m not sure if that’s meant to start next week or not. However, judging by the episode preview, I’d say it’s a possibility. Also, more Frenda!

B.W.