Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
Bakanogami
Dec 31, 2004


Grimey Drawer
One thing to remember is that Railgun is halfway a prequel to Index. The sisters arc was the third or fourth one in Index so what we're seeing now is happening at roughly the same time as the first arc or two of Index.

If you're interested in the source material, the Index novels do contain some of the Railgun characters here and there, so you can see what happens to them after the series. It also introduces some new related characters suck as Last Order and Misaka WORST. Plus any scene with Kuroko meeting Touma is gold.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Bakanogami
Dec 31, 2004


Grimey Drawer

Parpy posted:

Also, there was a short segment explaining why the electric telepathy wouldn't work unless you were on the exact same frequency or whatever (made near impossible to finely tune into with the presence of electrical appliances, trains, roving trashbins, etc. everywhere in the city). The clones may have their brains flashed by Testament soon after birth and tuned to a specific frequency; one different than Biribiri's (which would be a reasonable precaution), though there is some detectable interference when they're in close proximity to one another other as we saw when Biribiri picked up on a strange sensation, looked up and spotted 9982 trying to rescue the cat.

The exact nature and structure of the Misaka sister network is something that's still being fleshed out in the most recent novels, so it's likely to be a bit more complicated than just being on another frequency. Despite having the same DNA, their ability is even classified differently. The sisters' ability is "Radio Noise" while only Misaka original has Railgun.

That being said, there is some interaction between their powers, especially when in use. Mikoto detecting 9982 was probably when she used her powers to open the car door. On the other hand, (very very light novel spoiler) there was one incident of Mikoto briefly accidentally disconnecting Misaka 10777 from the network when she generated a jamming effect in the area.

The one thing I've always been kind of puzzled at is that by the time 9982 rolls around the sisters still seem to have so little intel about Accelerator's ability. Some of the earlier indoor tests are depicted in the manga so you can see how far the sisters have progressed in terms of combat progress, but you'd think they would have figured out a little more after that many fights.

Bakanogami
Dec 31, 2004


Grimey Drawer

tonberrytoby posted:

Now that I think about it, wouldn't accelerator get his rear end kicked by espers who's powers don't involve any movement. Like Kuroko and Misaki.
Well I suppose the fact that he can stop Misaka's direct electric shocks mean that his powers are not really connected to logic.

Teleporters like Kuroko aren't actually instant movement, but rather "11th dimensional" movement that allows them to bypass matter and seemingly without any movement time. But at the end of the day it's still movement and has a vector, so if his brain can adapt to it Accelerator's power can theoretically manipulate it.

That being said, his reflection hasn't been put to the test against a teleporter in the books yet so it's all theoretical at this point.

Misaki's mind control is an unknown, but given that Misaka's EM field can block it, it's probably electrically based and is therefore a vector that would be picked up by Accelerator's automatic reflection. Even if it did take hold, Accelerator's proved that he has the ability to directly manipulate the vectors of things like bloodflow and neural pathways within his own body so there's a good chance he could beat it that way.

Fightest posted:

So what's the justification on Accelerator deflecting lightning bolts? Projectiles I can understand, but a lightning strike is a speed-of-light discharge. Considering that technobabble is apparently a thing in the source material, I'm wondering why he hasn't been fried yet.

I don't think they've technobabbled how his brain can calculate against vectors that move at the speed of light, but presumably there's either something at work or just lazy writing on the part of the author.

But if we want to get nitty-gritty about it, his standard reflection is automatically set to always-on so it doesn't require conscious thought on his part. Furthermore in this case there's nothing saying that it's necessarily instant. If Misaka's manipulating the static charges of the area, his subconscious could pick up on those vectors before the actual flow of electrons occurs with the visible spark.

In any event, his vector calculation ability tends to have to do less than the speed of the vector but whether he can correctly identify the type of vector it is, and he's certainly been subjected to electrical charges before. Exceptions he has trouble reflecting are stuff like (light Index spoilers)#2's Dark Matter ability or vectors generated by magic

Considering some of the other esper abilities out there, there's a good chance his calculations are being performed on an 11th dimensional level or something and just bypass the normal flow of time. Problem solved. :science:


veekie posted:

It's why he's that pasty color anyway. Sunlight, pah.

That is indeed why he's so pasty. His automatic reflection reflects most non-visible wavelengths of light so he gets no UV rays at all. He could probably reflect visible wavelengths too but then no light would reach his eyes and he wouldn't be able to see.

Lucy Heartfilia posted:

Accelerator's power should really called 'unbeatable by espers'. That's it.

tonberrytoby posted:

I thought it was unbeatable by everyone expect for (index spoiler)? He can deflect bullets and explosions, after all.

Basically it's just that when it comes to other Espers, he's already been calculated as the most powerful one, presumably by Tree Diagram, which doesn't gently caress around when it comes to calculating poo poo. While he might be able to be beaten by certain non-esper poo poo, or if mitigating circumstances are very bad for him, in a normal fight he won't be beaten by any other existing esper.

Bakanogami
Dec 31, 2004


Grimey Drawer

ChronoReverse posted:

He'd be absolutely fine. It's a temperature gradient but the actual flow of heat has a vector. Thermodynamics has nothing on Accelerator.


As for the nuke thing, if he were taken by surprise, Accelerator would probably suffocate before finding breathable air again but if he were ready, I don't see why he couldn't expand the protect zone beyond point blank to the point where he'd have a couple minutes of breathable air. He's such a broken character by definition that I sometimes get tempted to read Index to see why people seem to think he's an interesting character.

Serious Frolicking posted:

I'm sure we will go into it once the current arc is over. For now, anything in-depth would spoil the ending.

If I had to say why people like him without spoiling anything, I guess I'd just say that he probably gets a more substantial arc of character development than any other character in the series, especially since most of Index's million characters are active for about one arc or so and then are lucky to even appear regularly, much less continue to grow and develop.

Also, his ability is so broken it lends itself nicely to inane power-level arguments.

Bakanogami
Dec 31, 2004


Grimey Drawer

blastron posted:

Aren't the Sisters coming off of the assembly line as-needed?

SatansBestBuddy posted:

The two creepy scientists in episode 4 said they were doing the rest all at once.

I don't think it'll come up within the scope of Railgun, but just be assured that their printing them out all at once instead of as-needed isn't an oversight and is explained somewhat in the Index novels (though IIRC there were hints in season 2). It's somewhat spoilery for the next arc, though, so I won't say now.

Bakanogami
Dec 31, 2004


Grimey Drawer
According to an interview with the director of the show, (Possible future content light spoilers) Shokuhou Misaki's appearance in episode 1 was the only one she's getting in Railgun season 2. GROUP also is probably not going to have any appearances in the second half of the show after the sisters arc ends. Meanwhile because they wanted to answer fans of the first season, they're putting in appearances of Kuroko, Saten, Uiharu, etc as much as they can.

Bit disappointed because even though they didn't have many parts in this arc in the novels/manga, original stories like episode 7 feel like they're kind of being shoehorned in to cater to the moeblob fans that liked the first season.

Also, IIRC, isn't the next part after the sisters arc the Daihaseisai arc where Misaki has a rather large role? If she's not showing up again and the sisters arc is going to wrap up around the midpoint of the series, does that mean that the second half of the season is going to be entirely original?

Bakanogami
Dec 31, 2004


Grimey Drawer
Number Six is still unknown, Gunha is the best character in the franchise, and his power is that he is Amazing. I'm not even kidding, he seems like he can do anything, nobody has any idea how, and his signature technique is called "Amazing Punch". He's only ranked #7 because even he doesn't know how his ability really works. I believe it's stated that if he ever properly figured it out he'd jump way up the Level 5 rankings.

It's too bad he doesn't have very many appearances though.

veekie posted:

Best part of that chapter is the Dark Matter imagine spot.

Come to think of it, I wonder if Railgun's Russian hijinks will get animated. It's set well after the Index anime's current point though.

EDIT: Also, in hindsight...where the hell did Frenda stuff all those bombs and igniters. Her outfit doesn't have room for even one of her pocket rockets.

Dunno about her time in Russia. That chapter of the comic seems to be referring to some time in the past when she gave a demonstration there, but that's the only time I've heard of it. Unless you mean (very light novel spoilers) when she goes there in the later index novels to find Touma. If they do a season 3 of index I kinda doubt they would be able to get that far, there's a lot of stuff between where they are and there. A fourth season might be able to make it up to there, maybe. Wouldn't be in railgun, though.

Frenda having a bunch of missiles, grenades, and igniters up her skirt has been a subject that's come up a lot since the last episode, with slo-mo gifs and such for a closer look. The general gag consensus seems to be that even though she's listed as a Level 0 everywhere, the anime staff changed it so she actually has an ability giving her a 4th dimensional pocket.

Bakanogami
Dec 31, 2004


Grimey Drawer
I just got caught up on the last few pages of this thread and boy has it gotten :spergin: in here.

veekie posted:

^^
I'd think it's never been in doubt that Accelerator is a psycho. He's just fighting on the side of the good guys. Doesn't change who he is.

Honestly I think Accelerator's character arc is one of the few bits of writing in Index that's done fairly well. He recognizes what he's done and tries to seek redemption for it, but the world just keeps throwing more poo poo at him. He doesn't have all the answers or is automatically in the right like Touma always is, and his transition from heartless killer to a good guy is nice and gradual.

If I got to change one thing about this series, I'd probably give the Sisters more gag time and SOL interaction with the other side characters outside of the few they generally do meet (Mikoto/Touma/Accelerator/etc.) They work really well and despite there being ten thousand of them they never seem to run into anybody else. Hell, even Last Order's only been in the same room as Mikoto for about ten seconds and it was never mentioned again.

Poke posted:

Can someone tell me what happens to the researcher who tried to help Misaka during her raid on all of the buildings associated with the experiment? I read as far as I could go with the translated manga but it never says what happens to her after she gets captured.

tonberrytoby posted:

Manga Spoiler. No, she is never heard from again.

I'm not sure if this is really good writing, really bad writing, signs that she'll come back in a later story, or if the author just forgot about her. In any event, if that's where it ends...Harsh.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Bakanogami
Dec 31, 2004


Grimey Drawer

AnacondaHL posted:

(13) Why were the Sisters okay with showing Touma all of the clones and explaining in blunt detail what happened? They gave the passcode check, he failed... and then they treated him like he should know about the experiment anyways...? Was it because of his cancelling ability?

I take it as that they were forbidden from providing details on the Level 6 shift project without the passcode, but that the existence of multiple clones and their hive mind ability falls under the original Radio Noise project, not the Level 6 Shift, and was thus falls outside the boundary of the encryption.

  • Locked thread