Sunday, February 28, 2010

To Aru Kagaku No Railgun 21

So a few questions are answered (with answers we pretty much already knew), but not much else gets done.

After the poltergeist incident is over, Kuroko and Misaka return to their dorm while Saten takes Uiharu and Haruue to the hospital. Back at their dorm, Misaka is busy looking up info on the Level Upper incident, suspecting that it might be connected in some way, particularly suspecting Kiyama may be behind the events.

However Kuroko is quick to point out that Kiyama is still behind bars and can’t possibly be behind the incidents. They also begin to suspect that Haruue may be connected to these incidents as well.
Meanwhile back at Uiharus dorm, Uiharu and Haruue are having a talk. Haruue feels she is weak and causing trouble for Uiharu.

Uiharu believes through experience though that Haruue will be able to stand up on her own and vows to help her.
The next day, back at Judgment HQ, Misaka and Kuroko hack into the esper database and look up Haruues profile.

They discover that she’s a Level 2 Telepath, which initially discounts her from being responsible for the poltergeist incidents. However, Kuroko points out a note saying that she is known to have power-spikes when subjected to certain wavelengths.
Meanwhile, at a park, Uiharu and Haruue are spending the day together. After thanking Uiharu for giving her confidence, she tells her that she’s looking for a lost friend of hers.

While explaining this to Uiharu, Haruue begins to zone out again like the previous night, and right on cue, another RSPK spike occurs.


In the aftermath, Haruue passes out again, and both of them end up back in the hospital. Misaka, Kuroko, and Saten meet Uiharu there. However Uiharu and Kuroko get a little heated when Kuroko brings up the fact that they looked up Haruues profile suspecting she might be connected to the poltergeist incidents. During their argument, Telestina from MAR steps in and volunteers to have Haruue tested at MAR HQ to see if she really is in fact connected.
At MAR HQ, the girls await the results of Haruues tests, although the atmosphere is still frosty between Kuroko and Uiharu.

Telestina invites the girls into her office to discuss the matter further. After they all formally introduce  themselves, Telestine invites them into the research room to review the results of the test. The results show that Haruue indeed is not involved with the poltergeist incidents. Uiharu is relived about it, but Kuroko still has her doubts.
Back in Haruues room, she awakens. Uiharu gives her locket back to her, and she reveals the picture of her friend she is looking for.

Misaka instantly recognizes her as the same child error who was one of Kiyamas students. Haruue reveals that she can sometimes her Edosaki calling out to her, and that when she hears her, she zones out like she did at the festival and the park. She then reveals that she’s also a child-error.

Well, not a whole lot happened this episode, which isn’t really surprising given that it was basically a set-up episode. Most of the revelations we got in this episode were things the audience pretty much could see already (like Haruues friend being the same Ritsu-clone Kiyamas student), so while I do see the need for them to confirm this, it wasn’t surprising at all. The fact that Haruue is a child-error as well wasnt surprising at all, and I’m almost tempted to go back to Kiyamas flashback to see if we can spot Haruue. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if she is there! Still, I’m interested to know WHAT the connection is with Kiyama, who we know to be walking free and not in jail as Kuroko pointed out. And also, don’t forget about Telestina, she clearly knows more than she’s letting on.
And on that note, the meeting the girls had with Telestina really reminded me of the first time the girls met Kiyama (without the stripping unfortunately). In fact this whole arc (including the set-up episode we get here) really reminds me of the first arc. Which is ironic, because it IS connected to the first arc. And I’m willing to bet that it’ll end in the same way, with Misaka having to fight with a powered-up version of Telestina (heck the OP pretty much confirms this). Of course, I’m still very interested to see the details that lead up to that, and I can hope they end this arc differently.
Next weeks preview was interesting, particularly the title, which included “Level 6″. While I’m fairly confident it has NOTHING to do with Accelerator and the Sisters Arc, one can still hope no? NO?

Oh yeah, and I have to point out that while she may be the bad guy, Telestina was looking good this episode! Ah glasses!


And of course, no Railgun is complete without some:

One sided yuri-love!

[Via http://joewii.wordpress.com]

Saturday, February 27, 2010

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun – 21

Telestina confirms Mikoto and Kuroko’s suspicions that the Poltergeist incidents could be the result of an interference with AIM diffusion field. Mikoto is uneasy about how current events resemble the previous Level Upper cases, but Kuroko assures her that Kiyama is still detained in district 17’s special prison. Kuroko suspects Haruue instead, since the incidents only begin after she transferred in. The pair breaks past the security measures to check on Haruue’s background and learns that while she is a Level 2 telepath, she has the unique ability to raise her level  when subjected to specific wavelengths.

Meanwhile, Uiharu brings Haruue out to the park to cheer her up, but she gets into another trance and a Poltergeist incident occurs again, injuring several people. At the hospital, Kuroko voices her thoughts that Haruue might be responsible, which greatly angers Uiharu. Telestina then transfers Haruue to her research facility where they run some tests on her ability, finally proving that she is not the culprit, even when Kuroko points out her special level-upping ability. Uiharu returns Haruue her pendant when she wakes up later, and the latter opens it to reveal a photo of Edosaki Banri, who Mikoto recognises as the girl from Kiyama’s memories. Haruue talks about how she has been hearing her voice and reveals that she is a Child Error as well.

Well well, can’t say that I’m surprised at the revelation that Haruue is a Child Error after all, and that the girl she is searching for is the girl from Kiyama’s memories. Maybe Haruue really isn’t causing all the earthquakes even though she goes all weird each time; maybe it’s really actually Banri who is causing everything, which is why Haruue hears her voice each time before the incident occurs. And Telestina is probably the person who got Kiyama out of prison on special permission to help her with her ‘research’. Someone has to get Kiyama out of the prison for her to have appeared in episode 20, and the only name to mind so far is Telestina.

The Uiharu-Kuroko disagreement… sigh. Won’t comment much on it – I can see the reasons behind each’s actions and there is no right or wrong, but I can’t help finding Uiharu annoying. Perhaps it’s her voice (not a fan of Aki-chan), maybe it’s her overly-trusting personality which usually leads to heartbreaking results, but things would probably only get resolved 1 episode after next week, so I still have one of episode to tolerate.

PS: I bet people are going to recreate the wallpaper from this pic, and is that a Gekota drawing I see, or just a normal frog?

[Via http://rinerei.wordpress.com]