10 Second Anime - Toaru Kagaku no Accelerator - Episode 1

Accelerator recovers from his injuries after saving Last Order. Others still target him as the most powerful Psychic in Academy City. Season Premiere.

#01 - "(Accelerator) Academy City's Mightiest Psychic"

First Thoughts.

First thoughts? I don't need first thoughts. I just got done watching this guy three months ago at the end of Index III. I just needed to see which studio handled the animation and how the characters would look. It's J.C. Staff again, the same guys who do all the Toaru Project animation, but considering what they did to One Punch Man's second season, I had concerns. If this is the A-Team who was too busy for Saitama, which got relegated to the seinen, texture mapping, horror B-Team, they really shouldn't have bothered. This is the first episode, and we already have static shots getting panned and scanned. Thankfully, the art style isn't as flat as Index III, and it's a bit more colorful, but I suppose I'll just have to be excited to see these characters again.

Index III's season was great for Accelerator's character, because we got to see his progression from playing the villain, while acting like a hero, to fully becoming a hero. Here, we pick up right after the events of Accelerator eradicating the virus in Last Order and getting shot in the head, leaving him reliant on the MISAKA network to handle his missing brain functions. Even so, on MISAKA turbo mode, his vector ability is only 40% of what it used to be and he's still the strongest psychic in Academy City. But he is weaker than before, which gives rivals and other nefarious groups hopes in succeeding at defeating him, or trying to collect samples to make their own Level 5 or even Level 6 ability user.

What I hope to see is all the scenes between Accelerator and Last Order which slowly bends him into openly accepting his path of redemption from killing ten thousand clones of Mikoto Misaka and becoming a hero who protects little girls. Misaka, Misaka says she is very excited to see this, in a very eager and high-pitched voice. Tch. Me too!

Hmm.

It's a season premiere, Accelerator is getting his head bandages off, Last Order wants to celebrate this, but random villains are coming for the weakened Number 1. Do I really have to pay attention to the plot? I think we'll see these villains again, perhaps the mousy glasses girl a bit more than the others, but otherwise their plot is just a way to set the tone and the environment for the rest of the show. This is before Accelerator joined GROUP, so he's still in full denial that he's no longer a villain, but he still thinks like one. The only things to care about here are seeing Last Order's effect on Accelerator, and how he doesn't maim defenseless girls like he used to. The other thing to pay attention to is the epilogue with a busty girl controlling zombie dogs carrying a picture of Last Order in her clone tank. Next episode is when the season really starts.

Heh.

Starting off with what the bad guys are doing. Anti-Skill is on it. Yomikawa-sensei looks better here than in Index. Feels just like the dark side chapters of Index. Thieves just cut a big piece of building out. Not exactly an innocent "air research" firm.

There he is! Accelerator! Still has his head bandage on. Right after the bullet to his head. Still hasn't accepted his brain damage and how he needs the MISAKA network to handle some of those functions. Ha! He's still got it. Plus, this show still likes the fanservice.

Yay! Last Order catches a big one! Misaka Misaka ha! Last Order is very insistent today is a special day. I missed this. She's just clinging to his leg!

Oh. He's just getting his bandage off, but it's not totally healed yet. A quick set of flashbacks let us know what's up with Accelerator and where we are in the timeline. The Misaka Sisters are just roaming around too, but I suppose they're there for the bandage party. It's a surprise party!

Yoshikawa is going to factor into this story, since she was part of the Sisters Project in the Level 6 Shift.

These villains are coming for Accelerator.

These Misaka sisters all love their froggy mascot.

This weapon is like a water cutter, but it's cold. Animation isn't top tier, but serviceable. Not shying away from violence, but not too gory.

Shooting the villain girl's armor, but not her head. Come on. That shot of the bullet freezing would have been better at her face, not her chest armor.

Accelerator is reading Heavy Object… both written by Kazuma Kamachi.

Well, Accelerator will have to save the day if Last Order needs the kitchen working. He still wants to be the bad guy, but that's not happening with that cute face around.

We're given names for these kids, Yoko, Minori, and Hiromi. We'll probably see the glasses girl Minori again. Yomikawa won't shoot children, but she'll beat their asses down. There's always a mystery to solve for how these kids' powers work.

Accelerator knows when and how to make an entrance. Can't out-villain the best villain, so he thinks. They don't need Accelerator, just his DNA, but Last Order needs that bag back. All the females know the importance of keeping a secret for a surprise party.

Time for Accelerator to be the good guy by being the bad guy. So satisfying.

Why mention that preachy Touma to these girls who have never heard of him? Oh, right. Because he's talking to us. Bad fan service.

Some "villain." Doesn't want to hit a defenseless girl. I hope this one-note doesn't get annoying, because we didn't see him accept his hero personality until Index III.

Last Order is adorable. I'm going to die from cuteness overload. Accelerator doesn't want to admit it, but he will too.

Of course. The epilogue shows the real story arc for the season, starting next episode. Mysterious girl controlling zombie dogs looking for Last Order.