Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T - Episode 19 - 10 Second Anime

Saten befriends Frenda over a sale on mackerel. A plot to exploit Indian Poker for dissemination of research scientists’ work pulls both into danger.

#19 – “Strange Coincidence”

Hmm.

Railgun T shows us how producing a series out of order can mess with an audience’s emotions. Watching Frenda make friends with Saten over a can of mackerel makes me feel wistful and the whole experience is bittersweet because of what we know happens in Index III. Even those “tweezers” that the other Level 5 group SCHOOL under 2nd Rank Level 5 Kakine makes an appearance. This is all unfortunate, because Railgun T gives us a Saten and Frenda vehicle for character fan service, but it involves a dead character and a plot device from Index III that Accelerator makes trivial when he faces off against Kakine. I’m not enjoying this fun story as much because everything feels like an anachronism. If we had seen this story two years ago, that episode in Index III would have had a much more emotional impact.

Heh.

Uh oh. Kuroko let Mikoto know about the pre-cog ability app, which means it’s only a matter of time before the Railgun finds herself opposing some other high-level psychics. Kuroko knows that’s going to happen. Kuroko claims she had some trauma from the Indian Poker cards, but she didn’t say what. Aw. Saten is lonely because Uiharu is busy with all those pre-cog accidents that Judgment needs to investigate. Is this going to be a Saten episode?

Yes, it is going to be a Saten episode! And a Frenda episode? So much energy over canned mackerel. Frenda offered to pay Saten with her bombs for that can of mackerel! Oops. Frenda blew up her can. Saten turns around; not her problem anymore. What is Frenda doing to her tongue? Is it to make her tear up? Frenda complained about mackerel in curry rice, but Saten won her over. Anime characters are always foodies. Every single one. Nice girls. Saten and Frenda became friends.

This tugs on my heart. Frenda chats with Saten about her “colleagues,” which we know are the girls of ITEM. Knowing what Mugino did to Frenda later is rough. Now we get to the plot. Saten has an Indian Poker card that the group SCHOOL wants. The card is supposed to be about chopsticks handling small objects, but… it could be about a scientist secretly publishing his research! We still have no name for the girl wearing the pink dress. Uh oh. The “nanoparticle object interference adsorption manipulator,” or “tweezers,” is that glove thing Kakine tried to steal that drew out Accelerator in Index III! Railgun T should have aired in 2018 like its copyright says in the end credits.

Frenda notices “pros” walking around, but they’re not targeting her. But she will be because there are never any coincidences in the Toaru Index universe. Rank 2 group versus Rank 4 group, who ya got? Yay! Hamazura is on the job! He still wishes he were the leader of Skill-Out.

Uh oh. Because Frenda attacked Saten’s abductors, they think she may have more information than she did. The hacker creep looks like he already obtained the Indian Poker card with the “tweezers” information on it. The strange coincidence of picking up the last can of mackerel. Yumiya is the girl SCHOOL will call in to deal with Frenda and eventually the Railgun. She’s a sniper for SCHOOL. She’s resentful of well-socialized girls. The villains always have a screw loose somewhere in the Index universe.

Next time, Frenda vs Yumiya, fighting for no good reason.