Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T - Episode 20 - 10 Second Anime

Frenda and Saten seek to escape from Yumiya, the sniper sent to finish Saten’s abduction.

#20 – “Ha Det Bra”

Hmm.

Railgun T use the Swedish phrase “ha det bra,” meaning “have a good one,” which is one of the Swedes’ informal ways of saying goodbye. That has a double meaning for Frenda and Saten, because soon after this, Kakine’s SCHOOL group goes after the real location of the “tweezers” using the information from the genuine Indian Poker Card their hacker stole. In that episode, Mugino went berserk and tried to kill everyone on her team, and successfully killed Frenda and desecrated her body afterwards. When Saten sees Frenda hasn’t been responding to her texts, the audience already knows why, evoking a double dose of wistfulness and sadness for Saten.

Last week, I complained how seeing the Index III episode before Railgun aired blunted and soured the experience of watching Saten and Frenda’s odd couple friendship. Reflecting further, I realized that what I felt was how the Light Novel readers would have felt as they read the Railgun’s source material manga. I’m an anime only fan of the Index universe, so I had to wait five years to feel the same thing the LN fans felt. You guys have my sympathies.

Finally, the point of introducing us to Yumiya this way is to turn her into a cyborg-like freak with a grudge so Mikoto the Railgun can mess with her electrically somehow. Saten has not yet finished her role as the damsel in distress for the season, I wager.

Heh.

Yumiya shot Frenda through the shoulder! This is going to be an action and suspense episode. How does Frenda beat Yumiya without killing everybody in a mall? Cat and mouse, traps, and choosing the battleground. That’s a sapper’s domain. The sniper’s sense of battle timing is too long for the tactical space of close quarters urban warfare.

There’s also the suspense of finding out how or what Yumiya’s psychic powers are. Is it related to her sniping skill? How does she track blood exactly? Frenda has all the best battlefield first aid tech. Wound glue is good stuff. Guh. Yumiya keeps winging Frenda. She likes to play with her prey first. Yumiya’s sniper rifle is under her clothes. She likes gadgets too. Concealed airsoft rifle. Frenda realized the sniper and she have the same hunter personality type.

Frenda is going to use that sadistic hunting method against Yumiya. Lures and traps for the mad bomber girl. Oops. Frenda still thinks her enemy has a long gun. Poor golfer guy. Ouch! Stomping his jumblies! No! It’s not his fault, but Frenda stomps him one last time.

Quick nod to the Index universe with Komoe-sensei and Himegami shopping at the mall. They luckily avoided one of Frenda’s traps, which Yumiya is sidestepping easily. Saten’s luck holds out as Yumiya’s schoolmates cause a distraction. Aw, poor Yumiya. They didn’t notice or recognize her. It was her skill as an assassin, not her loner’s lack of presence that did it. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

Frenda needs to figure out how she’s doing that. Saten has been in these situations before, so she suggests they split up, which surprises Frenda, who was going to suggest the same thing, but didn’t want to abandon her “normie” friend. If she only knew… Yumiya gave us a small clue on how her psychic power works. Doubling back on a path prevents her from “seeing” their actions. Fun. Frenda made Yumiya out herself as the assassin because only she would have reacted with shock to a girl with an armful of stuffed toys.

Frenda knows how to fight against gun-fu. Oh no. Death flag. Saten stocked up on salmon to cook for Frenda again. Frenda looks not at her best due to her wounds, but it’s a trap! She planned so far ahead, even down to Yumiya opening her mouth for air to shove explosives down her throat. Ha det bra, bitch.

Aftermath. Authorities found no bodies or casualties. That means Yumiya survived. She’s not so pretty anymore, I bet. Saten was happy to get a text from Frenda to set up a salmon party. Ugh. Yumiya has a prosthetic face and voice modulator now. This is what Railgun’s final villain looks like. Yumiya is so crazy. She thinks Frenda is her friend now because of their deathmatch. She and Saten will be disappointed. Maybe not the final villain. Kakine claims to have a “spare.” Those camera eyes from the opening credits don’t match Yumiya’s natural ones so well. She does have an eyepatch, so perhaps she gets both eyes replaced. We shall see.

Aw. It’s a week later and Saten’s texts go unanswered by Frenda. We know what happened to her. Uiharu’s injured her arm in all that mayhem with Accelerator and Last Order, so we have confirmation about where we are in the Index timeline.

Next time, that abstract weirdo from Mikoto’s dream makes a ruckus. She has the same hair as the girl with the camera eyes in the opening credits.