Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T - Episode 25 [END] - 10 Second Anime

Mikoto resolves the Doppelganger situation. Mikoto appreciates her old and new friends.

#25 – “My Dear Friends”

Hmm.

Nooo! Railgun T didn’t give us another appearance of Touma. His only appearance was at the sports festival to bring her down from her runaway leveling up reaction. It’s just as well. Every other story connected to the Sports Festival and the Dream Ranker arcs concentrated on female friendships. Good enough for me!

I liked the body horror ending at the end of Doppelganger’s story. Just when you thought it had nothing to do with soul creation where artificial muscles explained everything, Ryoko’s cyborg organ transplant transferred Doppelganger’s “spirit” into her dreams. That’s an uncanny ending for the creator of Indian Poker which was all about sharing dreams recorded on those cards. Ryoko has no control over what Doppelganger does in her dreams, which is more like a real friendship now.

Heh.

Obviously, Mikoto wasn't going to let Doppelganger commit suicide by Railgun. And then she convinced her to destroy the airship at the very least. That scientist dude isn't a scientist if he holds on to his refuted theory. I wonder what kind of guy he'll be after Misaki erases all his memories of this terrible idea of tormenting two teenage girls for no profit.

Aaahhhh... This is the nice relaxing slice-of-life epilogue stuff we all need. Watching teenage girls destroy each other is all kinds of stressful. I didn't like seeing a beautiful dark skinned busty girl with silver hair turn into a partial torso. Heal my soul with Kuroko's changing voice! Heal my soul with Misaki flirting with Kuroko. Heal my soul with Saten and Uiharu fangirling over Level 5 celebrity Misaki but not Level 5 celebrity and best friend Mikoto.

Scavenger seriously discussing their Ranger group colors before negotiating with Liaison to pay them something if their client falls through with the funding captures the whole tone of the slice-of-life epilogue. It's a great way of finishing the reconciliation project they've been on since their failure at handling Accelerator in a mean girl way. You can't out-villain Accelerator's attitude, even though he's functionally a good guy. The dude has issues. We know this. Meanwhile, I like how Naru decides on Seike's Ranger color by her underwear. This lady knows what the Railgun audience finds interesting.

Resolving Kongou's friendship with Mikoto and Mitori's relationship with Misaki makes warm fuzzy feelings. Through Kongou we now know that the black kitten's name is On Hold and that she's more intimate with Misaka 10032 than she is with Mikoto. At least Mikoto and Misaka confirm their sister status in public. This is all so nice. Mitori hanging out with Dolly and Misaki keeps her character grounded as an unpredictable good guy. Chaotic Good is the perfect description of Misaki's methods.

Ryoko's final conversation with Mikoto about her invaded dreams from Doppelgangers closed the circle on the Dream Ranker arc. It's a nice ironic horror movie ending where the idea of soul creation was debunked but then it finds reality inside the dreams of someone who received a cyborg organ transplant. I'm not a fan of an individual's discovery of agency through violence, but that clearly happened during Doppelganger's confrontation with Mikoto. Now she confronts Ryoko's in her dreams about her bad research and personality shortcomings. That's much better than blowing up Academy City and it's understandable that an objective perspective of someone's memories and perspectives would make for nightmares. Ryoko will have interesting times for a while with Doppelganger.

Final Thoughts.

The only two complaints I had for Railgun T(hird Season) had to do with its production delays. As we saw at the end of each episode, the copyright on Railgun T shows its registered date in 2018. It was supposed to broadcast before Index III and many things would have made more sense between both shows if the two production committees followed through on the original schedule. The other production delay had to do with the COVID-19 Pandemic lockdowns. Go and read my thoughts on Episode 13 for the particulars. J.C. STAFF made an unfortunate choice in trying to meet a deadline. Thankfully, nothing like that abomination happened again.

As for the rest of the story, I need to say I’m not even mad that Touma only featured in the first half of Railgun T. Shokuhou Misaki’s introduction as Mikoto’s best frenemy and unrealized love rival in an undisclosed love triangle with Touma more than made up for Spiky-kun’s spotty attendance. As an anime-only consumer of otaku culture, I had barely seen a reference to Misaki seven years ago, but I had seen all the fan art of this busty blonde ojou-sama and figured there had to be a personality to match the fan appreciation and admiration. Misaki’s presence satisfied all my questions about the strong and continued fascination with her figure, her eyes, and her powers. I especially liked how the only two people with whom Misaki could ever form a genuine relationship were the ones whose own powers made them immune to her mind control. Touma and Mikoto should be so lucky to be on the same level as The Queen.

While Mikoto is always great to see on screen, she suffers the same fate as most overpowered superheroes where her supporting cast need to be more interesting than she is because as soon as she shows up, the action sequences start to end all the interesting plot development. That’s why I liked seeing Touma and Gunha mix it up with an almost Level 6 Mikoto, because she became the villain other heroes needed to stop.

Emotionally, the two best stories of the series involved Kongou befriending Misaka 10032’s kitten and Saten forming a short and bittersweet friendship with Frenda. Railgun T’s broadcast after Index III cast a wistful atmosphere over the whole sequence because fans already knew what happened to Frenda. I keep trying to imagine what watching Mugino dragging Frenda’s dead body around with her would have felt like if I saw Railgun T first. The two different orders of broadcasts have artistic emotional impacts, but I’ll only know for sure what I feel right now because of how they played out. If you’re new to the Index Universe, I would strongly suggest you watch Railgun T before Index III. Everything in Railgun T happens before World War III, so it’s chronologically consistent.

Overall, I’m satisfied with Railgun T. Misaki was a revelation as a strong character affecting Mikoto. Mikoto got plenty of airtime, while Kuroko took a backseat (or a wheelchair seat) to let Kongou and her friends shine. I especially love how Saten’s strange luck drives the plot development for everything that happens in the Railgun Universe. For someone supposedly without ESP, Saten appears to be a minor god creating adventures for all her friends. Let’s hope that continues in Railgun F(ourth Season), whenever that happens. Let’s not wait seven years again, okay?