Anime Review: A Certain Scientific Railgun S Episode 3

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It has certainly been a long week, much of which was taken up by writing code that would improve the Habari experience. Because of this fact, it is nice to be able to sit down a watch a new episode of the simulcast I am following. Today, I will be reviewing A Certain Scientific Railgun S episode 3.

As I have given a series synopsis in an earlier post, I will not go over it again.

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Having met Nunotaba Shinobu, the girl responsible for the cash cards being left out in public, Misaka learns that the rumors that she has been hearing around town may be true.

However, because Misaka did not get the information she wanted, not even the name of the girl she met, she starts investigating things on her own and gains a lead to uncover the truth behind the rumors.

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I am not too sure about this one. It was somewhat interesting to see that Misaka infiltrated a facility without sounding any of the security measures. This definitely shows that there is no such thing as the perfect security system. After all, I have said on this blog that nobody is perfect, and likewise our own creations are flawed. In Misaka’s case, it would be easy because everything uses electricity. In fact, setting up a network also requires the use of electricity, which should be obvious to most people. What caught my attention was that somebody who looked liked Misaka also showed up at the facility. Because of that, we got confirmation that there were indeed clones of Misaka Mikoto running about. This kind of made me laugh a bit, as Misaka herself only confirmed that Nunotaba was connected to the clones. I also liked that things were still fairly faithful to the manga counterpart, as far as I can remember. The thing that makes it nice is that I was right, so far, to trust the people behind the anime to not get Misaki involved, since Misaka is just soloing things still. I also liked how we got to see what Kuroko and the other girls were up to during Misaka’s escapades. After all, the manga was completely focused on Misaka for much of the entire arc. Outside of that, I cannot really think of much else that I did like. The fact that we learn that there were definitely clones of Misaka, and even see one, and see more of what the other girls are up to did make this a bit enjoyable.

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Although there were things to like, there are certainly some issues. The first was that the episode itself was not really that enjoyable. While it was cool how she just walked into a facility and got past the security system, I just was not really feeling the excitement here. It could be due to the fact that there is not a whole lot of action, but I think that it had to due to the time I saw this episode. The previous episode, which started this arc, got me pumped up and wanting more, but now that a week has passed, I feel that the excitement for this one had waned. If I had seen this immediately after the second episode, I probably would have liked it more. Another thing that I did not really like was that Kuroko was a bit annoying in this episode. Sometime after she dealt with the dorm supervisor, which we do not see beyond what happened last episode, Kuroko sees Misaka’s teddy bear and starts obsessing over Misaka, probably from her scent left on the teddy or because it is Misaka’s. However, just when I think that she was finally done, she starts all over again. I like Kuroko better when she is fighting, whether on her own, like she did in the last season, or alongside Misaka. This side of her, on the other hand, is just annoying. Hopefully, she is not as annoying when Touma comes to their dorm, if we do get to see more of Kuroko’s side of the event. Still, this does make me wish that she appeared about as much as did she did in the manga. While Kuroko was annoying, the fact that things would have been much more interesting if this episode was broadcasted immediately after, instead of waiting a week, does do a bit of damage.

Despite the issues I had, the fact that the clones are confirmed, as well as the fact the Misaka starts investigating things does make this somewhat important to watch. I only recommend this to fans of A Certain Scientific Railgun.

What are your thoughts on A Certain Scientific Railgun S episode 3? Do you agree or disagree with my views? Do you have anything to add? Feel free to comment.

Copyright © 2013 Bryce Campbell. All Rights Reserved.