So it starts off with Ojou-san being frightened by her dolls coming to life and attacking her. I can go with that. Theme song thuds. Uiharu is rooming with a new girl. This is the first time we see her. (Six episodes remaining and we get new characters? This says either “sequel” or “bad”.) Anyway, Saten and Misaka show her around town while Kuroko and Uiharu are at a Judgement meeting. Here, we get to the heart of the matter.
Turns out that the earthquakes aren’t really earthquakes – they’re poltergeists! …I don’t. That is. They can’t. WHAT. It may have been that I’ve spent a couple of days watching Bones and Caprica, but gosh darn it, Railgun, make *some* semblance of sense. Or go five minutes without excessive gratuitous English. “YES! POULTERGEIST!” is cringe-worthy. Turns out the not-earthquakes aren’t a supernatural event either; it’s just a lot of people getting Acronym Sickness simultaneously. Apparently, when a lot of ability users go crazy at the same time, natural disasters happen. Oh-kay then.
While the special scientist they brought in for Judgement is explaining everything, Saten is explaining everything the opposite to Biribiri and Kuroko. “Not even Holland has this many wind turbines”-level of conspiracy theory. (Railgun DVD special. If you watch anything Railgun related, that should be it.) Misaka establishes herself as the carrier of the sane ball this episode.
Glasses-chick complains that it’s all too simple, and that Acronym Sickness doesn’t strike simultaneously. It’s all very suspicious. But it’s okay, because we completely ignore the plot thread and hang out at an arcade! Turns out that’s where Railgun gets her coins from. New-chick doesn’t want to play whack-a-mole because the moles are too cute. She may be more sheltered than ojou-san. They then go to the photo booth, which takes pictures and instantly sends them to their cell phones! (Which, themselves, have cameras. I think at this point that the sane ball is lying in a ditch somewhere, helping a poor storm drain achieve enlightenment.)
They have differing opinions of the new chick. While Makoto thinks she’s cute (which will be taken out of context hilariously), Saten thinks she’s more like Uiharu when Uiharu first came here. Kuroko continues in her quest to get Biribiri out of those shorts of hers. Why she wants to, though, is anyone’s guess. While the girls are getting Yukata’d up, Uiharu takes notice of new-girl’s charm. This’ll probably be a plot point later. And new-girl’s “-nano” pattern is one of the more annoying possible. Uiharu gives a determination speech, proves hopelessly incompetent, and Uiharu and Saten get a bit of bonding time. (“You make onee-sama happy.” “My birthday’s before yours.” “That’s unrelated.” The yuri goggles. They do EVERYTHING.)
Makoto and Kuroko sneak-teleport out of their dorm to watch the fireworks. Misaka’s still wearing her shorts, as confirmed by Kuroko. Turns out glasses-girl is actually, you know, taking care of the PLOT, so she won’t be in this episode. As they spot the shops, they take off in their run. Except for Kuroko, who runs one-and-a-half steps, then teleports. It’s getting to be her thing. One shopping montage later, they’re all gathered on the riverbank. New-girl needs to learn to wipe her face. They then notice the EM AYY ARRU vans parked, and determine that they’re there due to the poltergeist issues. They complain that there’s no atmosphere left for the fireworks. Saten, however, knows a place.
So these five girls walk through the woods at night alone to watch the fireworks, when suddenly and nothing untoward happens. Meanwhile, glasses-girl finally finds something dealing with the acronym soup that is our plot. We then go back to completely ignoring her. New girl remembers things as they shout difficult to explain phrases at the fireworks. She used to have friends like Uiharu and Saten. “used to”. This could mean a dark past, a tragic accident, a life-changing event, amnesia…! Or, since this is Railgun, more likely she’s using the past tense because she moved. Bummer. Anyway, they wander off, leaving Misaka and Kuroko alone to consummate their relationship.
Kuroko gets to the “Come, onee-sama, let us light our burning passion!” phase when she gets a phone call revealing that, yes, indeed, we have a plot. They then start off in full swing to continue with the startling revelation… next episode. Ending theme plays right before. My guess is new-girl’s the one messing with the AIM fields, but hey, next week!
If I ever wanted to strangle an anime episode, and I think I have, this one’s near the top of episodes-to-strangle. I want it to be good. I want it to be good SO BAD. But it just REFUSES. It goes about halfway and stops. It’s average. Not good. Not bad. Fustrating yet predictable. Rating: 7/10, as usual, because this is about par for the course for a Railgun episode. Blech. I need something better. Maybe next season I’ll pick up Ikkitousen.
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