First Impressions / To Aru Kagaku no Accelerator

「擬似魂魄・禍斗(サードナンバー)」 (Saadonanba)
“Third Number”

You remember those comments about Accelerator not taking long to start hitting the gas? Yeah that definitely didn’t take long to realize. From beating around the bush to accelerating (heh) straight through it, things certainly picked up the pace this week as we got everything from looming bad boy free for all to the enjoying some more of that trademark screeching cackle capable of more than just rupturing eardrums. Accelerator may be pure Index at heart, but it’s not content to be bound by those chains for too long.

While it would be easy to delve into the glorified gang war Accelerator is setting up for late season viewing pleasure, the one thing continuing to amaze me so far is how damn well the show has managed to keep this story from running ahead too far. We all know how Index III’s underground own science-side battle royale faired for example, and while it’s effectively beating a dead horse at this point (and a thoroughly beaten one to boot), the dichotomy just keeps remaining relevant: this is structurally what Index III should have been. The main enemies are introduced and fleshed out enough to have them make sense; the motivations of our protagonists are clear and understandable; there are well-defined weaknesses and challenges to overcome; Saten and her glorious antics finally gets some damn screen time. Sure it’s easy to see where Accelerator could run off the rails if given the chance (see the Scavengers and the show’s barely hidden desire to start throwing a lot more at us as fast as it can), but so far at least this is one Index story that has me seriously looking forward to Fridays.

What helps Accelerator entertaining too is the one thing science-side Index never lacked in, and that’s characters. Future story worries or not, this part of the franchise always had the best personalities and interactions (in my honest opinion), and we got more of that this episode again thanks to Last Order, new girl with the Hebrew name for God (I’d start betting on her using some form magic right about now), and that one Railgun cameo I’m not going to stop harping on about. Because reasons. Also maybe a bit of Accelerator goodness to boot, but frankly the guy doesn’t need much selling—when you’re smashing guys like that it’s easy to see where the entertainment comes from. So long as this banter and the cheesy one liners and antagonist reasoning can keep up I’m going to be happy camper, which with the enemies set to start revealing themselves looks to remain the case.

It may be all hospital visits and strategic posturing in the world of Accelerator right now, but things are about to get quite serious pretty damn quickly.

 

Preview

9 Comments

  1. https://randomc.net/image/To%20Aru%20Kagaku%20no%20Accelerator/To%20Aru%20Kagaku%20no%20Accelerator%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2016.jpg
    Saten: “UUU-III-HAAA-RUUU!” *skirt flip*

    And the Railgun fans rejoiced. Oh how I’ve missed this running gag. (And Railgun‘s best girl.)

    Anyway, when I first heard the “DA” acronym, the first meaning I thought was “district attorney” (and a certain Harvey Dent). Turns out DA stands for Disciplinary Action, and as we’ve seen, they’re a bunch of Knight Templar types whose methods were too extreme for the main Anti-Skill organization. This would have been a good way to worldbuild the dark side of Academy City if Index III wasn’t released first. Oh well…

    https://randomc.net/image/To%20Aru%20Kagaku%20no%20Accelerator/To%20Aru%20Kagaku%20no%20Accelerator%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
    Putting in another artificial(?) soul into a dead body… I can’t help but wonder if demonic possession is also a thing in the AcceleRailDex ‘verse?

    https://randomc.net/image/To%20Aru%20Kagaku%20no%20Accelerator/To%20Aru%20Kagaku%20no%20Accelerator%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2031.jpg
    Aw man, the Misaka Sister just got mistaken for the real Misaka Mikoto at this point.

    Incognito
    Reply

  4. good lord I missed Saten and Uiharu bringing both skirtflips and urban legends that always have a core of truth in them…
    anyway Academy City bigwigs apparently decided that DA has been going too rogue, and unleashed one more espers team to deal with them while at same time unleashing Antiskill on them.
    and besides that our antagonist for now, the lolipop-cracking Dachshund is out on his own, currying favor with the Governing Board member(s), but he has made a mistake he is bound to regret… capturing one Misaka clone is a sure way to get on Accelerator’s bad side…
    oh, and the poor reanimated body strongly reminds me of the Jewish myth of Golem.
    She even refersd to Esther as Adonai, which, loosely translated means Lord or Master, and is Biblical term for God (Jews didn’t like to call Him by name, from respect…)

    ewok40k
    Reply

  5. https://randomc.net/image/To%20Aru%20Kagaku%20no%20Accelerator/To%20Aru%20Kagaku%20no%20Accelerator%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2021.jpg
    anime logic, it is normal for girls to sleep in a capsule with fashionable head-wear. Would like to know why they were in the capsule to begin with. Do wonder who is the new crazy female mad scientist. I don’t see too much female mad scientists in anime or manga

    https://randomc.net/image/To%20Aru%20Kagaku%20no%20Accelerator/To%20Aru%20Kagaku%20no%20Accelerator%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
    How nice that the people, who murder that poor girl, let her keep her clothes. I am wondering if those idiots feel that a zombie apocolypse may begin. Am curious why that poor girl tried to kill herself from the start

    Greed
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *