「奇縁」 (Kien)
“Strange Coincidence”

Now things are getting spicy. Or at least fishy, if an episode focused on mackerel loving shenanigans is anything to go by. Yes, we’re still in the midst of Railgun’s favourite merry-go-round of character featurettes, with the weeks’ picks being a Saten-Frenda special—because why the hell not? And as for the matter of that little thing known as plot? Don’t worry, we have that too.

After seeing Saiai and Misaka fight over huge tracts of land (and remembering I remember next to nothing from the light novels) it was pleasantly surprising—yet quite fun—seeing things turn around to give us Frenda and Saten fight over canned fish. Yes, it was as hilariously dumb as you could imagine (though that was some fantastic chemistry if I ever saw it), but there’s no denying Frenda knows how to pull a crazy with the best of them, and that’s before touching on Saten’s ability to put up with such raging chaos. Well, until you remember who Saten has the pleasure of calling friends (don’t worry Uiharu, she doesn’t have x-ray vision. Yet). Plus it’s not like watching Saten make friends is all that bad; considering this girl is made for finding trouble, there’s something to be said about letting have some of the Railgun spotlight.

Case in point is the appearance of another underground group SCHOOL and its lead assassin/sniper Yumiya Rakko. Besides the girl going for a Tohsaka Rin look without any accompanying tsundere flavour (because that would be too vanilla), she and her sponsors pretty much give the game away with talk of nanoparticle tweezers, data canvassing, and Saten yet again finding herself at the centre of the latest Academy City conspiracy. Mind you while somewhat ambiguous how scientific knowledge imprinted on Indian Poker cards relates back to the previous female character reveal and the nature of Indian Poker, rest assured, there’s a method to all this madness. It may take an episode or two yet for the full picture to be properly revealed, but every piece will find its rightful place.

Well, right after finding out how cutesy explosions and powerless conspiracy nuts overcome the danger that is invisible arrows of course.

 

Preview

22 Comments

    1. I don’t think her nationality has been indicated (someone can correct me if needed), but I’d say she’s intended to be Norwegian given the sound of her name and that ridiculous love of fish. Wouldn’t be the first time a Japanese author has played fast and loose with foreign names.

      1. Index is so far ahead of Railgun that its completely irrelevant what happens in the Railgun anime adaptations. For those who follow the New Testament & Genesis material you’d get an almost completely different picture of how things stand in the city.

        Lyfe
        1. I don’t care about the timeline. Everytime I see Frenda in this show I just think of her cut in half body from Index III and that’s not very enjoyable. The more I think about it I’m probably going to have to drop this show because of it.

          sealouse
      1. Yeah, Index is and always was so far ahead. If someone really read everything in release order you will see that the Battle Royal Arc happened before Frenda was a thing in the Railgun Manga.
        So the intend behind Frenda always was, that the reader of Railgun most likely knows what her fate will be.And the Railgun Manga made more than one joke about Frendas death.

        1993espada
          1. “Joked” may be the wrong word. But it was referenced a lot.
            – Like Frenda trying to sell out the rest of ITEM to Mikoto to save herself, but she couldn’t due to Mikotos attack her tounge was numb.
            – Or in that same fight, Frenda said she almost lost her lower half because one of her own traps.
            – And in the last shot of Railgun S with ITEM you see Frenda standing and the contrails in the background bisect her.

            But the Railgun-Manga actually had a 4-koma part in which Kuroko & Frenda argued about Mikotos & Muginos chest. the 4th panel of it had a crispy Kuroko & Frendas upper half going out of the panel on the right side & her lower half comming in on the left side.

            1993espada
    1. Only if this series was meant to appeal to anime-only viewers, have to remember the majority of people watching will have similarly seen Index already and many more will have read the light novels of both Index and Railgun – any logical and proper continuity is superfluous in this instance. For better or worse Railgun is primarily meant as promotional material.

  1. They’re trying to help people with the structure of dream ranker in the anime by being clear on dates. So for anyone who missed it, this episode backtracks to just when Kuroko met Miyama. That’s why Saten is back in her summer uniform at the start. Then the episode runs concurrently with that storyline and you see Saten in her winter uniform later. So Saten’s shenanigans with Frenda are happening at the same time that Kuroko and Uiharu are busy solving the thoughtography incidents.
    Also yes, Rakko was the one who had the dream of (not) being scouted to be an idol that Mikoto experienced in the previous episode.

    oranges
      1. At the time of Rakko attacking Saten and Frenda, Touma is in France fighting Terra. Hope that helps. The beginning of the episode goes back to before Vento’s attack, of course.

        oranges
  2. I’mma get this off my chest: It’s a damn shame Frenda dies in Index III. Damnit Kamachi-sensei, why you gotta get me invested in a character whom you gave a gruesome end?

    Anyway…
    – So Kuroko tried out Indian Poker off-screen? What happened, exactly? (Did she get an erotic dream with her beloved onee-sama? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) )
    Jeez Frenda, you’re looking a lot like that chest-padding vampire, Shalltear!
    This is the beginning of an unusual friendship.
    – Wait a minute… This place looks a lot like… That Pool / Rei no Pool. Also, Frenda really loves wearing that barely-there swimwear, doesn’t she?
    – I wonder if Frenda’s decision to rescue Saten from SCHOOL is what ultimately seals her fate during Index III‘s Academy City Battle Royale arc? (Since SCHOOL is also one of the “Dark Side” groups involved in that battle royale, IIRC.)

    That said, looking forward to seeing Frenda being awesome next episode, despite Rakko getting the jump on her.

    Incognito
    1. – Kuroko didn’t try Indian Poker, she meant the emotional shock she got from the harsh rejection that Mikoto had after the dream from Junko, where Mikoto was forced to serve Misaki.

      .- In the Battle Royale Arc the members of ITEM had a conversation among the lines that SCHOOL tried to kill Oyafune & Kinuhata asked “Didn’t we get rid of their sniper 3 days ago?”

      1993espada
      1. Thanks for the clarification on Kuroko.

        And if Rakko indeed gets taken out by Frenda (whether lethally or just crippled remains to be seen by the anime watchers), then SCHOOL definitely won’t take that loss sitting down. Wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the big catalyst that draws ITEM into a full-on conflict (turf war?) with SCHOOL, one that would escalate during the Battle Royale arc.

        Incognito

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