「屍喰部隊 (スカベンジャー)」 (Sukabanjyaa)
“Scavenger”

Oh Scavengers, you have to feel for them. From getting mown down by Accelerator to the one-two punch of attempted amputation by android and biribiri spasms, these poor girls never seem to catch a break. And damn couldn’t be more fun to watch. It’s been a while coming, but Dream Ranker has finally reached its climax, and after this it’s nothing but downhill sledding.

Ignoring the scientific validity of souls and their potential existence (because philosophical arguments really need their own forum), Railgun has done as Railgun always does by turning an otherwise innocent concept into a world ender. Thought Level 6 Misaka was bad enough for the health and well-being of Academy City? Why not try on Borg-esque assimilation by metaphysical android. Oh yes, it’s as moe bad as it sounds—and that means the fireworks will be a sight to behold. Or at least if the Scavengers live long enough to produce more, because you know whatever is powering Doppelganger is not something you want running amuck for long. When your opponent is going for a full serving at the superpower buffet, you don’t want to be around to see what the after-dinner results will be.

Of course, that’s if Scavenger is fortunate enough to have Misaka let them off easy. With Seike fried to a crisp, Leader lacking an arm to properly surveil in true esper fashion, and the ever lovable Naru in need of rebuilding, it’s not a fight you know they stand a chance at winning, but I actually wouldn’t anticipate too many fisticuffs on their part. Given Doppelganger is the enemy for all involved, a few quick words and tacit understanding should be enough to yield one of those temporary and unexpected alliances the Indexverse loves to shower us with. And hey, after Kuroko and Saten get all the fun of making new friends, it’s about time Misaka gets a second go at broadening her social horizons. Even if this latest get-together isn’t likely to turn out like all the rest.

With the female Terminator on the loose and no immediately apparent way to take the thing down, it’s going to be interesting seeing what solution our unorthodox gaggle of girls happen to come up with.

 

Preview

12 Comments

  1. And for anyone who didn’t catch it, Seike is a guy. Sadly the anime changed the intro scene for scavengers in the previous ep where there was a clue. In the original scene the other three are having their conversation as they walk out of the ladies room as a group while Seike was waiting outside and complained that they took too long in there.

    oranges
    1. How on earth does the cyborg assimilate encountered powers?
      Other than that, poor scavengers cant get a break. Running into level5 opponents twice in a rów? Cue tempting fate trope…

      Ewok40k
  2. That feeling of rolling a one two-times in a row.

    Using Terminator as a reference, the girl started out as a T-800 but is currently more like a T-1000. In essence a soul is something needed to convert a T-800 into a T-1000?
    That reminds me, she should go meet Midori. 😀

    theirs
    1. rolling one on D300K, twice…

      T-800 to T-1000 is nice comparison, just unlike T-1000 she can just grab surrounding unanimate objects to recover loss of body… I mistook it for taking control of Naru’s paper ability.

      Speaking of souls-animating-inanimate-objects, wouldn’t that be a forte of certain necromancer last seen in company of Accelerator?
      She could be handy to have here, just saying?

      And one more thing, Props to the scientist girl for using disabling rather than destroying EMP as contingency plan for Doppleganger attacking her. She also might get handy too…

      ewok40k
  3. This new season of Railgun has been so damn bad. I have never been so disappointed in a series. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t like Index, the main series, at all so I don’t get hyped up for crossovers, tie-ins, or whatever the hell happes in these bizarre sister series situations. I like my Railgun in my Railgun and my one punch man…. nowhere.

    NOWHERE!

    This season has just not been my Railgun. Too big, too sloppy, too much focus on characters no one cares about, etc etc. What a big waste

    Aivar
    1. Well yeah. To Aru is probably not the series you are looking for. Railgun was always a place where side characters from the Main Series got a little more screen time & concepts got shown a little more.
      Even the first Arc of Railgun had an Artificial Angel with the AIM Burst which somewhat ties back to Aleister Crowley.

      And the point that no one cares about these characters maybe true from a Railgun perspective but seeing it as a whole it is always welcome to see character development & interactions.

      Going foreward we will only get more charactrs that got introduced in the Main Series first that will appear here, so …

      1993espada
  4. Man, the Doppelganger’s ability in this scene reminds me of (Mad) Boomers** from Bubblegum Crisis (specifically, the Boomers in Tokyo 2040).

    Scavenger Leader:But there’s no way we’ll run up against another [Level 5] any time soon.
    *Is approached by Mikoto*
    Scavenger Leader: *thinking* “Me and my big, fat facemasked mouth…”

    With the Doppelganger being this arc’s greater-scope antagonist, I can’t wait to see what Railgun‘s unlikeliest teamup would do. (Also, the “redemption arc” for the Scavenger crew.)

    (Note **: Not that generation of old farts born after WWII [read: Baby Boomers]. The Boomers of Bubblegum Crisis are mass-produced humanoid robots that can be used for any purpose, from cheap labor to prostitution to heavy combat. However, Boomers have a tendency to go berserk, becoming “Mad Boomers”, necessitating the intervention of the mysterious “Knight Sabers”, a group of four female vigilantes wearing advanced powered armor.)

    Incognito
      1. Aye, one of the old-school cyberpunk anime I remember alongside Akira and Ghost In The Shell, as well as Battle Angel Alita (which I know from an illustrator friend who has also seen the original BGC).

        I’m a bit ashamed that I only know of the Tokyo 2040 remake, but I do remember some familiar seiyuu from that show like Yuu Asakawa (Priss), Satsuki Yukino (Sylia), Joji Nakata (Mason), Rio Natsuki (Linna), and (an up-and-coming at the time) Yui Horie (the show’s “final boss”/big bad, Galatea). And the music from that remake (“Y’know” and “Waiting for You” by Akira Sudou) ain’t bad either.

        Anyway, the AcceleRailDex-verse still seems a long way from a dystopia (compared to, say, No Guns Life), but one can still sense cyberpunk influences within the series’ Science side.

        Incognito

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