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「ドッペルゲンガー」 (Dopperugangaa)
“Doppelganger”
Patience can truly prove annoying at times, but it does have a habit of paying off as Railgun proudly smacked us over the head with this week. Hard. Beyond the perpetual fun which is maidly Misaka fretting over washboards, it was all plot this go around as Indian Poker got its proper debut and our mystery girl Kuriba Ryoko was finally brought into the light. Or at least both Ryokos, because I know some did not have machine uprising on their bingo card.
Given how much Indian Poker has been played up as a wholly cognitive tool, it should probably prove a little surprising it all boils down to manufacturing souls, but eh, this is the Indexverse, and damn near every new development winds up being over the top. In truth though it’s arguably not that bad a premise for this type of series; with the concept of a soul being one of philosophy’s/science’s biggest unknowns and major ethical constraint against such things as teleportation technology, it was about time one of these sister stories gave it a shot (if SAO can do it, so can the Indexverse!). While I’m slightly dubious as to the method of generation (unless you’re literally splitting the mind alongside the body it just sounds like AI with extra steps), there’s no denying the results will prove entertaining—after all, androids on the loose has never once proved problematic.
What ensures things are kept fun, however, is the tag teaming once again of Misaka and Misaki. While there’s no denying Misaki’s methods of persuasion will lose their lustre eventually (no matter how hilarious the results may be), it’s nice knowing the girl has somewhat learned proper give and take is truly needed to get someone on board. Even if the sincerity of Misaki’s indirect support of the Sisters is still hard to take completely seriously at the moment given past circumstances. Nevertheless, considering everyone’s favourite nurse Mitori is in on this and the Accelerator famous Scavengers are back to serve as the enemy of the moment I think we’ll get more than enough fireworks and explosions to meet the needs of our Level 5 combo.
After all, it just wouldn’t be a true Railgun conclusion without some proper railgun action.
Preview
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Keep in mind that as both the images and scars show, they cut her brain up too. And as Misaki mentioned, she basically led two lives at once, and once she was restored to her fully human body, she received all the memories that both halves of her brain had accumulated. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything vis-a-vis a soul, but just pointing out that they did something really crazy here.
Oh yeah I know about her brain being cut up as well, it’s what makes the concept here so dubious for me. Given how the brain is structured (especially in terms of memory) there’s no conceivable way to generate two sapient minds from either half without some serious AI work and memory transfer beforehand.
Again, not impossible, just really weird from a neurology standpoint when going full machine gets you the same result without the butchery 😛
Considering the crazy levels of science and technology there, it’s almost to be expected that they could easily do something like this.
Great anime so far lots of moe girls
Laughed hard seeing Misaka’s instant despair after groping Misaki. XD
Appreciate her review too. Really shouldn’t have watched this while eating.
Those two are clearly friends now. They even synced up in denying it.
On a more serious note, can’t say how certain the soul generation is. I tend to think it’s some sort of AI. Rather doubtful that her soul split in two as her android form didn’t retain her past memories. Unless they merged again with her biological body and whatever leftover image was stored in the android one. Making AI that learns directly from the brain would be an interesting subject.
It’s hard to know about the soul generation because we already have a hell of time even determining whether souls exist to begin with. Given the amount of thought focused on the idea in various sci-fi works though I wouldn’t think it impossible for Ryoko’s twin to have a separate soul, but it ultimately comes down to how to you define a soul to begin with.
I think souls here are likely to simply be an Index construct, the same way that Kazakiri was an ‘angel’ in Index II. Just like how pretty much all of the religious blathering is similarly a weird technical somethingorother that borrows a word to describe it. They’ll define them so as to further the storyline they’ve chosen.
And regarding Misaka’s interactions with Misaki… poor Kuroko. Her feelings would be very complicated were she around to witness Misaka’s awakening. I imagine something like what happened when she was first introduced to Misuzu, although her eyes would likely have resembled Kuriba’s in frame 25 above.
Proper definition is the problem here. Without having a biological body, it’s hard to define it. If you’ve seen Ghost in the Shell, there’s actually an AI that claims to have a soul. But if we put that here, the question becomes on why is it so hard to generate a soul.
Of course if it’s soul duplication by splitting it in two, it doesn’t look like they’ve succeeded. The one in the robot body doesn’t seem to have the compete memories of the biological one.
That’s what I like to see, more Misaka/Misaki teamups., though it looks like Mitori got off scot-free, after all.
I actually thought that the Scavengers could turn out to be allies this time, but guess not. While Railgun T was on break I watched the Accelerator spin-off (it was pretty good, while I still have yet to finish Index S3), so they’re still fresh in my mind, especially Naru voiced by Koga Aoi since she is voicing Kaguya-sama who seems so different character wise except when she’s having one of her temper tantrums.
Misaka and Shokuhou should really have a yuri doujinshin
https://randomc.net/image/To%20Aru%20Kagaku%20no%20Railgun/To%20Aru%20Kagaku%20no%20Railgun%20T%20-%2021%20-%2007.jpg
oh boy , that is one deep rabbit hole…
apart from implications of the Indian poker, the whole split-up and rejoin while producing artificial copy…
and Misaka+Misaki tag-team never gets old, simply because how hilarious is their interaction…. this time PTSD after feeling how real bust is to touch
[*Flashbacks of Megumin slapping Yunyun’s breasts*] But that was one fierce boob grab by Mikoto, though… XD I wonder if Misaki felt either pain or pleasure from that? Or a bit of both? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
So this was after Accelerator kicked Scavenger’s collective butt in Accelerator ep. 06, but before the whole incident with Hirumi becoming a Lovecraftian abomination? (Also, obligatory “Daga… otoko da” with Seike.)
Other thoughts:
– Had to rewatch the opening scene to see the point (and telltale “starry eyes”) that indicated Misaki mind-controlling little Kana. But man, the animators did a good job averting a clear view of Kana’s eyes until after Mikoto noticed Kana’s blunt references to the “Bust Upper” card and the kind of woman who’d be interested in that (read: Mikoto). It was only after Mikoto found out that Kana showed those “starry eyes”. Still a funny scene, nonetheless.
– That scene with Judgement discussing information leaks via the Indian Poker cards… I wonder if some of that leaked information went to factions opposing Academy City in the run-up to Index‘s World War III arc?
– A female Frankenstein. That’s how I’d describe Kuriba Ryoko. (With an added “cyborg” for her mechanical doppelganger.) And speaking of cyborgs, Misaki and Mikoto’s discussion of cyborg technology instantly reminded me of the Extendeds in No Guns Life. (And in-universe, Mugino’s own cybernetic left arm and eye.)
The whole thing with Hirumi is already way over at this point. It took place around September 6th/7th. So around the time Touma had the Book of Law incident together with Orsola and fought against Agnese in Index II.
So all that happened around a month ago for what happens in Railgun right now, which in Index massive time difference as the Index Story started mid July and we just reached the End of October with WW3 over.
And the LN is after almost 50 volumes and 16+ years publishing at the end of December.
So basically, this episode of Railgun already “King Crimson’d” its way past the Hirumi incident and World War III? OK then.
No.
This Arcs prologe starts just after the Daihasei that is the pool scene between Misaka & Misaki, which takes place around September 26th.
After that the Dream about Gekota, Kuroko & Uiharu solving the prediction cases take place. While on Index’ side we have Ventos Invasion going on (September 30th).
The park fire incident is on October 4th. Around this time we also have the Bust Upper going on and the fight against Rakko.
On Index’ side Touma is now in france and fights against Terra.
We skip forward a few days & the Battle Royal Arc took place yesterday in Index and Misaka takes care of the Doppelgänger.
Tomorrow Touma would fight against Aqua.
We should be around October 10th now while WW3 ends October 30th
No offense, but you should have started off with that explanation. (Or posted the anime timeline.) This line:
“So all that happened around a month ago for what happens in Railgun right now, which in Index massive time difference as the Index Story started mid July and we just reached the End of October with WW3 over.“
…straight-up confused me. (Especially the bolded part that made me think WW3 is over by the time this episode of Railgun was taking place.)
So not only is this Railgun episode past Accelerator‘s “Hirumi Incident”/Necromancer Arc, but also the (currently un-animated) Nectar Arc.
On the Index side, WW3 starts October 18 – 19 (after reading the respective articles on the Index Fandom wiki), so it’s possible information from those Indian Poker card leaks being discussed by Judgement might already be going to the Russians and their allies, who are already gearing up for war.
Anyway, for anyone else interested (or want to have a less confusing time following the chronological events of the AcceleRailDex-verse), here‘s the anime timeline.
Yeah sorry, did mess up in that comment. I just wanted to put into perspective at which point WW3 ends and did think it would be enough to say that the Hirumi incident did happen a month ago, because I said the date for that Event.
Eh, don’t worry about it. I kinda got heated about it as well.
I’ll probably be watching the newest Railgun T episode tomorrow, though. (Just finished up this week’s episodes of Uzaki-chan, Shokugeki no Souma: Gou no Sara, Peter Grill* and HxEros.)
(Note*: May also check for uncensored version tomorrow.)
quote:
And the LN is after almost 50 volumes and 16+ years publishing at the end of December.
thats one helluva of series…
Yeah … that is why an inside joke of the Novel is, that Touma is more afraid of his attendance & the need to repeat a year than all these powerfull enemies he faces