Well this episode was about everything I was hoping for. Maybe if the encounter between Mikoto and Accelerator had lasted longer that would have been ideal, but it couldn’t be helped. A longer fight would have simply been Mikoto being massacred out there. There is just way too big a difference between the top Level 5 and the 3rd ranked Level 5. It’s a small gap in numbers, but the reality is that Accelerator is just a pure monster.

It really is insane to think that someone this powerful actually has the desire to become even more powerful. It was a completely one-sided loss for Mikoto against this guy. His ability to control vectors is actually an insanely powerful one. Just a basic understanding of vectors can pretty much tell you how dangerous this guy can be. Like we saw lightning was literally just deflecting around him and he even reflected Mikoto’s Railgun right back in her direction. If it was too close it probably would have killed her before she even knew what happened. If a coin being fired faster than the speed of sound can’t break through his ability it’s clear that brute force isn’t going to cut it. It makes sense that Mikoto was told that she couldn’t stop this. I mean there’s no way for her to stop it by confronting Accelerator.

Now would be a good time to run…quickly!

This had to be a sobering encounter for Mikoto. Really the only person she’s been unable to deal with so far has been Touma. But in that case it was a negating of her ability. She still felt the possibility exited of actually defeating him. It was just a matter of getting around his ability, though she obviously still doesn’t understand it. But Accelerator is a completely different monster. There’s no weak spot here. It’s someone who could just stand there in a daze while she attacked with everything she had. Nothing from her iron attack to her railgun had any effect on Accelerator at all. Hell, he didn’t even realize she had attacked with everything she had until she was standing there stunned for several moments. Probably meaning that he didn’t even have to try in order to deflect her best attack.

In a way Mikoto might actually be at a greater disadvantage than her clones when dealing with Accelerator. They realize their own weakness and have to try and be creative to defeat him. But Mikoto has only the experience of attacking head on. She’s never had to deal with anyone that she couldn’t handle with just pure force. Even Touma ‘felt’ beatable in their season 1 skirmishes. This is just a monster that Mikoto can’t handle. I really felt bad for her since it had to be shocking at just how big the gap between them was. Calling them both Level 5’s is almost a disservice to Accelerator. She’s just nowhere near his level.

In the end Mikoto was only saved thanks to those clones. If they hadn’t stepped up in mass and made a fuss then she would have died here. Their arguments might not have been overly persuasive, but frankly if Accelerator had gone for it he would have gotten a number of clones into it which would have made a mess for calculating this experiment. At the very least it had to seem to be more work than it was worth. Mikoto got lucky there.

It’s hard to really know what is going on in their heads. They are all connected via the Misaka Network, but it’s kind of hard to figure out how that would affect someone. They’ve been messed with since ‘birth’ pretty well. If your whole life was made for one exact purpose it’d be pretty hard to resist that purpose no matter how horrific it was. Being killed in these experiments is what these girls have been raised to do. If they can remember each others experiences then they have experienced all those deaths already. I’d like to think they stepped up because they wanted to protect Mikoto. Their lives may be expected to be sacrificed at any moment, but it doesn’t mean the same for Mikoto. They see her as an older sister and I can understand some desire existing to protect her.

Certainly Mikoto isn’t overly honest, but she is a tsundere character. While she can’t be happy about them willingly sacrificing their lives in this experiment she clearly does see them as people. At this point her clones exist and it’s just a question of what she does about it. I’m not surprised she decided to take action here. If she can’t face off against Accelerator then the only option is to crush the facilities behind this project. If they are destroyed than they can’t really go forward with the experiments. At this point just going all out is her only hope here.

It’s got to be hard on Kuroko and the others to see Mikoto like this. They clearly can tell something serious is going on with her and it’s big enough that she isn’t willing to talk to them about it. All Saten and the others can do is remind Mikoto that they are there for her. That she can always turn to them if she needs them. But this kind of situation is one where Mikoto can’t really let them in. This is an experiment that has enough support in Academy City that they are able to commit this atrocity. Kuroko and Uiharu are in Judgment which is pretty well an officially sanctioned force in the City. Their lives could get very dangerous if they found out what the City was allowing to happen. It’s just too dangerous to bring them into this. It’d also be pretty horrifying that the Academy City that has brought them together has also sanctioned this experiment. For now, Mikoto will just have to go it alone. She can’t afford to bring too many people into this mess with her.

Now we’ll just have to see where this all goes. Mikoto knows she has to do something, but it’s not going to be easy. There’s also the risk of running into Accelerator again. The pressure is going to be on and I feel sorry for her. Mikoto is clearly blaming herself for this disaster although as a kid she had no idea what was going to happen. Feeling responsible, Mikoto appears ready to put herself through hell to end this mess. Should be some intense episodes coming up.
Score: A