To Aru Kagaku no Railgun - Character Discussion - Misaka "Biri Biri" Mikoto

[Triple_R]

She's an interesting main character. She's actually very flawed, but in a largely realistic way, and she's still easy to cheer for.

She's a very emotional person with a tendency to throw caution to the wind, and take big risks to accomplish things she feels strongly about. She's definitely not a cautious or cagey person. At the same time, she has a generally good tactical mind, and is a decisive person, so there are positive sides to this. She's smart in the sense that she's a quick, sharp thinker, but her high emotionality and somewhat impulsive nature means she sometimes makes dumb/questionable decisions. On the whole, this is all very fitting for a 14 year old girl with electricity-based powers.

Judging just by Railgun S, she seems to be pretty cynical, which is somewhat unusual given her high-spirited and throw caution to the wind nature (cynicism usually makes people cagey and cautious in my experience). In fairness, Academy City seems deeply corrupt and very dangerous, so its hard to fault her for her being cynical. And her being cynical is actually good in a way because it makes Touma's strengths that much more compelling and powerful by sheer contrast.

Her tsundere and genki girl aspects do a nice job of rounding each other off, creating a well-rounded character in general.


On the whole, she's a very good main character with an interesting mix of flaws and strengths.

The comic book fan in me wonders how she'd fare in a straight-up fight with Magneto. On the whole, she seems to have all of Electro's powers, a poor man's version of Magneto's powers, and some of SpiderMan's abilities. Probably would be a very good challenge for Magneto.

[zaeraal]

It seems early spoilers from "Misaka Mikoto Maniax" (御坂美琴マニアックス) arrived.
For those that didn't know, a while ago you could submit questions that you wanted to know about Mikoto.
And Misaka Mikoto Maniax is a collection of those Questions and ANSWERS.
(It seems 2chan even posted even some screenshot but they 404 in less than 4 hours. )


Anyway (I believe) they rewritten some of those Questions and Answers and here they are:

Originally Posted by 2chan

美琴マニアックスより

ttp://www.dotup.org/uploda/www.dotup.org4434687.jpg

誕生日は5月2日でした。

Q：月のお小遣いはいくらぐらいでしょうか？
美琴：小遣いっていうか研究協力費が色々入ってくるから、正確な金額はちょっとわからないかも 。

Q：貯金はいくら？
美琴：あまり気にしたことないかな。使える分を使うだけ引き出してる感じ。

Q：何カ国語話せますか？
美琴：フランス語、英語、イタリア語、ロシア語、…あ、もちろん日本語もしゃべれるよ。
あと他にもいくつかいけるかなー

Q：短パンはどこで買っているんですか？
美琴：普通に購買部で買っているわよ。一枚五千円だったかな。

Q：常盤台中学の制服は何着もっていますか？
美琴：たしか七着くらいあったかな。一回来たらクリーニングに出しちゃうから、わからないなぁ 。

Q：きのことたけのこどっち派ですか？
美琴：たけのこの方が好きかな。

Q：何歳から学園都市にいましたか？
美琴：小学校に上がるときね

Q：何歳でレベル5になったのですか？
美琴：常盤台に入ってからだったから、12歳のときね。

Q：レベル5になるまでどのような努力をしてきたのですか？
美琴：基本は反復練習よ

Q：美琴一人の一日の発電量ってどれくらいですか？火力発電所1個分ぐらいあるのでしょうか？
美琴：電圧なら勝負できるけど、電力じゃあ全然無理。

Q：初めて超電磁砲を撃った時の気持ちは？
美琴：やったーって感じ。もうちょっとで近くの建物を破壊しそうになって危なかったー

Q：超電磁砲に使うコインはいつも何枚くらい持っているのですか？
美琴：決まってないけどいつも10枚ぐらいはポケットに持ってるわね。

Q：超電磁砲は連続で何発撃てますか？
美琴：その日の体調と気分次第なんだけど10発ぐらいは大丈夫よ。

Q：遠くから銃で狙撃されても対応できるの？
美琴：電磁波で空間把握ができるからある程度は対応可能ね。不意打ちかどうかにもよるかな。

Q：散弾電磁砲って本当にできるのですか？
美琴：隣の電磁場は干渉し合っちゃうからちょっとむずかしいかな。

Most of it can be understood with Google Translate, for the rest you will have to find someone to translate it.

[Chaos2Frozen]

If I'm not wrong... According to this Mikoto became a Level 5 at the age of 12 when she first arrived in Tokiwadai.

She first came to Academy City when she was in Elementary school.

She knows French English Italian and Russian.

The second half seems to be about her Railgun powers.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

She knows French English Italian and Russian.

She knows five languages (those four plus her own Japanese)? At the age of 14? Wow, she never really gave me the impression of somebody that smart/studious. I thought she was reasonably smart, but this is the sort of character detail I'd expect to see only for genius-level kids.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

She knows five languages (those four plus her own Japanese)? At the age of 14? Wow, she never really gave me the impression of somebody that smart/studious. I thought she was reasonably smart, but this is the sort of character detail I'd expect to see only for genius-level kids.

Actually it's pretty common with all the Level 5s... Or at least the ones you Anime-viewers know so far.

Both Accelerator and Mugino can understand English, Russian and French.

[Shadrala]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

She knows five languages (those four plus her own Japanese)? At the age of 14? Wow, she never really gave me the impression of somebody that smart/studious. I thought she was reasonably smart, but this is the sort of character detail I'd expect to see only for genius-level kids.

Mikoto is a genius- it's alluded to a lot in the anime series, especially recently with Railgun S.

Spoiler for Spoiler for Railgun S:

She finished all of her summer holiday work early while Kongou was struggling (even though she's also mentioned to be very smart as well)... And Mikoto memorised a rather lengthy code after hearing it only once. It's also been stated she's ranked 8th in her academic studies in Tokiwadai, which a very prestigious school. And yeah, there's the fact that she's a Level 5, which means her brain has superhuman calculation powers :3

[Sumeragi]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

but this is the sort of character detail I'd expect to see only for genius-level kids.

Well, given that I'm reasonably fluent in three and can somewhat follow Mandarin and all of this without particularly studying..... I wouldn't say it's genius-level. It's dedication.

[zaeraal]

js06 translated it, I wonder if they are more questions or not..

Originally Posted by 4chan

Her birthday is May 2.

Q: How much is your monthly allowance?
A: It isn't really an allowance, but I get paid for helping with research. I don't know the exact amount though.

Q: How much do you have saved up?
A: I've never really paid attention. I just take out as much as I need to use.

Q: How many languages do you speak?
A: French, English, Italian, Russian...oh, and Japanese of course. I think I could manage a few others too.

Q: Where do you buy your shorts?
A: I buy them at a normal store. I think they're 5000 yen each.

Q: How many pairs of Tokiwadai uniforms do you own?
A: I think 7. I send them to the cleaners after wearing them once, so I don't really know.

Q: Do you prefer mushrooms or bamboo shoots?
A: Bamboo shoots I suppose.

Q: How old were you when you entered Academy City?
A: When I entered elementary school.

Q: How old were you when you reached Level 5?
A: It was after I entered Tokiwadai at age 12.

Q: What kind of work did you do to reach Level 5?
A: The basic method is practicing over and over again.

Q: How much electricity do you produce in a day? Is it as much as a single thermal power station?
A: I can rival one in voltage but not in total amount of power.

Q: How did you feel when you first fired the Railgun?
A: It was like "I did it!" It was dangerous because I almost destroyed a nearby building.

Q: How many Railgun coins do you carry around with you?
A: I don't have a set amount, but I carry about 10 in my pocket.

Q: How many Railgun shots can you fire in a row?
A: It depends on my mood, but I can manage about 10.

Q: Can you handle being shot at with a gun from a distance?
A: I can detect things in the space around me with electromagnetic waves, so I can handle it to a certain extent. It depends if it's a surprise attack or not.

Q: Can you really fire a Railgun shotgun?
A: The neighboring electromagnetic fields would interfere with each other, so it would be a bit difficult.

I would love to see a Railgun Shotgun though
And they also told her birthday.. now we are going to see Otakus eating cakes with her photos on May 2nd.

[Sumeragi]

"I send them to the cleaners after wearing them once, so I don't really know."

Miko-chin, even for me that's too much being a hime-sama.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by zaeraal

js06 translated it, I wonder if they are more questions or not..



I would love to see a Railgun Shotgun though
And they also told her birthday.. now we are going to see Otakus eating cakes with her photos on May 2nd.

I just happy that I didn't misinterpret the part about when she came to Academy City and when she became a Level 5

Lol, what are the odds the person asking the question about the bullet was thinking about a sniper scenario and whether if she could survive one ?

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

"I send them to the cleaners after wearing them once, so I don't really know."

Miko-chin, even for me that's too much being a hime-sama.

You mean sending to the cleaners or not knowing ?

[Sumeragi]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

You mean sending to the cleaners or not knowing ?

Sending uniforms to the cleaner after wearing them once.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

Sending uniforms to the cleaner after wearing them once.

Ah well... Maybe its just as convenient as home laundry is when it comes to a Tokiwadai dorm

[dniv]

In my case, on the same lines that Sumeragi-sama was talking about, I speak 4 languages pretty well and am picking up a fifth hopefully eventually (Japanese ) but it depends on where you live. In Africa people speak like 5 different languages often. Also, Federer who was the worlds' greatest tennis player arguably managed to speak 5 languages because of where he grew up. Depending on where you live, you automatically learn a lot of languages or 1 or 2. It also turns out that if you learn languages when you are young, it is supposed to be easier to learn other languages when you are older because your brain is more adaptive, so I don't think it is really related to smarts in this case, in the sense of being born smart. I think it's just that she started learning tons of languages when she was small. That's not saying it's easy

Anyway, she turned level 5 when she was 12... like 2 years later after the hospital scene (or was I just imagining she was 10 during that?) I'm curious about her railgun powers... I wish we learned about what it was like actually turning into a level 5... I want to see someone level up (successfully)... Is levelling up in 2 years really that much "hard work..." it seems way too short of a time frame to be able to say that... though now it makes sense why other Tokiwadai students didn't know she levelled up from level 1... because she became level 5 right after she joined Tokiwadai... this seems suspiciously similar to another level 5's timeframe of becoming level 5...

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Shadrala

Mikoto is a genius- it's alluded to a lot in the anime series, especially recently with Railgun S.

Spoiler for Spoiler for Railgun S:

She finished all of her summer holiday work early while Kongou was struggling (even though she's also mentioned to be very smart as well)... And Mikoto memorised a rather lengthy code after hearing it only once. It's also been stated she's ranked 8th in her academic studies in Tokiwadai, which a very prestigious school. And yeah, there's the fact that she's a Level 5, which means her brain has superhuman calculation powers :3

Thanks for the info. I guess most of these details never stuck in my mind. I guess it's because in anime, when a character is a top student/genius-level intellect, the anime show usually hammers it home with all the force of an anvil and no subtlety at all.

Kind of nice how Mikoto's characterization in this regard is a bit more subtle for a change.

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

Well, given that I'm reasonably fluent in three and can somewhat follow Mandarin and all of this without particularly studying..... I wouldn't say it's genius-level. It's dedication.

Originally Posted by dniv

In my case, on the same lines that Sumeragi-sama was talking about, I speak 4 languages pretty well and am picking up a fifth hopefully eventually (Japanese ) but it depends on where you live.

Good points. I grew up in a pretty rural place where English was the only language spoken. So my view here might have been skewed a bit by that.

[dniv]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Thanks for the info. I guess most of these details never stuck in my mind. I guess it's because in anime, when a character is a top student/genius-level intellect, the anime show usually hammers it home with all the force of an anvil and no subtlety at all.

Kind of nice how Mikoto's characterization in this regard is a bit more subtle for a change.

I very much agree with you about this Raildex does a good job of this. Even though at times it doesn't take itself seriously when I think of certain characters, with other characters' characterizations, they are actually done very subtly.

[Sumeragi]

About the subtleness of Mikoto's intelligence: It's basically an extension of the large gaps between people within Academy City. Mikoto just does things naturally, so to speak, and thus part of the time cannot comprehend the stress that many of the lesser-endowed students go through. Remember the Level Upper Arc?

[Chaos2Frozen]

The same could be said about her wealth; compared to other Animes, Mikoto's oujo status is relatively down-to-Earth

She hasn't buy up an entire airport yet right

Although judging from this article, maybe most of her money comes from her participation in Experiments than from her Parents as we thought?

[Miraluka]

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

About the subtleness of Mikoto's intelligence: It's basically an extension of the large gaps between people within Academy City. Mikoto just does things naturally, so to speak, and thus part of the time cannot comprehend the stress that many of the lesser-endowed students go through. Remember the Level Upper Arc?

Different kind of intelligence.

Like some says 'ignorance' can be people's happiness.

[dniv]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

The same could be said about her wealth; compared to other Animes, Mikoto's oujo status is relatively down-to-Earth

She hasn't buy up an entire airport yet right

Although judging from this article, maybe most of her money comes from her participation in Experiments than from her Parents as we thought?

Maybe... I mean if you ask me... in railgun s when we saw her parents' house when she was small, it certainly didn't look that snazzy.

[Bakaizer]

Originally Posted by dniv

Maybe... I mean if you ask me... in railgun s when we saw her parents' house when she was small, it certainly didn't look that snazzy.

i dinn't even give an impression of mansion-like house

in contrast mugino has her own butler, kongou is rich and egages in luxurious style having a snake her own pet,