To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S - Anime Design Change for the "Sisters"

[Shadrala]

A new sister's design? :O Now I'll have more difficulty differentiating between them... unless they have the goggles of course. I wonder what their main reason behind changing the design was? I guess they also have the voice to differentiate between them as well. I think having it like this would make things seem even more terrible when the darkness really hits... since we associate those eyes with Mikoto. :S

EDIT: it makes the clones seem more "real" as well. If you get what I mean...

[velocd]

Originally Posted by Shadrala

A new sister's design? :O Now I'll have more difficulty differentiating between them... unless they have the goggles of course. I wonder what their main reason behind changing the design was? I guess they also have the voice to differentiate between them as well. I think having it like this would make things seem even more terrible when the darkness really hits... since we associate those eyes with Mikoto. :S

Huge improvement.

[Random Wanderer]

Now they look like Mikoto. They're supposed to. More importantly, that Sister looks alive. Compared to that other version... looking at those eyes, I could understand how someone could say that they were just dolls, and justify killing them. That older version looks... empty. Lifeless. The Sisters aren't Mikoto, but Mikoto and Touma and others still come to recognize them as people, don't they? Real, living humans. Making them look human on the screen is a vital part of making that feeling reach us as viewers. Making them look just like Mikoto means that it is going to hurt more when we see them suffer and die. It's supposed to. They could have made them clones of anyone if they just wanted to show how evil Academy City was. The whole point of making the Sisters clones of Mikoto was to make it hit us harder when we see what's happening to them, and for that to have full effect, the more they resemble her, the better.

[Kyral]

Originally Posted by velocd

Huge improvement.

Spoiler for pics:

Not bad, but I would have prefered it if they get rid of the reflections in her eyes (and not just color them brown) as the Sister design was described as: "without light in thier eyes."

Spoiler for novelpic:

But I'm glad they kept the "clean this up" scene, I really thought somehow they would get rid of it. O_o

[Shinhwa]

Wait... why did they make Misaka Imouto have the same eyes as Mikoto this time? This kind of conflicts with the original design + the design they have been using in To Aru Majutsu no Index ._.

I don't get it...

Unless they are going to switch it back to the original empty eye design afterwards, but... eh

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Shinhwa

Wait... why did they make Misaka Imouto have the same eyes as Mikoto this time? This kind of conflicts with the original design + the design they have been using in To Aru Majutsu no Index ._.

I don't get it...

Unless they are going to switch it back to the original empty eye design afterwards, but... eh

We discussed that a page or so ago. It's simply a design improvement.

[Shinhwa]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

We discussed that a page or so ago. It's simply a design improvement.

Design improvement but the "alive" eyes kind of makes her really hard to tell to differenciate from Mikoto (Although that is the point of her as she is a clone XD). So I think all they need to do is get rid of the eye reflection on Misaka Imouto and that's all. Doesn't have to be blue though.

But I don't really mind, but it feels weird lolz

[SilverTalon]

Originally Posted by Shinhwa

Wait... why did they make Misaka Imouto have the same eyes as Mikoto this time? This kind of conflicts with the original design + the design they have been using in To Aru Majutsu no Index ._.

I don't get it...

Unless they are going to switch it back to the original empty eye design afterwards, but... eh

I'm gonna go with biribiri vision and similar to how Touma looks more like he is her hero, she sees her clones as exactly identical to herself. Well that, or I guess you could go with railgun having a different artist and index matching the artist for the novels.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Shinhwa

Design improvement but the "alive" eyes kind of makes her really hard to tell to differenciate from Mikoto (Although that is the point of her as she is a clone XD). So I think all they need to do is get rid of the eye reflection on Misaka Imouto and that's all. Doesn't have to be blue though.

But I don't really mind, but it feels weird lolz

You answered your own issue. She's supposed to be hard to tell apart from Mikoto. When the Sisters are murdered it's supposed to affect us the way seeing Mikoto murdered would affect us. The more they look like her, the stronger that effect will be. They shouldn't visually appear different from Mikoto at a glance. We can tell them apart still by facial expressions, behavior, speech patterns: things that are part of personality, things that they couldn't program into the Sisters. But the basic appearance should be the same.

[NeutralZero]

Hmmm hope in the cd release they fix the eye error of the sister...
design improvement or not it's still not right...
they're already a clone so its natural for them to look alike but not exactly alike... they should really leave the eye as is since...
The eyes are the windows to the soul...

And when they were manufactured, only raw information/data was given to them so it is to expect that they lack emotions...

And vacant expressionless eyes commonly denotes coldness or lack of emotion... And having 'lively' eyes fully contradict that...

[Shadrala]

Originally Posted by NeutralZero

Hmmm hope in the cd release they fix the eye error of the sister...
design improvement or not it's still not right...
they're already a clone so its natural for them to look alike but not exactly alike... they should really leave the eye as is since...
The eyes are the windows to the soul...

And when they were manufactured, only raw information/data was given to them so it is to expect that they lack emotions...

And vacant expressionless eyes commonly denotes coldness or lack of emotion... And having 'lively' eyes fully contradict that...

Hmm... I think it's more we're getting Mikoto's perspective on things. As was discussed above in this thread, we'll be able to feel their pain more if they look exactly like Mikoto. But I also think it brings out Mikoto's personal perspectives. What does Mikoto see when she looks at her Sisters?? To her, they're completely human. To her, they live, they breathe, they feel... Of course all this adds onto the earlier point about the audience being able to sympathise more.

[Chaos2Frozen]

I still question the need to do so- I think rather than easier to sympathize, they should do something unconventional and make them harder to sympathize.


As for the eyes... This isn't a matter of artistic preference; they were specifically designed with 'lifeless' eyes to symbolize their unnatural state.

But then again, Shinobu was suppose to have 'deadfish' eyes so I'm starting to think that the theme for this season is corrective lens.

Accelerator would have glowing red eyes, and Kamijou would have sparkling blue eyes.


Very shoujo indeed.

[tsunade666]

Chaoz why do I felt that your just bitter on how things are being portrayed. Let it slide already because you should already know the theme of Railgun Anime since season 1.

Touma will sparkle more and Accelerator would be your worst nightmare.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

I still question the need to do so- I think rather than easier to sympathize, they should do something unconventional and make them harder to sympathize.

Why? Isn't one of the major points of the arc that they are human, and they are alive, despite what the monsters who've been running this experiment have been saying? Why then should they be visually designed to look inhuman and lifeless?

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by tsunade666

Chaoz why do I felt that your just bitter on how things are being portrayed. Let it slide already because you should already know the theme of Railgun Anime since season 1.

Touma will sparkle more and Accelerator would be your worst nightmare.

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

Why? Isn't one of the major points of the arc that they are human, and they are alive, despite what the monsters who've been running this experiment have been saying? Why then should they be visually designed to look inhuman and lifeless?

Tsk tsk tsk.... You shouldn't take things for granted.

Let me ask you this, what benefits do they have for making the Sisters more human? Sure they would be easier to sympathize but since when was that an issue? It's far too easy to sympathize with the sisters anyway.

What they should do is to make them more lifeless and robotic- Make the viewers question themselves really hard whether or not it's worth all this pain and suffering to save them- grab something that is clearing in the white, and throw some gray into it.

Why should we save them?

Just because they look like humans?

Just because they look like little girls?

Make people work to come to that conclusion.


...Hell, can you imagine if Railgun could pull that off?

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

...Hell, can you imagine if Railgun could pull that off?

I am fairly confident it couldn't.

[Shadrala]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

Tsk tsk tsk.... You shouldn't take things for granted.

Let me ask you this, what benefits do they have for making the Sisters more human? Sure they would be easier to sympathize but since when was that an issue? It's far too easy to sympathize with the sisters anyway.

What they should do is to make them more lifeless and robotic- Make the viewers question themselves really hard whether or not it's worth all this pain and suffering to save them- grab something that is clearing in the white, and throw some gray into it.

Why do should we save them?

Just because they look like humans?

Just because they look like little girls?

Make people work to come to that conclusion.


...Hell, can you imagine if Railgun could pull that off?

I think you just enjoy trolling people.

Anyways, I thought it was an interesting surprise and a pretty good call to change the design of the Sisters for Railgun S. I already know this change will have a significant impact on me as a viewer...

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

I am fairly confident it couldn't.

That's why it's a wasted potential.

But it's cool to think about- I should thank whitecloud for the idea.

Originally Posted by Shadrala

I think you just enjoy trolling people.

Which part of it is trolling Could you refute my points ?

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

That's why it's a wasted potential.

It's only wasted potential if they could have accomplished it but didn't. As it is, it's them being smart enough to recognize that the Sisters will reach people's emotions better this way, without people having to think "well, they look freaky, but maybe I should sympathize with them despite my instinctive reaction to run away the instant I look at their eyes." Because a fair number of viewers will never get past the instinctive reaction.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

It's only wasted potential if they could have accomplished it but didn't. As it is, it's them being smart enough to recognize that the Sisters will reach people's emotions better this way, without people having to think "well, they look freaky, but maybe I should sympathize with them despite my instinctive reaction to run away the instant I look at their eyes." Because a fair number of viewers will never get past the instinctive reaction.

Lol who ? Who have you known in their first watching/reading did not sympathize with the clones?

I've been around the toaru block for the last three years since Index II and I've never seen anyone seriously go- "I can't feel sorry for them, I j-just can't! They're too freaky man!!!"