To Aru Kagaku no Railgun - Episode 4 Discussion / Poll

[Nayrael]

I'm a bit confused, it kinda seemed like they rewrote the way Touma and her met, they certainly didn't act like they knew each other in that flashback.

That flashback shows their first meeting so they didn't know one another there.

A lot of people confuse the scene at bridge as their first meeting. In novels (which aret he original material), it is mentioned that the scene at the bridge was NOT their first meeting and that they knew one another for few months.
Index manga (which is, BTW, an adaptation and thus not cannon) the scene at the bridge was their first meeting.
In anime, it is not confirmed that they met at the bridge for the first time and neother that they knew one another.

Also, the bridge scene has yet to happen in Railgun (this is not a spoiler as it is already known that Railgun staretd before events in Index and thus before the Bridge Scene).

[rg4619]

Originally Posted by Nayrael

In anime, it is not confirmed that they met at the bridge for the first time and neother that they knew one another.

That they're already acquainted with each other is implied. Touma already knows who Mikoto is, and more importantly, she's familiar with his Imagine Breaker (and thus attacked with deadly force knowing that he would be immune) despite his claims that he's just a Level 0 esper. You can draw a conclusion from the context.

[Noe]

lolol @ Touma. Whoa, an 'undressing woman' urban legend.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Primary Consult

Anyone else catch Touma's surprise at being able to dispel the iron sword? It was awesome, like a "holy crap it worked" before he resumes telling her it's pointless...

He never realised it can dispel that iron sword because basically she is not directly throwing her power at Touma, but rather constructing a weapon using her power then using it. Since she is using a localised electric field to build the iron sword, then conducting her electricity through it to create an EM field to solidify the blade, she is effectively channeling her power through the blade, allowing it to be dispelled by Touma.

There is one way she can defeat Touma, and that is to build an iron coil, fling a metal object into it via lift and throw, then accelerating it like a coilgun. I doubt Touma can block it because it is not electrically charged with her power.

[MaxMaximilianMaximus]

Is it just me, or the drawing of characters look more adorable? Anyway, this episode = WIN!

The expression of Kuroko, and Mikoto about being tsun- & almost got hit by Touma is PRICELESS.

[HandofFate]

Originally Posted by Bordix

lol. It all got smashed up as you can see *sigh* such misfortune... oh and thanks

It's too bad we didn't get to hear Touma's famous catchphrase and we didn't even get to hear that SFX when his power kicks in,
I missed that
:

what catchphrase?
And I'm pretty sure the SFX did play. For when Mikoto first shocks Touma in the fight near the end, and when she sent that iron whip at him.

Also does Mikoto know about Touma's cancel ability (that it actually cancels) or does she just think he's so strong that he's able to not be affected by her attacks?

also what's with no one knowing about Touma's ability...I know it didn't show up on whatever psychic power scan test he done, but why doesn't he just go "hey i do have something.." guess he just doesn't want to publicize himself..
and since no one knows about the ability, did Touma name the ability himself? Imagine breaker? Not a bad self-naming for a guy like Touma..

[MaxMaximilianMaximus]

^^^

Touma's catchphrase = Such misfortune

[Lummie]

I wish that Mikoto would've revealed that Touma has an ability to cancel out all the other abilities. Perhaps that reseacher would've found some interesting clues regarding that topic and Touma's power. She was rather suprised to hear about someone that cancels other things without first creating something to repel a ability.

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by HandofFate

also what's with no one knowing about Touma's ability...I know it didn't show up on whatever psychic power scan test he done, but why doesn't he just go "hey i do have something.." guess he just doesn't want to publicize himself..
and since no one knows about the ability, did Touma name the ability himself? Imagine breaker? Not a bad self-naming for a guy like Touma..

Yeah it seemed weird that Touma would just stay silent about the ability. Maybe he's not interested in attention. Or maybe he's lazy and doesn't want to deal with all the testing that might come with ability .

Originally Posted by Primary Consult

Anyone else catch Touma's surprise at being able to dispel the iron sword? It was awesome, like a "holy crap it worked" before he resumes telling her it's pointless...

Yeah I really liked that scene. There was definitely relief that it worked. If he had confidence it would have been able to stop the attack he wouldn't have been running around trying to avoid it . When you think about it that ability requires some guts to use. I mean your just sticking out your hand and hoping whatever insane power is being flung at you stops. Sure it's easier when you know it'll be stopped but with new stuff it's a risk.

[MaxMaximilianMaximus]

Originally Posted by Primary Consult

Anyone else catch Touma's surprise at being able to dispel the iron sword? It was awesome, like a "holy crap it worked" before he resumes telling her it's pointless...

Oh, yeah. He did say something too. Anyone know what he said?

[Keroko]

"Fwuoooo, abunee." which basically translates to "whoaa, dangerous" or "whoaa, close"

[Miraluka]

Originally Posted by HandofFate

did Touma name the ability himself? Imagine breaker? Not a bad self-naming for a guy like Touma..

No, he didn't. He said that the scientist coughviacoughAleistercough were.

[Keroko]

Wasn't it the doc who named it that?

[Kyral]

Ah yes... this episode truly was Railgun at it's best.

[-Sho-]

They didn't rewrote their first meeting .
In the bridge it was the second or the third but not the first .
This episode was the first
Abilities/Magics are useless against Touma except if you use reals weapons etc ...

[Joe_fh]

Well to be exact

Spoiler for Possible spoiler for Inex Railgun manga:

there were a few bridge meetings betweent them.

[SwiftStrike]

always so funny; yet, theres a element of seriousness to it.

[Shinji103]

Originally Posted by Keroko

I'm a tad amused that everyone seems to love this episode, even though it's still the same kind of "No character development, minor plot development, gag filled" kind of episode as the previous two.

Wrong. Lots of interesting stuff happaned this episode; the new character introduced isn't some random one-episode character with some ridiculous grudge or something who will be easily forgotten, indicated clearly even for the non-manga readers by the OP (she also got a much better introduction than she did in the manga, where she was introduced a bit suddenly rather than having been built up as she was here), the Esper conflict of the episode actually had something happen (to say nothing of it being a great fight), and the humor was actually funny. (and good funny) Three important things episode 3 seriously lacked.

Originally Posted by typhonsentra

I'm a bit confused, it kinda seemed like they rewrote the way Touma and her met, they certainly didn't act like they knew each other in that flashback.

Well, because they sort of did. Originally, they first met in that incident with the restaraunt in episode 1 of Index. The flashback scene at the begionning of this episode was their new first encounter. (made new for Railgun) I obviously can't say too much, but if they ever do get to animating the Railgun version of the restaraunt encounter (remade from episode 1 of Index), it might feel a bit off to you.

[Fandal]

I'm not sure why but it looked like I was watching Toma fighting Misaka instead of Misaka fighting Toma. In this show, Misaka is the main character. Maybe it was because I saw Index anime first or I'm not used to watching an anime where the main character LOST a battle and got mad and chased the enemy in a hilarious fashion. It's usually the main character that wins and get's chased around in a hilarious fashion by the loosing character - not the other way around!

It just feels like I'm watching the wrong character in that battle.

[Xacual]

Well thats just the sad truth of Mikoto and Touma's fights