Railgun Manga - Speculation/Theories on Future Plot after Daihasei Festival Arc

[Chaos2Frozen]

My take on all this is simply switch out Kamijou with say Kuroko and you can make the same argument- Why must they "force" a Kuroko/Saten involvement in every arc? This is Mikoto's story!

Is it because they're her friends? Well, I guess Kamijou must be chopped liver.

Same thing applies to this; he didn't really do much in level upper compared to the other girls, and sister's arc was in the original. And lest I've mistaken, almost everyone else did something pretty main heroine ish in this arc like Misaki and Kongou.

[dniv]

Originally Posted by OH&S

The title of the 4th Arc of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun is the "Dream Ranker" Arc. Chronologically, it occurs during the time Kamijou is going to Italy.

Thoughts:
A short arc before October?
A long arc occuring between then and 0930?
An arc that definitely won't have Kamijou save the day. lol

Other than that, I have no solid impressions. The arc name reminds me of an urban legend that Saten would randomly know about. That or an esper ability. I have no idea what Kamachi is thinking.

They're going to have a breaking the 4th wall dream about if the Index popularity rankings were done correctly and Misaka Imouto won instead of getting 2nd?

I'm pleasantly surprised at this turn of events. I'm guessing the time-skip will happen after this arc then. 2 days in this series can be very long, so I'm excited for how much possible material we can get. Regardless, I'm excited that Kamachi has many more ideas apparently for Railgun, lol. I'm pretty excited for this arc actually.

Lol, what will you guys do if Kamachi makes dream ranker the #6's ability? Will you all scream? Lol, and Kamijou WILL save the day. Just not Misaka's lol. Maybe we'll get more Gunha. Well, I'm excited anyway.

Originally Posted by RPG_Fanatic

Nice that we have a name and timeline, but it is hard to speculate what is going to happen.

My random guess, Dream Ranker is either an ability related to dreaming, or a website that tells fortunes or something based on the dream you input into it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Touma only stay in Italy for one day. He flew there with Index, lost Index, Met with Orsola, helped with the move, got caught up with the Roman Catholic Church in the evening, and saved Academy City during the night. After that he was flown back to Academy City the next day.

So if this is an arc that spans a day or two, Touma probably won't appear. Maybe at the beginning where Mikoto tries to collect on the penalty game while Touma prepares to travel.

If this arc lasts longer, it is possible that Touma gets involved. We'll have to wait and see.

Either way I hope we get a chapter where Saten and Uiharu pester either Touma or Mikoto about their past interactions.

I don't think Touma will get involved lol... because I distinctly remember Misaka wanting the penalty game and Touma freaking out after the Italy arc, so I feel like this will probably either be resolved or it will be temporarily resolved (in a fake way like in the middle of the sisters arc when Misaka first saw Touma after his memory loss). But I still don't really expect Touma to get involved again, because I'm sure Kamachi doesn't want him to save Mikoto every time... especially after what happened... in NT 10... I feel like Mikoto is now going to have a stronger appearance in Railgun (even if the chronology is different, because Kamachi is writing these around the same time so it probably sticks out more in his mind anyway).

Well, we're getting brand new stuff again, so I'm excited.

[RPG_Fanatic]

Originally Posted by dniv

I don't think Touma will get involved lol... because I distinctly remember Misaka wanting the penalty game and Touma freaking out after the Italy arc, so I feel like this will probably either be resolved or it will be temporarily resolved (in a fake way like in the middle of the sisters arc when Misaka first saw Touma after his memory loss). But I still don't really expect Touma to get involved again, because I'm sure Kamachi doesn't want him to save Mikoto every time... especially after what happened... in NT 10... I feel like Mikoto is now going to have a stronger appearance in Railgun (even if the chronology is different, because Kamachi is writing these around the same time so it probably sticks out more in his mind anyway).

Well, we're getting brand new stuff again, so I'm excited.

Good point. I almost forgot about the penalty game.

I still hope that before the arc ramps up we see Saten/Uiharu pester Misaka, or possible Touma if he isn't already in Italy the next chapter, about their relationship.

[dniv]

Originally Posted by RPG_Fanatic

Good point. I almost forgot about the penalty game.

I still hope that before the arc ramps up we see Saten/Uiharu pester Misaka, or possible Touma if he isn't already in Italy the next chapter, about their relationship.

I really just want them to find out about the clones. That's all I care about. (I mean... not all, but I do want them to find out about them...)

[Chosen_Hero]

Originally Posted by RPG_Fanatic

Good point. I almost forgot about the penalty game.

I still hope that before the arc ramps up we see Saten/Uiharu pester Misaka, or possible Touma if he isn't already in Italy the next chapter, about their relationship.

Maybe we'll find out that they coincidentally saw them and followed them all throughout their "penalty game", I can just imagine Saten and Uiharu's faces.

[Miraluka]

There is a big retcon issue there.

In vol.12 Mikoto and Uiharu treat each other as strangers.

[Hiss13]

Originally Posted by Miraluka

There is a big retcon issue there.

In vol.12 Mikoto and Uiharu treat each other as strangers.

Railgun, itself, was already a retcon from the beginning. The scenes with Uiharu and THAT character from Volume 15 make no sense if she's close friends with Mikoto, but we can play that up to plot-induced stupidity.

[Pablete]

Originally Posted by Hiss13

Railgun, itself, was already a retcon from the beginning. The scenes with Uiharu and THAT character from Volume 15 make no sense if she's close friends with Mikoto, but we can play that up to plot-induced stupidity.

Well, Uiharu is stupid already so no big deal there .

[dniv]

Originally Posted by Miraluka

There is a big retcon issue there.

In vol.12 Mikoto and Uiharu treat each other as strangers.

Originally Posted by Hiss13

Railgun, itself, was already a retcon from the beginning. The scenes with Uiharu and THAT character from Volume 15 make no sense if she's close friends with Mikoto, but we can play that up to plot-induced stupidity.

Originally Posted by Pablete

Well, Uiharu is stupid already so no big deal there .

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL. I never noticed that until you guys just pointed it out.

Welp, here's to hoping this means that Mikoto will have memory loss in an arc pretty soon to make this canon. Or at least partial memory loss.

I find that interesting though. I wonder how Kamachi is going to try to fix that problem, lol.

Also, Kamachi did want to make Kuroko the main character of the side-story in the first place, so he was kind of forced to make Mikoto the MC, but I'm sure he can think of something that makes sense retroactively...

Also, Volume 15 definitely isn't an issue though, because if she stops communicating as much with Mikoto later for reasons or she doesn't tell Mikoto about it, then there really isn't a problem anyway... it isn't like Uiharu knows the specifics of what happened anyway...

And as far as the last comment: hmph... Uiharu is pretty smart actually, and I think she's a great character... so I'm a bit confused as to why you think otherwise?

[RPG_Fanatic]

Originally Posted by Miraluka

There is a big retcon issue there.

In vol.12 Mikoto and Uiharu treat each other as strangers.

The anime adaption of Vol. 12 already changed that, so the retcon has already occurred.

[OH&S]

^
There was also a short 4-koma in Railgun that addressed that specific issue. We're way past that now. But yeah Railgun itself is a retcon.

Ironically, when Saten called out Endymion as a retcon, she doesn't realize that she too is a retcon character.

[dniv]

Originally Posted by OH&S

^
There was also a short 4-koma in Railgun that addressed that specific issue. We're way past that now. But yeah Railgun itself is a retcon.

Ironically, when Saten called out Endymion as a retcon, she doesn't realize that she too is a retcon character.

Is Endymion a retcon though?

I don't think that'll be true if it does have an effect on the main plot later...

Just to be clear on this, is a retcon when you add something in later that you didn't plan in advance even if it is done well? Or is it necessarily negative? I'll be willing to agree that it is a retcon if I don't have to agree that this makes it bad or unenjoyable in any way...

[GDB]

Originally Posted by dniv

Is Endymion a retcon though?

Yes. Not once was it shown in the background of any panel. That was the joke Saten made as she was pointing it out.

Just to be clear on this, is a retcon when you add something in later that you didn't plan in advance even if it is done well? Or is it necessarily negative? I'll be willing to agree that it is a retcon if I don't have to agree that this makes it bad or unenjoyable in any way...

Retcons don't have to be negative. The literal meaning is retroactive continuity, so anything you add in later that wasn't originally there is a retcon.

[allfictions]

Originally Posted by dniv

Is Endymion a retcon though?

It is because we should have been able to see it/having it mentionned to be under construction.

I don't think that'll be true if it does have an effect on the main plot later...

If. As of now, all evidence points towards that it doesn't.

Just to be clear on this, is a retcon when you add something in later that you didn't plan in advance even if it is done well? Or is it necessarily negative? I'll be willing to agree that it is a retcon if I don't have to agree that this makes it bad or unenjoyable in any way...

It's mostly a bad thing because it means a story have no longer a consistent continuity. If it is a retcon where the author rectifies an ealier error, then it is good for the sake of the narrative, but means the author has no real control on his own story (you could litterally consider earlier books noncanon). If it is to add a previously unknown adventure, it is generally for the sake of sellin
some more to the fanbase.

I have no problem with Endymion if taken in itself, as an independant story, but if framed into the story timeline, it is just ugly. And no, nods to it don't count as making it look better.

[GDB]

Retcons aren't mostly bad for anything like that. They're mostly bad because the term gets predominately used when authors try to change things for no apparent reason other than leaving their marks on the character's history.

Endymion is a retcon, and yes we should've seen it otherwise, but it existing in no way breaks the story in any sense.

[allfictions]

Yeah, it's mostly because of my bad experience with comic books that I don't really like retcons in general.

Originally Posted by GDB

Endymion is a retcon, and yes we should've seen it otherwise, but it existing in no way breaks the story in any sense.

That's why I said taken as an independant story (I should have said side story), like the stories of ToAru SP, it is good. It doesn't break the story, but in the grand scheme of things, it is irrelevant. My bad if I expressed myself poorly there.

[chaosprophet]

Originally Posted by pkmntrainer7

There's some more stuff from volume 10 and apparently the first dragon was unable to break the black sphere in the volume version which is why the other dragons came out to work together to be able to break it. Also, Dolly mentions the promise to take her to the sea to Misaki and Mitori while Misaka Imouto told Mikoto that she wants to go to the sea.

I'm guessing this is a hint for the next arc, they all go to the sea and meet there while some trouble happen? Also if Mikoto is going with one of the sisters, then maybe she won't take Kuroko and the others this time?

[GDB]

She could take Kongou and her friends, though!

[dniv]

Originally Posted by GDB

Retcons aren't mostly bad for anything like that. They're mostly bad because the term gets predominately used when authors try to change things for no apparent reason other than leaving their marks on the character's history.

Endymion is a retcon, and yes we should've seen it otherwise, but it existing in no way breaks the story in any sense.

Originally Posted by allfictions

Yeah, it's mostly because of my bad experience with comic books that I don't really like retcons in general.

That's why I said taken as an independant story (I should have said side story), like the stories of ToAru SP, it is good. It doesn't break the story, but in the grand scheme of things, it is irrelevant. My bad if I expressed myself poorly there.

Thanks for the helpful clarification.

[GreyZone]

Wasn't the tower visible in Railgun S though? (It aired after the movie after all...)