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EP. REVIEW: A Certain Scientific Accelerator


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SilverTalon01



Joined: 02 Apr 2012
Posts: 2401
PostPosted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 12:58 am Reply with quote
zrnzle500 wrote:
Even if city is a school town, that doesn’t explain why there aren’t more adult espers.


I think that has to do with the age of the power development curriculum. Or if you mean why don't they create espers from adults, their curriculum is designed to develop their personal realities from childhood. Basically, can't teach an old dog new tricks kind of thing.

NeverConvex wrote:
Aside from Accelerator's obnoxious scream-o approach to dealing with his personal identity crisis*, this also reminds me of one of the things I've always found least compelling about this universe (whether in this show or its kindred), and episode 5 of this show highlights it nicely: in a world overly saturated with freaky powers, why in the hell would anyone volunteer to be a plain, no-powers police officer? I mean, good god -- in this episode, 4 powered kids just took out everyone in her squad except her, and dealt with the spider-bot her entire team couldn't put a dent in, yet the lady anti-skill lead is giving little speeches about how "an adult will handle this".

Uh, OK. You do that. I'm sure you holding a standard-issue "state-of-the-art" shield will be super helpful and not at all pointless and definitely not not-even-a-meaningful-delay-to-the-tiny-terrors when friction-girl rains paper plane bombs on your head.


Yomikawa is kind of just overly idealistic.

As for Anti-skill, their primary jobs are just teachers. I'd imagine a lot of it is wanting to help kids correct their paths. There are several specific Anti-skill people this holds true for who get enough time for the reader to know. Also, high level espers are suppose to be fairly rare. Remember Misaka 10046? She is a level 2 with 10,000 lives of battle experience, and she lost to one guy. A trained Anti-skill member with a taser and a shield can probably handle most espers in the city.

Anti-skill is usually stopped from getting involved in anything serious by the higher ups as well. We see this here with the obstruction of information regarding DA members and frequently in Railgun, and I don't think the reason is simply to avoid getting caught. This is a city which will allow pretty much anything 'for science.' They do have better stuff which gets deployed outside the city. The mach 12 (or whatever ridiculous number it is) fighter and bomber pilots are Anti-skill (well at least some of them). In this case, they were only called in because a board member screwed up and needed someone to clean up his mess. The city has various 'dark side' groups that the board of directors usually call in to handle the crazier stuff. I feel like Anti-skill essentially just exists to handle the mundane low risk law enforcement and to maintain a public presence distracting from the city's real enforcers. Obviously they do sometimes run into something ridiculous.
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Izanagi009



Joined: 20 Oct 2014
Posts: 464
Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2019 11:20 am Reply with quote
The only issue I really have with the recent episode is the cutting. I felt the editing and the way scenes flowed were a bit confusing at points particularly with Accelerator against the paper user

Besides that, I did like that the Scavangers are so out of their league both in ideological views (seriously they hate teachers but are working indirectly under Aleister and various other “Teachers”) and their powers ( Scavengers are lv3-4 at most from what I read)

It was nice to see Accelerator go cackling maniac again. I also imagine the show will get more dramatic in powers as it goes on

Edit: I want to open a topic to the floor: a comparison between the fights in this show and the Accelerator vs Kakine fight.
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Fred Lougee



Joined: 01 Oct 2018
Posts: 127
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2019 4:04 pm Reply with quote
This episode to me was like every kid post-1980 who ever completely misinterpreted Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall, pt. 2 getting their comeuppance by Accelerator, who shows up and says "Why yes, you do in fact need an education and I am here to provide it." Twisted Evil

I am detecting a trend in the foes which have been fought thus far, and also in what we have shown of the power-brokers holding their leashes. A bunch of over-enthusiastic Anti-Skill gone rogue, a quartet of girls spouting adolescent rebellion drivvel, a mid-level esper given a team equipped with toys which complement her power. That is all people who were rather easily manipulated into doing somebody's dirty work by the promise of a boost in power. It seems to me like someone invited a select few of the very rich and powerful of the city to form a star chamber with the membership requirement being that they create a strike team which each one personally controls. Thus far Accelerator and Anti-Skill have combined to take out three of the teams.

I suppose that they could be the three weak teams, the ones who were the easiest to recruit, thus the easiest to remove. That would be typical for any series writing, not just anime, and would insure us of even flashier battles ahead for Accelerator.
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Treecko Tempo



Joined: 25 Sep 2016
Posts: 155
PostPosted: Mon Aug 26, 2019 5:41 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
The last notable aspect of this episode that may be easily overlooked is how completely Yomikawa is taking all of this in stride.
The interesting thing about this is that all the Yomikawa stuff this episode was anime original. In the manga she was past out the entire time then wakes back up briefly when the other antiskill members appear and goes right back to sleep. I really liked that they added in the material with her i think it worked really well with the story.
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SilverTalon01



Joined: 02 Apr 2012
Posts: 2401
PostPosted: Mon Aug 26, 2019 7:11 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Girls in undies seems to be a motif for this episode, as Hirumi – the girl who's been hanging out with the villain – is similarly clad.


I think all those undies are anime original too.
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SilverTalon01



Joined: 02 Apr 2012
Posts: 2401
PostPosted: Tue Sep 03, 2019 3:11 pm Reply with quote
Episode 8 Review wrote:
That this all stemmed from a side effort to develop a Level 6 isn't at all surprising, given the level-bumping nature of what has been encountered so far, though Hishigata's claims that he's only a couple of years from the point where “anyone can become a Level 6” is a pretty heady claim, since it would throw the whole power balance of the setting off.


Yeah, no way would that work. Boosting a weak esper's level doesn't seem likely to end up producing a level 6. We saw something similar with the Level Upper incident. Kiyama essentially had a huge body made up of all the espers controlled by the level upper network, and she wasn't even that close to the output of a level 5. I don't believe Hishi's machines could even produce something truly equal to a level 5. By that I mean the gap between qualifying for level 5 and the top of level 5s is absolutely enormous so saying the mech has level 5 power doesn't mean it is necessarily on par with the level 5s we know.

Level 6 is definitely out of the question because it isn't just about calculations or overwriting reality. Props to him for trying to use magic to get there because he knew that he lacked the knowledge to explain it, but I think he is far too uninformed to ever actually produced one, especially using a low level esper as a base.

Quote:
It also does not explain why Hishigata was exclusively experimenting with female victims subjects when there should be plenty of male subjects of comparable age out there as well. Based on the way this series has gone so far, my suspicion is that there's no better reason than to provide more opportunities to show girls in lingerie, but hey, Hishigata was at least in part doing this whole project to benefit his sister Hirumi (unless I'm misremembering, this is the first time that relationship has been clarified), so maybe the subjects were chosen with preparing something for her in mind, right? Right?

Yeah, I'm not buying that one either.


That doesn't seem too far fetched to me. If his end game goal was to make Hirumi a level 6, it makes sense to only use female test subjects because even in real clinical trials, men and women don't always respond identically. However, the other scientists and the people funding the project surely don't care about his sister so that is still kind of odd.
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Treecko Tempo



Joined: 25 Sep 2016
Posts: 155
PostPosted: Tue Sep 03, 2019 4:43 pm Reply with quote
Episode 8 was basically all original except for few parts here and there. In the manga when we get to this flashback point a few panels are shown over a few pages cutting back and forth between the present and past, but you don't get nearly as much detail as you get in this episode. Even with the events that do happen in this that also happen in the manga the events play-out a little differently. I think the most important change from the manga to the anime though is that interactions are actually shown between Esther, Hishigata and Hirumi, because next to nothing is shown in the manga. I will be really interested to see what other changes they make between this series and the manga going forward, because I think they have all been a positive to what came in the manga so far.
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SilverTalon01



Joined: 02 Apr 2012
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 03, 2019 6:52 pm Reply with quote
Treecko Tempo wrote:
I will be really interested to see what other changes they make between this series and the manga going forward, because I think they have all been a positive to what came in the manga so far.


I also feel like they have done a really good job fleshing things out and fixing some of the pacing. It kind of annoys me that the guys doing this didn't get to do Index III because they seem much better at making the anime adaptation feel like more than running through the motions.
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Izanagi009



Joined: 20 Oct 2014
Posts: 464
Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA
PostPosted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 5:50 pm Reply with quote
SilverTalon01 wrote:
Treecko Tempo wrote:
I will be really interested to see what other changes they make between this series and the manga going forward, because I think they have all been a positive to what came in the manga so far.


I also feel like they have done a really good job fleshing things out and fixing some of the pacing. It kind of annoys me that the guys doing this didn't get to do Index III because they seem much better at making the anime adaptation feel like more than running through the motions.


I like that they are actually going beyond just the source material as well.

One issue I had with Index 3 was that it felt constrained by the need to adhere to the LNs, resulting in pacing issues. The fact that the accelerator crew is able to make changes as needed to improve the story is a breath of fresh air compared to the insistence of complete adherence

As for Mr. Martin's skepticism about the relationship, I get being skeptical in this current environment of anime but Kazuma Kamachi, even in the sequel LNs, hasn't dived into that niche yet. The fanservice is distracting but frankly, that's been an issue the entire franchise had from the beginning.
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killjoy_the



Joined: 30 May 2015
Posts: 2457
PostPosted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 7:00 pm Reply with quote
I mean, from Index cutting away two thirds of a novel's worth of material, Railgun making up anime-only arcs that go directly against canon, Index II and III being pacing abominations and Railgun S taking a step back and only making one anime-only arc that goes directly against canon, I much prefer Accelerator's decision to expand on the original where it just hinted at stuff. Let's hope the third season of Railgun does well.
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SilverTalon01



Joined: 02 Apr 2012
Posts: 2401
PostPosted: Wed Sep 04, 2019 9:18 pm Reply with quote
killjoy_the wrote:
I mean, from Index cutting away two thirds of a novel's worth of material, Railgun making up anime-only arcs that go directly against canon, Index II and III being pacing abominations and Railgun S taking a step back and only making one anime-only arc that goes directly against canon, I much prefer Accelerator's decision to expand on the original where it just hinted at stuff. Let's hope the third season of Railgun does well.


I'm not sure what you mean. If you want to say that the anime original sections of Railgun are worse, that is fair, but the anime original Railgun content is canon. It doesn't go against it.

All I want out of Railgun 3 is a properly paced Liberal Arts City and Daihaseisai. I don't care what they spend any other time on.

As for Accel, I think it needed the expansion because the manga was just lacking. Props to the people doing it for realizing that and taking steps to improve it. Index III needed to cut a lot of content, but they did a really awful job picking which parts and piecing it back together again.
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CrisGer A.A.



Joined: 26 Feb 2011
Posts: 170
Location: 世田谷区 Setagaya Ward
PostPosted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 3:48 am Reply with quote
I agree Railgun is awesome and the City is a great playground for the true series. What has gone wrong?

I don't know what is going on behind the scenes but both recent series of this franchise have gone way off track. I am not sure if there is disagreement or discontent at the highest level of direction but both are to say it bluntly, lousy. There was a grace, power and artistry to the first two seasons and the movie but after that things went adrift. Now we are facing yet another disaster in the making as this newest series wanders around showing us familiar characters we start to connect with and then yanking them away to show us unexplained newbies and back and forth like a drunken Yo yo.

i am very fond of the basic story, except for the stupid nun who i have always hated..but they need QC and fast.
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killjoy_the



Joined: 30 May 2015
Posts: 2457
PostPosted: Thu Sep 05, 2019 3:58 am Reply with quote
SilverTalon01 wrote:
I'm not sure what you mean. If you want to say that the anime original sections of Railgun are worse, that is fair, but the anime original Railgun content is canon. It doesn't go against it.


Any part where Kongou takes part can't be canon since she's not in AC until this next arc
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SilverTalon01



Joined: 02 Apr 2012
Posts: 2401
PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 2:57 pm Reply with quote
episode 9 review wrote:
However, that endless laugh is a sign that he's in top form, and he gets ample opportunity to show off his combat capabilities in this episode.


I was actually pretty disappointed with this. To be fair, I had a similar problem with the manga, but it is drawn out way, way more here. He is basically punching them around... who is he, Goku? It was a better showing than any of his fights in Index 3, and the tornado part was cool.

It really should have ended when he touched them. Of course the entire fact that the machines could run away from him at all is doesn't make sense in the first place. You could maybe argue that during the fight he was just playing around (while ignoring what is suppose to be like a 10 minute battery at this point), but holding back on his speed while supposedly trying to save the Misaka clone doesn't make sense. I don't even think those mechs were going super sonic speeds at all.

killjoy_the wrote:
Any part where Kongou takes part can't be canon since she's not in AC until this next arc


Endymion says hello. It wasn't there originally either. See the thing is, the final arc of Railgun 1 is referenced in the main novels. It is definitely canon, and Kongo was there. What you're talking about is just a retcon, and that isn't the same as not being canon.
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killjoy_the



Joined: 30 May 2015
Posts: 2457
PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 11:06 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, didn't this battle start at night the previous day, and wasn't Accelerator's battery like 15 minutes at this point?

The battery never was a properly reinforced thing, but this much is pretty ridiculous.
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