To Aru Kagaku no Railgun - Vol. 17 Ch. 128 - Penitence

[OHandS]

@Nunally Y'know, people have made this case to me before but it just hasn't been my experience being with this franchise since before the Index anime aired.

I've found the opposite: the number of actual asspulls that have occurred in this series over its entire 16.5 year run can be counted in one hand. Everything else actually does have an explanation aside from the long term franchise spanning mysteries which have been deliberately left unexplained. That's one of the main strengths of the series.

That's why when the BS in the previous chapter occurred, it was very apparent that what was happening did not jive with anything that came before it with the minimal explanation given being unacceptable.

And even considering the strongest version of the argument (that this series does in fact have asspulls galore), its still glaringly obvious something's not quite right. Take for example Accelerators black wings at the climax of the 0930 arc. This was something that occurred in the end of 3rd (beginning of the 4th) year of the franchise (and still was given both foreshadowing and partial explanation in the novels). We are now part way through the 17th year. All the rules have been firmly established by now regarding the Science Side. This is completely beyond expectations.

Of course, you could just blame it on the dragon and call it a day. But my response would be: "prove it".

 

[SmileTrip]

You can't just show things and then pretend it's over. I really hope this is not the end of the arc. Especially considering that tankobon image.

 

[RaikohZX]

Honestly considering this isn't long after Uiharu demonstrated she has much more control over her regular power than anyone thought possible, and she's always been a hacker, the real stretch is the idea that she's the first and only person to figure to do something like this as far as the Science Side knows, much less the fact that a computer genius with the right tools managed it where none of the bordering demigods, ultimate brain minds and supercomputers could before. Plus the fact that somehow she warped reality itself with a bunch of jammers and computer code aimed at herself and a dragon threat.

Though if there's anything i've learned from this series, it's that it will have resounding consequences.

 

[Niang-Niang]

Kimi only lost to Misaka because she overused dragon and Raifu even warned Suzuran (Suzu-nee)
She also should've come and considered her past like Misaka told her.

So her group won't be punished severely I guess as we can see Tsurigane thinking about Honoka and Raifu only being interrogated briefly about hero's behaviour and evil behaviour.

 

[Wolfie_Fenri]

Looking forward to the next arc!
Anyone have an idea what it might be?

 

[allenjke]

Anticlimatic, but Mikoto with a final blow reminiscing some idiot =/

Tsurigane waiting for Oumi's punishment ...

I love this series (still), but recent novels were only getting down for me.
@OHandS Don't really know about "asspulls" you're talking, but some things just feel like such a big stretch. One of the biggest for me is the Silvia beating, there was no way he should've been able to move ... I think also people say like if Touma's dragons came up "insert situation" he will be "unstoppable". Sure thing, but not if he is dead, probably?!
Also don't know what's here the difference between asspull and mistake, kinda should be similar definition. I mean the whole appearance of Maidono is just wrong. She just was in AC the whole time and it's fine, and how Touma beat her ... That was so random. And more and more things like that are coming with new volumes.

Mb just enjoying the story (seeing as people like the recent volumes) and mysteries of the series is easier, but just couldn't miss these moments (now). Feel like getting more dissapointed with each new volume. Still like Index and hope for it to improve, but oh well.

*don't think spoiled anything mentioning names

 

[Memi]

@thedestroyership I don't mind the Uiharu stuff because her power to maintain the temperature was similar to Touma's ability

Spoiler

to maintain a reset point for reality

. Her creating a ranged IB by upgrading her power seems possible. My only problem with the arc is that the villains usually end up in a better situation in their lives if they weren't evil but everyone just ends up in jail this time and AC's jails are just recruitment grounds for the dark side.

 

[OHandS]

@allenjke
Firstly, agreed its anticlimactic. Kamijou's fight ending punches in the Index manga are better than Mikoto's one here.
Secondly, I think that Kamachi has been on a roll ever since NT18. With the exception of NT19, all of the novels from NT18 onwards have been great.
Thirdly, you are confusing asspulls with plot armour. There's plenty of plot armour in the novels (this includes tanking heavy hits from a saint). Not sure what the is Maidono is; it all made sense to me.
Asspulls or deus ex machina; incredibly rare. Uiharu's feat in this arc's climax is undoubtedly one.

 

[Nunally]

@OHandS I actually talked about the antagonist in this series, author seem to love to introduce new organization on almost every arc, but its still understandable because the world is vast.

Regarding Uiharu, the author himself already foreshadow us that beside the recognized level 5, there are some undiscovered poweful esper (I forget what the official name is) that can become the next level 5, most of them are hidden because academy city cant properly analyze their power, and the fan already theorized that one of them is Uiharu, because her power is actually scientifically impossible.

 

[henryph-am]

Wtf is this ending =_=

Ps. Thank you, the translating team so much for this :x

 

[OHandS]

@Nunally What? 😧Fans can theorize all they want but it has to be based on facts presented in the series.
Uiharu's power is just as scientifically impossible as every other esper power.
What about Telepathy and Precognition?
By the laws of the Index world, Uiharu's power is not uniquely special or impossible compared to other esper powers. Dark Matter might be, but not Thermal Hand.

 

[Kokuyo112]

@Nunally First of all, the realization for uiharu power increase is wrong, it is impossible that scientists have never thought of or discovered that way to use aim jammers. And assuming that that way to use the aim jammer is really unraveled by uiharu (which is impossible), then aleister would have taken advantage of this new way of using the aim jammers to empower certain things. This does not depend on the buff that the dragon angel gave him or anything like that, he could simply extract the information from his brain or anything else, since aliester is always watching everything.

 

[JeroLionheart]

This chapter only makes me wish Honoka to be related to Touma more. Long lost sister, cousin, adopted relative somewhere in the family tree.
Her life ended, but her story is still going on.

 

[ShortBarrelRaifu]

Accelerator have his own signature punch for certain evils in his manga,
Now Mikoto also has her own electrified punch after her experience in sisters arc.

For better or worse, Touma punch wildly spread inside the Kamijou Faction like a wildfire 😅 .... to make sure the message arrived at the recipent, you need to physically deliver it using your own fist. 😂

 

[henryph-am]

I still don’t understand why everyone is mad when Uiharu used machines to manufacture her abilities in this arc. It is not new and It’s not like Academy city didn’t think of using machine to enhance esper abilities

Spoiler

They literally created a bunch of cyborg (Rensa) that have all level 5 abilities except Gunha.
It’s possible to do.
Also that cyborg can copy any abilities in a 200 m radius, including Imagine Breaker.

 

[davidbobby888]

@Kokuyo112
It could be that Uihara manipulated the AIM jammers to either sever the dragon's connection to Shundan's black hole power to cut off its energy or perhaps even reversed it so the dragon lost energy. I doubt the AIM jammers were able to affect the dragon directly. She had to alter? her Personal Reality to be able to process the black hole ability, since it was poorly researched and understood (AIM jammers before didn't seem to work on it).

 

[allenjke]

@OHandS
Well that's the thing, i completely disagree about the last volumes.

Spoiler

Really liked the build-up to Coronzon's arc, but then her fight felt very anticlimatic. First she easily nuked "fake AC" and laughed, but then apparently she need some random weapons to fight against the world. And even with those weapons she lost easliy. And it really felt that she should be one of the true evil-final boss, but in the end itit was like a pushover. Also for that Lilith's character was completely wasted.
The fight with McGregor. Half of the volume was about their group movement and fighting, but in the end Mathers could easily fight solo on the same level.

Asspull in this case feels the same for me as plot armor, same as mistake. And i'm specifically mention Index novel as it is my favorite series and i feel dissapointed as it went down, seems like only for me.

Also if you think that nothing is wrong with Maidono, i don't know. How can you introduce an esper rivaling level 5 like it is natural. What was she doing before, why didn't she help/destroy anything before when it was needed. I think it should be fine (mb) if it was Magic side character because IT IS the whole world, but AC is just a "small" city with defined structure. - These types of moves feel like the author starting doing whatever he wants -> which follows in destruction of the series.

Spoiler

And yet another plot armor, how Touma was running through building that were crushing into one and he was running UP. Such a stretch.

Have a lot of more examples, but don't really want to clog the section. To sum it up, for me the series is going down with each new volume. WW3 arc is my favorite and the fight with Fiamma was so awesome. Now the more volumes come out the more random stuff it adds. Just hoping for GT3 comeback.

 

[Rody]

So kuroko just bleed to deth in the park? ... what about Saten?

 

[Nunally]

@OHandS well this theory actually presented by the novel reader, which the story are way more forward. Teleportation is actually theoriticaly possible, its just when you folded a paper into two, then make a hole in the middle of it, when you open it there will be a gap between the hole, and thats how teleportation work (it tear the space to close the gap, in this series its called 12th dimension?).

Meanwhile on thermal hand, when you heat something, the temperature is constantly raised, but when you stop heating it, the temperature will periodically decreased, so if her power is work like a refreeze/reheat then she need to periodically give a constant precise energy to her target, which need a substantial amount of energy. Thats why they think that her power is actually working on molecular level, its like a thermos (but the energy is trapped on molecular level). Which that awakening suggest, in short her power (on level 5) can mess something on molecular level, thats why she can destroy the dragon.

@Kokuyo112 you forget that Uiharu is the best hacker in Academy city, even better than Aleister, the prove is her office has better defence system than Academy city itself, and she already famous in hacker world but no one know who she is (except her friends). If she want she can take control Academy city entire system, even the tower Aleister reside in.

 

[kiev891120]

raifu is cute as always <3 so the guy is the mascot bear guy? did raifu realise that or what? Is that why she cried?