A Certain Scientific Railgun T: Misaka Goes to... Gekotaland?
A Certain Scientific Railgun T wrapped up the Daihasei Festival arc in Episode 15 before going on hiatus due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Now, the series' newest episode delved into the realm of dreams in the first installment of the Dream Rankers arc. With new technologies and new faces (and even new colors of Gekotas), the new OP and ED signals the arrival of a potentially darker and far more abstract arc. Leave that for later, though, because this episode features the cute frog-like toys brought to life.
The episode opens by (finally!) naming 3rd-year student Hokaze Junko, who we know as a loyal follower of the wildly popular Misaki and a huge fan of the Gekota product line. She formally introduces herself to Misaka at the end of swimming class, and instantly attempts to launch into a conversation with her fellow "Gekoer" about the brand's new product. Misaki's arrived, though, and interrupts them by asking if Misaka's getting too familiar with Junko. Misaka asks how Misaki's able to consistently able to skip out of swim class, but she's hit back by the very words she used to intimidate Misaki's friends into letting her go during the Festival arc: "unless you're prepared to kill me to stop me, then move." She was trying to get to the bathroom.
Of course, Misaka was actually trying to find the Sisters, but Misaki's done enough memory manipulation to fool everyone into the more comedic explanation. After a few minutes of bickering, the rivals part ways. At lunchtime, though, Junko comes back to give Misaka a strange card, explaining that they're popular among Gekoers.
Saten explains the function of the cards, which go by the name of "Indian Poker cards." They're cards that let you have another person's dreams. First, a person hooks themselves up to an apparatus and goes to sleep, and their dreams are imprinted onto a card. Placing that card onto another person's forehead before they go to sleep makes them have that very same dream, she explains. There's also apparently a few people who can regularly provide "S-rank" dreams that everybody wants to have, and they're called "Dream Rankers."
The color and pattern of the cards show what kind of dream is encoded within the cards. The card Misaka received from Junko is orange, symbolizing a happy and enjoyable dream. As soon as she falls asleep, she enters a landscape filled with Gekotas. It's not surprising, given how much Junko loves Gekotas, and Misaka's overjoyed.
But the fun and games don't last for too long, though. Junko also loves serving Misaki, and Misaka goes through the experience of acting as Misaki's servant under pressure from the Gekotas she so loves. Having went from a delightful dream to an absolute nightmare, Misaka wakes up and hopes she'll never go through the experience again.
Junko tries to bring Misaki and Misaka closer during the following day, but both are incredibly reluctant. That's when a conversation from a nearby table reaches their ears, and we once again meet the incredibly perverted Aogami Pierce. To their shock, Pierce (who goes by BLAU) turns out to be a Dream Ranker — but the dreams he gives out are all sexual fantasies that even feature Misaki and Misaka. Outraged, Misaka blasts them with electricity while Misaki wipes the memories of anyone who saw it happen.
But Indian Poker Cards aren't the only new technology in Academy City. A new app's been developed that, when shown an area, determines the time and date of accidents at that location. Shockingly, not only does it show past accidents, but it shows future ones as well. It's frighteningly accurate too: of six accidents prophesied by the app, all six came to pass. Kuroko gets suspicious, and moves to the location of a prophesied accident with Uiharu. Indeed, just like the app predicted, there's an accident (though it's around 20 minutes later than the foretold time) involving a boy who ran out into the street to grab a soccer ball and an oncoming truck. Kuroko's there, though, and teleports the boy to safety before the truck can harm him.
The Level 4 Esper leaves Uiharu in charge of traffic and teleports to the best vantage point: a rooftop. There, she meets Miyama Shaei, an Esper with precognitive powers who developed the app. But his precognition isn't like your standard ability to see the future. Instead, he can take pictures of future accidents that are almost incomprehensible. But, when analyzed by a research institute, a vague image finally can be seen.
The app was originally created, he explains, by a company to find lost items and missing people. Shaei can only see tragedies and accidents, though, and circumvents both the research institute and the company by raising his concentration to put the time and date of the accident on the map. He can't do it too conveniently though, as he says in a quiet aside, implying that there's a cost to Shaei every time he does so. His true objective is to find an Esper who can prevent the tragedies he foresees — someone who can alter fate itself.
Unlike previous arcs, the Dream Ranker arc isn't spending too much time with slice-of-life shenanigans. From the get-go, it's introducing new technologies and new characters to kick off the first fully-original arc of the Railgun manga series.
from Poker
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