See that cake on the upper left of the picture? That, my friends, is the current apple of my eye: a Strawberry Crostata.
Pardon me for drooling a bit. I can’t resist sweets…
Back to discussing the third episode of Railgun, and judging on how the episode went as far as I was concerned, I guess it was fine as a filler episode and all. I mean, the story didn’t advance further on the main plot, the episode didn’t have hot lesbian yuri sex, and the show still remains as ambiguous as it was compared to when it started. But aside from drooling over the italian pastries, or LOLing over eyebrows, I got another hold of how Academy City works.
Academy City separates the common from the elite by confining all the rich and talented students, mostly girls, in the four walls of the strictly-monitored Gardens of Education. In the Gardens, only the elite, the exceptional, the skilled, the rich, and the unique are allowed, with the privileges they have far greater than just the gift of luxurious living. You may dismiss this fact as something you may commonly see as the way of living of other countries and their capital cities. I say it isn’t so. Why? Because Science said so.
Sometimes, to become exceptional, one must go through all the lengths to achieve his or her goal, even at the expense of his or herself, or his or her achievements. Of course, there are some who are willing to take advantage of this determination and have it at their disposal. It’s like buying a pig, making it fat, and then killing it for the meat. Science, in the form of Academy City and its own version of the Garden of Eden, is like that. It plucks the unique individuals from the genetic pool, confines them in a limited but vast space to move around, spoils them with all the luxury to get their cooperation, and then uses them as guinea pigs for its experiments on how far it can explore human potential. They have made breakthroughs on somatic cell cloning, mainframe-class bionetworking, and walking railguns. It’s scary to think what’s next in the mad scientist’s diabolical mind.
For those who don’t know a bit of the story about how Biribiri became a Level 5 Esper (especially to those who haven’t watched Index, since it was hinted there for a bit during the Accelerator arc), Misaka Mikoto worked up to her current level using methods that were not explained. Actually, the methods were one or any of the following: Medication, physical and mental training, and genetic manipulation, with the last one used for ulterior motives. Even in the manga, it was not thoroughly given detail as to what she did, or how she achieved them using the methods listed. Knowing that she’s an important piece of work, the authorities of Academy City bound her in the Gardens of Education to further their dissection, studying, and strengthening of her powers. I don’t know if this is one of the methods to create a Level 6 Esper, but disregarding that, this I know: Science made a PikachuRaichu very frightening person, and they will go against odds to achieve the pinnacle of their research concerning said person. The reasons behind the person’s consent or the role this person will play will have to come on the latter parts of the story, be it from Index or Railgun.
Y U LAFFIN’?!
Why is it that Science is hell-bent of getting into the bones of it, regardless if they’re going to fuck this up or not? They pick exceptional people, train them, and then what? Create a Level 6 Esper? If they did create a Level 6 Esper, what then? Mass-Produce them? Clone them? Control them using a loli bionetwork admistrator? Use them for world domination? Interestingly, since he benefits greatly from it, Man turns a blind eye and just dismisses it as something that would have to benefit him one way or another, whereas he would greatly criticize something of religion or the occult since it violates his sense of morality and normalcy. Screw Index, screw Railgun, there’s something else amiss that needs to be given a point, and somehow, the spinoff is making me confront Science and look at it in the eye. I’ll poke it, and it’ll throw its nukes, clones, lolis, and human railguns at me. Oh, woe.
Sources and Further Reading
What was featured, though I think there are many ways to make Strawberry Crostata:
Strawberry Crostata Atop A Layer of Mascarpone Recipe – latimes.com
Eyebrow Talk:
A Certain Grudgeful Eyebrows Girl – Kurogane’s Anime Blog
Railgun’s Take On Mugi-Class Eyebrows – Astrobunny’s Blog
Superpower Variety – One We’re Abundantly Lacking:
The Greatest Anime Of All Time 03 – Mikotoism
More Pastries Here!:
The Delicious Cheesecake Of A Certain Scientific Railgun – 2D Teleidoscope
Well the biribiri universe is an instance of a world where mutants are not only accepted, but cultivated and given special rights, much in contrast with the X-men universe. And nice theme btw.
Y U ENTER X-MEN INTO DIS?
Anyways, yes, considering the current kind of perception that we have concerning unique persons, the society always tends to look at them in a negative way. Maybe because they’re unique, and it violates their sense of normalcy. He’s special, he’s unique, he’s got powers, therefore he’s something that should not be entertained, because he has something that we don’t have. And that’s not limited the the normal persons or your X-Men universe comparison, either. But, even if we see Academy City in a positive light, it still cannot dismiss the fact that Science has the tendency to do something about a person’s uniqueness.
And yeah, it’s nice to have K2 as the site’s theme again.
Great observations. From what I’ve picked up about the Index universe, it’s not a scientist behind everything, but Aleister Crowley, the Beast 666 himself. Being a bit of an occult enthusiast, I kind of like that, but at the same time I’m wary that the writer just threw in whatever western thing sounded cool to him at the time.
Aleister Crowley has been known in the past to mix Science, Magic, Religion, and the Occult without any regard to their opposing forces. Do remember that he has enlisted the help of the machines of the Heaven Canceller to prolong his body, which is the container of the essence of a person, the soul. Aside from that, he obtains his goals with no discrimination to any field of Man’s endeavor, as long as it fits his grand design.