Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T Episode 19

Strange Coincidence (奇縁) is the 19th episode of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T. It was broadcast on August 14th 2020. The episode was directed by Akari Ranzaki, the screenplay written by Yasukawa Shogo, and storyboarded by Takada Kouichi.

Upon stumbling upon information that the fish can give a beautiful figure, Saten quickly bought cans of mackerel. But, because she took the last two cans up for sale, a girl named Frenda missed out on the sale and collapsed on her shopping cart, bringing Saten to an awkward situation involving the girl following her around.

Frenda, ever the lover of canned mackerel, decided to split one can open, only to end up carelessly wasting the can, bringing the girl to tears. Although partly annoyed at the situation, Saten somehow cannot leave the girl behind, so she invited her for a meal at her home. Even with Frenda's tendency to act and talk at her own pace, Saten had an enjoyable time with her. Afterwards, the two exchanged contacts in a messaging app, and will once more meet each other at a certain incident...

Major Events

 * Judgment goes on heightened activity as a response to the investigation on the Treasure Hunter App. Both Kuroko and Uiharu become unavailable for the next few days.
 * Saten meets Frenda by coincidence during a canned mackerel sale. Frenda's incessant pleas to be given mackerel eventually causes Saten to invite her to dinner at her home. In return, Frenda exchanges contact information with Saten through the Speech Bubble social messaging app.
 * Saten's purchase of an Indian Poker card for "expert handling of chopsticks" drags her into SCHOOL's search for information related to the Tweezers and is abducted by SCHOOL-affiliate thugs. Frenda eventually intercepted the abduction and saves Saten as gratitude for the mackerel dinner.
 * Yobou Banka, who is verifying information related to the Tweezers, deploys Yumiya Rakko to locate the escaped target and its rescuer. Rakko's tracking skills enables her to track down and snipe Frenda in the middle of a busy crowd.

Characters
By order of appearance:
 * Shirai Kuroko
 * Misaka Mikoto
 * Shokuhou Misaki
 * Aogami Pierce
 * Saraku
 * Hikoichi
 * Uiharu Kazari
 * Saten Ruiko
 * Frenda Seivelun
 * Akemi
 * Mako
 * Muu
 * Mugino Shizuri
 * Indian Poker Trader
 * Yobou Banka
 * Gokusai Kaibi
 * Hamazura Shiage

New Characters

 * Yumiya Rakko

Abilities

 * Electromaster (Railgun-variant) - Misaka Mikoto, Level 5

New Abilities

 * Measure Heart - Gokusai Kaibi, Level Unknown (referenced)
 * Psychokinesis - Yobou Banka, Level 4

Locations

 * Academy City
 * District 7
 * Tokiwadai Dormitory
 * Sakugawa Middle
 * Saten Residence
 * Garden
 * District 3
 * Private Salon

New Locations

 * Super Mana
 * Private Shidarezakura Academy

Trivia

 * The unnamed researchers are voiced by Okano Yuu and Maki Shun'ichi (the latter is uncredited).
 * The unnamed support staffs of SCHOOL are voiced by Ueki Shin'ei, Takahashi Makoto, and Toyoshima Shūhei.
 * The unnamed female students of Private Shidarezakura Academy are voiced by Enoyoshi Maya and Kobari Saki.
 * Credits refer to Measure Heart instead of Gokusai Kaibi, despite her name being revealed in Toaru Majutsu no Index SS: Biohacker.
 * Limited edition Frenda-themed canned mackerel was released for promotion in late October 2020.
 * This episode acts as a prequel for volume 15 of the Toaru Majutsu no Index light novel, showing not just the initial plans of SCHOOL before the beginning of the novel, but also that of its sniper Yumiya Rakko prior to her death and then eventual replacement by Sunazara Chimitsu.
 * This episode confirms that the first day Saten and Frenda met is at September 28th of the story's first year.

Referbacks

 * When Mikoto praises Kuroko for her efforts as a Judgment member, a scene from  where she saves a student was used as flashback. The Treasure Hunter App was also referenced.
 * When Mikoto remembers her bad experience with Indian Poker, the scene where she and Misaki beat up BLAU and his fans from  is used as flashback. Kuroko also referenced having been traumatized from Mikoto's response to her monologue when the latter experienced Indian Poker for the first time from the same episode.
 * This episode coincides with , where all incidents involving the Treasure Hunter App are happening at the same time. The beginning of this episode is also the same day Kuroko and Shaei met.
 * This episode references Frenda's later distaste of canned mackerel and her desire to eat curry as featured in ', which was adapted to '.
 * In one scene, Frenda is looking at a pocket watch while window shopping. This is a call forward to her eventual gift to Kanou Shinka for his birthday, as shown in .
 * Rakko references her dream to be an idol in this episode, which was previously shown from her dream in the, seen through Mikoto.

Cultural References

 * The brand on one of the billboards is Posiqlo (ポジクロ), which is a parody of (ユニクロ), a Japanese clothing retailer.
 * Frenda's reaction to mackerel curry is a mirror of a character from JoJo Part 4, chapter 39 of the manga, in which Okuyasu visited an Italian restaurant. He first proclaims that the food won't taste good, immediately followed by a large exclamation of him finding it delicious, after which he states how the two ingredients blend amazingly together, enhance one another, and achieve a perfect harmony. This is repeated here in the episode with Frenda stating she thinks the mackerel curry won't taste good, loudly finding it delicious, and then stating the two tastes pair well together, draw out each other's flavors even more, and achieve a synergy.
 * Frenda utters "Deilig" when she is eating mackerel curry and "Ha det bra" to Saten when she was about to leave the dormitory. The former is Norwegian meaning "delicious". The latter is Swedish or Norwegian language meaning "Good bye". Thus it appears that Frenda originates from Northern Europe, or has profound connection with there. The latter is also the title of the.
 * Orange Computer is a parody of, a US technology company.
 * FUKIDASHI (Japanese for speech bubble) is a parody of, a Japanese messaging app, with the logo being a speech bubble.
 * The car that Hamazura drives in this episode is based on the, also known as Mini Cooper, specifically the third generation S model, in which the steering wheel is on the left side of the car.

Differences in Adaptation

 * The scene at the beginning of the episode, where Mikoto praised Kuroko for her efforts as Judgment member is anime-original.
 * Two separate scenes with Saten and Uiharu together, when the latter is busy with her Judgment duties concerning incidents related to the Treasure Hunt App are anime-original.
 * According to Yumiya Rakko, Saten and Frenda's heights are 150cm and 155cm respectively based on their pace length. In the anime adaptation, Saten's height was changed to 160cm, but Frenda's height remained same.

Animation Trivia

 * The mackerel can is rendered in CGI after Frenda blew it up to open it.
 * Most people in the background are rendered in CGI.