Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T Episode 18

Bust Upper (巨乳御手 (バストアッパー) ) is the 18th episode of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T. It was broadcast on August 7th 2020.

Indian Poker enables the experience of the dreams of other people. Those dreams are passed around, and were confirmed to allow useful skills to be learned in a method similar to sleep-learning, causing traders of various Indian Poker cards to make an appearance.

Mikoto, who discovered a certain trader along the street, was recommended a card containing the unparalleled dream of an eccentric genius scientist. Its name is Bust Upper--Mikoto, who was initially uninterested, suddenly changed her mind and seized the card at lightning speed. However, the card was also being held by another girl. It was ITEM's Kinuhata Saiai. With their circumstances making the card necessary for both of them, the two girls scrambled for the card, pressing on for the data hidden deep within!

Synopsis
At an open park, Saten demonstrated to Mikoto how Indian Poker cards can be used to learn new skills. In this particular instance, Ruiko showed how she learned how to play kendama (a traditional Japanese toy) overnight using an Indian Poker card. Saten also mentions that mastering the English language and playing professional-level bowling is possible, although she prefers pen twirling to learn next. Mikoto soon learns from Ruiko that obtaining Indian Poker cards now involves traders that exchange them for lower-rarity cards or money, and she hopes that the transactions don't go the way of BLAU and his ilk.

Meanwhile, ITEM freshens up at their hideout with a shower after a successful mission. Kinuhata Saiai, however, finds herself feeling jealous over her more well-endowed companions, and she is even overtaken by Frenda's sudden "growth" (which she blamed her sister for). Eventually, Hamazura Shiage becomes the target of Saiai's frustrations, with Saiai misinterpreting Shiage's purchase of Musashino Milk as mockery over her figure.

Later, during her stroll across town, Saiai discovers a street trader of Indian Poker cards. As she looks for a low-rarity card with a unique story to enjoy, Mikoto stumbles upon the same trader and initially rejects an offer to buy one, stating a with one. However, she changed her mind as soon as the trader shows the only S-Rank card in his possession: a card that is rumored to contain the eccentric dreams of an Academy City scientist, the Bust Upper.

Quickly, both Mikoto and Saiai got a hold of the card, and it becomes a struggle over which one would get the Bust Upper to the point that the trader feared that this struggle would cause the film on the card to come off, rendering the card useless. The trader tackles off the card from the two girls, causing the Bust Upper card to be mixed with his other cards. With even the trader not knowing which among the pile of cards is the Bust Upper, Mikoto decides to buy off all of the trader's cards, with Saiai agreeing to pay half. At that moment, a momentary alliance is formed between Mikoto and Saiai.

The two girls decide to rent a nap room at a nearby internet cafe for their search for the Bust Upper card. Knowing that fighting over the card is fruitless, they agreed to share what they would learn from the Bust Upper card regardless of whichever of the two would get to the card first. Soon, Mikoto would find herself in the dream of a frustrated scientist experiencing a stagnant "growth" of her figure, a lady who mistook herself as being scouted for an idol contract and a student of Tokiwadai who remembered her gaffe at the Daihaseisai and her own insecurities. Meanwhile, Saiai experiences the dreams of a maid-in-training with a perverse but sincere older brother and a kunoichi discovering the secrets of being a femme fatale.

Eventually, the two are asked to leave as their frustrations became too loud for the other customers and they decide to move to a hotel's outside lounge to continue their search. Mikoto soon finds herself in a dream where she does not pose as someone else. Instead, a girl wearing a lab coat lectures about girls who spend their time longing for their ideal figure and warns Mikoto about "a threat that cannot be ignored". Mikoto is left confused about the cryptic message in that dream, oblivious to the fact that one Indian Poker card was taken by a wild crow, which is startled by a certain nun's cat, causing it to fall to a stranger's side.

At late afternoon, Mikoto and Saiai lament over their failure to locate the Bust Upper among the cards they bought and convince themselves that the Bust Upper is a scam before parting ways. Saiai punishes Shiage's vagueness upon discovering that the Musashino Milk was for her height, not her bust size (which was an issue when watching R-15 movies using a fake ID), while Mikoto sleeplessly talks about her experiences of the day (including her off-screen dream with a certain street performer) to Kuroko, who is compelled to not leave her Onee-sama behind.

The next day, Saten brags about her newly-learned pen twirling skill to Uiharu and plans to learn card tower stacking. Then, Saten notices a girl pass by, with a pair of noticeably large breasts.

Major Events

 * Misaka Mikoto and ITEM's Kinuhata Saiai, after their respective moments of breast envy, enter a temporary alliance in the search for the Bust Upper, an S-Class Indian Poker card rumored to store the secrets of a bigger bust size.

Characters
By order of appearance:
 * Misaka Mikoto
 * Saten Ruiko
 * Aogami Pierce (fantasy)
 * Mugino Shizuri
 * Kinuhata Saiai
 * Takitsubo Rikou
 * Frenda Seivelun
 * Yomikawa Aiho (fantasy)
 * Tsuchimikado Maika (fantasy, posed as Kinuhata Saiai)
 * Yobou Banka (mentioned)
 * Kongou Mitsuko (fantasy)
 * Wannai Kinuho (fantasy)
 * Awatsuki Maaya (fantasy)
 * Kirifu Megumi (fantasy, posed as Misaka Mikoto)
 * Kobayashi Satori (fantasy)
 * Shokuhou Misaki (indirectly referenced)
 * Index Librorum Prohibitorum (cameo)
 * Shirai Kuroko
 * Uiharu Kazari

New Characters

 * Fremea Seivelun (indirectly referenced)
 * Hamazura Shiage
 * Indian Poker Trader
 * Yoshikawa Kikyou (fantasy, posed as Misaka Mikoto)
 * Tsuchimikado Motoharu (fantasy)
 * Yumiya Rakko (fantasy, posed as Misaka Mikoto)
 * Matsunoyama Shigemi (fantasy)
 * Kuruwa (fantasy, posed as Kinuhata Saiai)
 * Kuriba Ryouko (fantasy)
 * Sphynx (cameo)
 * Fusou Ayame (indirectly referenced)

Abilities

 * Offense Armor - Kinuhata Saiai, Level 4
 * Electromaster (Railgun-variant) - Misaka Mikoto, Level 5

Locations

 * Academy City
 * School District 7
 * School Garden (referenced)
 * Tokiwadai Dormitory

Trivia

 * The unnamed female student who got the Bust Upper is voiced by Okuno Kaya.
 * The unnamed narrator in Kinuhata's dream is voiced by Souma Kouichi.
 * The unnamed hotel employee is voiced by Hori Soushirou.
 * The unnamed internet cafe clerk is voiced by Murakami Yuuya.
 * With Shiage's appearance in this episode, this means that all three main protagonists of Toaru Majutsu no Index have appeared in Toaru Kagaku no Railgun anime adaptation.
 * Index makes a cameo appearance for the first time in Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T.

Referbacks

 * The Bust Upper was originally mentioned as an Urban Legend during the events of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS: Liberal Arts City.
 * Saiai wanting a C-Rank story while choosing her cards is a reference to  where her fond of C-movies are revealed.
 * The lab in Yoshikawa Kikyou's dream is the same lab where Accelerator goes to her to ask about Last Order.
 * The Fallen Angel Maid Outfit is one of the maid outfit developed by Tsuchimikado Motoharu for Kanzaki Kaori.
 * The clothes in Rakko's dream where she imagines to be an idol is the same clothes Meigo Arisa wore in her second live peformance in .
 * The hotel that Mikoto and Saiai visited in this episode is the same hotel that the former inquired back in , where she plans to find out about the Radio Noise Project.
 * Shiage relates how he had help Saiai fake her age by forging an ID in order to watch an R15 movie, an event that is directly taken from Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume SS2.

Cultural References

 * is a game that uses a toy of the same name to perform tricks.
 * Cybele #5 is a reference to, an ancient Anatolian goddess representation the personification of motherhood that eventually made its way into Greek and Roman mythology.
 * Some names of Indian Poker cards have references to other media, such as:
 * Electric Sheep's Dream (電気羊の夢), which is a reference to the science fiction book  by ; and
 * Star Force (スター フォース), which is a reference to the 1984 arcade game.
 * Motoharu references, a sea creature from Jewish mythology, which was referenced many times in the Bible.

Differences in Adaptation

 * Due to the scene from ' where Saten explained sleep-learning through Indian Poker being cut in ', it was brought up here in this episode instead. This also means the mentions of cards involving conversational English and pro-level bowling are brought up here as well.
 * The scene with ITEM at the beginning of the episode is originally a flashback in the manga.
 * Some dream sequences from the manga are cut in this episode, including:
 * Mikoto's dream involving Hattori Hanzou, which was also removed in the tankōbon release;
 * Mikoto's dream as a road side artist with Fusou Ayame (though was mentioned in her monologue at the end of the episode), which was cut at the request of Railgun mangaka Fuyukawa Motoi ; and
 * Mikoto's dream at A Certain High School, mainly due to Fukiyose's VA being on an indefinite hiatus.
 * The above latter two cut dream sequences from the manga are replaced by anime-original dream sequences, such as:
 * Mikoto's dream as Yumiya Rakko, replacing her dream with Fusou, which was written by Railgun manga editor Ogino Kentarou ; and
 * Mikoto's dream as Kirifu Megumi, replacing her dream with Fukiyose, in which was written by Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T scriptwriter Yasukawa Shogo.
 * Saten showing her amazing pen tricks to Uiharu thanks to Indian Poker is anime-original.

Animation Trivia

 * The fan that Takitsubo holds in this episode, as well as some Strange Juices given by Hamazura to ITEM are rendered in CGI.
 * Unlike the dream sequence in  which was animated with higher hues and lighter outlines, this episode instead animated the dream sequences (except Kuriba's dream) normally with 2.35:1 aspect ratio. This also happened in Nunotaba Shinobu's flashback with Misaka 8912.
 * In the flashback where Shiage forge Saiai's age in her ID to watch an R-15 movie, at one point, they go out of bounds from the background.

Unanswered Questions

 * Who is that mysterious strange-haired girl with the lab coat in Mikoto's dream?
 * Who is that mysterious girl who got the Bust Upper?