Toaru Majutsu no Index Episode 18

"Replica" (偽者(レプリカ)) is the 18th episode of the Toaru Majutsu no Index anime series and the first episode of Three Stories Arc. It was first broadcast on February 5, 2009, and was directed and storyboarded by Tachibana Hideki, and the script written by Tanizaki Akira.

It is the last day of summer vacation and Touma struggles with his homework, something that he has not touched at all. Meanwhile, Misaka Mikoto, going about her daily life as usual, leaving the dormitory, browsing in a convenience store, the usual routine, however, this time a young man is waiting for her. He is the grandson of the director of Tokiwadai Middle School, Unabara Mitsuki, a young man who has been following her around recently. As she is unable to shoo him away, she catches up to Touma in order to pretend to be her lover for the day. The plan is for Mitsuki to give up on her when he catches up to the fact that she seems to be dating. But their behavior is contrary to what lovers do and they gave up in the middle of their ruse. As an apology to Touma, Mikoto goes into a store to treat him. As Touma waits for her, Mitsuki appears before him. However, Touma then sees someone who looks the same as Mitsuki enter the store seemingly chasing after Mikoto.

Synopsis
Mikoto overhearing their conversation, is visibly reddenned by Touma's answer and tries to shake it off. She says to herself that he is the kind of person who would say such irresponsible things, and denies to herself that she is something special to him. She rests her on a metal beam and looks at the sky, stating to herself that even though she is misunderstanding him, his words are very misleading.

Adapted From

 * Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 05

Major events

 * Touma defeats Etzali, and promises him to protect Mikoto and her world.
 * Unabara Mitsuki escapes Etzali's grasp.

Characters
By order of appearance
 * Kamijou Touma
 * Index
 * Misaka Mikoto
 * Tsuchimikado Maika
 * Aogami Pierce
 * Tsuchimikado Motoharu
 * Shirai Kuroko

New Characters

 * Etzali (unnamed)
 * Tokiwadai Dorm Supervisor
 * Unabara Mitsuki

Abilities

 * Imagine Breaker - Kamijou Touma, level 0
 * Electromagnetism - Misaka Mikoto, level 5

New Abilities

 * Esper power to change appearance (referenced)
 * Appearance Burrowing - Etzali
 * Spear of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli - Etzali

Locations

 * Academy City
 * Tokiwadai Dormitory

New Locations

 * MocRonall's

Trivia

 * When Mikoto tackled Touma to the ground, he called her Biribiri.
 * The episode features the Magical Powered Kanamin show for the first time.
 * Etzali (the impostor) is unnamed throughout the entire episode.
 * This would be the first time the Kamijou Faction is referred to by a character.

Referbacks

 * The Sisters being in body readjustments is referred to during this episode.

Cultural References

 * Touma references the common anime/manga element of having a nosebleed when characters get into erotic situations.
 * Mikoto references Boys' Love, which refers to fictional media that focus on the erotic or romantic relationships between males.
 * Aogami references several female character archtypes in anime and manga during his conversation with Touma and Motoharu, such as the shrine maidens, the tsundere and the yandere. Strangely, Aogami also references shotacon, which refers to the attraction to young boys.
 * MocRonall's maybe a reference to McDonald's.
 * Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli is a dangerous and malevolent ancient Aztec deity, and is considered the god of the planet Venus.
 * Obsidian is a natural occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock. Obsidian blade edges can reach almost molecular thinness, leading to its ancient use as projectile points and blades, most notably, ancient Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Aztecs.
 * Magical Powered Kanamin maybe a referenced to the magical girl subgenre in anime and manga.

Animation Trivia

 * The Tokiwadai Dorm Supervisor in this episode, features a drastically different character design from the same character in the Toaru Majutsu no Index manga, as well as Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga and anime.

Unanswered Questions

 * Who are the impostor's superiors?
 * What happened to the impostor after this episode?
 * What was the answer Touma gave to the Aztec magician?

Quotes

 * Maika: "I love the genre where a brother and a sister fall into a deep and muddy romance." -said to Mikoto, regarding her favorite type of manga.
 * Tokiwadai Dorm Supervisor: "How bold of her... to be rendezvousing in front of the dormitory." -regarding Mikoto meeting with Touma in front of the Tokiwadai Dormitory.
 * Touma: "Then that leaves me no choice. I will kill that illusion of yours!" -said to the impostor.
 * Etzali: "Could you protect her? Protect Misaka-san? Run to her wherever and whenever... Promise me you'll protect her?" -said to Touma.
 * Mikoto: "He's the kind of person who would say such irresponsible things! It's not like I'm special to him or anything! I know I'm misunderstanding, but... it's so misleading!" -regarding Touma's reply to the impostor.