Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T Episode 25

My Dear Friends (私の、大切な友達) is the 25th and final episode of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T. It was broadcast on September 25th 2020. The episode was both directed and storyboarded by Nagai Tatsuyuki, and the screenplay written by Yasukawa Shogo.

With the secret of the "soul possession" exposed, Mikoto climbs the airship to confront the Doppelganger. Overcome by despair upon realizing that she was an existence born without a soul, the Doppelganger who spoke of taking revenge on humans attacks Mikoto through clones that she produced. However, Mikoto knows that the attacks are simply a bluff and she knew the Doppelganger's true objective. The Doppelganger rejects Mikoto's words and falls with the airship.

After the airship standoff, Kuriba is approached by the research facility chief. He, who was already downcast after hearing by Mikoto about the truth behind the Doppelganger, was told by Kuriba that the experiment can no longer continue.

Synopsis
Mikoto's Railgun narrowly misses the Doppelganger. Although surprised, the Doppelganger continues to fight Mikoto who, by that time, already knows her enemy's true objective. Mikoto finally confronts her about this, but the Doppelganger reveals that realizing her lack of a soul has been causing her suffering. Forced into a painful decision, Mikoto decides to fulfill the Doppelganger's final wish by enveloping the airship in a massive thundercloud and striking her with a powerful lightning bolt.

After the airship plummets to the ground, the Doppelganger, now in pieces, thanks Mikoto for granting her wish. Mikoto reveals that the Doppelganger wishes to destroy the data stored in the airship that can be used to reconstruct her, as well as kill her original, Kuriba Ryouko, who can rebuild her, and the plan to "set Academy City on fire" is to provoke the city's self-defense protocols.

Kuriba Ryouko arrives to the crash site along with the research facility chief, where both are shocked to see the wreckage. The chief, in particular, immediately urges Kuriba to repair the Doppelganger, but hearing the Doppelganger's wish to be laid to rest and the chief's lack of compassion compels her to announce her intention to pull out from the experiment. Consumed by despair and disbelief in learning that the Doppelganger has no soul, the chief puts Kuriba at gunpoint, with Mikoto forced to turn around. Mikoto then enters an argument with the chief while she finds herself with limited options to save Kuriba in her situation.

Suddenly, Kuriba escapes the chief's grasp and urges him to reconsider his decision. Then, a gunshot is heard, and Kuriba collapses to the ground with a wound on her abdomen. The entire situation is heard by Scavenger and they contact a hospital for help. Meanwhile, the Doppelganger, in her final moments, commends Kuriba's luck for having the right artificial organs to survive the gunshot. Kuroko shortly arrives to help carry Kuriba and the remains of the Doppelganger. Elsewhere, the chief, who frantically fled after shooting Kuriba, is found by Shokuhou Misaki while he ponders about using Child Errors to continue the experiment without Kuriba's help. Disappointed of the researcher's downward spiral toward unethical practices, she resets his knowledge, hopeful that he would once more pursue his original goal despite being forced to start over again.

Several days after, Mikoto informs Kuroko that Kuriba is undergoing recovery during their visit at a cafe. Misaki also arrives with Hokaze Junko to congratulate Kuriba's recovery. Kuroko is surprised that Mikoto and Misaki are already getting along, and Misaki assures Kuroko that she will not take away her Onee-sama. Saten and Uiharu also arrive, and Junko, who is already familiar with the two girls, quickly introduces Misaki to them.

Scavenger stays at their hideout to discuss about improving their team after the successful mission involving the Doppelganger. Leader quickly shuts down Naru's suggestion to find a "Yellow" so that they have enough members to form a team similar to tokusatsu shows. As Naru illustrates the concept to Seike by stripping her teammate down, Yakumaru asks if they need to improve their respective skills and consider resupplying their equipment.

Soon, Scavenger is contacted by their liaison, informing them that they will not receive payment for their latest mission due to the client going bankrupt. Leader refuses such treatment after accepting a mission that puts them at risk and demands a sign of good faith from their liaison. Eventually, the liaison agrees to reinstate the status of Scavenger to normal, leaving them to celebrate their potentially higher pay. After a quick review of their supplies, Leader decides to keep the Gekota communication devices as she has taken a liking to the character somehow.

At a certain hospital, Mikoto visits Misaka 10032, who is longing for some fresh air after being advised to refrain from going outside. After reluctantly accepting the cakes-in-a-jar, Misaka 10032 is reunited with Kongou Mitsuko, who is in the process of being fully discharged from the hospital. Misaka 10032 is grateful to Kongou for her sacrifice during the Daihaseisai, while Kongou asks for her name. In the end, Kongou gives Misaka 10032 the nickname "Icchan" and asks her to be called "Micchan" in return.

Misaki and Kouzaku Mitori visit an aquarium in Academy City where Dolly can finally see fish in person. Mitori chose an aquarium visit over Misaki's suggestion to manipulate their way into seeing the ocean due to Dolly's unstable condition. Meanwhile, during her recovery, Kuriba talks to Mikoto about her encounters with the Doppelganger in her dreams. The Doppelganger calls out Kuriba's tendency to sacrifice herself to fulfill her goals, which she claims is responsible for her own self-destructive behavior, but she assures Kuriba that it is not worth rejecting. Currently, the Doppelganger is on a constant quest to find flaws in her research, causing Kuriba to be afraid of going to sleep. Kuriba then apologizes to Mikoto for forcing her to take the responsibility over confronting the Doppelganger, but assures Mikoto that the Doppelganger was most fulfilled during their battle.

After visiting Kuriba, Mikoto joins Kuroko, Saten and Uiharu outside. Saten jokingly invites them to a cafe known to be a venue of an urban legend, much to Kuroko's chagrin, but Mikoto does not mind going anywhere as long as they are together.

Major Events

 * Mikoto exposes the true intentions of the Doppelganger and fulfills her final wish: to be terminated.
 * The airship containing the backup data of the research facility, including data that can be used to rebuild the Doppelganger, is completely destroyed.
 * Kuriba Ryouko is shot by the research facility chief in a fit of hysteria after learning that the Doppelganger does not have a soul and that Kuriba herself wants to pull out of the experiment. Kuriba survives with the help of the artificial organs left intact from the terminated Doppelganger.
 * The research facility chief's knowledge is reset by Shokuhou Misaki to prevent him from continuing the experiment by using Child Errors.
 * During her recovery, Kuriba continues to encounter the Doppelganger in her dreams. The Doppelganger shows her interest in assisting her in her research.
 * Misaka 10032 meets Kongou Mitsuko for the first time after the events in the Daihaseisai.
 * Shokuhou Misaki, Kouzaku Mitori and Dolly visit an aquarium together.

Characters
By order of appearance:
 * Doppelganger
 * Leader
 * Misaka Mikoto
 * Kuriba Ryouko
 * Chief
 * Shirai Kuroko
 * Shokuhou Misaki
 * Hokaze Junko
 * Uiharu Kazari
 * Saten Ruiko
 * Naru
 * Seike
 * Yakumaru
 * Scavenger Liaison
 * Misaka 10032
 * Misaka 10032's Cat
 * Kongou Mitsuko
 * Dolly
 * Kouzaku Mitori

Abilities

 * Artificial muscle/mold mix manipulation - Doppelganger
 * Predator - Leader, Level 3
 * Electromaster (Railgun-variant) - Misaka Mikoto, Level 5
 * Teleport - Shirai Kuroko, Level 4
 * Mental Out - Shokuhou Misaki, Level 5
 * Perfect Paper - Naru, Level 3
 * Stick Slip - Seike, Level Unknown

Locations

 * Academy City
 * School District 7
 * Judgment 177 Branch Office (mentioned)
 * Heaven Canceller's Hospital

New Locations

 * Aquarium

Trivia

 * The BD version of the episode, which will include 2 extra minutes of the epilogue, will be released on December 25th 2020 with the release of the 8th BD & DVD volumes of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T.
 * According to Railgun T series scriptwriter Yasukawa Shogo, the phrase seen in the title of this episode was originally planned to be in the script, but was cut due to time.
 * The title of this episode is a reference to the first ending of the first season of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun anime adaptation, Dear My Friend -Mada Minu Mirai he-.
 * Misaki referencing how there is not a dull moment in the city mirrors Mikoto's first words from the and her last words from the  of the first season, as well as Touma's final words in the  and Kuroko, Saten and Uiharu parodying this line to Mikoto in the  of the second season.  This was also done by Accelerator at the  of Toaru Kagaku no Accelerator anime.
 * This episode marks the first time that a Railgun season finale doesn't include a Kamijou Touma cameo.
 * According to Railgun manga editor Ogino Kentarou, the very last decision of the production committee of this season was the color of Seike's underwear.
 * According to Railgun manga editor Ogino Kentarou, the anime staff came up with the idea for the final episode's anime original Kongou scene when they learned they had to finish recording all of her lines before her VA moved to the UK.
 * This episode confirms that "T" in Railgun T stands for "Third Season".
 * This is also the only time the ending eyecatch is used for Railgun T, as the two previous seasons frequently use them at the end of some episode of those seasons.
 * After the airing of this episode, Kamachi Kazuma left comments about Railgun T reaching its conclusion in his official twitter.

Referbacks

 * Misaka 10032 already named the cat as "Deferred" back in .
 * Saten and Uiharu met Junko for the first time in .
 * Kuroko and Misaki cooperate to fight against Houjou Arei in .
 * Mikoto brought same cake from Bonbons for Misaka 10032 which Misaka 10032 had given to Mikoto in .

Cultural References

 * Naru made a reference to the infamous Japanese ' genre franchise ' (adapted to America as ), where the protagonists, usually five, are a team of people who transform into superheroes and gain superpowers with color-coded uniforms, signature weapons, sidearms, and fighting skills, to battle a group of otherworldly supervillains that threaten to take over the Earth.
 * The platform seen in Ryouko's dream sequence is Platform 1 of Tachikawa-Kita Station of the Tama Monorail in Tachikawa City, Tokyo.
 * The is both an actual river in northern Greece, as well as a mythological river in ancient Greek mythology, being one of the five rivers leading to the Underworld, known as the "river of woe".

Differences in Adaptation

 * Kuroko is the one who aided Mikoto on getting Ryouko and the Doppelganger to the hospital, unlike in the manga where Naru and Seike were the ones who assist Mikoto, with Leader only calling the hospital.
 * Anime-original scenes were present in this episode, including:
 * Scene with Mikoto and Kuroko in the cafe meeting with Misaki and Junko, as well as Saten and Uiharu meeting Misaki for the first time;
 * Scene with Mikoto and Misaka 10032 at the hospital, as well as Kongou meeting Misaka 10032 for the first time;
 * Scene of Dolly seeing an aquarium with Misaki and Mitori; and
 * the scene at the end where Mikoto meets with her friends before the ending animation resumes.

Animation Trivia

 * At least thirty seconds of footage from the is reused in the beginning of the episode before actual original scenes for the episode are seen.
 * The opening gets removed in this episode, while the ending is played over the scene where Mikoto meets up with her friends before the proper ED animation resumes.
 * Nagai Tatsuyuki, in addition of being the director and storyboard of this episode, also does the key animation.
 * Unlike the final episodes of the previous seasons of Railgun anime series adaptation, there is no insert songs used as well as not using the first opening theme of the season as an insert song.

Unanswered Questions

 * What is the fate of the chief of the cyborg experiment?
 * Does the Doppelganger really have a soul?
 * What 'dark past' is Kuriba embarrassed about?

Quotes

 * Shokuhou Misaki: "There really never is a dull moment in this city, huh?" (ホント退屈しないわねぇ、この街は)