Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Episode 13

"I understand that bikinis make eyes wander, but one-pieces bring out curves so they match thin bodies better" (ビキニは目線が上下に分かれますけどワンピースは身体のラインが出ますから細い方しか似合わないですよ) is the thirteenth episode of the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun anime series. It was first broadcast on December 25, 2009.

Synopsis
It is somewhere in the middle of summer in Tokiwadai Middle School, and both Misaka Mikoto and Shirai Kuroko feel the heat on their skin as they have their snacks outside. Kuroko takes this opportunity to get intimate with Mikoto by trying to get her to apply some sunscreen.

Unfortunately for Kuroko, schoolmates Awatsuki Maaya and Wannai Kinuho arrive to ask them a favor.

Maaya and Kinuho soon explain that they are in need of swimsuit models after the company that is sponsoring the Tokiwadai Swimming Team requested models for their products, and the swimming team simply has too few available people except for the juniors. Kuroko shows her enthusiasm over "helping" out, but Mikoto is still having second thoughts about becoming models for a day. However, due to some cunning acting by Kuroko, Mikoto ends up accepting Maaya and Kinuho's request, but not until she punishes Kuroko for having lecherous thoughts about her in a swimsuit.

Adapted From
This episode contains an anime-original story and thus, is not adapted from any source.

This episode in the Story Timeline
It cannot possibly take place between the day Mikoto battles Harumi and AIM Burst (July 24) and the day Touma loses his memory via Dragon's Breath (July 28), as Touma was unconscious from his battle with Kaori Kanzaki (also July 24) until the afternoon before Index's scheduled memory loss (July 27) and he had spent the remaining time inside Komoe's house calling memory institutions- yet he appears at the end of the episode. Furthermore, it cannot take place after Touma loses his memory because he doesn't recognize Mikoto until the start of the Sisters arc (August 20), and Mitsuko bonds with Kinuho and Maaya starting from here and brags to them in Railgun Episode 24 about her heroics during the climax of the Poltergeist incident (August 9).

Major events

 * Kongou Mitsuko forms friends with Wannai Kinuho, Awatsuki Maaya, and becomes acquainted with Misaka Mikoto.

Characters
By order of appearance
 * Misaka Mikoto
 * Shirai Kuroko
 * Wannai Kinuho
 * Awatsuki Maaya
 * Saten Ruiko
 * Uiharu Kazari
 * Kongou Mitsuko
 * Konori Mii
 * Kamijou Touma

New Characters

 * Ekaterina

Abilities

 * Electromaster - Misaka Mikoto, Level 5.

New Abilities
No new abilities were introduced during this episode.

Locations

 * Academy City
 * School Garden
 * Tokiwadai Middle School

New Locations
No notable locations were introduced during this episode.

Trivia

 * A short OAD is later released along with the official visual book of the anime, featuring a story that is supposed to happen during the episode.
 * Apart from Ruiko with her sarong, the swimsuits of Mikoto, Kuroko, and Kazari, are fundamentally similar to the ones they were in Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS: Liberal Arts City.

Cultural References

 * The scene where the girls find themselves on the moon is a tribute to the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, featuring the iconic black monolith, Richard Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra, and Kuroko briefly wielding a femur as the ape did in the opening of the film.
 * Kongou's red swimsuit-Ekaterina combination can be seen as a reference to Boa Hancock of One Piece fame.

Referbacks
No notable references were introduced during this episode.

Animation Trivia

 * The scene before the eyecatch of the episode, where all the girls are lined up together shows the extent on how the girls' heights, and most notably, their bust sizes differ drastically from previous episodes. Here, Ruiko is as tall as Mikoto despite being as tall as Kuroko in the ending sequence. Her bust size is as large as Mii despite being depicted as flat in both manga and novels, and even several times in past episodes. Even in this episode before donning the swimsuit, she appears flat. Mikoto also gains a considerable bust size despite her complaints regarding it as well. Only Mitsuko and Mii seem to be depicted being in front of the group but it does not explain her being taller than Mii, as the former was shown at least to be only slightly taller than Kuroko. The height difference can be handwaved due to the "sand" that have been put there, but there is no indication that it wasn't a flat surface in the first place.

Unanswered Questions

 * Why did the machine malfunction in the first place?

Quotes

 * "No matter how childish your figure is, science holds the power of photo manipulation." — Kuroko's "reassuring" remark about Uiharu's worries about modeling with a childish figure