Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S Episode 05

"Level 6 Shift Project" (絶対能力者進化計画(レベル6シフトけいかく)) is the 5th episode of the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S anime series, and the 29th episode of the anime series adaptation of the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga series. It was first broadcast on May 10, 2013.

Guided by the feeling of someone having the same ability as herself, Mikoto comes upon a creepy girl wearing a Tokiwadai Middle School who stood alone. It was like a projection, a mirror, a girl of her own shape, a doppelganger. While silence dominates between the two, a strange word originated from the other girl.

Mikoto was caught unaware by the girl calling "Misaka," who says to her that she is trying to help a cat that is stuck up on a tree. After that is done, she she refers to herself as a "Sister" to Mikoto, and admits frankly that she is her clone. Due to the incongruous situation, Mikoto is befuddled.

Synopsis
The shocking reality hits Mikoto like a truck. Mikoto stands in front of someone who likes exactly like her. A clone. And in their fateful meeting, the clone greets her with the most unexpected of greetings: "Meow."

As Mikoto tries to decipher the clone's unusual message to her, the clone tells Mikoto that she is actually talking about a cat stuck in a tree after being startled by her electric-based esper ability. The clone then proceeds to ignore Mikoto's demands for an explanation and coaxes her to rescue the cat, much to Mikoto's frustration. In the end, Mikoto ends up acting as a platform for the clone to step on while she catches the cat. Although a bit pissed at the clone's treatement, Mikoto was taken by the cute black cat's mews.

Mikoto eventually returns the topic to the issue about her and her clone. The clone confirms that she is a clone of Mikoto, and finds out that Mikoto herself is not part of the Experiment, so she refuses to divulge on sensitive information. Mikoto, on the other hand, discovers that trying to wring the answers from this clone will not be helpful, so she decides to leave the clone be, as Mikoto is confident that this clone will return to a facility and will bring her to the creator of this experiment eventually.

The clone heads for parts unknown, ignoring the fact that Mikoto is closely tailing her. During this pursuit, Mikoto comes to grips with the existence of her clones, accepting that she was actually scared of meeting one someday. However, seeing this clone of hers go emptyheaded at the most trivial of things disappointed Mikoto a bit; she was expecting something like "a clone that is created to dispose of the original and replace it".

Then, Mikoto remembers something... if these clones are called Sisters, then is it possible that there are more of her around Academy City? Mikoto confronts the clone about this inquiry of hers, but she catches the clone at one of her emptyheaded moments.

Soon, an ice cream truck drives by and notices the commotion. The driver decides to intervene, not wanting twins to go on arguments like those, and gives them a cone of ice cream each, telling the two to get along before leaving. The clone heartily enjoys her ice cream, while Mikoto continues to point out the misunderstanding of the situation. Mikoto then decides to eat her ice cream when she notices that her cone is empty, and the culprit innocently evades Mikoto's menacing glare; to make things worse for Mikoto, the clone asks her to fetch some milk tea, much to Mikoto's annoyance.

By nightfall, Mikoto and her clone enjoy some sweets at a nearby sweets shop, leaving behind a rather fatigued Mikoto. Then, the clone decides to bid farewell to Mikoto, stating that she needs to head to a particular experiment, so she will not return to the facility, thus eliminating any chances for Mikoto to encounter her creator. Mikoto decides that the only way to gain information is by using her PDA to hack into Academy City's systems, but as soon as she gets her PDA, the Gekota pin she won earlier drops to the ground. As soon as Mikoto sees the clone's interest in her pin, she decides to attach it to the clone's blazer, but soon regrets this decision when she is unable to get it back from the clone, particularly because the clone considers it as a gift — no matter how lame it looked — from Mikoto.

Soon, the clone bids farewell to Mikoto, to which Mikoto lazily responds before heading elsewhere. Although her momentum was messed up by her moments with her clone, Mikoto psyches herself up for another round of hacking for intel.

Back at Uiharu's apartment unit, Uiharu gets some help from Erii for her summer homework after losing some precious time during Judgment's summer recruitment. During this time, she gets a call from Mikoto asking for any information about the clone's passcode "ZXC741ASD852QWE963"; soon enough, Uiharu tells Mikoto that it is a clearance code for high-level information. Shortly, Mikoto drops the line, much to the surprise of both Uiharu and Erii.

Meanwhile, after getting what seems to be a simple guitar case from an electronic locker, the clone heads to a dark alleyway. Here, the clone announces the start of the 9982nd experiment. Mikoto eventually uses her esper ability to hack into the systems of Academy City.

In a nearby phone booth, Mikoto gasps in shock as she discovers documents pertaining to a certain Level 6 Shift Project. At this current time — exactly 21:00 — the experiment begins on schedule. Mikoto soon reads on the project's aim: to create a Level 6 among one of the seven Level 5s of Academy City. It is said that the subject would need 250 years of natural growth to reach Level 6, and so the development is shifted to live combat using predetermined battle scenarios. Using this proposal, the subject would need to defeat the Railgun 128 times to reach Level 6. However, due to the impossibility of perfectly creating Level 5 clones of the Railgun, the Radio Noise Clones — all 20,000 of them, are instead used for the project.

And those 20,000 clones may be the key to the realization of a Level 6.

Elsewhere, the 9982nd experiment of the Level 6 Shift Project goes underway, and the albino dressed in black proceeds to demonstrate his frightening esper ability towards the clone in front of him. Even unarmed, this Level 5 was able to subdue a clone equipped with firearms and an electromagnetic field detector in complete darkness. The Level 5 steps closer and the clone desperately runs away from him. Several minutes have passed, and Mikoto realizes that the clone she just met may now be in one of those experiments. A desperate Mikoto runs away from the phone booth, now on the search for a clone who is going on a march to her own demise.

The Level 5 watches as the clone who is his prey desperately runs down the access ladders of a nearby bridge as if trying to escape. However, the Level 5 effortlessly descends, his fall cushioned by his own ability. Then, using his ability once more, the Level 5 delivers an impact on the ground, hurling pieces of rock into the clone's body. In this attack, the clone receives a broken right arm and is badly shaken by being thrown into a nearby container. However, she continues to run away, despite how futile it is in front of this Level 5.

Meanwhile, Mikoto runs into the same alleyway the clone and the Level 5 met at the start of the 9982nd experiment. Mikoto still holds on to her belief that such a chain of experiments could actually happen in Academy City, but her thoughts are quickly shattered when she sees the goggles of the clone, completely destroyed as if trampled upon by a frightening force.

Back at the 9982nd experiment, the clone is now too injured to stand up, but has begun to ascertain the Level 5's abilities, thinking that it is a barrier that may have a weakness where he stands on the ground. As the Level 5 marches forward into his prey, the clone uses her ability to activate a nearby land mine, causing an explosion that can be seen and heard from where Mikoto is.

The clone sits where she is, hoping that the land mine has wiped the Level 5 out. However, she ultimately fails, and before she could run away, the completely unscathed Level 5 grabs her left leg and yanks it out from her body. The clone still tries to fight back, but even her electricity was returned to her immediately. The Level 5 watches as the clone stubbornly tries to get away from him despite the injuries she had, and soon decides to end this experiment once and for all.

Mikoto quickly rushes to the direction of the blast earlier, and she sees the girl who looks exactly like her... battered, bruised, with a leg missing, holding on to the gift she received from Mikoto. This girl shortly disappears as a train carriage plummets into her location.

The Level 5 seems bored at the conclusion to this experiment. On the other hand, another Level 5, the Railgun, is overflowing with rage as she rushes towards the Level 5 who is known as...

The Accelerator.

Major events

 * Misaka Mikoto bonds with Misaka 9982.
 * Misaka Mikoto learns the truth about the clones and the Level 6 Shift.
 * Misaka 9982 dies in her battle against Accelerator.
 * A Level 5, Misaka Mikoto, attacks another one, Accelerator, for the first time.

Adapted From

 * Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Manga Chapter 022
 * Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Manga Chapter 023

Characters

 * Misaka Mikoto
 * Misaka 9982
 * Uiharu Kazari
 * Haruue Erii

New Characters

 * Black cat
 * Accelerator

Locations

 * Academy City
 * School District 7
 * Uiharu Residence

New locations

 * Endymion
 * Misawa Cram School

Abilities

 * Electromaster - Misaka Mikoto, level 5.
 * Electromaster - Misaka 9982, level 3.

New Abilities

 * Accelerator (ability) - Accelerator

Trivia

 * The episode marks the first time a pantyshot actually appears on the Railgun adaptation.
 * The scene where Misaka 9982 tries to save a baby from heatstroke completely removes Yomikawa Aiho's appearance.
 * Misaka 9982 references the tea scene from the 20th chapter of Railgun despite the scene being absent in the anime.
 * Endymion, along with Misawa Cram School can be seen from the distance in the bridge scene where Misaka 9982 says farewell to Mikoto. Moreover, this is the same bridge used when Kamijou Touma and Stiyl Magnus used to travel towards Misawa Cram School back in episode 7 of Toaru Majutsu no Index as well as the bridge used at the end of the first opening of Toaru Majutsu no Index II.

Referbacks

 * Mikoto recalls the rumors of her clones as well as the Radio Noise Project as shown in episode 3.
 * The Gekota badge Mikoto won from the previous episode plays prominent part during this episode.

Cultural References

 * Misaka 9982 uses a modified FN F2000 known as Toy Soldier along with her Electron (NV) Goggles. This is the first time that the anime adaptation shows how the goggles can be connected to the rifle.

Animation Trivia

 * Scenes of Misaka 9982 has her goggles drawn traditionally or of poorer quality.
 * Compared to his original appearance in the Toaru Majutsu no Index anime, Accelerator has noticeably longer and wavier hair in his apperance here.
 * When Misaka 9982 fires her Toy Soldier, the scene is computer generated, moreover, there is no rifling marks on the bullets.
 * Despite the experiment being referred to by Misaka 9982 as the 9982nd experiment, the file that Mikoto reads regarding the experiment has it written as Misaka 9928.
 * While Misaka 9982 crawls toward the Gekota badge after her legged ripped off, a scene where her entire body is shown along with her missing leg. However, the scene is censored in the television airing, with a black bar diagonally placed on screen to cover her leg.
 * The ending theme is cut during this episode, an unprecedented move in the animated Toaru Majutsu no Index series. Moreover, the entire credits sequence is changed into a scrolling one in a black background.

Unanswered Questions

 * If this is the 9982nd experiment, does that mean there have been 9981 other clones that have been killed?
 * What is the true extent of Accelerator's powers?
 * Is Level 6 such an envious power that it justifies the slaughtering of clones?