Episode 20 – Hunting Dog Unit (Hound Dog) – 猟犬部隊 (ハウンドドッグ) (Ryouken Butai (Haundo Doggu))
Well, this episode had some rather interesting developments, but the fights themselves were kind of mediocre. Seeing Accelerator in action is pretty awesome, but at the same time seeing him brutally torture Anti-skill members that can’t even fight back was a very one sided battle with a painfully predictable outcome. At the same time, the battle between Touma and Vento was starting to get a bit more interesting, but I’m kind of doubting that Vento is the “strongest amongst the catholic church”. Vento’s attacks may be deadly, but they aren’t nearly as bad as I thought they would be; to be entirely honest, Vento was very disappointing in terms of a threatening enemy. Then again, there seems to be quite a bit about Vento we don’t quite know yet, so I could just be underestimating her as of now. There are hints at something much larger in scale that is occurring, but as of now there are scant details about what exactly is going on.
Now that Last Order is no longer around Accelerator, it looks like the one thing that was really holding him back has disappeared as well. He pretty much goes on a rampage killing anybody that is in his way in his search for Last Order, which is a rather sudden shift in his actions considering how he wasn’t so brutal before. I guess the attack on Last Order was the trigger for his pent up stress and anger, which he is expressing by ruthlessly killing off his pursuers. While we do get to see Accelerator in a very bad mood, the “battle” between him and his pursuers was so one-sided that I actually feel bad for the pursuers. They don’t stand a chance against his abilities, which makes the contents of their confrontation rather boring. What made the entire scene interesting was Accelerator’s rather crazy personality change, which is a stark contrast to the one he had around Last Order.
As for Vento, if she is seriously the “strongest amongst the catholic church”, the catholic church must seriously be lacking in strong members. For all her threatening actions, all she does is stand there and shoot magical balls at Touma, which might I add seem very easy to block with the Imagine Breaker. If you include the fact that Touma isn’t attacking Vento at all (making it so that Vento has all the time in the world to kill him), Vento’s abilities are rather disappointing as of now. Then again, there are other hints of Vento’s abilities, such as the reason behind why everybody is falling unconscious. At times it’s quite obvious that Vento is behind the strange comas that everybody is falling under, especially after seeing what happened to Yomikawa after seeing Vento’s image. We don’t really have an explanation for Vento’s abilities yet, so I’m probably just underestimating her as of now (… Or at least I hope I am).
The battle between Vento and Touma was just as disappointing, where when Touma finally decided to go on the offensive, Vento conveniently (and very randomly, might I add) coughed up blood and ended up running away from the scene. I’m guessing that the coughed up blood was the result of the countermeasures Aleister was taking against Vento, and considering how it seems that the Misaka network and Kazakiri seem to be involved here, I am curious about what the guy who is always upside down in a glass tube is plotting.
In the end, this episode was disappointing in the sense that there was very little satisfying action, and much more buildup. Then again, I don’t really mind the buildup here, which is pointing to some very interesting future conflicts. There are still questions with regards to why everybody is falling unconscious, and what Aleister is doing in response to this invasion, but the stakes involved in this conflict continue to rise. One thing that is duly worth noting is how, as usual, Index and Last Order are virtually useless in the conflict, and Misaka doesn’t really play a role here either. Brief cameos are okay, but they don’t really contribute much to the actual episode’s content…
Overall Enjoyment: 3.6/5
Screenshots are later in the post.
Next Episode Preview: Teaching Device (Testament) – 学習装置 (テスタメント) (Gakushuu Soochi (Tesutamento))
Distant Paradise 
Well, the only sadness here is that this season will end with likely this arc and we’ll not see the Itsuwa arc animated. 😦
I don’t quite get the Itsuwa fanbase as of now, though maybe with Itsuwa arc I’ll understand her appeal. As of now though, all that I do remember her for was her odd obsession with giving Touma hand towels, and that is the “silent, shy” type.
It is a shame that the series ends with this arc, considering I’ve heard some great things about future arcs. There probably will be a season three announcement sometime, but that most likely won’t be until railgun season two comes out, which means we could end up waiting a few years…
Ths episode got me excited though, with all that development and action taken from Touma and Accelerator’s respective battles.
The development from the battles are definitely hinting at something big that’s going to happen; it’s this “something” that I’m curious about, but we have almost no info on it as of now.
The strange necessity of Last Order and Kazakiri is probably related in some way or form, though I don’t quite see the connection yet. The next episode (with the involvement of the Misaka sisters and the railgun herself) looks like it’ll explain quite a bit, which I’m looking forward to.
I theorized in Keiri’s post that the SISTERS may be used to generate large amounts of AIM field to power up Kazakiri… She mentioned my observation was more or less close =/
To any novel reader seeing this. Just letting you know that this season ends on the SS novel. As for Vento saying she’s the strongest in the catholic church. I laughed. She’s one of the top 4 but definitely not the strongest. The I know why she’s strong and can take out a whole city if she wanted to.
Well, we certainly haven’t learned about Vento’s true extent of her capabilities then if she can really “destroy a city”. That being said, you do mention that there are stronger adversaries there, which means there might be even more opponents soon right?
It looks like Touma is getting involved in one whole big mess involving the catholic church, academy city, and Aleister. I hope they develop this further before the season ends, or else there will probably be a long wait time before the explanation in season 3 (if season 3 will even be produced, I don’t really know).
naw, you’ll see them in action in season 3. You’ll see 2 more of the GRS by the end of the season but they wont do anything. Also, when i say “take out” i don’t mean “destroy”. What i mean is something else that’ll probably be revealed next ep.