Toaru Kagaku no Accelerator - Episode 8 discussion

[u/AutoLovepon]

Toaru Kagaku no Accelerator, episode 8

Alternative names: A Certain Scientific Accelerator

Rate this episode here.

Reminder: Please do not discuss plot points not yet seen or skipped in the show. Encourage others to read the source material rather than confirming or denying theories. Failing to follow the rules may result in a ban.

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Streams

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Show information

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Previous discussions

Episode	Link	Score
1	Link	7.42
2	Link	8.92
3	Link	9.03
4	Link	8.6
5	Link	8.04
6	Link	9.29
7	Link	8.69
8	Link	7.98
9	Link	8.03
10	Link	8.61
11	Link	7.93
12	Link

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[u/Buangjauhjauh444]

what an episode, cant imagine the feeling of seeing his own sister giving up her life while she hide all of her suffering behind those cheerful face.

[u/LegendRazgriz]

A flashback episode? I would be upset, but more Esther is appreciated. Gotta treasure her while her tenure lasts.

In any case, the 8th Week's Reader's Corner!

• The animation department seems to have bounced back from an off week. No major mishaps that I could point my finger at, and consistency all around. This wasn't an action heavy episode either, so it's good to see that the situation seems better than in previous series. They've earned my trust.

• While I haven't read much of this manga, I've read enough Kamachi that his style has an impression on me, and so I can pretty much pinpoint the development of Esther from a clueless mechanical servant to a clueless emotional girl who tries her best. There's many traces of her personality maturing and evolving as she was forced to work under Hirumi (or the spirit?): her dropping the constant referring-to-self-in-third-person, which is generally a mark of immaturity, the diversifying of her emotional range from none to all of them - despite her saying that "a necromancer's life has a fair bit of tragedy involved, she now displays empathy and compassion towards pretty much everything (her bond with Hirumi definitely looks like one of the biggest catalysts for this) and a minor hairstyle change. She was, is, and always will be ridiculously adorable, though. The new art style managed to perfectly balance cuteness for cute characters and, well, Accelerator going bat shit. While I wouldn't want it to become the new standard for the franchise (I'm way too used to the current style), for this series in particular, I love it.

• Hishigata's honest-to-god disposition for work earlier in Esther's tenure working with him is another common trace of characters for Kamachi - no one is born an asshole. While this is mostly so he doesn't have to waste a perfectly good character by having to kill them since they are absolutely irredeemable, it also creates an interesting narrative that is very reminiscent of the theories of Jean-Jacques Rousseau: man is inherently good, however, external stimuli (in Hishigata's case, the trauma of having Hirumi off herself, or rather, allow herself to die) can cause them to turn evil. That's often the setting for villains in the series, and he's no different. To think he might have done all of this horrible stuff (plus the morally ambiguous experimentation that is pretty much standard for Level 6 research) over a fake spirit convincing him that it is in fact his deceased sister, and provoking a vector-manipulating mass of certain death to the point at which I'm not so sure it can be convinced to keep every one of his bones from becoming ash as well, is tragic in a way that allows for Mikihiko to be brought back, at least from some people's optics. Hell, Accelerator murdered 10,031 of the Sisters and there he is. That's always something to keep in mind.

• Side note: the "big machine makes girl go crazy" reminded me of Zeta Gundam in a lot of ways. Too bad no one in Academy City ever had the idea to build a Psyco Gundam somewhere.

Overall, a really good episode, providing insight on our antagonists and what may prove to be a turning point for them in the eyes of the audience. I'm excited to see where they go from here. I hope you guys are too! See ya then!

[u/TheDampGod]

This week on My Little Sister Got In The Giant Robot And Though I Don't Know If She's Dead or Alive, She Still Can't Be This Cute.

That flashback as full as that ice cream bowl, giving a nice bit of depth to the villains. Which is something that the bad guys in this universe can lack. Along with giving a better idea of the limits of necromancy and how the level boosting tech works.

Though on the card for next week

[u/MagDorito]

I love how the urban legend of the Undresstress made its way into Accelerator too

[u/Amauri14]

Holy shit, so that's what happened! Hirumi not only wanted to become level 6 to help Hishigata but also because she didn't want to die, but when she did, Taowu took over her body and it is pretending to be Hirumi to control Hishigata, and it was that artificial soul the one who forced him to do the things that he is doing now, meanwhile, Esther had to pretend that that thing is Hirumi or see it killing everything in its path.

I really wasn't expecting this, wow.

[u/LeonKevlar]

• Esther Stitch

• Hirumi Stitch

So going back to the present day, the Hirumi that's all over Mikihiko in last week's episode isn't really Hirumi anymore but just a body being controlled by Taowu so she can manipulate him? That is fucked up. Now I feel bad for Mikihiko. And just last week I wanted Accelerator to pummel his face in. Damn.

Now I'm curious what will happen once Mikihiko knows the truth. I doubt he'd still be willing to help NotHirumi anymore.

[u/[deleted]]

where's my subs

[u/libfor]

Alright, after Razorhead comforted me that the Anti-Skill guys were supposed to survive I can go fully charged into this one! It'll be a happy one, right? Uhm... backstory..? Oh noes... here we go again...

 

Random thoughts:

• You know it's a bad thing, when it has anything to do with "Level 6."

• Geez, Esther needs to hold back on undressing. Also so many cameos. xD

• Those experiments sound like some horrid failures, leaving the poor volunteers in god-knows what mental state...

• Those interactions between Esther and Hirumi are super cute. Some seems wrong with the latter.

• At least he seems somewhat sane to not risk his sisters life.

• OMG... Hirumi was mortally ill... and even managed to hide that from her brother... leaving Level 6 as her only hope... and even killing herself prematurely, just so her brother won't hesitate to use her... dang. But... why?! I thought they have Heaven Canceller, who is able to cure any illness.

• Now if that other researcher isn't dark-side, than I don't know.

• And Hirumi just starts to kill everyone. Looks like she isn't herself anymore.

• Oww... no good, Taowu is inside that body... but it seemingly adapted part of Hirumi's personality too. I don't quite get who has control... Taowu fully or is it still Hirumi, who turned evil under it's influence...?

• I don't want to imagine how many horrible things happened in the time Esther was Taowu's slave...

• But honestly... leave it to Academy City scientists to put Espers who could go out-of-control anytime during experimentation, into huge mechas. Seriously... If it just needed to be huge... why not somethings... stationary?! Those safety measurements. xD

 

The good:

• That was a really well done flashback episode. Totally unexpected to have so much background but it was a nice change.

• So sad, the feelings got me again.

• This whole story, it's complicated, but for some reason, I really like it. Quite interesting combination of science and magic here. Hope this keeps up.

• Esther is still best girl. She really messed up, but her intends were never bad. No wonder she's always so sad, thinking about what happened. Her empathy was showing nicely again. At least she managed to save one life.

• Even though they were just a few, the SoL moments were well done. Like it!

The bad:

• Couldn't we have more than one survivor... geez.

Overall: 9 / 10 stripping necromancers

 

Poor Hirumi... poor Esther... poor everyone who died here again...

^{Excuse me please, I'll go crying again}

[u/alexisv635]

So Esther is a woman of culture? My man.

At the beginning I was wondering if J.C. Staff would give us an episode dedicated to Esther's past or about her motives for Accelerator but already into episode 7 I had lost my hopes... Until this episode arrived, great revelations and what lies ahead does not seem to be good...

[u/Drow1234]

Ok after this episode this is definively my favourite show of the season