A Certain Scientific Railgun T is the third season and is comprised of 25 episodes. The anime takes place in Academy City, whose population has a large proportion of espers, people who have special abilities. Of note is Misaka, who is a Level 5 esper, one of only seven in the city, and extremely powerful with her ability over electricity. Joining her are her friends Kuroko, a teleporter, Uiharu, a whizz with computers, and Saten.
Starting off the arc during the city-wide sports festival, poor Misaka pretty much finds herself in yet another terrible situation. Being such a powerful esper, trouble finds her. Unlike previous seasons, it is better paced at balancing the slice-of-life aspects with the plot developments, it’s nowhere near as rough. Misaka faces off against yet another Level 5 esper and we see how truly formidable every one of them are. It’s kind of unfair too given the abilities of this esper, it’s something that’s really hard to counter again and to see Misaka be placed in such a disadvantaged can be painful.
Unfortunately, through circumstances that couldn’t be avoided, Misaka ends up having to mostly rely on herself for most of the arc. It’s not a bad arc but it is one that’s shrouded in secrecy, as it is difficult to discern the motivations behind each character. Actually, it’s difficult to discern just who the parties are as there seems to be various groups that are working against each other, but also with each other. Of course, eventually, things will become clearer, but piece by piece where you can slowly grasp more and more of the situation.
Once again, we see Misaka use her abilities without restraint. She uses them even more freely now, rapidly traveling through the city with them. It’s always satisfying to see Misaka triumph over her opponents through sheer power at times, and ingenuity at others. However, what’s even better is that we see more usage of other characters’ abilities, some that are more unconventional, making it much more interesting to see how they utilize it in combat.
Similarly to the structure of previous seasons, the pacing keeps increasing until the middle of the season, where it reaches the climax of the arc. At that point, those few episodes are intense in terms of the sheer amount of revelations and actions. There are multiple viewpoints and events happening concurrently, each of them quite important. The combat sequences remain visually engaging, especially with new characters showing off their moves. And we shouldn’t be surprised at some of the revelations. One thing we’ve learnt is that Academy City is a cruel place, where inhumane research happens without anyone else batting an eye.
The climax of the first arc kind of fizzles out, most of the action was in the build up right before the resolution, so it can feel jarring. It was still satisfying but it teased quite a lot of elements and potential with its material that it’s a shame that it is cut short. A unique thing with the anime is how each arc still manages to connect with the previous ones, no matter how little. That is, it either provides more insight to previous events, or the results of previous arcs have a not unnoticeable impact on the current arc, and that is impressive.
The back half of the season covers another arc. As expected, it starts off with a bit more slice-of-life stuff, but the pacing is faster than usual, with a lot more foreshadowing. It becomes quite obvious from some of the things that happening on what the central theme or conflict might be. The beginning also focuses a lot more on Misaka’s friends rather than Misaka herself, allowing them to shine with their own abilities. Although you can’t help but feel that Academy City is a small place given how coincidental and how often, the supporting characters (from both sides) manage to often meet, mingle and being acquaintances or friends.
Eventually the focus will return to Misaka and it gets to one of the craziest points yet. The plot isn’t as coherent as some previous arcs, but it makes up for that with its shock and awe factor. Misaka once again shows how she has still not once used her full abilities and we see what she is capable of. It becomes a gigantic clash that’s quite the visual spectacle. All in all though, this second arc is definitely one of the weakest yet, although there were some good injection of humor and gags, too many loose ends were left by the end, and the season just kinda… ends without much fanfare.
Overall, A Certain Scientific Railgun T is a fun and engaging anime that builds on what made the first two seasons great. We’ve come a long way in seeing Misaka and her abilities. The fact that Academy City is shown to be such an interesting (and dark) place keeps it engaging. It strikes a good balance between melodramatic end-of-the-world stakes with a more grounded scale, so it doesn’t feel over the top. The second half is weaker, thanks to several plot threads not going anywhere this season, and Misaka’s friends don’t have as much screentime as you’d expect, but you’ll still end up craving for more.
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