Cuddly death traps.
Attacking the source at curbing vending machine vandalism -> effective method of killing two birds with one stone and for Kuroko, there’s always a little bonus in it for her.
Tho’ Mikoto’s mom can be considered the opposite of Kuroko for most parts anyway. ^^;;;
I kinda miss Kuroko’s comical rough-handling of Uiharu. No flower massacring noogie…
The beginning of Uiharu’s dessert woes.
Wonder why they switched Konori with her colleague when it came to dragging Mikoto around but nevertheless, I APPROVE of this change if they want to enlist her as a semi-regular cast member!
Badass girls cowering in fear from little bugs is always fun to watch. Nice to see more of BiriBiri’s adorable feminine side. :3
Wouldn’t be surprised if these kids happened to be training under Saten.
Now that’s saving in style!
LOLZ Kuroko’s twisted logic in understanding things never fails to amuse me. She may be rational when it comes to srsbzns matters but anything that concerns her Oneesama effectively blows her sense of reasoning into Yuri LaLa Land. Let’s see what other interesting statements she’ll misinterpret next. ;3
Finally, the carnage begins…
Thoughts
Quite an enjoyable and carefree episode, with much of the day’s adventures descending into comedy and chaos. It’s fun to see them touch on what an ordinary day is like for Judgment instead of the more frequent settings of peace maintenance and crime fighting. There’s also a hint of the obstacles in store for the girls as well as a brief foreshadowing of Saten’s character development. Speaking of which I love the focus they gave to Mikoto this week, in particular how they orchestrated the events that led to her volunteering for Judgment work and assisting Konori in the lost bag search. Although I prefer the original version of her motivation for helping out, I find this take to be just as good in highlighting her obvious traits. Compared to Kuroko’s portrayal in the previous episode (wrt the car burglary incident), Mikoto’s personality here was handled more believably in the sense that the writers explored further on a habit she already exhibited often i.e. her tendency to dispute people’s opinions about her childishness. Despite her stubbornness and the excuses she gives for her actions (whether it’s challenging views or wanting to test her abilities), the best part is that everything she did at the end of the day was stimulated more by her genuine but unconscious drive to help people, and it’s wonderful to see others appreciate her efforts for it. I definitely look forward to witnessing more of this now that the plot has taken a serious turn at last.
i think i read also from another blog the comments as to how they dislike the episode yet never clearly explained as to why. in general i have an idea as to how kuroko does her part in the manga but im clueless in episode 2. care to pinpoint exactly what makes you tick? :p
Heh heh heh… It’s RANTING TIME!! >:3
My initial concern with Episode 2’s story lies with the fact that the writers pushed the corresponding manga chapter forward to the near beginning of the series. If they were to follow the manga’s original timeline, the events in that episode were supposed to take place after the first arc. That in itself is fine if they wanted to focus on the character development between Mikoto and Kuroko first because the theme of the chapter is just that. Since it was something like a side story and not exactly related to the main plot, I was worried if they planned to turn that entire chapter into a whole episode, they would probably have to stuff it with filler material…and some of my worries came true after watching how they handled the changes, especially when it came to portraying Kuroko’s personality.
To support my gripe further, I’ll briefly explain the key difference between the manga and Anime in terms of the main events that made up this episode:
Manga – Mikoto and Kuroko were punished by the Dorm Mistress to clean the pool because they broke the dorm’s curfew. Why was that? Because Mikoto was too busy in town kicking the villains’ asses, and Kuroko had to check on Mikoto after the battle was over and help the Anti-Skill close the case (You will see later why Kuroko wasn’t fighting alongside Mikoto). They came back late, with Mikoto in a worn out state after the battle, and they were caught by the Dorm Mistress when they were trying to sneak into their room.
Anime – Mikoto and Kuroko got punished because they were fighting among themselves using their powers. What caused it? Kuroko throwing a hissy fit because Mikoto didn’t remember their special day, and setting Mikoto off with her “PC Parts” purchase. Also because of that, I found it harder to sympathize with Kuroko when she was ignored by Mikoto at the pool.
What’s more, the writers made Kuroko’s yuri obsession with Mikoto too extreme. If I had to spill my thoughts when I was watching those scenes, they would’ve been saying “Yes, yes. Kuroko LOVES her Oneesama. We get it already! Why do you keep trying to hammer this into our heads by lacing the ENTIRE episode with her OTT antics? Isn’t showing it in moderate doses enough?” And those antics of hers are exactly what caused many viewers to hate her. With comments along the lines of “Railgun should only be about Misaka! I hate that annoying perverted b!tch!” or “That dorm mistress should break Kuroko’s neck more!” streaming across the net, guess they pretty much represent what most people think of her (and yes, majority of them are viewers who haven’t read the manga). Simply put it, that episode made Kuroko look like a cliché pervert with a shallow personality and dare I say, even behaving differently from her manga counterpart. Her pushy obsession is worrisome enough as it is but what irked me even more is how the writers turned her into a spoiled child who sulks and whines when things don’t go her way.
I must admit, Episode 2 kind of challenged my reasons for liking Kuroko. While I do like her for the comedy and yuri gags she brings into the series, the main reason why I hail her as my favorite character from Railgun (and possibly Index as well) is because she truly is one heck of an interesting character who’s a lot deeper than she shows herself to be. She is easily the most mature and level-headed one among the four main girls whenever serious matters arise, and she’s not one to let external influences sway her beliefs and composure. For many Railgun manga readers, Kuroko is considered the heart of the story, even if Mikoto is the titular star.
so kuroko took on a good supporting role in the manga, being a reliable friend and a comedic relief but in the anime, they removed her reliable image and focused more in her gags making people believe that that is what she’s there for. she’s just the number 2 heroine in the series.
well, not to side with the writers but i think they have intentions of revealing to viewers kuroko’s reliable side later on in the episodes. if the one you mentioned, the reason why kuroko got her neck broken in the manga appeared in the anime, i get a feeling the writers plan on ending that episode/scene in a serious/light-hearted pace rather than let it end in comedy (which would be breaking kuroko’s neck). but i somehow understand your vexation over the matter. in almost every episode of railgun, we get to see kuroko’s onee-sama gags with mikoto. on a personal opinion, they are mild “every episode of railgun” must have gags but i do think they went a bit overboard in episode 2 and here are my reasons:
1) it’s too early for emotional nonsense!
the series just started and we get to see a character “breaking down” on the next episode? kuroko haven’t even established herself yet to the anime viewers especially those who don’t read the manga. even if the writers consider in cleaning her reputation later on, it would be hard to make viewers who hates her now realize her awsmness.
2) no back story
if someone would tell me that the mopping the floor in episode 2 was back story material, i beg to differ. it didn’t detail what kind of relationship kuroko had with misaka back then. if we’re going to compare kuroko’s bitching in episode 2 (kuroko vs misaka) with episode 5 (kuroko vs uiharu) we get to see a real back story in ep 5 where it evidently stated what relationship kuroko had with uiharu. what they plan to accomplish and their reasons for doing it. at the very least, it provided a reasonable excuse for kuroko’s bitching.
overall, i empathize with how you feel. considering what you felt after reading that scene and the difference when it was shown, the writers truly did a devastating blow against kuroko’s early image. but it’s still early to say that viewers won’t like her. depending on how the episodes would progress, they might make her shine after all.
That’s right. Gags are good and gags are needed but having a character do an excessive amount of them will cheapen his/her true value in the story and cause them to be passed off as nothing but a comic relief. Doing this in the middle of the show is okay coz by then, said chara has already established their role in the story. Doing this at the beginning where many viewers may still assess whether to invest in the series or not is pretty risky.
They will need to if they’re following the original. Hopefully they’ll handle it like in the manga. They need to do her character justice!
You hit the bull’s eye dead center on this. Sometimes it’s difficult to repair the damage done to a character’s image; worst case scenario, if viewers have stopped watching the show all together. It may also be harder to fully appreciate the character even if they did something EPICAWSM later on. I’m not sure but from the way Railgun’s Anime writers approach this series, I reckon they expect us to be familiar with the basic storyline, either through having read the manga or read/watched the Index series.
And once again, I completely agree with your views on this. It was a sweet back story in that it gave us a glimpse of what Mikoto and Kuroko briefly went through together but nevertheless, it was still a very shallow flashback which hardly justified Kuroko’s fits nor Mikoto’s reason for pegging that day as their “anniversary”. Oh well, that flashback was an Anime original filler anyway, which is why it looked like a plot device that was pulled out of a horse’s ass. I’d love to read the canon first meeting between Mikoto and Kuroko one day.
Yeah, guess I jumped to conclusions too quickly much like they did. I really wish the writers won’t screw up Kuroko’s character anymore after this. They did a great job on her in Episode 7 though, so I’m really happy about that. :)