A Certain Scientific Accelerator

Episode 11

For most of its run, A Certain Scientific Accelerator has progressed at a steady pace, a welcome change from the messy rush job that was A Certain Magical Index III. However, as it approaches its climax, the series is actually developing the opposite problem, slowing to a snail's pace to ensure that it covers exactly 12 episodes.

The whole point of episode 11 was to allow the villain to show off his villainy, and the episode does at least accomplish that goal. Taowu/Isaac finally gets around to finishing off the remaining DA guys who have been hanging around (incorrectly) thinking that this monstrosity was on their side, much less that it gave a care about their well-being. That results in some “chowing down” scenes that manage to be suitably bloody without being over-the-top graphic; the franchise has sometimes walked a fine line in that regard or even crossed it, but at this point it has a good balance going. I am also curious about this color-draining effect, how it works, and what purpose it serves, but it does have a pronounced visual effect; those colors in the latticework atop the creature stand out sharply against the muted coloring of almost everything else. (The logic behind the exceptions on the coloring – like the magic pattern on King Shun's Blade, the drone engines, or the higher resolution on the images from the drones – does not follow a discernible pattern.)

The episode also cleans up some past inconsistencies (or at least attempts to do so) while furthering others. One early scene attempts to show that Accelerator has been maintaining his power for so long because he's been judiciously turning the battery on and off, but I'm not fully buying that he wouldn't have run out of juice long before now. The extent of Hishigata's injury also seems to be at the whim of plot convenience; I have heard that belly wounds can leave people lingering for hours before finally expiring, but Hishigata has been on his last leg for some time now. This episode also puts a new twist on the matter of Hirumi's main body still wearing a fashionable bra even when manifesting in different places. This time around, one brief scene shows numerous duplicates of Hirumi's upper body and torso, and they aren't so appareled; undefined nudity is used instead. Even if this is a matter of the main body still wearing its clothes from when it died, which are thus not copied onto the duplicates, transporting that around within the body still seems pointless. It would be rather funny if the reason it's still around is because it's actually the charm that Esther has been talking about. Lastly, how could something of this size and effect not catch the attention of other characters, even in a sprawling place like Academy City?

These little details aside, the episode doesn't do anything special overall. Maniacal villains reaching for ultimate power is par for the course with this franchise, and the attempts at depth from having Esther realize that her family is evil aren't amounting to much. The heroes are trolling around through the body of the beast while the supporting players try to stay alive on the outside, and it's all ho-hum; how many anime have done similar things? The animation remains nothing special, so only the color gimmick and a strong musical score make this episode stand out, and that isn't enough at this stage.

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A Certain Scientific Accelerator is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.