Ayy, festival time! Jumping straight into it with a very dynamic speech by my potentially 3rd favorite level 5er, Sogiita. The most un-upstageable person to ever exist. I am still curious if Mental Out will ever use her powers on him because I want to see if he can resist. That might not be happening for a while though seeing as her remote was straight up confiscated. That ‘Eh?’ after they cut to the transition had me rolling. Definitely seems like the worst pairing for the pledge, until you remember the only other options were level 5s that are actively assassinating people.

Straight from a rousing speech to the worst race I’ve ever seen in my life. Have these children never jumped before? The side animation in this show leaves something to be desired. Thankfully that bread snatch was worth it.

I don’t know how it will fit in, but I get the feeling shadow metal is going to be an important plot advancement tool later on. Actually, I’m starting to remember that Saten’s information network is probably the most advanced out of any group in this entire show and she never gets anything wrong. So definitely important and definitely real. She looking cute this episode.

I don’t know about y’all, but the rest of this episode was a lot of me trying to remember who people were. Like the girl Saten ran into. Until they mentioned she was Aztecan I had no idea who she was. I probably shoulda rewatched the previous seasons. I do remember MEMBER, though I had to google the team because trying to remember the acronyms in this show is a chore. Ok, I didn’t really remember them, but thankfully that girl on the phone threw out the most convenient reminder about how they’re the dark side group that work under the governing board. At least this show is helping me remember. And I think Baba was in the Index season, at least briefly, right? He was one of the people who tried to assassinate the Board of Director woman. Ok, I’m piecing this together bit by bit. And they’re going to try to disable Misaka. Well, we know how that’ll end. The crossing of story is so cool, but I feel like the full effect is only if you watch the seasons all at once.

This episode also really highlights how weak most people are. Or, I guess, how strong being a level 5 really is because we only really see their perspective. Not only were all of their abilities nerfed for the festival, but you can hear Misaka’s fellow students calling her ‘-sama’ (when they find the clone) which is usually reserved for like, Gods and royalty, right? Of course, when you’re Misaka and you need to change clothes so you decide to jump across the city maybe you are pretty much a god. At least Misaka can still use some of her powers. Mental Out had her remote taken. I wonder if she can still use it, but maybe more limited. Like only on one person at a time. No clue how they’d limit Sogiita. I don’t even know what his power is. I kind of like not knowing though. GUTS!

I also liked that very poignant moment of introspection by the one girl as she was watching the tug-of-war. Tokiwadai is a top tier school and it seems like they are pretty alienated from their fellow academies. The point she made about not being competitive and facing inward, seeing improving yourself as the challenge instead of projecting it unto others was interesting. I generally align with that thinking, I’m not very competitive except against myself so I can see where the school is coming from. To hear that they’re already in middle school and had never been in a fight or even angry though was crazy!

I don’t think Uiharu had an empty mouth this entire episode by the way. No clue how to fit that in, but it needed to be said.