Mikoto and the gang investigate the rumor of the Level Upper.Looks like Ruiko knows the way of the yuri better than Kuroko.Summary:Kazari is sick at home and so Ruiko, Mikoto, and Kuroko decide to visit her. During the visit Kazari asks Kuroko about the investigation into the Graviton bomber, and the only thing Kuroko knows is that the bomber was supposedly a Level 2, but the abilities he displayed were at least Level 4. The discussion leads Ruiko to mention the rumor about the Level Upper that allows espers to become more powerful in short time, and with some help from Kazari's computer skills, the group finds that some people talking about Level Upper online are going to be hanging out in a nearby restaurant. Mikoto and Kuroko head off to investigate the matter, while Ruiko stays to take care of Kazari.Kuroko is still depressed over the shaved ice failure.~~~Biri-biri Moe~~~Having arrived at the restaurant, Mikoto decides that she should take the point as people might recognize Kuroko as a Judgment member. With Kuroko sitting nearby, Mikoto approaches three suspicious-looking guys about the Level Upper. The three guys tell Mikoto to leave, but Mikoto turns on the moe on one of the guys. The leader of the three recognizes Mikoto's Tokiwadai uniform and thinks there's money to be made, so the guys decide to lead Mikoto into a back alley. When the guys start demanding Mikoto for money, Mikoto decides to drop act and beat the information out of the guys. The three men and joined by a few more from the same gang, but Mikoto easily fries all of them. At this moment the leader of the gang, a woman in track suit, shows up and tells her underlings to apologize and leave. After the cronies leave the alley, the leader challenges Mikoto to a fight and shows a decent ability to manipulate the shape of the ground and raise walls to block Mikoto's electric strikes. Mikoto grows more enthusiastic and is about to unleash more of her power when Kuroko teleports in and tells Mikoto to stop.Beating up random thugs is a routine part of Mikoto's activities.Top that, Spiderman.Back at Kazari's apartment, Ruiko wonders out loud that it'd be cool if the Level Upper really existed. Ruiko then recalls her disappointment about being labeled a Level 0 when arriving at Academy City. Kazari agrees that she wishes to have a higher level, but she's still really glad to have come to Academy City because if she didn't then she wouldn't have met Ruiko and Kuroko. As Ruiko starts fooling around, the power is suddenly cut off. The reason for the blackout is because her unleashed her power near a substation and that knocked out power to a large part of the city. Mikoto has defeated the gang leader but was unable to get any useful information from her.The yuri is strong in this show.The next morning as Mikoto is walking to school, Kuroko suddenly appears and alerts Mikoto that something bad has happened. Shortly after at the hospital, Kuroko and Mikoto learn from the doctors that the Graviton bomber has entered a state of coma and the reason is unknown. Other patients have been admitted with the same symptoms, and Kuroko and Mikoto recognizes some of the patients including Miho the eyebrow drawer. The doctors have asked for the assistance of a brain neurology researcher, and the researcher, Harumi Kiyama, happens to be undressing woman that Mikoto has met.Meanwhile, Ruiko has discovered a hidden link to a song named "Level Upper" while browsing the internet.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~After dragging along while dropping hints for seven episodes, the Railgun anime has finally put the Level Upper into the spotlight. Given all the zooms onto the Graviton bomber's headphones and iPod and the last scene of this episode, the Level Upper seems to be in the form of a digital music file that elevates the listener's esper abilities. However, this is not without major side effects seeing that several of the suspected users are in hospital. I suppose the Level Upper is like an extreme form of steroids that acts fast but also hurts faster. Looks like Ruiko will be playing an important role in this arc, and I kind of understand where she's coming from. Everyone wants to be cool kid at school, and at Academy City you become cool when you have powers. The undressing lady Harumi Kiyama finally showed up again, and hopefully the next few episode will really dive into the whole Level Upper storyline.Anyways, this episode was pretty decent as it has a bit of story development, action, and comedy. The highlight for me was Mikoto's acting during the restaurant scene, especially when she turned on the moe. That was pretty hilarious, and I was surprised that Mikoto actually had decent acting skills. She doesn't seem like the type lol. The scenes with Kuroko banging her head against things in reaction to Mikoto's antics was pretty funny as well. I'm also surprised that Kuroko doesn't know the flavor-tasting trick given that she's so perverted and devoted to her onee-sama.
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