"This is a fight between villains. You're not a villain, so stand back and stay quiet."
— Accelerator
A Spinoff of A Certain Magical Index, first released on December 27, 2013 in Japan before it was released overseas in various languages. It ended serialization on July, 27, 2020.
Accelerator is the most powerful Esper in Academy City, a state-of-the-art city dedicated to the scientific study and development of Psychic Powers. Every student in Academy City is given an "Esper Rank" to indicate their power, and Accelerator is a Level 5: the best of the best, with the power to manipulate the vector values of anything he comes into contact with, such as speed and direction.
During the events of A Certain Magical Index, he became the centrepiece of a murderous experiment to transform him into the world's first Level 6 Esper. He was ultimately defeated by Touma Kamijou, and following the cancellation of the experiment and a lot of soul-searching, he set out on a path of redemption.
This manga spinoff is an original side-story written by Kazuma Kamachi. It is the second spinoff, after A Certain Scientific Railgun. Unlike Railgun's strict focus on the science elements, magic does play a major role in the first story arc. Continuity-wise, it begins sometime between Light Novels 7 and 8 of A Certain Magical Index, before ending in the middle of the 8th novel.
It has twelve volumes published under Dengeki Daioh. A 12-episode anime adaptation by J.C. Staff aired on Summer 2019, adapting the Necromancer Arc, made up of the first seven volumes. Like its sister series, it has a simulcast available on Crunchyroll and a dub planned by Funimation released on July 26, 2019.
Tropes found in this series:
- 12-Episode Anime: Unlike its sister series, the Accerlator anime adaptation is only 12 episodes long and dedicated to just one Story Arc.
- Adaptation Expansion: The anime gives more background to DA, such as its leaders having codenames based on dog names. It also later expands on Esther's first meeting with the Hishigatas.
- Adaptational Modesty: In the manga, Hasami's body is naked at the morgue and after she is revived by Estelle, she was only covered with a robe. In the anime, she is in her underwear.
- Breather Episode: Episode 3, which has Last Order, Accelerator, and Esther spending some time together while the latter two attempt to find more info on DA. The action is almost nonstop for the next three episodes afterward, where Anti-skill tries to take out DA in some pitched battles.
- The Cameo: Both Index and Aleister Crowley appear when they notice "Hirumi" awakening as the "perfect golem." Uiharu and Saten also appear briefly while discussing a rumor about a nonstop subway train.
- Clean Up Crew: Scavenger is a gang employed by Academy City's Board of Directors to swoop in after battles to terminate stragglers and witnesses.
- Cuteness Proximity: Invoked. When Last Order needs to get a girl away from some thugs, she just walks up to them and smiles cutely. Confused, they smile back, distracting them long enough for Last Order to grab the girl and run away.
- Damsel in Distress: Misaka 10046 becomes one after a DA agent decides to bring her along during his getaway attempt, knocking her out while she tried to hack the weapon he was using against her.
- Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: In the first chapter, the Disciplinary Action officers are given strict orders to not bother Accelerator. When he decides to come outside and ask some questions, one decides to fight him off.
- Dirty Cop: The rank and file of DA, an organization that appears to be fighting mages and espers.
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: Accelerator is normally a nigh Physical God, even after his depowering. Thus the story takes place shortly after his depowering when he's not only still recovering from his head injury, but his collar powering his abilities only lasts 5 minutes, weakening him to the point where he now cannot utterly destroy his opponents. Without said collar, which allows him to connect his own brain to the Misaka Network to help him, his brain can’t even formulate a coherent sentence. In other words, Accelerator is now dependent on the clones he once slaughtered without thinking twice.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Accelerator expresses his disgust at how DA treats dead bodies.
- Evil Versus Evil: Scavenger are nominally allies of DA. However, once they're given a mission to retrieve Misaka 10046, they have no qualms killing DA members who get in their way.
- Failed a Spot Check: Accelerator has a tendency to use his Attack Reflector to reflect annoying sounds, so he completely fails to notice the girl shouting at him five feet away.
- Fantastic Racism: DA has a problem with espers, calling them all "disobedient children" and "monsters." This is an organization founded and run inside Academy City, a city dedicated entirely to creating espers.
- Go Through Me: Esther attempts this against Scavenger, putting herself in this position in an attempt to stop them. It doesn't work however, and it's only because of Hasami and later Accelerator intervening that truly stops them.
- "Hell, Yes!" Moment: Accelerator's Big Damn Heroes moment when he shows up to rescue Misaka 10046, who was currently being protected by Esther, Hasami, and Yomikawa against Scavenger.
- Heroic RRoD: Pushing himself and his powers too much causes Accelerator to collapse and his bullet wound to open up.
- Humongous Mecha: The Coffins, created by Hishigata Mikihiko. Each is powered by an dead esper who has been reanimated with Rosenthal-style necromancy that Mikihiko learned from Esther. The combination of magic and technology not only allows the dead esper's powers to be used, but strengthened. In the beginning of the arc, Accelerator faced of against a prototype Coffin wielded by DA, only to defeat it and free the corpse of Hitokawa Hasami. Later on Accelerator faces against three Coffins, wielding powers that are equivalent of a Level 5 esper.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The anime has episodes written in kanji but read in Gratuitous English via ruby katakana.
- Justice Will Prevail: DA officers constantly say this.
- Knight Templar: The fake Anti-Skill officer working for DA believes it's his duty to destroy evil espers. In fairness, calling Accelerator evil isn't that much of a stretch, but he seems to have a very broad definition of the term.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Even when using a giant mech with the equivalent of level 5 telekinesis, Higata knows better than to tangle with Accelerator.
- Mook Horror Show: The outcome of pretty much any encounter between Accelerator and most regular opponents, with particular emphasis on the horror.
- Scavenger is an excellent example, as they were all crowing about how unbeatable they were as a group right before Accelerator gives them all a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. After effortlessly curbstomping the other members, their leader is so terrified of him that she simply passes out and suffers a Potty Failure.
- Mugging the Monster:
- After Scavenger decides to kill everyone in the area to protect the Misaka clone (including the people who are trying to rescue her), Accelerator shows up. It's only after he's shrugged off their most powerful attacks that they realize who he is.
- Subverted in the second arc. A girl tells some thugs to be careful about who they attack, because she's an esper. They start freaking out... until she proudly says she's a level one.
- Mysterious Waif:
- The first chapter starts with a girl in a cloak looking for Accelerator to talk to him about Last Order, but she is dragged off by a DA officer before she can get his attention.
- The second arc begins with a case containing a strange girl being accidentally dropped off right next to Accelerator, who is relaxing on the top of a tower at the time.
- Necromancer: Esther Rosenthal, the mage looking for Last Order, is a necromancer who was originally working with DA.
- Origins Episode: The manga serves as the origin story on how Accelerator and Aiho Yomikawa first met in Academy City.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Esther revives a corpse by implanting its brain with a spell that works as its mind, and it pretty much acts exactly like a robot that happens to be made out of meat.
- Poor Communication Kills: Scavenger is hired to keep the Misaka clone out of DA hands, while Esther is trying to rescue her. Scavenger decides that the best way to keep her safe is to kill everyone else, so they fight both DA and Esther. When Accelerator shows up, they try to fight him too.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: Scavenger, a dark side group sent to clean up DA's messes by eliminating them. They have no qualms whatsoever killing anyone who stands in their way, whether it's Anti-Skill, DA, or random people trying to prevent them from accomplishing their mission such as Esther.
- Shockwave Stomp: In chapter 1, Accelerator opens up a massive chasm in the street this way.
- Slipped the Ropes: The girl who was captured in chapter 1 managed to escape on her own while Accelerator was fighting.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: In chapter 5, a DA thug throws his Vibro Weapon at the ceiling to collapse it and distract the heroes long enough to run away.
- Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: "Hirumi's" decision of eating the DA members as the "perfect golem" backfires horribly, as their sense of "justice" pollutes her mind.
- To the Pain: In chapter 5, Accelerator describes to a DA thug what will happen to him once his blood flow and bio-electricity is reversed. The thug gets so scared that he faints.
- Transferable Memory: The Misaka Network retains all the memories of all the individual clones. Including the dead ones. This is why Last Order and then later Misaka 10046 were targeted by Issac. Issac was after 10000 individual memories of death experiences in his plot to create a perfect golem. Memories of one's death experience is normally unobtainable, but the the Misaka Network being a Hive Mind have all those memories of 10031 clones dying at the hands of Accelerator.
- Trauma Button: Accelerator noticeably flinches when Hasami's corpse falls out of the Coffin, since she shares a vague similarity to the Misaka clones he killed. He suffers a flashback that lasts long enough for the DA agent to escape.
- The Starscream: "Hirumi" betrays Mikihiko, as the Taowu controlling her was in fact Isaac Rosenthal, becoming a monster and the Final Boss of the Necromancer Arc/Season 1.
- The Worf Barrage: In their fight against Accelerator, Scavenger employs their Combination Attack which "no one has ever survived". It involves Seike turning off the friction coefficient around the target to restrict their movement before Naru comes in and creates an iron maiden around them. Finally, Yakumaru creates a thermite reaction grenade and tosses it into said iron maiden, melting them so that not even their bones remain. Naturally, because it's Accelerator, it doesn't work. Cue Oh, Crap! from the quartet.
- For added hilarity, watch Accelerator's reaction as Scavenger's performing their attack. He doesn't even bother to try and dodge.
- Underestimating Badassery: The DA officer in chapter 1 thinks that Accelerator is helpless with his brain damage. Accelerator doesn't even need to turn on his Amplifier Artifact to defeat him.
- Vibro Weapon: A DA thug in chapter 4 brandishes one of these called the Random Number Ultrasonic Generator and says he wants to test if Accelerator can't reflect it. He gets disarmed before he has a chance to use it. The blade wrecks the floor when it lands.
- Weirdness Censor: Like most Science Side characters, Accelerator mistakes magic that he witnesses for esper powers, even when Esther outright uses Magi Babble. Likewise, the Scavenger team is confused when Esther seemingly demonstrates multiple different esper abilities, and struggles to determine how they would actually be one power.
- Whole Episode Flashback: Episode 8, which recounts Esther's past with the Hishigata siblings.
- You Have Failed Me: DA has their operative Nishio terminated for failing to capture Esther. Accelerator and Esther later find his corpse while breaking into one of their safehouses.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Accelerator is violently unimpressed with DA and Scavenger, and spends most of his fights laughing his ass off that these idiots actually think they have a chance.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: DA's repeated failures and making too big of a scene ends up causing their benefactors to turn against them, by supplying Anti-skill with data regarding their members and hideouts.
