To Aru Majutsu No Index Feats/Discussion/Analysis Thread - One Othinus To Rule Them All

[Astaro]

Mine too

 

[Astaro]

 

[Astaro]

 

[Paxton]

ebora my beloved

 

[Astaro]

https://x.com/raika9

Raika9’s my favorite Misaka artist

 

[Darth Zion]

So to start off, a disclaimer: I don't have any qualifications in physics whatsoever, but I have taken elementary physics courses up to quantum mechanics, so I have an amateur interest in the topic, being an Index/Railgun fan myself.

As the OP noted, the to aru wiki gives a very vague explanation about the Meltdowner ability and they claim it has to do with "stopping" electrons. From a quantum standpoint, this is nonsense, since by the Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, a "stopped" electron would simply be a standing wave that spans infinite space. Clearly this does not match up with the anime depiction of Mugino's ability. So I thought I would throw all that out the window and start with the assumption that Mugino has the ability to control electrons (more details on what that actually entails later).

There are several properties of the Meltdowner we need to explain:

• Heat: clearly it is very hot, given its name, and how it is seemingly able to ignite flammable materials
• Piercing/Blocking: In addition, it seems to have the ability to "phase through" metal with a short delay besides actually melting it. She is also able to form a shield that instantaneously blocks projectiles (as opposed to simply melting them)
• Stationary: Mugino is able to hold her Meltdowner in a ball-shaped stationary form
• Beam: She is then able to fire off beams, while maintiaining the stationary form.

So here is my assumption: Mugino is able to control not just how electrons move, but also manipulate their quantum state. To explain her abilities, I will use the concepts of wave-particle duality of nature and quantum superposition.

According to the wave-particle duality, an electron is both a wave and a particle. From a quantum perspective, "wave-ness" and "particle-ness" are just properties of the electron. So if we observe an electron in a certain way, it may collapse to either a wave or a particle state, but without measurement, it just exists in a superposition of the two. In nature, an electron has very little mass (the defining characteristic of a particle) and quite a large wavelength. The Meltdowner is very clearly not a wave-type attack in the slightest; it is either a beam or a ball of electrons.

So what might be happening is that Mugino forces electrons to behave more like particles than waves to the extent that their wavelength is so long that it isn't even noticeable. On the other hand, the electrons become significantly more massive. The massive electrons give the Meltdowner its piercing/blocking properties quite trivially; you can block or break through stuff with more stuff.

The Meltdowner is hot because even though the electrons aren't moving, their kinetic energy remains the same. However, as a very large particle with very high mass and very little wavelength, this means each electron stores excessive energy, which it dissipates by vibrating in place. The green glow of the Meltdowner is not the electrons themselves, but the surrounding air being heated up.

Finally, the transition between stationary/beam forms. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle states that there is a trade-off between knowing momentum and knowing position. With control over the states of electrons, Mugino can essentially change the measurement. If she needs the electrons in stationary mode, she measures their position. If she needs them in beam mode, she measures their velocity.

I found this- what do you all think?

 

[Astaro]

I can’t even comprehend half that shit written

I’m really simple about my reasoning: Mugino fires electron beams, a real life weapon that with enough energy, travels at high relativistic speed, like 99% the speed of light.

And Mugino’s beams that can crack open entire war ships in half with ease are much more energetic than any beam weapon we’ve yet to make with our current technology only barely being able to shoot down missiles

Furthermore, Mugino gets scaling to Misaka’s lightning which is stated numerous times to travel at the speed of light

And I don’t give a fuck about anyone here bitching about crossover material written by the author. Basically WoG.

You also got Mugino’s Meltdowner likened to that of an Object’s weapon in a crossover novel where Misaka fought the Rush Object

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

Misaka Mikoto gave an out-of-character shout.

As one of the seven Level 5s, she was known as the Railgun, Academy City’s #3.

However, even her life was in danger when attacked by one of the colossal weapons that had ended the nuclear age.

She was up against the Rush, an Information Alliance Second-Generation Object.

Its main cannons were rapid-fire beam Gatling guns created by strapping together five barrels each. A single shot contained enough firepower to melt a warship into an orange puddle and it was accurately firing them at a rate of several thousand every minute.

Beam weapons were a military technology using electron beams.

That was good news for Mikoto who could control electricity. The barrage would normally have been unavoidable, but they bent “unnaturally” just before hitting and flew off in a different direction.

However, this was far from a perfect defense.

“Oh, crap!! This thing’s more powerful than that #4! I’m going to be pushed back at this rate!!”

The same Object beam weapons that travel at light speed

“Yeah, a fighter isn’t going to do anything against an Object. In the mock battle, it took out 1500 of them and I’m pretty sure that in reality they just called it there because they were tired of counting.' Quenser stabbed the tip of his shovel into the ground and leaned on it with both hands. 'After all, Objects use anti-air lasers that are powered by a high-output reactor. Fighters may be able to fly at Mach 2 or 3, but they’re no match for the speed of light. The instant the Object gets a lock, they’re already shot down. I’ve heard that the armored units they mention in history classes were saved by dust and dirt and other stuff near the surface refracting the lasers, but the high altitude that fighters excel in is so clear that there’s nothing to obstruct the laser.'" - Heavy Object, Volume 1, Chapter 1

"If an Object gets a lock on them, it's all over. It'll just shoot them down with a laser that can fire anywhere in the sky at the speed of light." - Heavy Object, Volume 2, Chapter 2

The Bright Hopper was specialized to carry out history’s fastest combat, so all of its weapons were laser beams. That monster literally attacked at the speed of light. Naturally, its main cannons were high output laser beams.

 

[Darth Zion]

I can’t even comprehend half that shit written

It's not like a feat breakdown or a calc but someone trying to break down the science behind Mugino's lasers and explain how it works using IRL physics.

It was interesting so I posted here, got it from browsing stack overflow surprisingly.

 

[Astaro]

It's not like a feat breakdown or a calc but someone trying to break down the science behind Mugino's lasers and explain how it works using IRL physics.

It was interesting so I posted here, got it from browsing stack overflow surprisingly.

I don’t really see it as anything other than direct manipulation of electrons

"…Haaamazuraaa…."

With that one word, an intense chill ran across Hamazura‘s entire body.

He recognized that way of calling his name. And once he recalled that, the power that had just flown by clicked into place as well. It was Meltdowner. It was a type of power that manipulated electrons. It didn‘t manipulate the waves or the particles. It manipulated and fired the electrons themselves. That power was recorded as belonging to the #4 Level 5. Its user had…had…had once been defeated by Hamazura Shiage.

 

[Darth Zion]

I don’t really see it as anything other than direct manipulation of electrons

That's what it's saying- it doesn't debunk or contradict any source material. It's trying to explain how being able to control Wave-Particle Duality like Mugino can lets you shoot electron beams using physics.

And I don’t give a fuck about anyone here bitching about crossover material written by the author. Basically WoG.

I'm gonna steal this

 

[Astaro]

Also watch Heavy Object and then read from where the anime left off

Excellent freaking series. Kamachi really should write more Mecha stuff between this and the Virtual On novel

 

[Paxton]

 

[Astaro]

Latest Mental Out manga

And we waited two and a half months for a big ole nothing burger of a chapter

Just more exposition between Kamino and Kokuchou with Kokuchou revealing her master plan of wanting to even the playing field by turning Espers and Level 0s into gemstones with powerful abilities. Which sounds oddly like Kimi’s plan from Railgun

Also, what is it with Teleporters all being raging perverts?

We get teased at the very end of Kamino’s mysterious power once more which seems to be tied towards clapping her hands

After two chapters of teasing and now 3 months of waiting. This better be one hell of a reveal for what her actual power is

 

[Astaro]

 

[Astaro]

Naruha’s theme did not have to go this hard

 

[Astaro]

Biggest question I got for ITEM anime

Are they going to give Mugino a leitmotif that slaps as hard as Accel’s?

 

[Paxton]

one can only hope

 

[Astaro]

Anime onlys might already have a clue on how unhinged ITEM already is from watching Railgun S and especially Index III

But I can’t wait to see the blind reactions of people going in just watching the opening scene alone

With the girls slaughtering a whole facility of scientists and security guards while chatting about girl stuff their going to do afterwards and Mugino giving the last scientist a moment to beg for his life before still blowing his head off anyway before the they casually pick up Kinuhata from there as their new teammate while leaving Umidori behind to a much worse fate of being made a scapegoat to blame for all the murders

All purely because they decided Kinuhata had the preferable ability and Umidori conveniently had the ability that resembled Mugino’s method of slaughtering the researchers

An already macabre scene that’s only more fucked up when you know the context behind everything, from this being both the Dark May Project being covered up and how Academy City goes about doing these kind of coverups to prevent the public from knowing the humans rights violations done on a daily basis and how Umidori ends up from all this.

Nicely shows how far Academy City’s depths of conspiracy and corruption goes, Umidori being just behind Touma for having the worst possible hand dealt to her in life, and that these aren’t goodie goodie protagonists like Touma, Kanzaki, Misaka, or Junko, nor good characters that are willing to do more morally questionable things like Shokuhou, or even Anti-Heros like Accelerator and Kakine that have good intentions they carry out unscrupulously

But straight up bad people who have no other goals in life but to make money off their job of covering up Academy City’s corruption by eliminating loose ends and loving it

Other than Takitsubo of course, but she’s so emotionally detached from it all and simply does as she’s told that it’s pointless to even mention her.

 

[Astaro]

Really puts new light on Umidori too

Namely that for years, we ourselves thought Umidori ended the Dark May Project and slaughtered all the scientists as she herself even attests

But it turns out she was innocent. Really makes you wonder if even her psychopath attitude really comes from Accelerator’s thought patterns being put into her or if it’s really a coping mechanism from being gaslighted into believing she really is a monster by nature that killed a whole bunch of people.

Especially since it didn’t take much from Touma and Hamazura to show her she’s a good person underneath.

 

[Astaro]

Makes Umidori’s attempted murder of Fremea, Frenda’s sister, in NT1 revenge by proxy, not that she knew that at the time and was simply following an assignment and Frenda being long dead by this point for it to matter

Her fight with Kinuhata in the same volume even more of a grudge match then both really knew.

Also, makes me wonder why Mugino has yet to tell Umidori the truth too now that they’ve been part of the same group for a while.

Either she forgot the whole ordeal, doesn’t think it’s worth it, or would have but was convinced by Hamazura not to

Definitely not out of fear or guilt given she casually introduced herself to Fremea the first time they met as her sister’s killer out of a misguided attempt to give the poor girl closure in knowing what happened to her sister before Hamazura was able to talk her out of it.