Sunday, June 18, 2023

Character Analysis: Misaka Mikoto

 

In case you were wondering…

Franchise Overview / Compositing Info: This is a verse that has a variety of spin-offs and adaptations. The original source material consists of the three main Toaru Majutsu no Index light novels: Old Testament, New Testament, and Genesis Testament, which primarily follow Kamijou Touma. The light novels also include several side stories with a variety of focuses.

Old Testament’s story was later adapted into the Index manga and anime, which is essentially a less detailed retelling of the same story. Beyond this, there have also been several spin-off manga and anime which follow different characters, the most notable of which being Toaru Kagaku no Railgun (manga and anime), in which Misaka is the protagonist. Other notable spin-offs include Accelerator, Dark Matter, Astral Buddy, and Mental Out.

Many of the adaptations and spin-offs add a variety of new characters and events that were not present in the original light novels. Notably, the Railgun anime adds a lot of original content. The adaptations also make some changes story-wise; for instance, Kongou Mitsuko arrives at Tokiwadai earlier in the Railgun anime than in other versions of the story, and Uiharu Kazari is introduced to Misaka much earlier in the manga and anime than in the light novels, where they explicitly don’t meet until later on.

All this being said, it should still be acceptable to include information from all adaptations. Most of the differences are minor, and Misaka’s abilities between them are not contradictory. Additionally, the anime and manga clearly do have bearing on the light novels. Saten Ruiko was originally introduced in the Railgun manga before later being integrated into the light novels. Though she was originally mentioned in the novels, Shokuhou Misaki likewise made her first full appearance in the Railgun manga, before later making full appearances in the novels, in which her personality remained consistent with the manga depiction. Perhaps most notably, in some of the novel side stories, several characters are mentioned that are exclusive to the Railgun anime, suggesting that anime-exclusive events are largely canon to the main story.

Level 6 Shift: A transformation of Misaka’s in which she becomes much more powerful. This is achieved by the antagonist Kihara Gensei, who forcefully diverts the power of the entire Misaka Network (brainwave link between thousands of weaker clones) into Misaka’s body against her will, causing her to rapidly ascend to a higher level of power. She is not in control of her own actions in this state, relying on a different character named Mitori implanting commands into her psyche, and it is established that if she were to reach 100% power at Level 6, she would explode. At the end of the arc, the method by which Gensei forced her into Level 6, Exterior, was destroyed, making the situation impossible to replicate again. 

In short, it is impossible for Misaka to achieve Level 6 on her own without being empowered externally against her will, so it will not be included for the purposes of this analysis. That being said, there are some statements establishing how much stronger Level 6 is compared to Misaka’s base, so these can be used to an extent, in order to extrapolate her normal capabilities.

Anti-Art Attachment: During the latter half of New Testament and the very beginning of Genesis Testament, Misaka made use of a mech suit called the Anti-Art Attachment (A.A.A.), which allows her to fly and grants her access to a variety of powerful weaponry. Functionally, it is fairly divorced from her normal power-set, and as of the time of writing this, it is currently destroyed. As such, it will also be excluded.

Background

From a young age, Misaka Mikoto was a resident of the city-state known as Academy City, in which millions of young espers (Academy City citizens with supernatural powers acquired through artificial means) are enrolled in a curriculum through which they improve their abilities and potential over time. In her early years, Misaka was categorized as a Level 1 esper, the second-lowest out of six levels, 0 through 5. Over time, however, she worked her way up to being one of only seven Level 5s in the entire city, developing incredibly powerful electric abilities, and earning the nickname “Railgun”. Eventually, she came to attend Tokiwadai Middle School, a prestigious girls’ school in which her talents earned her a reputation as the school’s “ace”.

However, though she developed a somewhat cocky and prideful attitude, she eventually encountered an opponent whom she could not defeat. But rather than another Level 5, it was a Level 0 who had her stumped: a boy named Kamijou Touma, who could negate the powers of others using his right hand, an ability known as Imagine Breaker. Frustrated by her inability to overcome Touma’s unusual power, Misaka challenged him several times, but lost each time, which only served to frustrate her more.

She had much more on her plate to deal with than Touma, however, as she soon learned of a secret experiment being conducted in an attempt to create the first ever Level 6 esper. Academy City unfortunately has quite a significant dark side, with shady dealings being made for the sake of advancing esper potential through any means possible.

As one of the city’s Level 5s, Misaka was tricked from a young age into signing away her DNA map to a group of researchers, who went on to create thousands of weaker Misaka clones, called Sisters, for use in their twisted project. How were they used, you ask? They were all sent one-by-one to die in combat against the strongest Level 5 esper, Accelerator. After 20,000 fights, it was believed that Accelerator would eventually improve enough to ascend to Level 6, through wanton slaughter.

Naturally, Misaka was horrified to learn about this, and set out to stop the experiment that had already claimed the lives of over 10,000 Sisters. However, her own pride held her back, and she felt unable to rely on others, setting out on her own in a foolish attempt to stop an esper that she could not measure up to, no matter what she did. Just as she was about to sacrifice her own life in desperation, however, she was saved by Kamijou Touma. A nearly powerless esper who managed to overcome Accelerator where she could not. From this, Misaka learned that it was alright to rely on others, and that being a Level 5 does not mean that she needs to solve every problem on her own.

She might have also fallen for Touma a little bit. Or a lot. Not that she’d ever admit it.

Unfortunately, Accelerator’s defeat did not mark the end of the Level 6 Shift experiment, as the culprits responsible simply turned their attention to Misaka instead, enacting a new plan after some time. By directing the energy of the Misaka Network (the brain wave network formed between all of the Sisters) into Misaka’s body by force, she lost control and was forced to rapidly evolve to a higher level of power. This increase would have soon killed her, if she weren’t once again saved by Touma, who managed to negate the transformation with Imagine Breaker.

Over time, Misaka encountered many threats to the security of Academy City, some of which she was capable of overcoming on her own, but others of which were not so accommodating. It turns out that Academy City’s esper programs are only half of the picture; this world is also secretly inhabited by magicians who wield powers beyond anything the Science Side is capable of. Misaka (though somehow still ignorant of the existence of magic) ended up embroiled in several magical conflicts, usually through her connection with Touma, who gets caught up in them all the time.

Unfortunately, even as Misaka came to realize her own feelings and desire to fight by Touma’s side, she also slowly began to realize that the world was a lot bigger than she ever knew. Despite being a Level 5, she found herself unable to keep up with the bigger and bigger threats that Touma was involved with, ultimately holding him back more than she was helping him. Upon realizing that, Misaka’s self-confidence and cocky attitude crumbled away inside, replaced only by insecurities and a crushed sense of self-worth. This hasn’t stopped her from trying to get stronger and help, and for a while she was able to keep up thanks to the Anti-Art Attachment. However, as of right now at least, she has yet to truly overcome this issue. The A.A.A. is destroyed, and Touma is still facing greater threats than she can manage. Going forward, it seems her greatest enemy will be her own shortcomings.

Skill & Experience

Among Academy City’s espers, Misaka is a genius among geniuses, possessing nearly unparalleled talent. Out of 2,300,000 people, Misaka is one of only seven Level 5 espers, on an entirely different tier of ability than almost anyone else. In order for many espers to use their powers at all, they must perform complicated calculations similar to those of a supercomputer, as evidenced by Accelerator and Shirai Kuroko, the latter of whom requires an understanding of higher dimensions to use her teleportation. Misaka is no exception to this, and has shown to be capable of performing incomprehensible calculations on the fly, allowing her to precisely control the static electricity between water particles in the air, creating wings for herself out of seawater under perfect conditions. Once, while suffocating in oil, she demonstrated similar precision and on-the-fly calculations, using iron sand to break down the oil into oxygen, nitrogen, and other components of air, carrying it to her mouth and allowing her to breathe it in.

In addition to her essentially superhuman scientific mind, she is also an extremely skilled fighter and tactician, capable of taking down a company of 200 troops singlehandedly, and fighting an extended battle against Brunhild Eiktobel (who was strong enough to oneshot her and too fast for her to see) without making even a single instantaneous mistake, with the fight ultimately ending in a stalemate. She can quickly develop new powers, inventing the Railgun essentially on the spot, and learning how to use Junko’s Rampage Dress ability mostly without issue. Though she lacks formal training in hand-to-hand combat, she is able to compensate for this by fighting dirty. It is somewhat implied that she has undergone some degree of sword training, which she uses in conjunction with her iron sand blades, though other characters have also suggested that her swordsmanship may be self-taught.

Moreover, her superlative talent compared to most other espers is made evident by the fact that she was originally Level 1 and worked her way up to Level 5, a feat considered essentially impossible. Ascending from Level 4 to 5 alone is compared to a bird reaching the stars, an inconceivable feat to achieve through hard work alone. To give a more tangible example, the gap in power between levels is large enough that many Level 3 powers combined (which were described as “approaching Level 4” when used together) were completely powerless against one actual Level 4.

Esper Abilities

AIM Diffusion Field & Personal Reality

The basis of any esper’s power, Misaka included, is an invisible energy field passively emitted from their body, known as An Involuntary Movement (AIM) Diffusion Field. The exact qualities of this field differ between espers, and it is this factor which determines the nature and strength of each esper’s abilities, allowing them to unconsciously interfere with reality in a manner unique to them. The method by which an esper manipulates their AIM Diffusion field in order to influence reality and manifest phenomena into the world is known as their Personal Reality.

If that all sounds a bit vague, that’s because it is. Despite being centered around scientific phenomena and experiments, in a meta sense the Science Side’s power system is much more magic-esque in nature compared to that of the Magic Side, which has very strict and complicated rules. In any case, the exact mechanics are not overly relevant; all that needs to be known is that Misaka manipulates her AIM Diffusion Field in order to use her various abilities.

Railgun

Misaka’s signature attack for which she is named. By envisioning imaginary rails between herself and her target, Misaka can produce a magnetic field along them and generate an immense amount of Lorentz force, which she uses to propel a projectile toward the target with great speed and destructive power, mimicking the mechanics of an actual railgun.

Most typically, she uses arcade tokens that she carries with her as her projectile, though she has also used larger objects when the situation calls for it, and one of the Sisters, Misaka Worst, has used nails instead of tokens for greater piercing effect. That said, the size and mass of the projectile influences Misaka’s ability to aim properly, and she has noted that arcade tokens are what feel the most natural for her. Under optimal conditions, she is capable of firing 8 shots per minute with a projectile distribution of 18.9 millimeters.

The Railgun is stated to be her greatest ability in terms of raw power, and she typically treats it as her greatest trump card, but it is not without its drawbacks. Due to air resistance, the tokens she fires slow down greatly after being launched, eventually melting from the friction after reaching a maximum range of 50 meters. Because of this, the Railgun is slower than Misaka’s lightning attacks and predominantly effective at close to mid range.

The exact speed of the Railgun is a bit up for debate. It is stated many times in the series that it moves at 1030 m/s, or around Mach 3, but as explained in detail by real-life MIT physicist Justin Lan, this speed is far too low to explain even the attack’s most basic destructive feats. However, this can be easily explained by digging a little deeper. It is established at the beginning of the series that Mach 3 is the speed at which the attack moves when its power is dampened, and we know that it slows down after being fired due to air resistance. Misaka herself states that the attack’s speed ranges from Mach 3 to “superluminal” (translation), and it is implied that the Railgun is initially just as fast as her lightning (see electricity manipulation for context), ultimately only being slower due to decelerating after launch. This explains why the attack’s power is seemingly so much higher than the stated Mach 3 speed would suggest.

Despite being so fast and powerful, however, the ability is not unbeatable. It actually fails or gets countered a lot. Still, it’s Misaka’s strongest move and should scale power-wise above her other abilities.

Electromaster Abilities

The basis of all her esper abilities; Misaka is what’s known in-universe as an Electromaster, meaning she has extensive and versatile control over most forms of electromagnetic energy, granting her a broad range of powers thanks to her creativity and knowledge of electrical physics. Though Misaka is not the only Electromaster in her verse, she is repeatedly stated to be the most powerful.

Electricity Manipulation: One of Misaka’s primary offensive capabilities; she can produce and manipulate electricity, discharging it omnidirectionally, firing directed “Lightning Spears” from her bangs, or calling down larger bolts from the sky. The electricity that Misaka produces is exceptional, exceeding real lightning in every aspect - power, speed, size, voltage, and temperature. It is said to be able to rival the largest bolt of lightning ever recorded in nature, has a voltage of at least 1 billion (lightning is typically around 300 million), and has been stated 5 separate times to move as fast as light, something impossible for natural lightning.

In addition to being hot enough to melt through solid metal and rebar, her lightning could melt a giant fetus monster’s flesh (don’t ask) without even needing to hit it directly. Normally, humans can survive lightning strikes due to the fact that the body is a really bad conductor, most of the energy gets discharged into the ground, moisture on the skin helps absorb the heat of the bolt, and a lot of the energy gets lost as the bolt travels through the air. In order to melt flesh from afar, Misaka’s lightning would need to be much stronger and hotter than the real thing.

Electricity Resistance: As is the case with all Electromasters, Misaka possesses a high resistance to electricity. She has been completely unaffected by a taser, and frequently discharges electricity directly from her body without suffering any ill effects. She has also occasionally withstood her own electrical attacks; for instance, she has had her electricity reflected back onto her by Raifu, and was somewhere within the blast range of the huge lightning bolt she used to defeat Kuriba’s Doppelganger, and was largely unharmed.

Electromagnetism: Misaka’s control extends beyond typical electricity and into a broader manipulation of the electromagnetic spectrum, kind of like a mini Magneto. She can manipulate magnetic fields to cling to walls like Spider-Man, pull herself around with greater speed and mobility than her normal movements, slow her own falling speed with magnetism, or move metal in her surroundings for attack and defense. With this, she has taken hold of everything from a helicopter to iron girders to falling rubble. She has made bridges out of floating metal, magnetized metal objects to attract other metal to them, carried herself through the air by standing on a chunk of metal, and levitated metal panes around herself for defense.

It has been suggested that in addition to manipulating magnetic fields, she can use her electromagnetism to manipulate light, and other types of electromagnetic waves as well, such as using microwaves to keep herself warm in cold weather. This ability also facilitates her extrasensory powers and iron sand manipulation (see below).

Weather Manipulation: Misaka can use her powers to manipulate the weather, causing massive storm formations on several occasions, and producing tornadoes using iron sand. The former allows her to call down more powerful lightning attacks than she can otherwise, presumably by creating and then harnessing a huge build-up of static electricity in the clouds.

Defensive Barriers: Misaka’s powers afford her several defensive options. In addition to the physical barriers that she typically creates by manipulating iron sand or metal in her surroundings, she can use her electricity defensively to create a pseudo-barrier, destroying and halting attacks/projectiles, including something as small and unpredictable as shrapnel from a ceramic bomb. She also possesses a passive “electro barrier” which is less physical, but acts as a natural defense against Shokuhou Misaki’s Mental Out ability, which brainwashes targets by manipulating their bioelectricity.

Electromagnetic Sensing: Misaka possesses extensive extrasensory abilities which aid her greatly in combat, to the point where her skill decreases significantly if the ability is taken from her. Her body passively emits microwaves and other EM waves at all times, granting her a perfect 360 degree awareness of her surroundings with no blind spots similar to a radar, allowing her to fight even while blinded or dodge invisible attacks, and track the location of others without looking at them, even if the individual is invisible. This is precise enough to detect and accurately shoot down the countless porcelain shards blasted her way by a bomb, as well as detect microscopic metal dust. She can also see the flow of electrons and magnetic fields, as well as sense the presence of metal, active electronics, or EM waves transmitting to a phone.

One of the Sisters, Last Order, was able to similarly detect the presence of people in a room via an electromagnetic field, and another Sister was capable of measuring heart rate and brainwaves from a person’s bioelectricity.

Technopathy: Misaka’s powers grant her a broad control over technology, allowing her to turn things on and off, render them dysfunctional, hack into computer systems and other technology, or make technology behave in whatever specific way that she desires.

Matter Manipulation: Though she only does so occasionally, Misaka has shown to be able to use her powers to manipulate the molecules of various things. She can create atoms by connecting electrons with cations, break down oil into its individual parts for air, and manipulate water using the static electricity between particles in the air (though only under perfect conditions). Hypothetically, she would be capable of negating plasma and returning it to normal matter by manipulating its electricity. One of the Sisters was likewise able to use electricity to split up oxygen molecules in the air, before combining them into ozone and creating an anaerobic environment. By ionizing the air surrounding highly conductive microscopic metal dust (corona discharge), she was able to cause electro precipitation, in other words removing the particles’ ions, and thus their electric charge.

Bioelectricity Manipulation: By manipulating the bioelectricity of herself and others, Misaka can affect the human body in several ways. She can use her own electricity to massage her body to relieve pain, and even once took direct control over the electric signals in her nervous system, forcing herself to move when her neurotransmitters were blocked. Though she has only done it once, she is also capable of creating an electrical link between her own mind and that of a target she is touching, allowing her to view their memories in detail. She has also mentioned that she is capable of stopping hearts and interfering with internal organs through her electricity, likely by affecting the electrical signals within the target’s body.

Rampage Dress: The most specific and arguably most useful application of her bioelectricity manipulation, Rampage Dress is an ability that Misaka learned from another esper who developed it, Junko Hokaze. With it, she can manipulate the electrical signals in her cells to amp her physicality to greater superhuman levels. This boosts her strength and speed to a new level, and allows her to charge her physical strikes with electricity. She must also be careful, however, to avoid hurting herself while using this ability.

Junko has shown several additional applications of the ability which Misaka may or may not know as well. Namely, she can use it to increase all five of her senses, create an ion sheathe to shield her body from plasma/electric attacks, and rapidly regenerate from damage, healing wounds in an instant, though the latter puts strain on her body/mind and gives her headaches.

Arc Fusion Blades: Only a hypothetical ability currently; the magician Thor, while disguised as Misaka, uses an ability in which he produces an “arc fusion blade” from each of his fingers, which have enough cutting power to slice through a wind turbine. Touma believed that Misaka would be capable of replicating this ability with her powers, but that she would be more likely to use her iron sand instead for the same purpose.

Iron Sand Manipulation

One of Misaka’s best options for short to mid ranged combat is the ability to electromagnetically manipulate iron sand that is naturally occurring in the ground or wind, and form constructs out of it with which she can attack. These iron sand particles are fluid and malleable, allowing Misaka to shape their form into whatever she chooses, and the individual particles vibrate like a chainsaw, causing the sand constructs to draw blood from a target with the slightest touch. Misaka has shown the ability to launch iron sand attacks from underground as a surprise attack, electrify her iron sand constructs for greater damage, or force the sand into a target’s body to tear it apart from the inside (this is also doable with greater precision against much smaller targets, such as Raifu’s claws). She has also increased the friction between iron sand particles to set the sand on fire. At one point, when fighting an enemy too fast to perceive with her eyes, she was able to keep up by covering the ground with iron sand and paying attention to their footprints (which doesn’t make sense but whatever, just go with it). Some of the specific iron sand constructs that she has created include:

Weapons: Misaka frequently forms the iron sand into weapons that she can fight with, such as a sword, whip, or drills. 

Tendrils: By creating tendrils out of iron sand, Misaka can ensnare an opponent, grab things from afar, or pull herself around.

Barriers: As previously mentioned, Misaka can use the iron sand to make barriers to block attacks.

Body Decoys: Misaka can create duplicates of her own body out of iron sand to use as a decoy, baiting an opponent’s attack and then following up while they are left open. She has used this to create individual decoys, or large groups of them all at once.

Iron Sand Kaiju (AKA “Lightning Giant Mode”): Most impressively, Misaka can use her iron sand manipulation to create a massive kaiju-sized golem out of iron sand, in order to battle a similarly massive golem created by her opponent. Compared to the surrounding buildings, this iron sand kaiju is over 270 meters tall and weighs over 6.7 million tons. It can regenerate limbs and create tendrils out of iron sand, and the iron dust that makes up its body builds up friction and electric charge, making it dangerous to touch and allowing it to shoot a super-sized version of Misaka’s Railgun which can strike targets from kilometers away.

Miscellaneous

Athleticism: Misaka has shown to be extremely athletic and agile in combat, which she augments by pulling herself around and sticking to surfaces with electromagnetism. This takes the form of large leaps, complex flipping maneuvers, etc.

Accelerated Development: It is established with other espers such as Accelerator that an esper’s power gets stronger simply by fighting, which depending on the individual, can even allow them to advance in level after enough battles (though it would be impossible for an esper of Misaka’s caliber to ever reach Level 6 under any normal circumstances; she lacks the potential to do so). Accelerator has even directly referred to combat against strong opponents as “a shortcut to a higher level”, suggesting that it is a more effective means of increasing an esper’s power than ordinary training under Academy City’s curriculum. This improvement can occur even if the opponents are vastly weaker than the esper in question, but it occurs much faster when the battles are waged against stronger adversaries. Misaka in particular has an exceptionally high growth rate even by esper standards, having advanced from Level 1 to Level 5 over time, as previously discussed. She has however implied that having reached her current level, she has more-or-less plateaued and only has a few limited ways of getting stronger, referring to her own power as “immense and stable”, and describing it as the worst possible restraint.

Mental Resistance: In addition to her passive electro barrier, which grants her physical protection from Misaki’s Mental Out ability, it is stated that Misaka possesses a “powerful distrust” of the ability which plays a role in her ability to resist it, suggesting that she possesses some degree of innate mental resistance. Misaki has also stated that brainwashing should not have any effect on Misaka under normal circumstances (though this may still be referring to Mental Out), which is why during the Level 6 Shift attempt, Gensei and Mitori needed to use Exterior to manipulate the Misaka Network in order to directly alter her psyche.

Heat Resistance: Misaka has survived having her own lightning reflected back onto her, which would require her to withstand its heat as well as its voltage. Impressive considering the lightning is capable of melting flesh without touching it, and is comparable to Mugino’s Meltdowner ability, which can heat a target to several thousand degrees Celsius upon contact.

Feats

Overall

  • Level 5 Rank 3 esper; worked her way up to Level 5 from Level 1

  • Survived an encounter with Accelerator, the most powerful esper in Academy City

  • Helped free the Sisters from the Level 6 Shift experiment

  • Helped defeat the Elementals while piloting the Anti-Art Attachment

  • Defeated a company of 200 troops singlehandedly

  • Fought Brunhild Eiktobel, a Saint, to a stalemate despite being weaker and slower than her

  • Fought evenly with Sogiita Gunha before the battle was interrupted, causing Gunha to later admit that he might have lost if the fight had continued

  • Defeated Kiyama Harumi, AIM Burst, Therestina Kihara Lifeline, Frenda Seivelun, Mugino Shizuri, Seike Taroumaru, Kuriba’s Doppelganger, Wanigawa Raifu, Shundan Kimi, Inoue Kasha, Resanerié Sadis Dialine, Kamijou Touma (sort of)

Strength

At 2% Level 6, Misaka was stated to be “dozens” of times stronger than normal (Translation), and 100% Level 6 would obviously be 50 times stronger than 2%. With these numbers in mind, although Level 6 is non-standard, its feats can be used to extrapolate Misaka’s baseline level of power. The results that come from this are fairly consistent with her other feats.

Speed

Durability

Scaling

Compared to the vast majority of the characters on the Science Side, Misaka is a high tier character that scales to most espers. It should be noted that Academy City’s level system is not exclusively based on power - Misaki is a Level 5 despite her abilities lacking offensive power, Maidono has power on par with a Level 5 despite officially being Level 4, Gunha at his strongest is in the upper echelon of Level 5s despite being the lowest ranked among them, etc. It is also indicated that the system scans used to determine an esper’s level are not always accurate, because some people do not take them seriously and thus underperform. Generally speaking, however, Level 5s are usually much stronger than Level 4s, Level 4s are usually much stronger than Level 3s, and so on. As a Level 5, Misaka is considered among the most powerful espers and scales to or above most others, with the exception of those like Accelerator, Kakine, and to a lesser extent peak Gunha, who are clearly in a tier of their own.

Compared to the Magic Side, she falls much farther short, however. The Magic Side eclipses the Science Side in power, and despite being very powerful as far as espers go, Misaka does not hold a candle to many of the stronger magic users in the verse. She is stated to be stronger than some weaker magicians like Vento, and with difficulty, she has shown to be capable of holding her own for a while against Saint level characters like Brunhild, and as such can downscale from some feats of characters on that level, but most certainly not anything stronger than that.

Kamijou Touma: Though Touma eventually reaches a point of fighting threats whom Misaka cannot contend with, he primarily does so via Imagine Breaker. Physically speaking, Misaka should reasonably be able to scale to some of his showings, especially those that take place early on, given that she can harm him, and keep up with Saints who are faster than he is.

Shirai Kuroko: Level 4 esper and Misaka’s roommate, Misaka should be generally superior to Kuroko.

Kongou Mitsuko: Level 4 esper who can manipulate wind with her ability. Misaka should be stronger than her.

Kiyama Harumi: Esper with multiple powers whom Misaka fights and defeats near the beginning of the series.

Mugino Shizuri: Level 5 esper whom Misaka fights and defeats while heavily fatigued.

Junko Hokaze: A Level 4 esper and fellow electromaster, Junko is the primary user of the Rampage Dress ability which Misaka has also learned. As Misaka is stated to be the most powerful electromaster, both use the same technique, and the two of them fight in the Railgun LN, Misaka should scale to Junko’s showings with Rampage Dress.

Kuriba’s Doppelganger: A cyborg whom Misaka fights in the manga and anime. Misaka matches her directly and ultimately defeats her.

Wanigawa Raifu: A Level 4 esper whom Misaka fights and defeats in the Railgun manga.

Shundan Kimi: Esper whom Misaka fights in the Railgun manga. Misaka is able to match Kimi briefly, as well as manipulate her lightning with her own. It should be noted however that Misaka did not defeat Kimi outright until after Uiharu had weakened her (though she should still scale to her).

Sogiita Gunha: Gunha’s abilities and strength level are inconsistent - deliberately so, essentially the premise behind his powers are that they don’t make any sense, he can make up abilities on the fly and is typically as strong as is convenient story-wise. That being said, he and Misaka do have a fight at one point, in which they are depicted as evenly matched, and Gunha admits after the fight is interrupted that he may have lost had it continued (though Misaka says the opposite; it’s unclear who is correct). As such, it is reasonable to scale Misaka to feats that Gunha performs during the fight between the two of them, since at that time at least, they were on par. It is also worth mentioning that Junko, whom Misaka is more powerful than, was able to contend with Gunha on a different occasion. Though at his peak Gunha was able to contend against Misaka’s lesser Level 6 forms, so again, he’s weird, and she wouldn’t scale to his full power.

Maidono Hoshimi: Level 4 esper (though as strong as a Level 5) whom Misaka fights in the novels. Though Maidono is stated to be stronger than Misaka in raw power, Misaka is still able to fight her.

Kihara Nayuta: Opponent whom Misaka fights in one of the novels’ side stories.

Brunhild Eiktobel: Saint whom Misaka fights to a stalemate in the novels. Though Brunhild is stated to be stronger and faster than Misaka, and capable of oneshotting her if Misaka were to make a single instantaneous mistake, Misaka is able to react to her blitz attempts, harm her with electricity, as well as contend with her strength and stall her movements via electromagnetism. At one point in the fight, Misaka launches an attack that would have been deadly if Brunhild had not blocked it, and the two of them have an extended fight “offscreen” in which Misaka is not overwhelmed. Though Misaka would downscale to an extent, the gap is clearly not so massive that there is no contest at all.

Kanzaki Kaori: Another Saint on a similar level to Brunhild, Misaka should downscale from Kanzaki’s feats due to her fight with Brunhild.

Weaknesses
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