Misaka Mikoto

Misaka Mikoto (御坂 美琴 Misaka Mikoto) is a tsundere character in Toaru Majutsu no Index and the main protagonist of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun. She is also known by the nickname Biri-Biri (ビリビリ) (a Japanese onomatopoeia imitating the sound of electricity).

Appearance
Mikoto has short straight chestnut hair and is often seen wearing a small hair clip (firstly a rather simple one in the early stages of the story. It then was changed to one with two little flowers since the Tree Diagram Remnant Arc, specifically, from Toaru Majutsu no Index II Episode 06in the anime, or Toaru Majutsu no Index Manga Volume 11, Chapter 58). Her eyes are the same color as her hair. She is also shown to have a complex regarding her chest, feeling inferior when compared to girls with bigger bust sizes. She wears the Tokiwadai Middle School school uniform, sporting white loose/slouch socks and brown loafers with a light brown vest sweater over a white blouse and a grey skirt. She is also known to always wear shorts under every skirt and dress she wears, which surprises an amnesiac Kamijou Toumaas she is the only girl who wears shorts over her panties.

Personality
To most people, she is considered a 'proper lady' (referred to as ojou-sama or お嬢様). In reality, she's short-tempered, prideful, has an improper attitude with some slightly violent, boyish tendencies (or masculine since she wears boxers and an undershirt), and insecurities, a fact few people know of. Despite this, she is friendly and easygoing, to the point where Saten Ruiko and Uiharu Kazaricomment on how they are shocked to find that, compared to other Level 5's, she doesn't look down on lower-level espers at all. This is probably because she was originally a level 1 esper, and became a Level 5 esper through hard work.

She often shows an incredibly immature and selfish side and displays heavy tsundere tendencies when her crush, Touma, insults her.[2] To add to this childishness, she has a soft spot towards cute things, most specifically, Gekota and Kill Bear merchandise, and is easily embarrassed. She likes frog merchandise, but only if it features Gekota. When she realizes that a stuffed animal another person is carrying is just a regular frog, she immediately loses all of her interest in the stuffed animal. She has a very irrational and unexplained fear of bugs, as shown in episode 6 of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun. She can also be slightly hypocritical at times, getting angry at Touma for not calling her by her name despite never once calling him by his. While generally amicable and humble, Misaka is highly individualistic. She often prefers to be solitary and dislikes the idea of being restricted by rules and duties such as those of Judgement and Anti-Skill. She wishes to avoid endangering other people and relies on her powers to try to solve problems on her own, often times despite her better judgment.

She has a keen sense of justice, demonstrated by her frequent involvement in the crime-fighting body, Judgment, and her unshakable resolve. This is shown when she was willing to lose in a fight against Accelerator on the first move, just to prove the Sisters Project was wrong and save the remaining 9969 sisters (Tree Diagram predicted that she would die in the 185th move). She often goes to Green Mart to read manga for free in her spare time on Mondays and Wednesdays and goes to the bookstore on the 10th of each month[3]. She's also good at playing the violin and teaches Uiharu Kazari how to play in Volume 12 of the Light Novel. Furthermore, according to Shirai Kuroko, Mikoto naturally acts as a leader and becomes the center of attention by everyone, yet she cannot mingle with those people regardless of being the center. She states that Mikoto is at the top and can defeat her enemies, but she cannot avoid making more enemies at the same time. Moreover, she states that the most important to Onee-sama is someone she can feel is on the same level as her.[2]

Mikoto is known for being very intelligent, naturally as she is in Tokiwadai Middle School, a school that is meant to create world-leading talents and thus deals with a very advanced curriculum. Furthermore, she has been shown to be capable of solving problems intended for Kamijou Touma who courses a school grade higher than her, though it should be noted that Kamijou's school doesn't pursue the same academic excellence that Tokiwadai does.

It was shown that Mikoto had intended to take the trial enrollment into Touma's school during the Ichihanaran Festival, which further showed her interest in Touma, though this came to naught as she was interrupted by Shokuhou Misaki.

As of December of the current year, following the encounter with the High Priest and a glimpse at what Touma had been facing, Mikoto's pride has been considerably damaged, seeing how far behind she was and feeling she was nothing but a burden to him. At the same time, she is desperate to catch up with Touma and be able to stand on the same stage as him so she could tell him her feelings.[4] This has led to her personality becoming somewhat unstable and developing in a potentially dangerous direction, noted by Mass Murderer Salome[5] and exacerbated by her acquisition of the Anti-Art Attachment.[6]

Trivia

 * According to the interview on Kamachi Kazuma featured in Toaru Majutsu no Index no Subete, the author states Mikoto is the one whom he would want to choose as his friend among all Index characters.
 * According to an interview her birthday is May 2, making her a Taurus ♉.[2] Mikoto (and her clones) have blood type AB.[19]
 * Mikoto shares her birthday with her voice actress, Satou Rina whose birthday is also May 2.
 * Mikoto has been ranked first on the annual light novel guidebook Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! female character rankings for five consecutive years (2010-2014), a record achievement for any light novel character. She ranked second in the 2015 poll but regained the top rank in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
 * She came in first in the Toaru Sakuhin no Convention character poll of the Toaru Kaki no Campaign event.
 * In "A Certain Collaboration," a crossover-novel written by Kamachi Kazuma and Fushimi Tsukasa, author of Oreimo, Kousaka Kirino, the main heroine of Oreimo hailed Mikoto as "The Pride and Heroine of Dengeki Bunko."
 * The China-based video sharing site Bilibili has several references to Misaka Mikoto. The name of the site originated from Mikoto's nickname "Biri-Biri." One of the site's features includes giving "coins" for user contributions, which is a reference to her frequent usage of coins when using her Railgun. Lastly, the site celebrates Mikoto's birthday every 2nd of May.
 * In addition, users of this site are ranked from level 0 to 6, with level 6 only available by paying for a VIP account, which may be a reference to the Esper levels.