I liked the moral of this episode in part because it once again raised the question that has been an underlying theme of this show for the last few episodes, what do you do when 'the system' fails?. Bomber-kun was basically a bullied kid who got his hands on some power and choose to use it to try and redress wrongs he perceived in the world. Traditionally the line fed to bullied kids is to rely on authority figures to protect them because fighting back makes them just as bad as the bullies. Rarely do you hear anyone 'official' telling this type of person what they should do when the authority figures fail them repeatedly. Bomber-kun's actions struck me as those of a person who believed very strongly in the idea of the system, in this case Judgment, but was embittered by it's repeated failures to help him. Thus he sought to punish the agents of the system for failing in their duties rather than attempting to punish the people directly responsible for his problems, which the system would probably frown upon.

While he's quite deplorable I can see some twisted logic in his actions and I think it raises interesting questions about 'proper' behavior in a society with a system meant to govern and regulate society which is unreliable for some members of the society. When systems like this fail it's generally still expected that people play by the rules and continue to rely on the system in the future. A similar scenario can be seen from the ESPer database's recent shortcomings. Kuroko, and apparently everyone in Judgment, seem to have strong faith in this system being foolproof and thus have a hard time discarding what it says. In contrast, Misaka doesn't follow the philosophy of 'trust in the system' as closely as the others from what I've gleaned. She advocates taking matters into her own hands and solving problems herself. Thus I took her comments chastising Bomber-kun as a criticism not of his use of his power against people but of his use of his power against people who didn't directly hurt him.

The key contrast I see here is faith/expectations in the system to solve your problems. Misaka seemingly doesn't have it, Bomber-kun seemingly does, in spades. The system asks people to forgo using their individual power to protect themselves and promises to provide them all protection through agencies like Judgment and Anti-Skill. I gleaned this from Kuroko's constant chastising of Misaka for taking matters into her own hands rather than relying on Judgment. For Bomber-kun, who perhaps represents undue attachment to the system, this principle can be seen as his fundamental guide. He only hurt the people who volunteered to put their lives on the line to protect others but didn't protect him when he needed it. I certainly wouldn't argue he's not a bad guy and his actions weren't deranged, but he's good food for thought about the expected consequences that can arise from having a system that people are taught to believe in fail them again and again. Misaka on the other hand seems to represent lack of faith in the system (as opposed to herself) and I won't be surprised if that trait ends up coming in handy in the ultimate conclusion of this story.


TL; DR Mikoto goes rogue once again and catches the bad guy. Then she indirectly advises a terrorist bomber to go rogue against the people who hurt him instead of going rogue against the people who failed to protect him. Misaka Logic: If you're weak and it causes you problems, get stronger so you can blow up your problems yourself, don't take your anger out on those who we supposed to protect you but failed.