Kinuhata Saiai

is a character introduced in the Toaru Majutsu no Index series and a recurring character in Toaru Kagaku no Railgun. She is a Level 4 esper and is an operative of , an organization in the Dark Side of Academy City led by Mugino Shizuri, and is a capable combatant in the team. As a character she has an important supporting role in the development of Hamazura Shiage as a protagonist and is one of his closest allies.
==Etymology==
Saiai's first name can be translated as "beloved", while her surname Kinuhata means "silk flag".
==Appearance==
Saiai is a young girl of 12 with short brown hair in a bobcut. Chapter 1 Part 2
In Toaru Majutsu no Index she wears a fluffy knit dress, a sweater dress to be exact. She wears no legwear other than striped socks, exposing her thighs and legs. According to Hamazura Shiage's assumption, Saiai may have calculated that the length of her sweater would expose enough of her thighs and legs but not to the point that her butt and panties will be exposed even if she were to bend over. Saiai later references the phenomenon while bending over, giving credence to Shiage's assumption.
In Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, she is seen more modestly, wearing an orange hoodie and hot pants.According to Ainame Caroline's analysis in early August of the year before the main story, Kinuhata's outfit consists entirely of expensive Queen Knights brand items. Between the Lines 1
==Personality==
Despite being a powerful esper, Saiai is one of the most mellowed-out characters in ; she isn't a screw-up like Frenda, nor is she as frightful as her leader, Mugino. She enjoys C and B movies and likes to tease others, Shiage in particular because of his reaction to anything sexually suggestive. She is also described as being very eccentric. Despite this, she is still quite serious and dangerous during a mission, having a much more subdued mien than Mugino or Frenda, 's other combatants. She is also described as obedient-looking, a contrast to her playful personality when out of missions.
She also likes to add "super" (超, chou) to her remarks. The Funimation subtitles translate chou as "ultra". It is likely due to her brain being inserted with Accelerator's thought patterns, who has a penchant in swearing, during the Dark May Project that this verbal tic may have arose, replacing an expletive with the word "super". This is somewhat backed up by the experiment modifying the subject's personality when inserting Accelerator's thought patterns. Chapter 5 Part 1 Moreover, it is backed up by Accelerator himself who noticed his manner of speaking with Kuroyoru Umidori, another subject in thought pattern modification in the Dark May Project. Chapter 1 Part 8
==Background==
According to Kakine Teitoku's speculations, Saiai may have been originally an atmospheric control-type esper when she became part of the Dark May Project, Chapter 4 Part 3 along with Kuroyoru Umidori. It was an inhuman project where espers have their minds altered after forcibly inserting a portion of Accelerator's thought patterns into them, allowing them to gain a rapid increase in the strength of their powers, though at the cost of the stability of their personalities. Here, Saiai received an idealized version of Accelerator's Redirection while Umidori received Vector Transformation, thus giving her Offense Armor. Chapter 5 Part 1 Apparently, she was a top esper in the project. The project was later bankrupted after Umidori seemingly killed the researchers there, explained by her to be because of her power "overflowing", but in reality, it was Item which shut down the project, and subsequently pinned the blame on Umidori. The then-three person team being in need of a defensive esper, they brought Saiai back with them and she officially became a member of Item. Prologue
Due to the way Saiai was thankful for not ending up in Produce, it can be inferred that Saiai may have been a Child Error as the Dark May Project is known for using them. Chapter 3 Part 4 It is still unconfirmed if Saiai is a Child Error.
==Abilities==
===Offense Armor===
Kinuhata Saiai's ability is known as . At Level 4, the ability allows Saiai to control the nitrogen in the air in order to create a thin barrier around her. Chapter 1 Part 4 It is the result of the horrific experimentation done to her in the Dark May Project, where a portion of Accelerator's thought patterns were inserted into her brain. Apparently originally an atmospheric control-type esper, this process allowed Saiai to gain a rapid increase in the strength in her powers, though at the cost of the stability of her personality. Here, Saiai received an idealized version of Accelerator's Redirection, and like Accelerator's this gives her the ability to create a barrier around her, though now instead uses super-compressed nitrogen instead, which is the primary function of her ability as defensive capability. Chapter 4 Part 2 Her power creates a barrier 360 degrees around her body, and also activates automatically without her wanting to. The armor is very effective, allowing for bullets from handguns to sniper bullets to be unable to penetrate her.
A secondary capability of her ability allows her to control compressed masses of nitrogen, allowing her to lift heavy objects like cars and deal powerful blows that can destroy entire walls. However, her effective range is very small as it only extends a few centimeters from her palm. She is also somewhat capable of manipulating air currents via displacing the nitrogen, which she uses for her Offense Armor. This is the method that allowed Saiai to confuse the man-eating cockroaches of Hisako, disrupting the scents that is used by Hisako to control them, and allowing her to make them turn on her. Chapter 4 Part 5
A weakness of this ability is that a sufficiently powerful force can just knock her down due to her small body, as with the case against Sunazara Chimitsu's sniper rounds, and Umidori using thousands of Bomber Lances on her, or even pierce it such as Kakine's counter against her using a bench against him.
Saiai acknowledges the defensive limits of her Offense Armor later, where she is confronted with the sheer destructive power of Stephanie Gorgeouspalace's light machine shotgun. She notes that taking more than seven bullets at less than five meters of range would be "super bad". By the end of their fight Saiai incurs several injuries, though none are life-threatening. Chapter 3 Part 2 In order to compensate for foes who prove to be able to eliminate naturally-occurring nitrogen in the air like Stephanie, Saiai carries around a small canister of liquid nitrogen for use at all times. Chapter 3 Part 9
===Other abilities===
She is a capable marksman, able to use handheld missiles to accurately target an enemy from a few hundred meters away while being shot, as well as shoot at a moving target accurately from a moving car. Chapter 2 Part 7
==Character Art Design==
===Design Evolution===
Saiai's design remains the same throughout the series. However, Haimura states that Saiai's age has been different when he designed her, and as such she looks a lot younger in the novels.
===Gallery===
Saiai_Volume15.png|Saiai's character design for , by Haimura Kiyotaka.
ShiageSaiai.jpg|Saiai and Shiage's alternative clothes, drawn by Haimura (not included in the novels).
 Genesis Testament outfits.png|New winter clothes design for Kinuhata Saiai and the rest of by Haimura Kiyotaka for Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index.
c20130524_rgss_02_cs1w1_720x.jpg|Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S anime Character Design.
KinuhataSaiai-RailgunSBooklet.jpg|Kinuhata Saiai's character profile for the Railgun S anime from the third BD/DVD booklet.
Kinuhata Saiai Face (Index III Anime Design).png|Toaru Majutsu no Index III anime Character Design (Face)
Kinuhata Saiai (Index III Anime Design).png|Toaru Majutsu no Index III anime Character Design (Body)
Neko maid Kinuhata (Twitter).jpg|Kinuhata Saiai in a cat maid outfit, drawn by Haimura Kiyotaka.
Kunoichi Kinuhata (Twitter).jpg|Kinuhata Saiai in a kunoichi outfit, drawn by Haimura Kiyotaka.
Kinuhata Saiai (Item manga bonus pic).jpg|Kinuhata Saiai in a bonus illustration celebrating the release of Toaru Anbu no Item Manga Volume 01, drawn by Nilitsu.
==Trivia==
===List of Kinuhata's B and C Movies===
Kinuhata Saiai enjoys B and C movies. Chapter 17
Name	Description
N/A 	Unnamed ultra-problematic C-movie by the Hong Kong Red Dragon Film Company Chapter 2 Part 2
N/A 	Unnamed R-18 B movie
N/A 	Unnamed festival of minor movies that aren't released in Japan. Chapter 22
N/A 	Unnamed C movie that directed by Beverly Seethrough. Only 10 minute film. Chapter 2 Part 2
N/A 	Unnamed Heavy Object movie. Kinuhata recommended to Hamazura in the date with Takitsubo. The movie's story is about Heivia and Quenser dealing with an Object. Prologue
 	The movie's story is not known. Hamazura saw a movie ticket below the table. Chapter 1 Part 1
 	A B-movie that Kinuhata Saiai wants to watch after reading about in a magazine along with The Fiery Indian Cook Runs through New York, during her and Hamazura Shiage's stakeout to watch out for Fremea Seivelun. The movie's story is not known. According to Saiai, the film is apparently very detailed, requiring one to watch the movie is high quality in order to see graffiti on the walls during dark scenes. Much to her chagrin, none of the big theaters she knows are showing it. Chapter 3 Part 2
 	A B-movie that Kinuhata Saiai wants to watch after reading about in a magazine along with Saitama☆Vocal Crisis, during her and Hamazura Shiage's stakeout to watch out for Fremea Seivelun. The movie's story is unknown. Chapter 3 Part 2
==Quotes==
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==Notes==
==References==
==Navigation==
zh:绢旗最爱fr:Kinuhata_Saiaies:Saiai Kinuhata
Category:Characters
Category:Science Side Characters
Category:Espers
Category:Level 4 Espers
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Category:Dark May Project