In the scientifically advanced Academy City, a miracle is about to occur: the completion of the world's first space elevator, "Endymion." Meanwhile, a certain high school student, Touma Kamijou, and his companion Index are going about their daily lives when they encounter and befriend Arisa Meigo, a cheerful and ambitious singer. When strange occurrences begin taking place throughout the city, they lead to the discovery of an intricate plot surrounding Arisa and Endymion. Things only get more complicated when the Stiyl Magnus appears, signifying that the magical world is somehow involved too...
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Stark700
So, do you believe in miracles? By miracle, I mean something that happens out of the extraordinary and takes you by complete yet pleasant surprise. This could be as simple as finding a one dollar bill on the ground when you need it the most or saving someone's life when they are just inches from death. Well, if miracles exist, then so should be hope right? Well, perhaps what fans could hope for is someday, that the Index or Railgun franchise would get a movie adaptation. Now, the time has come and it's here. From an action packed series of science and magic brings fortha new experience in the form of film adaptation for the first time ever.
Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki (A Certain Magical Index: The Miracle of Endymion) is a film based off the franchise known as Toaru Majutsu no Index. (also known by its English name as A Certain Scientific Index) The film is designed as an side story in part of the Index franchise. As such, expect some of the supporting and main characters to make appearances with roles in this film. It is important to note that fans should already be somewhat familiar with at least season one of the Index series. Otherwise, the experience you get out of this film might not be as special as you'd hope for.
I had high expectations of the film and I am thankful to say that those were met. The film itself takes place in the same setting as the TV series, Academy City (sometimes referred to as the Experiment City) a sovereign city-state where technology are highly evolved. Among its cities' residents though are students and scientists whom the latter conducts research on psychics known as Espers. However, the film itself steps forth beyond just science but also crosses with the magic realm.
The timeline of the film is assumed to take place between the Remnant and Daihaseisai arc. (refer to the TV series for insight) But because the setting is at the location of Academy City, expect some advanced technologies to make it on screen. Take the Endymion for an example. Based on a name from Greek mythology, Endymion is a pivotal factor in this film as influences both the science and magic sides. It also serves as a symbol of pride for Academy City as well as an instrument of war for military purposes. The mysteries of this technology is revealed in the movie and fans can interpret its revelation in a variety of ways. It's more than just a space elevator, much much more. It's a new story to tell and hope to remember by.
No story can be complete without its characters. In this film, it is crafted from the basis of a new character named Meigo Arisa. As an upcoming rising star, she plays the role of a singer with both a gift and mystery regarding her origin. Although labeled as a level 0, her character is prominent especially when we learn about the influence she has according to a certain magician. Arisa's name also is literally translated as 'sound' so expect to hear quite a bit from her in the form of her songs. After all, it's the songs that attracts the other main characters like Touma and Index early on as well. It seems like fate has plans for them because Arisa does get a surprise regarding her singing talent. More importantly though, we also learn that there are also other people who wants her but for much contrasting reasons.
Among other characters that we might be familiar of includes Academy City's ranked #3 Railgun, the only and one Misaka Mikoto. Going by perhaps a more catchy name as BiriBiri (as nicknamed by Touma), she makes an electrifying appearance in the film with not just her skills but also in her outfit. Fans of the A Certain Scientific Railgun franchise might also be delighted to see her friends (Kuroko, Kazari, and Ruiko) make appearances as well. After all, friends have to stick together to bring miracles. On a more badass side, we also see an esper who is unmatched on the level 5 ranking charts.
Perhaps dream also are soaring high for Arisa because her inspiration to become a singer. There is no doubt that the girl has talent and it's why Index and Touma became entranced by her voice in the beginning. However, the reason others wants her are for more reasons than just talent. That talent isn't just singing but for purposes that crosses the lines between science and magic. For a particular girl on the magic side, it is her duty to protect Arisa. We see that later on, this girl represents a sense of miracle because a certain incident in the film. In fact, you might be somewhat surprised at what you'll yourself. Miracles comes in surprises and this film also brings in some surprises of its own.
So the film incorporates many other factors with its characters. There's a variety of them such espers, magicians, idols, immortals, witches, and wizards. All of them comes in a package as they display their powers to the audience. If that wasn't enough, there's a sense of mystery. Obviously, all eyes are on Arisa as she is a person of high interest. There's many questions going on regarding her origins and why she is so important. There's also a sort of metaphor with her Arisa's character going on as her singing represents inspiration and hope. We hear it like just music but behind those lyrics is a girl who is selfless with a big dream.
Like its original predecessors, the film also adapts some of its more humorous moments. In fact, Arisa shares a similarity with Index that could cost quite a budget out of anyone's wallet. Then, there's Kuroko who retains her fantasies and awe to her onee-sama, Misaka Mikoto. If bad luck hits home, then Touma's name is written all over it. There's the gimmicky and cliched moments where Touma gets himself in compromising positions as well. This should be nothing new though considering the result of a double edged sword from his Imagine Breaker.
Action wise, the film maintains a solid formation with its fighting scenes. There's intensity from both the science and magic side. Flames are expected in the forms of magic while there's also electrifying sparks flying in the air from Biribiri. As both magic and science side clashes, there's that sense of both fear and antagonism regarding our new uprising idol – Arisa. However, also expect fan service. Unfortunately, the film doesn't omit these factors after shower scenes. There's also reused character designs in the form of lolis as Kamachi often spotlights them on the screen. That is hardly refreshing. Anyone familiar with the Railgun manga or Index novels will instantly realize this. Those who have been following the animated Railgun series recently will also find a similar pattern. Lastly, there's some main characters who doesn't seem to get the spotlight they deserve. In fact, they seem to be more in the background as supporting characters. I'm referring to a certain albino boy that is famously known for a certain experiment in Academy City. As a fan of his character, there's some disappointment that hit me home.
As this product is set on a theatrical screen, expect cinematic animation. Most noticeably, this film is performed with vertical resolution complete in concrete details. Therefore, expect more focus on backgrounds and details at many various scenes that are can be noticeable. The adaptation of Academy City is also presented with strong artistic values to reflect its scientific structures. Arisa's character design gives her an outlook that fuses between an ordinary girl with pink hair and an idol singer with her flashy outfit. Other new characters gives off their magical look like the witches hat and trooper like outlook. The way most of the movie is shown reflects on the animation of scientific and magical values. Clearly, this movie should be watched under at least 720P or higher to get a full pleasant experience.
Because a good portion of the movie focuses on Arisa, she is the star and coming with her is that magnificent voice. Her voice performs a variety of songs with various purposes. I give praise to Sachika Misawa for her role as Arisa. Not only does she voice her character but also the various songs performed in the film that clearly shows her talent in the music industry. As an upcoming idol in the fictional world of Index though, there's also a sense of miracle in her voice. It seems to inspire hope/miracle and Arisa's songs presents that. The OST remains consistent during battle scenes and those where comedy pops out in the open.
I don't entirely believe in miracles because not everything happens at that moment when you want it to. However, I got what I wanted and that's an enjoyable experience from Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki. The Toaru Majutsu no Index franchise is already massively successful with its spawn of the spinoff, Railgun. Similar results also can be traced for this movie through some statistical figures with its premiere. Of course, statistics aren't what determines your judgement of this film. Still, do give this a movie a try especially if you're a fan of the Raildex franchise.
This movie itself establishes the line when both science and magic worlds clashes. When that line is crossed, you'd expect struggle and conflict. From that, there comes miracles.
-Remix-
One word to describe this movie? "Ouch." Despite its immense popularity in Japan and abroad, the Index series in general has always been wishy-washy (my honest opinion). Sure, there's a running plot with a somewhat interesting ensemble of main characters, but it has plenty of flaws too - too many convoluted terms that are unexplained or mentioned once and quickly forgotten about, an utter lack of character development, and so on. This movie - Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki - continues to extrapolate these same exact flaws, and in addition to that, adds some serious inconsistent plot elements that are both glaring and ridiculous. Let's startoff with the positives for once. Compared to the original Index series (which, I would recommend watching first before watching the movie, just to get a sense of what is going on), the artwork has vastly improved. The artwork and animation is crisp, fresh, and light. You can just tell from the first few frames that a lot of effort was put into this movie, and for that I am thankful. But there is just plenty of inconsistencies that utterly destroys J.C.Staff's (& co) hard work and washes everything down the drain.
First off, the plot inconsistencies. Despite having a clear goal in mind, the Endymion movie takes more of a meandering path to get to its destination. In doing so, it introduces many new plot elements that were not present in the original series and does so in a terrible fashion. I would recommend watching the Endymion special if you get the chance - even J.C.Staff points out a lot of the plot points that I have a problem with (in a comedic fashion, too) - but I'll just briefly mention a couple: Kanzaki in space. The three midgets plus Stiyl fighting against Touma and crew. Who are these three individuals? Why are they important in the story? What is their purpose, and why did the writers feel a need to introduce them at all?
I mean, seriously, what is even going on?
Second, the characters. Arisa and Shutaura are clearly the stars of this movie and fortunately they get plenty of screen time. They meet the main characters, learn about them, and grow as individuals. Could their development been flushed out a little more? Yes. Could their relationship be more clearly explained besides trying to shovel everything together in the latter half of the movie? Yes, but it is satisfactory, so I'll just leave it at that.
The main problem I have with this movie regarding the characters is that plenty of characters appear in this movie. You have plenty of characters from the Index series showing up, and also some others from the Railgun spin-off series. But here's the catch: they don't really serve any purpose except to serve the fans and/or make the plot interesting. Of course everybody would complain if Accelerator never shows up, but his transitioning into the movie is both (1) rushed and (2) doesn't really serve a particular purpose except for one particular thing (I can't spoil everything for you, ok?). And that's it. Otherwise from that, if you removed him completely from the picture, the story could have just proceeded fine.
One final thing that I will briefly mention and did like, however, was how the theme of "miracles" was decently integrated throughout the plot. It showed up throughout the movie over and over, and is well-incorporated through both symbolism and the dialogue among the characters. Hell, the entire space station structure is symbolic in itself, but you'll need to put a critical lens on to see just how it is related to the entire concept of "miracles."
Overall, a lackluster story with a little bit of development and some thematic material, but it is weak as a whole. Some of the sound elements were clearly borrowed from the other two Index series. Would have gotten a 3 by my rubric if it weren't for those two big glaring errors.
tl;dr
Pros:
- Crisp, crisp, crisp art. So crisp. Probably some of the most improved artwork I've seen over a stretch of a series.
- Well-incorporated theme
- Plotline that was (relatively) easy to follow, even for the average viewer; but I would recommend watching the other Index series first just to make sure you don't get lost in everything
Cons:
- Many of the characters are still one-dimensional, but there is SOME development.
- Many characters were rushed into the movie and don't hold any real significance except to please viewers
Ragix
Such misfortune! Here comes another review! One thing I always find great about movies based off of series isn't just more of what I like, but to see how the company handles it, so with J.C. Staff holding the reigns I had expectations and those expectations were surprisingly met. The production value truly shows with Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki when it came to top-notch visuals, soundtrack and even though it wasn't as good as it could be, the plot wasn't too bad itself. It seems this movie has had a better share of miracles instead of misfortune. Story: The plot is something I've always beenskeptical on when it comes to movies from more popular series like Index, Bleach, FMA, etc. I always feels it's more like a way to show off some snazy visuals with a mediocre story(Not for all movies of course) and cash-in, but Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki did manage to deliver a slightly better than average story, only slightly though. It follows the main set-up of our favorite Certain Magical Girl Puncher(I kid) Touma, Index, and a new girl Arisa whom sure enough is a mysterious girl with some sort of power that creates friction between the Science and Magic faction with Touma being the guy right in the middle of it. While seemingly standard there are twists to keep you interested enough to keep watching. The main problem after watching the movie I had though was I was left with plenty of questions and not many answers, so while the plot had its advantages in some areas, it lacked in others. That being said though, I was satisfied with what I was given, could they have gone further with it? Sure. Did it lessen my viewing pleasures? Not at all.
Art:
This is what I was looking out for in this movie. One thing I know these companies love to do is make spectacular visuals for movies compared to what has been made before for the series and it was spectacular. The fight scenes, scenery, animation, everything was top-notch and very appealing to the eyes. They had put a lot of time and money into the visuals and it paid off very well and it will leave you amazed.
Sound:
The soundtrack was another fantastic aspect of the film. I had expected some nice Background music here and there, but it looks like they went all out and even gave our main girl Arisa, a stage with plenty of songs to sing for us. The songs are done professionally, leaving me baffled as when you're watching the songs being sung by her on stage, along with the visuals, it truly felt like a concert.
Character:
The characters are probably the most important aspect of this movie. We see plenty of familiar faces aside from our main cast, Saten, Misaka, Accelerator, Last Order and so-on, but are introduced to plenty of new ones as well. While I enjoyed seeing so many of these characters, the problem was trying to fit so many in the time-frame the movie had. While we are familiar with our cast, the new characters are left to be desired and even a few seem to just be there to be more fan-service than anything. There was no real development with characters, just plenty of interactions and the most that did take place was between Arisa and Shutaura, while Touma of course helped them along the way. Now was this bad? No, we know our cast already of course, so it wasn't as much of a problem, but when it came down to the new characters and even antagonist, they were really shallow characters with not much of a story to go with them.
Enjoyment:
The movie was weak in some areas, but it succeeded in others. While I still feel a bit confused and have questions, I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. The jaw-dropping visuals, amazing soundtrack and all let me momentarily forget about my questions and just savor the movie. It was a real treat and probably will be for anyone else that's a fan of the series.
Overall:
Even though Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki had its flaws, I sure as hell was entertained. The cameo appearances from several characters, music, stunning visuals when it came to the battles, background and such, were all just superb. The only thing holding it back from being great is the un-answered questions it left and the shallow characters, but Touma, Misaka and the gang made that up as I enjoyed every second of seeing them on screen. It's not the best movie, but it is pretty good and I recommend if you're a fan of the Index or Railgun series to check it out or have misfortune befall you!
Masserati_
"Do you believe in miracles?" A somewhat cheesy start to the review perhaps, but appropriate to the theme of the movie nonetheless. Recently, I've noticed that I seem to have developed a knack for somehow always being able to review a show by J.C Staff, despite me saying that I'm not too fond of them. Now, honestly, I've had to re-evaluate that assessment, seeing as I've been somewhat unfair on them in the past - they've got their fair share of fantastic shows under their belt (Honey and Clover and To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S), as well as some that are bad or lame representationsof their source material (Little Busters! and Spiral, respectively).
To Aru Majutsu no Index: EnK finds itself somewhere in the middle of that spectrum, not really ending up on either good or bad. I got exactly what I expected from this movie, that is a really, really enjoyable feature which still retains quite a few of the problems that oftentimes hamper Index.
At its core, Index EnK is really nothing more than your average Index filler arc in movie form, all of the right boxes are ticked: Mysterious girl with some kind of special ability? Check. Touma needs to save that girl? Check. Some kind of group wants to use said girl for nefarious purposes? Check. Said girl will fall for Touma and add herself to his ever growing harem? Check. Index biting Touma in an attempt to create a humourous scene, only for it to fall down on its face? Most definitely. Indeed, the Index movie really does hit all the clichés that you've probably come to expect from the franchise.
This serves as both a negative and a positive; negatively, the story is quite predictable and you'll be able to see quite a few of the twists coming before they happen - with that being said, there are a couple of rather unexpected twists towards the end which did surprise me, so I've gotta give the movie kudos for that.
Another negative with the movie is one that irked me throughout the film, that is, the need to show every character who has had some role of importance or another in the story so far into the film - including characters from Railgun. This is an incredibly double-edged sword with some rather nasty repercussions, for instance, I would have been annoyed had Accelerator not been in the movie, so I was happy to see him, but at the same time, his cameo was wasted so much it makes me wonder what the point of including him at all even was.
The same thing applies to Mitsuko's appearance too, if she's only going to appear for one scene, then what's the point of even bothering to include her in the first place? I realise that this movie is, essentially, character fanservice - but it feels like such wasted character fanservice; the second Prince of Tennis movie did this as well, but it did it far more tastefully than the Index movie, when a character made a cameo appearance in that movie, their appearance held meaning, this just feels like they're including the characters because they're obligated to do so.
Another issue with the story, aside from the wasted cameos, is the really cheesy ending; you know the kind, the one when every character has to lend a helping hand in order to assist the main character in stopping whatever calamity or disaster is about to happen - the movie is incredibly guilty of this, and the way it happens feels incredibly silly and doesn't sit right with when the movie is set canonically with the series (granted, it'd still be silly even if it was right at the end of the series).
Then there's the singing thing, don't get me wrong, I don't mind the fact that this is essentially To Aru Majutsu no Index: The musical (sadly there was no Touma and Misaka singing duet, which would have made the movie totally worth watching for that alone), but considering how cheesy everything is building up to the climax, this also felt incredibly silly and somewhat unnecessary too.
On the flip-side of things, average Index arc though it may be, it's definitely among the best of these average Index arcs, mainly to do with the point that, for once, Touma doesn't end up giving an idealistic speech to the person he ends up fighting and keeps his idealism well in check - which is a saving grace to say the least.
Another thing is the twists towards the end, which are actually genuinely well executed and do serve to spice up the story a little bit - even if, for the most part, they remain on the predictable side, the twist that is implemented right at the end is actually rather well done and something I was caught off guard by (albeit, only slightly).
Aside from that, the story isn't really anything to write home about, if you didn't like arcs like this before then it certainly won't change your mind, but if you can tolerate Index filler then you'll probably be able to make it through this without too many problems.
There is however one thing that caught me off guard completely about the movie, and it's not the story twists - it's the animation.
Put simply, it is stunning.
Now, don't get me wrong, the Raildex franchise has always been receiving the best part of J.C Staff's budget, but Index: EnK takes that to a whole new level; in the past, the Index TV series has always suffered from the occasional still frame or an off-model every now and then, the movie gladly doesn't have that problem and, when it's in motion or if there isn't much action, it looks absolutely fantastic.
Magic attacks in particular, such as Stiyl's Innocentius, are an absolutely glorious sight to behold, and don't just look but feel powerful, I was left with my jaw slightly hanging open when I saw how good the movie looks. There was a fight in the movie about forty minutes or so in, when Touma is up against a random dude that he has to fight due to plot convenience, and I was honestly wondering if this was still To Aru Majutsu no Index, the animation was incredibly fluid and well done, more-so than a lot of the big fights in Index (although they're usually bogged down with monologuing, so maybe this is an example of what would happen if Touma didn't speak during his fights). There's even a car chase.
Another thing worth mentioning about the animation is that, with the increased budget, Academy City looks far more detailed than it did in the TV series. The night sky, the lighting - for once, Academy City feels like a proper city rather than just some location that the characters happen to be in at the time, it looks like a place that people would actually live in. It's impressive to say the least, the little details that are usually ignored such as crowds moving in the background are actually given quite a bit of attention, I remembered that there are actually people supposed to be living in this city as opposed to it being somewhat empty.
The CG for the most part looks rather impressive too, particularly the Index equivalents to Tron's lightcycles, which do look incredibly cool and have become another item on my list of fictional vehicles that I would love to ride one day. Sadly, the one chink in EnK's otherwise impenetrable animation armour is the rather ugly CG that is used whenever a character is singing, it does look incredibly out of place and, in comparison to the rest of the movie, just looks plain odd and somewhat unnecessary, what they were trying to achieve really could have been done better with conventional animation.
Sound wise, the music isn't really worth mentioning all that much, seeing as t is, for the most part, tracks from the TV series, there may have been a couple of remixes in their too, but I sadly can't recall, my point being that, if you liked the music in Index, you'll like the Index movie's soundtrack, if you didn't, then you won't like it.
The actual song that is performed by Meigo Arisa throughout the movie isn't really something necessarily special either, it's a nice little song, but not necessarily something that I'd say is any better or worse than the soundtrack as a whole.
As for the cast, you get exactly what you expect from them by now, Yuka Iguchi is still incredibly annoying as Index, Abe Atsushi delivers as Touma, Rina Satou gives us exactly what you'd expect from Misaka (not at the level of To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S mind you, but this isn't her movie so I can't complain as much as I'd like), they're almost all good performances apart from Index.
The major additions to the voice cast, Sachika Misawa, Yoko Hikasa and Ayane Sakura, all give passing grade performances and all deliver exactly as you'd expect them to, with sadly no surprise star performance to speak of, they do the job and that's that really.
Other cast members, such as Nobuhiko Okamoto, are totally wasted in the few seconds of screen-time that they get, it goes back to my original point of the character cameos feeling so wasted that there's really no point in them appearing at all.
Which brings me to my next point.
Index, as a series, has a lot of characters that appear on quite a regular basis throughout, characters like Accelerator, Stiyl and Tsuchimikado, the series suffers as a result of this, having to deal with too many characters at once - and the movie suffers as a result of this as well. Nearly every character that has served some role of importance between volumes 1-7 of the Light Novels (not including villains), gets an appearance in the movie, however short their appearance may be - heck, even Aleister of all people gets an appearance in the movie. This is a serious problem, as the movie wastes cameos that should have been something that really pleases fans, I should have felt happy that Accelerator appeared in the movie at all, instead, I was left feeling rather confused as to why he was there - don't get me wrong, I'm happy that he was in the movie, as he's by far the best character in Index (at least, by this point in the story), and I'm pleased he had a moment, but it's not the kind of cameo he deserves.
This waste of cameos actually also has a negative effect on the new cast members too, the movie spends so much time bringing in everyone that it hampers any serious development for Meigo Arisa and Shutaura Sequenzia (which is a ridiculous name even by Index standards), as such, they come across as rather flat and somewhat one-dimensional, this in turn also harms the twist at the end now that I think about it, seeing as the characters are rather unsympathetic, which lessens what should have been serious emotional impact.
The main villain isn't worth talking about, motivated by a stupid reason that is really not worth going into due to its stupidity, it tried to develop her in some way I suppose, but I can't say I actually felt anything even remotely resembling sympathy for her, especially considering what she was going to do to achieve it.
All flaws aside though, Index EnK is a very, very enjoyable movie - one that I was quietly anticipating. A common thing I've noticed with Index (especially in Index II), is that, when it's going in all guns blazing, it's totally possible to ignore all the flaws and just find something really enjoyable. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's "turn off your brain and enjoy it" style viewing, as there's method in the madness (for lack of a better idiom). I don't think I would have enjoyed this anywhere near as much as if it was an actual part of the TV series though - the animation is definitely one reason why I enjoyed it so much and it really is stunning to behold, but the wasted character cameos did detract from my enjoyment of the movie a bit.
Don't go into this movie expecting some kind of revolutionary new appreciation for Index that you never thought possible, you won't be getting it. It's traditional Index filler at the end of the day, meaning that it comes with all the pros and cons that you've come to expect from the franchise by now - it also comes with fantastic action scenes that should are totally worth watching the movie for.
Now hurry up and announce Index III J.C staff, you've kept me waiting long enough.
SwerveThePerv
As a fan of the To Aru series (given I haven't seen any Railgun yet). I had a decent level of expectations for this movie. Toaru Majutsu no Index itself was a series I enjoyed greatly. I watched it a while back and ever since the "break" to go forward on the Railgun side story I haven't seen the series since. Since no anime is perfect I could blatantly point out most flaws I found in the show and look past them but as I grew as an anime viewer these flaw became more and more of a cripple to the series. Again since Ihaven't seen the series again ever since I finished Index II I haven't really had time to go back and re-watch with this new mind set even though I remember the flaws. Then this movie came a fresh start to get a little summary of what index was again and oh did I remember what Index was.
Story 7/10
The story had a good premise but the execution could have been better. The story based around the word miracle and what that word holds and means. The pacing of the story itself I found good but slightly rushed at times given that the movie is only 1hr 30mins. I found myself losing the story at times but maybe it was just me not paying attention. The story itself is something you would expect from The Index series a "girl" is in trouble and Touma with his save everything attitude come to help while another "girl" with a tragic past connected to the first "girl" is in pursuit of her and Touma has to fall on them or vice versa sometime within the movie. Putting that aside just Index's harem subplot at work and Index's subtle misogyny was not portrayed in this movie so don't worry KINDA SPOILER "no girls got punched by Touma". But all jokes aside the story was good in the premise but the execution was a little bad and pacing was a little fast at times but nothing too bad it was almost unnoticeable but that is just my personal view. Within the time of the movie screen time was given to the center characters evenly but other characters felt like they were only there to help pull the story together in the end such as "Accelerator and Last Order".
Art 8/10
The Toaru series does it's art very well. J.C Staff has given this show a lovely art design that looks well with its visual animation it doesn't feel like it ever lacks throughout the movie. The scenes where the stunning visual effects are needed portrays them very well while the less focused scenes don't have a lack in animation or visuals to for us to notice and complain.
Sound 8/10
The sound is very fitting to for the movie. The main girl in the show is a pop music start and the music fits the character well and fits in well as background music for certain scenes such as the scene with Kanzaki and the missiles. The soundtrack as a whole was good in the sense that everything fits and it fits well making action scenes thrilling and visually stunning scenes captivating.
Characters 6/10
The characters for the movie were not up too pare with what I expected but not a total failure. The main girl Arisa could have been better. They did not give her character much to work with in terms of her role. She felt quite generic at times given that she is the center character of the movie I would have expected her to show more of a character as a whole instead of just fitting the role as she did in the movie.
The other girl Shutaura was a more interesting character and I found she would have been a better main character than Arisa. Not because she had a bad past made her a better character that fact that she showed more of a personality and less generic behavior for here role even with a stupid mental illness they gave her (Which I found kinda funny and desperate on the writers behalf just because they could think of anything better to move the story.) again just bad writing.
The first time I saw Magical Index I thought Touma was a good character but as I grew I found him more and more mediocre and generic. He himself is a character that makes the statement "Just fitting the role." He doesn't do much to make himself as a character indifferent form other anime MC's of this genre, no unique traits, no distinct personality, no set motivation. They try to make him seem badass but in reality its just the show trying to make him seem that way. I don't hate his character though but again...generic.
The main antagonist too was just another power hungry loli with some bent motive. And some characters where just there but the original cast as a whole played there part and did it well. From electric tsunderes, to lesbian teleporters, to annoying loli nuns to sociopathic vector controllers.
Enjoyment 7/10
I may have talk down on the series and movie but I am a review and sometimes I may be bias (like we all are) and other times I may be not. In this review I'm not. I love the series and the movie may have not been the level of greatness I wanted it was far from bad it was actually pretty good.
Overall 7/10
I know you all may think I'm using the word generic a lot but that is what Magical Index holds a lot of generic content with a great premise. Generic yet Unique" is a phrase best describes Toaru Majutsu no Index and it's contents. This movie was no different had its flaws, bad writing and crude development thrown at you but you still enjoyed it. These problems aren't even on a scale for you to complain because other shows have tried like Index and failed miserably so we should applaud it for that have something great isn't easy to come by and this movie like Index didn't reach that point but it didn't reach too far from it.
jc9622
How did I find out about this movie you ask? Well, I have no idea. Damn, my rotten brain. I wish I have Index's brain so I can remember how I found this movie. [Story]: (8/10) The story is set in Academy City. A Space Elevator named Endymion which is under construction is almost complete. One day, Touma and Index meet a Level 0 girl named Meigo Arisa. Index and Arisa have a mysterious connection in their ravenous appetites. While the three are enjoying their time after school, Stiyl along with some magicians suddenly attacks. His target is Arisa. Why can't the Index series take things slowlike this movie did? In the movie, everything was explained so I knew what the hell was going on. In my opinion, the story is great but the ending sucked. I'm not going to spoil you guys the ending. The story structure of the movie is very similar to Railgun and also somewhat similar to Index.
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[Art/Animation] (10/10)
Just by looking at the trailer or just watching the first 5 minutes of the movie, you already know that this movie has a great animation. The background characters are detailed, the environments are colourful and character designs look more gorgeous.
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[Sound]: (9/10)
The soundtrack is similar to Index and Railgun with some new soundtracks added. I loved the soundtrack from both series so I also love it here. The new soundtracks are ok. The song that's being sung by Arisa called "telepath" is wonderful. I heard both versions and japanese version is obviously better. I didn't listen to the credits song so I don't know the song.
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[Character]: (9/10)
Most of the characters from both Index and Railgun made an appearance in the movie. Especially Saten, thank god. For people who loves to see Accelerator, he only appeared for a few seconds along with Last Order. The character's actions and personality is still the same especially Touma and Index. Some new characters are also introduced. Arisa, a LV. 0 esper and the main character of the movie. Her dream is singing and her dreams seems to be coming true. Shutaura, a girl who despises songs and does not believe in luck. She plays a major role later on in the movie
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[Enjoyment]: (9/10)
I absolutely enjoyed the movie because it's not like the Index TV series where everything is rushed. The movie is not rushed and it's nice to see all the characters from Railgun and Index making an appearance. It was worth 1 h and 30 mins of my life and I wouldn't mind watching this movie again.
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[OVERALL]: (9/10)
Overall, the movie is great with some few flaws. The movie has a great story, great animation, great soundtrack and they put all my favorite characters from Index and Railgun in this movie. If you're a fan of both series then you don't want to skip this one.
Next, I want them to make a Railgun movie and I'll definitely buy the Blu-Ray and watch the movie.
Pros:
+Great story
+Perfect Animation
+Great soundtrack
+Plot is well explained this time
+Characters from both Index and Railgun makes an appearance
Cons:
-Disappointing ending
-Accelerator didn't get a lot of screentime
Mythical_Truth
I apologize in advance if i spoiled anything. I tried very hard not to. Or for getting your hopes up and then crushing them because it does not live up to my description. Miracles? This movie certainly is one. Think of every single anime movie you've seen. Majority of them all have common cliches. Three bad guys, who are impossible to beat but some how are killed in the end, and one leader who is either overpowered, or just a coward. And of course, the main characters all struggling for what is obviously good. This movie has none of that. 3 years ago, a spaceplane called Orion by a company called Orbital while re-entering the earth's atmosphere, miraculously all 88 passengers survived. Meet Arisa, a street performer and upcoming idol. She meets Touma and Index while performing on a street one day, completely by chance. However, chance and luck do not exist around her, only miracles. Except, she doesn't know it. According to Stiyl and his three new apprentices, this girl has the ability to start an all out war between Magic and Science, though she is among neither. The Science side, Orbital is back, and wants to use Arisa as the opening attraction for the grand unveiling of Endymion, a Space Elevator, which according to the Magic side is the reincarnation of the Tower of Babel.
What makes this movie so great is that it throws away common place ideas such as good and evil, and focuses on everyone: characters from the original series like Accelerator and Touma, as well as new characters such as Shatuara and Arisa. Everyone fights for their beliefs and ideals, rather than for 'the greater good'. It perfectly combines genres of Magic, action, Idols, Action, Sci-fi, Mecha, and up beat Comedy throughout its duration. It truly is a Kiseki.
xbobx
"Then, would you accompany me to the depths of hell?" For those who watched the TV series, this sure rings a bell. It was said by Index to Touma in the very first episode when they met in Touma's apartment. After this encounter, Kamijou Touma's life would never be the same again. He didn't know back then but he was about to discover a world with dangers beyond his imagination and had yet to realize how important he would become. The Toaru Index/Railgun franchise stands out due to its great character design and art, exciting battle scenes and an interesting story about the fight between the scientific andthe religious factions. It is fast paced and finish with deconstructive villain vs. hero action.
This kind of plot is based in the well-used formula of action anime that always happen to be successful in a way or another. There is this major scheme going on and our protagonists are randomly catch in the middle of it, while they are completely unaware of what is going on.
One could say it's an old and repetitive storyline, but wouldn't deny it proves to still be effective anytime a new project appears with this setting. This movie is no exception. It could've been better developed but was sure joyful to watch.
With just these few lines I could review the entire story. That's exactly why my score to its story wasn't that high. However, there's way more to analyze. For the breakdown, if you might, read below.
My first thoughts on this were "I've seen enough Index to know where this is going". Endymion story develops just the same as a special/OVA would go and takes place after the end of the TV series, although, no prior knowledge is necessary in order to understand it.
Again, Academy City, the place where science has no limits and students are often endangered by experiments conduced without good sense by both religious/scientific factions, will be the stage for another conflict.
Have you ever wondered what makes a "miracle" possible? The Miracle of Endymion, as some like to refer about an incident that happened long ago and is about to take the stage again. However, this miracle might not be so perfect, and there are some who would swear to death it was never such a thing.
Just like the tv series, this movie contains a lot of symbolism and references to holy scriptures and ancient story as well. Being this one of the most important pillars of the entire franchise it was pleasant to see that they did it very well with this movie.
J.C.Staff, nowadays, stands as one of the greatest studios when you talk about anime. So, as expected the artwork was a joy to watch. There were some nice scenarios and the character expressions were perfectly drawn. You can easily notice someone cared about the details not only on the most important scenes but during the entire move. It sure impressed me the high quality of the CGI that was also meticulous coordinated.
Usually movies have a larger budget then TV series, more sponsors and more time to produce less material. This way, movies tend to have better results, just like the post-production, the animation and the planing of these 90 minutes were superb.
Being it an action-driven story, it's acceptable that the focus isn't in developing characters, even though, one thing is leaving characters with low priority and another is completely leaving them aside. In my point of view, there's just a lack of effort in making them deeper.
Index fans will be depressed to know that she isn't the spotlight this time neither. Her screen time in this movie was also minimal. Index Librorum Prohibitorum stopped being the main focus of this franchise long ago.
Endymion presented lots of supportive chars -as if there wasn't already tons characters in this series- but just a couple of them are developed and actually have some kind of background story. Those who read the novels might be a little more comfortable with this, since some of these characters were introduced along the volumes, but for those who didn't, it just feels like these chars are jumping in and out of the screen.
There are a few cameo appearances from the TV series for the joy of some fans, but they would only show up some minutes and didn't played a important role on the story.
All of this just contributes to blurry the glow of this movie. It becomes hard to follow and be excited by the story when you can't attach to the characters.
As for sound and OST. We got a lot of insert songs, very pretty ones. One of the main characters, and center of the plot, loves to sing and make a living out of it, so as expected, there are some moments during the movie when you can just sit back and enjoy her cute voice.
In the end, a predicable story with a pretty predicable ending. It felt like I was watching an OVA.
Endymion didn't reach my expectations, I wasn't amused as I thought I would be. But still it was a very pleasant movie to watch and a great story to pass the time.
Considering it has been a while since the TV series aired, it was nice to relive those moments.
As for a final consideration: Yes, we got (a bit of) fanservice! Some interesting camera angles and odd "where are your clothes?" scenes.
J.C.Staff sure knows how to please their fans without tagging this as a ecchi.
CobaltSigma
**THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN A FEW SPOILERS** I came into Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki very cautiously because of what I thought about the 2 seasons of Toaru Majutsu no Index. I thought that the first season was mildly entertaining with the ideas it presented but when season 2 came out I felt like it just fell on its face. So, did Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki do any justice for the Index anime?........nope. Story: (3/10) The story of Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki begins with a plane crashing but when the plane crashes all the people that were involved in thecrash all miraculously survived. Later, it cuts to Touma and Index walking around Academic City and meet a level 0 girl named Arisa who is able to sing very beautifully but there is actually much more to her singing than it seems. There were many flaws that I found within the story of this movie. One thing that I found very odd with the story was how Stiyl and these 3 magician girls all attack Touma and company with murderous intent which makes it seem like this movie took place between the first and second season of Toaru Majutsu no Index. The pacing of the movie can also seem very off at moments and I know movies don't have as much time to be able to explain things thoroughly but I think it could have been handled much better. There was another odd moment in the later half of the story with Kanzaki. Kanzaki comes out of a space shuttle in space without a space suit and somehow survives being out in space and after she is done protecting the space shuttle she then floats down back to earth. The story never shows how she was able to survive falling back down to earth after the whole incident was over. My final problem with the story is that I thought that the way the movie ended was bad.
Art and Animation: (7/10)
The art and animation in Toaru Majutsu no Index series has always been pretty good. The backgrounds in this look phenomenal, the character designs all stay consistent, and the different super power effects all look good. My only problems with the art is how it used CGI vehicles that were in the first fight of the movie and how it used a 3D model of Arisa during the scenes when she was singing kind of like those videos were it shows a 3D model of Hatsune Miku singing but it is used sparingly so it is fine. The animation is as equally as good as the art with always being pretty fluent.
Sound: (6/10)
The soundtrack in this movie is pretty good with having many good tracks and my favorite being Ashita, Hareru Kana by Misawa Sachika. The music also helps the scenes in being more atmospheric. The voice actors all did a good job and the sound effects are fine.
Characters: (4/10)
I have always found problems with all the characters in Toaru Majutsu no Index series and it doesn't get any better in this movie. There were many characters that were either just pushed in to make an appearance or having barely any development at all. An example of characters barely getting any development would be the 3 magician girls that are were Stiyl's helpers. The only screen time they ever got was during the battles that involved Stiyl which hardly added anything to their characters. An example of the characters pushed in would definitely be Accelerator because of how they just thrown him in at the last minute in the later half of the movie. Touma is still the guy that is able to defeat anybody with his magic negating hand even though the villains can use their own strength or physical weapons to defeat him. Index is still the girl that barely contributes to anything in the story even though the anime is named after her and how she is mostly used to bite Touma on the head when Touma accidentally does something perverted in front of her. Luckily, Arisa and Shutaura get a fair amount of development but I found the romance between Arisa and Touma was not well done.
Enjoyment: (4/10)
The art/animation and sound was definitely something I enjoyed in the movie.
Overall: (4/10)
Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki had its high points with the art/animation it presented but the plot inconsistencies and the characters hold it back from being a good movie.
ChargedCoin
Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki Review Before I start this review, let me just say that I’m a huge fan of the Toaru series, I absolutely love the characters, all of them being extremely interesting and not typical stereotypes. The story is interesting and the universe is so huge that I just want to read up everything about it. Although that being said, I felt that Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki was a pretty huge disappointment for me, and it pains me to give it only a 7/10. It lacked the charm of both the Railgun and Index series. Why? Just readon to find out.
Story (7/10):
The story for the movie is pretty weak. That is because the pacing of the movie was horrendous, emphasizing too much on the non-important parts (introduction) and rushed through the important plot points. Unless you have not read the summary, the story is about a mysterious Level 0 girl, Meigo Arisa, who seems to have the voice of miracles (kiseki), and she would tear up the balance between the magic and science sides. This concept is well done, since in every episode of Index’s ending, Touma always says, “When science and magic cross paths”. Yes, finally we see something that will truly affect this balance, and the consequences that follow because of that. The battles with the science and magic sides were truly extraordinary, however, the antagonist’s plan to use Meigo Arisa for her own needs were not well developed enough. Apparently the antagonist was the one who caused the Orion plane’s crash, which fuels the other character’s rage (I shall not mention the name to avoid spoilers) but yet no explanation was made as to why she caused the plane crash. The viewers do not actually feel threatened at all since the antagonist’s plans were not well explained and not justified. It was hard to completely understand what the antagonist was exactly going with her plan. Worst of all, in the last part of the movie, the directors seem to just randomly throw in characters from the Toaru universe; Accelerator, Last Order, MISAKA Clones for no rhyme or reason, as if the only purpose was for fanservice (Though I was pleased, ha.). In addition, the parts where accelerator appeared were just so anticlimactic. Lastly, the ending was like just, wat. Trust me, you’ll have the same reaction. In other words, the story was filled with plot holes that were left unexplained.
Characters (7/10):
The characters from the Toaru universe return, and they remain more or less the same. We have Mikoto and her gang, as well as Touma and Index. Their personalities are the same and their actions believable, and as fans you will not be disappointed. Otherwise, the points for characters will be so much lower.
The development of the new characters, mainly Meigo Arisa, Shutaura Sequenzia and the antagonist (I shall not name her to avoid spoilers) is not as well done.
Personally, I felt that out of the new characters, Meigo’s character development was the best, as we can truly see her personality, her motives and how she changes through the movie, with the help of Touma and Index.
Shutaura however, was badly developed. Her motives were not clear and her actions were not as justifiable as the directors make it to be. Moreover, she claims that she can't hear music, and even that wasn't well explained.
And lastly, the antagonist. Her development was the absolute worst, all we got were at most 2 seconds of development. The directors were making her character such that we would be sympathetic of her, however, with little backstory given for her character, her actions were hard to be justified and thus there was almost little threat posed by her.
Art (10/10):
This being the movie, I have to say that the art looks absolutely gorgeous. Everything from the endymion, Meigo’s concert to Mikoto’s electricity, looks crisp, beautiful and detailed.
Sound (10/10):
Every action scene is accompanied with awesome soundtrack as well as fitting sound effects that sound epic. In addition, the songs performed with Sachika Misawa as Meigo Arisa were all very catchy and I think its something that I will add to my collection. They really seemed to be miraculous songs.
Enjoyment (9/10):
Though the story and character development was not that well done, I am a Toaru fan and hence I still thoroughly enjoyed this movie.
Overall (7/10)
apau
Fukou da! Here it comes my review! I had great expections knowing that Kamachi Kazuma wrote the script for this and as a great fan of the Index series (I mean, the Light Novels) I was really really looking forward for this. Did it met my expectations? Yes, It was amazing all the time. I really really enjoyed it. Why? Because this is a movie made for fans. Yes, it's canon but I doubt that Kamachi Kazuma will mention Meigo Arisa in NT 8 or the events of this movie, right? This was a movie made just by the enjoyment of fans, J.C Staff didhis job right this time? Yup, strangely, this time J.C Staff brings to us a really good movie.
Story - 9
The Story is written by Kamachi Kazuma, it has all that we can expect. Mindfucks, Touma being a TouMAN and all this, nothing new particullary in this aspect.
The story takes place between the events of the novel 8 (Musujime Awaki and Kuroko's novel) and novel 9 & 10 (the arc of Daihaseisai), thus, it happens at the same time that Index II. This is not a sequel, keep in mind that.
We see the construction of the Endymion, a platform made intending to bring people to space. But soon Kamijou Touma will be involved with Meigo Arisa, a girl that he knew while he was talking a walk with Index in the streets of Academy City, then he will find out that she's being chased by a group of girls who are under the orders of...guess who? Yup, our friend Stiyl (man I really missed you XD). Any further hints about the plot would be spoiler so i'll leave it to you to find it out.
Art - 9
Great, as we can expect. We are able to see al the characters again and in that aspect the design is good and follow the designs from Haimura very well, I have no complains in that aspect.
Sound - 10
Great! Amazing! Outstanding! The music and the songs were great (as one can expect from j.c staff, the only thing that they can do well XD) and knew to match with the events that were happening. This was, without doubt, the most outstanding thing in this great movie.
Character - 10
Perfect! We are able to see all the great characters from Index (the best thing of Index is the great cast of characters, IMHO). All the characters (except for Hamazura, ugh, poor Hamazura, and it's my favourite one! XD) had their moment to shine. It was really great in this aspect. As one would expect from Index.
Enjoyment - 10
This, is a movie made for fans of Raildex. Thus, as a great fan myself, I enjoyed it all the time, all the minutes were thrilling, amazing, interesting, i couldn't take my eyes off of the monitor while I was watching it! This movie is, we could say, fanservice, yes, not in the "Boob-ass" meaning but in the meaning that it's made for us, fans, to enjoy it. As I said earlier I don't think that this arc will be relevant for the history (or perhaps it'll be, Kamachi Kazuma is such a troll lol). I think that this is an independent arc given to us to be able to see all the great characters again. Also, it gives some hints to the no-readers of Index novels about what will happen in the next LN.
Overall - 9
Great, amazing, we can feel the hand of Kamachi Kazuma behind this work.
Sorry for all the grammar errors, I hope you all can understand well my review. And I hope that it'll be useful to all of you!
KowaYamai
To Aru Majutsu No Index : Endymion no Kiseki The producers of To Aru Majutsu No Index, what they do in their shows that no other producers do, place songs in the anime that you can listen to and it can change the mood of the whole anime. Now, im not talking about normal OSTs, but they make the song part of the anime, and it just creates a fulfilling feeling that you cant ignore, a happy feeling, beautiful songs that they make. The songs are always good, each will leave you feeling stunned, and with the actual story and plot, It makes the movie feelcomplete.
A very good movie from the creators of To Aru Majutsu no Index and To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, there's the right amount of suspense build up and they'res never a single second thats plain or boring. Wonderful OSTs here, giving the movie's build up moments an extra push, and an interesting story. The character developments in this movie is good, and they never fail to create the exact amount of character change needed for each part of the movie.
The art in this anime is quite good, the backgrounds are never boring, and they fit with the type of anime, gives it quite a futuristic feeling.
I personally enjoyed this movie of the anime very much, the producers of this never fail to surprise me with their work. A wonderful plot that has surprises everywhere, right amount of action and suspense in each part that leads up to the final showdown. The OSTs are perfect for each situation, making the movie even more enjoyable.
I really recommend you to watch this movie if you enjoyed the To Aru Majutsu No Index and To Aru Kagaku No Railgun series. Oh, and heres the link to the song names, which I personally would download. I found them most enjoyable to listen to. http://toarumajutsunoindex.wikia.com/wiki/Toaru_Majutsu_no_Index_Movie:_Miracle_of_Endymion_Original_Soundtrack
Or call me slow, found a really good website for people like me who like downloading OSTs and anime songs: http://anime.thehylia.com/soundtracks/browse/all
Mythal
This felt less like watching a movie, and more like watching an eclectic collection of individual character moments and action scenes. The plot was all over the place and made very little sense. The motivations for the different characters and factions was confusing and paper thin. It seems to me that they were attempting too hard to give all of the iconic Index/Railgun characters some screen time and a cool action sequence or two, instead of crafting a cohesive story. There were two redeeming points to this movie. The first would be the likeable and cute heroine, Arisa, who had good chemistry with Index and Touma. The secondwould be the animation, art, and sound quality which were all really nice. Lots of vibrant colours, smooth and fluid animation in the action scenes so that was nice to watch, and some enjoyable songs.
If you're a fan of the series you might enjoy this movie just to see your favourite characters get some more screen time, but watch at your own risk because the plot leaves a lot to be desired.
If you've never watched Index or Railgun before then skip this movie, it's not a good way to get into the franchise.
It's rare for a movie to make me start watching it at 1.5 speed half way through so I can finish it sooner, and unheard of for that to happen for one of my favourite franchises, and yet here we are.
Pros:
-likeable heroine
-great animation, art and sound (the animation quality is literally the only reason I'm not scoring this lower than a 4 overall)
Cons:
-nonsense patch-work plot
-flimsy antagonist AND protagonist motivations
-so many plot holes
Scheveningen
The Miracle of Endymion is very much a movie meant for someone already familiar with the Index franchise. While it has a self-contained and compelling plot, it is geared towards celebrating the series just from the number of characters appearing. This raises the larger question of if a movie in a franchise must be made for general consumption, owing to callbacks and cameos that do not directly serve the plot. The answer may vary depending on the viewer, some seeing it as a waste of time or distraction, and others viewing it as adding to the atmosphere. But without a doubt, Endymion is distinctly anencapsulation of Index's spirit. As such, it does not pretend to be just another arc for adaptation in the series and would be incomplete without some liberties taken to let most of the prominent characters appear.
The most apparent feature of Endymion is how conceptually and thematically robust it is, reflecting on and reinforcing the rest of the series by extension. The exploration of miracles and how they are still, in part, created by people's efforts are interesting and uplifting. While the rest of the series has yet to deliver on a full-on clash between magic and science, Endymion gives insight into their confluence and where they overlap. Though miracles would be an intuitively magic side phenomenon, the movie shows us an interesting overlap with science. While they are ultimately classified as magical powers that prompt the English Puritan Church's involvement, it is demonstrated that miracles are born out of an overriding human will. This has immediate connections to the explanation we were given for esper powers: that their AIM fields originate in their minds' creation of a personal reality. The relationship between miracles and esper powers gives Academy City interest in studying its source. In addition to being a succinct yet robust premise for a conflict, it supports the world of Index by showing how magic and science can converge. Simultaneously, the thematic imagery is exceedingly strong, drawing parallels between the Endymion space elevator and the Tower of Babel. While it does not really make use of the Tower's story, there are many poetic connections to it, like its eventual destruction in the movie's climax.
The emphasis on music as a central part of the movie's theme also enhances it greatly. While it is not outstanding compared to a series focused on music or some of anime's biggest hits, it is excellent in the Index's context. The idea that music is a means to convey not just emotions, but hopes and wishes are driven home without being hamfisted. This gives the soundtrack greater importance, with the J-pop music is matched well with both action and slower scenes. The use of music to convey feelings and spur efforts that words alone cannot achieve aligns exceedingly well with their Tower of Babel motif. That despite not fully understanding one another, there is still a means of communication that can transcend any gap. Despite watching the movie without subtitles for the songs, the tone of the music conveyed the desires of Arisa, be it energetic, resolute or calming. Although this should be the goal of all soundtracks, it is so rarely emphasised in the narrative and given time to breathe for maximum impact. The only other shows that execute this, albeit much better, are anime centred around music like Hibike! Euphonium.
This is some of Index at its best, being very much a show that emphasises thematic and conceptual robustness above its other qualities. It gives the movie an additional layer of depth with its allusions and themes. At times, this may veer into more "literature mode" territory where it is reading into things that may not be explicitly or clearly the author's or director's intent. Yet, it is rare for an anime to have these layers to peel back and the fact that a more in-depth thematic reading exists should give Endymion credit. At the same time, the movie does undermine itself with some more questionable choices. The lewd fan service is dialled up far too much for my liking and tends to undermine the more profound points it is making. Also, the introduction of Stiyl's apprentices/groupies are an unfortunate piece of irony, being referred to as witches despite the Puritans being notorious witch hunters. The series does explain it away, eventually, with the same logic as to how Necessarius is a part of the Anglican Church despite some of its more occult/pagan magics. While it is possible to handwave this as a lack of more specific cultural understanding owing to Index being Japanese, it is also eye-wateringly ironic to think about.
The plot is for Endymion is very much the story of Arisa and Shutaura coming to terms with who they are. Being the show's emotional and thematic centre, it does feels mildly disjointed because of how late their narratives properly converge. Aside from that, the plot is very much straight forward with sufficient intrigue built around the endgame. The main antagonist is quite underdeveloped but ultimately has an intelligible aim. We can also comprehend the means used to achieve it based on the magic principles already explained in Index, though its specific effects are left ambiguous. On the other hand, Touma's involvement in the plot is something mostly left up to chance as usual, with other characters being roped in along the way. Indeed, even prominent characters like Mikasa do not have a particularly large role in the story, leaning overall more towards the magic side. However, it would also be impossible to leave her out entirely, both from a narrative and audience-centric perspective. In that sense, it is strange to fault the show for having the majority of the Index cast involved since it is very much it's prerogative if it wants to do that.
There is some criticism to be levelled that new characters were introduced that further complicates coherence with the rest of the series. This is very much an issue that all movies of expansive franchise face when they have a more serialised standard format. It is inappropriate to adapt a core part of the storyline as a movie since it would be a shift in format. This necessitates that the movie plot either be a contained side-story or an epilogue/sequel if the series has ended. Given Index has far outpaced its anime adaptions, the latter is very much impossible. Having a movie with only established characters that does not alter the status quo or have any ramifications for their personality is extremely difficult to do well. Hence, it is justified that spinoff movies showcase established characters but have the plot and character arcs revolve around new or previously minor characters. From that, it is unfair to criticise this movie for not further developing character. It is still an understandable irritation since the Index series has relatively weak characterisation with only a few exceptions from Railgun. Even then, some characters like Accelerator and Kanzaki were challenging to bring in without completely breaking down the plot due to their sheer power levels. While Accelerator's cameo was fine as it was more contained, Kanzaki's involvement was particularly questionable, her saintly powers allowing her to survive in outer space. It does signal how strong she is, surpassing the actions of Mikasa in Silent Party where the Space Elevator had a brief appearance. Yet, it also felt incredibly campy and broke the show's immersion, impressive as her display was.
Overall, Endymion is a movie which strengths lie in its theme and tone. It has echoes of the same atmosphere as the Silent Party arc from Railgun S. The plot and the antagonist take more of a back seat while showcasing an upbeat thematic experience with its ensemble cast coming together. While it has much of the same weaknesses as the Index series, its strengths have also been significantly heightened. If viewed from the perspective of a standard action movie, it would be accurate to say it borders mediocre. However, that was ever only a portion of Index/Railgun's appeal. Missing the more thematic elements is indeed missing half the point of the movie. Capturing Index and Railgun's spirit, Endymion is in a similar position where a 7.5 out of 10 would be a more accurate reflection of its score. Yet it clearly surpasses its parent story, pushing itself closer to an 8.
pluslethatminun
Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki... Uhh... Where should I start? Okay... I'll assume you've watched the two previous seasons. It's safely to say that Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki(ok it's too long, we're sticking with "The Movie") is not part of the main story. What mostly happens to movies(in anime). Story: 7 Like I've said: "The Movie" isn't connected with previous To aru installments; aside from the characters from it. And of course the somewhat-confusing lore about To Aru installmens. Well, as far as the story goes. I don't want to spoil you, but everyone dies on a plane crash within the first fiveor six minutes of the movie... NOOOOOOOOOOOT. Just kidding. I'm not kidding about the plane crash though(more like space shuttle crash). The plot about the movie is not that hard to catch, so I won't tell you anymore of it. Don't want to spoil you. But expect some girls, I mean lots of them. Well, Touma really has a harem, so don't be surprised by it. And MAL's synopsis on it pretty well sums up its main story. Overall, I'm just to lazy to re-tell it. x3
Art: 9
ALL HAIL INDEX's ART!! Yes, there is no doubt about "The Movie's" art. You've seen in on the previous series. But, man oh man. "The Movie's" art is really incredible. Arisa's(One of the main stars in "The Movie") dance CG's are so damn well done. The way the action scenes were done are so clean. Reminds us how advanced art nowadays. You can expect great art from To Aru movie. I mean, you should.
Sound: 8
Another thing you should look out for in the movie(If you like to listen to J-songs). The songs Arisa sang were kinda good. Sound effects were fine, I mean, what's there to add on a normal explosion. But the background music when something major is happening is quite great.
Characters: 8
To Aru Universe made a lot of unique characte; from a girl who has thousands of clones, to a guy who wears stilts but has insane powers. You can look forward to seeing the old characters from previos series. And the new characters are not half bad either, in fact I really liked them. Arisa(kinda Inori/Yuno-esque look) and Shutaura(Infinite Stratos reject character, lol jk), both of them are main characters in this movie. The story revolved around them. Of course Touma and his loli sidekick will still kick lots of ass in the movie. Oh yeah, expect a lot of cameos! I really liked Styil's three students.
Enjoyement : 7
To say that I didn't enjoy "The Movie" would be lying. I really enjoyed it. The movie really lacked a lot in some areas. Questions like how, what, when, why will pop out in your mind in no time. They could've put more into it. But it's still enjoyable. The humor, the action-packed scenes, Touma's unbelievable gut to punch some potential waifus. Yes, all of it were really enjoyable.
Overall : 7
Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki has a lot of flaws. A good short movie. It's not good, but it's definitely not bad either. It'll never make the top list or any kind of great achievement other movies had, but it's still a good watch. The ending was pretty weak; raising questions what happens to who, and what happens the that? They can easily put a part two on it, but I highly doubt it, since this didn't quite pan out like what happened with the previous T.V. show. I highly recommend wathcing this if you've watched the T.V. shows, if not, you'll have waaaaay more questions in your mind. One thing i didn't like about the movie was its cliché-ness. I don't know, maybe it's just me. But I seriously think there's a fine line between cliché and encouraging words, too much sugar can make your cake yucky. If you know what I mean. Now, go watch it and have some fun.
Vetyt
A movie so grand that it crumbles under it's own weight. I think the biggest problem with this movie are the characters. I know, I know, but hear me out. One of the stronger points of Raildex series is a huge cast of great characters, and that's precisely what is wrong with this movie. But not because it doesn't have them. It's the opposite, they just crammed all of them into this movie even if they have no relation to the plot just as a form of fanservice. This movie wastes so much time trying to weave characters into the plot, that the actual characters that domatter suffer because of that. Also it's pretty much required to watch at least some Index and Railgun series as it is not explained at all who these characters are, what they stand for, and why they even know each other. Even worse that newly introduced characters are given the same treatment further increasing the confusion if you should even know them or maybe you missed something.
For starter we have a completely new main character but it wouldn't be an Index movie if Touma-Index duo wouldn't be included. So the main character is cast to the side and we watch the majority of the movie from perspective of Touma. Who as an unreliable narrator and dense character, he fails to properly introduce. Another character that was completely ignored was the villain, which could have been a great character if they were properly introduced and explored and not summarized in literally one sentence (which makes it impossible to explain without spoiling).
Next comes the story. How do you write the story where main character and main antagonist are almost nonexistent? You stretch literally everything. It seems like a scale ot everything is huge but once you start boiling it down not much really happens. A lot of scenes were added for the sole purpose to adding yet another character and then they never mention them again. And because of a push to make everything bigger and better we never have any moment to just sit back and let any drama sink in. It's all action scenes and it becomes tiresome and boring pretty fast. Entire plot could easily fit inside a single regular episode.
As for the art-style I'd say it's level with the Railgun series. Maybe with some more love added to details, like when espers use their powers, but nothing out of the place. There are however some scenes with a bad CGI mostly during complex scenes in musical numbers.
Which brings me to the sound side of things. And again, for the most part it's on a level expected for the later entries of the Raildex series nothing out of the ordinary. The big point of the whole movie is that it revolves (or tries to) around music, or more precisely around songs performed by main character. This can be a problem for western audience because by themselves they hold no meaning if you don't know Japanese, and not enough time is spent to give it one outside of it. What doesn't help is that those songs are often referenced by just humming or la-la-laing them.
Overall I did not enjoy it. I watched it with two friends and we were hyped to see it, but two of us have almost fallen asleep and another was too confused by what was happening to understand any of it. So I think it's safe to call it a boring mess.
If you are fan of the series and are waiting for another season or maybe just want to see more of the same then maybe you'll enjoy at least some parts of it. But for general audience I'd stay away from it.
bondtux
MIRACLE is the main theme of this movie and miracle is the main power of the protagonist (if you think the protagonist that refere is touma, No she wasnt touma). For me, miracle is just 1 or 2 class higher than luck, coz even luckiest person can be defeated with only one miracle, what was it called? Like Daud kill Goliath 1 hit kill with just only simple sling. I cant describe what is miracle by word, so i just make example like that. Toaru Majutsu no Index Movie : Endymion no Kiseki or i simply call it by 'The miracle of Endymion', this movie isoriginal story based off Toaru Majutsu no Index series by Kazuma Kamachi. Even the story wasnt canon from the original story from index or railgun, the movie timeline take part between after Remnat arc and before daihaisesai arc. Skip the timeline detail (you can find the full information of it in wikia), there is 3 or more new character in this movie. but some of them does exist in New Testament (im not sure that they acctually made apparance or just mentioned).
I am dissapointed by the movie plot, there is one or more reason that make me dissapointed :
1. The movie plot is predictable
2. The new original character wasnt original at all and their character is predictable.
Maybe there is more things that make me dissapointed but i cant write it down, coz its hard to tell by words.
It look like they take the name of Endymion from a Greek mythology, a hunter or even a king who was said to rule and live at Olympia in Elis. i dont really take this mythology seriously coz there is no connection by the Movie, oh i forgot that the main antgonist was born in Greek in 1182 and cursed to live forever (immortal). But there is more information about the antagonist character, i could tell that the antagonist character is referred to the Cumaean Sibyl of ancient Greek mythology. So i take my word before that i tell THE MOVIE IS HAS NO CONNECTION WITH GREEK MYTHOLOGY. If you want more information about the antagonist of this movie, just check it here >>> http://toarumajutsunoindex.wikia.com/wiki/Ladylee_Tangleroad.
To be Honest, i hardly write a review about this movie, so i forced myself to write one. The main reason why i'm find it difficult to write is THE NEW CHARACTER IN THIS MOVIE MESSED MY MOOD TO WATCH. I tell you one of the new character that messed my mood, it was Shutaura Sequenzia. This girl give me pain in the ass.
The first time before i watch the movie is just like my exictement on 100%, but after see this girl background my exictement fell to 50%. She doesnt beleive in miracle because from 89 people who survive only his family doesnt survive and no one doesnt simply give a fuck about it. To me it just unfortunate, why? Because i already feel that way, but i still believe in miracle and dont blame anyone for my unfortunate
For a fans of Index or Railgun series, the apparance of railgun protagonist (misaka mikoto, shirai kuroko, saten ruiko and uiharu kazari) in this movie calm my head down from seeing Shutaura.
Some Witches make their debut on Index Franchise, but i doubt they reapparance in the main story. From the magic side to add some witcheses in the story is not bad at all, but why the original author doesnt make their debut early in the main story. There is already had SISTERS, CYBORG, MAGIC GOD, ZOMBIE, CHIMERA, and many more. But he doesnt add witches in the main story yet.
Endymion is name of man from Greek Mythology, but in this movie Endymion is a gigantic space elevator.
FYI : According to Uiharu Kazari, there were difficulties in constructing the elevator in Japan instead of the prescribed constructing of it in the equator. Near the end of its construction, Endymion towered at least 35,000 kilometers above the earth. Meanwhile according wikipedia, our atsmosphere only 10.845 km total above the surface. so its mark that Endymion already reach the outer space.
So, you do not need a rocket to go to the outer space just use this elevator, but i wonder how much time to take from the first floor to the last floor, about 10 hours 12 hours? How about the foundation? Bulding framework? Who the hell was build this bulding? Did they use plane to make this gigantic elevator?
Though this is Science fiction movie after all, so dont take this question seriously. When the last part when the Endymion about to collapse, they said the ruin of the building that fell to the earth could destroy earth.... I just like 'uhhhh,' and then 'his brain is not responding' said misaka as misaka try to report the condition of this piece of shit. I mean, even this is a SF genre you should never think that atsmosphere cant even burn such a little building that human creation into ashes before hit the earth. Even it does, it would doesnt give a much impact or even destroy earth. LOGIC DOESN'T WORK ON A FICTIONAL MOVIE or something like that. Even there is saying like that, i just simply imagine there is a meteorite that fell to the earth 65 million years ago that caused the destruction of life in that time come back to this series, and then Scince side and Magic side joining their forces to stop that meteorite to not hit the earth above all else, i'll bet they would try their best even forced to work beyond their limit, because with just a "little" building that the height reach the space could destroy earth.
"Earth? Like i give a shit about that." - said Accelerator.
In genre section, its write : Action, Sci-Fi, Super Power, Magic.. but i feel more than it, like fantasy and music. Huh? music? Yes, there is music in this movie, at least there is more than 3 insert song in it, im not sure how many insert song in it. All i know is just there are 3 albums (not include movie original soundtrack) that comes from this movie.
This the last paragraph of my review.
The only miracle that came from this movie is, the box office of this movie reach over than ¥490 million... what a successful movie. There is nothing to do except admitted this movie was a good movie.
I recommend this movie to y'all for who likes SF or fantasy genre.
robert788
Toaru Majutsu no Index Movie: Endymion no Kiseki (2013) Just give the Misaka sisters their own show, I love the way they speak. This movie is pretty fun, perhaps not as fun as the main series since they cram maybe too much into this film. You usually get to know characters a bit better but the 3 witches were sort of undeveloped for example which is a shame because they were super cute. The art is the standard for the show now, it does get a bit more clearer as time goes on but keeps its style which is wonderful to see. Many shows look sodifferent season to season, movie to movie.
The sound was great, the songs were good and the depth of sound followed nicely too. I love the voices of the Misaka sisters.
Characters don't develop particularly and because of how crammed the movie was the new cast members didn't get a full effect which was a shame. You do get some great moments and you get new dynamics.
Those witch girls were adorable, Stiyl was great too with his newfound harem it seems, what a lucky guy.
One thing I really didn't like was the space swordfight since that was just ridiculous and sort of threw the sequence of the whole movie off-balance.
Ultimately, it is a good movie, not as good as the series so far but is nonetheless memorable.
8/10.
