Academy City, Japan, is at the forefront of science. Besides being 30 years ahead of the world technologically, more than three-fourths of this peculiar city's population consists of students developing their psychic abilities as espers in various institutions. Among these students is Touma Kamijou, a high school boy with the lowest psychic rank of zero, but with a mysterious power no scientist can understand: "Imagine Breaker," which allows him to negate other supernatural abilities.
This, however, doesn't affect Kamijou's life in the least as he plays his role as a regular teenager; that is, until he meets the strange Index Librorum Prohibitorum, a young girl who has memorized the entirety of the forbidden grimoires, and now a dangerous organization is hunting Index down. With several magicians looking to harm the girl, Kamijou will defend his new companion at all costs as he discovers a strange new realm of the supernatural.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Nateal
*to those who are too lazy to read and just want a quick summary, skip to the final paragraph* One of the greatest battles that mankind has ever witnessed is the battle between science and religion, a battle that is still being fought today. So just imagine, what will happen if people with supernatural abilities existed and both these sides got hold of people whose special abilities that are nothing short of miraculous? So how exactly does this relate to To Aru Majutsu no Index? Well I suppose a short summary of the story is in order. Now To Aru Majutsu no Index (which I would justrefer to now as Majutsu no Index) is set in a world where both science and magic coexist. Kamijou Touma, you regular high school kid lives within a place called Academy City, the so called “utopia of science” as well as an utopia for a new type of people known as ESPers, people who can have supernatural abilities by controlling the laws of science. Kamijou Touma, being a student in the Academy City, has a strange power called “Imagine Breaker”, a skill which allows him to dispel anything magical or is a product of ESPer powers. On the other hand, there is Index Prohibitorum Librorum (or Index for short), a nun who has the superhuman ability to remember virtually anything and has memorized in her mind 103,000 grimoires concerning magic that is prohibited by the church or is otherwise just far too dangerous to be used. One day, Touma found a starving Index hanging in his balcony after being chased by mysterious men, begging him for food. This is where the story starts as Touma finds himself in the middle of all the problems concerned with letting a walking manual for destruction live in his house.
Now, you gotta admit, the idea of science and magic clashing against each other is a pretty freaking good concept, and a good concept always mean a good anime right? Well, Majutsu no Index had pretty much everything that a good anime has: a good concept, interesting premises, and a recipe for romance. Unfortunately, it failed to use its full potential as an anime because of certain mistakes made by the producers of this anime.
So let’s start off with the story. As I’ve said, Majutsu no index is set on interesting premises yet it failed to fully utilize all of its hidden potential. You see, one of the biggest problems here is, or the lack thereof, of a main antagonist because what happened is that the anime was split into two sides : the magic side and the science side.
The magic side is the side concerned with magic aspect of the anime. The plots concerning this side usually just revolves around people who are relentlessly trying to kidnap Index to learn the secrets in her head and wreak havoc upon the earth, those who want to save Index from her perfect memory, which they claim would kill her if they don’t brainwash her every year since she would remember every detail she sees and ultimately overload her brain, and the church which is responsible for pretty much all of Index’s problems. And obviously, it’s Touma’s job to protect Index which he usually does by talking and punching the said magicians into submission. Though that way of solving things isn’t really all that bad, what really makes the magic side so terrible is that it’s quite episodic when it comes to plot. The plot from one arc to another just doesn’t add up and that makes it quite terrible: the fact that it has no continuality.
The science side on the other hand, is a heck lot more interesting in terms of plot than the magic side. It revolves around the concept of leveling up ESPers. You see, the thing with ESPers is that they are ranked using levels, starting from level 0 (which is by the way, Touma’s level) and above. This is done in order to measure how strong an ESPer is with level 0 being weakest, virtually having no powers, and those with higher levels having stronger powers. The current highest level ESPers have been able to attain is level 5, a title which seven different people in Academy City hold. The story focuses on two of these level 5 ESPers, namely Misaka Mikoto, who was the ability to control electricity and is a friend to Touma, and The Accelerator, who can control and redirect vectors at will. What happened is that Academy City decided to create the first level 6 ESPer, and there are only two ways to do it: Either have a level 5 ESPer kill roughly 128 other level 5 ESPers, or to have a level 5 ESPer kill 20,000 level 3 ESPers. Seeing as they only have seven level 5 ESPers, they opted for the other method: have a level 5 ESPer, namely The Accelerator, kill 20,000 level 3 ESPers. Now the question is where do they get 20,000 level 3 ESPers?
If you haven’t noticed by now, yes, I am biased towards the science side of the story but there is a good reason for that. As I’ve said, what this series lacks is the presence of a main antagonist, and what the science side gives is just that, along with a solid plot. On the other hand, the magic side is, as I’ve mentioned, quite episodic in nature, jumping around from one antagonist to the other and having no clear goal as to where it would lead the story next after one conflict is solved. This is one of the biggest downfalls of Majutsu no Index and is one of the main reasons as to why it fails to live up to its potential. Another problem with this anime is that the magic and science side of the story almost never crosses each other, despite the fact that they should be two sides of the same coin. This is especially annoying from time to time because it causes quite a few plotholes in the story.
Another one of the problems with Majutsu no Index lies in its characters. I’m not saying that they are bad, it’s just that they are so cliché it hurts. We have Kamijou Touma, who’s definition of unlucky is seeing naked chicks and getting “in touch” with the ladies (gee, I haven’t seen that before), Index, who is your regular hyperactive loli, Misaka, nicknamed biribiri, who is your run-of-the-mill tsundere, and others who would take too long to mention. But of course, that isn’t the real problem, as cliché characters can still be interesting despite the fact that they are, well, cliché.
The real problem is that the makers of the anime desperately try to make Touma, the main character, look badass when in fact, he’s not. And for the sake of doing this, they pretty much confine most of the other characters to the sidelines. This becomes very apparent during the latter half of the show, when pretty much every problem ends up being solved when Touma punches the antagonist in the face.
But of course, not all of the characters are bad. Take Accelerator for example. Aside from being the main antagonist for the majority of the science side plotline, he is also the one of the few characters that received a noticeable amount of character development. As the story introduced him as an evil psycho who is willing to kill tens of thousands to gain power, he was later shown to have a softer side who cares for others more than he seems .Other than him, most of the other anime characters just receive minimal amounts of development, maybe aside for one more character though discussing her here could spoil the story.
So far, the only redeeming feature Majutsu no Index has is in its animation and music. The Art was just the way I like it, clean, smooth, and shiny just like most of the newer animes today, though there are times when the movements seem a little bit choppy but this is barely noticeable and doesn’t really affect the overall experience of watching this anime. The music on the other hand is just plain freaking awesome. The first and second openings, both J-pop songs, where sung by Kawada Mami which are in my opinion, just perfect for the theme of the anime: fast-paced and somehow had a futuristic tune to it.
So overall I’d have to say that To Aru Majutsu no Index is more or less an average anime. It’s an anime with a good concept and interesting premises, it just happened to have been unable to fully utilize its full potential. Still though, that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad anime. It does have moments where it shines and shows some pretty amazing scenes. Unfortunately, it couldn’t maintain that level of goodness throughout which becomes one of its downfalls. So this isn’t really something that I would personally recommend, but if you’re stuck with nothing to watch, or maybe you’re one those who have a liking for shounen animes with a little bit of romance here and there then why not give this a shot. Who knows, you might come to like it more than I did.
So to provide a quick summary, here are a list of pros and cons:
+ It has a good concept: Science against Magic
+The openings, both sung by Kawada Mami, were awesome J-pop songs
+The art was clean and smooth
+The Science side of the story had a good plotline
+The Accelerator is just a badass antagonist
-The anime was unable to use its full potential and due to half of the story, the magic side, being terrible
-The makers of the anime were trying too hard to make the protagonist of the story, Touma, look badass despite the fact that he was not
-The animation can get a little choppy at times, though this isn’t too noticeable
-The characters are quite cliché
~First and foremost, thanks for reading my review. If you have any comments regarding my review or just want to have a discussion, then leave a comment at my page. I will greatly appreciate it. =)~
midgarmerc
To Aru Majutsu no Index (or TAMI for short) is the very definition of a generic anime. Theres nothing good here but its not necessarily bad. Some characters are likeable and entertaining but that makes up such a small percentage of the enormous cast that its just not worth it. TAMI is about a guy named Touma who lives in a city thats entire purpose is being a school for Espers (see: Psychics) although nobody actually reads minds and its more they all have a certain power. So nobody is psychic at all. Touma discovers a young girl hanging on his balcony whos a magicianbeing chased and he helps her. They become friends and have adventures. Thats TAMI in a nutshell, they tried having some main story throughout the whole thing but nothing important was revealed and the series couldnt keep a story arc going past 3 episodes. And thats where this show really falls to mediocrity. By constantly changing the focus of the story to some new threat and introducing 1-4 new characters every 3-5 episodes you lose the whole point of this series.
The characters themselves are just so two dimensional and uninteresting that you dont care for their story at all. Not to mention they all have to have some gimmick to distinguish them from another character.
As far as genre goes TAMI is a shonen type action show but thats being too generous in my opinion. TAMI's action scenes never go past 1-3 actions before they have to talk for 90% of the fight about something that wont even matter once the conflict is resolved, and all the main character ever does is punch people.
TAMI isnt necessarily bad but its just so plain that you find yourself wondering why you're even bothering with it? It tries to be funny but always throws the same gags at you that you just dont care for them. I think theres some wasted potential here and thats a shame because I really wanted to like this show
5/10
KaminaKai
"Then would you accompany me to the depth of hell?" - Index "When magic and science crosses path, what will happen?" is how I would have liked to start this review. However the answer to that would have simply be "nothing" since, although both sides exists in the same place, there were hardly any interaction between them. So instead, I will begin by asking Index what she meant by accompanying her to the depth of hell. She was hardly present for half the show and during the rare occasions when she is in an episode, she gets sidelined and become a minor character with absolutely noimpact to the story (beside biting Touma on the head).
So what happened to those 103,000 magical texts? With the exception of the first few episodes and the last episode or two, where Index as a character actually matters to the plot, there is practically zero reference to the 103,000 magical texts for 80% of the show. Granted the production studio (J.C. Staff) wanted to follow the novel as closely as possible (and they did a very good job at it), it is understandable for the abrupt ending to the story thus far. But it still makes no sense for the story’s centerpiece to be dangling here and there with no sense of purpose in the various story arcs.
If one were to ignore the problems mentioned above, then the overall production quality of Toaru Majutsu no Index is actually quite good. Decent animation from J.C. Staff (though sometimes the distant shots seem lacking in detail) plus a great cast of seiyu make this anime a pleasant watch to those who don’t really mind a poor storyline. Don’t get me wrong though, the mini arcs throughout the show which introduces and help create character developments are great in themselves. However, once the dust settles, it always makes me wonder what happen to the story that was suppose to center around Index.
Character-wise, most were introduced to compliment the particular story arc (with the exception of the main protagonists). Afterward, they will tend to “fade” to the back sometimes making a few seconds appearance here and there with no significance. In terms of character development, not much observable changes occurred for the male protagonist and Index which can be attributed to the faithful following of the novel (since there wasn’t that much matter to talk about at the time of the anime production). On the other hand the co-heroine/main protagonist, Mikoto, of the Railgun series (a spinoff of Toaru Majutsu no Index) did show considerable character growth which makes her shine like a bright star among the group of relatively static characters.
Those familiar with Shana will instantly ring a bell in their head as they watch the first OP of this series. If the OP does not make you go "OMG, this sounds similar to Shana’s OP!", then perhaps watching the daily interaction between Index and Touma will help ring some bells. To be more precise, one can even replace Index with Shana and voila, you have yourself Shakugan no Shana III. The point I am trying to make here is the similarities between the two anime.
1. From the same production company.
2. At least one of their OP theme is sang by the same singer (Kawada Mami).
3. Shana = Index, Yuji = Touma.
So what am I trying to say here? It means that if you enjoy watching Shakugan no Shana, feel free to give this anime a try. The magician (magic) vs esper (science) theme advertised by Toaru Majutsu no Index does have its selling points, but I just think it desperately need a sequel to really link the various bits and pieces together. I enjoyed the mini arcs (whether they are filler or not), those irrelevant mini stories were very entertaining and they help keep my mind off Index. But once I start thinking deeper into the character ties and relationships, there is just something missing about the purpose of Index. Perhaps a hopeful sequel will fill in the missing puzzles, but as things stand right now the story really hurts the show.
Masserati_
"Such misfortune!" It's somewhat apt that I happened to choose that as the opening quote to this review, because it really does sum up To Aru Majutsu no Index rather nicely - that is, an anime filled with misfortune. Initially, Index got off to an...interesting start, it wasn't particularly bad, nor was it particularly good either, it was just interesting. We are introduced to our main character Touma, rather interestingly, Touma is not the stereotypical useless protagonist so often seen in shows like Index; don't get me wrong, at his core, he's just a variation on the plain nice guy, but this nice guy also happens tohave one of the most overpowered abilities in the history of fiction: the ability to negate literally any form of supernatural ability that happens to come his way with his right hand.
However cool it is to have a main character who has an ability that, in most cases, is reserved for the most powerful of powerful enemies, having this power also presents a couple of immediate problems for the show, the first of which being that there is near enough no risk whatsoever when Touma fights; it doesn't matter what the situation is, Touma will undoubtedly get out of it using his hand of God (a rather ironic statement if you've actually seen the show), as shown during the Accelerator and Sherry Cromwell fights, you could quite literally throw the most powerful supernatural abilities at this guy and he will negate them instantly. Consequently, this also makes none of his fights remotely interesting if they have anything to do with supernatural abilities, as he will just spam his Deus Ex Machina ability repeatedly in order to get out of whatever predicament he's in.
Our other main character is Index, and the moment she is introduced to the show, things immediately go downhill, and it's not just her character (which I'll get back to later), the show itself breaks two rules of writing that should never be broken:
1) It throws out lots of random terminology.
2) The story doesn't go anywhere.
That first one is a trap the writer fell into all too fast, right from Index's introduction we are suddenly given an influx of terminology that we are supposed to remember, things like "Necessarius", "Dedicatus545", "Johann's Pen", "Imagine Breaker", "Judgment", "Esper" and "Anti-Skill" just to name a few out of the dozens of terms that populate Index's world, there is literally no point in trying to remember them all, especially not the magic spells which are frankly ridiculous in terms of naming length. Now, as you no doubt know, throwing out random terminology in the hopes that some of it will stick does NOT make a story, frankly, they're nothing but a bunch of meaningless words that are, at most, given a three line explanation as to what they actually mean. Worse still, the terminology doesn't stop, and we are continuously hammered with terms that make it seem like the show is ridiculously complex and would take nothing short of a quantum physicist to understand everything that goes on. Don't get me wrong, there are shows that have done exactly what Index did, Haruhi is guilty of it, Shakugan no Shana is most definitely guilty of it, but the major difference between those two shows and this one is that Shana and Haruhi actually made progress in their story.
Which brings me onto my other point.
The biggest problem with Index is that the story doesn't go anywhere - at all. The first series does nothing more than introduce certain characters, and give out lots of random side stories that do nothing but hinder what little progress the story makes; there are literally only three arcs in Index that actually serve to deliver something that's beneficial to the story at all, those being the first arc, the Sisters arc and the finale. Admittedly, the character development that Accelerator received in his own little stand alone arc was rather good, but one character getting developed when there are more characters and terms than the writers can keep track of is nothing but a minutely small achievement when there's so much that the story has to tell. Honestly, it's hard to tell what exactly is going on in Index half the time, there are arcs in which characters that were key in the beginning are totally swept aside, arcs in which characters I thought were nothing more than minor extras are reintroduced and are suddenly given total importance (with absolutely no foreshadowing whatsoever), and, of course, a beach episode.
None of this is helped by some of the worst writing I've ever seen. There's bad writing, then there's bad writing and then there's To Aru Majutsu no Index. There are several times in which a character is delivering a monologue that not only seems completely out of context, they're usually random and worse still, they don't make sense. An example of one such monologue is in the first arc of the series, Touma happens to be engaging in life or death combat with a character who happens to be hunting Index, Touma, our ever rational hero, then proceeds to start a speech about friendship that not only doesn't make sense, but somehow wins over said villain; it's one moment of utter stupidity amongst hundreds of others in Index. The lapses in logic in Index only get worse as the series goes along, this is not helped by the plot holes that the series induces upon itself later on in the series (especially in the beach episode), and we're left with a series that certainly seems to want to do something with all its terminology and characters, it's just abstaining vehemently from doing so.
On the flip-side of this, Index does at least look okay, which is surprising considering that this is J.C. Staff animating here. The character designs look good, the spells and abilities look pretty decent, and the fights look nice as well; it's definitely not perfect, there are several times in the series in which the quality of the animation dips drastically, and several abilities lack the impact that they should considering how powerful they're meant to be, which is more along the lines of what I've come to expect from J.C. Staff. Oh and the fan-service, it would most definitely not be complete without the fan-service.
As for the sound, the main themes are generic and utterly forgettable at the end of the day, and the rest of the OST is passable at best, there's no major stand-out themes in it so I won't dwell. The voice actors do nothing more than an average job, the already bad writing delving further into horrible melodrama due to some of the female seiyuu coming out with really hollow performances at times; the only two voice actors who deserve a mention are Yuka Iguchi as Index and Nobuhiko Okamoto as Accelerator, both of which are here for very opposite reasons. Iguchi is mentioned because she manages to turn Index from a generic loli-tsundere, into a horrendously annoying one; her performance as Index is tantamount to taking pieces of broken chalk and scratching them down a chalkboard. As for Okamoto, he manages to deliver a performance as Accelerator that captures his sadistic personality rather well, and also manages to act well in the scenes when Accelerator isn't finding new ways to deflect people with his vectors.
One last thing about the voice acting, try listening to the many Misaka clones keep repeating "Misaka Misaka" all the time, I guarantee that you will never want to hear that name ever again.
And now the characters, they're a rather interesting bunch, each having some form of cool ability or special magical power that's almost interesting enough to make you want to see what it does.
Nearly every single one of them is characterised horribly.
As mentioned before, Touma is a variation on the stereotypical useless hero, but don't let that "variation" part fool you, he's just as idiotic and naive as nearly every single other character in this archetype. Fueled by his idiotic need to save every person around him regardless of the risk to his own life - oh wait, that statement is redundant considering who he is - Touma's only real saving grace is that he can actually do something rather than get overshadowed by a far superior female lead.
Accelerator is hands down the best character in the show; he is after all the only character to receive some good character development, and manages to be as sadistic and twisted as I first imagined him to be. He's deeper than he actually first appears, has a cool ability, and watching his stand alone arc made me think that somehow Index was about to improve.
There are many people who believe Mikoto to be the best character in the show; unfortunately, I cannot agree with this statement as Mikoto doesn't remain the focus of the show anywhere near enough to warrant the term "best character", not to mention she's somewhat inconsistent, developing tsundere characteristics whenever the plot feels it to be appropriate then dropping them as the story demands only for them to appear again at random intervals. Her characterisation in Index is nothing more than very mediocre at best and if you really want to have a better opinion of her, it's much easier to watch To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (which is actually much better than Index anyway).
The rest of the cast (aside from Index who I'll cover in a moment) are a random bunch of almost remotely interesting characters, and most of them hit the stereotypes rather well, there's plenty of loli's in the show, a lesbian, big boobs, blonde haired delinquents...nearly every single stereotype is hit at some point by Index.
And the titular character in the title is the biggest offender of them all.
Index is not just a bad character, she is the worst type of loli-tsundere around. My argument for why I think tsunderes are bad would have to be Index, she is perhaps one of the most ungrateful little brats in animation, whose only real purpose is to make the main characters life worse, and more than likely win in the harem that he forms (I neglected to mention that, but oh well). There are very few characters I want to see die more than Index, in fact, if I had the chance, I would personally ensure that she does get killed off - and I would be the one doing the killing. She somehow manages to make every episode she's in worse (this isn't helped by her appalling voice actor) and I saw her turning into a loli-tsundere 5 episodes before she actually did. Index is the kind of character that needs to be slapped repeatedly until she understands that she's a bad character, then slapped some more for good measure; frankly the one redeeming thing about the random side stories is that she doesn't feature prominently in them (if at all).
I will admit, To Aru Majutsu no Index has its moments; the way that the story is structured means you can marathon through an arc and come back to it without really forgetting where you are in the story - wait, that statement is redundant too. And despite my major gripes with the writing and characters, Index is hugely enjoyable, if I was to base my score for this series based off enjoyment, this would be a very different review.
It's just a shame that isn't the case.
In summary, Index is an anime that suffers from poor writing, an extreme lack of story and poor characters (as well as characterisation), and manages to carve itself into a level of anime that's usually only reserved for travesties like Mars of Destruction - it has its moments sure, but then again nearly every anime does.
What a waste.
gdavge2003
To Aru Majutsu no Index is an action, comedy set in a modern (or perhaps slightly futuristic) city called Academy City. The entire city is basically composed of several schools that teach the usage of Esper; a scientific kind of magic. The story revolves around the protagonist Kamijou Touma, as he is caught between tensions and events involving conflicts between Magic and Esper (science). While the first few episodes were quite promising, hinting at a huge power struggle between two sides, with Touma being in the center of attention, the rest was quite the letdown. There wasn't any deep story. The main plot simply getsshoved into the background and To Aru Majutsu no Index becomes a somewhat repetitive, episodic 2/3 episode-per-plot anime. Despite the great entrance leading to an episodic series, however, I admit it was still enjoyable to watch. The plots are simple, but watching Kamijou Touma go through each challenge in his way was entertaining.
The art and sound are definitely the strongest points of To Aru Majutsu no Index. The art is simply amazing. Movements and actions flow smoothly, showing just how many panels the creators drew to create each episode. CG effects are wonderfully done; with the sun shining brightly and casting beams of light on Academy City. The opening songs fit the action theme of To Aru Majutsu no Index very well, and the relaxing ending songs tone down viewers' excitement after watching the episodes.
Characters were great and unique in terms of personality, but development was stagnant. Each character had a unique personality that you can identify and tag them with. Touma is a carefree, friendly guy who's always there to help out his friends, while Index is mischievous and spoiled on the outside, deep down she cares much about everyone around her. However, without much character development, they pretty much stay the same throughout the 24 episodes of To Aru Majutsu no Index. But overall, I think this can be overlooked, as once you become attached to them, development won't degrade the characters' uniqueness.
Overall, I enjoyed watching To Aru Majutsu no Index on a weekly basis. It was a good anime overall, despite the lack of a concrete central plot. Just watching how Touma deals with situations and interact with those around him is purely enjoyable. Definitely give To Aru Majutsu no Index a try!
Tenos
The beef on the plate before you smells wonderful. Its color indicates that it has spent just about the right amount of time on the grill. Surrounded by finely cooked and cut potatoes and some vegetables for the fresh taste's sake, with a glass of delicious wine towering nearby, the seemingly delicious meat only waits for you to enjoy your meal. It's funny, really. In a way, Toaru Majutsu no Index is deceptive. The first few episodes promise you a really intriguing (if not epic) story. The presentation is phenomenal; the opening is great, events that unfold in episode 1 already get you hooked and thereare already some interesting characters whom you want to know more about. Hungrily, you venture onwards for more.
Throughout the episodes after the terrific first impressions, however, you start to notice a few things. First, it's only minor details that go unexplained, but you start to worry when it does not stop there. Before long, the show refuses to explain even more about certain events or characters. Soon, the story is all over the place, and with its failing ability to present itself properly or consistently, you begin to lose interest gradually over the course of the entire ride.
Remember the meal I mentioned before? The potatoes are just fine, the vegetables are okay and the wine is actually quite good. The meat, however, tastes awful. When you (try to) cut through it, you realize that it is far from done. The meat is pink, and the two or three pieces you try to chew on end up spat out on the floor.
While the side dishes were okay, the main meal was plain bad. In a way, Index is the same.
STORY: 2
Before anything, let me just say that in its core, Index is probably a very good show with regards to the story. However, there is one thing with this story that damages the show badly - the way it is presented. And I'm not exaggerating things, because it really is that severe. The concept of the entire show (Science vs Magic) is really interesting, and the sides shown of both parties are sometimes genuinely good. All things considered though, nothing actually ever happens between them until the last one or two episodes. Index, the main heroine of the anime (I think?), carries surprisingly little importance to the plot for the most part. Mostly forced into a few scenes purely for the sake of comic, what is revealed about her at the very start of the show (which is supposed to carry a lot of weight in the actual plot) is never mentioned until, again, almost the very end of it all, and even there it doesn't matter as much as it should. These are just some of many examples of things the show presents but forgets to handle or elaborate on.
Moving on, the entire show is split into several arcs, each handling its own sub-story and characters. While a minority of these arcs are quite decent, the rest of them remain uninteresting, and some even make you question what importance they actually hold to the main plot. The main problem with the arcs is, yet again, the fact that the show forgets to handle everyone and everything that happens in a proper way. Characters who're just being given some depth are suddenly wiped out of existence (figuratively speaking) with the coming of a new story or arc. Events remain unexplained, both within themselves and how they connect to everything else, until you simply start to not care anymore. Simply put, while everything has a potential of being great and interesting, the show treats its contents with little care, telling us many stories and presenting us to a lot of different characters, only to barely tie the knots on not more than a select few of them.
ART: 8
The art of Toaru Majutsu no Index is, truth be told, very good. While everything is coated with a simple style and charm, the liveliness in both characters and places is presented excellently through not too extreme methods of drawing. Colors come out nicely and blend together in a pretty way where they should, nothing or no one looks too deformed or incomplete, even from a distance. While a flaw can be spotted in the art here and there, it's nothing that will deviate you from the rest of the anime.
SOUND: 7
The music fits in the moment, so to speak. While the tracks of the show give the right effect to all events that occur and set the mood right most of the time, there's nothing here that'll stick with you once the moments have passed. The music, while good, is often forgettable, but it serves its purpose in the show. As for the two openings, they are actually epic. They set the tone right for what's to come, and as standalones in an MP3-player, they're still a pleasure to listen to. The endings are also decent, though not on par with the openings. Finally, sound effects. Everything sounds like it should, whether we're talking about explosions, footsteps, laughs or anything else. Nothing bad, yet nothing exceptional.
CHARACTERS: 7
Considering how I bashed the story section of this show, it may come as a surprise that the characters are being given a (significantly) higher score. However, while they were presented dreadfully together with the story, you actually cared for what you knew about them. Save for a few characters (including Index herself, ironically), most of them made you laugh, feel emotions, or care enough to finish watching the show altogether. Yet, it was rather frustrating when the show kept blowing away characters after their stories were told, since you really want to know more about some of them.
ENJOYMENT: 3
Back to the low scores. Index had every opportunity to become a good show. Most of the characters were interesting, the plot and setting were fresh and intriguing, and even the background details such as art and sound pleased. Nevertheless, thanks to the catastrophical presentation and handling of everything, what cound've been an epic experience was lost.
OVERALL: 5
All things considered, even if the main plot failed, the show wasn't impossible to finish. The several stories, for what it's worth, were decent sometimes, and other elements such as nice characters helped carry me through the ride. In the end, however, it truly is a shame. I really wanted to like what Index truly was trying to tell, but it was impossible considering the scattered everything was.
Even if the main meal failed to deliver, the side dishes were okay. Even if the meat wasn't even close to edible, you could leave the table knowing that at least the rest of the food pleased you. It is possible that the chef might have learned from his or her mistakes, and maybe, just maybe, the next dinner will be a winner.
SamFury
A Somewhat Unlucky Boy Academy City, the Mecca of Science, is where most of it's denizens are student that have been scientifically engineered to be espers, or wielders of certain unique abilities: manipulating electricity, teleportation and controlling natural forces. Touma is a student in the Esper Development Program, with very unique skill, the ability to negate supernatural powers, like the ones manifested by other Espers. This, of course, nullifies his good fortune as well: vending machines devour his yen, his cellphone crushed into silicon fragments by his foot, and he has to attend extra classes during the summer. But fate isn't done with Touma, ready to twistthe string of his destiny around it's cold slender fingers. Enter Index, hanging to dry from Touma's balcony, a church sister being hunted by... magicians. The plot has an interesting hook, the conflict between science and magic. The first four episodes prove to be interesting, serving as a prelude to what would be a plot line epic in proportions. But Toaru Majutsu no Index [no Index] quickly shifts gears, abandoning an expansive story, for smaller three to four episode arcs surrounding the various characters. It's amusing but for the most part leaves you asking: Why does this matter?. Though the last episode does give some hope, hinting at a conflict between science and magic, that's about to build, brim and explode.
The characters are likable, if somewhat cliched. Touma is the can-do hero that attempts to save 'everyone'. Misaka is a shining star in somewhat average cast. Her love/hate relationships with both the lead and her friend Kuroko coupled with her superiority complex is amusing. One of the plots faults is the harem that is accidentally formed. Harems cause symptoms of shallow character interaction and plots driven by mindless love polygons. Shades of these indicators are found in no Index, but hopefully the 'harem factor' won’t be a crutch for the plot in the future.
Production
The animation and the art is excellent. The palette is bright and vibrant, painting Academy City alive. Cool silvers and grays are layered on the natural colors woven in between the streets. Action scenes are fluid and are filled with some intense scenes on this backdrop. Character models are drawn well, the magician's being the most interesting of the bunch. Kiori and Stiyl seem otherworldly in their outlandish clothing. There were irritating bits of fanservice unappealing because the heroines, for the most part, were flat chested.
The music was engaging, a techno flare that fit the whole scientific motif. Neither opening was exceptional, their upbeat chords danced about, setting the appropriate mood. The voice acting wasn't noteworthy, though some of the voices became grating. Index's voice had an annoying timbre that scratched at the senses.
Watchability and Enjoyment
The structure of the show made my enjoyment of the program, mixed. Some of the chapters were splendid, balancing humor, drama, and action while others made me want to drop the program all together. I have hope for the second season, which promises a return to the whole conflict between magic and science, which intrigued me in the first few episodes.
Closing Thoughts
The ambition of the plot quickly disappears and what remains is a cast of likable characters, great art, and a promise. Hopefully Toaru Majutsu no Index will deliver on that promise. The small gems of story telling give me confidence that there is still hope for the exploration of the main theme presented. We can only hope.
Tetsuo3K
Toaru Majutsu no Index starts off strong, but quickly fizzles out. I, like many others, was intrigued by the fantastic world described in the first few episodes, a world where everybody has a superpower, as well as the mystery surrounding the title character. Sadly, the series fails to deliver a single solid story past the first arc and stumbles blindly onward to a barely sub-par ending. The anime actually had me hooked at the first few minutes of the first episode. The character of Touma, who inexplicably possesses the power to nullify any supernatural force with his right hand (and also seems to attract misfortune, somethingI can relate with) was very appealing. Upon his encounter with Index, a girl who inexplicably has perfect memory recall, things really started to take off. Now there were two mysterious characters and a decent plot to go with one of them. By the third episode, I was convinced that I was in for a rare masterpiece.
Admittedly I was concerned about Touma, because his mysterious power is essentially god-mode, and overpowered characters tend to ruin a story. I set those concerns aside, though, reasoning that the title character is Index, not Touma. Little did I know that after the first arc concluded, the title character would have little to no influence in the overall plot, in some cases barely managing to make an appearance in most later episodes.
Very few of the characters past the two main ones are genuinely likable. I have to admit I liked Touma's teacher, Komoe. She provided some of the best comic relief, but didn't do much else aside from acting as a plot device. Index's two guardians, central to the plot of the first arc, were also among the better personalities. At the very least, they weren't completely unlikeable. The same can't be said for the rest of the cast: almost offensively dull supporting characters; a series of super-powerful girls, each who thinks her life is the worst and she'd be better off dead; a select few villains to do battle with Touma; and behind-the-scenes bad guys who never do anything but make vague references to the story. Before I move on, I'd like to give an honorable mention to Accelerator. He had probably the coolest power of them all, and would have made my list of likable characters if he had dropped the angsty emo-kid act. Just one more wasted character among many.
If there's one thing they did right, though, it was the art and animation. But if all your anime can do is look good, there's hardly any point to it. Overall I have to say I was really disappointed with Toaru Majutsu no Index. It had such a great buildup and they could have done great things with it, but once Index was no longer a central part of the story it all fell flat. I wouldn't recommend this series to anyone. I watched it from start to finish, and now I wish I hadn't.
kanauru
. Pros + Science vs Magic Plot + Interesting and likeable characters ( girls ) + Accidental harem + HD Quality + Humorous with popular references here and there ( leek ) . Cons - After Episode 10 it's character development for the other characters - Not enough time to get back to the main plot ( Season 2 I assume? )- Feels like a giant introduction / setup ( Novel and Manga still going )
- Some characters feel like filler, hopefully they'll have some use later on
. Conclusion :
I like this Anime despite the fact it got off target halfway through. They did a good job of developing the other characters in the show but then by the time you finish the series, you're expecting Season 2. Basically it felt like one giant introduction episode, introducing us to the characters and the plot, but then we never get to the real deal. As you can see, I don't have much to complain, this Anime has potential if they're able to get back to the main plot. I'm expecting them to give us a Season 2 ( I guess if Season 1 did well enough, the novel and manga are still going). It's a nice Anime to watch as long as you're not expecting a great deal out of it ( especially story wise, since it's obviously incomplete ). Perhaps by the time you read this Season 2 will be out. For now you can just await for the "Toaru Kagaku no Rail Gun" side story...
LeikoHaran
Toaru Majutsu no Index (A Certain Magical Index) is a 48 episode adaptation of the light novel series of the same name respectively. The 2 season anime were released between 2008-2011 and a movie released in February this year. A Certain Magical Index is set in a world where supernatural abilities are a reality. While some individuals known as Espers possess special powers gained since birth, other individuals denominated Magicians gain their powers upon mastering the power of symbolism, be it from obtaining knowledge from special books known as Grimoires or by using special magic artifacts. While several Magician cults align themselves with ancient religions, Esper powersare usually developed by experimentation and training, thus they are usually aligned with scientific institutions. This leads to a power struggle between magic and science factions for control of the world.
The story is set in Academy City, a technologically advanced city located in western Tokyo, known for its educational and research institutions. Tōma Kamijō is a student in Academy City whose right hand, the Imagine Breaker, has the ability to negate any supernatural powers, but also negates his own luck, much to his chagrin who meets a young girl named Index who is a nun from Necessarius, a secret magic branch of the Church of England, and her mind has been implanted with the Index Librorum Prohibitorum—103,000 forbidden magical books the Church has removed from circulation. His encounter with her leads him to meet others from the secret worlds of science and magic and an adventure with his friends where both collide. Tōma's unusual power places him at the center of conflicts relating magicians and science-based espers in Academy City. As Tōma tries to help and protect his friends, he learns the people he knows are not as they appear and begins to attract the attention of magicians and espers alike as they try to unravel the secrets behind Academy City, Index and his own special power.
Story-10: Okay, after watching the first few episodes of the series i was overwhelmed by all the information being thrown at me, it left me confused and i nearly gave up on the series, but i stuck through...and my god it was worth it.
After the first few confusing episodes, the story started to space out and add more humour to the plot, for example; Index and Toma talking about food and when Toma refuses to buy her anything, she starts trying to eat him which is a recurring theme throughout both series and is always funny to watch, and i was able to enjoy the personalities and relationships between characters without worrying about having more information thrown at me in colossal chunks again, during this 'break' period (because there are multiple occasions you'll find yourself wondering what they're blabbering on about) is when i started to gain an emotional attachment to Misaka and Index, and as every anime fan knows, once you're attached you will keep watching to find out their fate, right? and thats exactly when i admired the story for what it is, and considering anything i say about the story will be a minor spoiler at least, you'll just have to experience it for yourself.
Art-8: The art is fantastic from any angle you look at it, however, despite the crisp looking and vastly colourful looking animation, its not my type, and i'm very cynical of what male characters look like, and in my opinion, our unfortunate protagonist could have been designed to compete with the more 'handsome' anime characters like Zero from Vampire Knight for example, his appearance and 2D personality makes me wonder exactly what does Misaka see in him? (although his lack of social skills makes a rather amusing scene every now and again) but other than that, the magic battles and alike are spot on what i'd expect from a big budget franchise like this one.
Sound-8: Not much i can say on this one as 3/4 of an AVERAGE episode has magic spells flying about the screen like a fly thats just been sprayed by a can of anti-bug, and my lack of knowledge as to what a REAL fireball sounds like makes this alot more tricky, however, the japanese voice actors are very very good, as youd expect from the japanese actors/actresses, sadly i havent got a chance to watch the english dub version of this series, but ive heard good reviews about it, so how bad can it be? The sound quality is also very good, although the music can be a bit too loud when Toma is giving his overview at the end of the episode.
Character-9: All the characters play their own part in the overall humour of the show; Toma is always found in outrageous situations due to his bad luck, Misaka's roommater Kuroko often does stupid and surreal things to attract the attention of Misaka, Toma is always the 'straight man' in the Toma-Index relationship with Index bossing him about and trying to eat him in every episode.
The characters (except Stiyl Magnus and Tsuchimikado) are all well flushed out and fit well into the story with their unique personalities, back stories and links to each other , the reason i didnt give the 'character' section a solid 10/10 is because a certain red haired gentleman does something unnecessary and quite frankly stupid in the second season, and with no real motive to back him up, no real back story, his actions just felt really pointless.
Enjoyment-10: After a ton of confusing episodes dotted all over the 48 episode series (and judging by the ending of the second season, there will be at least one more season) and reflecting upon the motives of all the character's actions; ESPECIALLY Accelerator's, i came to a sudden realisation that i had just finished watching an absolute masterpiece, and the magic part? i didnt even realise just how good this series actually was until it was all over, and thats something you dont get alot from shallow anime series you see lately, however, if you're looking for any romance, ecchi or love triangles, look elsewhere, because although its obvious that at some point our clumsy protagonist will end up with one of the main characters, no progress has been made between them at all.
All in all this series has alot (borderline too much) story, magic and characters, if you want a relaxing anime to watch, one where you dont have to remember something from episode 6 when you're watching episode 30, then, again, dont go near this anime, because its requires you to absorb every last piece of information given to you, and even then, you probably wont expect whatll happen at the end of the episode, but isnt that just amazing? I hope you guys will take on this adventure, you will not regret it at all.
ChrolloDevJS
After watching (and enjoying) A Certain Scientific Railgun, I was very excited to start this show. Railgun is meant to be as a spinoff for one of the side characters in Index, so I was very curious to see what the main story actually is. To my dismay, however, I learned that Index, despite being the main story, is overwhelmingly average and mediocre compared to Railgun. I doubt I would have enjoyed this at all if there weren't any of the side characters from Railgun to keep things somewhat interesting. Much like most anime that I have gripes with, my main two issues are the storyand the characters. Let's begin with the story: in a single word, I would describe it as disjointed. The story is split into several small arcs that feel like they have very little to do with one another; in addition, none of the arcs are particularly interesting (aside from the one that featured the MC from Railgun). The "magic" side of the show feels generic and offers absolutely nothing new to anyone who has ever seen any show like this. Overall, most of the episodes failed to keep my interest.
The characters are my other biggest problem, or more specifically the character motivations. The main character is basically copy-pasted from any other superpower harem anime and he has a martyr complex to the point of attempting to sacrifice himself every chance he gets for a character (usually a girl) that he literally just met. And of course, on the other side of this, every girl he meets ends up inexplicably developing feelings for him because he seems to care so much and because fuck it he's the main character. Almost none of the characters are developed and the majority of them are not interesting.
This series ultimately serves as a far inferior complement to the much more enjoyable and well-written A Certain Scientific Railgun. If I hadn't enjoyed Railgun so much I likely would've dropped this fairly quickly. Although an anime doesn't need to have complex/interesting characters to be enjoyable (see: Hataraku Maou-Sama!), nor does it need to have a particularly original story, not having either ends up only further exposing the flaws of the show. And this show certainly had many flaws exposed.
korison
Ever since people started thinking, gathering in groups and building villages and cities, there was always the one question that some people asked themselves and even though most people probably didn't really care in the first place, they later started asking the same questions. It was a matter of time until that question was raised. "What are we?", "Where do we come from?", "Why are we on earth?", are the ones I am talking about and one answer became popular quickly: God! Religion was founded in the early days and while having it hard at first, the religion that in the end came out ontop in the western world was Christianity. Not always through peaceful means, but they somehow managed to make people believe them. But the church doesn't really have the monopole of answering these questions. Science did not always played a role as big as it does now, hell it even was forbidden to oppose the church by using science for some time! The war between science and church though has always been going on, Galilei, who was imprisoned for spreading the truth he found out through scientific mediums, probably is the best example for it and while it certainly did cool down a lot, there probably are still people fighting about it right now! Ladies and Gentlemen, today's topic shall be the Anime with the oh so interesting topic of science and church, Today's topic is To Aru Majutsu no Index!
As this is a Review for both seasons of Index, I will go on and give two scores for every category!
Story:To Aru Majutsu no Index or Index as I will call it for short, revolves around Kamijou Touma, a middle school student that lives in Academic City, a city solely dedicated to science development and Esper training. It is technologically advanced and around 80% of the people living there are students. In this city there are different ranks of Espers, telling their strength, going from Level 0, people that don't have any ability, up to Level 5, which are the 7 strongest ability users in the entire world. Our Main Protagonist Kamijou though unfortunately only is Level 0 and doesn't have any ability at all, except for one thing: His right hand can destroy any Magic or Ability! One day as he comes home to his apartment, he suddenly finds an oddly dressed catholic sister hanging on his balcony, muttering that she is hungry. After taking her in, she explains to him that her name is Index and she has memorized 103000 Grimoires in her mind. She tells him of the existence of Magic as well and that some kind of evil organization is after her.
The basic premise of Index is really interesting, featuring the earlier mentioned differences between the Church and science, but it's nothing that the show focuses on too long. While the enemies often are either from some kind of church or some evil scientific organization, it doesn't feel anything but a mere excuse to have a new antagonist. The setting still remains really interesting, but more for the reasons of Academic City being one of the coolest cities that I have seen in a Franchise so far, featuring underground organizations, a realistic set of population, meaning it is not perfect and a really interesting society where students are able to rule a lot. Also the whole Esper system is really well thought through and was a lot of fun to think about, even if it certainly is not the main point of Index.
Index Story itself consists of many arcs, bound together to an overarcing story, that is not too significant yet, but might get soon. Every single arc is built the same way, there is some light hearted fun going on, something bad happens and everyone freaks out. Then some Plot Twists happen, the bad guy is getting figured out, he fights Touma and everything ends. Of course for the most time it is not as easy as that and surely isn't as dull as it probably just sounded. What this show does really well though, is the pacing. It never feels rushed and never drags once it really got going. Even though it has a few difficulties getting into the arc at the beginning, as the light hearted parts often drag out a little. As the arc gets more story focused though, the show starts to throw in a good amount of twists before ending in a for the most amazingly climatic and epic fight, that basically consists of our main characters holding epic speeches and punching everyone in their face! Believe it or not, it is a lot of fun to watch! If the show really has one big problem though, than it is the getting into it! The first few episodes of Index are pretty hard to watch, not because the story is bad, but due to another reason...
Index: 8.5/10
Index II: 8.7/10
Characters:The characters of Index are by far it's weakest points! The first character is Index. Index is a catholic sister, with the ability of remembering everything she has once seen. This ability is getting used by the church, as she had to read 103.000 grimoires for the church and remember every single one of them. She now has to take care of them and keep people away from looking into it. Index rarely really gets active in the show itself and for the most part only is the reason for things to happen. If she starts acting on her own though, it often gets pretty cool and the power of the grimoires hidden within her mind is not to underestimate. The second main character is Kamijou Touma. He is your generic Light Novel Protagonist, being the guy that wants to save everything and holds epic speeches, why the antagonist is wrong. His catchphrase is the sentence "Fukou da" which in English means "Such misfortune", as he sees himself as an incredibly unlucky person. There is not a lot more to him though, as he is pretty blant. It takes a lot of time, to really get used to him, since at the beginning he is really annoying and only gets really likeable in the second season. It's not that he changes a lot, but the one thing that is different, is that he is a lot more badass later on and while not being a good character, he at least is really cool! In short, the longer the series goes on, the better the main characters get!
The character cast around those two characters is huge, introducing at least one new character every single arc (there are a lot of arcs...) and keeping most of them for use later on. Every single one of them though, especially those that are getting used more often, are really well fleshed out and are by far not as one dimensional as the two main character are. They are a lot more interesting than Index and Touma are and every new side character is a great addition to the already amazing cast of side characters. I am looking forward to getting more of those in the coming seasons.
The last problem in the character section that Index has, is the character interaction, which the comedy relief scenes are focused on. The problem is that while the interactions are funny when seeing Index biting Touma the first time, as she seems to be doing it second episode, it gets boring really quick. The two characters are way too boring to produce anything amazing outside of fights and most of the side characters can't really safe that either. There were some points when I simply had to laugh out loud, but those were pretty rare. The comedy itself was just something that was overused to a point that I was not able to do anything but facepalm at times.
Index: 7.2/10
Index II: 7.6/10
Art:Index for the most part doesn't look too amazing. The Slice of Life comedy scenes look pretty generic and there is nothing standing out at all. When it gets serious though and they start to animate fights, they do a pretty good job at it! There are not too many stills and the animation itself is pretty fluent and while it still is not too amazing it certainly is above average! The Animation quality gets better in the second season, but still is in comparison to other Anime of that time nothing to noteworthy. The backgrounds often look pretty good though, especially when being the Academic City itself, surprising with a good amount of details. At some points the lighting is something that pleased me as well, even though that was rather rare in the show itself and happened more in the movie. The CGI though, looks pretty bad and that doesn't get better in the second season either. Unfortunately they use exactly that CGI for the backgrounds as well. It's not as clearly noticeable then though.
Index: 7.5/10
Index II: 7.5/10
Sound:The Soundtrack of Index was composed by I've, a Japanese techno sound production group. The Soundtrack itself is what I consider to be rather average. There are some tracks that are pretty cool and those are the ones that either show up as soon as some kind of mystery accures or as soon as people start fighting. In the more quite parts of the show though, the soundtrack was pretty generic and couldn't quite match up to the ones of others. The Openings on the other hand were all pretty much amazing! Every single one of them had more of a techno vibe to them. Every single one was sung by Kawada Mami, which did a really good job at it! They did a good job at preparing you for what was to come in the Anime itself, while getting you hyped if the last episode ended on a cliffhanger. In total the RailDex Franchise has amazing Openings. The endings were all quite good, but definitely skippable. They were nice to hear once or twice but after that, there was no real need to listen to them any more. The Voice Acting was splendid and leaves nothing to be desired as far as the emotions go. As my Japanese is not that good, I will refrain from saying more than that!
Index: 8.1/10
Index II: 8.1/10
In total To Aru Majutsu no Index is really good show, that has it's only big fault in it's main characters, but even that is something to get used to after a while. It convinces with a good story, a huge but likeable character cast and simply the amount of fun you have watching Touma punch someone in his face. It has amazing pacing and a skill to climax it amazingly well, making every arc somewhat epic!
Now as I calculated the scores I gave To Aru Majutsu no Index and it's second season (Story, Characters, Art, Sound and my personal Enjoyment), I came to a score of 7.94/10 for the first season and a score of 8,14/10 for the second season. Both are amazing even though they are flawed. The pure fun watching them turns around a lot! As it stands now the first season of Index has been licensed by FUNimation, but the second has not been picked up yet. The first season is also available on the FUNimation Website for legal streaming.
And with that, I hope you enjoyed this Review of Index and I see you next post!
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game8910
To Aru Majutsu no Index is yet another anime adaptation by JC Staff based on a light novel series published by ASCII Media Works. This is a show that has as many good things as it does bad things. Story: The premise of To Aru Majutsu no Index (Index from now on) had me intrigued from the beginning, a story which is based on a science vs magic/religion is the type of plot I can really get into. However the way the story is executed turned the anime into something that could have been a great show with a deep and interesting plot into an animewith long and confusing dialogue that was so in love with its own world that you would wish everyone would stop talking for at least 1 minute. The action that the show would offer you would often get interrupted by more explanation and exposition about the situation and it would hurt the pacing and momentum that the show itself built. The story itself is also very "episodic" in a way. The show has been segmented into many different mini-arcs which followed a pretty basic 2-3 episode long outline:
- Main character gets dragged into a weird situation
- Main character finds an antagonist behind the events
- Main character and antagonist fight
- Main character wins but ends up in the hospital
I am not joking every arc on this anime ends with the main character hospitalized. However despite all these details the story of the anime can still be enjoyable and interesting at times.
Animation: I have no complains with the animation on this anime. It is very well made and its very flashy when in comes to battles and backgrounds. This is a good looking anime.
Music: Apart from the great OP songs from the ever-sweet Kawada Mami. There is not much else to say about the sound department on Index. It does the job well enough.
Characters: Another one of the issues I have with the anime is the way the characters are handled. The actual characters on the show are all interesting on their own way however the anime is only fixated on the main MALE lead Touma, while every other character takes a supporting role cast. In every arc we see Touma encounter a new character, and for those 2-3 episode we see the new character and Touma be the focus of the show but once that is over we barely ever see that character again, or it only lurks in the background. This condition is so extreme not even the "main" female character Index, whose name is on the anime title, escapes this reality. For the first 4-5 episodes we are introduced and aquainted with Index, however past that point she is almost non existent and is only shown for the sake of having at least the most minimal screen time on each episode. Such threatement for the characters really lessened the enjoyment I could've had watching this show.
Enjoyment: Even though i have mostly complained here, I still liked this anime. Im a little sad that it didnt live up to its full potential but its not a bad show on its own right.
Overall: Despite the terrible handling of the characters and the story, To Aru Majutsu no Index manages to be an entertaining show for those who enjoy magic and supernatural abilities. And I would recommend it for anyone who wants to kill time.
Splitter
Largely a compilation of various archetypes and cliches meant to produce something to hold over the Shana crowd until the inevitable Season 3, To Aru Majutsu no Index embodies the same animation style, similar story progression, and yet another myriad of needlessly confusing terminology. However, Index does manage to possess some very different characters than it's spiritual predecessor that add some freshness to an otherwise tired production. If there's one thing you can't fault J.C. Staff on, it's the animation. Sharp, crisp, with a signature pallet and inspired character design, Index can be a treat to look at. Consistent in its appearance throughout, it does afine job of carrying a sharp appearance, even though it does not strive to be anything beyond that.
Sound is another matter. The opening and ending themes just aren't up to the quality of the animation and, for me at least, seemed to drag down the sequences. Generic BGM throughout didn't help, though vocal performances are of note. Yuka Iguchi and Rina Satou especially as Index and Misaka add great energy and depth to their respective character's lines. The rest of the cast isn't bad either, ranging from enjoyable to decent. What a complete waste of Mamiko Noto though.
These performances were also greatly amplified by a very likeable cast. Index is a real charmer from the get-go and Misaka's firecracker personality really adds something to the dynamic of the Index-Touma-Misaka triangle. I have no complaints about Touma personally, but he is another generic male lead with a built-in deus ex machina. Fortunately, it isn't the be-all end-all solution it appears to be. The supporting cast is enjoyable, but so many of them are sparsely seen, with some disappearing as quickly as they appear, that it's easy to forget or just not care about them.
While the characters are intriguing enough to keep watching, the plot isn't. Functioning on an individual arc setup, it's too disjointed with too little themes carried over from arc to arc to make it worth the effort. While Index lacks its spiritual predecessor's romantic angst, at least said angst helped carry the story over each individual arc. Here, Index has few if any ties throughout, burning bridges as quickly as it can construct them. Add in the previously mentioned myriad of complicated terminology that perpetuates the dialogue of the series, and even the strongest attention spans may be jolted by this one.
So what can be said about it as a whole? It's certainly not a terrible series, but there's too much wasted potential. The character relationships are stagnant and the poignant characters of each arc are gone with the next. It's more a compilation of side stories than a full-bodied plot, heavy on the dialogue but short-handed on plot or character development. But it is likeable, and nice to look at, and with some luck, the franchise will become more focused in the future. For now, it's disposable eye candy. Nothing more, nothing less.
Overall, I give To Aru Majutsu no Index a 6 out of 10.
TakaCode
This review will cover both seasons of A Certain Magical Index as well a bit of the movie called A Certain Magical Index The Miracle of Endymion. I have a complex relationship with the Raildex series. Ever since I was introduced to the series from my group of friends my opinion of the RailDex series has been all over the place. On one hand, I really adored certain elements of the series such as Sisters arc in Railgun S and the first arc of Index while I hated such as Touma Gary Sue preachy power-ups speeches and the contrived Silent Party Arc of Railgun S. Needlessto say I enjoyed the Raildex for what it is despite its numerous flaws. Now unlike Full Metal Panic, Inazuma Eleven and Legend of The Galactic Heroes I didn’t get excited for Index Season 3 at all mainly because I didn’t like A Certain Magical Index all that much. Apart from the first arc as well arcs that have Accelerator focused I honestly cannot the life of me stand the series mainly because it’s a badly paced action harem that is filled with plot conveniences, asspulls and terrible writing. This was basically my first watch of A Certain Magical Index in a nutshell and it wasn’t a happy experience for me at all. One day when I was out looking for anime to buy a month before season 3 began airing I saw both seasons of A Certain Magical Index in an anime sell. I originally wanted to get Higurashi When They Cry Season 1 but the series was sold out. Rather then waiting for Higurashi to come back in stock in the following I decided to give A Certain Magical Index a second chance by not only buying the series but I also re-watching the series. Now with said did my opinion of A Certain Magical Index changed for the better or for the worse. Let’s find out, shall we?
Story.
Academy City is a central point for all scientific environments housing espers capable of displaying incredible super psychic powers. The story follows a level zero esper named Touma_Kamijou who as he was leaving his home comes across a young none named Index hanging outside of his balcony. She says that she’s on a run from dangerous sorcerers who want to use her as a tool where they can access the 1003000 million forbidden magical text that she memorised in her head. Getting dragged into the world of magicians and psychics Touma decides to project Index at all cost even if he will cost him his life. Touma has a unique power called Imagine Breaker which grants him the power to nullify any kind of magic and psychical ability that someone throws at him with on touch.
The story follows a Level 0 esper named Touma who always seemed to have bad luck thanks to his right hand. His right hand has the ability to nullify any esper ability that they throw at him.
Before I talk the things I don’t like about let’s talk about things that liked and that is first 6 episodes. Right out the gate, the first six episodes aka the first arc contained a lot of top-tier storytelling as despite being simple on paper it’s very well executed thanks to its great story elements that were well thought out especially at the end.
The second and final thing that I liked about Index was the arcs that featured Accelerator. Not only these arcs were nicely paced but it was nicely well written as after the sister’s arc he goes a series of redemption arcs where despite being evil in nature he tries to make all the bad things he has previously done. I honestly had fun watching these arcs more than watching any arc that involved Touma.
Unfortunately the show slowly starts to show it’s ugly true tensions which I will talk about in a bit but for now, am going to talk about the things I don’t like about Index because there is a lot of them that ultimately plague the series.
The first problem that I had with Index it that the show literally throws every sci-fi plot device element possible including insanity completely scientific explanations, evil organizations, church conspiracy, religious holy artefacts and cloning experiments and guess what’s? This show absolutely sucks at explaining all of these plot points to the viewer and it’s doesn’t help that 80% of the dialogue is dedicated to explanation and drowning on and on with overally completed explanations for just about everything. What makes this worse is how sometimes these plot elements only show up for one time like angel or golems while others never show up all. Case in point the vampires stuff in the second arc of Index. This lack of explanations towards really hurts the worldbuilding in Index as it show tries to make Academy City this epic city that is filled with life and mystery but it ultimately failed and as a result, your left with a world that is quite frankly empty in execution.
Along with the show messy execution is only made of how bad the direction in this series is. For example, in episode 14 of the second season, Touma wanted to use a bathroom. Instead of knocking through the door this incompetent dumbass bares in the bathroom where he sees a naked girl showering. Instead of dumbass saying sorry like a normal for entering in the bathroom without knocking this dumbass just stands there and acts all shocked like a fool as he stares a naked girl. To add insult to injury he does it again with the second door only this time Touma gets head bitten by Index. That scene alone from episode 14 of S2 really highlights how shit the comedy is as well general direction as the shit comedy could have easily been avoided.
The second worst thing about A Certain Magical Index is the pacing. Now because the majority of the arcs are only 6 to 2 episodes long you can expect theses arcs to rushed as hell as the series does a poor job what is happening on screen seemed theses plot elements seemed to mostly pop up from nowhere without any building or even tension. The only arcs that didn’t suffer from the rushed pacing were arcs that featured Accelerator as those arcs were nicely paced where the series its time of explaining what is happening in a set arc that features Accelerator. Yes, he did appear in the Sisters and Academy City Invasion Arcs but least he was kickass in those arcs and he wasn’t a bore compared to the lifeless overpowered Gary Sue Touma.
After Season 1 the only thing I was looking forward was the Accelerator arcs because they were nicely written and unpredictable compared to the arcs that feature Touma
Before I talk about the worst thing about the series I’m going to quickly talk about the movie because it sucks as it just seemed to follow every bad anime movie plot based on a popular anime series imaginable.
Yes, the movie may have production values and all but it’s ultimately matter when you have aboustly no substance to back it up.
Now if you thought the unexplained stuff and pacing were bad you ain’t seen nothing because the problem that is going to talk about now killed the series for me and that problem is that A Certain Magical Index is a harem series disguised as a sci-fi battle anime.
Words cannot describe of how pissed I when I was done watching both seasons of Index that I literally found the show true intentions as all this time I was watching a badly directed harem series that has doesn’t have much substance at all.
>> What are you talking about me this show ain’t a harem at all.
Well, let me explain.
After the first arc was over aka episode 6 the series seemed to feature set arc girl that was meant to be on Touma side the problem is apart from Misaka where she had some character development every single girl is literally a plot device for the narrative for each arc plus Touma was always the one that protects set girl from danger for each arc where the girls for each don’t do much to defend themselves. Not only that but the show throws in every harem cliche you have ever seen such as the innocent guy entering in bathrooms without knocking while a set girl is naked and the girl punches/kicks the guy for breaching it. It was that point where I lose all hope for A Certain Magical Index because the series went from being intriguing sci-fi anime that devolved into this shameful harem sci-fi action feast that doesn’t respect the viewers time.
Overall the story of A Certain Magical Index is at best-wasted potential and at worst it’s one of the lousiest stories I have ever seen.
3/10
Characters.
If there were two words to describe the charterers in A Certain Magical Index is wasted potential. Apart from two characters the characters in Index are a bunch of bland stereotypes who barely developed in the narrative.
Am not kidding when I say this but Touma is one of my most hated male anime protagonists I have ever seen. Seriously this guy is not only bland to the absolute core but also an overpowered Gary Sue who loves to give out these stupid and forced justice speeches.
The chararter Index is not much better as despite being decent in the first 6 episodes she just this annoying little brat who barely does anything apart bite Touma head for a living.
Thankfully we have Misaka who is by far the best thing to come out from this lacklustre character cast. She may appear as this generic tomboy at first however unlike most other anime tomboys she has a very good reason of why she acts the way she does. She has a reputation of being one of the strongest espers of Academy City in such a young age. It makes perfect sense of why she wanted to act though to keep her reputation intact. This alone really add so much dept to her chararter and it really makes her presence in the anime much more memorable. On top all that she has one of the most original backstories I have seen while and while it was better executed in Railgun S but it’s was still nicely executed here.
As much as a adore Misaka I feel like she highlights how bad the characterisation in the series is because she along with Accelerator are great characters while the other characters are interesting as rocks.
The best example of this is a character named Kuroko aka Misaka’s roommate and best friend. I really enjoyed her in Railgun as she was this badass girl who is capable of talking down criminals using her esper ability teleportation. Kuroko had some good characters in Railgun S1. She may have this unhealthy crush of Misaka but other than that she was a character that I enjoyed in Railgun.
Index on the other hand despite coming out a year before the season 1 took everything that I liked about her character and turned her into an unfunny, annoying and one-dimensional brat where the only thing that she does other than plot reason is to be an obsessive creepy lover for Misaka.
The final character that I want to talk about is Accelerator. I really liked him. He starts off as this ruthless psychotic villain who is willing to kill thousands of Misaka clones just he can surpass level 5. The interesting thing about Accelerator as a chararter is how the show slowly tries to make him a decent human being later on after the sister’s arc we see him actually see him trying to attempt redemption with all the bad things that he has done. He also starts caring for someone where he is willing to look after and protect a young girl named Misaka Last Order. He’s is by far the second best thing about this entire show.
Overall despite having two good supporting the characters in A Certain Magical Index was lacklustre and poorly executed.
4/10
Visuals.
While the plot and characters were a failure the visuals were pretty good. A Certain Magical Index is like watching a beautiful fireworks display of explosives colours. The background scenery has this shining electrifying urban colour palette that goes a fantastic job of capturing the life of Academia City. The characters designs were pretty cool for the most part as they all look clean and appealing to look at
The animation in Index is pretty great stuff especially coming from J.C Staff who well knows of making well animated in the series. There was a lot of fulfilment movement when the characters are fighting.
The only problem I had with the visuals is how some of the female characters look pretty similar to each other as many of the female characters seemed to have loli facial structure even though some of the characters in the series are older.
8.5/10
Sound.
Compared to the soundtrack of Railgun the soundtrack in Index is just okay. While there were a few good tracks in the show that fit the show very fell many of the tracks were not that memorable let alone with the show at times.
All the opening themes Index were pretty good and memorable in their own ways especially opening 3 No buts!” by Mami Kawada which is one of my favourite anime openings of all time.
The ending themes on the other are just okay and not that memorable in my eyes.
Now for sub vs dub.
The sub is pretty good for what it is as all the Seiyuus did a pretty good with the roles that they were given.
The dub is very good and I consider to be Funimation better dubs. It is very well acted and the dialogue for the dub was nicely handled. My favourite performances in the dub were Austin Tindle as Accelerator, Brittney Karbowski as Misaka and Micah Solusod as Touma. Overall very good dub.
6.5/10
Final Thoughts.
A Certain Magical Index is a mess. While it did have some strong aspects that were enjoyable such as Misaka, the Accelerator arcs and production values.
However, the shows negatives, unfortunately, outweigh the positives. The story was a terribly written mess that exposes itself as a shitty harem. The pacing was bad, the poor used side characters and the main characters like Touma and Index were awful.
Even though I don’t like this show I still recommend it to people who want to watch a fun sci-fi anime that has some interesting things in it. Just don’t buy into the hype from people about this series as it will only disappoint you greatly if you're an experienced anime fan such as myself.
Final Score 4.5/10
ThatAnimeSnobRE
SCRIPT The Toaru franchise is more known for its complex terminology and elaborate world building than for its plot. In the story, magic and science are at war all over the world, but the viewer spends the series in a city where most people are teenagers with superpowers who get to have generic adventures. The story sounds great on paper because the author put a lot of work in explaining the various magical and scientific powers that many characters possess. The plot however is as typical as it gets when it comes to light novels. Despite the variety in themes and special abilities the protagonist isa seemingly normal teenager who is evaluated as level zero (at the bottom), yet with his power he defeats everybody with a punch and makes his harem bigger by the day. Level zero indeed; so much for all the amazing techno-babbling that makes sense. It’s all improbable physics canceled with a broken power and it comes down to a harem. Oh, and of course there is going to be a lot of talking during battles which comes down to childish morality, friendship, and macho one-liners.
CAST
The characters are a colorful bunch of stereotypes that take their sweet time to develop, and even when they do they are usually thrown in the background, never to be important ever again.
- The most prominent example of this is the lead girl Index, whose name is even in the title of the anime. Although she is supposed to be the key character in the war because of her hidden knowledge, she is offered some immersion and drama before she becomes nothing more than a platonic lover for the lead character. Not only that, but as the girls who like the lead male keep increasing, her role becomes even less and less important to the show in general. Some say this is good because she is very annoying and the less screen-time she gets, the better the show is. If that is the case, she was a very bad choice for a lead character to name the character after.
- The lead male, Touma, is the stereotypical shonen protagonist, predictably owning a broken power nobody else possesses, nobody can block or defeat, it is never explained why he possesses it, and he uses it to shout juvenile morality speeches, protect his loved ones and save chicks by punching them in the face. Hooray for techno-babbling that makes sense. He then he goes to heal in a hospital before everything repeats in the exact same way in the next arc. Hooray for creativity.
- The support characters have even less importance to the plot. Each arc usually ends with Touma saving one girl and adding it to his personal harem, which of course increases in nudity as the episodes go on, because the scriptwriter had no idea of what to do with them once their introduction arc was over. The girls are objectified and treated as fapping material, doing nothing but coking or being naked. A result of the scriptwriter wasting all his time on writing techno-babbling bullshit, instead of character development.
- The only villain most of the fans care about is this psychotic guy named Accelerator, and even he is just a crazy strong guy who wants to level up by killing lots of people. So much depth.
- Mikasa is the favorite girl for most fans, to the point she got her own side story. She is otherwise an average tsundere with superpowers, mass cloned so everybody can have his own personal waifu.
PRODUCTION VALUES
The animation holds well for the time it was made. Action scenes are very good if all you want is fancy lights and big explosions. However, they follow a very standard and repetitive formula that makes them uninteresting in the long run. You know the drill, they macho talk, the lead gets trashed, they macho talk, the lead gets up full of resolve to protect his friends, they macho talk, the lead wins. Thank you very much; I am watching this since Hokuto no Ken came out.
LEGACY
There are definitely far better shonen than this one, with far better handling of their stories and characters. It’s a good time waster if you are still a newbie, a shonen fan, and you somehow find panty shots of minors to be sexy, but nothing great in the longrun. Generic characters doing generic things with poor reasoning and cheap plot twists with lots of pointless techno-babbling is all you will get. If you expect a lemon twist to your average soda, Toaru is just tab water in a fancy glass.
Minor details about the seasons.
- Toaru 1 had little to no overall plot amongst its story arcs. Some excuse it as the introduction to the setting and the cast but story-wise it is still pretty much a disjoined series of almost stand-alone missions.
- Railgun 1 was just a storyless spin-off made to please the Misaka fans / Index haters. It is considered far more enjoyable that Toaru 1 but still has zero story to tell.
- Toaru 2 does a much better job at having a better overall plot, but the transition from one plotline to another happens in a rushed and poor way that confuses anyone not aware of the novels. Plus, it leaves most of the older characters as background decoration. The fan service goes up 300%, degrading the females into mostly eye candy than respectful characters. It was apparently the only way to maintain the interest of the audience around people the author doesn’t plan to develop.
- Railgun 2 is also improved in terms of plot and characterization, and it’s considered to be the best season. It still spends a lot of time in cute girls doing cute things and nothing more.
- Toaru 3 was supposed to be a super exciting continuation of the previous season, but it took so long to come out nobody cared about it when it was finally here. The storytelling continues to be confusing, the plot is still the same generic crap people could even find done better in Black Clover, and in general it was forgotten very fast.
_Angel
A Certain Magical Index is what you call "Science Fantasy". It was made by the creators of "ToraDora!" and has possibly one of the best English dubs I've seen from Funimation. I don't really understand all of the criticism this show gets. Many argue that the story is deceptive in the fact that everything goes downhill after the first story arc. In defense, it is a Light Novel adaptation, so it's got a lot of information and description to thrash out. I personally consider the first book (first 6 episodes) to be a story in itself, with the rest of the television series to be acouple of extensions for fun.
Not sure what it is about this anime in particular, but a lot of really great things click together to my preferences. You've got an entire world of science vs. magic and a distinctly-unique world comparable to that of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth. In the midst of the confusion, I love the fact that the main character is some dimwit below-average guy without any special powers at his utility. Throughout the show, he uses his brain and good morals to counter both witchcraft and confusing situations. The best part is: every battle involves him using his right fist alone, knocking out every villain in his path.
Gender Equality punch go!
Overall, this series can get you lost in all of it's details if you aren't one for paying attention to details. However, if you find yourself appreciating the characters, I guarantee you won't get lost. I personally really enjoyed it and I honor it's bravery in an industry filled with harems and power-up scenes. I'm anticipating the release of a third season!
Overall - 9/10
frsdnl2
Oh God~ Where do I start? This anime just want to make my brain cells crushed and having an extreme migraine. The story and setting is near to Shakugan no Shana, SURPRISINGLY! But Shana is more darker and give more suspense. I even checked if both of them have the same Director and make in the same studio, but no. If I want to make a a one word review of this anime it would be. MOE. That's all.I still can't get the grip on what the fu*k the story is all about, Magicians? Esper? Walking Church? Fu*k...!! Even a detective Anime like Conan, Q or Death Note does not make me feel confused as much as this Anime.
If you want to get fun by watching this anime... GOOD LUCK!
Then there's this Protagonist which is ok but does not however explained where does he get the Imagine breaker. How? Why? Is he the chosen One? Is he like an invincible protagonist that the story-writer has embedded a God-Mod cheat on him just so that he could beat the crap out of any foes he meet?
There's just so many lolis in the Anime, I've even suspect that the writer is a child molester or a pervert that been collecting child porn for decades. Because often the Anime smothered your face with ridiculousness of lolis to show their cuteness that is rather annoying and over-used.
I love lolis especially like Shana and Taiga which can stand and fight for herself and still remain tsundere *cough*. But Index are just annoying. What the hell happen with the 103,000 Grimoires that was hyped at the beginning of the Anime? Because later on they keep on distracting viewers into some more non-sense storyline with huge number of new characters.
They could've just focus on index and the Grimoires and the battle between the Magicians and Esper or some shit that would be interesting. But Instead, we were stuck in the stupid dialogues and short as fu*k battle sequence.
It's make me wonder even more on how Touma could survive the battle for every damn time! It's exactly like he activated a God-Mod cheat somewhere in his life. There should be a storyline on how he gains it and there should be an antagonist that could devoid the Imagine breaker and cornered Touma where his friends come rescue and it comes to his realization that he needs to train his power.
With all of this interesting setting and characters, we could get a better storyline. But, Fu*k no.. this is what we get, a confusing forth and back storyline that does not properly explain the motivation of protagonist or even the damn antagonist and at the end they just happens to ditch the old characters.
Don't let me get started how some lolis can be a teacher.. Fu*k. The more I keep thinking about this anime.. the more I hate it.
The opening and ending is ok I guess but not memorable..
I give my overall ratings of solid 5/10.
jc9622
I decided to watch "A Certain Magical Index" after finishing both Railgun and Railgun S. I just finished watching the series yesterday and I thought it was decent. Not the best anime as people claimed it to be... Story (7/10) The story is set in Academy City, a city with a 2.8 million population; 80% of them are students training to become an esper. The story is focused on Touma, who has an ability in his right hand called Imagine Breaker. One day, Touma meets a young English girl named Index who is a nun from Necessarius. Her brain is filled with 103,000 forbidden magical books. Thereare 6 arcs for this season which is called "Index", "Deep Blood", "Sisters", "Angel Fall", "Three Stories" and "Kazakiri Hyouka". What do you get when you shove down 6 arcs in one season? A rushed out plot with plot holes. I admit, the story was ok but at the same time, it was very confusing. Every time an arc ends, it left me with a lot of questions. They should have focused on 2-3 arcs per season instead of 6 arcs. Each arcs were just rushed out and too quick. For example, the Sisters Arc which I absolutely loved in Railgun S was a disappointing arc here in Index. It only lasted for about 5 episodes whereas in Railgun S, it lasted for 17 episodes.
There are 2 sides in this show. The Religion side and the Scientific side. The religion side consists of people or sorcerers who use magics and believe in God. The Scientific side consists of espers who can use abilities. The anime shows both sides but is more focused on the Religion side.
Art/Animation (8/10)
The animation is ok. A bit choppy on some occasions and some character designs looks weird. Considering this was made back in 2008, I guess it's acceptable.
Sound (8/10)
The soundtrack for this anime is mostly the same as the one I heard in "A Certain Scientific Railgun". I thought the soundtrack was great in Railgun so it's the same here. However, the opening soundtrack is not that great. The 1st OP was ok but the 2nd OP was horrible. The ending soundtrack is somewhat better. The 1st ED is horrible and the 2nd ED is a lot better.
Characters (9/10)
The only section this anime was very good at. The characters. The characters were hilarious and each one of them had their own distinct personality that is likable. Each one of them also got a character development but it didn't take that long to actually know these characters. Now to introduce some of the MC.
Touma is the main protagonist of the show. He possesses an ability in his right hand called "Imagine Breaker" that can nullify any ability or magic that he touches. However, he is a LV. 0 esper.
Index is one of the main characters of the show. She is a nun from Neccessarius. She wears a uniform called "The Walking Church" that prevents her from getting injured. The Church implanted 103,000 forbidden magical books in her brain (not literally).
Misaka is also one of the main characters of the show. She is one of the seven LV 5 espers. Her ability is "Electromaster". Basically, she can emit or shoot electricity.
Enjoyment (7/10)
I enjoyed the first few episodes of the show but as the show progresses, it started to become a bit boring but later picked up in the 2nd half (4th-6th arc). The season finale was horrible. I only enjoyed the last 5 minutes of that episode. The season finale felt like it was rushed.
Overall (7/10)
The anime had potential but they had to go ruin it by rushing the plot, leaving plot holes and shoving in 6 arcs in 1 season. I'll be watching the 2nd season soon and I just hope they don't rush the plot this time around. To be completely honest, I prefer Railgun over Index.
Pros:
-Decent Story
-Great Animation
-Great Characters
-Few funny moments
Cons:
-Plot was rushed
-Plot holes
-Way too many arcs in 1 season
-Season Finale was horrible (except the last 5 minutes)
