Ranked #572

Toaru Majutsu no Index II

Before I begin my review, let me share with you a little story

I once went to the "Women Are Neglecting Kitchens Society" ( Yes, I do know that abbreviates to W.A.N.K.S) Don't worry, all they do is tell "Women and Kitchen" jokes to each other. Anyways, the committee was proposing "Kamijou Touma" as their society's mascot. Bear in mind I did not watch any episodes of "Toaru Majutsu no Index" at all so I had to ask, "Who the heck is Touma??"
My membership got instantly revoked.

So after watching the first season, I still did not understand why is Touma is treated like a hero for the W.A.N.K.S. But after venturing into the second season during the great "Nuns vs Touma's Right Fist" war, I finally understood them..

"Your story wasn't that entertaining" says Misaka expressing her boredom.

Oh, and providing commentary for this review today is Misaka Clone #10032
So let's begin the review shall we?

As I've mentioned before, I've continuously watched from the first season into the second season, thus I could significantly notice several changes between the two season.

Once again the story revolves around Kamijou Touma and his RIGHT FIST. Note I do not say RIGHT HAND to avoid any sexual innuendos. Once again, Touma lack of discrimination for women causes him to go out of his way to save any "damsel in distress" nor does he care about holding back when he "rearranging their faces" Along with index and a few other companions, he is again dragged into solving the problems between the two dominating church factions in the story out of his sense of altruism. I can absolutely say you will get hooked onto each episode, there is almost no such thing as "fillers" (Eventhough once in a while I would like that since the story is moving at such an incredible momentum) I did not read the light novels thus in no way am I comparing the anime to it.

The character design improved significantly from the previous season. Combat sequence are getting more serious effects. I love the new opening now and I've seen tons of spoof and parodies made about it in NND. This is one of the few openings I would actually listen to instead of skipping. And who doesn't like the sound effect when Touma uses his RIGHT FIST to dispel magic or espers ability?

Characters! More development here for Touma's character. And when I say more development, I mean his HAREM is developing! However I felt like they were neglecting Index once again.. Poor Index... Other supporting characters such as Misaka, Accelerator and Kuroko do appear to further compliment the story. Misaka and her tsudere-ness reaches a higher level! The sad part about this anime is that as new characters are being introduced, the older ones which had their own arc are being left by the sidelines.

"I did get to appear momentarily in one of the episodes..." says Misaka proudly.

NO!!! DONT SPOIL THE SHOW FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T WATCHED!! Now go make me a sammich!

"I decline..." says Misaka while looking at the other direction.

Anyways, as blasphemous as it is, I did enjoy the whole religion versus science theme. Ok, so technically all religions are not represented so to correct it, it would actually be a war between the Christian Crusaders and Science. And wow, these Christian Crusaders made Taliban Terrorist looks like wimps, eventhough in reality the existence of espers and magic isn't really acknowledge. Now the reason I wouldn't give the enjoyment value of this anime to the maximun score is because the whole Touma tries to reason a girl, girl rejects Touma's reasoning, Touma's crush girl's illusion a.k.a her face, girl defects and becomes his ally, is getting old pretty quick. Sure thats a nice way to add girls to your harem instead of the typical dating sim of buying flowers and chocolates and raising flags every single moment, why not just falcon punch her?? Now, in no way am I or Touma are sexist here.

"Touma isn't sexist as he indiscriminately punches anyone in the face, male or female" Misaka adds to strengthen the argument.

Well said. So to put it easily, if you're the type who fancies superpowers and ability users, this would be a good anime for you to watch. Be sure to watch the first season though. And what is a harem anime without a couple of fanservice?? Yes we do have some to satisfy you fetish! For all you lolicon, Miko fetish, and Nun fetish! Not to mention a lot of tsunderes to go around (10,000+ to be exact)
And do not take the religion aspect of this story too seriously, in no way it is connected to reality. This is a fictional world. Otherwise, how else would they be able to acquire magic make up?? What? You didn't notice they were wearing magic make up?? Whenever Touma punches his enemies' face with his RIGHT FIST, their faces becomes slightly uglier thus their magic make up was dispelled by Touma's RIGHT FIST..

"I do not understand your jokes.." says Misaka showing her confusion

Well how about this? Touma lost his right arm when he was a kid so Chuck Norris gave him his right arm since Chuck Norris has the ability to regenerate any of his body part. Thus explains why Touma's RIGHT FIST is supremely incredible!

"Who is this Chucku Norrissu of which you speak?" Misaka asked in further confusion.

Haremu Kingu,
Signing off! read more

The second season of To Aru Majutsu no Index continues from where the first season left off. Based on the popular Light Novel series, the story takes place in Academy City: a City where 80% of the population are students trained to develop superhuman powers through scientific methods. These students are known as “Espers”. But outside this city exists a religious fraction that can use Magic to counter Esper abilities. This fraction strongly detests the Science side and the two sides have been plotting each others destruction. Kamijyo Touma, the protagonist of this story, possesses a right hand that will negate all magic and esper powers (as well as his own luck) and has been dragged into their plots against each other.

Now I'll be the first to admit that the To Aru Majutsu no Index series has been less than brilliant but I still found the first series enjoyable. Pretty much every arc would have roughly the same shell: Touma meets a nice girl who is a victim of a horrible plot. Touma then finds out about said horrible plot. Touma confronts the antagonist behind the plot. Said antagonist gives a typical “Good intention but wrong method” excuse before Touma gives an idealistic speech and punches him in the face. Rinse and repeat. Not that I didn't enjoy it the first few times but it does get old and fast. Even so, the first season did make up for it by filling up that shell with some creative stuff and I was still intrigued with the dark mystery behind the Magic and Science sides. I also fell in love with the comedy and the character interactions which were just priceless.

All of that is mostly done away with in this new instalment. Any creativity the previous arcs had is thrown out the window leaving behind that empty shell I've grown to hate, with the only difference being that Touma is now punching girls instead of guys. I think the biggest problem is with the exposition. For example in the second arc, they pretty much throw you into the deep end of plots between churches and a whole load of techno-babble and if you can't make sense out of it in the first five seconds, well then good luck because they won't dally around. The comedy is sorely lacking in creativity as well. Let me give you an example of how that contrasts with the first season. At the beginning of one arc in the first season, Touma (who has amnesia) stumbles upon a very oddly dressed little girl. Touma being Genre Savvy enough to realise that anyone who dresses that strangely is someone he must know, decides to greet the girl. Except the girl in question immediately considers Touma an enemy just for greeting her and holds him at knife point. It's not that he wasn't exactly wrong in his deduction. It's just that he's an incredibly unlucky guy. In this season that type of comedy was mostly replaced with an insufferable amount of Accidental Pervert moments only two of which had any sort of creativity to them. There were some funny moments here and there but nothing like the first season and without that comedy the series loses much of its charm.

And now that you're left with that empty shell you have the opportunity of realising just how ridiculously irritating Touma can be with his annoying speeches. In one arc, I noticed that when Styl was taken down by the antagonist if you actually notice, the pool of blood coming from Styl gets slowly bigger and bigger whilst Touma spends some precious time preaching to the antagonist about how wrong she is. Not only that but one problem is that anyone who knows even a little about how to argue would know just how terrible his debating skills are. It mostly just consists of throwing a lot of general idealistic principles. And that's not even the worst thing about his speeches. No, the worst thing is that it's only ever so far been used to break down incredibly weak motives. This was particularly egregious when the second to last antagonist Touma faces gives what has to be the most retarded antagonist's motive I've ever heard, not just in the To Aru series but in anime generally.

Oh and don't count on Index to become more important in this series like I did. She doesn't. Oh she serves as a good plot device in certain key moments but that's about as far as it gets. She's far more important in the first season, even when I thought she was being shafted. I wonder why they even call it “Magical Index” anymore.

That said it's not all bad. The series picks up in the last quarter and that would be mostly due to the introduction of Accelerator as a more central figure. A much more interesting character that provides a more cynical route for all those already irritated with Touma. But even then the last quarter had its flaws so it's nowhere near enough for me to overlook the poor quality of a whole three-quarter of this season. The soundtrack is at least as brilliant as it's always been (something I think is largely underrated) with each piece always providing the perfect atmosphere. The animation though has become a lot more inconsistent this season. It's great in many places but in others I notice a lot of odd and jerky movements and the inconstancy has been a notable pain for me throughout the entire season.

Overall it's only because I'm a fan of the series that I'm not giving it an even lower rating. But even though the second season was a bitter disappointment, I still look forward to the third season (which although hasn't been announced yet is still a forgone conclusion). I’ve been promised by several Light Novel readers that the story really does get much better after this. Pushing aside the obvious problem that it would have to take 48 episodes to finally pick up, if season three does reach my expectations then I will simply consider this season a part of the story that bridges the gap between season one and three. So in conclusion, if you’re a fan of this series and you’re willing to watch 24 episodes of mostly mediocre stuff, all for the sake of understanding season three when it finally picks up then go for it, but make sure to lower your expectations. If you’re not a fan and you’re not in the least bit curious about what happens (even though you’re reading a review of it) then don’t bother. read more

Does picking a very good selling light novel/manga for adapting into anime, means it will sell well too? – yes.

Does it mean the anime will be good ? – no..

If you’re just a casual watcher looking for a good anime, im afraid that besides comedy parts and fanservice or maybe some killing madness by Accelerator you wont find anything here, your impression of the second season could be marked with rating 6 or much lower
If you’re a fan of the light novel or the anime, your rating for the second season of Tamni will be 7 or even higher.
Third option, STRICT light novel fan or anime maniac, feel free to skip the anime or just watch it to be disappointed and add another average anime.

I would put myself between second and third option, while anime itself was just average, it was still the world I loved in the LN. Too bad the way it’s shown in the anime is just poor. The more I like LN, the less I like the anime adaptation, especially the second season.

Taking into account that you’ve already watched first season, your impression of second season depends a lot on how much you’ve liked characters from the first one, since like Index had 103.000 grimoires hammered into her head, the same thing can be said with the adaptation – 8 volumes were turned into 24 eps, which is really too much. What does it mean? The plot from LN is killed in the anime, facts that connect together and create something that would make sense, are just skipped or showed in the way that you can’t really understand what’s going on. Of course, when it comes to fanservice or comedy parts – it’s all there and what comes to my mind is other adaptation by J.C. Staff – Zero no Tsukaima, where every next season had more fanservice/ecchi crap. It’s maybe ok, but not when the part that was one of the best parts of original gets very simplified as a cost of it. So there isn’t even anything to get you into the show, unless you like the characters from the first season and you put tsundere moments/big breasts over the plot. Well, I cant say that I hate these parts, since some of them are really funny(misaka clones etc.), but it’s not supossed to be a main storyline of the anime. I felt like plot was an addition to all that, not the other way around.

What was the best part of the second season of Tamni? There was something that actually almost everyone will like and watch it more times than one.. too bad that im talking about the opening themes, the only part which is always good in animes produced by J.C. Staff and the part which most likely isn’t done by them.. “More Mami Kawada and less J.C. Staff !” I would like to say that, too bad that op themes are usually only 1.30 min long and the rest is mutilated version of the LN original.

Either they didn’t had money in the middle of making this anime, or people doing it changed – art at the beginning and last episodes is great, but it looks worse than the first season at some parts in the middle. Gotta say about the “static backgrounds” when it comes to action scenes, why in the side story To aru Kagaku no Railgun(which was better when it comes to art overall) there weren’t any of these and in the main story we don’t see those only in the last fight of the second season? Maybe a detail, but it feels like team A was doing side story and team B was doing the main and more important one or it was just rushed.

Right now I’m looking forward for Shakugan no Shana 3rd season and I’m happy that I don’t read the light novel original, since i would feel bad after watching the anime adaptation, the same as I do with Tamni.

What I want to add is that anime industry seems really poor for me right now, since most of the best light novels are picked and turned into crap by J.C. Staff(Hidan no aria, Zero no Tsukaima, Tamni), while other studios just picks something that will be either a comedy or one season anime and isn’t hard to turn into the anime. Why I don’t mention Toradora!, simple because the only genre where they actually doesn’t fail are romance series with some comedy in it and tsundere characters. I really like the idea of releasing 3 seasons or even more about one title with so long time gap between each of them.. yup, more long series with complex world. Talking about 3rd season, im almost sure you’ll see it in the future, since the To aru majutsu no index is the best selling light novel in japan right now. I would like to think it will be better, since story even in the original gets much better from that point, but that is just a false hope. I’m looking for a hero, ups.. i mean better adaptation of the next volumes.

Watch op themes for your enjoyment, rest for you own risk. 10 for misaka network and ops.. 6 for the rest from me. After reading the same part in ln, i was just angry at J.C. One big fukou da.

Something that has a great base for a great show turns out to be little above average, just like most of the show J.C. animates.

For some reference check my light novel review.


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Before reviewing Index II, allow me to present you with a little analogy:

So picture yourself living the good life. You have two best friends who you have grown up with and prospered together. Your first friend becomes a hardworking politician, while your second friend becomes a well-acclaimed doctor. Now, after a few years, your politician friend goes up and tells you that you have an incurable disease. That's nice and all, but he's working towards becoming the governor, what does he know about your health? Not much right? Now the next day, your doctor friend tells you that you have an incurable disease. Now you're screwed.

So the moral of the story is that if you have an incurable disease, you'll probably only believe your doctor friend who knows what he is talking about, and not your politician friend who only knows about politics.

So basically it comes down to this: Would you believe criticism from an average person, or criticism from a die-hard fan? The answer is clear now.

So a bit of back story, I am a huge Index fan. Season one made my top 10 in an instant and Railgun was fabulous. I think the Railgun manga (different plot) is genius and cannot wait for the localized copies to be released this June. I have read almost all of the translated volumes of the light novel and I also have taken the Baka-Tsuki translations, and transcribed them into the more tangible PDF source. That's how much of a fan I am. My friends all know I am a huge Toaru fan, and my good friend, Detective, also gave me a lovely Biribiri mouse pad. So a diehard fan is supposed to give everything about the series a ten, favorite all the characters, and troll haters, right? Well I hoped I would, but I am a critic before I am a fan, and well, the second season of Index, although a nice watch has flaws that should be addressed.

[Story: 7/10]
I hate to end things on a bad note, so I’ll be starting on the bad of course. First of all, I have read the volumes of the light novel that pertain to the second season of Index. I have to say it is indeed really accurate and I was impressed at how they were able to accurately depict the story. But of course, the story itself is bad, and I would have to say that this would be not the anime’s fault, but the fault of Kamachi Kazuma, the original author. The first arc (Not including the random first episode) was a bad note to start on, although it was pleasant hearing Rie’s voice for Agnes, the first arc was random and taking a look at the wider plot of Index, does nothing for the plot aside from adding some minor characters, emphasis on minor. Arc 2, the teleporter arc, was only two episodes which was really disappoint because it was one of my more favorable novels. Now skipping over the minor details, the longest arc in the series is the sports festival arc, which presented a threat to academy city by ancient religious artifacts being brought into the city. I have only one thing to say about that arc: it had the most nonsensical religious and magical jargon I have ever seen. The arc stretches over two novels in the series and was in fact one of the most boring reads I have had in a while. The anime actually does a good job of shortening up the religious lectures, but fails to suppress the incomprehensiveness altogether. I hate to criticize every arc, so I’ll skip the Italy arc, which was pretty straightforward, but boring nevertheless, and move onto the last arc of the Index II. Of course this is the best arc, and fitted perfectly for a season finale. Accelerator and Last Order arc? A good arc indeed. Lots of Accelerator, Misaka, MISAKA, and Last Order topped off with angels and crazy religious chicks and you have a good finish.

[Art: 8/10]
The art was really good, a bit too flashy at times, but it is a sci-fi so I’m not complaining. The art has really remained the same since season one, but they seemed to really like to add fan service to this season, which of course is never a bad thing in my eyes. Plus, all the fan service scenes came directly from the light novels, so the change from season one’s amount of fan service to this season is most certainly attributed to the author. The character designs were really good. Although the characters themselves may not be the best, at least their designs truly fit.

[Sound: 9/10]
Index II has fabulous sound. It has fitting voices and awesome music. The OPs were average, but the EDs are quite likable to my tastes. The voices were well casted and it was nice to hear Rie’s voice early on. The OST was a remix of old songs and a bunch of new tracks, they fitted the anime nicely so I have no complaints about unfitting music.

[Character: 7/10]
If the cast was just the old characters, it would have been a 9/10, but if the cast was just new characters, it would be a 5/10. The average is a 7/10. And it’s fitting as I didn’t like a single of the new characters beside from Awaki (Move Point) and Itsuwa (Amakusa Catholic). Seri (Class President) was an okay new character with a big rack for fan service, but other than those characters, the rest were bad. I don’t even want to mention how poor they were. Everyone from the catholic side is a messed up, crazy, psychotic freak. Most of the new characters are from the religious side which just comes to show that the science side just has better characters. *Cough* Misaka > Index *Cough*. In any case, the returning characters are great, with the exception of Touma, who has become even more annoying and spews even more nonsensical morality jargon and ends each battle with a punch to the face. His ability is really cool, if only he utilized it better/more. It seems as though Touma isn’t as badass as he once was, aka, the Deep Blood arc in season one where his arm turns into a demon. Now that is badass.

Main argument of the character section: There was no Saten-san, minus three points.

[Enjoyment: 7/10]
A fan has just too much to write… *looks above*
So I’ll keep this brief, take into account everything I have written summarize it and paste it here, then take the starting points, at 10 and subtract one for bad story, one for bad characters, and one for no Saten-san and you get the number seven.

[Overall: 8/10]
Overall, Index has its flaws, but hey, it still is pretty damn good compared to a bunch of other shows. As a fan, I can’t bring myself to give the show anything lower than a seven. Although it has a pretty boring and poor story and poor characters throughout the series, the season ended on a good note with an awesome arc and overall deserves a fairly good score for that final finishing touch that saved the season. And at the end of the day, I'm still a Toaru no Majutsu no Index fan. Although there are flaws, hey, I still love Index with a passion.

Edit: I miscalculated the average, which is a 7.6, which rounds up to an 8. read more

Return to the world of Science and Magic with Touma & Index.
After the slightly successful, often enjoyable first series, J.C Staff fires off with the continuation of Touma's dilemma within Academy City.

Story: 8/10 - The story that made the first series popular returns in its sequel. Here, the story kicks off with Touma attempting to finish his summer homework before the next day. Those who despised the slow pacing of its predecessor can rest easy - the series so far does a decent job of getting right into the action while reintroducing the familiar cast at the same time.

Art: 10/10 - I always loved Toaru's artstyle. But here, the character designs are more polished and proper, mixed with more than a fair share of loveable and humorous expressions.

Sound: 9/10 - Mami Kawada returns with her new single "No Buts!" as the opening. The song is very catchy and upbeat; a perfect blend of Techno and Pop. Maiko Iuchi of "I've Sound" is once again in charge of the series musical score, and DAMN, the music this time around is awesome and fitting at the same time. The ending theme "Magic∞World" by Maon Kurosaki is pretty cool too.

Character: 10/10 - The series has always been filled with loveable, colorful characters, and here is no different. New characters, bigger character development - what else can I say?!

Enjoyment: 8/10 - Despite the amusing, interesting (and at times, absolutely hilarious) interactions between characters, it still struggles with the long and boring speeches on magic (seriously!). However, the fight scenes and special effects are better than before.

It's obvious that J.C Staff invested a much, MUCH bigger budget on animation and special effects this time around. With a start-up more enjoyable than the first, and the Academy Sports Festival coming up, I rate this series 9/10... for now.

Why are you still reading?! Go watch some Index!!!! read more

Writing a standalone review for an anime that is a sequel to another anime without referring to the predecessor is quite hard, what with all the comparing you need to do between the two shows. What was better? What went worse? Which season is the best one? Why? Questions like these will be brought up and thus, I am going to mention Index 1 in this review as well, but not to a far extent. However, I believe that shouldn't be a problem, since (I assume) you've probably watched season 1 already, which is why you're currently reading a review to its sequel.

In my review for Index 1, I compared the show to a dinner consisting of grilled meat with various side dishes. I'm going to do the same with Index 2, so without further ado, let us move on.

So here we are again. You're sitting in the very same restaurant as last time, with the very same chef cooking you the very same meal. After he or she apologized for their mistakes regarding your last dinner here, you have agreed on giving them a new chance. Before long, the same plate is present at your table. There are the tender potatoes, the fresh vegetables and the tasty wine at the side. Then, there is the beef. Again, it at least looks and smells delicious, but you've learned to be skeptical when it comes to the food here by now. Nevertheless, it's time to see if the mistakes of the past have yielded the poor chef any experience.

While still, very unfortunately, carrying with it some problems from the past, Toaru Majutsu no Index II is at least undoubtedly a better show than its predecessor. However, it is not so by too long a shot. Some (severe) issues regarding the consistency and description of the plot have been resolved, but they're not completely wiped out. Index 2 handles it's main story far better than the first season, with arcs being much more vowen into each other and characters not being forgotten. Also, there is actually some interaction between the parties of science and magic this time around. Nevertheless, the show still loses some potential with recurring faults. While the problems aren't big, they're many.

The meat is, for starters, edible this time around. It tastes nothing exceptional, but at least you know you can leave behind you an empty plate this evening. When taking the meal for what it is, the dinner is actually fairly enjoyable.


STORY: 5
A score of 5 is a vast improvement over 2, which is what I rated the story of Index 1. The main improvement here is the consistency of events that unfold and the amount of depth given to each of them. The connection between happenings isn't always clear, but at least it's there. Characters (especially important ones) who are introduced are not forgotten anymore, which also adds to the fleshing out of them. All that being said, while 5 certainly is higher than 2, it's still far away from the higher scores. Agaian, Index 2 handles a lot of issues from the first season in a good way, but very few of these issues go completely solved. The story, while good, is far from as solid as it should be. Details of importance are still lost in the great void of bad storytelling, and sometimes events and happenings are downright mind-numbingly confusing as they seem to happen without you clearly knowing why. This goes for the last one or two arcs especially, where so much goes down while so little is clear.

Index 2 still divides the entire story into several different arcs, and it does so in a (much) better fashion than its predecessor. The arcs are consistent - they are connected. Next to all of them are interesting this time (some moments are even bloody awesome) and it feels like everything is adding to the core of the anime. However (forgive the repetitiveness by this point), some stories could have been told better. Thinking about it, this has been the true main problem up to this point for the entire time. While stumbling over its own feet, Index 2 loses details, sometimes crucial information, which are nothing short of needed for the viewer to fully understand what is going on. In the end though, Index as a series at least seems to be on its way towards the right track with many improvements having been made to it. It's far from perfect, but a show is (almost) always more enjoyable if stuff actually makes sense.


ART: 8
Next to identical when compared to Index 1. Index 2 uses the same tone, same colors, same shading and so on. Note though that this isn't a bad thing. Far from it. I enjoyed the simple yet charming art-style of Index 1 a lot, and it being reused for Index 2 was nothing more than a welcome course of action. Nothing is too extremely detailed or well-drawn, but the skillful usage of simple colors to breathe life into the show is respectable and appreciated.


SOUND: 7
Nothing stands out, but at the same time, nothing is bad. Very similar to Index 1 again, Index 2 hits the nail on its head while trying to set the mood right for specific events. Sound effects, just like the music, sound like they should - nothing exceptional yet nothing wrong.

The two things I do need to emphasize this time around are both openings respectively. They are, simply put, breathtaking. Even one who knows of Index's flaws regains hope and is deceived into thinking that everything surrounding the show is epic when they hear and see the colossi that the openings are. Maybe it's just me, but I'm serious. They are that good. The endings have also improved this time around, and are quite solid when used in the show.


CHARACTERS: 7
Considering the fact that the score of the characters category here is identical to the one of my Index 1 review, it may seem odd seeing that characters actually got more time develop in Index 2. Yes, characters are consistent and ever-present in the second season, but while being so, they are still the ones you know from season 1. Touma has more time to be simply Touma, Misaka is the same girl who only gets a spoonful added to her person, and so forth. While characters are frequently presented in Index 2, they use their extra time to just present more of who they usually are anyway. The one character who actually progressed in his development was Accelerator, and that was one of the best things with the entire anime. Finally, as was the case with Index 1, side characters can sometimes carry too little importance for them to actually matter to the audience, and once they've had their handful of moments of importance or comic relief, they are quickly shunned away.


ENJOYMENT: 5
You like what you see, but you dislike what you know is bad simply because the storytelling varies from bad to abysmal. While being a step up from what Index 1 was, Index 2 is still plagued with the same faults, albeit at a smaller scale than its predecessor. The improved consistency of season 2 makes the show much easier to enjoy than season 1, however, and when the show manages to present what it has to tell in a decent way, the result is actually pretty impressive.


OVERALL: 6
Index 2 is an improvement over Index 1, yes, but it is still a shame that so much gets lost because of bad storytelling. The main draw in the disappointment in both season 1 and 2 is that you can actually see the mighty impressive world created in the universe of Toaru Majutsu no Index. You know that everything needed for a fantastic experience is right there. However, when the ingredients are treated in the wrong way, what had the potential to be phenomenal becomes a saddening, dull mass of grey matter that you simply want to throw away. While Index 2 doesn't go that far, the show is still a crystal clear example of lost potential.

The meal is finished. In the end, it was fine, nothing more than that. Similar to a story that is treated in a bad way, you know that the faults don't lie within the food itself, but rather in the one who made it. If Index 2 is the ingredients which eventually turned out as the beef you just ate, the bad storytelling of the creator(s) is the chef in this case. Just like the chef had every chance in the world to turn the ingredients into something wonderful but failed, the creators of Toaru Majutsu no Index didn't manage to turn what they had into the sensation it very well could have become.

When it all comes down to it, much like the food presented to you, Toaru Majutsu no Index is only fair at best because someone else messed it up. If a third season is ever released, I hope it's treated with the respect and care it genuinely deserves. A show that has all the potential in the world to grow up and become something grand but is never given the opportunity to do so is simply everyone's loss. read more

This will be my first review ever of any series, but I do hope that it will be taken seriously. Let me start off by saying that I've never read the light novels before and that I thought season 1 was mediocre at best. Season 2 is basically the same in all aspects. It's just a continuation of the story.

Art:
I'm not sure if animation and art should be grouped in the same category. While you might have gorgeous looking backgrounds, you might also have shoddy animation that ruins the whole concept. JC Staff is guilty of some really horrible animations and storyboarding in certain scenes here. There were times where I felt like changing the channels solely due to embarassing storyboarding ideas. Take for example the school festival, when Mikado asked Touma to jump on his back WHILE they were still running because apparently if they do that he'll gain some extra speed.. Well, maybe if the animation was better in that scene it would've made more sense. Sadly, it wasn't.

It's a shame though, I would've really enjoyed Index if not for this factor.
5/10

Story:
This was the part of Index that made me stay for two seasons of awful animation. And if there were a third season, I would pick it up right away. The central theme here I believe is every individual's sense of righteousness.. like many other shounen shows. Whether you belong to the church or if you're in a military organization. Everyone's got their own opinions on what they're fighting for, so rogue factions are abound. In fact, a LOT of them. I hear it gets even more convoluted in the light novels, but I really do find it interesting watching everything unfold.

I guess there might have been similar storylines in other pieces of literature, but it's all about how you execute that idea and adding in your own twist to it.

I also like the idea of Academy City. A futuristic setting that has its own unique cultures. However it does not forget its own setback in becoming a densely populated cultural and modern hub. Crimes, and lots of them. Sometimes I feel that the city itself is its own unique character that shouldn't be overlooked by viewers.
8/10

Music:
I wasn't really paying attention to the music because it never really got hold of my attention in the first place. I always believe that all good anime have good music because the studio actually care about putting that extra effort in. The bgms never really captivated me. The ops were forgettable too, although I quite like the animation in it. Sadly it didn't transfer over to the actual show. Well don't get me wrong, I love what I've Sound has done for the animation industry. They have produced memorable tunes that every decent anime fan out there should have heard at least once, but I'm just not feeling it here. It's quite generic to be honest.
5/10

Overall I feel that JC Staff has ruined what would've been a better anime in terms of animation. But I would still watch the 3rd season just because I'm too lazy to read light novels.

Side note: I do NOT hate jc staff. In fact, I think that they have very good animators. Just look at kamimemo and toradora.

Thank you for reading! read more

Story - 6

After watching the first season I hoped that the plot would finally unfold in to something bigger and better then the first season. Well it didn't!

For the most part it was worse and only close to the end got better. The problem with the story is that it isn't directional and is repetitive. It's because some villain shows up from the religion side (usually) and wants to do something bad. And then Touma comes to the rescue. And this happens like every time through out the season. Seriously the villains seem to change like every 3-5 episodes and only thing that they have in common is that Touma fights them with his right arm and wins.

Only at the end the story starts to do something about Magic vs. Science thing, but that isn't enough to draw your interest or provoke any real thoughts. Well the thought that this story provoked to me was that religion is crazy.

Visuals - 9

Maybe a bit too much flashy some times, but for like 98% of the time it is just great. Everything is crisp and clear and the characters all drawn well. Fights are all the time animated well also. I really have no more to say, because the art is great and nothing more.

Sound - 8

Better openings then the first season. The first OP was the greatest. As for the background music it kinda always fits well with what is happening, but never really increases your watching experience. It kinda is there doing it's job and nothing more so for the most part you will rarely notice it. In a way it is good, but it could bring out the overall experience watching to whole new level if somebody really wanted to.

Characters - 7

I don't know why but for some reason Touma is the one character who I care less then the other secondary character like Misaka or Accelerator. Touma is just a plain normal hero-type. He is such a stereotype to the rescue that I want to punch him for being so cliche and uncool.
Most of the support cast is just some kind of fetish whatever and hareming all over Touma. It's just so stupid.

Off course there are some likeable characters and Touma is in some way too. But do you really care for them? No, not really, except Accelerator and a little bit Misaka and the Misakas last younger clone called Last Order. If it would be my choice then Touma would not be main character, but Accelerator or Misaka would, because they are so much more more interesting and 3 dimensional.

Enjoyment - 8

As for enjoyment I liked the comedy and the fights. As for everything else I can't that I enjoyed it a lot. Only for some moments, maybe. Also I would of really wanted so that this anime would provoke me to think about something.

Overall - 8 (was very close to 7)

Toaru Majutsu No Index season 2 was a great as for the technical aspects like visuals and music, but when it comes to story and characters it lets you down quite a lot. If you have seen the first season then I can say to you that the second one was a bit better, but only by a small margin call.

Season 2 definitely isn't a must watch, but it is better then most of the animes out there. And if you liked first season a lot or you have none must watch series then go ahead and watch it. Just be careful, because the story really goes nowhere.
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Some people hate sequels, saying it will never be as good as the original. Some people love them more, saying that they're just glad that there's more. I try to stay at a neutral stance, but I admit that I was still looking forward for this second season of Index (third if you count Railgun). I liked the first season; it had good characters and good story arcs. Railgun was a nice change to Index. How can putting the two together be bad? I had high hopes. Had. I don't know, but somehow, it happened. I mean, it was really really bad.

The story. What can I say? I just didn't really like them. Most of it has to do with the characters, which I will elaborate later on. The story arcs didn't lead to anything big in the end. There was no big climax or anything; they just left an ambiguous ending, sequelbating. The arcs seemed to be half religion half science. I would be okay with that if the two were actually mixed together but they were kept apart. It was more like it was half Index and half Railgun. At the end of each episode, they say that when magic and science cross, the story begins. That's the problem; they never crossed. Characters from their respective shows didn't really mix with the other either, and that was kind of disappointing. One of my biggest qualms with this show is how each arc ended. Some of the most unoriginal endings ever written. I can break it down. 1. Touma is the last man standing 2. He gives some terrible speech about care and love and other unimportant stuff and 3. He punches a woman in the face. How anti-climactic is that? You'd expect an epic ending with something magic or science related used against the enemy, but all you get is a punch in the face.

The characters. They have changed so much, and not in a good way. Touma seems even more self-righteous than usual. Index seems even more useless than usual too. She was very annoying, one of the most annoying characters in the series. You know, I didn't laugh the first time she bit Touma on the head, so why would I find the 46th time funny? Why are all the characters pandering to the fans? Who thought this was a good idea. I don't want to see every single female character wanting Touma little head (except for Index who wants his bigger one on his shoulders). They turned so many of them into tsunderes when they clearly weren't that in the previous season. Why? One is enough (well, one is too much, actually). Mixed in with these terrible story arcs, I've grown to hate these characters that I used to like. Oh, and there's fanservice. Some of the stupidest fanservice I have ever seen. In many shows, you have the panty shot, which is understandable because the camera just happened to be at an angle to see it, but it index, the characters strip down for you! Terrible.


The art is very generic. The animation is average, I guess. Pretty much the same as the first season and Railgun, so I don't really have complaints about it. The music was really boring. It's some very generic music. I didn't really like the OPs and EDs either, but the first OP was alright. There seems to have been very poor artistic direction. Any art is just drained to almost nothing, and art is something that I crave. Oh well.

Overall, I pulled nearly no enjoyment from this show at all. I absolutely hated the characters and story arcs. Very little logic was used, like that grenade in one of the later episodes that exploded in a small room and did barely any damage to the room and not even injuring anyone in the room. Logic was not on the menu for this show. J.C. Staff took something I really enjoyed and turned it into this ugly, disfigured beast that I found nauseating. I really hope they stop there and stop ruining it further. I can't say I have high hopes for that.

Then again, I'm pessimistic. read more

This review would include season one and season two.

[7]Story: The plot in ToAru is fairly good, but generic, a boy protecting his city and the people that he loves. There is no uniqueness in that. That being said, there is no plot development whatsoever, just the same guy doing the same things with different villains. On the upside, all the action scenes are fun to watch and usually keeps you on the edge of your seat.

[10]Art: Outstanding animation, and the supernatural powers in ToAru are pretty unique and fun to watch. Background scenery is exceptional. Characters were eye-appealing.

[9]Sound: As for sound, it was very well done. Using Mami Kawada would be pretty fitting if the anime revolved around the female lead though. Voice actors, just simply amazing. I particularly think the female lead's voice is somewhat annoying.

[4]Character: The character development in ToAru is terrible. You learn nothing about the main characters' pasts and the interaction between them is pointless. Characters come and go, except for the male lead and a couple others. I'd say there are far too many characters as well that are introduced. The main female lead, Index, is very annoying as well. She's childish, uncute, and is only there so guys don't get bored of constantly looking at Touma. In the first season, she was introduced as a very important character and helped Touma through everything. Despite having her name in the actual title of the anime itself, she plays an unimportant role in the second season. This anime would have been a lot better if Index and her powers were further revealed. Touma also has a annoying and stupid thing he says constantly, and Index keeps being a little b@#$% and complains to him and then bites him on the head.

[9]Enjoyment: Despite the flaws in ToAru, this anime was actually very enjoyable for me and I couldn't wait for each episode to come out. But, this has no re-watch value whatsoever to me.

[7]Overall: With ToAru, I thought it was a fairly decent anime despite the flaws. If you like good action with a cool male lead, then this is your anime. If you're more into detail and characters, I wouldn't recommend this to you. read more

Before I get into this review, let me begin with this.. This is my first legitimate review and I just hope it comes out good. I finally took the time to write one. No oarticular reason though.

Anyway, To aru Majutsu no Index II was quite a unique anime in my opinion. I don't believe That I have felt the same way when watching other anime. Maybe it is because the entire series (including the original) in my personal opinion, is unbalanced, for a lack of words. To describe it, the show gives a bit of most genres. Some parts have drama, comedy, and moe. They give you a light hearted feel of the anime. Then you get your dose of action, violence, blood, and dark serious scenes. With that aside, the characters themselves are quite unique and likeable at most. Ofcourse in this series Kamijou Touma is the main character and serves as the protaginist who interferes or is involved with major happenings in Academy City. He is quite the unfortunate person, as he says so himself numerous times throughout the anime. This series expands with his friend Index, who seems to have less significance although her presence is stressed in some scenes, especially the OP and ED. Touma seems to have changed his attitude a bit since the last series in which he has more of an understanding and uses more of his emotional and intellectual counter-speeches. He still gets himself into trouble with the ladies though. It seems he is doomed to accidental peeking and barging in on the various female characters. I feel for him, and most would pity him for dealing with Index's misunderstanding of these incidents. I like his character for the most part, given that he uses common sense most of the time and usually does the right thing in the end of his conflicts. Accelerator gets more screentime and advances as a main character. He is the character who shows minor good deeds within his blood thirsty rampages. He begins to accept Last Orders "good will" or love that she has showed him. And is the closest person in which Accelerator could call a family or close friend. It is hard to put exactly what she is to him, but he would do almost anything to protect her. She might be his salvation to his incapability to love others or set basic morals for himself. Accelerator is a good person deep down in his cold heart. It is explained briefly why he is the way he is, and to why he can't accept friendship easily and care for others. With that aside, he is an unbelievably powerful esper who will kill anyone who stands in his way. He has little to no mercy. This shows his likeable badass character, but also his unlikeable evil side. To me, I believe Accelerator can go over the top with his evil self, but has hope for becoming a good guy. He inadvertantly saves multiple innocent people throughout the anime. It's a close call. But I like him. I would like to expand on this review but there is just too much to give my opinion on. Especially the religion vs. science aspect. It can be a bit offensive to those who have affiliation with the certain religious orders. Being a Roman Catholic myself doesn't help the fact, but I will not judge an anime based on how the church is portrayed. I consider myself an open-minded person. There might be some biased opinions and beliefs with most others. This shows in the anime especially. The Roman Catholic magic users in the anime are on the far radical side. It would have made more sense if they had clarified they aren't all that way. But I digress. There is a huge error with some of the bad guys' ideals. They don't represent Catholics ideals in the least. Not even the English Church. There are major corruptions on both sides. But it's just an anime, and the author can portray either side as he/she pleases. On a side note, I dislike characters who are unreasonable and overly tsundere. (Who doesn't?) and there can be alot of this in Toaru Majutsu no Index. Some might find this annoying. I almost feel as if this anime lacks the potential it could have had. I really rnjoyed Railgun, but this series didn't feel the same. I do enjoy the story though, and I hope the mivie sequel will be great! read more

Fresh off the second season's finale. Story hangs in a more or less cliffhanger of events as the story converges to the climactic prologue of the next arc (novel readers would already know this). But let's be honest here, I guess most of you already know what's coming, having googled a certain wiki.

If yes, you're wasting your time reading this guano of a review. If not, or if you have and yet you feel like you want to continue; I thank thee for your compliance!

Season 2 of Index, I would say, is a very hasty season as compared to the first one. Arcs are divided into smaller segments this time around, at least that's how I feel. The only problem I see with this is that non-novel and non-Wiki readers would have some problems transitioning in-between events. What I don't get is also why the hell did the production wasted so much time on a certain arc (Daihaseisai arc if you must know) and leaving so many loopholes during the last few bits of the season.

Also, almost every episode you see fights and Touma's never ending generalization of things (reminds me alot of Kokuto Mikiya's bro-ness, except a bit more annoying). Fans of the first season who were enticed by the uniqueness of the abilities present in the Index universe would be delighted to know that you finally get to enjoy the tender, fluffy texture of the cake. More so if you're a fan of Magic instead of Esper abilities; A major chunk of Season 2 has our heroes deal more with the Church than with Academy City affairs, the latter only being zoomed in during the later part of the season.

Oh and guess what! Finally a change of scenery as our heroes not only do what they do in good-ol' Academy City! I was really getting sick of the dense urban jungle Academy City is. I think I'd even say that it looks better when it's destroyed.

Character development has been, I would say "fragmented" throughout the season. Touma still has his memory destruction thing, and everyone in the season is oblivious to it (except maybe Aleister Crowley, since he's the floating dude who planned the shits going on in the entire series anyway, bet he enjoys doing a "All According to Keikaku" look in his sad room). And he's the same Touma we know from season 1, prior to and after the whole memory thing. As mentioned above, he does his whole generalization and "illusion" breaking stuff with his right hand. Oh and yes Touma still one-shots everyone, and everything, with his Imagine Breaker. At least it's balanced by making him a total wimp of justice.

Index has been demoted to the position of mascot. But that's ok, because the good part is coming in Season 3 (Hopefully)! Ok let me just skip to the good part of the character development stuff. I really, REALLY enjoyed Accelerator's appearance in Season 2. Now who here actually disagrees with me that his vector manipulation is made of win? Ever since his introduction in season 1, I've been hoping for moar of him. Sure, the small arc about saving Last Order in the previous season served a purpose as to pave the way towards his grandiose role he's supposed to have in the series, BUT IT WASN'T ENOUGH. Season 2 does just that: His soft-side (I know, dichotomy), his "ideals" and his "goals" are all laid down for us, and we get to see just what is behind that facade he puts on.

Along with Accelerator comes with Last Order. Awww, I just love the way she speaks where she repeats the Misaka part. A friend of mine often disregard it as "utter annoyance" but seriously now, it's kinda heartwarming when she does that, even when she's feeling kinda down.

The Magic side expands greatly this season. Abilities such as displacing action to a certain designated spot, grimoires creation, global AoE incapacitation, etc. You have a woman with big jugs, you have a yandere whose flat chested, and you have a loli too. What's there not to freaking like? On a side note, I prefer big jugs.

The first OP I find to be catchy, and my favourite of the openings. Kawada Mami's electro-pop "No Butts!" really fits into the overall fast-paced action you ought to see in the series. I think the production team really did a good job having her sing the OPs. Her style of music, I would say, accentuates with the feel of Academy City's technological aspect, while the lyrics serve to mash up the Magic side's religious aspects.

I didn't really liked the first ED, but Memories Last does a good job bringing an episode to an end. Especially during the last episodes (I think last 6? I don't really remember), the often cliffhanging, destitution filled endings really play well with the beginning of the song's soft synthesizer tunes.

Overall, I would say Toaru no Majutsu no Index II is a somewhat enjoyable sequel to its predecessor. The weaknesses are mostly associated with the standpoint of the arcs the season is in; there isn't really nothing to actually complain or advise against. That being said, I strongly recommend watching the second season, and start looking forward to season 3; Because I'm in love with Takitsubo Rikou.

Haters gonna hate. read more

Consider this a review of all 3 Toaru series that are out so far. I’m not willing to make different reviews around the same setting.
The Toaru trilogy is a typical shonen adventure with a nice presentation. It doesn’t fair much next to the higher ups such as One Piece or Full Metal Alchemist but at least has a nice way to show everything… half of the time.

The story for example is quite average and never plays out in any special way. There is a world where magic and science are at war and some teenagers are fighting in it. There is a lot more that just that but, seriously, the scriptwriters hardly try to offer anything more than the basic. Sometimes even less than that.
- 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 was just a storyless spin-off just for kicks, done 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 then again the transition from one segment to another happens in a rushed and poor way that confuses anyone not aware of the novels. Plus, it leaves most older characters as background decoration and ends openly at a point that is almost a major cliffhanger. There is a lot more to show in a, supposed, upcoming Toaru 3 series.

In all cases, the story is nothing but a sort of excuse for stuff to happen that never seems to always tie in an event that followed or preceded other events. Some may be content with just that but I don’t; I like tight storytelling and good pacing. Some actually love how the author did a lot of research in order to explain the various magical and scientific powers that many characters possess, but it’s not like that makes the actual story any more creditable. It is still to the most part improbable physics canceled with a broken power.

In a similar fashion, the cast is a colorful bunch of stereotypes that hardly develop in any significant way. Most are in fact given some attention and are then thrown in the background.
- The most prominent example of this is the lead girl Index, whose name is even in the title. 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 but a platonic lover to 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 air-time she gets, the better the show is. Well in that case, she sounds like a very bad choice for a lead character to begin with.
- The lead male Touma, ain’t exactly any better. He is the stereotypical shonen protagonist, predictably owning a broken power with which he uses it to protect his loved ones and save chicks. Make a check on the list of clichés at how he also keeps shouting morality speeches all the time. He always does the exact same thing; cancels the powers of his opponent, lash out a monologue about how wrong he or she is, do a punch to the face and then goes to heal in the hospital.
- The support characters seem to have even less importance in the plot. Each arc usually ends with Touma saving one girl and adding it to his personal harem, which gets more and more nude as the episodes go on. Most girls are treated as nothing but harem material, existing in the show just to play it tsundere to Touma and cook stuff just for the heck of it. They otherwise hardly develop or matter. Hell, the show goes as far as to clone them in order for more mass produced zero- depth girls to frown over Touma.
- The only villain most care about is this psychotic guy named Accelerator, but even he seems like a crazy dude and nothing more. Big deal.

The production values are of rather high budget but even those get various ups and downs throughout the anime. There is rather high fluent animation, nice color palette, and catchy BMG but that still does not cover for the completely generic looks of the characters or the forgettable songs. And they are still talking so much during battles that become ridiculous. I wouldn’t mind if they were about deep philosophy or the fringe science of superpowers but it was just typical moral speeches around superficial morality, and macho one-liners.

Action scenes are very good if all you want is fancy lights and big explosions but they are otherwise following 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. And I ensure you Hokuto has far more exciting action, despite being downright clichéd as heck.

There is also fan service in it for the roneries amongst us, which is low on Toaru 1 but gets rather overboard on Toaru 2. Most were displeased with how degrading the show became with its females and it is even weirder how the producers themselves demanded more of it because they though it would increase sales. That feels plain distasteful to me. Instead of developing the characters, they turned them to softporn material. But I guess that is the normal thing to do with characters you have no idea how to maintain them interesting to the viewers.

Now about the enjoyment part. I sure wasn’t amused much but I am aware how it ranks great for many out there. I could excuse it as part of age or inexperience with many anime but that would feel like I am calling their mothers names or something. So I will just say that I have seen far better shonen than this one, with far better handling of its story and characters.

ART SECTION: 8/10
General Artwork 2/2 (very good for its caliber)
Character Figures 1/2 (generic)
Backgrounds 2/2 (nice blend of magic with science)
Animation 1/2 (too many ups and downs)
Visual Effects 2/2 (flashy)

SOUND SECTION: 6/10
Voice Acting 2/3 (good but not great because of shonen BS)
Music Themes 2/4 (average pop stuff)
Sound Effects 2/3 (flashy but not great)

STORY SECTION: 4/10
General Scenario 1/2 (all over the place)
Pacing 1/2 (too many ups and downs)
Side Stories/Extra Spices 1/2 (most character side stories are neglected)
Believability/Reasoning/Realism 1/2 (the author did his work but it is still rather superficial)
Conclusion 0/2 (none; the story is incomplete)

CHARACTER SECTION: 4/10
Presence 1/2 (generic)
Personality 1/2 (mostly defined by quirks and ecchi)
Backdrop 1/2 (generic)
Development 1/2 (some but too basic)
Catharsis 0/2 (none; the story is incomplete)

VALUE SECTION: 4/10
Historical Value 1/3 (not much; it is pop corn material)
Rewatchability 1/3 (low; not much interesting cast or plot)
Memorability 2/4 (standard shonen with a nice presentation)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 4/10
It is as I said, a typical shonen adventure with a nice presentation. The nice part is relevant of course; personally it strikes me as very bad to treat characters as softporn and have the plot being so loose and repetitive. I don’t exactly belong in the target audience and I do prefer substance over style in my anime but I guess generic characters doing generic things with poor reasoning and cheap plot twists may indeed be entertaining for many. So it was for me in the past but after seeing the same things happening in most similar series and I just expected a lemon twist to my average soda thereafter. And Toaru is down to it plain water in a fancy glass.

VERDICT: 5/10 read more

I was really excited for this season since season 1 was one of my faves. However, I was left dissapointed with each arc... The only arc I liked was where Kuroko had time to shine, it is probably the only arc where it didn't finish with Touma punching someone is the face. Too bad it was rushed as well, but still very enjoyable.

Otherwise it is the same thing over and over, Touma has a huge speech and then punches someone in the face, I mean come on! There are a lot of skilled characters with far more experience yet they always get tossed to the side while our beginner Touma punches the shit out of the enemy -_-

Touma had used his Imagine Breaker so many times that I can't belive that enemies side still didn't figure out how to fight it. Whenever enemy seems to notice his hand power, they still for some stupid reason end up falling for it. They don't change their tactics at all! Or at least not to the point that it would be THAT noticable =/

Why can't it be like in Kuroko's and Awaki's arc where it wasn't Touma who finished the fight?

Then comes characters issue, Index was seriously annoying this time around. All she did was getting mad at Touma for no reason and then bite him 100 times... Is she some kind of dog?

Kaori had joined Touma's harem... how did THAT happen?!

The only entertaining thing was when magic and science side decided to strike at the same time but even then conclusion wasn't as great as I wanted...

Series did have some really interesting arc beginings which got me excited but the moment we reached conclusion, it was a fail. Some conclusions were actually very dumb, to the point that you wanted to slap yourself.

I really hope that if there will be season 3, that the arcs conclusions will be far more exciting and less repetitive because for now they all can be named "TOUMA PUNCH!".

I give this season 7 over all, I would have given less but I still respect season 1 and this season did have good ideas which sadly were crashed later. read more

As a novel series, it should have been on par with DRRR!!! but only with the presence of Touma's harem ruin many points this series deserve to get. How 50% of the female cast would end up liking him, just because they have heard him talk in an elongated not-quite-so-heroic speech about his philosophy, thats the biggest weakness this series have in my opinion. As Touma is like any other guys with harems in other anime, a stupid, near-powerless guy that had never been described as being attractive but with some odd sense of justice that should have been simple suicide in his situation but he will still survive, gaining more girls to his harem through the process. I personally find how all of the 3 protagonists of this series can be paired with 2+ girls irritating, as they could've given the girls to other guys instead of flocking up on these 3

How Touma fight also give out more questions, yes he may be a good street fighter, but he's still a student who waste days on end trying to live normally. Nevertheless he will still win over guys with years of battle experience for some odd random reason(and just to point out further stuffs, Touma can withstand almost any type of attack given to him and would still be able to stand up, while most of his enemy would fall by 1-3 punches). In reality Touma would be one of the easiest character to kill, as one bullet from a single pistol should have been enough to put him out of his misery.

For Accelerator side, Accelerator is a neatly made chara with a nice mix of a psychopath and an effective antihero. I enjoy his lack of sanity, creaking screams and maniacal laughs, his Vector Shift ability is original and is effective without hurting the actual science behind it, though I didn't quite like how his psychopath personality is softened by a mere loli that he appears to develop bond to without any apparent reason.

Another bad point I didn't enjoy are the Misaka clones, since there are so many Misakas around it kill the appeal the original Misaka is supposed to have. How Touma and Accelerator both can be paired with 2 each of their own personal Misakas.(*SPOILER* Accelerator will get another Misaka clone, forming his own mini-harem) So there's so many Biribiri running around and 4 of them can be taken as heroine, that look boring to me.

The last problem I have with this series are the naming of each term, though Imagine Breaker, Meltdowner, Railgun, etc may be decent names, naming teams of people GROUP, ITEM, SCHOOL, MEMBER etc sounds simply dumb. You could obviously have come up wit better names, just spend 5 more minutes on it at least.

For other points, the music of this series is good, and yes Accelerator's wails of sadistic joy is also nice to the ear too. read more

So, here we are. Toaru Majutsu no Index II, a second season/sequel to the first season. The audience is once again shown following the adventures of a certain man, Touma Kamijou, through the hells of Magic and Science. All the while building his (in)famous harem, of course.

Honestly speaking, the Index series has been one of my favorites ever since I layed my eyes on it. After finishing season 1, I waited paitently for a season 2, expecting this series to be more awesome than it already is.

After the 24(or 25, if you count the delay) weeks of watching it, I have found myself in quite a shock that Season 2, strangely, didn't live up to its first season counterpart... for me, at least.

Let's break this down:

Story: 7/10 (Good)

One of the more distinctive features of Toaru Majutsu no Index is the way its story is presented. Instead of every moment leading up to one giant picture by the end of the show's run, Index is divided into disjointed story arcs, each telling a different story. This is not to say that each arc is completely disjointed, as sometimes, characters and events leak from a previous arc to another. For Index II, the story arcs are more disjointed as compared to its first season counterpart, but with no events being absolutely inconsequential.

This leaves more space for error, with each arc being judged by the audience instead of evaluating a whole show. Needless to say, each arc is a hit-or-miss. In Index's case though, the show has a surprisingly good rate for "hit", though it will always be subjective as always.

What one may notice about the story arcs in S2, though, is the formula that runs through each. Each and every arc follows a specific event sequencing that, over time, will wear the watcher down. The stories in these arcs are actually quite interesting and some even really exciting. However, if one is to note how each arc ends, there will surely be a visible pattern in motion, and certain viewers may actually end up really tired of the procedure. For some others though, the way it ends is pretty awesome anyway so it doesn't matter too much. (But of course, some arcs do admittedly end pretty weakly.)

Art: 7/10 (Good)

Hints of Index II's art can actually be seen in most of J.C. Staff's other works. The art in the show is pretty clean and crisp. In well-crafted scenes, the way a picture is drawn and the quality of the art is great.

Do note though, I did say "In well-crafted scenes".

Index, despite having top-notch art, sometimes does suffer from animation resulting from cutting corners and all that. While other scenes look good, the series also has its fair share of bad quality moments.

Sound: 9/10 (Great)

Iuchi Maiko composes great music for the show. That I can really vouch for.

Its 2 Opening themes, "No Buts" and "See Visions" by Mami Kawada are very catching tunes and fit the show's theme and mood. The same goes for both Ending themes, "Magic World" and "Memories Last" by Maon Kurosaki.

Character: 6/10 (Fair)

Characters. It gets pretty tricky here. For our hero, Touma Kamijou, he retains his whole personality from the first season. A strong determinator, clever... and preachy? Personally, I don't have a problem with him as I do with the others.

Some characters(especially one of the famous ones) evidently suffer flanderization. This is especially jarring when a character from the previous season shows a solid personality while most appearances here depict(visibly) only one trait. This can be really cute at times, and actually quite enderaing. But in Index II, this trait was overused and for me, became quite tiresome.

Other characters, though, are still okay personality wise. As for "Touma's harem", characters designs are still solid as always and always a plus.

Enjoyment: 9/10 (Great)

But just because I have been saying some pretty negative things about it, it doesn't mean I didn't enjoy to its fullest.The show drifts from intense and thrilling action, to mysterious and dark atmospheres, to refreshing moe and fanservice galore. The way to enjoy this show is to accept the flaws and enjoy whatever the show wants to shell out. Each punch is precious, every thrill worth the ride and the fanservice all out to cherish.

Overall: 8/10 (Very Good)

For me, Toaru Majutsu no Index has been a fun ride. And I'm glad I watched it. The show has its very visible flaws but will always remain to be a fan favorite as Index does not rely on being "intellectual" or "deep", but instead, wants to be fun and enjoyed by everyone(even if it means satisfying lowest common denominator). As I said earlier, even though for me, Index II didn't live up to its first season it was still a good watch.

Being a fan of the first season doesn't entail the enjoyment of the second, but it's worth the shot. We may wait for a Season 3, and hope it fairs a lot better and surpasses expectation. read more

I completely loved the anime, its idea is very original. Its very fast paced and will always keep you wondering what going to happen next. Its character are full of life. i also recommend this anime, to all those enjoy sci-fi animes. Hands down, this is Great... must better than season 1, but i do hope you watch season 1, because otherwise you will not understand it. I strongly recommed for a season 3.

(This is my first review,so please forgive me if it's lame XD)

~Story & Overall~ 9/10
After pretty good first season (which took me few weeks to complete since it wasn't really THAT interesting) I wanted to finish what I started and I must say that I was pretty much unpleased when I found out that it's still an ongoing series - it almost stopped me from watching, since I hate waiting; however, I continued and I was positively surprised. Since I'm (kinda) a young girl and not much of fan of harem stuff, I did roll my eyes at some fanservice moments, but other than that - WOW. It's like thousand times better than first series. Story gets much more complicated and Magic vs. Science 'fight' gets more serious. That's exactly what I like Also, less 'fillers' :D To sum' it all up - if you liked first season, you will LOVE this one. If you didn't like first season that much - well, you will still like this one. XD But if you loved first season aswell, then I really don't know why are you reading that XD Shoo, go watch it already!

~Art~ 9/10
Pretty animation, yes yes. It's clearly visible that more money was spent on 2nd season comapred to first. I took lots of screenshots because art is so nice.. The eyes, the hair, and...and....I looove how powers are drawn, like Misaka's electricity. :)

~Sound~ 9/10
If I say half of my MP3's full just with Index OSTs and openings/endings, doesn't that tell enough? As always, it's completely amazing :) Besides I'm huge fan of Mami Kawada and once again both openings are completely suiting for Index atmosphere - somewhere on youtube somebody wrote that Mami Kawada's songs always fit atmosphere perfectly, and I must agree. I never once skipped the opening since episode 17 xD

~Character~ 9/10
Well...poor Index is being ignored again XD
And I miss Misaka - though I was watching Railgun parallely(is that even a word or I just invented it?) with it so I survived :3
However, I was really happy to get a little bit more of Accelerator and Last Order, also everybody besides Index gets development and all. They are great just as always.

~Enjoyment~ 10/10
There's where TAMNI didn't disappoint me nor in first season nor here. I remember falling asleep while watching first season though, while I was actually staring at the screen at late night hours such as 4 a.m. while watching second season read more

To Aru series holds a special place in my heart. As one of my first few series, and by that I mean first thirty, I had looked forward to season two since news reached my ear. However, the new season did nothing more than break the naïve fandom I fostered from that time. I still think that the show is good, but the second season follows the sequel rule: It isn't better.

The second season focuses almost solely on the magic side, the different church societies playing a role in every arc. That said, J.C. takes great liberties with the speed (not to mention 5 episodes late on a new OP, another issue being a Mami Kawada fan). The arcs feel very long, and as such the interest I had suffered. The scale of the plot is a lot larger, as what was a single person or two in season one becomes a fleet of ships, an army of nuns, or a group of thugs. I love how descriptive and dialogue rich the show was, but as the scale got larger so did the amount of discussions - Touma gives his speech, but this time we have another three or four people that need to get their say in. Almost all of the characters make their return at one point of another, even the girls from railgun are shown working away at Judgement. The cast keeps growing larger though, as Touma befriends a new church faction in the first arc that keeps reappearing.

Since there is no esper arcs, biri biri rarely shows up, and neither does accelerator. Just like Touma in railgun, their appearance is the holy grail of the episode typically. While things are slow for the most part, accelerator never fails to cut to the chase and kick some ass. He is the only esper to play an active role in the plot of the show. Despite being crippled from his injury last season, he fights more intelligently and puts on a better show for us than Touma. In all honesty, Touma does nothing but walk in on naked girls, lecture them, and proceed to punch them in the face. The respect for his ability to fight against anyone with Imagine Breaker, shattered at the simple displays this season.

While the majority of the show does not live up to the first season, the final arc restored some of my faith. I would definitely watch a third season, but I would have to say that either the second season had a handful of bad arcs, or I am more a esper fan than a magic one.
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Pretty good stuff. No fillers. New characters came off a bit shallow, but the ones introduced in previous series were further developed in interesting ways.

Not enough Mikoto :-D but then again there's no such a thing as enough Mikoto.

Ending was a little weak, but then again it's obviously not an actual ending, but rather a cliffhanger for the next series (Index III or Railgun II?). After the amazing endings of Railgun and Index 1, that was a bit of a let-down. Had it ended in 22, it would have felt like a stronger series.

In fact, my greatest fear with this series was that there was a lot of preparation, foreshadowing, and cliffhanger-ing, so in the end it kind of feels like a giant pilot episode or something; if for whatever reason the meta-series does not continue, fans will be rather disappointed.

The music was better than the average anime, but even that was a little disappointing after the epic coolness fripSide delivered in Railgun (some of my favourite music in the last few years). Let's hope fripSide comes back on the next one.

Overall, not as good as Railgun IMHO, but better than Index season 1. read more