Toaru Majutsu no Index Movie: Endymion no Kiseki

So, do you believe in miracles? By miracle, I mean something that happens out of the extraordinary and takes you by complete yet pleasant surprise. This could be as simple as finding a one dollar bill on the ground when you need it the most or saving someone's life when they are just inches from death. Well, if miracles exist, then so should be hope right? Well, perhaps what fans could hope for is someday, that the Index or Railgun franchise would get a movie adaptation. Now, the time has come and it's here. From an action packed series of science and magic brings forth ... a new experience in the form of film adaptation for the first time ever.

Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki (A Certain Magical Index: The Miracle of Endymion) is a film based off the franchise known as Toaru Majutsu no Index. (also known by its English name as A Certain Scientific Index) The film is designed as an side story in part of the Index franchise. As such, expect some of the supporting and main characters to make appearances with roles in this film. It is important to note that fans should already be somewhat familiar with at least season one of the Index series. Otherwise, the experience you get out of this film might not be as special as you'd hope for.

I had high expectations of the film and I am thankful to say that those were met. The film itself takes place in the same setting as the TV series, Academy City (sometimes referred to as the Experiment City) a sovereign city-state where technology are highly evolved. Among its cities' residents though are students and scientists whom the latter conducts research on psychics known as Espers. However, the film itself steps forth beyond just science but also crosses with the magic realm.

The timeline of the film is assumed to take place between the Remnant and Daihaseisai arc. (refer to the TV series for insight) But because the setting is at the location of Academy City, expect some advanced technologies to make it on screen. Take the Endymion for an example. Based on a name from Greek mythology, Endymion is a pivotal factor in this film as influences both the science and magic sides. It also serves as a symbol of pride for Academy City as well as an instrument of war for military purposes. The mysteries of this technology is revealed in the movie and fans can interpret its revelation in a variety of ways. It's more than just a space elevator, much much more. It's a new story to tell and hope to remember by.

No story can be complete without its characters. In this film, it is crafted from the basis of a new character named Meigo Arisa. As an upcoming rising star, she plays the role of a singer with both a gift and mystery regarding her origin. Although labeled as a level 0, her character is prominent especially when we learn about the influence she has according to a certain magician. Arisa's name also is literally translated as 'sound' so expect to hear quite a bit from her in the form of her songs. After all, it's the songs that attracts the other main characters like Touma and Index early on as well. It seems like fate has plans for them because Arisa does get a surprise regarding her singing talent. More importantly though, we also learn that there are also other people who wants her but for much contrasting reasons.

Among other characters that we might be familiar of includes Academy City's ranked #3 Railgun, the only and one Misaka Mikoto. Going by perhaps a more catchy name as BiriBiri (as nicknamed by Touma), she makes an electrifying appearance in the film with not just her skills but also in her outfit. Fans of the A Certain Scientific Railgun franchise might also be delighted to see her friends (Kuroko, Kazari, and Ruiko) make appearances as well. After all, friends have to stick together to bring miracles. On a more badass side, we also see an esper who is unmatched on the level 5 ranking charts.

Perhaps dream also are soaring high for Arisa because her inspiration to become a singer. There is no doubt that the girl has talent and it's why Index and Touma became entranced by her voice in the beginning. However, the reason others wants her are for more reasons than just talent. That talent isn't just singing but for purposes that crosses the lines between science and magic. For a particular girl on the magic side, it is her duty to protect Arisa. We see that later on, this girl represents a sense of miracle because a certain incident in the film. In fact, you might be somewhat surprised at what you'll yourself. Miracles comes in surprises and this film also brings in some surprises of its own.

So the film incorporates many other factors with its characters. There's a variety of them such espers, magicians, idols, immortals, witches, and wizards. All of them comes in a package as they display their powers to the audience. If that wasn't enough, there's a sense of mystery. Obviously, all eyes are on Arisa as she is a person of high interest. There's many questions going on regarding her origins and why she is so important. There's also a sort of metaphor with her Arisa's character going on as her singing represents inspiration and hope. We hear it like just music but behind those lyrics is a girl who is selfless with a big dream.

Like its original predecessors, the film also adapts some of its more humorous moments. In fact, Arisa shares a similarity with Index that could cost quite a budget out of anyone's wallet. Then, there's Kuroko who retains her fantasies and awe to her onee-sama, Misaka Mikoto. If bad luck hits home, then Touma's name is written all over it. There's the gimmicky and cliched moments where Touma gets himself in compromising positions as well. This should be nothing new though considering the result of a double edged sword from his Imagine Breaker.

Action wise, the film maintains a solid formation with its fighting scenes. There's intensity from both the science and magic side. Flames are expected in the forms of magic while there's also electrifying sparks flying in the air from Biribiri. As both magic and science side clashes, there's that sense of both fear and antagonism regarding our new uprising idol – Arisa. However, also expect fan service. Unfortunately, the film doesn't omit these factors after shower scenes. There's also reused character designs in the form of lolis as Kamachi often spotlights them on the screen. That is hardly refreshing. Anyone familiar with the Railgun manga or Index novels will instantly realize this. Those who have been following the animated Railgun series recently will also find a similar pattern. Lastly, there's some main characters who doesn't seem to get the spotlight they deserve. In fact, they seem to be more in the background as supporting characters. I'm referring to a certain albino boy that is famously known for a certain experiment in Academy City. As a fan of his character, there's some disappointment that hit me home.

As this product is set on a theatrical screen, expect cinematic animation. Most noticeably, this film is performed with vertical resolution complete in concrete details. Therefore, expect more focus on backgrounds and details at many various scenes that are can be noticeable. The adaptation of Academy City is also presented with strong artistic values to reflect its scientific structures. Arisa's character design gives her an outlook that fuses between an ordinary girl with pink hair and an idol singer with her flashy outfit. Other new characters gives off their magical look like the witches hat and trooper like outlook. The way most of the movie is shown reflects on the animation of scientific and magical values. Clearly, this movie should be watched under at least 720P or higher to get a full pleasant experience.

Because a good portion of the movie focuses on Arisa, she is the star and coming with her is that magnificent voice. Her voice performs a variety of songs with various purposes. I give praise to Sachika Misawa for her role as Arisa. Not only does she voice her character but also the various songs performed in the film that clearly shows her talent in the music industry. As an upcoming idol in the fictional world of Index though, there's also a sense of miracle in her voice. It seems to inspire hope/miracle and Arisa's songs presents that. The OST remains consistent during battle scenes and those where comedy pops out in the open.

I don't entirely believe in miracles because not everything happens at that moment when you want it to. However, I got what I wanted and that's an enjoyable experience from Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki. The Toaru Majutsu no Index franchise is already massively successful with its spawn of the spinoff, Railgun. Similar results also can be traced for this movie through some statistical figures with its premiere. Of course, statistics aren't what determines your judgement of this film. Still, do give this a movie a try especially if you're a fan of the Raildex franchise.

This movie itself establishes the line when both science and magic worlds clashes. When that line is crossed, you'd expect struggle and conflict. From that, there comes miracles.

"Do you believe in miracles?"

A somewhat cheesy start to the review perhaps, but appropriate to the theme of the movie nonetheless.

Recently, I've noticed that I seem to have developed a knack for somehow always being able to review a show by J.C Staff, despite me saying that I'm not too fond of them. Now, honestly, I've had to re-evaluate that assessment, seeing as I've been somewhat unfair on them in the past - they've got their fair share of fantastic shows under their belt (Honey and Clover and To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S), as well as some that are bad or lame representations ... of their source material (Little Busters! and Spiral, respectively).

To Aru Majutsu no Index: EnK finds itself somewhere in the middle of that spectrum, not really ending up on either good or bad. I got exactly what I expected from this movie, that is a really, really enjoyable feature which still retains quite a few of the problems that oftentimes hamper Index.

At its core, Index EnK is really nothing more than your average Index filler arc in movie form, all of the right boxes are ticked: Mysterious girl with some kind of special ability? Check. Touma needs to save that girl? Check. Some kind of group wants to use said girl for nefarious purposes? Check. Said girl will fall for Touma and add herself to his ever growing harem? Check. Index biting Touma in an attempt to create a humourous scene, only for it to fall down on its face? Most definitely. Indeed, the Index movie really does hit all the clichés that you've probably come to expect from the franchise.

This serves as both a negative and a positive; negatively, the story is quite predictable and you'll be able to see quite a few of the twists coming before they happen - with that being said, there are a couple of rather unexpected twists towards the end which did surprise me, so I've gotta give the movie kudos for that.

Another negative with the movie is one that irked me throughout the film, that is, the need to show every character who has had some role of importance or another in the story so far into the film - including characters from Railgun. This is an incredibly double-edged sword with some rather nasty repercussions, for instance, I would have been annoyed had Accelerator not been in the movie, so I was happy to see him, but at the same time, his cameo was wasted so much it makes me wonder what the point of including him at all even was.

The same thing applies to Mitsuko's appearance too, if she's only going to appear for one scene, then what's the point of even bothering to include her in the first place? I realise that this movie is, essentially, character fanservice - but it feels like such wasted character fanservice; the second Prince of Tennis movie did this as well, but it did it far more tastefully than the Index movie, when a character made a cameo appearance in that movie, their appearance held meaning, this just feels like they're including the characters because they're obligated to do so.

Another issue with the story, aside from the wasted cameos, is the really cheesy ending; you know the kind, the one when every character has to lend a helping hand in order to assist the main character in stopping whatever calamity or disaster is about to happen - the movie is incredibly guilty of this, and the way it happens feels incredibly silly and doesn't sit right with when the movie is set canonically with the series (granted, it'd still be silly even if it was right at the end of the series).

Then there's the singing thing, don't get me wrong, I don't mind the fact that this is essentially To Aru Majutsu no Index: The musical (sadly there was no Touma and Misaka singing duet, which would have made the movie totally worth watching for that alone), but considering how cheesy everything is building up to the climax, this also felt incredibly silly and somewhat unnecessary too.

On the flip-side of things, average Index arc though it may be, it's definitely among the best of these average Index arcs, mainly to do with the point that, for once, Touma doesn't end up giving an idealistic speech to the person he ends up fighting and keeps his idealism well in check - which is a saving grace to say the least.

Another thing is the twists towards the end, which are actually genuinely well executed and do serve to spice up the story a little bit - even if, for the most part, they remain on the predictable side, the twist that is implemented right at the end is actually rather well done and something I was caught off guard by (albeit, only slightly).

Aside from that, the story isn't really anything to write home about, if you didn't like arcs like this before then it certainly won't change your mind, but if you can tolerate Index filler then you'll probably be able to make it through this without too many problems.

There is however one thing that caught me off guard completely about the movie, and it's not the story twists - it's the animation.

Put simply, it is stunning.

Now, don't get me wrong, the Raildex franchise has always been receiving the best part of J.C Staff's budget, but Index: EnK takes that to a whole new level; in the past, the Index TV series has always suffered from the occasional still frame or an off-model every now and then, the movie gladly doesn't have that problem and, when it's in motion or if there isn't much action, it looks absolutely fantastic.

Magic attacks in particular, such as Stiyl's Innocentius, are an absolutely glorious sight to behold, and don't just look but feel powerful, I was left with my jaw slightly hanging open when I saw how good the movie looks. There was a fight in the movie about forty minutes or so in, when Touma is up against a random dude that he has to fight due to plot convenience, and I was honestly wondering if this was still To Aru Majutsu no Index, the animation was incredibly fluid and well done, more-so than a lot of the big fights in Index (although they're usually bogged down with monologuing, so maybe this is an example of what would happen if Touma didn't speak during his fights). There's even a car chase.

Another thing worth mentioning about the animation is that, with the increased budget, Academy City looks far more detailed than it did in the TV series. The night sky, the lighting - for once, Academy City feels like a proper city rather than just some location that the characters happen to be in at the time, it looks like a place that people would actually live in. It's impressive to say the least, the little details that are usually ignored such as crowds moving in the background are actually given quite a bit of attention, I remembered that there are actually people supposed to be living in this city as opposed to it being somewhat empty.

The CG for the most part looks rather impressive too, particularly the Index equivalents to Tron's lightcycles, which do look incredibly cool and have become another item on my list of fictional vehicles that I would love to ride one day. Sadly, the one chink in EnK's otherwise impenetrable animation armour is the rather ugly CG that is used whenever a character is singing, it does look incredibly out of place and, in comparison to the rest of the movie, just looks plain odd and somewhat unnecessary, what they were trying to achieve really could have been done better with conventional animation.

Sound wise, the music isn't really worth mentioning all that much, seeing as t is, for the most part, tracks from the TV series, there may have been a couple of remixes in their too, but I sadly can't recall, my point being that, if you liked the music in Index, you'll like the Index movie's soundtrack, if you didn't, then you won't like it.

The actual song that is performed by Meigo Arisa throughout the movie isn't really something necessarily special either, it's a nice little song, but not necessarily something that I'd say is any better or worse than the soundtrack as a whole.

As for the cast, you get exactly what you expect from them by now, Yuka Iguchi is still incredibly annoying as Index, Abe Atsushi delivers as Touma, Rina Satou gives us exactly what you'd expect from Misaka (not at the level of To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S mind you, but this isn't her movie so I can't complain as much as I'd like), they're almost all good performances apart from Index.

The major additions to the voice cast, Sachika Misawa, Yoko Hikasa and Ayane Sakura, all give passing grade performances and all deliver exactly as you'd expect them to, with sadly no surprise star performance to speak of, they do the job and that's that really.

Other cast members, such as Nobuhiko Okamoto, are totally wasted in the few seconds of screen-time that they get, it goes back to my original point of the character cameos feeling so wasted that there's really no point in them appearing at all.

Which brings me to my next point.

Index, as a series, has a lot of characters that appear on quite a regular basis throughout, characters like Accelerator, Stiyl and Tsuchimikado, the series suffers as a result of this, having to deal with too many characters at once - and the movie suffers as a result of this as well. Nearly every character that has served some role of importance between volumes 1-7 of the Light Novels (not including villains), gets an appearance in the movie, however short their appearance may be - heck, even Aleister of all people gets an appearance in the movie. This is a serious problem, as the movie wastes cameos that should have been something that really pleases fans, I should have felt happy that Accelerator appeared in the movie at all, instead, I was left feeling rather confused as to why he was there - don't get me wrong, I'm happy that he was in the movie, as he's by far the best character in Index (at least, by this point in the story), and I'm pleased he had a moment, but it's not the kind of cameo he deserves.

This waste of cameos actually also has a negative effect on the new cast members too, the movie spends so much time bringing in everyone that it hampers any serious development for Meigo Arisa and Shutaura Sequenzia (which is a ridiculous name even by Index standards), as such, they come across as rather flat and somewhat one-dimensional, this in turn also harms the twist at the end now that I think about it, seeing as the characters are rather unsympathetic, which lessens what should have been serious emotional impact.

The main villain isn't worth talking about, motivated by a stupid reason that is really not worth going into due to its stupidity, it tried to develop her in some way I suppose, but I can't say I actually felt anything even remotely resembling sympathy for her, especially considering what she was going to do to achieve it.

All flaws aside though, Index EnK is a very, very enjoyable movie - one that I was quietly anticipating. A common thing I've noticed with Index (especially in Index II), is that, when it's going in all guns blazing, it's totally possible to ignore all the flaws and just find something really enjoyable. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's "turn off your brain and enjoy it" style viewing, as there's method in the madness (for lack of a better idiom). I don't think I would have enjoyed this anywhere near as much as if it was an actual part of the TV series though - the animation is definitely one reason why I enjoyed it so much and it really is stunning to behold, but the wasted character cameos did detract from my enjoyment of the movie a bit.

Don't go into this movie expecting some kind of revolutionary new appreciation for Index that you never thought possible, you won't be getting it. It's traditional Index filler at the end of the day, meaning that it comes with all the pros and cons that you've come to expect from the franchise by now - it also comes with fantastic action scenes that should are totally worth watching the movie for.

Now hurry up and announce Index III J.C staff, you've kept me waiting long enough.

One word to describe this movie? "Ouch."

Despite its immense popularity in Japan and abroad, the Index series in general has always been wishy-washy (my honest opinion). Sure, there's a running plot with a somewhat interesting ensemble of main characters, but it has plenty of flaws too - too many convoluted terms that are unexplained or mentioned once and quickly forgotten about, an utter lack of character development, and so on.

This movie - Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki - continues to extrapolate these same exact flaws, and in addition to that, adds some serious inconsistent plot elements that are both glaring and ridiculous.

Let's start ... off with the positives for once. Compared to the original Index series (which, I would recommend watching first before watching the movie, just to get a sense of what is going on), the artwork has vastly improved. The artwork and animation is crisp, fresh, and light. You can just tell from the first few frames that a lot of effort was put into this movie, and for that I am thankful. But there is just plenty of inconsistencies that utterly destroys J.C.Staff's (& co) hard work and washes everything down the drain.

First off, the plot inconsistencies. Despite having a clear goal in mind, the Endymion movie takes more of a meandering path to get to its destination. In doing so, it introduces many new plot elements that were not present in the original series and does so in a terrible fashion. I would recommend watching the Endymion special if you get the chance - even J.C.Staff points out a lot of the plot points that I have a problem with (in a comedic fashion, too) - but I'll just briefly mention a couple: Kanzaki in space. The three midgets plus Stiyl fighting against Touma and crew. Who are these three individuals? Why are they important in the story? What is their purpose, and why did the writers feel a need to introduce them at all?

I mean, seriously, what is even going on?

Second, the characters. Arisa and Shutaura are clearly the stars of this movie and fortunately they get plenty of screen time. They meet the main characters, learn about them, and grow as individuals. Could their development been flushed out a little more? Yes. Could their relationship be more clearly explained besides trying to shovel everything together in the latter half of the movie? Yes, but it is satisfactory, so I'll just leave it at that.

The main problem I have with this movie regarding the characters is that plenty of characters appear in this movie. You have plenty of characters from the Index series showing up, and also some others from the Railgun spin-off series. But here's the catch: they don't really serve any purpose except to serve the fans and/or make the plot interesting. Of course everybody would complain if Accelerator never shows up, but his transitioning into the movie is both (1) rushed and (2) doesn't really serve a particular purpose except for one particular thing (I can't spoil everything for you, ok?). And that's it. Otherwise from that, if you removed him completely from the picture, the story could have just proceeded fine.

One final thing that I will briefly mention and did like, however, was how the theme of "miracles" was decently integrated throughout the plot. It showed up throughout the movie over and over, and is well-incorporated through both symbolism and the dialogue among the characters. Hell, the entire space station structure is symbolic in itself, but you'll need to put a critical lens on to see just how it is related to the entire concept of "miracles."

Overall, a lackluster story with a little bit of development and some thematic material, but it is weak as a whole. Some of the sound elements were clearly borrowed from the other two Index series. Would have gotten a 3 by my rubric if it weren't for those two big glaring errors.

tl;dr
Pros:
- Crisp, crisp, crisp art. So crisp. Probably some of the most improved artwork I've seen over a stretch of a series.
- Well-incorporated theme
- Plotline that was (relatively) easy to follow, even for the average viewer; but I would recommend watching the other Index series first just to make sure you don't get lost in everything

Cons:
- Many of the characters are still one-dimensional, but there is SOME development.
- Many characters were rushed into the movie and don't hold any real significance except to please viewers