Overall : 8
This show to me is sort of like a guilty pleasure, similar to sword art online in that aspect. I realize that the show is not the best, in fact it's quite awful in comparison to some other shows I've seen. Now despite this, I still enjoyed it thoroughly. Starting the show, I had the issue of choosing subbed or dubbed. The dub was very mediocre and the sub was just hard to understand because of some of the word choices. I was lazy and chose the less popular of the two: dubbed. Once I solved that issue, I realized that I didn't quite like very many of the characters. Index, Misaka, and a few other supporting roles all bugged me early on and I stayed for the plot concept: science vs. magic. Although not carried through the best, the show was good enough for me to stick around to the point where I liked it. Misaka soon became my favorite character, the action picked up, I got past the dub's average quality, and I just sat down and enjoyed the adventure the show took me on. I would only suggest the show to people willing to take a risk and give the show a little while to kick in. There are definitely safer shows to take on, but if the risk pays off, you may find yourself really enjoying this show, despite the obvious flaws. The likable characters( not all of them ), the show's concept, and the action carried the show for me so if that sounds up your alley, give it a go.
onto the detailed broken down review.
Story [8] : The concept of the show is brilliant, in my opinion. Science faces religion, which is represented by magic within the show. I only give the story an 8 because of how intriguing I find this concept. The execution of the concept however, did not meet my expectations. The main character, Touma, has the ability to cancel out any magical or esper(scientific) ability. He acts as a bridge between the two different worlds. With this ability however, I thought the show would pursue a more comedic and parody-like approach. The writers however chose the darker and more serious approach. That path was alright but clearly had its flaws. I feel like sometimes the writers even forgot about Touma's ability and made the fights unnecessarily difficult. I get that some people want to see action, but I can't see the action if I'm too busy facepalming at how the fights go against a main premise of the show. I don't want to carry too far into the main plotline, even though there barely is one ( lot of "filler"ish episodes that just barely tie back to main theme) , so that's my 2 cents.
Art [8] : I didn't find the animation to be outstanding but I can forgive it given the year of production. I liked the fights and that animation of those, especially with accelerator. Not too much to say there.
Sound [5] : So I watched the dub and what I'm mostly going to talk about is the voice acting. First off, I actually hated Index's voice. I didn't mind most the rest but that doesn't mean I liked it. I like Misaka's voice against popular opinion. I also didn't like the OP's and end songs too much but that's very minor considering that I usually skip them.
Character [7] : I liked the idea of Touma's character but I feel like the writers tried to make him OP, and only succeeded at all the wrong times. I don't think that at the super serious points in the show that the MC should just magically win the fight, but hey that's just me. I personally hated index, I'm not too sure what else to say there. Misaka best waifu. Started out a little annoying but now easily best girl in show. The extras were all pretty good at doing their role in the show but I felt as if they got lost because a new supporting role character was introduced every 10 minutes within the show. There was too much to try to follow there and I felt like some of them just distracted away from any main plot that was there.
Enjoyment [9] : Misaka best waifu. I really did end up enjoying the show despite the flaws. I liked some of the characters enough to where I could ignore the one's I didn't. I also liked seeing the religious details put into the magic casting as well as the comedic relief points of the show. I've recently been watching a lot of romance where everyone was overdramatic so this show was a breath of fresh air. Yes, the characters were dramatic, but for good reason. I really can't justify why I liked the show as much as I did... I just did.
Thanks for reading! Hope this helped you choose whether or not to watch. Feel free to message me with any further questions about the show as well.
