Summary:

Stiyl and Kaori are shocked when Index starts using magic against Touma since she isn’t supposed to be able to, but Touma knows that that was just a lie from the Church. He also reveals that the stuff about her not being able to survive if her memories weren’t erased every year was a big lie and that they can get rid of the need to erase memories if they negate the Church’s magic in her head. When Stiyl claims that he doesn’t need an unclear possibility and that he still supports erasing her memory if it means saving Index, Touma lectures the mage on his commitment to save Index and obtain the best happy ending. With Touma now losing his grip against Index’s magical onslaught, Kaori steps in to help by uprooting the floor mats so that Index temporarily loses her footing. This directs the magical beam of destruction through the roof, and it hits a satellite high above the planet. As a result of this, feathers start floating down from the sky, and Kaori identifies this as Dragon’s Breath. She warns that bad things will happen if they touch the feathers, and to make matters worse, Index gets back up and continues the magical assault. Fortunately for Touma, Stiyl summons Innocentius and uses it to hold off Index’s attack while Touma rushes toward her. He reaches her right as Innocentius falls, and by applying his hand to her forehead, he negates everything controlling her. Afterward, Touma picks up and holds Index in his arms, but he realizes too late that feathers are still falling around him, and one of them touches his head, causing him to collapse.

Sometime later, Index – who is now back to normal – is in the hospital talking with Touma’s doctor and has gotten a letter for Touma from Stiyl. She rips it open and reads it anyway, and inside, Stiyl explains that although the English Church wanted Index brought back immediately, they backed off to a wait-and-see approach after Stiyl and Kaori requested an explanation on being deceived. For the time being Index can stay with Touma, but Stiyl isn’t happy about this and promises to come back for her after getting some information and proper equipment. The letter explodes once Index finishes reading it, and she goes to see Touma in his room afterward. The doctor had earlier explained to her that Touma’s memories had been destroyed rather than lost because his brain cells were destroyed, yet Index is still shocked when Touma doesn’t recognize her. She tries to remind him of how she first arrived on his veranda, how he fought mages for her sake, and how she loved him, but he doesn’t remember anything. Right as Index is about to burst into tears, however, his manner suddenly changes and he starts laughing because it was all a joke. When she asks him about him forgetting everything, Touma claims that since the damage was from magic, he could use his right hand – now called the Imagine Breaker – on himself.

Index is relieved, but she also gets angry at Touma and stomps out of his room after biting him. She passes by the doctor who is on his way to see Touma, and the doctor asks Touma if that was okay. In truth, Touma really doesn’t remember anything and had only been pretending everything was fine because he didn’t want Index to cry. He doesn’t understand his own feelings, but he suggests that his memories might still be in his heart. Meanwhile, Stiyl pays a visit to a man named Aleister who is suspended upside down in a tube surrounded by a room of machinery. The two discuss the existence of something called Deep Blood and the confinement of a girl who has the ability to kill a certain living thing. The conversation then progresses to how mages are involved and how there’s a balance in the world between the science side and the magic side. Aleister mentions that he has something that is a natural enemy of mages, and Stiyl knows that he’s talking about the Imagine Breaker. Aleister wants Stiyl to team up with Touma, and though Stiyl accepts this, he questions if Deep Blood really exists. He knows that if it really does exist, then the certain living thing that it should kill also exists: vampires. Aleister finishes by wondering what the Imagine Breaker proves if Deep Blood proves the existence of vampires.

Preview

Well, unlike prior episodes, I thought this was relatively well paced, though it still had some time issues. For one, it amazes me how, while he’s being shot at with a hugely destructive beam of magic, Touma manages to find the time – a full minute even – to lecture Stiyl on saving Index. Also, did it really take Touma another minute and a half of running full speed to get across the room to reach Index? That was approaching levels of ridiculous because the room obviously isn’t that long. Having said that though, there was actually a good amount of action this week, and I really enjoyed the scene where Index thinks that Touma’s completely forgotten about her. This series could use more touching moments like that and less expositional dialogue.

Actually, it occurred to me while I was watching that the hospital scene could have served as a happy epilogue for the series in general, if for whatever reason it needed to finish here. I suspect that’s why the scene between Aleister Crowley and Stiyl was included – with the first arc over, it served as a prologue to get us interested for the next chapter of the story. I’m not quite sure what all the Deep Blood stuff was about, but it did make me wonder why it is that characters named Aleister Crowley (the other being DGM‘s) always seem to come attached with vampire-related stuff. In any case, here’s to hoping the next arc will be better than the first.

37 Comments

  1. Awww more lecturing ? =[ o well, the qual still looks great! *saves all pics* XD
    oooo next up is miko priestess :O weeee
    index’s reactions are so cute :3
    and which chat is named Aleister Crowley?

    Furuba
  2. “Speaking of time, did it really take Touma another minute and a half of running full speed to get across the room to reach Index? That was approaching levels of ridiculous.”

    According to the preview of this episode, St. George’s Sanctuary created an huge distance between Index and Touma. Without Touma’s right hand, it’d probably be impossible to reach Index at all.

    cclragnarok
  3. I think it’s because aleister crowley was based on a real historical figure or built-up legend about a vampire…kind of like how Dracula might have really existed as a person who drank blood, even though evidence is scanty. They explained this at one point in D.Grayman’s manga notes (or maybe it was wikipedia).

    misty
  4. Well i can tell that the next arc will be mostly about MISAKA and her clones and Acellerator. I think its a bit different though from the preview, all i saw was that miko girl and not a single picture about misaka’s clones. its gonnna be a bit different to the manga as expected to be.

    Kubaru
  5. According to the novel, St. George’s Sanctuary is one of the most destructive spells (with the capability of destroying index’s ‘original’ defenses). Furthermore, Touma’s right hand was on the verge of being destroyed. Without Stiyl and Kaori help, he could not progress (the cancelling effect could not keep up to the attack) since Index viewed him as priority one target. What surprised me the most is that Innocentius was not blown away by a ‘higher?’ spell.

    I find it quite logic to think it this way: if Innocentius cover Touma by standing in between Index and Touma, how should Touma run in order to reach Index? There can only be one answer – flank from another direction (Yes, time will be wasted). However, Index will reposition her attack. Thus, the situation will be in a stalemate…

    tylon
  6. looks great, looks great, LOOKS GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Of course, seeing touma take his time explaining stuff to that other magician guy (what’s his name… styil or something?) while holding off a super-killer-beam, and taking >1 minute to run across the room had me going… 0_o??!!

    But still, LOOKS GREAT!!!!!!!!!! Look at all the bloom effect! The particle effects!!!!!

    I did find the part where Index was trying to help Touma remember about their past to be quite sad. Hearing her voice quiver gave me shivers… so I guess it’s GOOD JOB, SEIYUU!!

    Can’t wait to get more of em! If only I can understand japanese, I’ll be reading the novels right now.

    Jayars
  7. Geez, poor stupid Index didn’t realize that Touma was out for all that time that Dragon’s Breath did the damage so he couldn’t have fend it off with the imagine breaker. Plus the Dragon’s Breath is pretty much instantaneous anyway. But that was kinda mean to trick her on both fronts like that, I love it. Hell, its not like Touma’s memories are that important anyway if he could get a quick lesson from the 2 magicians to cover it up.

    All in all, this stuff has slowed down to a snail’s pace & now we get GD vampires in the mix too. Whatever, I guess it can’t get any worser than it is now unless a filler pops up 🙁

    Megas
  8. So in this anime, we have magic and science both doing fishy stuff while hiding from its own members. This has become more complicate I know Vampire is belongs to magic, but from the conversation they talk as if the “deep blood” belongs to science. But miko and vampire are not really connected. I can see Touma forms his own team of bothe espers and magicians to smash down both sides xd. And yeah, I wish they cut back from the talking or at least do one episode on talking and the other on fighting. The pace becomes quiet slow for my taste now.

    mysterious
  9. I’d have to agree the time thing was a bit ridiculous. Touma’s hand is gonna get blasted off, but wait lets talk for a minute and take another minute to run a couple of feet…

    As ridiculous as that was, the memories loss thing was worse. It wasn’t the fact that Touma lost them, but rather then way he lost them. Those feather things were floating/ falling in that room for a good portion of that episode. All of them mercilessly miss everyone except for that last one.

    Except for that the episode was actually not bad, though the end of the that hospital scene kinda bugged me

    Azar
  10. Well… yeah… no time to loose… the running man… quite the big room…

    the thing which bugged me the most was still the fact that the doctor accepted magic even though he should only know about esper abilities. moreover i liked the idea how he would loose his memory in the manga better ( >> using his head to save the feather from touching index cause the hand was way outer reach).

    Nightflame
  11. yeah in the manga Touma sacrificed himself because the feather was going to hit Index who was lying on his right arm and by the time he noticed it shielding her with himself was all he could do to save her.

    But wait a sec if vol.2 of the manga is vol.3 of of the novels does that mean Touma goes more than 2 novel volumes without his memories? Also are his memories lost forever? because his brain cells were destroyed meaning unable to be healed.

  12. in the manga, touma used his right hand to swipe off the falling feather but missed due to his unluckyness and used his head to bump it off. the manga version was more cooler and more heroic compared to the what he did
    and the st. george academy spell distorts the space and time(according to the manga), that’s why touma was running slowly towards index

    “if deep blood proves vampire, then what proves imagine breaker?”
    was the answer “god” since that’s what touma was blabbering when he break the “necklace”?

    Ungas
  13. “If Deep Blood proves the existence of Vampires, then what existence will Imagine Breaker prove?”

    God.

    @Nightflame: Actually, the reason why he accepts magic is a spoiler; he knows it exists for a long time due to a certain something.

    Izaak
  14. Aleister Crowley (the actual person) was a satanist/occultist in the 19th and 20th centuries. He was a sick, twisted freak who tended to involve his sexual perversions in his “religious” endeavors. Not really surprising that characters named for him tend to be rather unpleasant as well.

    Dandos
  15. Does anyone know if Touma ever gets his memories back in the Novels? Because if he doesn’t everything up to the time he lost his memories would of been kinda pointless to watch sense it only digress his character developement it puts a hold on any reltationship developements especially sense Idex doesn’t know she’ll keep thinking he’s just an ass.

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