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「猟犬部隊（ハウンドドッグ）」 (Ryouken Butai (Haundo Doggu))
“Hunting Dog Corps (Hound Dog)”
Now is it just me or is this series so much better when it doesn’t beat around the bush with religious mumbo jumbo and stuff actually happens on screen? We had Accelerator trying to get Kihara’s Hound Dogs off his back, Touma trying to do the same before Vento came along, and Kuroko causing a commotion over Mikoto like only she can. Throw in Uihara for good measure and the end result is To Aru Majutsu no Index just the way I like it.
The best part of it all is that the progression is seemingly straightforward, except with a lot of foreshadowing on things to come. This includes the attack on Academy City that Tsuchimikado’s looking into, and Anti-Skill mistaking Accelerator as the culprit after he was forced into a corner and went all sadistic on the Hound Dogs. The former served as a nice overarching problem that will need to be addressed before long, while the latter gave us something to be immediately engrossed in. Combined with Touma’s ongoing struggles fending off Vento and protecting Last Order, the balance between explicative dialogue and actual things happening this episode was ideal in my mind. It likely helped telling the story from multiple perspectives — a total of five if we include Kikyou and Aiho.
Interestingly enough, one of the things that really grabbed my attention was Kihara’s “no-nonsense, kill first, pick up the scraps” later attitude with both Accelerator and Vento. Kudos to Fujiwara Keiji for pulling off villainous roles like only he can, which at times makes it hard to believe he plays cheerful characters like Maes Hughes too. I don’t like Kihara one bit, but I do find it amusing how he’s a total ass with anyone and everyone, including his own men. I was actually hoping he would go head-to-head against Vento when she showed up, given how psychotic she is too (hats off to Hiramatsu Akiko for that).
However, it doesn’t look like we’re short of craziness this time around, as Accelerator even had me feeling sorry for the female Hound Dogs who he absolutely slaughtered. I don’t even recall him being this heartless during the Radio Noise Project (i.e. Sisters arc), though it could be that I’m just accustomed to how he’s softened up being around Last Order all the time. Of course, there’s always Kuroko in the crazy department as well, except when she flips out it always leads to good times for me. With all the havoc going on, the high tension attitudes all around seem appropriate though. It’s actually been calming when the focus flip to Touma, as he’s the only one who’s not going bat-shit insane to cope with all the problems on two fronts — the Hound Dogs and the Roman Catholic Church.
Anyway, I think we need Mikoto to start blasting all the bad guys away. Only my railgun~
Preview
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I don’t watch this show but one of those pics with the guy and sunglasses totally looks like Shizou from durarara
Accelerator’s GAR and batshit insane meter jumped off the scales. He’s was amazing though. Along with the animation jump of all the rain and windows shattering. I didn’t want the episode to end. Touma looks a lot more GAR-er in Winter Uniform. Now he should know he’s famous :3c
But lol Kihara was totally unfazed by Front surviving a rocket launcher. I am quite fond of her voice now, she’s good.
Biribiri 😀 I love Kuroko’s voice and oh man she’s was just as hilarious as ever *A*b CHINESE.
Show Spoiler ▼
didn’t even affect Kihara. That just shows how GAR and unreasonably confident he is.
Yeah, shame quite a bit of the explanationary stuff got stuff out, including the comment about how he cares so little that he’s immune to that shizzle.
DAMMMMM!!!!
I want sub now, this episode looks awesome
I thought the subs are out. For a quite a while.
well, its 2020 now nobody is going to see this but… theres a sub AND dub for SEASON 3 now!!!!! 😋 and theres probably going to be a season 4 in a bit (a few years)!
I have that tingling feeling every time Vento goes, “Hiiii~!”
It reminds me of Gogo Yubari from Kill Bill. It’s just that little sadistic greeting everyone should beware.
I thought it was great how they animated accelerator’s use of his power in this episode, it really emphisised how quickly they happened without relying on lame things like speed lines.
true, that is one thing I noticed as well.
I seriously think that this arc`s going to end in 2 episodes…….there just isn`t enough material in this arc to cover the remaining 4 episodes…
It is. This arc ends in the next episode or the one later. Season ends with the next arc.
NOOOOO! WE WANT MOAR!!!
How are they going to compress the next arc in 2 episodes anyway? Show Spoiler ▼
The SS volume can fit in 2 episodes definitely as it is just short stories.
Yeah, they’re doing the SS novel after the current arc.
WE NEED MORE OF THIS ANIME TO FORGET MAHOU SHOUJO MADOKA!!!! ARGH!!!!!!
while I like Index and Railgun too, let’s just face it, Madoak is absolutely the dark horse this season… though I think this show is heading to a climax too 🙂
what i’m sayin is that more anime like this to forget the current disturbing arc of madoka… not to over throw the anime itself
Madoka has literally driven most viewers, me included insane. +1
https://randomc.net/image/To%20Aru%20Majutsu%20no%20Index/To%20Aru%20Majutsu%20no%20Index%20II%20-%2020%20-%20Large%2025.jpg
Man, Accelerator is the complete terror of this show.
Like, I mean really.. I’ve never seen him at his best like this before! Murderer is an understatement!! D8
The whole abandoned building feeling just makes it better. It was amazing how he used fear and the wrench to make a sound so that the soldiers would shoot each other.
It’s not as well worked out as in the novels. 🙁 It was much, much scarier and longer and Hannibalisher in that.
very good episode indeed! it is not that I don’t enjoy the set up episodes, but the atmosphere this week just made it all the better. truly, when the crazy meet the psychotic, a good story starts 🙂
though vento is sort of a let down when facing touma… hopefully she will be a bit more bad ass before taken out by our imagining breaker.
@Divine:
I believe Accelerator has always been this brutal, even in radio noise. Considering he kills them in so many various ways like reversing blood flow and even one (from the railgun manga, the first Clone introduced [who has a hilarious personality] that was murdered having her limps ripped off and crawling towards Misaka’s gekotan pin while dying and then being crushed by a train.
I’d say compare to that, Accelerator HAS soften up a lot if he ends it all nicely with one shot in the head instead of the brutal sadistic tortures he puts all the clones through.
sry, no edit button.
but what i’m trying to say is, Accelerator was a hunter who enjoyed the hunt before.
now he’s goal oriented and killing just to get the killing done to move on to the next goal.
I thought Accelerator was a pacifist and the reason he was so brutal was just so people don’t dare to challenge him.
It’s a little bit of both, even up until the Touma fight he was trying to get the sisters to stop fighting him by breaking their will. While at first he wanted to stop the fighting, he eventually came to enjoy it as well which is probably why he’s so reluctant at reciprocating kindness and love to Last Order because he doesn’t feel he deserves it.
Blood for Accelerator!
Blood for Accelerator!
Accelerator wants Blood!!
Mwuhahahhahahah!
…..that Crucifix tongue loli………….ewwwww, me wants NO part of that.
Lol, wow. He shot her in jaw. Twice.
Ever read the light novel?
Show Spoiler ▼
Poor Nancy.
will let the arc finish first before watching it in one so i won’t be left hanging
Accelerator likes Last Order, thats all. He is still total asshole who likes to kill. Fortunately, seems the Hound Dog dont figure high on innocence scale.
Touma was for the first time truly cornered – and by mundane soldiers, no less. Shows how to deal with him if you have any scores to settle. Vento by comparison was having quite difficulty handling Touma. Her mass unconsciousness spell seems to be by comparison handling all the nonmagical types easily, and even some magical ones if you count Index slumping in the hospital. Seems we have a scissors-paper-stone situation where Touma dispels magic of Vento, but is vulnerable to soldiers, who are vulnerable to Vento and Accelerator. Now we need Mikoto to bring some serious firepower to Touma’s aid. I wonder if Tsuchimikado can somehow deal with the ongoing magical spikes attack on Academy city, as those would definitely be grave threat to all unconscious and hence unmoving people.
Kihara exiting the Vento combat was quite amusing. Definitely mission oriented man. Since his priority is Last Order, there is high likelihood he will appear at the place Touma is.
Also, isnt it ironic that Vento unwittingly saved both Index and Accelerator from that Panzerfaust 3 that Kihara was going to blow them up with?
Kuroko going crazy over Mikoto’s imaginary date with Touma made me wonder if she will see some action too. Antiskill getting totally overwhelmed, with even Yomikawa falling victim to Vento’s disabling spell means it is most serious Academy City crisis to date.
I really hope Mikoto-chan help Touma out, as they are the best pair. Btw, does Touma’s IB power up at all? I hope it does.
you dont realize how overpowered is his IB!
he can dispel any magic or psi-power, regardless of its strength, so basically IB is infinitely strong… or not working at all when there is nothing to dispel (hence lvl 0)
That is very funny.
Touma can dispel a powerful world-destroyer magic; but you can kill him with just a simple gun… luckily for Touma the villains try to use the former hahaha~
yeah if its like a burst of magic eg fireball or something but if the magic is continuous like a beam in s1 when index was in a trance especially if the magic used was high level IB would not last long
If you watched episode 24 of the last season you would know that Imagine Breaker is neither magic or esper power. So no, it is incapable of leveling up, it can only be wielded differently, if you catch my drift.
I don’t remember that being explicitly stated last season. In fact, if I hadn’t looked that fact myself I wouldn’t have gotten that at all from the end of last season. Where exactly did they say that at the end of last season?
Sorry my bad, what i really wanted to ask is that does Touma’s IB gonna be limited to forever his right hand only or it’s gonna be his whole body later on?
Of course, full body IB would be great, but severely overpowered. Therefore, never going to happen as the ToAru series tries to balance things out as much as possible.
Show Spoiler ▼
omgThis show wasn’t this suggestive before was it? D: He shot Nancy in the ribs with a SHOTGUN! WTF and AGAIN IN THE FACE! And as overkill he was going to COMPRESS HER!!!
Yo, Accelerator is the ish~!
I don’t know if this is just me but the entire episode was so high quality it felt like a short clip from a high end movie.
(i.e. Kara no Kyoukai)
GREATEST ARC EVER!!!
THERE IS SO MUCH THINGS GOING ON!!! DAMN Accelerator went freaking psycho. I mean he is but damn. Considering that he had killed sisters before I should have seen this coming. It was so sad too when the guy almost got away. LOL, but really dude you crazy
Having Touma fight Vento while this shit was going on makes it even better.
If you think about it, men are usually depicted suffering in hell or getting shot (or being eaten, if it is a hardcore manga/anime) in anime/manga. Most of it because the author is a male (female authors like Clamp tend to be ruthless with women) and they feel like “Beauty must remain untouched”, or something like that.
Accelerator was great. Nuff said there.
Vent coughing up blood. The timing was too quick I think as Hound Dogs must have found Last Order like immediately after she left.
Show Spoiler ▼
This is one sadisitic, crazy, and distorted episode.
errr.. ichigo?
kekekekekeke
Best episode so far
*One long gasp*
That’s what it felt like when I saw the ED song.. Can’t wait for next week.
This arc is probbaly the best I’ve seen so far.
Now this is getting good. Touma’s natural enemy has appeared. Normal humans with regular guns and bullets.
What i specially love about the current story progress is how they finally mix the magical and technological conflicts all together taking actions.
this episode had the best balance in dialogs and action so far.. hope most if not all action-episodes to come will be like this. because the only thing i hate about this anime is the sometimes overflowing dialogs. if a 3rd season would come, i hope they make this episode a good basis for the upcoming fight arcs.
I thought JC Staff did a good job with this episode, but what pisses me off is that they’re cramming in SS as an afterthought when they SHOULD have focused on making this arc the best they could as the finale of the season. This episode seriously felt a bit rushed. Also, was it REALLY necessary to have Kuroko in there ruining the serious mood?
The little things that I liked about this arc were cut out, including:
– The Hound Dogs not collapsing instantly when they aimed at Vento and the comment Vento made about Kihara’s true nature
– Touma being the one to ask Last Order to open the electric lock (and LO using her powers)
– the reason why Accelerator couldn’t use his powers was because of the strong electromagnetic interference in the building
– an in-depth look at Accelerator’s strategy to defeat the Hound Dogs even without his powers (crushing them both mentally and physically using fear)
– Nancy actually being crushed by the machine and Vera seeing Nancy’s ripped off jaw on the floor (yes, that’s right, I thought it wasn’t brutal enough)
– Vera’s realization that everyone in her unit ended up like Nancy and that the Hound Dogs had helped create a monster
– The REAL line that pushed Accelerator over the edge, which mentioned him being thrown into the cold experimental labs as a guinea pig for the scientists once more
– Accelerator evacuating the hospital and crushing the Hound Dogs who tried to attack there
The trailer at the start of the season lied to us too:
Show Spoiler ▼
Actually he should show up at the end of this arc.
@DIVINE: You know this actually is a suprise attack from the front from Vento of THE FRONT?Ok, that said, I didn’t feel enjoyable Kuroko’s scenes that just kills the tension.
This scene made me think “that is so Index! :D”: https://randomc.net/image/To%20Aru%20Majutsu%20no%20Index/To%20Aru%20Majutsu%20no%20Index%20II%20-%2020%20-%20Large%2005.jpg
It just is 😛
I know this is a liiiiittle bit off-topic but I was watching Pokemon Diamond & Pearl and wondered, Why is the art and animation so consistent? is it TV Tokyo or the Pokémon Franchise?
I wish for season III:
Proposed title: To Aru Majutsu no Index: World Wars
-The WWIII ArcShow Spoiler ▼
-This is where Touma gets GAR:Show Spoiler ▼
They should sooooooooooo make a new season.
Show Spoiler ▼
Those 2 are Ollerus an incomplete maijin (God of Magica) and Sylvia a saint like Kanzaki and Acqua. The former utterly crushed the 7th Level 5, who is stronger than Mikoto in raw power, as if he were a toy and the latter is his owner/master kind a tsundere for him.
Awesome, a proposed title they’ll never use.
Awesome fucking awesome episode I wish this anime was like this all the time but I had too skip last arc by how crappy it was, and now it kind of remind FMA:Brotherhood final quarter level of AWESOMENESS.
Magicians should carry a gun like secondary weapon seriously and WTF the Pope want Touma dead
If you skipped the story about the iceships the no wonder why you go WTF about the Pope wanting Touma dead.
And the moral of the story:
Never fuck with Accelerator
Let me clarify this, I mistook episode 24 of the first season with what I read in the novels. But basically the point is still there in the anime that the Imagine Breaker cannot be explained by esper powers alone.
In the novels, Hyouka herself states that Touma’s power is not an esper power since it does not release AIM, if it did it would have destroyed her since she is after all the manisfestation of all AIM fields. Meanwhile, Index Librorum Prohibitorum states in the same conversation that Touma’s power is not magic. So yeah.
Good lord, what a mess with so many battle fronts. Already we have:
1. Accelerator vs Hound Dog / Kihara
2. Touma vs Hound Dog
3. Vento vs Hound Dog
4. Vento vs Anti-Skill
5. Touma vs Vento
6. Accelerator vs Anti-Skill (unwittingly opened by Accelerator as he’s gone batshit insane over Last Order’s safety)
7. Tsuchimikado vs 2nd Catholic Church invader (yet to be revealed)
Still, this episode can be summed up with the following 2 rules:
Rule No. 1 of the Index-verse: You do not piss off Accelerator.
Rule No. 2: Do not violate Rule No. 1.
I nearly forget that even as a mini-clone of Mikoto, Last Order too possesses some of Mikoto’s electromagnetic powers, at least enough for her to hack open an electronically-locked door.
I’m guessing that it’s Vento that’s causing everyone to go unconscious as she approaches, but how is it that Uiharu falls asleep but Kuroko manages to stay awake? Is her hypnosis powers only limited to espers below a certain level within a certain proximity? (As the Frog-faced Doctor and Kikyou don’t seem to be affected, even though they aren’t espers)
No, Vento’s spell is not limited to espers below a certain level. I don’t think it’s even possible for a spell to do that specifically since the levels are just Academy City’s general way of classifying powers. There are certain conditions for fulfilling the requirements of her spell in order for it to take effect.
A scene that should have been shown (but wasn’t for some reason) is the Hound Dogs collapsing when they tried pointing weapons at her. That should give you a hint as to what the conditions are.
But that still doesn’t account for Aiho and Uiharu, when they’re not even near Vento; or for the people inside the cafe where Touma fought Vento have fainted, when they’ve hardly even seen Vento coming.
Aiho got the details about Vento as a intruder in the city.
Uiharu saw Vento on TV being portrayed as a intruder.
There is large screens everywhere on Academy City. Also the news gets spread very fast trough mobile cellphones on Academy City.
Curious if there is some kind of twist as to why Kihara, Last Order and Touma resist Vento.
OK, that clears up a bit. Yet STILL, there’s the question of why Kuroko remains standing when Uiharu has fallen asleep, even when both were watching the same TV screen and saw Vento on it.
Touma’s resistance is of course due to his haxx0r right arm, which cancels everything magic or esper.
Aleister, as an ex-magician, may have some counter-spell himself when speaking to Vento over the walkie-talkie last episode. (It’s THE Aleister Crowley we’re talking about, after all. )
That leaves Kihara, Kuroko and Last Order who have seen Vento and yet are not affected by her spell.
Actually it was going to explain why Kihara didn’t fall but since it was done a bit differently…..though to add to it you have to
1. Know her personally.
2. Have hostile feelings towards her. In the animes case kihara wasn’t supposed to have either.
This is what happened.
“Even so, you did say ‘Kill her’ with no change in expression? **There was no hostility even with the intention to kill**. To begin with, you didn’t even hold any guilty feelings because you didn’t think of the enemy as an enemy. I wonder if it’s not different from pulling out weeds? I said it when first I saw you and I say it now: you really are rotten to the core. At least the same as with me.”
What is this an action movie?!?!?!?!