First Impressions / To Aru Majutsu no Index

「天草式」 (Amakusa-shiki)
“The Amakusa Style”

Whew, very fast pacing this episode, a bit rare for Index. Then again, season 2 has felt far faster (and better) paced than season 1, where nearly ten minutes of an episode was dedicated to Touma on the phone once. In hindsight, that is to be expected since the earlier novels had a very heavy focus on explanations and setting up the world, whereas from volume 7 onwards there is a lot more action and somewhat less exposition. In my opinion, the pacing was spot on for this episode, going from Touma, Index, and Stiyl cooperating with the Roman Catholic Church to set up a trap for the Amakusa Catholics, to the revelation that the real enemy of this arc is the RCC itself. I doubt many people were expecting this twist, with the Roman Catholics actually being the ones after Orsola, but when you think about it, it actually makes perfect sense. As Tatemiya Saiji (Toriumi Kousuke) stated, “Why would the largest Christian sect want to destroy the world ruled by Christians”? Naturally, they would try to kill the hypotenuse that could lead to the destruction of the Christian world. On the same token, I’m certain many people weren’t expecting the Amakusas’ true objective to be regaining Kanzaki’s respect, rather than seeking vengeance on her for leaving them. While some may think it was cruel for Kanzaki to leave the Amakusa, one must consider how hard it was on her, not being able to protect those under her and watching them die constantly; it’s understandable that she would step down as Lady Pontiff of the Amakusa. On a side note, Kanzaki looks lovely in a kimono. <3

As for the RCC, despite the their paranoia, Orsola’s true objective in learning how to read the Liber Al vel Legis is to destroy it, with the reasoning that the only way to destroy a grimoire, an object which brings nothing but pain and sorrow, is to understand it first. Surely a noble goal, but despite all the knowledge Orsola has supposedly gained, it obviously didn’t help in understanding the anatomy of a male, with her nearly giving Touma a moe heart attack when she asked him to put the necklace he received from Stiyl on her personally. A dangerous sister-san indeed. Speaking of dangerous sister-sans, we were finally formally introduced to the two prominent nuns that we caught a glimpse of last episode, Sister Angelene (Katakoka Azusa) and Sister Lucia (Ise Mariya). While Lucia appears to be a calm little nun, she’s actually very Yangire for people outside of the RCC, as shown when Touma merely patted her shoulder. Thanks to that though, we got a glimpse of Angelene and Lucia using their abilities. The anime rightfully skipped the lengthy explanations of the magic behind Angelene and Lucia’s abilities, but I’m here to fill in the blanks. Lucia’s magic is based on the legend of Catherine of Alexandria, a Pagan who converted to Christianity. In the past, many saints were executed due to their beliefs in Christianity, and in the many stories and art works depicting these executions, a spiked wheel can be seen behind the bodies of fallen saints. In many of these stories, the spiked wheels have been written to explode when touched by a saint, and when St. Catherine is executed the wheel which exploded killed all of the observers of her execution. As such, her principle symbol became the Spiked Wheel, and is now known as the Catherine Wheel. As we saw in this episode, when Lucia activates her spell, her spiked wheel explodes into many pieces that injure her opponent. As for Angelene, her magic is based on the Apostle Matthew as a tax collector. When infused with angelic power, the bags Angelene carries around her waist gain the ability to lock onto Angelene’s opponents and manifest a glow that represents the four elements of Water, Fire, Wind, and Earth. However, as Angelene is not an expert magician, her method of performing the spell is crude, which allows Index to easily intefere with the spell using “Spell Intercept”.

Magical explanations aside, the fights themselves this episode were relatively well done. One of the charms of Index is that it’s not a show that basis its fights around who has the biggest laser, but rather what’s the best strategy to beat the overpowered magicians that appear before Touma. In front of his right hand, all supernatural abilities are useless, so it makes for very interesting battles. Admittedly, much of the strategic thinking is lost in the translation from novel to anime (half of the strategy explanation comes from Touma’s head) but the anime did a good job of retaining the quick thinking feel of the scene between Stiyl, Touma, and Saiji. This certainly wasn’t the most well animated fight scene in the series, but the episode didn’t call for a big budget and the scene still came out looking okay for the most part. That said, this episode only gave us a small taste of Touma’s Falcon Punch, and I’m looking forward to seeing it’s glorious return in anime form when Touma certainly destroys the RCC’s screwed up illusion.

 

Preview

*Note: This episode covers Volume 7 Chapter 2 Part 5 to Chapter 3 Part 1 of the light novels (pages 135-216).
**Note: I said last episode covered around the first 169 pages of vol 7; I was off about 34 pages. ┐(￣ー￣)┌

42 Comments

  4. Wild numberfag appears!!

    >Throw Pokeball
    >Spray with Lysol
    >Escape
    >Facepalm

    >Chooses Facepalm!

    on topic, I too was caught off guard and was surprised at the RCC’s actions. Even after all the explanation that one guy did, I still don’t fully trust him either. After watching this episode I felt like I was part evil because I’m catholic myself lol. Since this season is more fast paced I felt like it was a short episode. Maybe the RCC aren’t the bad guys and they are just being ordered around by a higher power, and no I don’t mean god.

    exia
    Reply

    1. Show Spoiler ▼

      Suzuku
      Reply

      1. Thanks for replying. And man, that’s a hella lot of content to cover still, which makes me wonder if it’d be one of those never-ending-shounen shows, with the difference of him not powering-up at all. I’ll be looking forward for more posts! Thanks again!

        Kyzel
        Reply

    1. Heh, hey Teh_Ping, didn’t know you read RC. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how to fit that in the post, so I decided to leave that out for now. I also thought the anime did an alright job explaining the basics behind the Amakusas’ magic last episode, although I can see how it would have gone over people’s heads easily if they weren’t paying attention. I might mention it in the next post if the anime doesn’t go into a deeper explanation of the Amakusas’ magic this week.

      Suzuku
      Reply

    2. Teh_Ping!! As always, thank you so very much for translating a lot of the novels on baka-tsuki so that more fans can read and enjoy them. Will you be posting on RC’s Index II posts frequently or is this just a stop by to say hi?

      I also was unsatisfied with the lack of explanations, but if J. C. Staff included those, then people would complain once more about how there’s too much dialogue and exposition and there wouldn’t be enough time to fit everything. I also didn’t like the animation this episode, but I suppose I’m glad that they know to conserve the budget for the more epic fights.

      Suzushina Yuriko
      Reply

  15. Wow, I hope Index keeps up the narrative pace. Outside of the arcs with Misaka there wasn’t much to hold onto for the first season of Index. Then again the quality of Index seems inversely proportional to the amount of preaching by Touma. 0% preaching = 100% fun!

    synkronized
    Reply

  17. A bit confused as to why Index ran towards Touma asking him to slow down when he first charged towards Tatemiya. What trick from Tatemiya was she trying to warn Touma about?

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

    1. She was trying to tell him that Tatemiya’s attacks were not magic, but rather enhanced normal attacks through the use of symbols. It’s like Kanzaki’s Nanasen from episode 4 of season 1; rather than actually being magic, it was a normal attack that had been enhanced through the usage of symbols represented in their clothing, which is why Touma’s Imagine Breaker couldn’t cancel Nanasen. This is also why Kanzaki and Saiji dress the way they (Saiji’s slanted cross on his shirt, his baggy pants, untied shoelaces, etc), it’s a reference to ancient Christian symbols through the use of modern accessories. This bit was explained by Index somewhat last episode, but I can see how it easily flew over people’s heads.

      Suzuku
      Reply

  19. Oh man, this show is so awesome.
    Kanzaki looks so cool:
    https://randomc.net/image/To%20Aru%20Majutsu%20no%20Index/To%20Aru%20Majutsu%20no%20Index%20II%20-%2003%20-%2030.jpg
    The attacks of Sister Angelene and Sister Lucia weren’t bad as well:
    https://randomc.net/image/To%20Aru%20Majutsu%20no%20Index/To%20Aru%20Majutsu%20no%20Index%20II%20-%2003%20-%2032.jpg
    But the ultimate attack was ofcourse from Index:
    https://randomc.net/image/To%20Aru%20Majutsu%20no%20Index/To%20Aru%20Majutsu%20no%20Index%20II%20-%2003%20-%2027.jpg

    1Lau
    Reply

  22. go index, despite she didnt do much in s1. Catherine Wheel is also called breaking wheel. I think i realize that S1 was just giving some terms since others cant understand. Great job. I didnt expect Kanzaki to wear kimono while using katana.

    Croosboy シ
    Reply

  24. Concerning the fast pace of the series. I think the pace issue of “To Aru ..” was fixed since “Railgun Anime”. “Index I” was great, but the 10-15 minutes of discussion between Touma and others made it a heavy task for the series fans to hold and watch.

    I remember once Railgun was released, I showed a relative of mine the first episode of Railgun vs. the episode of “Index I” when Touma fought Kanzaki. In “Index I”, Touma kept talking and fighting Kanzaki for about 14 minutes, with no single switch of scenes. In Railgun, we saw 5-6 scenes in 10 minutes, each scene involving different characters.

    Anime fans like me don’t ask for much action, though much appreciated. It’s just that I see these wonderful and lovely characters, and I want them to interact and express themselves more. I like morale lectures, as long as they are expressed in few seconds, not in 5-10 minutes.

    All in all, very glad that “To Aru …” producers addressed this issue, and now we see “Index II” exciting as it is. Finishing episode 2, I couldn’t wait for 3 to come, and finishing 3, just can’t wait for 4.

    vladrin
    Reply

  27. Um… What’s up guys? I just want ask where can I find the Latest Volumes for To Aru Majutsu no Index, Online?(The upcoming story about Second Season). I tried different online manga sites and all they have is the volumes for first season.

    Needless
    Reply

  29. Index herself seems a lot more useful this season, giving out explanations and acting as a sort of expert in the field of magic- which is a good thing. I loved the music in this ep. very energentic, set the mood well.

    Science
    Reply

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