First Impressions / To Aru Majutsu no Index

“The Right Seat of God”


「神の右席」 (Kami no Useki)

Qui verus papam?

Not long after returning to Academy City, we’ve made an instant departure, straying into the unfamiliar French territory of Avignon, where the next piece of our puzzle can be found. Many of us might have been wondering, what relevance does Avignon have in regards to the Roman Catholic Church? After all, that’s hardly close to the Vatican now, isn’t it? Fortunately, Tsuchimikaido gives us a quick history lesson, shedding light on the significance on Avignon. And a sinister conjecture becomes apparent, wherein Avignon could serve as a location where the Documents of C might be used to exert control over the European populace. Going back to the 14th Century, the French King at the time kidnapped the Pope after a series of disputes, and imprisoned him in Avignon. Subsequent French kings went on to set up seven successive popes between 1309 to 1376 in the dominion of Avignon, before a religious Council declared this lineage to be invalid. Though Rome is accepted to be the pope’s dominion by and large, this minor technicality is what allows the Right Hand of God to enact the next part of their scheme in waging holy war on Academy City.

I absolutely love the way that the authour seamlessly ties in actual history with the world-building behind the Raildex universe. The foundations of Raildex are very much rooted in our reality, providing structure and authenticity. And that’s not to say that it makes the series more realistic. But it reinforces this suspension of disbelief that in a parallel universe where magic and espers existed on a widescale, these events that are playing out could very much be a thing.

To the Left of God’s Right Seat

Touma experiences a rough arrival and almost drowns if not for the timely intervention of Itsuwa, who rescues him out of the river and rather conveniently is forced to dress in skimpier attire. Let me just say this. More Itsuwa can never ever be bad, and the Church of Amakusa certainly have some fine ladies! Anyway, after avoiding anti-Academy City mobs on the way, they figure out that they need to infiltrate and disable key leyline points across the city. How? By using the Church of Amakusa’s ritual to deactivate the magical terminal linking Avignon to the Vatican. Where does Touma fit into this equation? Well… turns out he’s not essential to the outcome of preventing this occurrence. The Document of C itself is heavily guarded, not to mention his Imagine Breaker might be a liability, since he could bring the whole place collapsing down. So Tsuchimikaido requests that Itsuwa go at it with her own speciality spells. But once an unforeseen interruption takes place, our question is answered. Touma fits into this equation by doing what he’s best at doing, punching the lights out of villains. On this occasion, Terra of God’s Right Seat confronts these meddling kids. He looks pretty creepy and gives me vibes not dissimilar to Caster from Fate/Zero, which likely doesn’t bode well. I can also vaguely recall from Index II that these folks have a connection to an archangel and are capable of using incredible spells, meaning that this battle will be extremely difficult. And following a brief skirmish, we arrive at an impasse. Touma cannot make any advances against Terra whilst simultaneously protecting Itsuwa, yet Terra cannot get through Imagine Breaker’s magic nullification.

Concluding Thoughts

While the pacing stumbled a bit mid-episode, where I felt they could have dwelt less on the anti-Academy City mobs, this episode did a fantastic job of laying down the groundwork for our upcoming arc. High stakes are properly established. If the Roman Catholic Church possess a document that can alter truth to fit a specific narrative, no doubt the kind of magical power any politician would want, this could be seriously bad news for Academy City. When push comes to shove, I’m expecting the power of friendship to triumph but you can never be so sure. So I wonder, who will come out ahead, and what implications will it have on the mission to stop the Documents of C from nefariously interfering with global politics? On a side note, it looks like Accelerator will be returning in the next episode. Exciting times lie ahead! Anyway, that’s about everything I wanted to discuss. Thank you very much for reading my post and look forwards to seeing y’all next week!

Preview

34 Comments

  1. Can’t belive I waited almost a decade to enjoy this once again. Itsuwa is a nice adition for interacting with Touma, Mikoto and Index are gold but I sure love a little variety for the fun.

    haseo0408
    Reply

    1. Not likely I’m afraid. Slime and Thunderbolt Fantasy come out on Monday, and the rest of the week I have assignments to do and lectures to attend. Index comes out on Friday, which is actually pretty perfect for my schedule. I am still really really enjoying Slime Tensei, but unfortunately, time is a limited resource for me.

      Zaiden
      Reply

  4. Explaining the C-Document:

    Show Spoiler ▼

    1993espada
    Reply

  5. I am sorry, but seems like you need to know more of this Anime past to understand all of this. I was once drawn into this world because of the “artificial twins” and Railgun Girl, but the other Worlds inside this Anime are an book of 7 seals for me. Right seat of God…

    Like i said, perhaps i need to know the previous animes to understand and not feeling out of the loop

    So, i wish this anime all the best, but i could not follow the storyline

    Worldwidedepp
    Reply

    1. Yeah To Aru is something were you need to pay attaintion to the details sometime and cannot simply skip something. Like there is something that was introduced in the 12th or 13th LN Volume and that made an appearance in one of the newer Volumes and the release time inbetween those Volumes is 11 years …

      But I still like the worldbuilding in To Aru.

      1993espada
      Reply

  6. Why is it that Itsuwa only get 1 or a couple episode of lime light per season? Clearly her interaction with Touma is important enough like that of Misaka’s that she should get more screen time and not less. Here is to Itsuwa playing a bigger role in this season.

    This “Document of C” (very suspicious) can’t be SO powerful that it trumps the bible…I will laugh if it’s nothing more than a dirty piece of toilet paper. Congrats the masses were motivated by something God wiped his ass with.

    https://randomc.net/image/To%20Aru%20Majutsu%20no%20Index/To%20Aru%20Majutsu%20no%20Index%20III%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2011.jpg

    RenaSayers
    Reply

    1. Itsuwa is awesome. But I think Misaka’s relevance is that she’s The Railgun, the third most powerful esper in Academy City. That bears a lot more significance and weight than some side chick from the Church of Amakusa, so I doubt that she’ll surpass Misaka’s role in the overall story.

      I take it there has to be a crippling restriction to the Document of C, otherwise the world would be a utopia designed for the Roman Catholic Church. We’ll see what the limitations are soon enough, I reckon.

      Zaiden
      Reply

      1. I don’t think we will get the limitations of the C-Document, because in the LN Itsuwa explained the limitations in the restaurant and not only with “it probably has some limitations” like it was in the Anime.

        My post with the spoiler tag explains some limitation of it, and why they “cannot” create that utopia.

        1993espada
        Reply

  8. https://randomc.net/image/To%20Aru%20Majutsu%20no%20Index/To%20Aru%20Majutsu%20no%20Index%20III%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2010.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/To%20Aru%20Majutsu%20no%20Index/To%20Aru%20Majutsu%20no%20Index%20III%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2011.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/To%20Aru%20Majutsu%20no%20Index/To%20Aru%20Majutsu%20no%20Index%20III%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2026.jpg
    Itsuwa! ~<3

    Even though I loved Ai Kayano's other roles as Girls und Panzer‘s Saori Takebe, Kantai Collection‘s Kashima & Katori, SaeKano‘s Utaha Kasumigaoka, and KonoSuba‘s Darkness (a.k.a.: Lalatina *stifled giggling*), it’s good to hear her voicing her star-making role once again.

    That being said, I can’t help but want to compare the Document(s) of C to the spread and use of “fake news” outlets–which usually serves to rile up people to push a (questionable) political agenda. (Damn, I must be getting really cynical to associate or compare a fictional MacGuffin with something from the real world…)

    Incognito
    Reply

    1. Interestingly enough, I was vaguely hinting at political associations and a certain individual had sprung to my mind before I edited out prior to publication. After certain comments on certain posts in the past, I’ve tried to avoid making my writing too political. I’m just trying to dissect anime, and throwing in political jibes could detract from my overall attempts at evaluating the substantive content of a series.

      But yeah, for the record, that remark that any politician would want a truth-altering power was entirely meant for one infamous person XD

      Zaiden
      Reply

      1. Ah, I think I have an idea of who that “infamous person” is… (Say no more.) Though to be fair, every politician, world leader, and even corrupt corporate executives would LOVE to gain such a truth-altering power for themselves.

        Incognito
        Reply

  9. I said it before it last week’s post but it begs repeating:Am i the only one who’s noticed that the visuals for this season aren’t as polished as other raildex seasons that have come before it? Storyboards and scene compositions are kinda bland; not to mention the more noticeable instances where the art isn’t always up to snuff. For a season we’ve been waiting 7 years for its grand return, I’m a bit disappointed with how little to no improvement has been made in its visual fidelity. As a matter of fact, the show seems to have experienced a slight downgrade instead. Railgun S was from 2013 and is still by far the best any raildex series has looked visually (also the best raildex season period) and that shit was consistent throughout its 24 ep run. The visual differences between any other season of raildex and railgun S is instantly recognizable and i’m unpleasantly surprised to see that Index III has made no qualms about trying to top that season from 5 years ago after such a long wait. Come on J.C Staff; you can do better, clearly. Sigh, sure am glad season 3 of railgun is on the way really soon. With Nagai returning, I’m sure we’re in for quite the treat

    sonicsenryaku
    Reply

    1. I was wondering if nostalgia goggles were making Railgun S look better, but you’re right. Index III looks slightly worse. It seems to be a trend where animation today looks technically greater than animation of old. Yet modern animation lacks so much of the life and passion that used to feature in the old stuff, and I’m not surprised. It’s hard to be in love with your work and produce quality content, when you’re being worked half to death for sparse remuneration – and this issue has only continued to worsen as the years go on.

      And that is the reality of today’s anime industry. Go back 20 years and only 10-12 shows were made every season. For the most part, quantity is held higher than quality in today’s industry. The business model of making tons of stuff on the cheap, before invariably getting an extremely popular hit is far too tempting of a prospect for studios these days. That said, you could say that the forces behind Index III are trying to move away from such a trend. All I can say is that it will take time to get the absolutely desired results and that we should try trusting in the process.

      Zaiden
      Reply

      1. Absolutely dude; and its a shame that the anime industry’s climate forces such quality decline. And yea, one of obvious signs of railgun S’s stronger production values could be seen in the increase of sakuga moments, character animations, visual effects, and sharper character designs (look at how Mikoto animates in railgun S versus other raildex seasons). To be honest, i figured index III would not look as good the moment the promos for it released; everything looked a bit more static and less dynamic. Hell, as inconsistent as Index II was visually, even its first ep looked better than index III. AND WHAT THE HELL DID THEY DO TO TOUMA’S IMAGINE BREAKER CANCELLING SOUND??!! IT SOUNDS LIKE CRAP; WHAT’S WITH THIS TERRIBLY DISTORTED SONICBOOM-LIKE CACOPHONY??!! Again, I don’t to make it sound like im jerking railgun S off or anything (hell, don’t care either way) but Touma’s imagine breaker negation was the best its ever sounded in that season. It was well-mixed and constructed, with the nice addition of a glass shattering sound accompanying the high-pitched boom characteristic of his imagine breaker. Sigh; but ill be positive and hope things get better with this season. We’re about to get into volume 15 which has some pretty big things happen so let’s see how it’s all handled.

        sonicsenryaku
        Reply

      1. I’ve always felt like ranking girls from magic and science separately but otherwise I think I’d be in favor of Misaki as top girl followed by another blonde from the magic side.

        erohakase
        Reply

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