To Majutsu Aru no Index ep.01

October 7, 2008 | 5 Comments

OP Theme: 「PSI-missing」 by Mami Kawada - AVI version

I apologize that there's little to no update on the blog lately. Unfortunately real-life gets in the way of blogging once again. I'm starting to feel guilty as well because I haven't finished/completed several series from previous season and I think I should go and finish those before I commit to other new series. But as I promised, I'll preview some of them and this is one that I managed to write so far. A gaijin loli nun is being hunted by mysterious organization and ends up hanging over a young boy's balcony. That pretty much sums up the first episode. And oh, the boy in question is being chased around by another girl who likes to electrocute him. Speaking of gaijin, how does an anime character tell if another character is Japanese or not. After all, they all have strange and exotic hair color (ranging from grey to dark red). Surely there's nothing about Index that is more gaijin than Mikoto apart from her name.

Kamijou Touma is one hell of unlucky sap. He entered a coffee shop seeing a girl being hassled by a boy. Thinking that he should do something about it, he decided to confront the guy, only to find that the guy's gang is right behind him. As a result, he ends up being chased around by the gang that night. If that's not bad enough, the girl that he 'saved' turns out to be Misaka Mikoto, a very proficient Level-5 supernatural user capable of wielding lightning at her opponents. She easily got rid of the gang using the power and now intends on using the same power on Touma despite his protestation that he's just a Level 0. Much to Mikoto's surprise, Touma does not get hurt despite her channeling her most powerful lightning at him. Touma's unlucky self, however, continues to torture the poor guy. The next day, he finds that his room is hot (he thinks it's because of last night's electric fight), his Yakisoba pan already smelly, and to top it off, he finds a gaijin loli nun hanging on his balcony. Gaijin loli nun™ tells Touma that she's hungry so naughty Touma thinking of giving her his smelly Yakisoba pan. Eventually, however, he feels sorry for her that he gives her a bowl of salad using leftover ingredients from his fridge.

The girl introduces herself as Index, which Touma is not convinced of because that sounds like a nickname. Index insists that she's from vatican and that she's being chased by people because she's holding 103,000 volumes of magic books. Touma claims that he doesn't believe in magic, which weirded out Index because he believes in supernatural abilities. In response, Index looks like she's going to burst into laugh when Touma explains that his right hand has strange ability that negates any power be it electricity or rail gun. Since neither of them believe in each other's power, Index suggests that Touma uses a knife to stab her body but Touma decides to use his right hand on her robe instead. Uh oh, this won't end well. True enough, her robe is ripped apart into pieces, rendering Index nekkid. Later on, Touma realizes that he must go to school so he runs off, only to trip over and steps on his own mobile phone. He complains about his bad luck, prompting Index to suggest that maybe his right hand slowly usurps his luck. Despite this, Touma thinks that it's dangerous for Index to go out on her own. In response, Index wonders if he'll follow her to the depth of Hell before smiling and running off on her own.

Eventually, Touma runs off to the school, or Academy City, a city for students. Population: 2.3 million. As it turns out, Touma's homeroom teacher is a little loli called Tsukiyomi Komoe. Loli teacher is one aspect of anime series that must be stopped. It's just ridiculous even in a series about magic and supernatural abilities. And it's kind of icky to see teens fawning over loli teacher like her. After class, Touma meets with "electric shock" girl aka Mikoto. Mikoto wants a rematch from yesterday's battle, pissing off Touma, because his electrical appliances went haywire after yesterday battle. He tells the girl that she can assume that she won the battle and proceeds to leave her, not feeling amused that he saw a magical nun in the morning and an electric girl in the afternoon. When Touma gets back to his home, he's surprised to see 3 robot cleaner in front of his apartment. His surprise turns into smile upon seeing Index being wedged in between the robots, thinking that she's just sleeping. However, upon getting closer to her, he finds out that she's actually bleeding. Touma starts to panic and wonders who injured her when a red-hair mage appears behind him.

Impression

The Characters

The characters are probably the most entertaining part of the series. Their design is good and their characterization is entertaining. I did wish that both Index and the loli teacher are not loli. It kind of breaks the coolness of the series because everyone else are at least teens. Also, for some reason, Touma and Mikoto have better chemistry than Touma and Index. Although on a hindsight, if Touma and Index have chemistry, that'd be wrong! She's a nun, for crying outloud. Although IIRC, that never stops anime from shipping two characters. If I have to compare, Index reminds me of Lime from Saber Marionette J series while Mikoto reminds me of Mai from Mai Hime except that she has better attitude, better personality, and is not saddled with an annoying brother. And as far as lead character goes, Touma is really interesting. I can identify with him with feeling unlucky from time to time although his level of unlucky is seriously mind-blowing.

The animation

I am actually not that impressed by it. I guess the characters move smoothly but there are times when I dislike the color palette chosen by the animators. But then again, the bulk of fight is not until next week's episode so it'll be a while before I get to see what the animation is really like.

The Story

The storyline is not compelling yet at the moment but I can see the potential. I want to know the real reason why Index is being hunted and if she has any kind of background relation as to why Touma has his power. Touma's background story itself could be interesting. I'm also glad that Mikoto will be an interesting character with her abundance of power. I see some potential for other supporting characters, especially that girl with Katana.

The Music

I don't think the music was anything impressive. The opening and ending were okay but they're not the kind of music I'll listen to over and over again.

ED Theme: 「Rimless~フチナシノセカイ~」 by IKU - AVI version

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