To Aru Majutsu no Index

Synopsis:

Academy City, a city west of Tokyo that is made up mostly of schools and institutions that consists of mainly students, as the name suggests. But, the unique thing about this place is that it's only inhabitants are magic users, psychics, and espers... well, just about anyone with supernatural powers. But Academy City is not without it's share of "normal people" also, one of which is Toma Kamijo, who apparently has nothing special about him... except for his constant string of bad luck that accompanies the ability to negate any magic whatsoever with his right arm with nothing more than a mere touch. For him, if something can go wrong... it will. So it comes as no surprise to him when he finds a young girl who introduces herself as Index, or rather Index Librorum Prohibitorum, hanging from his balcony railing exhausted and hungry who does nothing more than bite him mistaking his hand of assistance for a meal. Toma takes her into his dorm room and offers her a meal which she gratefully accepts and explains, while eating, that she is a young nun from Necessarius... the Church of Necessary Evil which is a branch of the Church of England. Index also goes on to tell Toma that her mind contains the very library of the church and it's 103,000 grimoires of knowledge that other opposing forces seek to obtain. Not wanting to involve Toma any further, Index thanks him for the hospitality and leaves just as mysteriously as she arrived but only to show up the next day at his doorstep in a bloody nearly unconscious mess unable to explain what happened to her. Toma then decides to help this strange girl, who has decided to make him part of her life, recover and also oppose the anyone who would bring her harm by taking them on by himself no matter what the cost. For once, Toma's bad luck is about to work for him instead of against him.


Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 24


Review:

Unlike the title of the series would imply, To Aru Majutsu no Index doesn't always focus on Index all the time nor is she the predominant character of the series even if she is undeniably cute and brightens any situation just with her presence. Instead, this series takes it's time to point your attention to everyone in the show and dedicates one or two episodes to that one specific person. This is how To Aru Majutsu no Index manages to separate itself from most anime of the action/fantasy genre. Along with this different style of characterization, the strange and curious city upon where everyone resides is also a mystery in itself with almost everyone having some sort of strange power or the different religious factions that are present but, overall, how all of this is regulated in the large metropolis known as Academy City. I found myself not only interested in how everyone's presence is reflected differently but also wanting to know more about the city itself. This is kind of rare for me because my main focus tends to be how the main plot coincides with the characters themselves but it's a rare occasion when the mystery of the geographical location itself also mixes into the overall picture. Not only are we getting an in depth look at all of our protagonists but also a few of the shows antagonists as well showing another side to them that wasn't present upon their first appearance and thus showing you that it is possible to balance out an intriguing plot along with heavy character presentation making for one seemingly complicated anime that really isn't all that hard to follow if you just listen (or in my case, read) what everyone is saying.

Action and magic mixed in with a little science fiction and a hint of mystery makes for one enjoyable anime that's not afraid to try point the audiences focus on more than just on the main characters that reside in the strange metropolis of the future. But, when you look at the overall scope of things you can see how everyone is somehow connected to our main hero, Toma, and this is all done in a subtle yet amazing fashion. Put this type of presentation with great looking animation it only heightens the overall affect it has on the viewer to press on through the episodes to the point where you'll almost be saddened when the last set of credits roll.

To Aru Majutsu no Index (opening)

Recommendation: |High|