Review of A Certain Magical Index

When I first heard of this anime back in 2008, I had never even heard of the To Aru franchise. However, based on the fact that it was being animated by JC Staff (and back then I had just finished watching another JC Staff production, Shakugan no Shana), I figured that giving To Aru Majutsu no Index a shot couldn’t hurt. Based on how the preview videos gave Index a more supernatural-type setting to it, I was actually pretty excited for this show. Objectively speaking, this show has a mix of some great moments and an overall well thought out plot, mixed in with somemediocre characters and other minor annoyances.

What makes Index a unique series is it’s setting. To Aru Majutsu no Index’s imaginative ideas where there are science-based espers naturally born with powers, alongside magicians which have inhabited the world for centuries, are executed extremely well. Everything regarding both magic and science, with regards to specific rules, ceremonies, and limitations that reign over each, was thought through with a lot of detail and specificity. All the detail with regards to both magic and science really helps make the setting, filled with superpowers and all, much more believable and realistic. I should note that the “science” in this show is definitely unrealistic, but nothing that a little suspension of disbelief can’t solve.

The author for the original source material, a light novel series by the same name, obviously thought everything through, or at least didn’t try to half-ass it, with regards to both the magicians and espers. I mean, when they start referencing things such as Schrodinger’s cat, or a system governing the rules of magic, it’s quite obvious that the original author at least attempted to do some research and incorporate it in his work, and his hard work all really shows in the actual series. He pretty much made his own fictional world with it’s own rules, similar to how the authors Kinoko Nasu or Yashichiro Takahashi did the same with their respective series.

This unique setting is really the foundation for all the scenarios and character development in this show. The intermingling of magic and science really produces some unexpectedly tense and serious situations and character backstories, ranging from the Misaka sister’s existence to the Angel Fall incident, and even the church politics with regards to Index’s 103,000 magical grimoires inside her head. This show really knows how to produce a really intense atmosphere, with the climaxes to a good chunk of the arcs in this show both exhilarating and fun to watch.

That being said, there are a few arcs that I personally thought were weak, and pretty pointless. Mainly, the Deep Blood and Imaginary Numbers arcs I felt were a little on the weak side. The main conflicts felt a little forced, and sometimes I found the characters acting…well… out of character. Besides my minor gripes with the plot though, the story was actually pretty good.

My main issue with this series is definitely the characters to this show. There are some characters that I found absolutely charming, and really really fun to watch, such as Misaka Mikoto and Index. However, that doesn’t really solve the issue where a good portion of the main cast was underdeveloped. Because of the large amount of characters in this series, a bunch of them had little to no screentime for much development. Another big issue here would be our main protagonist, Kamijou Touma. His over the top idealistic actions were, at some points, borderline absurd, and had me shaking my head.

Not to mention, there is a curious little fault to this show as a result of it being a light novel adaptation. Because a light novel is text-based, it’s fine if the novel goes into a lot of dialogue heavy detail about the situations unfolding. Doing the same in an anime adaptation, however, is definitely less plausible. Because JC staff left much of the dialogue in tact, the result was that this show was at many times had too much exposition and detail that defused some of the tension built up in a previous scene.

The first thing that comes to mind is Touma’s extremely long, dialogue heavy scenes, which often times could have been condensed much more. If JC staff focused a bit less on the exposition and more on the actual story, I think this show could have been even better.

This show definitely has some great animation and action scenes, with JC Staff’s experience with animating shows like Zero no Tsukaima and Shakugan no Shana really showing. Rather than the action being composed of random people brawling it out, in this series the battles get quite tactical and really forces our main characters to plan and actually do things more carefully.

Overall, To Aru Majutsu no Index is a well done anime with some great visuals, intense action scenes, a intriguing setting and plot, as well as some charming characters. There is room for improvement, especially with a select few characters of this series and parts of the plot, but those could be ignored pretty easily. For those that would prefer a more light-hearted, slice of life type anime, they should go watch the counterpart to this show To Aru Kagaku no Railgun.

Production Quality: 9.0/10

Characters: 7.5/10

Story/Setting: 8.5/10

Overall Score: 8.3/10 (rounded down to a 8 on MAL)

comments, feedback,and most importantly criticisms, are always welcome. :)