Review of A Certain Magical Index
Toaru Majutsu no Index is an action anime blending together the worlds of fantasy and science fiction, and is set in Academy City, a city full of espers. The story revolves around Kamijyo Touma, a high schooler who suffers from misfortune due to his right arm, which can dispel any kind of magic or supernatural anomaly. The story is split into different chapters, each of which involve Touma beating the crap out of someone with his Imagine Breaker. Don't let Index's name in the title fool you, the story only revolves around her in the first chapter, while she becomes somewhat of a background characterin the other ones. The stories by themselves are exceptionally well-done and enjoyable, but when they're tied together, the overall story is somewhat lacking. It appeared that a certain person in a certain tube was behind everything and had a big evil plan, but it felt like the anime got cut off before it went into specifics.
The artwork is decent, but nothing special. It is exactly what you would expect from J.C. Staff. There are times when the animation exceeds expectations, like in the Innocentius fight, but there are also times when the quality drops, like Kuroko in the 2nd opening.
The openings are very fresh since they break away from the anime pop norms by using edgy techno with distorted animation. They are very fast-paced and get you excited for the episode, and fit very well with the theme of the anime. If nothing else, the openings just scream "This anime is going to be badass."
Characters have little time to develop, since it seems that each character shows up as a main character/villain for one chapter, then make minor character appearances in the other chapters. Also, Touma preaches a lot to pretty much every bad guy he meets, but it didn't bother me much since those types of main characters are extremely common.
The anime is enjoyable at times, but there are certain moments where it will get a little boring. The ending is by far the least enjoyable, due to things being left unexplained and a rushed attempt at a wrap up.