Review of A Certain Magical Index
The original one punch man… Touma… maybe two or three punches. This review will be about the series as a whole, including Railgun, but the rating I officially give will only be for this show. I do not think the title of this show fits with this series. If I were to name this show myself, it would be called A Certain Link, Imagine Breaker. My reasoning behind this is that Touma the main character isn’t really part of the magical world. In this show he is seen as a link between science and magic. A Certain Scientific Railgun title would be fineas it is and a new series with the rightful title of A Certain Magical Index should have Index as the main character with the setting taking place at the different churches before she met Touma.
The Watch Order I Recommend: Index, Railgun, Index II, Index Movie, Railgun S
Story: 7/10 (6/10 for Index specifically)
The Index series at first glance seems like a mess since the first season has so many arcs and the timelines are all mixed up in other seasons but it gets better with certain seasons, which have longer and more developed arcs appearing. I believe the reason for this was to introduce all the important characters in the first season of Index, then handle plot progression in the other seasons.
The Railgun series was definitely superior to Index in terms of story. A lot of the progression was very smooth and well-paced with only 2-3 arcs per season while Index had up to 6 arcs which made events feel very isolated from each other. The Railgun arcs were more interesting in general as well. But it doesn’t have the serious or intense tone that Index has until Railgun S which I think had the darkest arc in this series.
Academy City is one of the good points of this show that kept me watching. The world of science had many well-created principles there are based on real concepts like quantum theory which is really cool. There was so much attention to detail and lore that was put into this universe but sometimes there was just an overflow of factions and organizations that you can lose track of what’s going on, a problem in the Index series. Relations between some organizations aren’t as clear as I want it to be in the anime which can cause a lot of confusion for first time watchers since so many characters are moving in and out of these factions. The foundation of this world is amazing but the execution, not as good. Some of these organizations do questionable things as well, which make you wonder how they came to be in the first place, especially the Kihara family, (a group of crazy scientists). So many of their actions don’t make sense like telling the protagonists all about their evil plans or going lenient on the main/supporting characters when they could have easily killed them.
There are interactions between magic and science that I really like in this story, especially in Index season 2. It showed large tensions between the world of science and magic, with their varying views on how the world should be.
If this series does come out with even more, I hope that Index gets a series of her own like Accelerator did.
Art: 7/10 (6/10 for Index specifically)
Nothing much to say. The art style looks like the usual anime art style but the quality of animation does get better as you progress to the newer seasons.
Sound: 7/10 (7/10 for Index specifically)
Index has good music for its scenes while Railgun has really good openings and endings by Fripside. The voice actors did a good job especially the one who voiced Accelerator in Japanese. His laugh was weird, funny and psychopathic at the same time.
Characters: 7/10 (6/10 for Index specifically)
Touma is a the usual self-insert character that just wants to protect everyone. But along with that it seems like Touma has an insane amount of plot armor being invincible at times against these magic and esper users. He gets punched so hard that he goes flying through the air so many times that I don’t even know how he gets right back up. And after each fight he ends up in the hospital but he continues his daily routine afterwards as if nothing happened. He does seldom show his weak points, against people without any abilities like when he messing with a group of mobs who were bothering Misaka. His character was also much better in Railgun S where his fight choreography with Accelerator looked more plausible and he used crutches post-fight. He’s still full of plot armor though, just a little less in Railgun.
Misaka and her group of friends have well thought out personalities in the Railgun series. They all have many personal problems that they overcome making this spin-off series more down to earth compared to Index. The supporting characters there are way more flushed out compared to those in Index with more screen time going towards people other than the main character. Misaka does looks like a typical tsundere in Index though which is a downside.
Enjoyment: 8/10 (7/10 for Index specifically)
Even with its many fault, I still really enjoyed this series mostly because of Misaka, Accelerator and Academy City.
Overall: 8/10 (7/10 for Index specifically)
I would recommend this series but it might not be for everyone. You might see the main character as too cliché or unoriginal but if you can get past that, it is worth a watch.