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| (from left to right) Misaka, Touma, Index |
Author: Kazuma Kamachi
Year: 2010
Genre: Action, Magic, Super Powers, Comedy, Adventure, Ecchi
Story 6.5/10 and Characters 8/10:
In this one, let’s try not to spoil the story too much and only give a short summery without going too deep into the story.
So just like in the previous season, Index II as well focuses on the life of Touma, a seemingly regular guy and Index, the keeper of the 103000 grimoires, books containing powerful magical knowledge that many people seek.
In Academy cities’ leveling system, Touma is regarded as a Level 0, someone with no epser abilities. However he possesses a power in his right hand, called Imagine Breaker, which can negate all magic, esper and even divine powers. But at the same time this power also negates his own good luck, making him a strong yet very unfortunate person that always ends up in trouble.
Just like the first season of Index, we don’t only have one big story line but rather many shorter ones that are often interlinked with one another. And to be honest, this sometimes made things pretty obscure, but let me explain this a little further.
Since we have so many arcs in Index II, there are a lot of different characters introduced. So not only most of the characters from the previous season make an appearance, but characters from Railgun play a big role in this one as well. But other than that, there are tons of new characters from all the different churches or other organizations, whereas all of them have different goals in mind. The problem is, you mostly only get a short introduction and later on a little more background story, but Index as well as Railgun have one thing in common; You can never be sure whether some newly introduced characters are really the good or bad guys they primarily appear to be. It’s a real mess sometimes, especially in times in which you can’t even keep track of all the actions that take place at once. It’s so very irritating when characters then reveal their true intentions, basically completely ruining their already built up image.
Let’s take Agnese Sanctis for example, a member of the Catholic Church. When she was first introduced in Index II, she seemed to be working with the good guys, making Touma and Index help her save Orsola from the seemingly bad guys. As it turns out, she didn’t try to save Orsola from the beginning and thus turns out to be one of the first villains of the second Index season. But as the season moves on, we encounter Agnes again, this time as the main victim, who in the end needs to be saved by Touma.
I mean come on, this is just too confusing…
But that aside, it’s not just the characters that make this anime a little confusing at times. It’s probably partly my own fault, since I didn’t re-watch the first season or at least go through the most important events again, that I so often felt like I didn’t get what was going on at all.
Just within the first few episodes, I almost dropped the anime, because it was so hard to follow. Seriously, at some point I just stopped reading the subtitles and patiently waited for the fighting scenes. I know that must sound pretty stupid, but I really couldn’t follow the story at certain moments and I’m pretty sure I was not the only one.
But enough of that and let’s come to the brighter aspects of this anime, namely the villains (or those who seem to be villains…). As already mentioned, this season introduces a lot of new characters, a handful of great new villains and it also shows previous characters, such as Accelerator.
I loved finding out what kind of great new abilities all the villains in this one came with. It’s really exciting and refreshing seeing magicians as well as espers with all kinds of fancy and awesome abilities.
And I’m not only talking about Accelerator, I’m also talking about Oriana Thompson for example or even Agnes with her weird staff that transfers all the damage that is done to it directly to her opponents.
In comparison to this, Touma is pretty boring with his Imagine Breaker, since his way of taking out opponents is always the same, which is probably part of the reason why I love the variety of abilities his opponents use so very much.
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| Oh and did I mention how very ecchi this show can be at times? |
Music 10/10:
No other anime deserves the perfect score in this category more than Index does. We have 2 seasons with 4 outstandingly great openings that all, without exceptions, earned a place in my list of favorite openings of all time.
Same goes for its endings. They were not as awesome as the openings, but pretty damn great as well and don’t even get me going on the background music. Especially the fighting music is epic, making the scenes even more awesome than they already are.
Ok, I think I should stop fangirling about the music already, but trust me, this is one of the strongest points of this anime.
Art 9/10:
When talking about the Index/Railgun anime, one thing is for certain; The animation is fantastic and that’s all I have to say here, but as always, here’s a little trailer so you can see for yourself.
Yuri 5/10:
Surprisingly, Index II comes with more great Kuroko moments than Railgun S did, or at least that’s how it felt to me.
So even though, we have Touma, who ever so often gets into the way of Kuroko, the latter surely knows how to kick his ass and creep her way back into Misaka’s panties heart.
In this season, you can witness what happens to Kuroko when she meets Misaka’s (sexy) mother, as well as Kuroko beating Touma’s ass and as my personal highlight, you’ll find one of the most heartwarming scenes, in which Misaka reveals just how much she cares for her little roommate.
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| When meeting Misaka’s mother… |
Final Enjoyment 7/10:
It’s quite interesting seeing how the Railgun seasons focuses more on esper powers and technology, while Index almost solely focuses on magic. Of course the two shows sometimes overlap each other, but they still mostly stay in their own terrain.
Personally, I found the esper powers and the happenings in Railgun much more interesting and significantly easier to follow than some things that happened in Index, but that’s just how I see things.
If you’re someone who didn’t only watch Railgun for its few yuri moments, but for its great story and setting, you should definitely consider watching Index as well, but be prepared, especially the second season can be pretty confusing at times.
Oh and one more thing, for everyone who, just like me, was a little confused while watching Railgun and Index and wondered what the best viewing order for the 4 anime would be, here’s some help:
Chronologically it would be best to watch it like this: Railgun, Index, Railgun S, Index II
But this as well isn’t 100% accurate since many occurrences overlap each other, especially in Index and Railgun S, so in many cases we see the same thing happening but from another perspective. The sister arc for example was presented in each and every season but it was always shown from another perspective. In the end I think it doesn’t matter, if you use this order or watch it just like it was aired, but a little help could come in pretty handy at times, since it was probably not only confusing for me.
If you like it a little more detailed, check this out, but prepare to be confused. http://toarumajutsunoindex.wikia.com/wiki/Anime_Timeline
YuriReviews and More 
I haven't seen the Index series myself yet but one indisputable fact still remains, Touma sucks.
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I don't hate him since he's a good guy, but I also don't think he's really such a great main character since his ability kind of sucks… Well, it's powerful but a little boring as well.
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Touma Sucks. .my indefinite answer. .touma ruin the series.
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So much hate for Touma, but I guess I don't like him much either.
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First season sucked, i liked some of it, but there's a truckload of plot holes, anti-climactic twists, over-dramatization and absolutely useless characters that get in the way. It's like i just kept waiting for it to get better, but instead it gradually spiraled downwards until it hit rock bottom and became unnecessarily confusing.
Stiyl gets introduced, appears during one arc, then poof, he's never heard of again. Tsuchimikado turns out to be one of big boys. For some reason it was necessary to establish that Touma had amnesia, even though it barely affects the storyline. It's a clusterf*** and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Aside from that, too much fan service, too many panty shots and ecchi and loli material.
Index and Touma are despicable, so is Kuroko. Everyone else is one dimensional as f*ck and the writers are hell bent on proving otherwise.
Misaka, her clone (10032) and Accelerator are brilliant though, could've made an entire show revolving around these three characters.
Let's hope we get to see more of them in the second season, and less of everyone else, because honestly the ridiculous amount of characters on this show are its downfall, it ends up losing all essence trying to justify the importance of each.
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You're so right, they introduce way too many characters and just involve too many already known, as well as new characters into the whole mess that was going on.
Railgun was only a little better in that aspect, but in my opinion, especially the main characters are way more likable than in Index.
Well, I understand why you don't like Touma and Index, but Kuroko is probably my favorite character of them all.
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The amount of “Friendship speeches” on this show is on par with Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! Which is sort of ironic since most of the characters have a habit of going awol from one arc to the other.
Concerning Touma, he only met this Kazakiri girl, and he's already putting his life on the line for her a few hours later? For srs, it's not that i don't like Touma, his character is just a bit overkill. His heroic resolve goes from admirable to ridiculous in a matter of 2-3 episodes.
Don't get me started on Index.
And Kuroko… bah, i just don't like these sneaky overly obsessive characters, especially when overdone. Just gets on my nerves.
Everyone and everything on this show is so exaggerated, it's aggravating. Sad thing is I REALLY wanted to like it, so i will most probably watch Railgun/Index II/Railgun S, just for the sake of following up on Misaka and The Accelerator.
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I really wouldn't recommend you to start Railgun. Kuroko is one of the main characters and I can tell you, you'll see her a lot.
If you really only wanna watch it for Misaka and Accelerator, then only watch some selected episodes, otherwise Kuroko or even Touma will most likely ruin it for you.
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Misaka ❤ *^*
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