Forum - View topicREVIEW: A Certain Magical Index Episodes 1-14 Streaming
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aereus
Posts: 574 |
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The problem is that Index just isn't a very good character. She's the titular character of the series, and yet she's one of the most irrelevant, only used for comic relief and gags. She has access to those 100,000 grimoires in her head, but makes almost no use of them. To be vague as to not spoil: There was that one battle where her spell gets countered, and she's like WELP I'M OUT OF IDEAS, essentially. Really? 100k grimoires and you could only think to try one thing? The series would have been a lot better if Index was played up as a competent member of the team, like Stiyl, Kaori (or w/e the sword priestess is named), etc. Or even if she played a sort of "Avatar" role in needing to spend time learning how to use the knowledge in her head, so she only slowly had a few attacks to bring to the battles so she wasn't totally overpowered, etc. Instead we get "TOUMA I'M HUNGRY! *head bite* TOUMAAAA! *head bite*" x 100 |
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Cecilthedarkknight_234
 Posts: 3820 Location: Louisville, KY |
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She only proved herself to be useful in the second season but it shouldn't have took that long to do so. Hmmmm Oh yeah here is pic i had laying around for the index arc cycle. http://www.twitpic.com/9l76bu |
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SilverTalon01
Posts: 2402 |
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Well for one, it starts out about how when magic and science cross paths, meaning (at least to start) how magic is brought into the city of science. There is eventually magic side and science side conflicts and its not always either/or for example spoiler[the World War 3 arc and the Hawaiin arc both have science side fighting magic side (specifically accelerator and misaka)]. Sounds like you want to say magic can beat accelerator? spoiler[Actually his aim field blocks minor spells and turns them into rainbows and when he is actually serious he is so OP that he can fight far better against an angel of the magic side than the large group of strongest magic side characters that the angel roflstomped. Theres a select few characters that could beat him, but to say magic in general would be any more effective than the science side is totally off.] And about the earlier subject of how Touma just beats his enemies because they are dumb, I have to agree it looks that way in the anime (and is therefore fair criticism) but there just isn't any way you can really translate his psychological warfare and strategic thinking that allows him to beat them without slowing it down even further in the middle of the fight for each character to talk to them selves explaining everything (which already happens enough to be distracting but no where near enough to fully explain everything). They also can't change it because their target audience they are trying to sell dvd/blurays to are the people who buy the novels. |
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thewizardninja
Posts: 43 |
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It's not that she doesn't make use of them, but that she CAN'T. She has to be at the point of death in order for Johann's Pen to take over and give her access to the mana to use them. Spell Intercept doesn't require any mana to use, which is why it was basically her only option at the time. Also, I think it's worth noting that "Toaru Majutsu no Index" was intended to be the title of what the author had assumed was going to be a single novel - you know, the one novel that was about a certain magical index? When pushed to make it into a series after writing that first volume, he just kept the name of that first novel and made it the name of the series. |
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aereus
Posts: 574 |
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Uhm, you're thinking about this the wrong way. The author can write anything he wants. He CHOSE to write her into being useless, thats my whole point. And with Johann's Pen: spoiler[She wasn't near the point of death when doing that sound attack on the Nun Army, so how did she do that then? ] He could have written Index as a character in such a way that the world-building rules allowed her to make use of abilities in limited fashion (hence the Avatar: Last Airbender comment). But I guess this falls into the problem with most anime/manga and light novels -- the authors are generally very averse to having competent supporting characters, especially women. Just look at how most Gundam outside of Tomino ones have mostly useless supporting pilots. Lucy from Fairytail fits the bill as well. Or even just look at Saten Ruiko from Railgun. spoiler[Although this is more a comment on the anime, as from what I understand, she played a much less significant role in the Railgun manga and/or token LN appearances. A major character point for her was trying to find her power, and working hard at it. The Level Upper briefly SHOWS HER WHAT HER POWER IS. Which is what they say is among the hardest thing to do is discover what it is. So after that arc is over, they even have a development episode for Ruiko, showing her remedial lessons and deciding to work hard again. Yet after that she never even reaches L1. Even amongst the rules set in place for the universe, it makes no logical sense. ] |
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Saffire
 Posts: 1255 Location: Iowa, USA |
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I'm not sure how well Index's restrictions are described in the anime, but basically she just can't use mana. Any knowledge contained in the grimoires, however, is fair game. The ability you mentioned for example doesn't use mana, it's just a specialized song using knowledge of how religion works. Even Touma could use it, if he actually understood the principles and could carry a tune. I do kinda feel like the author wrote himself into a corner with Index and basically said "f it", but such is the life of a serial writer. |
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aereus
Posts: 574 |
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This is kinda what happened with the author of Kagami no Kuni no Harisugawa -- he put so many restrictions on the mirror, that it became hard to involve the main character in events. He eventually wrote himself out of it, but decided to go out on a high note then, rather than try to launch into a totally new direction and possibly be cancelled again.
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KentaMaeba
 Posts: 121 |
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Ignore the guy with the book everyone. Sheesh.
Plus, Index isn't useless. She could've played a bigger role in the overall story, yeah, but she's anything but useless. |
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SilverTalon01
Posts: 2402 |
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That thing you mention in S2 she can do because its just a song kinda thing with her voice, not actual magic. Same with the actual song she uses near the end of S2. So it is similar to spell intercept in that she isn't actually casting anything.
As for why she can't use spells it is explained after Vol 18 I think, the spoiler[english civil war] (explained by spoiler[the queen]) that the reason was that it wasspoiler[ to powerful to be left alone therefore if she was to have any degree of freedom it would have to be controlled as a last ditch safety device or through the use of a remote control or she would have to just be locked up forever.] It isn't really to save her mind. As shown with other people, grimores effect is upon reading/hearing the information within. So she is clearly special or when she memorized them initially it would have destroyed her mind earlier. Also when she used the Pen mode such as in the first couple episodes of season 1, she still took no mind damage from actually using the magic in the grimores. There are some conditions that let people use grimores safely, I'm guessing she just meets them. |
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thewizardninja
Posts: 43 |
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Actually, that 100% makes logical sense when considering the rules set in place for the universe and is actually very important in helping us understand something that comes up later within the Index novels - spoiler[the existence of the Parameter List. Put simply, one of the things that the scientists behind the ESPer project recorded was an ESPer's potential maximum level - something that none of the ESPers were told. What this means is that there could exist people who start off at Level 1 and have the potential to work their way to Level 5 like Mikoto did, but there could also exist people who start off at level 2 and never have the chance to increase their ability past level 3 no matter how much effort they put into it. And, as far as we know - if you're a Level 0 then you will definitely stay a Level 0 unless artificially boosted with something like the Level Upper. There is absolutely no hope for them no matter how hard they try, and it puts a really dark spin on the conclusion for that arc (especially the conclusion that was in the manga).] See, characters can play important roles without blowing things up or without even taking part in major events of the story. They can also be competent in their own fields that don't necessarily involve combat. Index is a well of information and she uses it to both her advantage and to Touma's as well. She's also quick to react to any situation and often knows the best way to settle it even without access to the magic in her grimiores. On more than one occassion, Touma has been able to save the day because of HER information and HER quick judgements. The reason she's not in those situations often is because of Touma. He's not going to intentionally bring her into the warzones he always finds himself in - the only times she's ever been in combat situations at all are times when combat has been unexpected or when she's been called for personally. And the only time that happened was because someone had need of her decoding ability rather than something like her combat ability. She's just a non-combatant, and that DOES NOT make her "useless".
No YOU are thinking about this the wrong way. She's not useless or a bad character because she doesn't do what YOU want her to do. The author wrote things the way they are because he has enough integrity not to tread over his established character personalities or to shamelessly bend the rules he had already made just to include her in the way that YOU want her to be included. I'm sorry for the long post, but that needed to be said. |
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誤称
Posts: 549 |
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If Index had the ability to use all the magical knowledge she has in that cute little head of hers, we'd be screaming deux ex machina and hating her for it. I love that she's got a defined role and a realistic limit.
She can nom on my head anytime. |
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Xanas
Posts: 2058 |
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This series has one of my favorite protagonists and in terms of longer running shows is easily one towards the top of my list. It has some weak episodes, but I find myself entertained in almost every case.
I also absolutely love the OP/EDs of this show. Mami Kawada became my top preference in terms of jPop artists watching this series (along with Shakugan no Shana). |
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aereus
Posts: 574 |
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You're still thinking about it the wrong way. I'm saying that she would have been a far more interesting character, had she been included as more of a central character to the story. Rather than comic relief and rarely being dusted off for some one-off magic help. The established character personality is whatever he wants to write -- he chose to write her as an annoying loli moocher head-biter. Meanwhile Touma, Misaka, and numerous other side characters are given far more screen time and importance in events. Any number of things could have been written to put limits on her usage of the knowledge, and allowed her to be a capable part of the fighting force. Anime/Manga/LNs just have this thing for making nearly everyone but the MC worthless in comparison. Especially women. (For the good guys) You're still acting like the author is beholden to some already existing world. I'm talking about when he hadn't even written anything and was still laying out the characters, world, etc. in his notes. |
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MaxSouth
Posts: 1363 |
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This show has great sins of ridiculousness and nonsense committed, and authors are guilty of disrespect towards viewers, considering that all of them are imbecile. And yes, I mean the first half of the series, too.
It is amazing how irrational reviewers can be. Carl hates tournament shows, even when those are as thought out and clever as possible as in case of HunterXHunter, yet he awards "B+" for the story which makes viewers feel fool. |
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Kougeru
 Posts: 5527 |
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I like how you explained your opinion by listing some examples. thewizardninja's post is spot-on. Those are the main reasons I love this franchise (along with the music). While each arc itself isn't super unique or written better than other anime series, the characters are almost all likeable and have set roles instead of all being pure bad asses. Of course Mikoto is a bad ass AND has other roles..so she wins everything. When taken as a single entity, I actually find the story surpass most fantasy/sci-fi anime, especially the ones that are similar. To me, this is one of the best fantasy/sc-fi anime franchise that exists right now. I can't wait for the movie and I can't wait to get some money to pick up the boxsets for the US release of this. |
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