Reviews for A Certain Magical Index II

Before I begin my review, let me share with you a little story I once went to the "Women Are Neglecting Kitchens Society" ( Yes, I do know that abbreviates to W.A.N.K.S) Don't worry, all they do is tell "Women and Kitchen" jokes to each other. Anyways, the committee was proposing "Kamijou Touma" as their society's mascot. Bear in mind I did not watch any episodes of "Toaru Majutsu no Index" at all so I had to ask, "Who the heck is Touma??" My membership got instantly revoked. So after watching the first season, I still did not understand why is Touma is treated like a hero forthe W.A.N.K.S. But after venturing into the second season during the great "Nuns vs Touma's Right Fist" war, I finally understood them..

"Your story wasn't that entertaining" says Misaka expressing her boredom.

Oh, and providing commentary for this review today is Misaka Clone #10032

So let's begin the review shall we?

As I've mentioned before, I've continuously watched from the first season into the second season, thus I could significantly notice several changes between the two season.

Once again the story revolves around Kamijou Touma and his RIGHT FIST. Note I do not say RIGHT HAND to avoid any sexual innuendos. Once again, Touma lack of discrimination for women causes him to go out of his way to save any "damsel in distress" nor does he care about holding back when he "rearranging their faces" Along with index and a few other companions, he is again dragged into solving the problems between the two dominating church factions in the story out of his sense of altruism. I can absolutely say you will get hooked onto each episode, there is almost no such thing as "fillers" (Eventhough once in a while I would like that since the story is moving at such an incredible momentum) I did not read the light novels thus in no way am I comparing the anime to it.

The character design improved significantly from the previous season. Combat sequence are getting more serious effects. I love the new opening now and I've seen tons of spoof and parodies made about it in NND. This is one of the few openings I would actually listen to instead of skipping. And who doesn't like the sound effect when Touma uses his RIGHT FIST to dispel magic or espers ability?

Characters! More development here for Touma's character. And when I say more development, I mean his HAREM is developing! However I felt like they were neglecting Index once again.. Poor Index... Other supporting characters such as Misaka, Accelerator and Kuroko do appear to further compliment the story. Misaka and her tsudere-ness reaches a higher level! The sad part about this anime is that as new characters are being introduced, the older ones which had their own arc are being left by the sidelines.

"I did get to appear momentarily in one of the episodes..." says Misaka proudly.

NO!!! DONT SPOIL THE SHOW FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T WATCHED!! Now go make me a sammich!

"I decline..." says Misaka while looking at the other direction.

Anyways, as blasphemous as it is, I did enjoy the whole religion versus science theme. Ok, so technically all religions are not represented so to correct it, it would actually be a war between the Christian Crusaders and Science. And wow, these Christian Crusaders made Taliban Terrorist looks like wimps, eventhough in reality the existence of espers and magic isn't really acknowledge. Now the reason I wouldn't give the enjoyment value of this anime to the maximun score is because the whole Touma tries to reason a girl, girl rejects Touma's reasoning, Touma's crush girl's illusion a.k.a her face, girl defects and becomes his ally, is getting old pretty quick. Sure thats a nice way to add girls to your harem instead of the typical dating sim of buying flowers and chocolates and raising flags every single moment, why not just falcon punch her?? Now, in no way am I or Touma are sexist here.

"Touma isn't sexist as he indiscriminately punches anyone in the face, male or female" Misaka adds to strengthen the argument.

Well said. So to put it easily, if you're the type who fancies superpowers and ability users, this would be a good anime for you to watch. Be sure to watch the first season though. And what is a harem anime without a couple of fanservice?? Yes we do have some to satisfy you fetish! For all you lolicon, Miko fetish, and Nun fetish! Not to mention a lot of tsunderes to go around (10,000+ to be exact)

And do not take the religion aspect of this story too seriously, in no way it is connected to reality. This is a fictional world. Otherwise, how else would they be able to acquire magic make up?? What? You didn't notice they were wearing magic make up?? Whenever Touma punches his enemies' face with his RIGHT FIST, their faces becomes slightly uglier thus their magic make up was dispelled by Touma's RIGHT FIST..

"I do not understand your jokes.." says Misaka showing her confusion

Well how about this? Touma lost his right arm when he was a kid so Chuck Norris gave him his right arm since Chuck Norris has the ability to regenerate any of his body part. Thus explains why Touma's RIGHT FIST is supremely incredible!

"Who is this Chucku Norrissu of which you speak?" Misaka asked in further confusion.

Haremu Kingu,

Signing off!

The second season of To Aru Majutsu no Index continues from where the first season left off. Based on the popular Light Novel series, the story takes place in Academy City: a City where 80% of the population are students trained to develop superhuman powers through scientific methods. These students are known as “Espers”. But outside this city exists a religious fraction that can use Magic to counter Esper abilities. This fraction strongly detests the Science side and the two sides have been plotting each others destruction. Kamijyo Touma, the protagonist of this story, possesses a right hand that will negate all magic and esperpowers (as well as his own luck) and has been dragged into their plots against each other.

Now I'll be the first to admit that the To Aru Majutsu no Index series has been less than brilliant but I still found the first series enjoyable. Pretty much every arc would have roughly the same shell: Touma meets a nice girl who is a victim of a horrible plot. Touma then finds out about said horrible plot. Touma confronts the antagonist behind the plot. Said antagonist gives a typical “Good intention but wrong method” excuse before Touma gives an idealistic speech and punches him in the face. Rinse and repeat. Not that I didn't enjoy it the first few times but it does get old and fast. Even so, the first season did make up for it by filling up that shell with some creative stuff and I was still intrigued with the dark mystery behind the Magic and Science sides. I also fell in love with the comedy and the character interactions which were just priceless.

All of that is mostly done away with in this new instalment. Any creativity the previous arcs had is thrown out the window leaving behind that empty shell I've grown to hate, with the only difference being that Touma is now punching girls instead of guys. I think the biggest problem is with the exposition. For example in the second arc, they pretty much throw you into the deep end of plots between churches and a whole load of techno-babble and if you can't make sense out of it in the first five seconds, well then good luck because they won't dally around. The comedy is sorely lacking in creativity as well. Let me give you an example of how that contrasts with the first season. At the beginning of one arc in the first season, Touma (who has amnesia) stumbles upon a very oddly dressed little girl. Touma being Genre Savvy enough to realise that anyone who dresses that strangely is someone he must know, decides to greet the girl. Except the girl in question immediately considers Touma an enemy just for greeting her and holds him at knife point. It's not that he wasn't exactly wrong in his deduction. It's just that he's an incredibly unlucky guy. In this season that type of comedy was mostly replaced with an insufferable amount of Accidental Pervert moments only two of which had any sort of creativity to them. There were some funny moments here and there but nothing like the first season and without that comedy the series loses much of its charm.

And now that you're left with that empty shell you have the opportunity of realising just how ridiculously irritating Touma can be with his annoying speeches. In one arc, I noticed that when Styl was taken down by the antagonist if you actually notice, the pool of blood coming from Styl gets slowly bigger and bigger whilst Touma spends some precious time preaching to the antagonist about how wrong she is. Not only that but one problem is that anyone who knows even a little about how to argue would know just how terrible his debating skills are. It mostly just consists of throwing a lot of general idealistic principles. And that's not even the worst thing about his speeches. No, the worst thing is that it's only ever so far been used to break down incredibly weak motives. This was particularly egregious when the second to last antagonist Touma faces gives what has to be the most retarded antagonist's motive I've ever heard, not just in the To Aru series but in anime generally.

Oh and don't count on Index to become more important in this series like I did. She doesn't. Oh she serves as a good plot device in certain key moments but that's about as far as it gets. She's far more important in the first season, even when I thought she was being shafted. I wonder why they even call it “Magical Index” anymore.

That said it's not all bad. The series picks up in the last quarter and that would be mostly due to the introduction of Accelerator as a more central figure. A much more interesting character that provides a more cynical route for all those already irritated with Touma. But even then the last quarter had its flaws so it's nowhere near enough for me to overlook the poor quality of a whole three-quarter of this season. The soundtrack is at least as brilliant as it's always been (something I think is largely underrated) with each piece always providing the perfect atmosphere. The animation though has become a lot more inconsistent this season. It's great in many places but in others I notice a lot of odd and jerky movements and the inconstancy has been a notable pain for me throughout the entire season.

Overall it's only because I'm a fan of the series that I'm not giving it an even lower rating. But even though the second season was a bitter disappointment, I still look forward to the third season (which although hasn't been announced yet is still a forgone conclusion). I’ve been promised by several Light Novel readers that the story really does get much better after this. Pushing aside the obvious problem that it would have to take 48 episodes to finally pick up, if season three does reach my expectations then I will simply consider this season a part of the story that bridges the gap between season one and three. So in conclusion, if you’re a fan of this series and you’re willing to watch 24 episodes of mostly mediocre stuff, all for the sake of understanding season three when it finally picks up then go for it, but make sure to lower your expectations. If you’re not a fan and you’re not in the least bit curious about what happens (even though you’re reading a review of it) then don’t bother.

"I'll break this illusion, with my right fist!" A Certain Magical Index should really be renamed, and I have the perfect title: A Certain Frustrating Show. I don't think I've ever actually been so frustrated with a show quite like this before, not because it's bad, but because it's good, and very enjoyable - but for some bizarre reason, the show never uses its latent potential to become something truly outstanding. Let me get one thing out of the way first: Index II is a significant step-up from the first series, the first episode was actually better than nearly every single moment of the original series (minusAccelerator's little mini-arc) and actually got me looking forward to a show that I thought would only be marginally better than its prequel, instead, what I got was a series that involves a lot of evil Roman Catholics who are more extreme than most actual religious extremists, a lot of idealistic speeches and a lot of women being punched in the face.

Another thing I should get out of the way, if you're an easily offended religious person (specifically, a Roman Catholic) or a fairly hardcore feminist who believes that all men are "pigs", then this probably isn't the show for you, seeing as, more than likely, you may be offended by the shows content at some point.

Having said that, I don't think the show is actually trying to be offensive, it's just unfortunate that certain aspects of the show - which I'll cover later on - can be misconstrued as either racist or misogynistic depending on your beliefs. If you're able to get past these issues, then there's a good chance that you may be able to enjoy the show despite its faults.

Now that I've covered the obligatory "If you're easily offended, don't watch it" section, I should probably move onto the reason you're (probably) still reading this review, that is, the part in which I'm actually reviewing.

Index II continues to follow the misadventures of everyone's favorite unfortunate protagonist, Kamijou Touma, and his exploits as he tries to deal with the looming threat of the Roman Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church and...the Roman Catholic Church, because apparently, the Roman Catholic Church seems to have nothing better to do with their time than try to take over Academy City - occasionally they mix things up a bit by not going after Academy City itself, but generally speaking, the Roman Catholics serve as the main antagonists for the most part.

They also happen to make some pretty poor antagonists at that, usually guided by poor motivations and weak reasons which are broken down by Touma's equally weak idealistic speeches which serve as a constant reminder that, despite having his occasionally cool moments in Index (and to a much greater extent, Railgun): Kamijou Touma is an idealistic buffoon, whose only redeeming feature is that he happens to have one of the most overpowered abilities in the history of fiction.

However, poor antagonists aside, the most infuriating aspect of Index II's story is its own inability to capitalise on the clear potential that it actually has here, I'm not joking when I say that the potential for a really outstanding story is absolutely huge here. The story has a lot of really good ideas that, frustratingly, are hardly ever capitalised on for the majority of the run time - we still for example, don't actually know what Imagine Breaker is, all we know is that Touma's only redeeming feature is able to negate any supernatural ability that is thrown at him - magical or otherwise. No explanation is given as to why it is he has this power, what its full potential actually is, or why it's capable of negating supernatural abilities in the first place - it becomes clear in one of the later arcs that there is clearly a lot more to Imagine Breaker than meets the eye, (although this statement is kind of redundant, seeing as it was obvious) but that's about it.

Index too doesn't seem to serve any more importance than she did last season, in fact, there are several people who have argued that she was actually more important in the first season, even though there are arcs in which she doesn't actually appear at all. The MAL synopsis for this show is actually very misleading; if there are any of you who think that Index will serve a greater role in Index II then think again, she won't, and you'll be left feeling very disappointed. She's still just as annoying as ever mind you, so there are some definite pro's to this particular con of the story.

There are plenty of other occasions when the story fails to capitalise on its potential too, for instance, why doesn't it introduce any other saints besides Kanzaki Kaori? Surely the Church of England has other magicians it can send besides Stiyl, right? Just what exactly are Aleister's plans? Are there any other interesting Espers besides Misaka and Accelerator? Who exactly are the other Level 5 Espers anyway? (although Railgun S has already partially answered that question for me) There are a lot of other questions that I'd really love to ask, because this show still hasn't answered them, although I'm fairly sure that when Index III comes out, (it's a question of when, not if) I'll be getting my answers - in fact, I'm starting to think that Index II decided to purposely dodge any questions I may have purely for the purpose of getting me excited for the inevitable third season - and if that was the case, it succeeded.

Another issue with the story is the woman punching, personally, I wasn't as bothered by this as some people may actually be, but I can certainly understand why it can be seen as an issue. Nearly every arc (with a few notable exceptions) revolves around Touma punching the antagonist - in this case, the main female villain of the arc - in the face, and potentially rearranging it whilst he's doing so; I'm fairly sure that Index II's intention wasn't actually to be misogynistic, in the same way I think it's just using the Roman Catholic Church because of the various pieces of Christian symbolism it can use rather than being racist about it.

It's not all bad though, the last two arcs are actually really good and really enjoyable, for a few notable reasons, one of which being that they actually serve to progress the story and in a very notable way. The final two arcs are huge indications that something really big is coming, and make a large change to the sometimes filler-like feel of certain arcs (the Daihaseisai arc feeling like it was just dragging on, especially towards the end). Another reason is that Accelerator ends up becoming the main character for a time, which is a nice change of pace when compared to Touma. Everyone's favorite psychopathic anti-hero with a heart serves as a much more interesting main protagonist (which is why his little arc in the original series was by far the best thing about it), not to mention, he gets the good villain too, with his main enemy serving as a much more interesting, well motivated antagonist in comparison to Touma's villains.

Another notable aspect of Index II's story is that this time, it doesn't bombard you with lots of terminology, which was a huge problem of the original series, instead, any new terminology is actually explained and, more importantly, serves as relevant information to the plot - even if in some cases, it's arc limited. This makes it much easier to sort out plot details in your head, but it never feels like it's just spoon-feeding you either, which is nice.

The final thing about the story is, that, well, it actually goes somewhere...eventually. The original series never went anywhere with its plot, despite hinting that it clearly could, and whilst it takes a while for Index II to go somewhere, when it does eventually move, there are significant leaps in progress in comparison to the original.

Animation is also better than the original series, attacks look cooler and pack more of a punch in terms of visual clarity, the series animates rather well and it's obvious that Index II is getting the best part of the budget that I didn't know J.C Staff actually had.

It's not perfect however, there are some times when the animation becomes quite choppy and inconsistent, with the occasional off-model appearing every now and again, as well as some static images appearing here and there too. These are minor gripes however, as for the most part, Index II is generally rather good to watch and look at, especially when characters are bringing out their most powerful spells or Esper ability.

Similar to the first series, the OST doesn't really have that many notable tracks to go with it, although there a couple of tracks worth mentioning, probably because the show likes to play them a lot - Kyuuketsu Koroshi is a nice track that brings an atmosphere that wouldn't be out of place in a good detective show, Gensou Koroshi is essentially Touma's illusion breaking theme song, Nichijou provides some amusement when it's covering the daily lives of the characters. It's not a bad mix of tracks, although there are definitely better OST's out there.

Opening and ending themes fare similarly to the previous series, with the one notable exception being the second opening, See VisionS, which is the series best opening by a long stretch and, funnily enough, becomes the shows opening theme when the story actually decides to become interesting.

Voice acting is pretty strong too, now that I actually understand why it is that the various Misaka's speak like they do, I now actually think that it was a pretty clever choice as opposed to an annoying inclusion that actually does makes a lot of sense in context. Despite his character, Atsushi Abe is actually very good as Touma, and there are often plenty of times that his performance is able to sell the character despite the stupidity of his speeches (were it not for the fact that what he's saying is rather stupid, Abe puts so much effort into the role that he's capable of fooling you into thinking that what he's saying is worth listening to). Rina Satou still delivers well on Misaka - I'm inclined to like her more now seeing as I actually liked Railgun. Satomi Arai is actually pretty funny whenever she screams "Onee-Sama" as Kuroko, Rina Hidaka is fairly adorable as Last Order now that I understand more about the character...the list goes on.

There are a few notable performances in the voice acting as well, although, for different reasons. Rie Kugimiya does her trademark squeal as Sister Agnese, whether this is a good thing or not is entirely up to you, I personally didn't mind it. My man Keiji Fujiwara is a great addition to the cast as Accelerator's villain, Kihara, bringing a sadistic, cynical performance that totally fits with an arc revolving around Accelerator. Yuka Iguchi is...well, she's Yuka Iguchi, I didn't like her in the original series and honestly, my opinion of her hasn't changed all that much either.

Once again though, the best actor in the show is by far Nobuhiko Okamoto as Accelerator, he's able to pull off every scream, every insult, every single psychopathic laugh with amazing sincerity, all whilst being able to bring emotional depth to a character who, for all intents and purposes, you should probably hate and would do whatever it takes to avoid if you saw him on the street. It's Okamoto's performance when Accelerator's not screaming that really sells it, his world weary voice and seemingly apathetic attitude showing that, underneath the psychopath, is a very lonely and unloved boy who's just trying to get by and find people that he can actually get along with - which is probably why he goes so far to help Last Order and why they play off each other really well.

The characters of Index are a group of people who you will share a mixed relationship with, on the one hand, there are characters who are actually rather good, Accelerator being the most obvious example followed by Misaka, as well as characters who you will probably really dislike. I'll make this clear now, if you didn't like Index in the first series, forget about liking her here, she hasn't changed, she's still annoying and the moments when she bites Touma are not funny. The show does actually have some cool characters like Stiyl and Tsuchimikado, but they're never usually on screen long enough for you to actually say "Yeah, these guys are actually really good characters." and that's actually a recurring issue with a lot of the characters in Index, there are definitely some cool characters here, but that's all they are: cool. You won't see any characters of any noticeable depth unless they're either main characters, or you watched Railgun and got to see Misaka's life fleshed out more. It's that irritating issue of when a show has too many characters, and doesn't know what to do with them, so you're left with two-dimensional to one-dimensional characters.

Then there are the antagonists, a completely mixed bag of characters who range from decent (i.e Kihara) to pretty lacklustre (i.e most of Touma's villains) - Biagio Busoni I should add, is a total waste of Emperor Wakamoto's voice, in fact, if it turns out that they end up going up against God in Index III, Wakamoto should play God, that would be an appropriate role for him (for God I mean, 'cause he doesn't even come close to Emperor Wakamoto after all).

The most polarising character however, is Kamijou Touma himself. The main problem with Touma is that, well, he's a buffoon, an idealistic one at that, spouting out his ideals whenever his altruism gets him caught up in the final fight of the arc. Although, there is something there that doesn't make me totally dislike him - and I'm not just referring to his ability either. Kamijou Touma is a genuinely nice guy who goes to great lengths to ensure that everyone, be they friend or enemy regardless, turns out better for it, his altruism truly knows no bounds. Whilst I can't necessarily vouch for his brilliance as a character, he certainly does have some admirable traits about him, and if someone bothered to fix his idealistic speeches and terrible debating skills, I'd probably be saying I like the guy.

With all this being said though, Index II is an immensely enjoyable show. I managed to get through it in two days and I'm really looking forward to Index III (from what I know, the light novels are supposed to get really good once all the filler style stuff is out of the way), and flaws aside, when Index II is going at full swing, it's actually a hard show to fault - despite its issues, Index II has a considerably high entertainment factor. The comedy is actually legitimately funny and gets past cheap gags that were never really funny to begin with such as Index biting Touma, the action sequences are very good and are great to watch, and similar to the last season, the arc like structure allows you to pretty much watch the show at your leisure without feeling too bad about not watching for a bit. There's a lot going for Index II.

I should also point out that, Index II is not a bad show, it's actually a good show - and it's fantastic in comparison to the first season. It's just a shame that, despite all its pros in comparison to the first series, its many cons, such as the frustrating inability to actually capitalise and fully exploit the good ideas that it actually has, prevent it from being truly outstanding, which is a really frustrating issue indeed. I'll just hope for now that, when Index III is confirmed, I'll finally be able to enjoy To Aru Majutsu no Index at its best and that I'll finally be able to say "It's totally worth watching the first two seasons for."

Until that point however, it really will just be A Certain Frustrating Show.

Some people hate sequels, saying it will never be as good as the original. Some people love them more, saying that they're just glad that there's more. I try to stay at a neutral stance, but I admit that I was still looking forward for this second season of Index (third if you count Railgun). I liked the first season; it had good characters and good story arcs. Railgun was a nice change to Index. How can putting the two together be bad? I had high hopes. Had. I don't know, but somehow, it happened. I mean, it was really really bad. The story. What canI say? I just didn't really like them. Most of it has to do with the characters, which I will elaborate later on. The story arcs didn't lead to anything big in the end. There was no big climax or anything; they just left an ambiguous ending, sequelbating. The arcs seemed to be half religion half science. I would be okay with that if the two were actually mixed together but they were kept apart. It was more like it was half Index and half Railgun. At the end of each episode, they say that when magic and science cross, the story begins. That's the problem; they never crossed. Characters from their respective shows didn't really mix with the other either, and that was kind of disappointing. One of my biggest qualms with this show is how each arc ended. Some of the most unoriginal endings ever written. I can break it down. 1. Touma is the last man standing 2. He gives some terrible speech about care and love and other unimportant stuff and 3. He punches a woman in the face. How anti-climactic is that? You'd expect an epic ending with something magic or science related used against the enemy, but all you get is a punch in the face.

The characters. They have changed so much, and not in a good way. Touma seems even more self-righteous than usual. Index seems even more useless than usual too. She was very annoying, one of the most annoying characters in the series. You know, I didn't laugh the first time she bit Touma on the head, so why would I find the 46th time funny? Why are all the characters pandering to the fans? Who thought this was a good idea. I don't want to see every single female character wanting Touma little head (except for Index who wants his bigger one on his shoulders). They turned so many of them into tsunderes when they clearly weren't that in the previous season. Why? One is enough (well, one is too much, actually). Mixed in with these terrible story arcs, I've grown to hate these characters that I used to like. Oh, and there's fanservice. Some of the stupidest fanservice I have ever seen. In many shows, you have the panty shot, which is understandable because the camera just happened to be at an angle to see it, but it index, the characters strip down for you! Terrible.

The art is very generic. The animation is average, I guess. Pretty much the same as the first season and Railgun, so I don't really have complaints about it. The music was really boring. It's some very generic music. I didn't really like the OPs and EDs either, but the first OP was alright. There seems to have been very poor artistic direction. Any art is just drained to almost nothing, and art is something that I crave. Oh well.

Overall, I pulled nearly no enjoyment from this show at all. I absolutely hated the characters and story arcs. Very little logic was used, like that grenade in one of the later episodes that exploded in a small room and did barely any damage to the room and not even injuring anyone in the room. Logic was not on the menu for this show. J.C. Staff took something I really enjoyed and turned it into this ugly, disfigured beast that I found nauseating. I really hope they stop there and stop ruining it further. I can't say I have high hopes for that.

Then again, I'm pessimistic.

Return to the world of Science and Magic with Touma & Index. After the slightly successful, often enjoyable first series, J.C Staff fires off with the continuation of Touma's dilemma within Academy City. Story: 8/10 - The story that made the first series popular returns in its sequel. Here, the story kicks off with Touma attempting to finish his summer homework before the next day. Those who despised the slow pacing of its predecessor can rest easy - the series so far does a decent job of getting right into the action while reintroducing the familiar cast at the same time. Art: 10/10 - I always loved Toaru'sartstyle. But here, the character designs are more polished and proper, mixed with more than a fair share of loveable and humorous expressions.

Sound: 9/10 - Mami Kawada returns with her new single "No Buts!" as the opening. The song is very catchy and upbeat; a perfect blend of Techno and Pop. Maiko Iuchi of "I've Sound" is once again in charge of the series musical score, and DAMN, the music this time around is awesome and fitting at the same time. The ending theme "Magic∞World" by Maon Kurosaki is pretty cool too.

Character: 10/10 - The series has always been filled with loveable, colorful characters, and here is no different. New characters, bigger character development - what else can I say?!

Enjoyment: 8/10 - Despite the amusing, interesting (and at times, absolutely hilarious) interactions between characters, it still struggles with the long and boring speeches on magic (seriously!). However, the fight scenes and special effects are better than before.

It's obvious that J.C Staff invested a much, MUCH bigger budget on animation and special effects this time around. With a start-up more enjoyable than the first, and the Academy Sports Festival coming up, I rate this series 9/10... for now.

Why are you still reading?! Go watch some Index!!!!

Story - 6 After watching the first season I hoped that the plot would finally unfold in to something bigger and better then the first season. Well it didn't! For the most part it was worse and only close to the end got better. The problem with the story is that it isn't directional and is repetitive. It's because some villain shows up from the religion side (usually) and wants to do something bad. And then Touma comes to the rescue. And this happens like every time through out the season. Seriously the villains seem to change like every 3-5 episodes and only thing that they havein common is that Touma fights them with his right arm and wins.

Only at the end the story starts to do something about Magic vs. Science thing, but that isn't enough to draw your interest or provoke any real thoughts. Well the thought that this story provoked to me was that religion is crazy.

Visuals - 9

Maybe a bit too much flashy some times, but for like 98% of the time it is just great. Everything is crisp and clear and the characters all drawn well. Fights are all the time animated well also. I really have no more to say, because the art is great and nothing more.

Sound - 8

Better openings then the first season. The first OP was the greatest. As for the background music it kinda always fits well with what is happening, but never really increases your watching experience. It kinda is there doing it's job and nothing more so for the most part you will rarely notice it. In a way it is good, but it could bring out the overall experience watching to whole new level if somebody really wanted to.

Characters - 7

I don't know why but for some reason Touma is the one character who I care less then the other secondary character like Misaka or Accelerator. Touma is just a plain normal hero-type. He is such a stereotype to the rescue that I want to punch him for being so cliche and uncool.

Most of the support cast is just some kind of fetish whatever and hareming all over Touma. It's just so stupid.

Off course there are some likeable characters and Touma is in some way too. But do you really care for them? No, not really, except Accelerator and a little bit Misaka and the Misakas last younger clone called Last Order. If it would be my choice then Touma would not be main character, but Accelerator or Misaka would, because they are so much more more interesting and 3 dimensional.

Enjoyment - 8

As for enjoyment I liked the comedy and the fights. As for everything else I can't that I enjoyed it a lot. Only for some moments, maybe. Also I would of really wanted so that this anime would provoke me to think about something.

Overall - 8 (was very close to 7)

Toaru Majutsu No Index season 2 was a great as for the technical aspects like visuals and music, but when it comes to story and characters it lets you down quite a lot. If you have seen the first season then I can say to you that the second one was a bit better, but only by a small margin call.

Season 2 definitely isn't a must watch, but it is better then most of the animes out there. And if you liked first season a lot or you have none must watch series then go ahead and watch it. Just be careful, because the story really goes nowhere.

To be honest, after the first season, I had pretty low expectations for this second installment of Magical Index, but since I'm not one to judge something by it's cover, I went and watched it all. My short opinion: Pleasant surprise. Way better than the first season in every way, but has many problems still. The first season of A Certain Magical Index was, frankly, a confusing mess. (See my review on the first season's page.) Despite the unique and extremely intriguing setting, the story was jumping around like a wild firehose at full pressure, aimless and even major plot points went woefully unexplained whilethe characters were constantly spewing exposition over minute details. The characters themselves were but hollow shells with a bunch of conflicting tropes tacked on, only serving as plot devices. All that changed in the second season, and for the better.

For one thing, the characters now have clear motivations, something they lacked in the first installment. Toma, the main protagonist, is sadly still just a handle to drag the story forward, but at least he has some clear goals and motivations now. It's awfully cliché'd and hollow, but it's there. Basically, he wants to "save everyone" because he is a "good guy". His power is still totally unexplained and serves as a mere plot device (punch bad guy du jour in face = problem solved). Index didn't change much either, she is still suffering from the "everything at once" disorder, being the secret magical plot device, the tsundere and the comic relief moe all-in-one. The cute/whiny idioms, the biting and the forever-hungry gimmick is still there, and I know these are intended to be endearing, but it only comes off as annoying. However, there are new developments at the support character front. The introduction of the Sisters (Misaka and the nuns too), especially 20001 (Misaka-Misaka), Orsola Aquinas and gang, Kazakiri, the researchers, and a swath of new faces is really great, and brings some life into the series. Even the antagonists at least have some motivations other than "I'm evil because I'm evil", well, most of them anyway. It still seems to fall into one of two kinds, "I'm following orders" and "I'm taking revenge because of reasons". It's still an improvement.

The biggest improvement is definitely the story arc. Meaning, there is actually a story arc now, instead of random episodes with basically no connection. The series even goes as far as picking up loose ends from the first season and tying them into the story. By the end of the second season I just about started to feel like I'm watching a real anime with a story and good characters. Also, the second season is chock-full of fan service, some pretty weird ecchi scenes and finally some good humor. A special mention to Episode 17, which was genuinely enjoyable.

A major shout-out to the only character, who received a character and a story arc: Accelerator. He is the ONLY ONE who went through any kind of change and was actually very well written as a sort of Faust character, and the only one who got his backstory and motivations detailed, at least somewhat. Not even the main protagonist received that kind of treatment, which is sort of puzzling. He is a kind of tragic hero, who now strives to right at least some of the wrongs he done. I especially like his involvement with 20001, and I really wanted to see more of his story. My only problem with him is his extremely annoying angsty, emo kid act. I can understand the borderline insanity and the conflicted morals and self-hate, but that's just a bit too much.

All in all, Index II is a definite improvement over the first season in most every way. It's not THAT great, but at least I could go through it all without cringing or scratching my head much, which is good.

Toaru Majutsu no Index II (2010) Honestly, this show just keeps such a great pace and has some great times. Going from arc to arc with seriousness but also laughter in between is just the correct way to structure a show. I love the Misaka sisters especially Last Order and 10032. The art is a slight improvement from last time but that is because it is slightly newer. The sound has got better than before having more SFX sound to it and booms through surround sound much better. The voice actress in Japanese for Kuroko Shirai honestly deserves an award since her voice is complex andjust amazing.

Characters as before with new antagonists and updates on current character profiles are booming here. You get to know many characters that were not introduced massively before and also get new ones which are explained well. Current characters also develop all over the place.

Best girl in no particular order: Misaka 10032, Misaka, Kuroko, Orsola, Itsuwa and Himegami.

I think Himegami can be firmly the overall best girl in the end. She deserves more screen time.

I really enjoy how Sasha gets some screen time too and you see more of her real character and reasons for how she is. Her way of speaking is pretty cute too.

Overall again this is a brilliant show and I ended up watching this so quickly.

9/10. Keep it coming.

If you are looking at this review im gonna guess you watched season one or you are looking at reviews from both season to get an idea if you should watch this show. A Certain Magical Index this show quickly became one of my favorite for many reason 1. It has a good story whole science vs religion idea is very interesting idea and the series pulls in of well 2. Characters the Mc Touma quickly became one of my favorite anime characters due to the fact he is unique most anime character do the right thing and do it for there friends Touma does what he deemsnecessary to save a persons life whether it be good or bad but he is also very funny and a straight up lady killer

3. Humor this show is just hilarious i believe it is very underrated for its comedy

4. Awesome action fight scenes are real fun to watch seeing up 12 year old nun he boxed out there is nothing like it

So i really recommend this show its an easy 9/10

Toaru Majutsu no Index II is the sequel to the first season of Toaru Majutsu Series....I had high expectations for the sequel as someone who enjoyed the first season. But somewhere along the way i got a little disappointed. This review will tell you guys why. So let's get started shall we? Story (8/10): The story was just like how the first season went..it jumps from Arc-Arc-Arc....with different characters taking the spotlight. Well somehow the story got a little boring as it progresses. It's the same Fighting scene again and again and with Touma's fist always landing on their face's it got boring watching the samething again and again but overall it was good.

Art (8/10): The Art is decent. Not much i can say about it. The fighting scenes are good,The Scenery,The Background are all good but maybe the key to which makes the art good is that the Art fits with the Story well. Serious,Happy or even Comedy moments were fitting with the athmosphere really well.

Sound (9/10): The Sound & Music on this one was great! It fits with the story too. Especially the OP & ED Songs. The fighting scene's theme song was my favourite. It just thrills your excitement when you are hearing the music along with the action which makes this anime's Songs Special.

Character (8/10): While there were new character's thrown into the story.The Main Character's themselve's hasn't changed, well not in a bad way but they could have made the

character development better. But with that said i find the character's really enjoyable and never found it boring at all.

Enjoyment (8/10): This Anime was enjoyable but was also lame at times that i almost dropped it. The Thing that got me

unsatisfied with it is because of the "Common" Thing that happenes as the story progresses. Like the cliche "Index Bite

at Touma's Head" or "Touma's I'll Beat that Illusion of Yours"

It was repeating again and again i almost fell asleep while watching the anime. But overall good Enjoyment.

Overall (8/10): This Review is finally coming to a close. And overall the Anime was decent and sometimes it was also "Special" but that's it nothing more nothing less just decent Portrayal of Action and Comedy.

Well Guys this is the end of my review...sorry if i'm still crappy at this but this is my 3rd review in MAL so please give suggestions and advices on how to make my review's better :) i'll appreciate it. #Da_Harem_King Signing Off

Great story, good battles, but the absolute most annoying characters in history. Index and Mini-Misaka 20001 makes me want to pound my face into my table. They just won't shut the fuck up. Excessive talking during battles while people are dying right behind that person. Sometimes I wonder how they even make it out of there. Only going to give a longer review, solely for the battles and animation. You're thrown into a world where human beings have insane amounts of power. Naturally being humans we want to know who is more powerful, and again as humans we perpetually try to surpass that power. This animeshows power isn't everything. It also shows what it would look like to give an animator knowledge of plasma.

Writing a standalone review for an anime that is a sequel to another anime without referring to the predecessor is quite hard, what with all the comparing you need to do between the two shows. What was better? What went worse? Which season is the best one? Why? Questions like these will be brought up and thus, I am going to mention Index 1 in this review as well, but not to a far extent. However, I believe that shouldn't be a problem, since (I assume) you've probably watched season 1 already, which is why you're currently reading a review to its sequel. In my reviewfor Index 1, I compared the show to a dinner consisting of grilled meat with various side dishes. I'm going to do the same with Index 2, so without further ado, let us move on.

So here we are again. You're sitting in the very same restaurant as last time, with the very same chef cooking you the very same meal. After he or she apologized for their mistakes regarding your last dinner here, you have agreed on giving them a new chance. Before long, the same plate is present at your table. There are the tender potatoes, the fresh vegetables and the tasty wine at the side. Then, there is the beef. Again, it at least looks and smells delicious, but you've learned to be skeptical when it comes to the food here by now. Nevertheless, it's time to see if the mistakes of the past have yielded the poor chef any experience.

While still, very unfortunately, carrying with it some problems from the past, Toaru Majutsu no Index II is at least undoubtedly a better show than its predecessor. However, it is not so by too long a shot. Some (severe) issues regarding the consistency and description of the plot have been resolved, but they're not completely wiped out. Index 2 handles it's main story far better than the first season, with arcs being much more vowen into each other and characters not being forgotten. Also, there is actually some interaction between the parties of science and magic this time around. Nevertheless, the show still loses some potential with recurring faults. While the problems aren't big, they're many.

The meat is, for starters, edible this time around. It tastes nothing exceptional, but at least you know you can leave behind you an empty plate this evening. When taking the meal for what it is, the dinner is actually fairly enjoyable.

STORY: 5

A score of 5 is a vast improvement over 2, which is what I rated the story of Index 1. The main improvement here is the consistency of events that unfold and the amount of depth given to each of them. The connection between happenings isn't always clear, but at least it's there. Characters (especially important ones) who are introduced are not forgotten anymore, which also adds to the fleshing out of them. All that being said, while 5 certainly is higher than 2, it's still far away from the higher scores. Agaian, Index 2 handles a lot of issues from the first season in a good way, but very few of these issues go completely solved. The story, while good, is far from as solid as it should be. Details of importance are still lost in the great void of bad storytelling, and sometimes events and happenings are downright mind-numbingly confusing as they seem to happen without you clearly knowing why. This goes for the last one or two arcs especially, where so much goes down while so little is clear.

Index 2 still divides the entire story into several different arcs, and it does so in a (much) better fashion than its predecessor. The arcs are consistent - they are connected. Next to all of them are interesting this time (some moments are even bloody awesome) and it feels like everything is adding to the core of the anime. However (forgive the repetitiveness by this point), some stories could have been told better. Thinking about it, this has been the true main problem up to this point for the entire time. While stumbling over its own feet, Index 2 loses details, sometimes crucial information, which are nothing short of needed for the viewer to fully understand what is going on. In the end though, Index as a series at least seems to be on its way towards the right track with many improvements having been made to it. It's far from perfect, but a show is (almost) always more enjoyable if stuff actually makes sense.

ART: 8

Next to identical when compared to Index 1. Index 2 uses the same tone, same colors, same shading and so on. Note though that this isn't a bad thing. Far from it. I enjoyed the simple yet charming art-style of Index 1 a lot, and it being reused for Index 2 was nothing more than a welcome course of action. Nothing is too extremely detailed or well-drawn, but the skillful usage of simple colors to breathe life into the show is respectable and appreciated.

SOUND: 7

Nothing stands out, but at the same time, nothing is bad. Very similar to Index 1 again, Index 2 hits the nail on its head while trying to set the mood right for specific events. Sound effects, just like the music, sound like they should - nothing exceptional yet nothing wrong.

The two things I do need to emphasize this time around are both openings respectively. They are, simply put, breathtaking. Even one who knows of Index's flaws regains hope and is deceived into thinking that everything surrounding the show is epic when they hear and see the colossi that the openings are. Maybe it's just me, but I'm serious. They are that good. The endings have also improved this time around, and are quite solid when used in the show.

CHARACTERS: 7

Considering the fact that the score of the characters category here is identical to the one of my Index 1 review, it may seem odd seeing that characters actually got more time develop in Index 2. Yes, characters are consistent and ever-present in the second season, but while being so, they are still the ones you know from season 1. Touma has more time to be simply Touma, Misaka is the same girl who only gets a spoonful added to her person, and so forth. While characters are frequently presented in Index 2, they use their extra time to just present more of who they usually are anyway. The one character who actually progressed in his development was Accelerator, and that was one of the best things with the entire anime. Finally, as was the case with Index 1, side characters can sometimes carry too little importance for them to actually matter to the audience, and once they've had their handful of moments of importance or comic relief, they are quickly shunned away.

ENJOYMENT: 5

You like what you see, but you dislike what you know is bad simply because the storytelling varies from bad to abysmal. While being a step up from what Index 1 was, Index 2 is still plagued with the same faults, albeit at a smaller scale than its predecessor. The improved consistency of season 2 makes the show much easier to enjoy than season 1, however, and when the show manages to present what it has to tell in a decent way, the result is actually pretty impressive.

OVERALL: 6

Index 2 is an improvement over Index 1, yes, but it is still a shame that so much gets lost because of bad storytelling. The main draw in the disappointment in both season 1 and 2 is that you can actually see the mighty impressive world created in the universe of Toaru Majutsu no Index. You know that everything needed for a fantastic experience is right there. However, when the ingredients are treated in the wrong way, what had the potential to be phenomenal becomes a saddening, dull mass of grey matter that you simply want to throw away. While Index 2 doesn't go that far, the show is still a crystal clear example of lost potential.

The meal is finished. In the end, it was fine, nothing more than that. Similar to a story that is treated in a bad way, you know that the faults don't lie within the food itself, but rather in the one who made it. If Index 2 is the ingredients which eventually turned out as the beef you just ate, the bad storytelling of the creator(s) is the chef in this case. Just like the chef had every chance in the world to turn the ingredients into something wonderful but failed, the creators of Toaru Majutsu no Index didn't manage to turn what they had into the sensation it very well could have become.

When it all comes down to it, much like the food presented to you, Toaru Majutsu no Index is only fair at best because someone else messed it up. If a third season is ever released, I hope it's treated with the respect and care it genuinely deserves. A show that has all the potential in the world to grow up and become something grand but is never given the opportunity to do so is simply everyone's loss.

This review would include season one and season two. [7]Story: The plot in ToAru is fairly good, but generic, a boy protecting his city and the people that he loves. There is no uniqueness in that. That being said, there is no plot development whatsoever, just the same guy doing the same things with different villains. On the upside, all the action scenes are fun to watch and usually keeps you on the edge of your seat. [10]Art: Outstanding animation, and the supernatural powers in ToAru are pretty unique and fun to watch. Background scenery is exceptional. Characters were eye-appealing. [9]Sound:As for sound, it was very well done. Using Mami Kawada would be pretty fitting if the anime revolved around the female lead though. Voice actors, just simply amazing. I particularly think the female lead's voice is somewhat annoying.

[4]Character: The character development in ToAru is terrible. You learn nothing about the main characters' pasts and the interaction between them is pointless. Characters come and go, except for the male lead and a couple others. I'd say there are far too many characters as well that are introduced. The main female lead, Index, is very annoying as well. She's childish, uncute, and is only there so guys don't get bored of constantly looking at Touma. In the first season, she was introduced as a very important character and helped Touma through everything. Despite having her name in the actual title of the anime itself, she plays an unimportant role in the second season. This anime would have been a lot better if Index and her powers were further revealed. Touma also has a annoying and stupid thing he says constantly, and Index keeps being a little b@#$% and complains to him and then bites him on the head.

[9]Enjoyment: Despite the flaws in ToAru, this anime was actually very enjoyable for me and I couldn't wait for each episode to come out. But, this has no re-watch value whatsoever to me.

[7]Overall: With ToAru, I thought it was a fairly decent anime despite the flaws. If you like good action with a cool male lead, then this is your anime. If you're more into detail and characters, I wouldn't recommend this to you.

~ In a place where Science and Magic are at equilibrium ~ (TL;DR Version: Bottom Paragraph) In many ways the "Index" story/perspective bit off more than it could chew, and so while To Aru Majutsu No Index II is an IMPROVEMENT to the initial season in many ways, and regardless: a thrilling journey overall... IT'S LIMITING AND COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH MORE... As a continuation of the Toaru "Index" story, Toaru Majutsu no Index II is the sequel to begin work on bringing the comparatively chaotic and rushed first season (particularly past episode 10, as you can read up in my Toaru Majutsu no Index review)to a satisfying conclusion. "Index II" as I will abbreviate this sequel season from now on set about rectifying LOTS of the prominent issues that arose during the previous 24-episode season; and to an extent this worked at increasing the overall vividness and development of the stories. For Index II to have accomplished this, it has evidently worked to subdue the fast-pacing issues combating depth in the prior season, and begin to take more time to explain the intricacies of the characters and plot. At least until the end drew near.

Contrasting with the "Railgun" story/perspective, even after the so-called culmination of the "Index" story shown here, it was still frustratingly left with a number of open ends. This is likely the result of the copious amount of arcs that were thrown in prior, and so whereas the "Railgun" story was given more time to develop consistently and conclude strongly; "Index II" proved unable to finish what it had begun. I therefore say that it was destined to fail at achieving its full potential from the start...

Advancements...

The eventful life of Touma and Index in Academy City, plagued by the large scale conflict between science and magic of which they are both apart, is directly continued into Index II. Context continues to be integrated into the story through various revelations and realizations associated with a wide range of characters throughout. Arcs therefore tend to become clearer as the show is given time to progress.

The evolution of the prior season into Index II is similar to that of "Toaru Kagaku no Railgun" into "Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S": It feels more passionate and gripping. Primarily this is because Index II shows a fortunate change of technical investments. Most significantly, Index II is the sequel to ditch the "content cramming" of the first season, as i remember quoting in the corresponding review. Index II puts an end to abrupt endings and transitions, besides the odd unannounced classroom filler episode here and there. This means that each story seems more wholesome and more importantly: relevant to a greater plot.

Instead of throwing up new enemies here and there like in the previous season to emphasize a sense of time and scale, Index II makes the wiser choice of favoring content quality over quantity. It showcases a more more considered approach which brings the motivations and personal complexities of each character, be it a friend or foe: to life. The relentless action across the entire Toaru franchise gives the whole thing an obvious cinematic "kick", as Index II continues to uphold this intensity. In addition, it brings about more unpredictability and in turn tension during the countless battles, just by leveling out the characters' abilities. This somewhat suppresses the formulaic and therefore flawed nature of Touma's typical path to victory, but the real development here is the introduction of the above mentioned "considered approach".

It adds to the cinematic and action-filled events of the "Index" story by factoring in more character motivations, and backstories. It brings about a more personal "kick" by lessening the distance between the viewer and the far-fetched characters by means of linking the two through better elaborated upon plights. It's an overused term, but this serves to deepen/bring some weight to an otherwise spontaneous set of leaps from bad-guy to bad-guy as were shown during the previous season.

I have no doubt here that Index II made the right choice in allowing more time to cover material brought up too quickly prior, instead of filling up excessively on content scale, though it's far from minimal. One of my favourite examples of character development here is that of Accelerator, who similarly to Touma is given a very intimate form of documentation which incorporates a very personal-feeling viewpoint via integration of inner-thoughts and motivations. He is an example of how Index II builds up from what the previous season started... and I so really enjoyed the result of this continued exploration and explanations; on top of the more surprising and suspenseful battles which when combined give Index II a greater sense of substance, and allow for viewers to become more intrigued.

Other characters: Agnese and even Shirai for example receive some light during Index II as well; which helps towards clarity. More importantly though is the way that instead of discarding old information and development by introducing something completely different afterwards: as was often shown in the previous season... Index II is much better at integrating elements of the "Index" story together though greater transitional consideration. It actually develops and builds much better in a more cohesive fashion; and so with such an improved approach compared to the prior season, why is it only "1 mark" higher?

Downsides... Involving the "Index" story as a whole

When Index II rectified a lot of issues as mentioned above, it subsequently revealed a lot of loose ends particularly towards the conclusion, which drag down the very high level of presentation value.

Most significantly, the ending: an underwhelming, inconclusive and ambiguous finish which hints at a direct conclusion that's likely to never come about: the "Railgun" story being a side/alternative/child plot line as opposed to a continuation for those unaware. The ending didn't show a good culmination or conclusion to the war we were first introduced to on episode one of the previous season, as it's almost like it never happened. The "Index" story talks a lot about a clash of science and magic, but they're always treated as separated elements. When your penultimate episode is called "Before the war" in spite of the fact that it was supposed to be coming to some sort of conclusion or conclusive message... goes to show that clearing up the errors of the previous season was too big-a-task for Index II on top of finishing properly what it had begun. It was unable to finish what it had set out to do.

Coming to a close...

Index II is so much better when compared to the first "Index" story season...

And so i agree with the many critics out there who rightfully point out that the story as a whole, FRUSTRATINGLY leaves too much unexplained to come to a satisfying closure. Had it been given more time in a direct continuation, it might have hoped to achieve its potential, as the context and premise (mentioned in my previous season review) brings about such an interesting setup. The religious war theme works really well, but is simply not expressed near fully at all.

TL;DR

+ GREATLY Improved character development

+ GREATLY Improved cohesion of arcs

+ GREATLY Improved pacing until near the end

+ Improved tension and unpredictability in battle

+ Maintained decent audiovisuals

- Still formulaic by nature

- Underwhelming conclusion

- Lots left unexplained

- I waited for some more of Index here as a character, but she remains very underdeveloped

~ Power is striven for to tilt the scales... ~

Let me start out by stating that this season is incredibly boring. The plot is incredibly simple, but the characters have basically no motivation whatsoever. The main character, Touma, is unlikable and still has no motivation for doing what he does. The side characters are even less interesting. The only mildly interesting character in this show is Accelerator, who is the only character to get an actual character arc. The season is broken up into several small arcs. All these arcs do not flow into each other and feel very separated. It feels like the characters are constantly just forced into new situations and just reactto what happens. Each of these stories is incredibility simple but feel very drawn out. This season could really be about half the length if they just cut out all the exposition and recurring gags. The fight scenes, as usual for this show, are boring and uninteresting, mostly consisting of Touma yelling at the villains until they actually fight.

The art and sound quality are the only decent elements of this season. I would not recommend watching this, as it is overall pathetically boring. The only reason I can think of to watch this season is if you are interested in the Railgun or Accelerator shows, or the Accelerator arc. Even then, I would just skip around all of the parts involving Touma.

I'll write this review with the fact that you've seen the first season. I've also written the prequels review so feel free to read it too. Anyway, the second season is better than the first due to a few aspects. We get more eye candy, new characters and some good action. Story 8/10: The story is the same as it was before. Touma, with his right hand can defeat any magician and esper. Touman, like before, is the main character of the series. Index, well she shows up few and far between but the main focus is Touma. The series is split into magic arcs and science arcs, justlike before. And just like before, the science arcs are pretty amazing as compared to the magic ones. One thing I liked in this sequel is that they really mixed up science and magic in a few arcs which made things much interesting. By mix up, I mean the magic arc is set in Academy City, and they also show many espers instead of the magicians themselves.

Some arcs had me wishing they'd end sooner and some episodes were so enjoyable that they went by in a flash. So, it's pretty much the same as it was before but new characters spice up the story a bit.

Art 8/10:

Same as before. Pretty nice animation and graphics quality. And much more abundance of eye candy as compared to the prequel which, as we all know, is good.

Sound 7/10:

Some people like the songs of this series while some don't like them. I didn't find the songs to be anything interesting as to listen to them all the time.

Character 8/10:

Kamijou Touma is the same as he was before. But I think he gets a bit more confident in his ability in the sequel.

Magicians Cast:

Many new magicians appear in this sequel and some old ones disappear. Kanzaki Kaori, being my favorite character is nowhere to be seen during the entire series. She becomes more of a side-side-side character. She has importance in the story but we don't get to see her much. Tsuchimikadou is the main cast from the magicians side. And we do get to see Stiyl often but Tsuchimikadou is the main cast.

Esper Cast:

As with the magic side, some new characters appear from the espers as well. Most of them are from the school of Touma but new baddies also appear.

Only a few new characters have their stories explained while others are just for the moment. But they also play a role in the story's events.

All in all, the new characters are a pretty nice improvement and keep the show going good.

Enjoyment 8/10:

Well, I can't say that I enjoyed this as much as I did other anime. Since some parts were quite stretched out and some drama here and there got be pretty bored. But I definitely did enjoy Touma punching the hell out of his opponents. Academy City is, as always, the best place to be in this anime, speaking in terms of eye candy, action, comedy. Some magic arcs take place outside the city and they were quite boring to watch.

Overall, this is a good anime but not as good as I expected it to be. And with the ending they put, it's just begging for a sequel. If you watch this anime, it's good but if you don't watch it, you lose nothing. It's not an anime that you must definitely watch. It's just ok. Not bad, but not amazing either.

Fresh off the second season's finale. Story hangs in a more or less cliffhanger of events as the story converges to the climactic prologue of the next arc (novel readers would already know this). But let's be honest here, I guess most of you already know what's coming, having googled a certain wiki. If yes, you're wasting your time reading this guano of a review. If not, or if you have and yet you feel like you want to continue; I thank thee for your compliance! Season 2 of Index, I would say, is a very hasty season as compared to the first one. Arcs are dividedinto smaller segments this time around, at least that's how I feel. The only problem I see with this is that non-novel and non-Wiki readers would have some problems transitioning in-between events. What I don't get is also why the hell did the production wasted so much time on a certain arc (Daihaseisai arc if you must know) and leaving so many loopholes during the last few bits of the season.

Also, almost every episode you see fights and Touma's never ending generalization of things (reminds me alot of Kokuto Mikiya's bro-ness, except a bit more annoying). Fans of the first season who were enticed by the uniqueness of the abilities present in the Index universe would be delighted to know that you finally get to enjoy the tender, fluffy texture of the cake. More so if you're a fan of Magic instead of Esper abilities; A major chunk of Season 2 has our heroes deal more with the Church than with Academy City affairs, the latter only being zoomed in during the later part of the season.

Oh and guess what! Finally a change of scenery as our heroes not only do what they do in good-ol' Academy City! I was really getting sick of the dense urban jungle Academy City is. I think I'd even say that it looks better when it's destroyed.

Character development has been, I would say "fragmented" throughout the season. Touma still has his memory destruction thing, and everyone in the season is oblivious to it (except maybe Aleister Crowley, since he's the floating dude who planned the shits going on in the entire series anyway, bet he enjoys doing a "All According to Keikaku" look in his sad room). And he's the same Touma we know from season 1, prior to and after the whole memory thing. As mentioned above, he does his whole generalization and "illusion" breaking stuff with his right hand. Oh and yes Touma still one-shots everyone, and everything, with his Imagine Breaker. At least it's balanced by making him a total wimp of justice.

Index has been demoted to the position of mascot. But that's ok, because the good part is coming in Season 3 (Hopefully)! Ok let me just skip to the good part of the character development stuff. I really, REALLY enjoyed Accelerator's appearance in Season 2. Now who here actually disagrees with me that his vector manipulation is made of win? Ever since his introduction in season 1, I've been hoping for moar of him. Sure, the small arc about saving Last Order in the previous season served a purpose as to pave the way towards his grandiose role he's supposed to have in the series, BUT IT WASN'T ENOUGH. Season 2 does just that: His soft-side (I know, dichotomy), his "ideals" and his "goals" are all laid down for us, and we get to see just what is behind that facade he puts on.

Along with Accelerator comes with Last Order. Awww, I just love the way she speaks where she repeats the Misaka part. A friend of mine often disregard it as "utter annoyance" but seriously now, it's kinda heartwarming when she does that, even when she's feeling kinda down.

The Magic side expands greatly this season. Abilities such as displacing action to a certain designated spot, grimoires creation, global AoE incapacitation, etc. You have a woman with big jugs, you have a yandere whose flat chested, and you have a loli too. What's there not to freaking like? On a side note, I prefer big jugs.

The first OP I find to be catchy, and my favourite of the openings. Kawada Mami's electro-pop "No Butts!" really fits into the overall fast-paced action you ought to see in the series. I think the production team really did a good job having her sing the OPs. Her style of music, I would say, accentuates with the feel of Academy City's technological aspect, while the lyrics serve to mash up the Magic side's religious aspects.

I didn't really liked the first ED, but Memories Last does a good job bringing an episode to an end. Especially during the last episodes (I think last 6? I don't really remember), the often cliffhanging, destitution filled endings really play well with the beginning of the song's soft synthesizer tunes.

Overall, I would say Toaru no Majutsu no Index II is a somewhat enjoyable sequel to its predecessor. The weaknesses are mostly associated with the standpoint of the arcs the season is in; there isn't really nothing to actually complain or advise against. That being said, I strongly recommend watching the second season, and start looking forward to season 3; Because I'm in love with Takitsubo Rikou.

Haters gonna hate.

id give it an 11 but it does not go that high to me this was a fun anime it just one of those anime's you'd be willing to watch again just because how fun it was to watch only wished i got to watch it in dubbed because when im watching sub it ruins some of the fun of actually watching that anime not reading so in short this anime has people with and without strange powers battling and the main character whose powers just void other powers gets to knock all the evil people in the face which is just fun towatch the so called powerful people astonish look on there face

A Certain Magical Index 2 in a nutshell: Fanservice villians vs touma's right fist Story (8/10) The story continues as powerful religious organizations want to take a hold of Index to take one of the 103,000 books inside her. What I hated most about the previous season is the rush of plot and throwing in 6 arcs. In this season, they shoved down another 6 arcs in 1 season. However, this time, the plot was somewhat easy to follow. These 6 arcs are called "Orsola Aquinas Rescue", "Tree Diagram Remnant", "Daihaisei Festival", "The Queen of the Adriatic Sea", "Academy City Invasion", and "Skill-out Uprising". The plotwas somewhat easy to follow because unlike Season 1, the plot doesn't jump around randomly every arc. They're all connected together. Also, the arcs are not all about Touma. It also focused on Accelerator, Misaka, and Shirai.

Art/Animation (9/10)

The Animation is a big improvement from the 1st season. The environment and character design looks more beautiful. Still a bit choppy here and there but they're not that significant.

Soundtrack (8/10)

The soundtrack is the same as the one I've heard in "A Certain Scientific Railgun". I love the soundtrack from Railgun so I also love it here. I don't think I've heard any exclusive soundtrack. Anyways, OP1 and ED1 was complete trash. By the time I was at episode 5, I started skipping the opening soundtrack because I couldn't handle it. On the other hand, OP2 and ED 2 was a big improvement.

Character (8/10)

All of the characters from the first Index are here with some new characters being introduced. Most of them are antagonists and some of them are characters that are added in Touma's harem. What I didn't like about the antagonists and some few new supporting characters are their appearance. I mean what the hell is up with their boob sizes? I couldn't really take them seriously. The only new characters I liked are the sisters of the Roman Orthodox Church. Some characters from Railgun also made an appearance here like Uiharu.

Enjoyment (7/10)

I only enjoyed the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th arc. The remaining arcs are just either too stupid, full of fanservice, or just a filler.

Overall (8/10)

Overall, the anime is an improvement from the 1st season but it still has a lot of flaws. At least, they learned to not throw a bunch of information at you in 1 minute and expect you to understand everything. Some people say Index 2 is better than both Railgun and Railgun S. I have to disagree with that. Index's biggest flaw is they rush the arc and the plot. In Railgun, they focus on 2 arcs only and it actually takes time for the story to develop.

Pros:

-Story was an improvement from the 1st Season

-They learned from some of their mistakes from the 1st Season

-Better Animation

-Soundtrack slightly improved

-Characters from the 1st season is still likable

-Few funny moments

Cons:

-Plot is still slightly rushed

-They still throw in 6 arcs instead of just focusing on 2-3.

-Antagonists and some new supporting characters are full of fanservice

-Protagonist can sometimes be frustrating

I was really excited for this season since season 1 was one of my faves. However, I was left dissapointed with each arc... The only arc I liked was where Kuroko had time to shine, it is probably the only arc where it didn't finish with Touma punching someone is the face. Too bad it was rushed as well, but still very enjoyable. Otherwise it is the same thing over and over, Touma has a huge speech and then punches someone in the face, I mean come on! There are a lot of skilled characters with far more experience yet they always get tossed to theside while our beginner Touma punches the shit out of the enemy -_-

Touma had used his Imagine Breaker so many times that I can't belive that enemies side still didn't figure out how to fight it. Whenever enemy seems to notice his hand power, they still for some stupid reason end up falling for it. They don't change their tactics at all! Or at least not to the point that it would be THAT noticable =/

Why can't it be like in Kuroko's and Awaki's arc where it wasn't Touma who finished the fight?

Then comes characters issue, Index was seriously annoying this time around. All she did was getting mad at Touma for no reason and then bite him 100 times... Is she some kind of dog?

Kaori had joined Touma's harem... how did THAT happen?!

The only entertaining thing was when magic and science side decided to strike at the same time but even then conclusion wasn't as great as I wanted...

Series did have some really interesting arc beginings which got me excited but the moment we reached conclusion, it was a fail. Some conclusions were actually very dumb, to the point that you wanted to slap yourself.

I really hope that if there will be season 3, that the arcs conclusions will be far more exciting and less repetitive because for now they all can be named "TOUMA PUNCH!".

I give this season 7 over all, I would have given less but I still respect season 1 and this season did have good ideas which sadly were crashed later.