To Aru Majutsu no Index

To Aru Majutsu no Index (24 episodes, 2008-2009)
(lit. A Certain Magical Index)

I've noticed not many people were particularly impressed by this, and just dropped it a few episodes in, but I found it pretty enjoyable. Admittedly, the story doesn't really go anywhere (yet?), but I found other qualities in the series to be rather appealing.

Synopsis

Although there isn't much of a story to speak of, the general plot of To Aru Majutsu no Index takes place in a Japanese city known as Academy City, a city of education and science. Among the students here, a handful are known as "espers" or "psychics," and possess supernatural/psychic powers, either from birth, or developed over time. Although they possess such powers, however, they are not to be confused with magicians, as magic is a different kind of power, which espers are not meant to use. (Furthermore, if an esper does use magic, their body is heavily injured in the process.)

The main character of the series is Tōma Kamijō, a teenager with seemingly no supernatural powers to speak of, other than his apparent ability to run into misfortune around every turn. Tōma suddenly encounters a young girl, who goes by the name of Index, one day, and finds himself dragged into battles with magicians.

Characters (click names for images)

Main Characters

• Tōma Kamijō: Tōma is a Level 0 who attends school in Academy City. However, despite being ranked as a Level 0, he does possess a unique power, enabling him to cancel, or at least dull, esper and magician techniques with his right hand. This ability is later referred to as "Imagine Breaker."


• Index: Fully named Index Librorum Prohibitorum (sorcery name: Dedicatus545), Index is a young nun from Necessarius (the "Church of Necessary Evil"). The Church has the knowledge of the 103,000 grimoires of the Index-Librorum-Prohibitorum implanted into her mind. (Hence, her name.) However, the Church claims that, because of this, Index's personal memory must be wiped annually, so that her mind isn't overwhelmed by the memory of the grimoires on top of her own personal memories.


• Mikoto Misaka: A student at the all-girls Tokiwadai Middle School in Academy City, Mikoto is a Level 5 esper -- the highest rank given to espers. Her psychic ability allows her to generate and manipulate electricity, which is powerful enough to cause power outages and create railguns using small metallic objects as projectiles.
  (Note: Mikoto is more of a major character in the side story of To Aru Majutsu no Index, called To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (A Certain Scientific Railgun), though she also appears as a main character in Index.)

Other Recurring Characters

• Stiyl Magnus: Stiyl (sorcery name: Fortis931) is a 14-year-old magician and member of Necessarius. His magical ability is the generation and manipulation of fire, including the summoning of a 3000-degree (Celsius) flame called "Innocentius" ("King of Witch Hunters").


• Kaori Kanzaki: Kaori (sorcery name: Salvare000) is an 18-year-old magician and member of Necessarius, often paired with Stiyl. Kaori uses magic to strengthen her own body, and she uses a sword (specifically, a nodachi) named "Seven Heavens Seven Swords" as her weapon of choice. She also uses wires in combination with her sword for an attack called "Nanasen" ("Seven Flash").


• Aisa Himegami: Seemingly a normal young girl, Aisa is known as "Deep Blood," as she has the ability to lure and kill vampires, due to the nature of her blood. This makes her miserable, however, because she views vampires as being no different from normal humans, aside from the blood-sucking. In her search for a way to rid herself of this power, she moves to Academy City, where she meets an alchemist named Aureolus Izzard. Aureolus offers to remove her ability in return for aiding his research to save the life of someone dear to him.


• Motoharu Tsuchimikado: Motoharu is one of Tōma's school friends, as well as his next-door neighbor at the dorms. Although he seems to be a regular student at the school, he has a more complicated background involving Necessarius, which is briefly touched on later in the anime series. (It is further explained in the novelizations.)


• Kuroko Shirai: Kuroko is a student at Tokiwadai Middle School and Mikoto's roommate. She is a Level 4 esper with the power of teleportation, allowing herself and anything in her possession (as long as its weight is about 130-137 kilograms) to anywhere in a radius of about 81-85 meters. However, this ability requires her absolute concentration.


• Komoe Tsukuyomi: Despite her childish appearance, she is actually an adult, and even one of Tōma's teachers. Contradictory to her actual age, however, she often acts childish as well, particularly to her students.
  

Other Notes

• Soundtrack: Although this series' soundtrack didn't especially stand out to me, some tracks did catch my attention, because they just worked very well for the scenes they were used in. Appropriately titled Electromaster, the OST is mostly electronica-based, which actually fits the series pretty well, with all the magic and science present.


• To Aru Majutsu no Index-tan: A series of shorts by this title was released as a DVD special for the anime series. Simply put, it's a parody. The shorts include references to other series as well as inside jokes, and are generally pretty humorous for whatever reasons.

Conclusion

Personally, I don't mind the episodic story/stories. Actually, there seems to be much more to the plot than the anime reveals, although I'm not sure how much more the light novel and manga adaptations may reveal. I'm hoping for a sequel, though I haven't heard anything about one at this moment. However, I have heard that the side story, To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, will be getting an anime adaptation at some point, so that should be a nice supplement.

Plot aside, I just find To Aru Majutsu no Index to be a neat series because of the whole science vs. magic theme, and it's got a decent amount of interesting characters, many with pretty nifty abilities. Academy City makes a pretty interesting setting for the story, as well, what with the schools working alongside the science behind espers.

If you're looking for a steady story to follow, then this may not be for you. However, if you're just looking for a series that puts some neat ideas to work, then I'd suggest giving To Aru Majutsu no Index a try sometime.