天下制覇

Don’t talk back.

Impressions:

Well, this sucked. As an end to the arc, as a stepping off point for the series, and just as an episode in general. The series didn’t end so much as just stop. However, it did not suck enough to be entertainingly bad, so I can’t even muster up enough caring to mock it. No horrible direction, nor incomprehenisble plot tacked on in the eleventh hour, just your run of the mill dry boring clumsy exposition, which is arguably even worse. Instead, the episode was just the standard Touma blathering ad nauseam, and then he punched a few helpless things, sometimes women, sometimes giant immobile golems. He never stopped proselytizing through the entire episode, and even got to rehash the whole "you’re not a monster" speech just in case a third time was needed. Or are we on the fourth?

Anyway, Sherry takes two more shots to the chops. It turns out that nobody’s made of blue sparklies. And then Hyouka vanishes, restoring the natural order, yet still creating a bit of a vacuum in the air as her enormous deadweights disappear along with her. The most entertaining part of the episode was Kuroko assaulting Mikoto in the shower… which… probably shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody. I’d wager that Kuroko assaulting Mikoto would be a high point no matter what show you stuck it in. Then some random foreshadowing with the cutest Archbishop in the world, and back to square one for the usual Touma-Index headchomp gag. Yawn.

At least JCStaff didn’t miss a beat in showing off Index’s thighs. They may not always flaunt breasts, but give them any excuse to show thigh and they can’t resist.

Final thoughts at the bottom.

Final Thoughts:

Index definitely started off strong when it debuted. The premise was intriguing, the characters were well written, and the production good. Then the exposition started and it never really stopped. The show became so caught up in minutia that it forgot the cardinal rule of writing: "Show, don’t tell." There’s nothing wrong with a little exposition, but the series was all too often reduced to a bunch of gabbing heads. If the content was interesting, that’s forgiveable, but when almost all of it is relevant to that arc and that arc only, the smart monkeys learn that none of it actually matters.

That said, I’m honestly really not certain where I stand on this show quite yet. I can’t deny that so much of it is a blur that I really just can’t remember half of it. You never want your show to be forgettable, but when you cram it top to bottom with talking heads saying things that stop being relevant within two weeks, it’s unavoidable. It’s a shame because when the exposition stopped, the show was consistently excellent, but that’s the chocolate center hidden within a big clump of dirt. If you can learn to tune out all the static, then there is a pretty decent show under the mess with a bit of style and a lot of charm. However, it may take you more appletinis to get there than you’re willing to drink.

Yes yes, I know about Rail Gun getting its own show. It’s jive. Kuroko and Mikoto are both cool chicas. There are also about 14 or so more Index series novels that the show hasn’t gotten to, so I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ve seen of any of them.