A Certain Magical Index II #13 — Stupidity Compounded

January 7th, 2011

 

At least the nightmare of this arc is finally over.

Impressions:

What a truly godawful end to this arc. At least the fight was decently animated, although it was still painful to watch. Oriana was beating the crap out of Touma until Stiyl started attacking too, but by tripping over random rocks and/or running into Touma, he was able to throw Touma’s punches off enough to hit her. This is how I expect the lead of a terrible harem comedy to defeat the obligatory sword-girl, not as the culmination of a freaking month long arc for something that is pretending to be serious. Plus, I can only imagine poor Stiyl watching the whole thing after she stabbed him. "I think… she punctured my lung… blood’s covering the ground… Is he whining about that damn sports festival again?"

Even that could have been forgiven if not for the asspulltastic conclusion to it, and if that’s not a word yet, it should be. "Ha ha! Your plans wouldn’t have worked anyway, because… ha ha! Fireworks!" And that’s how it ends. With Touma spending about four minutes literally talking to Oriana’s cleavage before blatant deus ex machina saves the day. The Christians defeated because they forgot to check their cell phones. Not because of anything Touma did. Apparently they could have just taken a nap and still won. Great. This arc is not going down as one of your high points, Index. Yeah, sure, she may have gotten tossed out of a plane by magic cards and disembodied voices afterwards, but when was the last time a fall killed anybody. Not like it even matters because the only interaction the cast had with her was her communicating to them through Oriana’s breasts.

Good god, I’m just happy this abhorrent arc is finished.

Preview:

Breasty nuns return.

Posted in Index | 18 Comments »

18 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • alex says:
    January 7, 2011 at 8:21 am

    What is Ika doing here ?: http://tenka.seiha.org/images2/index213/index213_62.jpg
    Got Shrimps ?: http://tenka.seiha.org/images2/index213/index213_90.jpg

  • Anise_Punter says:
    January 7, 2011 at 9:14 am

    Comparing the awesomely wonderful Ika to anything voiced by Yuka Iguchi has got to be a crime, Alex.

    As for Aroduc’s question “when was the last time a fall killed anybody”, I’m pretty sure the answer was Tom Baker’s 4th Doctor in the 1981 camp classic episode “Logopolis”, which was before my time anyway. Anybody catch the Christmas special?

    I thought this arc was the most entertaining the Index/Railgunverse has been in its 2 1/2 seasons to be honest, even if Oriana’s “clothes” were unable to pass my suspension of disbelief test.

  • Nanaya says:
    January 7, 2011 at 10:28 am

    I knew you would love this ending. Touma could not get over the sports festival, out of all possible motivations… I couldn’t stop laughing when I read how it was resolved by light pollution of all things. All that effort and pain for absolutely nothing.

    Although it does feel kind of nice to have a situation that doesn’t revolve entirely around the protagonist’s actions and presence.

  • The Phantom says:
    January 7, 2011 at 10:43 am

    This has been by far Index worst arc, it was extended too much and the conclusion was terrible, I’m glad that this is over and hope that accelerator shows up next arc.

  • Lero says:
    January 7, 2011 at 10:54 am

    “The Christians defeated because they forgot to check their cell phones. Not because of anything Touma did. Apparently they could have just taken a nap and still won.”
    The truth is sad, just by asking Index what to do about the cross, this stupid arc would have ended in less than 3 episodes. Guess why Index wass angry at an overprotective and stupid Touma?
    Again, this happens because of fans whining over their fav characters to appear like Kuroko and Mikoto… sigh.

  • shadow says:
    January 7, 2011 at 2:59 pm

    I think really the angaka hate the girls.

  • Hogart says:
    January 7, 2011 at 3:27 pm

    >> This is how I expect the lead of a terrible harem comedy to defeat the obligatory sword-girl

    But.. isn’t that what this show is? At least, ever since Misaka was introduced. It’s even fanservice-centric now.

  • Solaris says:
    January 7, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    I knew you people would end complaining. That’s all folks. I suggest you to stop thinking about the plot and just enjoy Index at the level of nice comedic harem with lots of fanservice, if that’s how little far you can go with it.

  • longhaul says:
    January 7, 2011 at 3:38 pm

    Aroduc rage at the how the ending was expected, but it does fit with everything being keikaku to Crowley.

    • longhaul says:
      January 7, 2011 at 11:50 pm

      :elaborating:
      The fact that the Roman Catholics had no issue (potentially)ruining the festival that so many were not only looking forward to but had put alot of work into, was what made it fitting that the festival itself ruined the Roman Catholics own plans.

  • Honoo says:
    January 7, 2011 at 5:37 pm

    @longhaul: Face it, Crowley trolls everyone. He does not even spare those outside the fourth wall.

    … Time to plan on dropping this because of him? Hmm…

  • Twi says:
    January 7, 2011 at 7:20 pm

    This fight actually seems more awesome in the novels, as it gives more insight into stiyl’s motives, making me like him more. That being said, I did figure most people would complain about the ending.

    They won because of fireworks, what were you expecting?
    For Touma to suddenly find her with less than 10 minutes left on the clock and knock her out?

    And Crowley does troll everyone. Accelerator, Touma, several other important people, etc.

  • Peanutbutter003 says:
    January 7, 2011 at 10:23 pm

    That was goddamned awful indeed.

  • ~xxx says:
    January 9, 2011 at 1:22 am

    well, Touma is wrong for not letting index knew the situation because she knows the peter’s cross… that could save their time on beating up Oriana in the first place.

    And finally, I could hope for a better story after this.

  • Wilfriback says:
    January 9, 2011 at 8:16 pm

    Stupid Touma and his stupid friend are really Stupid.

    In the first arc, they avoided to chase the whole night the Amakusa because Index only said “hey, the spell only works on midnight” but didn’t asked for her help this time and spend 4 episodes only to know the spell with the cross fails when there is interferences with the light in the sky.

    Now that I think about it, shouldn’t be Tsuchimikado the culprit of all this? Afterall he told Touma to keep Index away from the event with the cross.