neko’s thinkbox

Chomp!

Index is another series I had been eyeing for a few days, especially after reading the first few chapters of the manga. Yeah, it’s yet another manga (or, should I say, light novel) adaptation. But, it looks very promising, and could very well be one of the best shows of this season. AND I have another couple of lolis to add to my favorite list :D

One of those so-called fateful encounters.

The start felt a bit empty, because I had been expecting a little more details about the character, the city and its hidden psychic research institutions, like in the manga. I don’t know how I would have thought about if if I hadn’t read it before. But even so, I’d like to believe that this first episode is on par, if not better than the manga. The animation is almost flawless, the character design is great, the music fits pretty well too, and most importantly, it has a very appealing story with interesting characters.

Starting with Touma Kamijo, the main lead in the series. He is an utterly unlucky guy without any psychic abilities - a Level 0, so to say. Despite his apparent unskillfulness and lack of focus for school, he possesses a much more important power: his right hand is endued with a special feature called “Imagination Killer” (the name might vary between translations). This enables him to nullify any kind of magic, psychic, and even divine attacks, as long as they strike his hand first. However, this cancels his good luck as well, which often ends up getting him into trouble and breaking his own stuff.

Mikoto Misaka is the girl Touma tried to save from the delinquents in the cafe. And as it turns out, she is a Level 5 psychic - a very talented person, a dime a dozen. This makes her pretty arrogant as hell, though, as she doesn’t even spare Touma for his petty heroic deed in the cafe. And she is indeed a gifted psychic: her Rail Gun attack is freaking awesome, launching that coin with mach 3 zomgwtfbbl speed. Who needs a Tazer nowadays - yangire Mikoto will send you a pew pew thunderbolt in no time! Despite all her talent, she’ll never beat Touma though.

And then we have the most important and interesting character, Index. She is some kind of a magicial (loli) girl, who has 10300 books stored in her memory. HECK! With that kind of memory, studying and passing exams would be the easiest of tasks. The next day after the incident with Mikoto, Index appears on Touma’s balcony, apparently having fallen down from the roof while fleeing her assailants. She is cute, really cute, and a little bit cocky - much more so to mock Touma for his disbelief in magic and his claim that his right hand can break everything.

Here, proof.

What fearsome power!

I WANT SUCH A HAND. NOW.
No, wait, on second thought… If I ever fapped with such a hand, my balls might fall off, or something like that…

Anyway, Touma gives her some food, and as he leaves for school, Index walks off on her own, once again mentioning the dangerous situation she is in, which leaves Touma pretty worried. As for why Index is being pursued… or about her seemingly endless memory… I cannot tell yet. That would spoil the first couple of episodes already, but if you must know, do read the manga. It’s awesome.

And finally, we got another loli, even cuter than Index: Komoe Tsukuyomi-sensei, and I’d like to highlight the MOE part in her name. Look at her, isn’t she just cute!

Who wouldn’t want such a teacher? Heck. Society finally recognized that pupils automatically pay more attention to the class if it means to please such a cute loli teacher. Although, I wonder about Komoe’s real age… but who cares, right? It’s all about the looks~
What makes her better than Index? Her pink hair! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have a weakness sorry, I am severely addicted to red/pink-haired girls and lolis… and thus it’s an instant win for Komoe-chan :3

There isn’t much else besides the introduction of the characters in this episode except the intriguing beginning of the plot at the very end of the episode: Touma, returning to his apartment in the evening, finds Index lying in front of his door, surrounded by cleaning robots. This funny situation suddenly becomes serious when he finds out that Index is unconscious, and bleeding. And her assailant is standing just behind him… A magician? Jikai! Otanoshimini etc.

So, the anime feels pretty serious, much more than in the manga, where the tension isn’t as intense. Then again that effect is greatly achieved by the music in the anime, especially the opening and ending themes; they all give the anime a more solemn undertone. Having read the first couple of chapters before watching this episode, I was a bit worried at first after hearing the opening (PSI-missing by Kawada Mami) since I thought it might not really fit, but right now I feel pretty comfortable with it, and it’s an awesome song. Same reaction with the ending song (Rimless~フチナシノセカイ~ by IKU).

Wasn’t I talking about the manga? Ah yeah. Currently, there are only two volumes out, the third will be released around December. At the current pace, it is safe to assume that the anime will overtake the manga soon, just like Tora-Dora. And having already caught up with the manga, I’m craving for more. I should read the light novel here, too. Hope I can find a translation of it somewhere, like the Tora-Dora light novel.

At any rate, I will be looking forward to the next episodes with great enthusiasm. I hope JC Staff won’t mess it up.

Otherwise, you’ll make Cute Index cry.