Toaru Majutsu no Index III
A Certain Magical Index III
とある魔術の禁書目録Ⅲ
Touma Kamijou can't catch a break. After the invasion of Academy City, political tensions continue to rise as both the science and magic factions collide head on. It appears that Academy City intends to declare war against the Roman Catholic Church, consequently plunging the whole world into global warfare. Touma soon finds himself on the front lines once again, striving to protect his friends and allies. Toaru Majutsu no Index III serves as the last installment of the original franchise as Touma, Accelerator, and the true Level 0 Shiage Hamazura continue their separate journeys, leading up to the final act of the original light novel series. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Synopsis
Touma Kamijou can't catch a break. After the invasion of Academy City, political tensions continue to rise as both the science and magic factions collide head on. It appears that Academy City intends to declare war against the Roman Catholic Church, consequently plunging the whole world into global warfare. Touma soon finds himself on the front lines once again, striving to protect his friends and allies. Toaru Majutsu no Index III serves as the last installment of the original franchise as Touma, Accelerator, and the true Level 0 Shiage Hamazura continue their separate journeys, leading up to the final act of the original light novel series. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Stark700
April 5, 2019
“Disappointment is a sort of bankruptcy – the bankruptcy of a soul that expends too much in hope and expectation”. – Eric Hoffer Watching Index Season III is like procrastinating a school project where hope seems lost with you clinging onto a tiny bit of hope that somehow, someway, everything may be ok. I began watching Index since 2011 and got into the light novels around 2014. While the first two seasons certainly had its share of flaws, both series managed to capture a good deal of concepts that I applauded for. It’s not easy to craft a story with so many characters, conflicts, and intersectingstorylines altogether in a complex system of magic and science. Here we are in 2018-2019, and we are gifted for the long anticipated third season. And with my sincere and deepest regret, I proclaim Index III as a disgraceful abomination. I remember watching some of the Dengeki Festival events in the past few years. Every time, it seems we are so close to the Index Season 3 announcement, it ends up with a tease of “please, just wait a little bit longer!” The long wait ended on September 30, 2017. I jumped in joy realizing that the dream came true and we are finally getting a continuation. It didn’t take long for the show to announce its airing date either just a few months later. Flash forward to Fall 2018 and here we are, the first episode of Index III. What aired on TV seemed like a miracle at the time with many familiar gimmicks. We are reintroduced to level 0 Esper, Touma where he is still unlucky as ever. After getting bitten by Index and running into a slew of misadventures with other characters, it seems the show had a flow going. It also didn’t take long for an ominous feeling to settle in with the realization that the God’s Right Seat are on the move. In fact, the first few episodes covers Touma clashing against God’s Right Seat member Terra of the Left with some unlikely allies. (such as the towel girl Itsuwa) More importantly, we also learn that Touma is suffering from a case of amnesia. As a recurring trend, girls like Itsuwa gets their fair share of screen time when it comes fan service. Indeed, these are just a few elements you’ll get have to get used to throughout the third season. But unfortunately, Index III quickly began to wore itself out. If you recall from the previous season, Academy City is well known for its darker storytelling when it involves espers and its underworld activities. The first season and even its spinoff Railgun had level 5 esper Accelerator undergo an experiment project known as the Level 6 Shift Project where he would have to kill 20,000 Misaka Mikoto clones to become level 6. Of course, that project never reached completion thanks to the intervention of Touma. My point for bringing this up is because in this season, we are introduced to new forms of esper conflicts. As a show with an expansive cast of characters, the third season decided to set 5 different factions in a plot known as the “Battle Royale Arc”. This was actually one of my favorite arcs in the light novels but the anime adaptation made my stomach sink upon seeing how they treated this. Make no mistake, if you are an anime only viewer, confusion will be a common thought. Once again, Accelerator becomes a prominent character in this arc due to his status as the strongest level 5 Esper. Hamazura Shiage is upgraded as a protagonist while we are also shown with other familiar characters such as ITEM (if you’ve seen Railgun Season 2). The newer characters introduced includes Level 5 esper Kakine Teitoku, Teshio Megumim, and the Professor. The big problem? All of these characters are little more like actors in a poorly constructed script. For whatever reason, the directors thought it would be a good idea to cram such an important arc into a mere set of just 4 episodes. Once I realized this, it became immediately obvious that the producers had little intention to make an impact of its story or characters. Because let’s face it, there’s far too many characters to get invested into in the Battle Royal arc. There’s also too much going on that puts you into a state of confusion. At the apex of this arc, we have two of the strongest espers clashing against each other but the outcome lacked depth and instead replaced with endless screaming of pure absurdity. It felt like these entire few episodes limited what potential it could have been. Even with certain deaths of several characters, I felt nothing for them. In essence, what could have been one of the most memorable plot in the franchise turned into a depressing fallout of rushed execution and poor story craftsmanship. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. At this point, we’re around a third of the show and I had to put down my thoughts and wonder how long this would last. Indeed, the next arc had me worried although to my delight, Acqua of the Back had probably the most consistent arc in this season. Perhaps this is because the anime only had one volume to work (Volume 16) so locking the arc to three episodes is actually consistent. Nonetheless, we are shown more conflict against the God’s Right Seat. Kaori Kanazaki also makes a big return from the previous seasons although she’s given more of a role as a combatant. The purpose of this arc wasn’t made entirely clear although it suggests that Touma would have some significant role in the upcoming struggle with the God’s Right Seat. Nonetheless, we can’t forget that Touma is a prominent character regardless how you feel about him. Ironically, titular Index remains mostly in the background despite having a significant role in the previous seasons. Here, she lost a lot of relevance and is even absent for quite a bit during the first half of the show. With the British Royal Family arc that followed, the anime again suffers problems with pacing and many characters stuffed together in one place. Featuring new characters such as the United Kingdom Princess Carissa, it will really make us wonder how Touma fits in all of this. The British Royal arc basically drops him into the magic side of the story without emphasizing its main purpose. Meanwhile, the plot twists didn’t feel meanginful even with some of the characters face-heel turns. Index actually becomes somewhat more relevant although I didn’t feel her role as nearly as memorable as the first two seasons. So in essence, the anime could have done more to capitalize itself by explaining more as everything is too frantic to absorb. Honestly, if you made it this far into the third season, I have to applaud you. It takes commitment after seeing how much Index III has degenerated. The final story arc of this season covers the World War III saga covering from episodes 18-26. It also covers the final light novels of the Index series (before New Testament) Meanwhile, I’m sitting wondering how the hell we can this can be accomplished through just 8 episodes. The World War III arc involves God’s Right Seat leader Fiamma of the Right pushing his goals for domination. Three different protagonists are actually featured in this final arc although all with different purposes. I’m not going to spoil it but the season makes it clear that all of them are important in some way or another. Again, Index III continues to suffer the problem of confusing storytelling. It doesn’t get viewers invested into what it’s telling us. Instead, what it does is trying to mix too much content at once. It’s like putting all the fruits into one basket and the customer isn’t sure what to pick in the end. Here, Index III chronicles the storytelling of three different protagonists without really getting us to fully invest into any of them. It’s very messy and we are pretty much left to figure out their motives and purpose. Most of these characters suffer development too as the show devotes much of its time on the plot. Oh dear God, how many times do we have to see Accelerator suffer more? In perhaps the worst kept secret of the franchise, studio J.C. Staff once again decided to tackle this show with its production staff and talent. Honestly, it’s not too bad if you go with the flow for its action elements. If there’s anything actually worthy about Index III, it would be the technical quality. Sure, it’s not a masterpiece polished art piece but is able to sell an acceptable degree of animation. Character designs are carried over from the previous seasons with little change in style. There are some scenes that makes the action more overdramatic than it should be though. (such as Accelerator vs Kakine) This also extends to the emotive performances of certain characters such as Accelerator and Hamazura. And as previous Index shows, fan service returns with girls such as Misaka, Ituswa, and even Kaori to an extent. We just can’t have a full season of Index without bath scenes, right Mr Director Nishikiori? After waiting for years, Toaru Majutsu no Index III turned out to be nothing more than a big fest of mushy questionable content. In fact, you could probably learn from reading Wikipedia than watching the show. It’s crystal clear that we needed more than 26 episodes but instead, this came out like a procrastinated school project. Sometimes, I wish certain franchises aren’t revived so it can't be killed anymore. Index III became another example of tragic adaptation with what’s shown us. As someone who has read the light novels, I recommend reading through volumes 14-22 to get a much better understanding of this series. But it’s too bad really. What could have been a big hit of the year instead showed us how some big franchises can’t live up to its reputation. I just hope Accelerator spinoff or Railgun Season 3 doesn’t become another victim.
