What They Say:
Kozaku Mitori
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The buddy cop moments with Misaka and Mikoto are a great moment to let this
series have some fun and shine. They make beating the evil organization into a competition of who can do it first. When the villain, Gensei, reveals his plan, and they go off into a car full speed, both of them swerve into each other and hit each other. Seeing these two go from enemies to compete in a friendly rivalry to see who can defeat evil demonstrates how both of these young ladies have changed. This change comes with comedic moments and natural evolvement for the series.
Gensei makes his first appearance via a flashback. He reveals how he has trap Mikoto in an ingenious plan made to perfectly counter her ability. I like him as a villain and how he set up Mikoto to fall into his trap. So far, he has been revealed as a mad scientist who calculated for every possibility and I am excited to see how far he can go. This series has been playing hot potato with deciding who is the main villain for this arc. Mikoto initially fell into that category but that was a red herring.
Saten has an uncanny ability to get herself in trouble. She decides to go to an abandoned school that has a mysterious aura and decides to follow some guards through a secured door and immediately regrets it. She gets saves by Xochitl who she has had a history with. This previous history is part of the double edge sword that afflicts this series. To know of their relationship, a viewer has to be aware of A Certain Magical Index and the part that describes their relationship isn’t available in English so there bound to be some confusion as to why Xochitl decides to save her.
This episode’s biggest flaw is that it spends too much time setting up the future and doesn’t focus on the moments in front of them. Four relationships are set up in this episode: Misaka and Mikoto, Saten and Xochitl, Saten and Touma, Kuroko and Uihara that could have been further addressed in this episode but are being saved for the future. Saten gets the most screen time but that because she is going on her misguided journey to doom. These moments will pay off in the future but feel slow in this episode.
In Summary:
The A Certain Magical Index franchise is impressive but it’s overwhelming because you have to know of various other stories to comprehend what happens in a story set in another series of the franchise. This episode took a break from the action-packed battles to focus on character relationships and how they get along or reject each other. This only happens briefly though as the seeds of these relationships are slowly planted in the ground wanting to bloom.
Grade: B
Streaming on: Crunchyroll