A Certain Magical Index Ep 7-9 Review: Deep Blood

The still somewhat slow hype train to season three continues. (Hopefully I will start getting these out more than just once a month) Thus we enter the second arc of the first season, which covers volume 2 of the light novels. Honestly, I need to continue reading them. The only thing slower than the time between these reviews is me reading the source, two volumes in three years. Instead of making this go on longer than it needs to, let’s get started.

Episode 7 Plot:

So, two weeks have passed since the events of the first six episodes. Well, time is going to start slowing down in this series, as well, the first two seasons all take place in just two months. But anyway, Toma has no memory to what happened two weeks ago. So, he is not only trying to piece together what his life was like prior to those two weeks, but also keep up the illusion that he has not lost his memory. Unfortunately, this is only used in the start of this arc, and actually has a major role in episode 15-17. But, more on that later.

Toma runs into some of his friends, who he still is unsure their names. But, they go try to make Index happy, after Toma steps on a land mine when talking about her. So, they end up at everyone’s favorite place Anime McDonalds. There they meet the priestess, who is Aisa we later find out.

Anyway, Index gets a cat, so that was a thing.

Then Styil appears, and sort of catches onto Toma’s lies. But, also, he doesn’t. Anyway, he has Toma tag along to go rescue a girl who has the ability to kill vampires, Deep Blood.  There is more on this in the next episode. But the girl they need to save, is no surprise Aisa. This episode ends with Styil and Toma finding a dead body in the Cram School they went to save Aisa in.

Episode 8 Plot:

So, after storming the school in the previous episode. Well, things are weird at first. So, Styil puts it there are two sides of the coin. So, everyone on the heads side cannot see anything on the tails. Styil and Toma are on tails, while the students are on heads. Of course this also means they cannot use the elevator, so walking everywhere is needed.

So, while they are walking around the school, Toma makes a call to Index, which ultimately causes her to worry, and later in the episode not only leaving the house to look for Toma, but to be captured by the villain. Styil also mentions how there were a lot of other people looking to help Index, who failed to do so, while Toma succeeded. That is the only real difference in them in terms of caring for Index.

 

Anyway, some alarm goes off, the two-split up. Toma is attacked and runs into Deep Blood, Aisa, who still thinks she is a magician. Her powers however do attract vampires, and they still have yet to explain vampires this episode.

 

Toma runs into Aureolus Izzard, who wipes his memory. But Toma’s right hand cancels that ability the second he wakes up. Then the spell to destroy the building fails and well, the realization when Sphinx appears confirms Index is inside to end off the episode.

Episode 9 Plot:

This time running in Styil and Toma are not messing around. Styil has an idea on what Izzard wants. Well, it was made pretty clear the second they walked into the room, that Izzard was one of Index’s partners. So, since he was in hiding for three years, he was planning on a means to save Index.

Needless to say, after a few minutes of him going over his motives, and being cocky that he will be the one to save him, it really made him snap finding out Toma already saved Index. At least he didn’t mention he was off trying to save her by two weeks.

 

So, a fight happens, and Izzard’s power is quickly found out that there is a major flaw. If he can bend words to his reality, why didn’t he create vampires, or go one step further and save Index. Toma realizing this, even with an arm cut off, well, Izzard was defeated literally single-handedly.

But the following day at the hospital, since this is going to be reoccurring for some time at the end of an arc, Toma has his arm back. Also, the episode ends with Aisa thanking Toma and being told thee church is taking her in.

 

Overall Thoughts:

So, having read only the first two volumes, despite owning the 14 that have been released in English so far, there was information left out in this arc. Does it play a major role, no, but it does say a lot about the Index series. Vampires origin in the light novels stat that well, if they do exist it proves Jesus exists, and in turn God exists. The anime left this out. Since no one knows if Vampires exist, well, now one knows if Deep Blood’s power really exists. So, each one proves the other is true, but because they cannot prove it, it either does or does not exist. There was some reason why that they didn’t just test Aisa’s blood to confirm it, but I forget why, and having all that information in there would just be confusing, and would ruin the pacing for these three episodes. If there was a forth one, well, it would drag everything on for too long.

Anyway, onto the episodes themselves. I was never a huge fan of this arc. Every time I see it, for whatever reason I just don’t really like it. But, this time having watched it, my thoughts on it has changed a bit. The villain isn’t really a villain. It was nice to see something like this happen early on in the series, where someone else who also took care of Index, well, after three years still cares for her and wants to save her. Well, if this was later in the series, it would just be odd. Index was would have been saved almost a month or two earlier. At least with it being the second arc, only two weeks have passed, so word would not have gotten everywhere. Plus, Izzard has been in hiding, so it still makes sense. The longer this series goes on, the less Index has a major role in the plot. Sure, she is still an important character, but, she still is brought back to attention here and how much people care for her.

Now, as for a few other things, there is not much to say. It honestly feels like the first six episodes and this one is a bit too similar, Toma is going up against people who wish to save Index. It is that reason why I do not really like this arc, because of its similarities with the first one. Aisa may be the person they are trying to save, but it changes so quickly to being about Index that her need of being rescued is shoved under the rug. To top it off her character has no major role after this arc and appears every now and again. For her character, who could have room to grow, well, she does not appear enough nor did appear enough here in her own arc, to have this arc feel special.

Anyway, these episodes were okay. It is still early into a very long series. I mean there are over forty light novels and this is only the second one that was adapted. So, it is understandable that there are issues early on.

Overall Enjoyment: C+

Overall Score: C

This show is over almost a decade old, so I may spoil future events. Either way, feel free to comment your thoughts on this series, and your hopes for season three.

Episode 4-6 Review: Memory

Episode 10-14 Review: Sisters

This series is licensed by Funimation. Crunchyroll and Funimation have it legally streamed for free. Also Yen Press is releasing both the manga and light novels in North America.

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Again, I hope you enjoyed and see you next time.

– Joe