Seeing this was known as the battle royal arc, might as well give an obscure reference to one of them. Either way, for the first time ever, I am honestly glad an Index arc is over. This one felt like there were too many issues with it. But, it wasn’t all bad. More on that in a bit.

The Plot:

I think this was the first time Index ever skipped the opening, or maybe the second. It feels like it happened once in Season 2. Anyway, Hamazura is honestly unluckier than Toma. This episode starts with him disposing a body. Then being nearly killed by the second strongest Level 5 Esper. After that he gets betrayed by the Level 5 he works for, so he can protect one of the members from his group.

Of course, while he does try to protect one of his comrades, the first half of the episode ends with him fighting one of the Level 5s. Even without powers he managed to win, got a few shots, granted he nearly lost an ear, but he pulled through with a victory.

As for the Dark Matter Controller Level 5, well, he found something that might get him close to Aleister, but, it still wasn’t enough. So, what does he do, go after Last Order of course.

Index S3 Ep 6 Pic 7

But Accelerator comes in and the two then fight. Honestly seeing the strongest two level 5s fight might have been one of my favorite fights in this series. Too bad it ended rather quickly.

Accelerator comes out on top. Only to then get reminded of all the people he killed, so his powers go out of control. But Last Order appears and comforts him to calm him down from his beserker state of mind. Thus, ending the episode. Also, while all the groups were defeated it turns out there is at least one more, but, that seems to be a story for another day.

Overall Thoughts:

Looking at the previous episodes, this one certainly was the better of them. Granted this arc as a whole felt rushed and a mess, this ending was more of a sign of relief than anything. Now, it certainly was nice, getting a story that does not revolve around Toma. It was a different direction and a nice way to show that not everything in this series needs to revolve around him, the problems do not need to be solved by him, as well as the fact that characters he knows still go out and do their own things.

While this idea of something new, the plot at least for this arc, does not feel like it fits (as of right now) to the larger plot that has been building up since the latter half of the second season. But, while it does show some aspects, mostly how people are trying to get to Aleister, and shows more of Accelerator. This arc felt like it could have been skipped. But, something tells me it will have something, or could have relevance to Accelerator’s spin-off, which is set to be out next year. I could be wrong, since I never read the manga. But, it at least helps open the door to his spin off, rather than Railgun’s just all of a sudden appearing. Accelerator becomes more fleshed out prior to the start of his compared to Misaka.

And I am getting off track. Now, as for this episode, taking away the previous episodes, this one certainly did feel like things were missing. I remember the wiki mentioning in this arc, that in Hamazura’s group, there was a traitor which is why one of the characters appeared dead. So, that scene certainly was glossed over. Again, I wish the fight between Accelerator and the second strongest went on a bit longer. Considering how it sounds like their power levels are very close, given how unknown Dark Matter is. But, it felt like, at least for this arc, it would have worked better as four episodes. While pacing wise this episode was the better of the last three, it still suffered a bit because of the previous two. It felt like too much was going on, and the ending did not feel like a set conclusion like previous arcs.

Still, while I have my issues with this arc, this episode was a bit more decent compared to the other episodes this arc.

Overall Score: C+

A Certain Magical Index is licensed by Funimation. Crunchyroll is streaming the series legally almost worldwide. 

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

– Joe