Toaru Majutsu no Index

[Archangel]

edit: it seems UTW is now doing Index2 solo.

Good episode, I've always been a fan of killer lolis

[RyougaZell]

When I was thinking the Amakusa guy, Tatemiya Saeji, was defeated too fast we see the true colors of the Roman Catholics. Awesome.

I wonder if Touma will need to fight Agnesse and Styl then.

[Kraco]

Isn't Stiyl Anglican? Why would he fight for the Roman Catholics against Touma? Agnesse is a different matter of course. What comes to Touma, he doesn't even need any excuses, considering the Catholics suddenly backstabbed him and tried to kill him. He can do whatever he wants and nobody can complain. Knowing him he will go to rescue the escaping nun once again.

This is a pretty chaotic arc for sure.

[Buffalobiian]

Slutty nuns = combat nuns? I don't know, miniskirt nuns just don't do it for me, even when their garter belts are showing.

I think you (and I) would have liked them better with the following changes:

1) more refined hairstyle
2) white stockings/boots underneath miniskirt
3) bigger boobs

The best part of Index2 is that Index is useful.

Funny how she mentioned that Touma is no match against a proper magician, yet wanted to say that the sword fellow wasn't using magic at the time. So what exactly is a magician doing?

Touma and Styl's tag combo was pretty cool.

[Ryllharu]

I think you (and I) would have liked them better with the following changes:

1) more refined hairstyle
2) white stockings/boots underneath miniskirt
3) bigger boobs

Hmm...1) and 2), not really. Yukariko was very much in the same style as Orsola. By the preview for next episode, they likely have the exact same hairstyle. The white coif and veil are the important part for nun appeal. Boots...can help, but even then, only with very specific kinds of nuns (that means just Rosette Christopher). I personally prefer them to have standard loafer-style shoes.

The boobs are independent of nun-ness. Eda, not that big, Rosette, pretty average. Teresa, below-average. The one-shot Merta from Spice and Wolf, pretty flat. Index, flat. Their personality quirks or demeanors as nuns are the more important element. They either fit with their profession (Merta, Teresa), clash hugely with it (Index, Eda, Rosette). Yukariko's appeal was in that other teacher seducing her and eroding away at her outwardly professed purity (which did eventually lead her to happiness), so she is here noted as an exception.

The best part of Index2 is that Index is useful.

Funny how she mentioned that Touma is no match against a proper magician, yet wanted to say that the sword fellow wasn't using magic at the time. So what exactly is a magician doing?

The way Mugen Tatemiya Saiji described it, Amakusa specialize in evasion. Their attacks don't use magic, they're simple swords. That was why Touma wouldn't be effective, he needs to touch their magic to negate it, and their magic's purpose is to prevent them from being grappled or caught. I see them more like the magicians from DenYuDen, using magic to enhance their physical abilities. The worst that would happen to them if Touma touches them is they wouldn't be able to as overwhelmingly dodge. Any offensive attack could still kill Touma. We saw it before with his first encounter with Kanzaki.

A real magician that realized how his skill works could do the same. They'd use defensive magics and kill him normally. Index pointed that out because the primary reason Touma has been winning is through the shock factor. No magician expects their magic to be nullified out of existence, same for Espers. If they're not surprised, they'll just tear him apart.

Now that word is getting out about the growing strength of the Touma "faction," we will likely see more magicians who know how to deal with him.

[Kraco]

Magicians aren't traditionally the toughest muscle monsters around. Take away their magic and the field is even. Except that Touma has always fought with his fists, the magicians with their magic and thus will need to get used to mundane fights.

[KrayZ33]

The heretics must be purified

I like this kind of development

[Nadouku]

Pretty good, pretty good.

I liked Styl and Touma's little teamwork. Seems like Touma dragged himself into a bigger problem this time around.

[Buffalobiian]

Ayako - S2 Episode 04

[RyougaZell]

If Index had been this useful last season I wouldn't dislike her character so much. She did an awesome job this time around.

Amazing episode.

[Archangel]

Seriously, who upgraded Index? And Those nuns are hardcore, that last scene was badass.

Athough the episode was good there isn't much to discuss, maybe we can exchange opinions on who kicked the most nun ass or which one of them was taken out in the funniest way.

[Buffalobiian]

I found Ayako's explanation of Shoel Fear confusing.

I'll have to sample UTW to see if it clears things up for me.

I also don't quite understand how they keep saying Index doesn't have any magic, but can use the books etc. They also aren't being very clear on what "magic" is. This show doesn't seem to use the concept of Mana, after all, which would be the normal assumption.

[Ryllharu]

Index isn't really using the magic in the books, she's strictly using the knowledge.

It's the same way her spell intercept works. She can use abbreviated spell incantations to cause distortions in the way a spell was meant to work. Similarly, Sheol Fear sings out vast quantities of inconsistencies, contradictions, and counterpoints to a certain viewpoint. But like Stiyl says, it works best when she is fighting an idealogical group. She can assume most of them think in the same or at least very similar manner, so she uses teachings from the books to counter their belief system and break them down psychologically through doubt. The effect drives into one's root beliefs so strongly that it causes intense anxiety and fear.

But it only works on "pure" individuals. Agnesse, the leggy blond, and probably Angelene are not affected because they are anything but pure (which is why the leggy one didn't stab her own eardrums out too). Agnesse at least has so many doubts already (with her calling this world "shit dripping").

I wouldn't say Index has been upgraded, it is just that only at the end of the last season and the start of this one could she finally begin to act. Kanzaki and Stiyl would never have actually hurt her, and the majority of their other opponents were acting as individuals, with no strongly defined belief system or structure, so it would have been very difficult for Index to guess which passages in the tomes would cause the full effect of Sheol Fear. Similarly, Spell Intercept only works on isolated (non-automaton) summons and distracted spellcasters. There have been very few magicians who were not utterly single-minded in their missions last season, and many of their opponents weren't even using magic.

So it is only now that her vast pool of knowledge can finally be applied.

[Buffalobiian]

It's weird to me that Spell Intercept can work by using mere words, and no magic at all. I'll need to find an analogy for it.

And I thought the "Index can't use magic" part was BS by the church. Her defence mechanism that destroyed a satellite seemed like pretty powerful magic to me.

I think my overall confusion is that Index is, after all, doing something. If she was truly incapable of magic, she'd only be able to recall/understand/explain things to everybody around her, and let them perform the counter-actions. The fact that she's performing something other than a physical task but isn't magic melts my brain.

She can use abbreviated spell incantations to cause distortions in the way a spell was meant to work.

The fact that she's sending out these incantations qualifies as magic to me. Normal people muttering those same "incantations" won't have that effect, right?

[Ryllharu]

The defense system placed on her could use magic, but I was pretty sure they mentioned she couldn't. Something to do with the tomes, or that she was given the tomes in the first place because she wouldn't be tempted to use them (further locked down because of the frequent memory wipes that were completely unnecessary).

It's like a radio wave. The transmitter is pulsing out electromagnetic waves in an expected manner, and Index comes in like solar flares inserting bursts of static. The message doesn't come across properly. Touma in comparison sends out an automated wave of destructive interference, nullifying the wave completely. His is a wave 180° out of phase, where Index just adds in compressed data in the adjacent white-space, garbling and distorting the wave. But if the wave is strong enough (through concentration) or internal like a shielded wire (automaton mode), she can't interfere at all.

Example:
Esper abilities at 90 MHz,
magic at 80 MHz
Index at 80.25 MHz
Touma at 80-100 MHz 180° phase.
luck at 100 MHz

[Archangel]

I'd like to point out that none of this speculation would be needed if y'all just watched the UTW version, they explain the ability very simply

And i might be wrong about this but wasn't Index's inability to use magic something that came from the seal the church imposed on her? I recall Touma at least considering the possibility.

[Buffalobiian]

I'd like to point out that none of this speculation would be needed if y'all just watched the UTW version, they explain the ability very simply

And i might be wrong about this but wasn't Index's inability to use magic something that came from the seal the church imposed on her? I recall Touma at least considering the possibility.

And he subsequently destroyed the seal.

[Archangel]

Yes.... that was my point

[Buffalobiian]

Yes.... that was my point

Then you didn't finish it.

[Nadouku]

Excellent episode. It is pretty hardcore to negate "Shoel Fear" by sacrificing your hearing.