... is this seriously going to be the final arc?
... is this seriously going to be the final arc?
Its because we just entered Side Story territory. This is the TAMNI SS Novel that, chronogically, takes place between Novels 13 and 14. It introduces a few important characters plus the creation of Team GROUP.
Team GROUP:
Tsuchimikado
Accelerator
Fake Unabara Mitsuki
Musujime
1) The pacing for this episode was just completely different (off?) And what's with all this war stuff? Correct me if I'm wrong, but the "magic" side of the world is supposed to be shrouded in mystery and all, while Academy City is like the Mecca of technology that everyone knows about, right? If so, it just seems so wrong that no one's questioning what happened and settling with "oh, we're having a war now".
Does no one bother to find out who they're fighting?
What the hell is Tsuchimikado doing in GROUP? Or any of them, for that matter..
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
I very much agree. I was expecting some sort of aftermath episode for the previous arc but instead we got this thing that I don't know whether it belonged to the previous arc or is a new arc that started far too suddenly. Plus plenty of time was wasted for the whole after school restaurant trip, which only served to give a bit of screentime to minor characters nobody would have minded missing if we had got Misaka instead.
This has been a really dodgy season quality wise. Many individual episodes have been jolly good but the arcs have barely held together.
Kraco & Buff:
Like I said on my previous post... you guys find this out of pace or even out of pace because of one simple fact I already mentioned. This 'final arc' is based on a special novel. The Vento/Fuze Kazakiri/Kihara arc takes place on Novel 13. The current events take place BETWEEN Novel 13 and 14. We won't be seeing Novel 14 animated until a 3rd Season (hopefully). The point of this novel was to see what some characters were doing while things started to 'develop towards a war' plus the introduction of GROUP.
About the 'war'. We haven't been told at this point of the plot (since we are in SS Novel land) 'who' they are fighting. But Academy City had to 'do something' after the 'terrorist' attack they suffered with Vento's visit. 99% of Academy City ignores the existance of magic, but an attack of such scale couldn't really be ignored, hence the 'war'.
I would answer the purpose of GROUP but it would be a spoiler, so I will refrain from mentioning it.
I just hope we get a 3rd Season announcement (or a 12-episode Railgun 2nd Season announcement)
I wasn't taking into consideration that this was going to be the "final arc" when I made my comments, but solely from a continuity point of view. I see where you're coming from Zell. While it does "explain" the disjointed feeling, it highlights all the more that the animation staff failed to adapt the novel into anime in a smooth transition. How hard that would have been, I can't say, without having read the source.
You'll be in a better position to judge this one.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
Not really. I haven't read the original source completely. I've just seen 'summaries'.
On the side of actually animating the SS (Short Story/Side Story) Novel I'm happy.
On the side of Season finale I agree its not satisfactory.
On the plot side... SS Novel is inevitable. Not because of timeline... but because of introduced factions.
Its disjointed because its a novel crammed with short stories. People at RandomC argued this was going to be an OVA, but found themselves surprised to see it at the end of the series.
For a Season Finale... I guess we can consider Vento/Fuze Kazakiri/Kihara it. While this two episodes are the usual 'extra' several series air at the end. Yes. Even the pace.
By the way... I should add that animated arcs of Season 2 apparently were almost completely faithful to the source (the novel).
I got to say that seeing the Side-Story animation was a big plus for me. Not only we saw the plot centered away from Touma (most of the time, since he came to save the day at the end) but we got to see the introduction of Hamazura.
Its obvious Tsuchimikado, Etzali, Musujime and Accelerator won't play by the rules of Aleister... so forming them into GROUP is probably to keep an eye on them instead.
We may not have had Mikoto on this side story, but at least we got a bit more of Mizusu.
Though I must admit I was surprised that a certain character, already having a voice actor, didn't even make it onto the Side Story. This character is featured on the PSP game that recently came out in Japan.
Do remember something though... the last arc was Vento/Kihara/Fuze Kazakiri. This Side Story arc is the equivalent of an Extra Story, but taken seriously instead of light hearted / beach episodes.
That big guy needed to take punching lessons from Touma. For all that height and muscle he didn't even scratch her with a clean hit.
edit: if they wanted to keep an eye on GROUP, they sure did a shitty job of trying to keep them apart. It's like letting a bunch of prisoners rally up instead of putting them into solitary confinement.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
Weaksauce ending was weaksauce, i'm not even sure i want a third season if they're gonna fuck it up like they did this one
Accelerator needs to get rid of Aleister's ability to remote control the network terminal. Although if it was so badly disabled by a little chaff, it's quite delicate anyway.
The order to kill the concerned mother was quite bad writing in my opinion. At first I thought Aleister might want to traumatize Mikoto, but since the order was cancelled after Mizusu decided not to try to take Mikoto away, it's obvious the dude thought it a brilliant idea to kill her to keep Mikoto in the city. I think he has taken fewer human psychology courses than Terminator... What good is Mikoto if she becomes his worst enemy (like she would have because there's no way the truth would have remained a secret).
I'm pretty sure it didn't quite look as stupid in the novel. Writing wasn't stellar, but in the end Index never was good in that aspect. It is shounen fare, and has good characters (Mikoto, Accelerator, Kanzaki), but not really much more than that.
The failure in this season is the direction. It was really horrible, with the pussy kicks and gay ground flirting.
Last edited by shinta|hikari; Sat, 04-02-2011 at 11:49 AM.
Peace.
Oh wow, why did i lol...
Oh my god that is awesome xD
Bump of chicken = awesome.
Peace.
I lost it when i saw the Index and Misaka walking backwards scene
Is Bump of Chicken the band's name? Oi Shinta, get me the song's name.
Last edited by Archangel; Thu, 09-08-2011 at 05:55 AM.
Karma. It was the OP of Tales of the Abyss anime.
Peace.