[Mentar]

Originally Posted by Sorrow-K

If it's not a shounen action, then what is it? A mystery series?

What's the point in classifying a show at this early stage in the first place? It has elements of action, drama, comedy and a bit of mystery. It certainly is not "shounen action" in the likes of Naruto, Bleach, DBZ etc.

All of it is pretty straightforward. We already know about Index's power and why she'd be highly sought after. [...]

When they weren't fighting, the other half of the episode was spent with them talking about the rules of the universe. It was basically a lecture to the audience. I'm not interested in that crap, I don't watch anime to get lengthy lectures about the magic systems of a fictional universe.

I think it's obvious how much you're contradicting yourself. It's not straightforward and simple, it's relatively complex, since it _requires_ long explanatory parts. To me it sounds that the real beef you have with the show is that it isn't simple enough for you - contrary to what you say. Which in itself is fair enough: You decide for yourself what kind of anime you enjoy. But dissing a show for being too simple while at the same time criticizing it for the details it introduces doesn't make much sense.

They spent close to ten minutes in this episode with Touma avoiding fire monsters and Stiyl throwing flashy blasts of fire across the screen. So what if we don't get powerups and obnoxious, conceited exchanges of dialogue, they still have the fantastic powers and lengthy fight sequences that are a hallmark of shounen action series.

Big exaggerations again. The fighting scenes themselves were less than 5 minutes.

An anime doesn't have to resemble DBZ or Naruto to be a shounen action series. Claymore, My-HiME and Idolm@ster Xenoglossia are all shounen action, the difference is that they're good shounen action because they actually bother adding a past, a set of motivations, and an intricate web of relationships to their characters.

Mai HiME as Shounen Action? I guess for you a Tsundere is a girl who has a friendly and an angry scene?

Dunno Xenoglossia, but Claymore and Mai HiME took 2 full seasons to develop a the world and background. Index had 2 full episodes, and you compare that? You can't possibly be serious?!? In comparison, Index spent much _more_ time on explaining the universe and developing the characters. Which in fact is what you criticize for doing, before at the same time you chastise the show for NOT doing it. It's schizophrenic.

That's what makes their stories so involving... you actually come to care about what's going to happen to these characters.

And this is the meat of the dispute. You dislike the characters, for whatever reason. Fine. That's fair enough, and under these circumstances it's also clear that you won't enjoy Index alot. But this is the result of _your_ personal preferences, and not due to a general deficiency of the show itself. So please be honest enough to say so, too - and leave for greener pastures. Or, if you feel the urge to diss it for something, please be so kind to substantiate your claims in a coherent manner, instead of going for self-contradictory name-calling.