To Aru Majutsu no Index LN - New Testament Volume 22 Reverse Discussion / Poll

[Wandering Soul]

Part 4 was effectively Suit Touma being manipulative while dropping truth bombs on the Queen.

[Daft]

Touma's luck and strength seem to be steadily increasing with his body's transformation. Able to block an attack from Kanzaki through a wall and then move away from her before she could stop him. He wants Imagine Breaker back before he gets too conceited with his growing abilities and/or turns permanently into a monster. Looking forward to see how it all turns out. This volume's been pretty great so far imo.

[NeutralZero]

that luck of his... maybe all of the luck that was negated from the start came rushing in there.

[dniv]

I’m gonna be honest. I think this is the best stuff Kamachi has ever written. I’m not sure how to describe it. He’s basically made our Touma OP like Misaka or Kamisato Kakeru and made him lucky and he’s made the other Touma, the one who is forced to dig his heels in and rely on every trick in the book. It’s like taking Touma’s character and pulling him apart into different selves. And then watching him write out Touma’s internal journey of trying to maintain the things most important to what he considers his identity even without his memories and his imagine breaker.

Kamachi is focusing on corruption, on how things get twisted from the inside, and how everything can get unraveled when you look at them from another perspective. But he’s also showing how to prevent that threadwork from completely coming apart. He’s illustrated how everyone is being warped as part of a process of becoming a new self. This extends the previous Aleister and accelerator metaphors and the other themes that were discussed during the Choronzon arc.

Touma even if he has to literally drag himself through the mud will bite and hang on through his teeth just to get what is important to him back while not losing the most important aspects of himself. And all the parallels between misaki and touma are just the icing on the cake. Not to mention all the central importance Shokuhou is getting in the story, all other things aside. Hamazura came out and pointed out exactly how he felt about having worked with Choronzon and we get to see how the different sides that are being manipulated by other touma are all operating for different reasons and purposes within one giant mass of mob activity meant to take down kamijou-San.

Moreover, this entire book has been about the process of transforming the self while holding onto what are the most important parts of the self. And let’s look at the small time villains like mirates coming back and being actual badass characters. If you look at everything carefully, hamazura last volume was actually in the same position as a lot of other characters are in this volume. He was just operating for very different reasons as a lower down part of the chain of command.

This volume is doing its absolute best to re-examine the original messages kamachi was saying at the beginning of index. It’s addressing the divide between the superficial touma present after his memory loss and the touma driven by his well-connected past memories during volume 1. Honestly, showing the other side of things with Elizard has been fantastic as well as it shows what’s being hidden behind the scenes for the sake of her country. Moreover, I’d say that the original one shot that was index, just got reappraised and improved to a practically infinite degree. The fact that Komoe was actually being taken advantage of. The fact that touma mentioned misaki in volume 1 but couldn’t associate her with a name or face or didn’t give any more specific details. And of course, most importantly, an entirely new light on just what touma meant when he told heaven canceller that as long as his heart remains the same then it doesn’t matter if he’s lost his memories.

This explores that idea much more deeply. No matter what is taken from him as he reconstructs the self and is forced to discard parts of himself to grow and change, touma resolutely points out how the luck and extra strength he has gotten can’t make him forget how he originally was. Talking about preserving yourself while being warped from the outside and inside, having his place stolen and having his allies turn against him. As long as touma can preserve his faith and love, which in context, I take to mean things other than what those words actually mean, I.e. ability to trust in oneself or others and priority set then even as circumstances change you are able to hold onto what is most important to you. And touma in his brand new guise is now being shown going through his old fights in an attempt to recapture the balance of his world even as it Is being warped and changing. The fact the distortion is coming from himself or his most important tool is probably a sign of just how exactly this is essentially the perfect for touma to undergo development and show interesting sides of himself since he’s all about stability and not changing no matter what happens.

And I’m just predicting that this volume will make it so that every heroine and not just misaki gets to be saved by a touma that doesn’t have his IB. But I expect misaki to still be the only heroine that gets saved twice like that. #shippingdistortion

[shmaster]

The funny thing is. Despite all these process of reinventing a new self... Touma still did not let go of his hypocrisy.
He still is the Fox Ward that he was.

[dniv]

Originally Posted by shmaster

The funny thing is. Despite all these process of reinventing a new self... Touma still did not let go of his hypocrisy.
He still is the Fox Ward that he was.

I’m still only at the beginning of chapter 4, two parts in. But my current suspicion right now just based on the evidence of what I have read so far in this volume is that this is actually the point. Another analogy would be the clash between the superego and Id creating the ego. The ego still has both components. The point is that he changes without losing his core self. That hypocrisy is essential to his way of life. But being a hypocrite is different when you’re aware of it. At that point, it becomes more of a choice, and it reflects a compromise between the reason he uses to get an outcome and the emotions he relies on to emphasize a process he feels fits his own ideals in what he’ll allow himself to use in working towards that outcome.

I won’t be able to comment further until I actually see what kamachi does. But he might actually be suggesting that letting go of hypocrisy isn’t necessarily the way to overcome the self.

[shmaster]

If anything, I see this as more of a matter on the Shadow instead of Ego.

Instead of trying to resolve the said Shadow, I see Touma's solution is nothing more than equipping himself harder and thicker so the said Shadow won't get triggered in the future.

[dniv]

Originally Posted by shmaster

If anything, I see this as more of a matter on the Shadow instead of Ego.

Instead of trying to resolve the said Shadow, I see Touma's solution is nothing more than equipping himself harder and thicker so the said Shadow won't get triggered in the future.

I’ll be able to judge when I’m done. But I’ll keep your perspective in mind for now. It’s sad because I have the physical book but that doesn’t really help me.

[devilo96]

Wow man....idk why...but i feel sad for misaki that girl really pick a wrong choice....now i want really know what happend to her next....btw if real touma defeat his shadow cough i mean his other self...that mean he can remember all the memories right

Btw is there spoiler info for epilogue and chp 4 ?
The waiting really killing me
If yes can someone pm me the reedit link or something like dat

[WiliamZ0]

I like how Touma didn't hold back against Styl and Kanzaki (he even keep up to Kanzaki speed of sound easily). Poor Stiyl get slamed out of castle but maybe there's karma behind it, considering he did torture Touma before

[Kuroageha]

Originally Posted by WiliamZ0

I like how Touma didn't hold back against Styl and Kanzaki (he even keep up to Kanzaki speed of sound easily). Poor Stiyl get slamed out of castle but maybe there's karma behind it, considering he did torture Touma before

Both Touma delivered karma to UK.

[Endscape]

Originally Posted by shmaster

The funny thing is. Despite all these process of reinventing a new self... Touma still did not let go of his hypocrisy.
He still is the Fox Ward that he was.

In a way, Touma's experience is getting in his own way. I don't think he is going to make a change simply by getting involved in yet another weird incident he has to fix. If he does change, it will have to be for reasons different than anything he's experienced before.

[devil_slayer]

Suit Touma may be an asshole but most of his arguments and point are nothing but the truth. I like how he brings a side of Touma that should have always been there.

Real Touma isn't even holding back against his old friends was nice to see tbh

Misaki is jealous of Index again. IIRC something similar happed in Toaru's spin-off game where Misaki was shaken by the mere mention of Index from Touma because of how worried and devoated he was was for her. Poor girl...

[Kuroageha]

Reminder of ww3 when Touma said to Fiamma that what an utopia for some might be hell for others.

[rladls2121]

For me, I realized rather too late.
When the "Touma" summarized what happened in Old Testament Vol. 1, I thought he was the real one.
And I was like, "So you finally remembered!?".
Then, that same one just did with his usual speech, but kind of out of place this time, and his weapon of choice was not his usual right hand fist to the face, but a wine bottle towards other "Touma"s head?

Pretty much late, Touma is already hurt.
My mind was kind of stopped at the moment the "Touma" grabbed something from someone, but it only started the moving properly at the moment I read "He mercilessly bashed the other boy in the head with a wine bottle held upside down".

[bakato]

Originally Posted by devil_slayer

Suit Touma may be an asshole but most of his arguments and point are nothing but the truth. I like how he brings a side of Touma that should have always been there.

Real Touma isn't even holding back against his old friends was nice to see tbh

Misaki is jealous of Index again. IIRC something similar happed in Toaru's spin-off game where Misaki was shaken by the mere mention of Index from Touma because of how worried and devoated he was was for her. Poor girl...

Yeah. His time may be brief, but I appreciate his points about being dragged into conflict by others and Elizard and co. should take this crisis to appreciate Touma more.

[dniv]

Originally Posted by rladls2121

For me, I realized rather too late.
When the "Touma" summarized what happened in Old Testament Vol. 1, I thought he was the real one.
And I was like, "So you finally remembered!?".
Then, that same one just did with his usual speech, but kind of out of place this time, and his weapon of choice was not his usual right hand fist to the face, but a wine bottle towards other "Touma"s head?

Pretty much late, Touma is already hurt.
My mind was kind of stopped at the moment the "Touma" grabbed something from someone, but it only started the moving properly at the moment I read "He mercilessly bashed the other boy in the head with a wine bottle held upside down".

I can only imagine how I would have reacted had I not been spoiled lol. Also, I came up with my current profile pic and underlying caption text back during NT 22, but apparently it's even more fitting right now! You can all praise my foresight, thanks!

[rladls2121]

Who knew that Misaki was holding it all in until up to this day?
I thought the scenes where everytime Misaki and Touma meet was getting rather reptitive.
Misaki said to Memory Loss Touma herself, repeatedly that it is ok to not to remember.
Yet, well look what happened here?

Whenever she makes an appearance, it was as if she has this lingering attachment about what happened between her and Touma.
She definitely wanted to continue where they left off, it seems.

So the current profile pic is not going away anytime soon, is it?

[Chosen_Hero]

Chapter 4 part 3 - 6 in a nutshell:

- Takitsubo being dumbfounded that someone is able to deflect bullets with a sword.

Me: ..... Excuse you? THIS is where you draw the line on what is unbelievable to you? Students throwing lasers, controlling the elements, throwing buildings and murdering each other, mechs, a baby that was basically just a soul, a hair demon that was going to destroy all human life on Earth, a girl made out tarot cards, a fairy, an artificial demon, an army of monster like Crowleys, a cityscape changing into Egypt, two lewd Magic Gods playing with each other in the back of a van, all the shit you saw in WW3, one of your friends being able to tank sniper rounds to the face, the other one basically being a cyborg at this point among many other things I am forgetting, all of this weird shit in your daily life and yet someone deflecting bullets with a sword is where you draw the line on believability? .................... WHAT?

- Misaki is nearly dying, therefore let's have Othinus go into a long discussion about IB and what it could be while trying to keep her stable using the medical box that conveniently fell from Index when it was needed that has tools as big or bigger than Othinus herself.

Me: ... I.. is this really the time for this? How about you use one of those signal things and summon Accelerator and ask him to take her to the Frog faced doctor before she dies? ...... No? Ok, carry on.

- Meanwhile in the background, Misaka and Index are tearing shit up with A.A.A. and John Penn while Fake Touma just stands around listening to Othinus spiel.

Me: How polite of them to not interrupt.

- Kamachi through Touma: "No, no, no, NOW after all this time Index might definitely and conveniently know what IB is, no really, trust me on on this. If she doesn't for some reason we can just ask the science people to explain it to us, just overlook the part where they can barely even begin to comprehend it's existence."

Me: ............... Suuuure.

P.S. Oh boy, I just realized we can now make Kingdom Hearts jokes/memes for Touma thanks to this volume.

[dniv]

Misaki is best girl. That's all for today's update.

There's more good stuff but I'll add that to my final review later.

Really though, the Misaki stuff. The whistle. No words.

Oh right, and Kamachi baited us again with what IB isn't. Thanks. Well, at least we know that it's something more than all of those things, I guess. Also, I was just agreeing with the fact that it was being used to purify everyone in the middle of this corruption, but then Othinus was just like: "no, I was wrong," and I was like: "dwuh?" lol. Goddamn it Kamachi!