To Aru Majutsu no Index - Q & A (archive)

[king12354]

How does the light novel series compared to the anime? Better or worse?

I didn't like the anime very much and skipped a lot of episodes because of the direction of the story and the how the characters seemed too superficial to me. So any chance that the novel has more depth and has a strong well-thought out plot?

[I_am_Kami]

I like it.

Sometimes the author has some weird "coincidences". Ex. Suddenly Accelerator can speak Russian.

The plot is pretty cool involving things beyond science and magic aka the divine side and things that have been speculated to death aka A certain someone in V.22. The anime covered the first half which is the bad half but is important for foreshadowing or characters.

Oh yeah. They are much better than the anime.

Check the Railgun manga out also.

[leukrota]

Originally Posted by king12354

How does the light novel series compared to the anime? Better or worse?

I didn't like the anime very much and skipped a lot of episodes because of the direction of the story and the how the characters seemed too superficial to me. So any chance that the novel has more depth and has a strong well-thought out plot?

The plot is quite deep and interesting, as well as the characters. I won't say the narrative is the best you'll find (though the author has been constantly improving), but it is definitely a lot better than in the anime. Of course, you'll need to read many volumes to see how it all connects, since like in the anime, the different arcs seem like unrelated events (when they are actually related.)

IMO, the problem in the anime is that instead of adapting the main points, it just snips parts, making the plot full of holes and hard to follow, and maybe hard to see at all at times.

[Kyouka]

2013 season 3?

[Xenosnake]

Originally Posted by kyouka

2013 season 3?

Maybe. Sales have been pretty good.

[Kishin]

So I've been wondering for a bit, its been a while since I watched the anime and I'm reading the novels now but they never mention it, when was it that Mikoto changed her hair pin to flowers? Was it immediately after the clones were saved or was it after another event?

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Kishin

So I've been wondering for a bit, its been a while since I watched the anime and I'm reading the novels now but they never mention it, when was it that Mikoto changed her hair pin to flowers? Was it immediately after the clones were saved or was it after another event?

Originally she changed it at the start of vol 6, which is Kazakiri Hyouka's story, but the Anime didn't change it until season 2.

[Myname]

Kihara mentioned something to Accelerator about why they decided to use #3 Misaka Mikoto instead of #1 Accelerator for the sisters project. Why? Someone said that the whole sister network wasn't even meant to power up Accelerator but to disperse them around the city (in that case, why let him kill 10,000 of them?).

[zaeraal]

Originally Posted by Myname

Kihara mentioned something to Accelerator about why they decided to use #3 Misaka Mikoto instead of #1 Accelerator for the sisters project. Why? Someone said that the whole sister network wasn't even meant to power up Accelerator but to disperse them around the city (in that case, why let him kill 10,000 of them?).

My guess is that he needed a solid excuse to spread them around.
Let's say that he needs at least 10k sisters around the world for his plan to work.
Additionally he needs to get accelerator where he wants him (dark side) and
he needs to let the clones get more experience so they would not die that easily.

Let's say that 1k sisters is enough for both, in total 11k sisters.
Now think how it would look like, if the plan started with 11k sisters, 1k died and plan is stopped.
Now the remaining 10k sisters will be sent around the world..
Isn't that a bit too fishy?

I mean the entire sister network is the base for Aleister plan,
without them it would not work,
Kazakiri would not be able to turn into Fuse-Kazakiri,
Aleister would not be able to controll AC AIM fields,
nor he would be able to extend it around the world.

Aleister is a man that does not make such trivial mistakes,
if others would figure out that the sisters are the base of his plan, he is done for.
The opposing sides would either killed them or send them back to AC.

But now, with half of the sisters already dead,
accel still nowhere near the god level and
even he got beaten by a "person officially labeled as level 0",
it's obvious that the plan would not work if he killed the rest of them.
So it's not so fishy this way.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Myname

Kihara mentioned something to Accelerator about why they decided to use #3 Misaka Mikoto instead of #1 Accelerator for the sisters project. Why? Someone said that the whole sister network wasn't even meant to power up Accelerator but to disperse them around the city (in that case, why let him kill 10,000 of them?).

Basically to summarize what zaeraal was trying to say;

Though it technically wasn't said outright, it was strongly implied to the point it's pretty much accepted that the Level 6 shift experiment was really one hell of a misdirected smoke screen to cover the intention to spread the clones all over the world.

[I_am_Kami]

> Insert Aleisters just a planned.

[Morisato]

Got some questions

1. Whose side is Tsuchimikado on? Crowley's or the Church of England? He seems to be one of the most knowledgeable characters in the series and he knows things on both sides. Is he an ESPer first or a Magician first?

2. I heard somewhere that Tsuchimikado is a siscon... but I've never even seen him interact with Maika. In fact, does he even have parents? I keep having this feeling he's older than he looks (i.e. not a high school student) cause he knows way too much shit.

3. Isn't Stiyl a relatively low ranking member in Necessarius? I'm surprised he can treat Laura the way he does.

4. Did that crazy nun with the Cross of Peter end up dying?

5. Sasha? Misha? Her mentor says the angel Gabriel was summoned into her. I thought Gabriel only took her form and had nothing to do with the real person (just shapeshifted to look like her)?

6. Did 10032 ever get her goggles back? Or rather, why didn't she? Last Order was just standing playing with Touma. Plus, can't they track each other?

7. These SS novels. Are they supposed to be extras or something or do they contribute to the plot? They seem to take place in between the volumes but aren't things like Accelerator joining GROUP, Misuzu being assassinated, etc. some pretty important plot points? Why are they in SS and not just given a volume number?

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Morisato

Got some questions

1. Whose side is Tsuchimikado on? Crowley's or the Church of England? He seems to be one of the most knowledgeable characters in the series and he knows things on both sides. Is he an ESPer first or a Magician first?

As far as I could tell, he's on whichever side Maika is on, which just happens to be Academy City. In a way he's their liaison to both Necessarius and Kamijou Touma.

Originally Posted by Morisato

2. I heard somewhere that Tsuchimikado is a siscon... but I've never even seen him interact with Maika. In fact, does he even have parents? I keep having this feeling he's older than he looks (i.e. not a high school student) cause he knows way too much shit.

Nothing about Tsuchimikado's other family members were mentioned, only that he's from a family of Onmyouji and possibly having connections to the famous Abe no Seimei. Yes, he does interact with Maika, but that's later in the story.

Originally Posted by Morisato

3. Isn't Stiyl a relatively low ranking member in Necessarius? I'm surprised he can treat Laura the way he does.

He's relatively strong as far as normal people are concern, status wise he seem to be the go to guy whenever Laura needed dirty work to be done. So he's like her consigliere.

Originally Posted by Morisato

4. Did that crazy nun with the Cross of Peter end up dying?

No.

Originally Posted by Morisato

5. Sasha? Misha? Her mentor says the angel Gabriel was summoned into her. I thought Gabriel only took her form and had nothing to do with the real person (just shapeshifted to look like her)?

'Gabriel' possessed her body during the Angel Fall incident.

Originally Posted by Morisato

6. Did 10032 ever get her goggles back? Or rather, why didn't she? Last Order was just standing playing with Touma. Plus, can't they track each other?

As the Administrator of the Network, Last Order has control over all the data and information traveling across the system.

Originally Posted by Morisato

7. These SS novels. Are they supposed to be extras or something or do they contribute to the plot? They seem to take place in between the volumes but aren't things like Accelerator joining GROUP, Misuzu being assassinated, etc. some pretty important plot points? Why are they in SS and not just given a volume number?

No idea, but yeah they're pretty much part of the main story.

According to Kamachi's Afterword, he was told to "write a story you can't normally write." by his Editor.

Thus, there's no key word about magic or science; it's impossible for this volume. Also, I don't know if the readers have realised that the ending of each chapter has a subtle spice to it. The hedgehog head actually using something else other than his fist, and that white guy having an intention to join a group; there's a lot of developments in the volume that didn't exist before.

The basic script is about how after the main events that happened, the scraps of information are added in to form a linear story. This is the series of 'stories that can't be written normally'. I'll be very happy if the readers can accept this lack of balance.

[leukrota]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

No idea, but yeah they're pretty much part of the main story.

According to Kamachi's Afterword, he was told to "write a story you can't normally write." by his Editor.

The side stories only provide additional information and not major developments. They can be skipped without undermining the understanding of the story, as anything relevant done in those is summarized or easily deduced within the main novels.

Furthermore, the side stories don't need to follow the chronological order of the main novels, giving Kamachi even more freedom than just adding different perspectives, thus allowing him to 'write what he normally can't.' ... Even though Kamachi did not take advantage of this in the first Index SS... maybe he was still testing the waters...

[I_am_Kami]

Actually there are some important things you can find in the SS books.

[Master Assassin]

Originally Posted by I_am_Kami

Actually there are some important things you can find in the SS books.

This.

Index SSes explain what is happening on the leylines in the wake of the main plot. If you ignore these entirely you're bound to miss some things; e.g. why suddenly Accelerator is in some sort of a group called GROUP, why suddenly there is this Bardway person (admittedly, from another POV, her introduction lacks more fanfare than certain other characters; it's as if she's actually been introduced waayyy back even before NT1 began) and how did Touma get out of the Arctic Ocean alive etc...

That's even barely scratching the surface methinks?

[Morisato]

Originally Posted by Soul Assassin

This.

Index SSes explain what is happening on the leylines in the wake of the main plot. If you ignore these entirely you're bound to miss some things; e.g. why suddenly Accelerator is in some sort of a group called GROUP, why suddenly there is this Bardway person (admittedly, from another POV, her introduction lacks more fanfare than certain other characters; it's as if she's actually been introduced waayyy back even before NT1 began) and how did Touma get out of the Arctic Ocean alive etc...

That's even barely scratching the surface methinks?

Yea things like Accel joining GROUP seem like pretty important plot points to me... which is why I'm confused as to why they're considered SS in the first place and not just given a number.

Rather, why aren't the important parts just put in one of the main volumes (Accel joining GROUP for e.g.) and the SS really is just extra fluff like Touma unhooking Himegami's bra.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Morisato

Yea things like Accel joining GROUP seem like pretty important plot points to me... which is why I'm confused as to why they're considered SS in the first place and not just given a number.

Rather, why aren't the important parts just put in one of the main volumes (Accel joining GROUP for e.g.) and the SS really is just extra fluff like Touma unhooking Himegami's bra.

Because it's impossible for Kamachi to write an entire book with nothing but fluff and unimportant things in it.

It's just not in his blood, he's a man of action.

On hindsight Accelerator's story in SS is really no big different than the one in Vol 15. Even though it's suppose to introduce him in GROUP, it's not like he went through an Ice-breaking session with the rest of them.

[leukrota]

Originally Posted by I_am_Kami

Actually there are some important things you can find in the SS books.

I didn't say there were no important things, just that there are no major developments.

[Myname]

Seems kinda strange how Accelerator became such an awesome melee fighter immediately after getting handicapped.

But was he always that agile and stuff? He used to be one of those characters that can fight with his hands in his pockets due to his power... so it didn't seem necessary for him to train his body or anything. Now he fights a lot more wildly and hands-on which is weird considering his leg injury (and he gained touma-level durability)... though I guess he doesn't have much of a choice.

Can he still make plasma bombs anymore later in the novels?