OVERPOWERED99
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Once again, the Index series continues on with its story
between the two great divisions of mankind: religion and
science. Bringing the old and the new together, the second
season expands its world of supernatural powers with greater
proximity. There are indicators of something huge brewing
right around the corner but quite frustratingly, the
ever-present narrative issues are still there to dent the
story's full potential. Compared to its predecessor, the
second season follows more or less the same formulaic method
as the first season, except now, we have some hints to a
bigger story. Having a core that holds each arc together
gives everything one more level of significance. After all,
this is a world where religion and science coexist with one
another. It's definitely a story idea full of potential. But
like I've said already, a couple of negative factors sadly
bog down the story. The biggest perpetrator is the
mishandled pacing that felt too fast here and there.
Especially for a complex world like the Index series, a
rushed pacing will not bode well at all because it's
synonymous to a jumbled-up story. And when you have a
jumbled-up story, you will have an awkward time trying to
process the many information, interactions, and fights that
are present here.
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So, how about the concepts of the story? Well, it's clear
that there are more substantial movements going on in the
religion side with various Christian sects such as the
antagonistic Roman Catholic Church making their move. Touma,
along with his mysterious right hand and other existing and
new characters, must prevent their hostility from affecting
the fragile balance of the world. In terms of the
characters, the antagonists make up a pretty poor group of
people driven by weak reasonings. When combined with their
little screen time, they aren't that impactful to the story.
They can be entertaining, but you will only reach the
bedrock if you want to dig deep for any three-dimensional
qualities. Character development is still not a very
important factor for this series and as for the unlucky
Touma, while he has his tendency to just shout idealistic
lines and punch faces, his generic aspects serve as a good
dichotomy against the diverse religious and scientific
workings, like a litmus paper that functions under different
conditions. The last few episodes, thankfully, brings this
season off to a solid conclusion with the focus on the Dark
Side of Academy City along with some huge conflicts looming
between the religion and the science side. Accelerator, the
strongest esper who is also the face of Academy City's
darkest secrets, gets more anti-heroic attention here and is
put into a parallel comparison with Touma, highlighting
their similarities and differences. This neatly ties in with
the multifaceted viewpoints of the Index series and is
definitely the strongest dynamic for this season. Another
good factor I enjoyed, albeit in the lighthearted zone, is
the slices-of-life, usually constituting verbal dialogues
that are clever in their humor. There are not as many of
these compared to the first season, but they dampen up the
inharmonious main story when they do appear. Basically a
nice breath of air every once in a while, though the fan
service ones are still not that tasteful.
img(https://i.imgur.com/2dnXwjs.png)
Artistically speaking, the visual is now cleaner with better
line work and this results in an environment that is pretty
much more polished in all aspects. Particularly, the
backgrounds deserve a shout out just because of the
high-quality glints that emit through the screen. A lot of
the blue vibrancy in the backdrops brings out the magical
and supernatural tone of this show, so it's definitely a
cool complementary effect. As for the animation, it tends to
be inconsistent but once the final climax of the fight comes
in and Touma grips that right fist of his, the animation is
amplified to noticeable levels. You might get a kick out of
seeing all the close-ranged shots of faces getting punched
to oblivion. I sure as hell did. Then we finally have the
improved line-up of soundtracks. Of course, the upbeat
electronic music with fast beats per minute is still there
to pump up the fight scenes but there's a distinguishable
presence of angelic soundtracks as well that really fits the
religious theme. The diverse range of voice actors further
contributes to the entertaining factor and especially for
the antagonists, the expression of various personalities is
the definition of eargasmic. Mami Kawada also knows how to
sing cool opening songs while the second ending theme has a
gentle melody that is a treat to listen to. All in all, the
second season of the Index series is a passable
continuation. The anime suffers the most from a rushed
pacing which left out quite a bit of relevant information
from the light novels, affecting how the characters are
treated and decreasing the enjoyment value. But religion and
science have finally collided with each other this season.
What happens next will certainly be bigger than anything
we've seen so far.
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