To Aru Majutsu No Index 9: Higurashi Levels Of Emo Facial Contortions And Violence.

Delicious MADNESS.

An episode which was half retarded, half awesome and all “interesting”. On the retarded part: Aureolus’ Ars Magna grants him the power to make his thoughts reality (now where have I heard that before?). So, disregarding the HUGE inconsistencies with the rest of the episode (Touma’s arm was sliced off, so that’s why he’s in hospital, and yet Stiyl was literally FLAYED and somehow brought back to life/ managed to survive/ whatever the hell happened), he simply could have healed Index if he thought about it. Only he didn’t. What a f*cking huge waste of three years and countless lives that was, eh? He did’;t need to go through all that bullshit with vampirising Index, or getting a vampire to reveal the secrets of eternal memory, all he needed to do was “think” her well. F*cking idiot. What was with the setup to their relationship, anyway? We’re told that he’s some sort of big bad guy using masochistic child magic for some sort of sinister purpose, but it turns out he’s just another of Index’s partners, what a waste of time the entire last episode was. As for “Deep Blood” she wasn’t any more interesting, even with the preconception shattering 2 MINUTES of exposition that was tossed in when she “died” (like anyone would have thought that she was actually dead). So her blood kills vampires, what the hell use is that? She might as well be Index with vampire-killing blood and long beautiful hair.

On the awesome part: it was awesome. I think Aroduc describes Aureolus’s PIMPness the best:

He made a gun that turned into other guns. I don’t think I’ve seen that since Trigun. But wait, there’s more. Then he made a gun that shoots swords. That had the unfortunate side effect of cutting off Touma’s arm and making him go berserk, so he combined both of his tricks and turned his gun that shoots swords into many guns that shoot swords and then dual wielded them. How boss is that?

With one small thing I would add: he then made successive guillotines appear in the air. Not those shitty French medieval guillotines either, the huge scything ones. Let’s not forget the dragon hand, the complete and utter craziness iof Touma ( Laughing after having your arm sliced off? GAR points +. Though apparently it was because he got “high” from the pain. I’ll leave that to the medics to explain), Touma exploding lightning and then exploding a car.

So…much…right…with…scene…

So, now that this is over, next time we get clones and the introduction of another main villain, who this time actually seems crazy enough to stay a villain for longer than two episodes. (Side Note: What’s up with Stiyl peeling appples and giving heart stamped letters to Touma in Episode 6 O_o?)

Next Time:

Metal Gear Solid, Splinter Cell, take your pick.