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Touma Kamijou just can't catch a break. He might live in Academy City, a place full of more super powered students than you can shake a stick at, but his only superpower is his supernatural lack of luck. He wants nothing more than to keep a low profile, but when a girl named Index comes into his life, it gets more complicated and dangerous than ever!

180 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 2007

16 people are currently reading
643 people want to read

About the author

Chūya Kogino

33 books1 follower

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5 stars
86 (26%)
4 stars
94 (28%)
3 stars
106 (32%)
2 stars
33 (10%)
1 star
11 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
Profile Image for Tsundoku By the Day 📚.
245 reviews81 followers
August 3, 2015
I'm hoping to continue this series to find out exactly what powers Index has and how everyone else fits into it...it's quite a mystery...
Profile Image for haven ⋄ f (hiatus).
803 reviews15 followers
June 5, 2020
Super cute!

This has an interesting story that I would place in a sci-fi fantasy world. The art is so endearing!

Dunno if it’s just me, but I thought the MC looks like an early Ichigo from Bleach.
Profile Image for Kristian Dobson.
412 reviews10 followers
October 19, 2018
Interesting, if typical plot, but fairly entertaining. Artwork and pacing is choppy and somewhat confusing at times though. Maybe it's more suited as an anime?
Profile Image for rin ! ♡.
11 reviews2 followers
December 24, 2018
This book is so good! I thought Index was going to die. It has a typical plot, but was still thrilling.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Cornerofmadness.
1,927 reviews17 followers
July 12, 2016
I have mixed feelings about this one. I know it's the manga adaptation of a very popular light novel series and adaptations can be tricky. This one has a strange pace to it, trying too hard to explain the world building. I also have fears that this could quickly become another shonen style manga that is little more than a few lines of plot and the rest is 'must train to get stronger' ala Bleach and Naruto. That's not necessarily a bad thing but I'm bored with that.

Touma is a young man, a remedial student in Academy City where they train, in fact force, superhuman powers on them. Touma has almost no abilities other than bad luck. The whole first chapter was him fighting bullies and the girl he saved from the bullies (she reappears later to challenge him again hence my fear this is going to be a fight, fight, fight manga). the story picks up when he finds a girl, a nun, draped over his balcony. Her name is Index and it turns she has magic, something he doesn't believe in (which seems to be exactly the same thing as the super hero powers only it does sometimes require chants/spells)

Index has an eidetic memory and has been forced to memorize thousands of magical grimoires which could be terrible in the hands of the villains. Touma finds himself drawn into helping her after she's gravely injured (revealing some of her secrets). He is actually well suited to it because one of his hands can disrupt any ability. However, it's just the one hand. Hit Touma anywhere else, he's going to get hurt.

It's an interesting idea and I'll get the next one just to see how it shakes out. However, the story was choppy and the art, while good, isn't anything special either. Both have a lot of potential. However at the cost of these manga, I'm not sure I will keep buying it. It might be good to see if the library has it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Petit-lips.
174 reviews23 followers
July 25, 2012
Tôma est étudiant à la Cité Académique, à l'ouest de Tokyo. Ces élèvent étudient des sciences bien particulières : la pyrokinésie, la télékinésie et autres. Tôma ne possède pas de pouvoir surnaturel offensif, mais il est doté de l'Imagine breaker ou le briseur d'illusion. Il a ainsi le pouvoir d'annuler toute force qui sort de l'ordinaire.
Il fait la rencontre inattendue d'Index, une mystérieuse jeune nonne. Pour eux deux, les ennuis commencent...

Le monde de « A certain magical Index » est un univers sympathique où la magie et les pouvoirs surnaturels coexistent. Côté intrigue, ce premier tome permet surtout d'installer les personnages et de poser la base de l'histoire.

Tôma est un jeune garçon gentil, mais qui est très maladroit et a beaucoup la poisse. J'ai beaucoup aimé la petite touche d'humour et de fraîcheur qu'il apporte à l’œuvre.
Index est une jeune fille innocente et attachante. On se prend tout de suite d'affection pour elle, qui doit est poursuivie pour ses connaissances. En effet, elle a mémorisé 103 000 ouvrages de sorcellerie pour le compte de l'Eglise anglicane, et ce savoir n'attire pas que les plus vertueux des humains.

Les illustrations sont plaisantes et réussies, mais sans grande surprise dans un univers Shônen. Elles ont un petit côté brut, nerveux et pétillant. C'est sans doute dû aux scènes de combat, plus présentes que dans d'autres styles de manga.

En somme, « A certain magical Index » est une jolie découverte, avec un univers très intéressant et des personnages attachants.
Profile Image for John.
206 reviews4 followers
July 5, 2018
It's a fun manga! the main characters a bit over the top good, and there's plenty of "of course that happened the way it did" moments in the series, but that's what i like in my manga! it has a fun concept and a fun cast, and no unneeded fan-services to ruin it.
Profile Image for Julia Rittiner.
12 reviews1 follower
October 25, 2017
It gets a second star for the art, but it's derivative, predictable and full of the WORST sort of fanservice (e.g. ridiculous excuses to have the clothes fall off of young teen girls).
Profile Image for Yuiko.
1,710 reviews21 followers
June 26, 2018
I like this series
Profile Image for Sesana.
6,142 reviews330 followers
January 29, 2020
"Fanservice" in the form of an almost entirely nude (except for a strategically placed bit of flowing cloth) clearly underaged girl in chapter two. Nope.
Profile Image for Subham.
3,040 reviews101 followers
November 12, 2020
This was a fun book, we pick up with this Guy Touma who suddenly meets this girl named Index who is on his balcony and from there we learn the world of magic and psychics and the organizations "Necessarius" and they are after Index because she has learnt 103k magic whatchamacallit and then Touma has to protect her. First he also battles this girl named Misaka Mikoto who has railgun powers then he battles Stiyl magnus whose after Index and he has fire powers, and Touma himself has negate abilities in his right hand and the way he defeats Stiyl is awesome and then we have him go to his sensei to get her treated and we learn even more about who Index really is and this world of magic. Its a fascinating start!
Profile Image for Christie.
487 reviews43 followers
March 1, 2020
This review is for volumes 1-15. I liked the story though the harem aspect got old fast. The parts with the railgun girl and her, ahem, sisters, really stood out. Unfortunately the fanservice was just disgusting. A lot of it involves humiliation of teenaged girls. I stopped reading when a scantily clad woman peed her pants and it was played as sexy.
I love manga but it disturbs me that this is aimed at teenaged boys who are still forming opinions about girls and their worth as human beings.
Profile Image for Nadina.
3,145 reviews5 followers
March 21, 2020
I read "A Certain Scientific Railgun" before reading this, so I'm a way I knew some of the characters already, that being said this was a good first volume to this new story. I liked the plot that was set up and it had a good pace. The illustrations were easy enough to follow along.
The story definitely has potential and the characters are being set up for growth in future volumes. I look forward to seeing where this series leads.
Profile Image for Christiana Gassaway.
16 reviews
February 17, 2017
This first book was pretty good. It had an amazing storyline, and a lot of action. However, I didn't like the immense use of profanity, and the way several things were written made it hard to understand. I personally didn't enjoy it that much, but it has a lot of potential, so if you're up for the challenge, go ahead and read it. I think it could've been better nonetheless.
Profile Image for Amanda Setasha.
1,648 reviews55 followers
February 4, 2018
The characters and story aren't very original. There's some comedy relief and I feel like that might be the only saving grace. I'll give it a few more volumes to decide if I'm going to continue on with this series.

That "railgun" was a total rip off of Yu Yu Hakusho's spirit gun though. Wow.
Profile Image for Brittany.
1,305 reviews62 followers
March 11, 2023
This one just didn't work for me. I like the idea of super abilities and magic and the MCs breaker ability is neat but as a manga it isn't for me. It would likely be better in another format, anime or light novel, as I found the manga to be choppy in both artwork and dialogue. Wont be continuing.
Profile Image for Emily.
80 reviews30 followers
May 29, 2021
I personally didn't enjoy the storyline and it was a bit confusing at times.
Profile Image for Krystal Caloia.
1,078 reviews3 followers
August 2, 2022
This has potential.....but I wish it would explain a bit more.....
Profile Image for David Doel.
2,287 reviews6 followers
February 21, 2023
This was a good beginning; I like the main characters, Touma and Index. I have volumes 1 through 5; there are currently 26 manga volumes in the series.
Profile Image for Lindsay.
2,870 reviews95 followers
May 22, 2023
DNF. The plot and story-line are too confusing to me.
Profile Image for Mikajae.
30 reviews1 follower
August 15, 2023
didn’t really enjoy it and it was confusing at times
Profile Image for Mladoria.
1,167 reviews18 followers
March 31, 2021
Toma est un jeune étudiant au sein d'une cité université qui accueille et forme des jeunes gens aux pouvoirs surnaturels. Chez lui, rien de spectaculaire pourtant, même son don lui sera bien utile car sa main droite annule tous les pouvoirs magiques. Il va croiser la route de la petite Index, religieuse, qui fuit des magiciens mal intentionnés.
Bien malgré lui, il va se trouver pris dans une affaire qui le dépasse.
Un premier tome assez dynamique et qui lance pas mal de questions sur cet univers riche en magie, le lien entre la religion et la magie semble assez mystérieux.
Les dessins sont plein de rondeurs, les scènes de combat comme toujours en shônen assez brouillonnes, le personnage de Tôma est un archétype de ce genre d'histoire, un brin boulet mais attachant tout de même et la faim insatiable de la petite Index apporte la touche d'humour.
Une chouette série à continuer.
Profile Image for Christopher Stilson.
41 reviews
July 17, 2013
I want to say that the anime is better, but that would be unfair given that I was reading an incredibly dry and literal fan translation. Fan translation tends to err on the side of boring rather than risk getting the words wrong, which can be a problem when the book is full of so much theoretical exposition which is vital to understand the rest of the series. Add in the fact that the story deals primarily with the three least appealing characters in the series (Stiyl, Kanzaki and Index herself) and the first book becomes really hard to get into. It only becomes bearable because I know that better things are coming, but if all the translation is equally dull, it will be an ordeal and I might as well do my own.
Profile Image for Jenna.
3,789 reviews48 followers
May 13, 2015
Finished the first volume. I ended up skimming quite a lot of it. Toma just isn't an interesting character to me compared to Misaka and the drawing style wasn't anything outstanding. The pacing also seemed a bit off, with too much explanation in the panels but it could just be that I'm being over critical as I read A Certain Scientific Railgun Vol 1 first! ..might reread that now, actually.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews

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