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A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 1
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A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 1
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Funny in any context, lol
I feel like I should now be fearing for my life.It was pretty surprising, though. I had been so sure that Stiyl was evil when he was first introduced, and then you find out he isn't and I think I had a brain fart or something, because I was like, "eh?"
Still, it was an amazing twist, and it was done so well, too.
I finished the book. That was pretty neat. Thumbs up, and only two weeks until the next one comes out!
I can't wait for volume 2 to come out. I've already pre-ordered it.
To be honest, I'm sort of in the side who didn't really enjoy this book :'). Haven't seen the anime before and just read this first volume.Not that I think it's not a good read. I think the story and universe are pretty good, I just think that it's too shounen-ish and rather common in characterization.
I didn't really like it when the main character giving inspirational speeches in the climax fighting scenes.
I guess it's just me getting used to pretentiously looking for something unique/different in a series >,< and that I'm more of a character-driven than a story-driven reader.
I wonder if it'll get better in the following volumes, in terms of characters' depth and development.
Hardian wrote: "To be honest, I'm sort of in the side who didn't really enjoy this book :'). Haven't seen the anime before and just read this first volume.Not that I think it's not a good read. I think the story..."
I think it does, though you'd have to ask Parker, our resident Toaru expert, who I believe has read a dozen novels ahead.
I didn't really mind the Shounen-y speeches, but maybe that's just because I went in expecting it--and, if I'm honest, this is nowhere near as bad as many other Shounen stories.
One thing I think is important to recognize with a story like this is, aside from the fact that they are light novels, and therefore the characters develop more slowly due to lack of content, it is also strictly in the Shounen demographic. That means that some of the tropes that you've come to expect from things like Naruto, Fairy Tail and what have you, are going to be in there. If you go into a story knowing to expect that, it won't disappoint you as much.
The anime doesn't have major differences from the novels. A few things are abridged (the Angel Fall arc for example), but it doesn't change the story. Touma is a bit preachy, but that's because there's a lot of situations that call for it. At least he isn't preaching in the middle of mecha battles like I've seen before in some anime.
This is definitely a Shounen. Lots of fights with a clear "good guy" who always wins. Though antagonists are pretty grey and can end up on either side.
Parker wrote: "The anime doesn't have major differences from the novels. A few things are abridged (the Angel Fall arc for example), but it doesn't change the story. Touma is a bit preachy, but that's because t..."
Brandon wrote: "I didn't really mind the Shounen-y speeches, but maybe that's just because I went in expecting it--and, if I'm honest, this is nowhere near as bad as many other Shounen stories.
One thing I think is important to recognize with a story like this is, aside from the fact that they are light novels, and therefore the characters develop more slowly due to lack of content, it is also strictly in the Shounen demographic. That means that some of the tropes that you've come to expect from things like Naruto, Fairy Tail and what have you, are going to be in there. If you go into a story knowing to expect that, it won't disappoint you as much."
That, I believed I didn't expect its shounen nature at all. In fact I expected it to be as flawless since I heard its reputation and the ever-growing fans, while never really checked out their discussion on it.
I've been wondering why I'm this disappointed while I'm usually fine with shounen.
And also I noticed the regular use of tears to provoke reader's emotions, though the crying scenes are pretty reasonable, but still they make it too dramatic to me.
Anyway, I quite liked the cinematic scene with feathers which is quite an irony with its destructive beauty and liked the ending especially on Touma's state and his decision regarding Index in the end.
Most stories with a Shounen category will always have their ups and downs. I actually saw the anime before reading the light novels, so I went in expecting preachy speeches about good and evil... and because they sound way more preachy in the anime, I was actually pleasantly surprised by how not preachy they felt when I read them in LN format. Perspectives often change based on things like this.I actually like how the antagonists are almost always in the gray area, though I dislike how more than 75% of the antagonists become good guys later on. I think the only antagonist who sticks solely in the gray area that I have seen is, uh, well, I guess I shouldn't say and avoid spoiling it, but he'll come along in... volume 3, I think. Anyway, while I enjoy seeing "gray" villains, I do wish some of them would be purely evil just to change things up.
@Brandon:I like it when antagonists show up as good guys, especially if they're cool. I'll post about how many villains are actually in the grey area in the Index general discussion thread.
@Hardian:
Tears are used a lot, but perfectly natural when facing huge crises. The feathers thing was cool.
Another thing to keep in mind is that a significant portion of later volumes/parts are not told from Touma's point of view.
I just got my hands on volume2. Hehe! XD
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You guys are welcome to buddy read volume 2. ;)
Selena wrote: "Brandon wrote: "I just got my hands on volume2. Hehe! XD"You guys are welcome to buddy read volume 2. ;)"
I'm down for that if anyone else is.
I'm in, but don't get my copy until Tuesday, I think. I'm excited for it! (And then it's just a week until Kagerou Days~!)
I'll get in on that too. I made a new discussion thread as well.
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This is the first volume in a very long light novel series.
This came out in translation about 10 years ago. There were 25! Volumes in the original series and 2 sequel series after that. The LN series were huge hits and there were 3 anime series and a movie based upon them.
Well, I enjoyed reading this. It was so long ago that I mostly forgot the story.
A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 1
Kazuma Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura
Translation by Andrew Prowse and Yoshito Hinton
Touma really did have a point when he told Kanzaki that there's a lot of mental research and even mind manipulating espers--including a level 5--so something there might be able to help Index.
Why don't they just download all the grimoires to a (big) hard drive?
Also did anyone catch how Komoe's phone bill was almost $1,500?