While the post title is a bit critical, I found To Aru Majutsu no Index to be one of the stronger shows this season. Likable characters and well-animated, one can’t go wrong – except the dialogue does get tiresome in a few parts. Case in point, in episode 4, Touma’s extended fight against Kanzaki Kaori (what a body!) started off quite strong but the dialogue felt a bit excessive (the music was a bit jarring towards the end of the fight too). Touma spent quite a period of time berating a nonchalant Kaori until she got angry, and although we got to cover some backstory it felt as if nothing new or unexpected was said.
Note: Although I have read the manga a little bit past the end of the first arc (the ending being quite good in my opinion), comparisons do not need to be made here. Manga can usually afford to be quite wordy and not suffer – comparing exposition and dialogue between the two media feels like a futile and uninformative exercise.
Anyways, if worst comes to worst I’m sure the strong characters will still carry the series through.
