I picked up this volume from the public library because I've watched several arcs of the anime, this one included. The Misawa Cram School arc, the one with the so-called "failed heroine" Asia Himegami. I must say that it is much different from its anime adaptation.
You might say, well, of course, it is. The adaptation is always different. This one was particularly extreme in its difference. The anime shows what happens to the characters. They clash over their goals and personalities. The light novel presents the thoughts of the characters as they pursue their goals. It's not just Touma's either. It is Touma's and Stiyl's and Asia's and Aureolus's (both of them). The light novel shows the inner thoughts of five different characters, and they're all depressing. What's worse, it all appears to be pointless.
Spoilers.
Spoilers.
Spoilers ahead.
Spoilers.
Touma is basically driven by guilt. It is guilt for "deceiving" Index about his memory loss and thus feeling like a fraud, and guilt for supposedly obstructing Aisa's escape from the Misawa Cram School. He even feels guilty about not being able to save a knight who was 99% dead before he arrived on the scene. Is he like Shirou from Fate Stay Night, and have this complex about saving people?
Stiyl has this hedgehog's dilemma thing over being Index's prior partner and some other dirty work I'm assuming that he's done. It's hard to get a fix on his personality. He cares a great deal about Index, but doesn't care about making her sad by using her precious current partner as a shield and distraction. The narrative says that he doesn't feel jealousy or envy, but the things he says and does are spiteful. It's not a pleasant narration.
Asia, despite being this story's McGuffin Girl, doesn't really seem all that important. She is being used as vampire bait by Aureolus Isard, but vampires never appear, and so her esper power never comes into play. It kinda sounds like she is the subject of commodity speculation that ran ammuk. Yes, I know she has an interlude showing her power in effect, but the whole thing still feels like an over-reaction. Neither the magic side nor the science side are sure that vampires even exist.
The two Aureolus characters are pitiful. One of them is a clone with Cloning Blues, and the other is the real deal who has a mess of other mental issues. Both of them are essentially defeated by the heroes provoking them into a self-destructive mental spiral. This brings me to my next point.
The volume's story feels pointless.
I don't mean this in the sense of "filler". That word is banded about a lot, and carries a lot of different meanings, and the most general of them is "I didn't like it". No, what I mean is that this volume's story negates itself. It negates itself on multiple ocassions times.
1. Touma and Stiyl go to rescue Asia from Misawa Cram School but by the time they arrive, Aureolus has already hijacked the place and made a deal with Asia. She wasn't trying to escape early in the novel. She was walking around trying to attract vampires for Aureolus in exchange for him concealing her /from/ vampires in his cram school lair the rest of the time and also for working on a more permanent solution for her. This solution is a Walking Church item like what Index used to use (or still uses, whatever). So, there was no need for a rescue mission. Asia explains this when Touma finds her walking around the school freely.
2. Aureolus did all this stuff at the cram school and with Asia to fix Index's memory problem. Yet, that problem has already been fixed. It was the subject of the previous novel. And Stiyl knew this. He knew Aureolus and what the alchemist was trying to do. Aureolus knew him as well. I don't get the sense that they were enemies outside of this particular incident. This means that We Could Have Avoided This Plot kicks in. He even explains this when he states that Aureolous will never succeed, because Touma already has.
I can only assume that Stiyl's apathy is the reason he didn't pick up a phone and call Aurelous. Surely researching the phone number of a school's principal wouldn't be too hard for the English Puritan Church.
3. Aureolus's power itself negates a good stretch of the book. Styil and Touma fight Aureolus's clone in four rounds of combat. Lots of injury. Lots of property damage. Lots of death. All of that happens before the clone finally dies. Then the real Aureolus resets everything. He reverses everything that happened as a result of the clone battles. Aureolus never mentions his clone, (not that I recall anyway) so I wonder what the purpose of it was in the narrative.
Also, Aureolus's power literally negates itself. Touma and Styil defeat him by making him doubt himself and fear Touma. Using the flaw of self-defeatism to do away with a reality warper is cheap. It is not a satisfying storyline.
Despite all of that, I can't really say that this is a bad story.
It is internally consistent. All of its rules about science and magic appear to be followed.
The motivations of the characters make sense, and the actions they take based on those actions make sense. Their emotions are clear and well developed.
Aureolus and Stiyl are set up as foils of Touma. They are Index's previous partners who failed to save her. The way they handle this fact says much about their character and guides their actions.
Asia is set up as a foil for Index herself, a girl with a valuable supernatural aspect that the science and magic sides seek to control for their own reasons. The key difference here is that she is not Locked Out of the Loop like Index was, and so she can take more informed choices about her situation.
Even Styil's inaction on informing Aureolus about Index's improved condition can make sense. By taking over a school in Academy City, Aureolus upset the balance of power between the magic side and the science side. He was basically a wanted fugitive. There is an early scene dedicated to this bit of political entanglement. Talking things out with him was evidently never an option.
I get the sense that all the pointless was the point. A theme of "how do you respond in the face of impossible desires" is what I'm getting from this book. So, while I can't say it is a "bad" story, I can say it is a "flawed" story. I can also say that it is not a "fun" story, at least not for me.
Trickster Eric Novels gives "A Certain Magical Index - light novel volume 2" a C
Click here for my next book review: The Monsters Know What They're Doing
Click here for my previous book review: Spice and Wolf volume 10
Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).
His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.
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