The BEST Episodes of A Certain Magical Index
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
Last Updated: Jan 8, 2020
Network: CTC (JA)
Set in Academy City, a city of scientifically advanced superhuman students, located to the west of Tokyo, in a world where magic is also real. Kamijou Touma's right hand, the Imagine Breaker, can negate all magic, psychic, or divine powers, but not his own bad luck. One day he finds a young girl, Index, hanging on his balcony railing. She turns out to be a nun from the Church of England, and her mind has been implanted with the Index Librorum Prohibitorum — all the magical texts the Church has removed from circulation. His encounter leads him to meet others from the secret world of science and magic and right into an adventure where science and magic collide.
#1 - Route Disturb (Pursuit Inhibited)
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired Dec 3, 2010
As Oriana realizes she's being followed and runs away, Tōma, Stiyl and Tsuchimikado chase her through a bus station filled with booby traps, but she manages to escape and uses a counter magic called Short Hand to avoid being traced. Despite Tōma's objections, Tsuchimikado and Stiyl undergo a painful magical spell in order to locate the Short Hand spell, which happens to be right in the center of a middle school ball throwing tournament. With the competitors in danger of being hurt by the spell if they touch it, Tōma and Tsuchimikado infiltrate the match as contestants in order to find it, only to find the opposing team is Mikoto's school. Tōma tries to protect Mikoto from one of the basket poles which he believes has the Short Hand, only for Seiri to end up touching the real one and gets hit by magic and falls unconscious before Tōma destroys the spell. As Seiri is taken to the hospital, Tōma vows to make Oriana pay on what she did.
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#2 - Move Point (Coordinate Relocation)
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired Nov 19, 2010
Kuroko finds Awaki at a nearby building and uses the latter's trauma of self-teleportion to make the first strike but during their battle, her injuries make her unable to concentrate on teleporting and she is trapped under a pile of furniture. Awaki explains to Kuroko that she and her organization, the Science Syndicate, plan to build a new Tree Diagram in order to create other species of espers. Awaki tries to persuade Kuroko to join her, believing her powers is a curse that caused her to become how she is. Kuroko rejects her offer, verbally abuses Awaki for making excuses for her own behavior, breaks loose and tries to attack Awaki, but is shot by her. After a brief traumatic loss of control over her powers, Awaki attempts to kill Kuroko by dropping the building on top of her, but she is saved by Mikoto and Tōma, who came to rescue her after he was alerted by Misaka 10032. As the Anti-Skill's stop the Science Syndicate, Awaki tries to escape but to her horror, is confronted by Accelerator who, using the Misaka Network to utilize his powers, defeats her and destroys the Tree Diagram remnant. As everyone recovers, Mikoto gives her thanks to Kuroko.
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#3 - The Daihasei Festival
Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired Nov 26, 2010
Academy City is hosting the Grand Champion Star Festival, a sports competition between the various schools of the city, during which visitors from outside the city are allowed entry. Whilst Tōma's parents, Tōya and Shiina, as well as Misuzu, a relative of Mikoto's, get to know each other, Tōma and Mikoto decide to make a bet in which the loser does anything the winner wants. Meanwhile, Laura contacts Aleister to inform him that magicians have infiltrated Academy City in order to make a transaction with a magical weapon called the Stab Sword, which has the power to kill a Saint. Meanwhile, Tōma has several troubles with a hungry Index and awkward situations with the class representative, Seiri Fukiyose. Later, Tōma runs into Stiyl and Tsuchimikado, who tell him about the intruding magicians and asks him not to get Index involved. Whilst getting scolded by Seiri after an awkward incident with Index and Komoe, Tōma runs into a woman named Oriana Thomson. When his Imagine Breaker reacts to her, he realizes she is one of the magicians in question and starts to follow her.
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#4 - City of Water
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired Jan 14, 2011
Despite a chain of bad luck with his female companions during the festival, Tōma gets lucky on the last day when he wins a lottery for a one week trip to Chioggia, Italy. After he and Index arrive at Chioggia, Tōma tries to find Index after she gets lost but is found by Orsola who manages to find Index. Later, Orsola explains to them that she and the Amakusas are here at Chioggia to help move and pack her belongings to London. After helping them, Tōma and Index are about to go to their hotel when two assassins try to kill Orsola but their attempts are thwarted by Tōma and Index. The other assassin escapes by summoning a Sailing ship made of Ice in the canal where Tōma and Orsola accidentally board it. As they hide from their pursuers inside the ship, both of them realize the assassins were from the Catholic church and there is a fleet of Ice ships heading towards the Adriatic Sea. When someone tries to enter the room in which they're hiding, Tōma prepares himself and is surprised to find out it's Agnese.
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#5 - Serial Number (Specimen Number)
Season 2 - Episode 18 - Aired Feb 11, 2011
In London, the ladies of Necessarius try to learn to use a new washing machine. Back at Academy City, Mikoto finally claims her phone straps, while Tōma encounters Misaka 10032, who is searching for Last Order, and buys her a necklace so he can distinguish her from Mikoto. As Mikoto rejoins them, Misaka 10032 starts teasing her and clinging onto Tōma, attracting the attention of Last Order before Misaka 10032 chases after her again. Elsewhere, Hyōka appears from the Imaginary District and is apprehended by AntiSkill. Accelerator heads to the underground mall to look for Last Order and ends up encountering Index, who decides to help search for her after he treats her to a meal. Meanwhile, Last Order approaches Tōma to thank him for stopping the Level 6 Shift experiment, mentioning how she hopes to protect Accelerator. Tōma and Last Order soon part ways and join up with Index and Accelerator respectively, though Tōma and Accelerator don't actually see each other, and start making their way home.
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#6 - Imagine Breaker
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired Nov 8, 2008
Following the events of last episode and the activation of Index's defense mechanism Touma struggles to hide his amnesia from Index.
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#7 - The Divine Retribution Spell
Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired Mar 11, 2011
Accelerator starts to fight Amata, but the battery for his link to the Misaka Network runs out, leaving him paralyzed and defenseless. However, he begins to move again by force of will and starts to come after Amata. Meanwhile, Tōma fights against Vento, who continues to be weakened by Testament, while Hyōka makes snow appear over the city, protecting the unconscious civilians. Vento reveals her hatred towards science because both she and her little brother got into accident at a amusement park that was supposed to be the safest and the hospital only had enough blood to save her alone. Tōma argues against her reasoning for her actions and manages to punch and knock her out. Index appears in Amata's HQ and, thanks to Mikoto's knowledge of science, learns that Last Order is being used as a container to create the angel. She sings a song in order to sever the shackles controlling Last Order, which in turn resonates with Accelerator who awakens as a result and blasts Amata into the sky. In the end, Acqua of the Back from God's Right Seat appears and gives Tōma Vento's cross as her Divine Punishment has been dispelled before warning Tōma not to fight him as he is a Saint and leaves with Vento.
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#8 - Imaginary Number School District - Five-Element Agency
Season 1 - Episode 24 - Aired Mar 19, 2009
Tōma pursues Hyōka but encounters Sherry instead and is forced to fight her. He learns that Ellis was once a friend of Sherry who suffered painful consequences from an attempt by Necessarius and Academy City to reconcile magic and science; to prevent this tragedy from occurring again, Sherry intends to divide them forever through conflict. Outraged that Sherry does not believe that people who are different like Index and Hyōka could be friends, Tōma successfully defeats Sherry. However, doing so results in Golem Ellis above ground losing control, and Index is cornered until Hyōka suddenly appears and destroys the Golem each time it reforms. After Tōma arrives to deliver the finishing blow, Index and Hyōka reconcile just as Hyōka fades away to the Imaginary Number Sector. Meanwhile, Tsuchimikado confronts Aleister Crowley on why he is interested in the Imaginary Numbers Sector. As each of the characters settle back into their daily lives, Stiyl meets with the Archbishop of Necessarius, Laura Stuart, who decides that Necessarius will need Index and Tōma's help for an upcoming problem meanwhile Kaori Kanzaki is missing in Japan after the events of the Angel Fall.
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#9 - Accelerator (One Way)
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired Dec 27, 2008
Misaka and Touma hatch a plan to defeat Accelerator and end the experiment.
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#10 - Weakest vs Strongest
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired Jan 8, 2009
Touma faces off against Accelerator for the sake of Misaka and her 'sisters'.
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#11 - Shorthand (Stenographic Sourcebook)
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired Dec 10, 2010
Whilst Heaven Canceler attends to Seiri, Stiyl manages to lead Tōma and Tsuchimikado to Oriana's location. Oriana inflicts a curse on Tsuchimikado and gives Tōma trouble with her variety of spells, yet Tōma's determination allows him to land a hit on her. Oriana escapes but leaves behind her cargo, which is later revealed to be a decoy. Laura soon learns that the Stab Sword is actually St. Peter's Cross, which she fears the Catholic Church will use to put Academy City under their control if the trade goes through. After Tōma, Stiyl and Tsuchimikado are informed of this, Tōma has lunch with Index, his parents, Mikoto and Misuzu, and is surprise to learn Misuzu is Mikoto's mother.
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#12 - Testament (Learning Device)
Season 2 - Episode 21 - Aired Mar 4, 2011
As Tsuchimikado battles against the spectral being who is working with Vento to kill the unconscious residents of Academy City, Tōma calls Accelerator from Last Order's cellphone to update him on her status. Accelerator soon learns that Amata has managed to capture Last Order, though is keeping her alive for some reason. Aleister then uses Testament, with Last Order's authorization, to summon an angel to appear in the city to target those who use magic. As Tōma, Mikoto and Index head towards where the angel is, Index realizes the angel is actually Hyōka. As Mikoto holds off the Hound Dogs, Index explains the nature of Vento's Divine Punishment, which targets anyone who experiences a certain emotion towards her and how Hyōka isn't an ordinary angel. Tōma tells her to work with Mikoto to combine their knowledge of magic and science to figure out how to help her. Meanwhile, Accelerator breaks into the Hound Dog's headquarters and confronts Amata. As Tōma witnesses Hyōka's controlled state and feels helpless, since using his right hand would kill her, Vento appears before him again, threatening to kill them both, so Tōma stands to defend Hyōka.
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#13 - Deep Blood (Vampire Killer)
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired Nov 29, 2008
Touma confronts Ars Magna in a dangerous battle to rescue both Index and Deep Blood.
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#14 - Academy City
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired Oct 4, 2008
Tōma Kamijō is chased by hooligans after he stops one of them from disturbing a girl. In reality he was trying save him as the girl is Level 5 Psychic Mikoto Misaka, who can control and generate electricity. After losing them, he meets Mikoto who wants a duel but he refuse citing he just a Level 0 psychic. Nevertheless, she "shoots" an electrical bolt at him but it is stop by Tōma right hand which has a power called Imagine Breaker. Angered, she attacks with a powerful lighting strike which only ends up causing a citywide blackout. The next morning, after lamenting his recent bad luck, he finds a young nun hanging outside of his veranda. After feeding her spoiled food, she introduces herself as Index, a nun from the Church of England and is being chase by magicians for she "possess" 103,000 grimoires. After both of them explain each other about their own worlds, Index doesn't believe that Tōma's right hand can nullify other powers while he doesn't believe magic exist. To test their proofs, Tōma use his powers on Index's magical garb which is unfortunately blown into pieces. After biting Tōma in revenge and fixing her garb, Index concludes that his powers are the cause of his bad luck, leaves and thanks him and he tells her to come again if she needs help. After coming back from summer classes, he meets Mikoto again who wants a rematch but when he refuse again, she stomps her foot in anger causing nearby electronics to go haywire including cleaning bots who sounds the alarm which forces both of them to quickly runaway. When he returns home, he finds Index laying on the ground bleeding and behind him a man who calls himself a magician.
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#15 - Remnant (Wreckage)
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired Nov 12, 2010
Kuroko's day of shopping with Mikoto is interrupted by reports of robbers stealing an aerospace carrycase. Kuroko subdues the thieves but is then attacked and wounded by their leader, another teleporter named Awaki Musujime. She reveals to Kuroko about Tree Diagram's destruction and how various factions are gathering of its remnants, the contents of the carrycase being one of them. Kuroko manages to escape, but becomes concerned over what Awaki had told her, particularly concerning how Mikoto had been trying to stop them for reasons she had kept from her, (namely being that if Tree Diagram were rebuilt, the Level 6 Shift experiment would start over again). As Mikoto goes out that night to confront Awaki, Kuroko decides to follow her and overhears their conversation before Awaki escapes. As Kuroko decides to take matters into her own hands, Misaka 10032 decides to take action.
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#16 - Mikoto Misaka (Sissy)
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired Dec 6, 2008
Touma spends some time with Misaka Mikoto and makes a strange discovery.
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#17 - Level 6 (Absolute Ability)
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired Dec 20, 2008
Touma discovers the reason behind the experiment and appears to grow closer to Misaka.
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#18 - The Last Day (August 31)
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired Oct 8, 2010
Following the fake boyfriend incident with Mikoto, Tōma still hasn't finished his summer homework and Index isn't helping much. Whilst Tōma takes Index to a restaurant for a change of location, they are attacked by magician named Ouma Yamisaka who kidnaps Index and runs off. As Tōma tries to find her, running into Mikoto along the way, Ouma prepares a ceremony that will allow him to access the grimoires inside Index's head in order to find a cure for a curse inflicted on a woman he has fallen in love with. As the ceremony begins, Ouma's body and mind is put through excruciating pain trying to access the grimoires. Thanks to Index using her new cellphone, Tōma is able to find her and stop the ceremony. Tōma gets Ouma to snap out his pitiful state and offers to cure the woman's curse using his Imagine Breaker. Meanwhile, Kanzaki is seen fighting the Knights of England.
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#19 - Innocentius (The Witch Hunter King)
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired Oct 11, 2008
The magician reveal himself as Stiyl Magnus and explain that his partner Kaori unintentionally hurt Index as her Magical garb was suppose to stop the blow and his mission to 'protect' Index or actually the Index-Librorum-Prohibitorum, the 103,000 books implanted in her mind as she possess photographic memory. Toma, angered by Stiyl's ill treatment of Index attacks him and he counterattack by using Fire magic but is surprised when Toma nullify s the spell. Styil then summons a fire creature named Innocentius which Toma can't stop as the creature keeps regenerating itself from his attacks. It is only when Index other personality, John's pen mode, reveals the creatures powers comes from Runes place around the building that Toma is able improvise and defeat Innocentius and Stiyl using the sprinklers to destroy the Runes as they were on paper and rescue Index. When he learns from Index that he can't help heal her wounds using magic as it can only be use by normal people, Toma brings her to the only normal person he knows for help, his teacher, Komoe Tsukuyomi.
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#20 - Perfect Memory Ability
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired Oct 25, 2008
Touma learns the truth about Index's perfect memorization and her loss of memories.
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#21 - Stab Sword
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired Dec 17, 2010
After Tōma has some women trouble with Index, Mikoto and Kuroko following lunch, Tsuchimikado manages to find Oriana's location and instructs him and Stiyl to go there. However, whilst Tsuchikimado tries to track Oriana, she goes straight to him and attacks him. She defeats Tsuchikimado and destroys his search spell, but he manages to pull off a bluff that he has summoned reinforcements to trick her into running away before finishing him off. Meanwhile, Aisa becomes worried about Tōma, with Komoe suggesting she should invite him to a night parade at the end of the festival. However, when they bump into Oriana as she makes her escape, she sees Aisa's magic Celtic Cross and mistakes her for a Necessarius magician, attacking her with a vicious spell which leaves her brutally wounded. As Tōma falls into despair upon witnessing her state, Komoe recalls the healing spell she performed on Index, so Stiyl stays to help her perform it whilst Tōma chases after Oriana.
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#22 - Queen's Fleet
Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired Jan 21, 2011
Agnese explains the ship she is on is known as the Queen of the Adriatic Sea where she and her former group are being punished. She agrees to let Tōma and Orsola escape in exchange for the rescue of Luccia and Angelene, who are at risk of having their brains restructured to avoid casting a certain spell that would allow them to escape. Tōma agrees to help her rescue them, although in shaking hands, he accidentally dispels her magical clothing. As Agnese goes to the flagship to confront the squadron's leader, Bishop Biagio Busoni, Tōma and Orsola manage to find and rescue Luccia and Angelene, who tell him that Agnese is in danger of being used for a spell that would destroy her brain. Just then, the other ships start shooting at them, causing them to fall into the sea, but they are rescued by Index and the Amakusas using an underwater boat. After learning that the spell Biagio intends to use Agnese for has the power to destroys citys and erase their culture, the Amakusas agree to help Tōma and co. rescue Agnese. They launch an attack on the fleet, where they face up against an army of nuns, but when the allied ships try to sink the ship they're on with them, Angeline gets injured trying to keep one of the nuns being killed.
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#23 - Penalty Game
Season 2 - Episode 17 - Aired Feb 4, 2011
Autumn arrives at Academy City and the city's students change into their winter uniforms. Accelerator, Last Order and Kikyō move out of the hospital into Aiho's apartment, while Misaka 10032 and three other Sisters begin rehabilitation in the city. Meanwhile as promised in their bet, Mikoto has Tōma do whatever she wants, dragging him to a mobile phone shop which is offering a Gekota phone strap for those who take out a couples plan. However, in order to qualify for the offer, they have to take a photo of themselves as a loving couple, which is ruined when a jealous Kuroko intervenes. Elsewhere, Last Order gets herself locked out of the apartment which leads to Misaka 10032 making fun of her situation. Last Order is jealous that she is the only Misaka clone which doesn't have goggles, so Last Order steals and run off with Misaka 10032's goggles, which she doesn't take too kindly.
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#24 - Lotus Wand
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired Nov 5, 2010
As Tōma, Index, Stiyl, Saiji and Orsola barricade themselves from the battle nuns, Tōma and Index come up with an idea that Orsola could help them decipher the Liber AL vel Legis in Index's head to their advantage. When Orsola mentions her deciphering method, Index reveals her translations is a fake, revealing Orsola was never able to really decode the grimoire all along. Whilst the others fend off against the battle nuns, Tōma confronts Agnese who attacks him with her Lotus Wand. However, Tōma manages to learn its attack patterns and land a hit on Agnese. As Agnese tries to bluff that Tōma sacrificed his friends as decoys, they arrive with Innocentius, who Stiyl managed to summon thanks to the Amasukas. Her confidence broken, Agnese is knocked out by Tōma, breaking the battle nuns morale, before Tōma himself falls unconscious. Waking up in a hospital in Academy City, Tōma is greeted and taken care by Kaori, who thanks him for helping and tells him that Orsola and the Amasukas are now under the protection of the Church of England. Meanwhile, back in London, Laura reveals to Stiyl that the true reason she got involved with the Orsola incident was to get the Amakusa Catholics under her control and use them as leverage to ensure Kaori's loyalty to Necessarius.
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#25 - Virus Code (Final Signal)
Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired Feb 19, 2009
Accelerator returns to the diner only to find that Last Order has been kidnapped by Ao Amai. Accelerator manages to track down Ao Amai and knocks him out before he can escape with Last Order. However, the virus in Last Order activates earlier than expected and Yoshikawa is still en route with Last Order's incubator. To stop the virus, Accelerator uses his powers and a clean copy of Last Order's data to remove the virus. However, nearing the end of the process, Amai awakens and shoots Accelerator in the head; Accelerator is unable to fully stop the bullet, having chosen to finish removing the virus instead of protecting himself, and collapses afterward. Amai tries to finish him off but is shot by Yoshikawa who has arrived to put Last Order into her incubator. After discussing their roles as researchers and her dream of wanting to become a teacher, she and Amai shoot each other. When Yoshikawa awakens in the hospital, she learns from Heaven Canceller, who is none other than Tōma's frog-faced doctor, that Accelerator saved her but suffers from brain damage from the shot he took while saving Last Order and needs rehabilitation to regain his powers.
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