Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

A Certain Magical Index II: Part 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 22, 2014

Aleister Crowley may be the only person in history to be decried as “the wickedest man in the world” and then immortalized (after a fashion, anyway) as one of the “members” pictured on the cover of The Beatles’ iconic Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album (he’s that Uncle Fester-ish character glowering from the back row). Full disclosure alert: part of my misspent youth involved working on a Master’s Thesis which sought to compare the so-called “automatic writing” shared by Crowley and Crowley’s wife Rose with another woman and her husband with apparently similar tendencies, the wife of Crowley’s lifelong nemesis (yes, nemesis) William Butler Yeats and Yeats himself. Research for my studies included hanging around the periphery of some Crowley acolytes who were quite active on the west coast of the United States back in the day, reciting magical (or, as Crowley would have it, magickal) spells in Enochian or some other arcane language and invoking all sorts of Gods and Goddesses (no actual devil worshipping or demon summoning occurred in my presence, I should add, despite a common misapprehension that Crowley was a Satanist). Crowley has entered a weird niche in the public consciousness, with many people vaguely aware of just how notorious he was at certain points in his life, and others still rabidly believing he either helped to or was solely responsible for ushering in a post-Christian epoch, which hippies would call the Age of Aquarius and Crowleyites would term the Æon of Horus, or dawning of Thelema (a rather rare ancient Greek coinage which signifies will). The Crowleyan “Bible” as it were is the small screed that Crowley and Rose supposedly transcribed in the early 20th century, dictated by a spiritual entity named Aiwass. Most of Crowley’s major magickal writings are organized with Latin names, and this particular rumination became known as Liber AL vel Legis, colloquially translated as The Book of the Law. Perhaps interestingly, neither the Catholic Church nor the Church of England (Crowley was British) seemed to pay much heed to Crowley’s antics, letting him unspool his “new religion” with no really organized opposition. Just as interestingly, the intriguing anime A Certain Magical Index makes Liber AL vel Legis part of its ever expanding mythology. If the references never get into the nuts and bolts (some might say, emphasis on nuts) of Crowley’s magickal philosophy, it’s still fascinating that a mass market cartoon (if one might be permitted that “lessening” of anime ambition) would use it at all.

Those not up to speed with some of the basic setup of A Certain Magical Index can find a bit more detail about the plot and characters in our A Certain Magical Index: Season One Blu-ray review. The second season begins in a kind of quasi-shōnen manner with Tōma figuring out lounging around all summer doesn’t bode well for getting required schoolwork done. That problems gets shunted to the side when Index becomes a veritable damsel in distress, forcing Tōma to come to her rescue. Oddly this opening episode functions more or less as a standalone (though there are a couple of allusions to former and later plot points) where much of A Certain Magical Index plays out in multi-episode arcs.

The first real arc of this first volume of season two episodes is the one concerning The Book of the Law, which in this case is described as an ominously dangerous grimoire, and one that could endanger not just the world, but Index herself. Unfortunately this arc unfolds within the context of Index once again being a damsel in distress. The Book of the Law turns out to be even denser and more impenetrable in this version than it perhaps is in real life, leading to Tōma needing to enlist the aid of a couple of other supporting characters.

For those drawn to the occult subtext of A Certain Magical Index, this particular storyline will probably hold the most interest with regard to this first set of episodes of the second season. The rest of this set unfolds with a couple of other multi-episode storylines which offer supporting character Mikoto an interesting if not particularly meaningful plot, and, later, what amounts to A Certain Magical Index’s tip of the school hat to a shōnen academic setting.

The series continues to develop its rather complex mythology rather well, though the series also continues to fall into a series of silly showdowns and patently contrived obstacles that regularly confront Index. As with the first season, there’s a certain tonal imbalance between the show’s mythological foundations and its sometimes schtick laden comedy aspects. While not everything gels perfectly in A Certain Magical Index, the show continues to weave a rather interesting spell that deserves if not demands attention.

A Certain Magical Index II: Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

My comments in the Blu-ray.com A Certain Magical Index: Season One Blu-ray review hold equally true for this second volume. A Certain Magical Index Season II Part One is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a solid if modest looking presentation, one that can only do so much with the series' at times minimalist design aesthetic. Colors are okay looking, and the series exploits a nice range of tones on the blue end of the spectrum to good effect (something that's even more pronounced in this season than in the last one), but a lot of A Certain Magical Index fails to pop overly vividly. One of the best things about the animation, and the high definition presentation, are some cutaways that suddenly inject whole new and often quite interesting styles, though unfortunately this season tends not to utilize that approach quite as much as the first season did. Line detail is strong and there are no instability issues.

A Certain Magical Index II: Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

A Certain Magical Index offers the original Japanese language track via Dolby TrueHD 2.0 and an English dub in Dolby TrueHD 5.1. The 5.1 mix significantly opens up the series' use of sound effects, which can include the crackle of electricity or booming explosives. There are typically hyperbolic moments in dialogue scenes as well, with sudden spikes in amplitude when one character or the other goes a little berserk. Everything is well prioritized and there's pleasing dynamic range throughout the series.

A Certain Magical Index II: Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One:

• Episode 2 Commentary features Monica Rial and Rob McCollum.


• Episode 7 Commentary features Alison Viktorin and Bryn Apprill.

Disc Two:

• Textless Opening Song "No Buts!" (1080p; 1:32)


• Textless Closing Song "Magic World" (1080p; 1:32)

A Certain Magical Index II: Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A Certain Magical Index proves the breadth of its ambitions by tackling no less weighty a subject (albeit discursively) as Aleister Crowley, but that ambition is folded into a series that also wants a certain mainstream appeal, meaning that for every allusion to some occult arcana there's some slapstick laden farcical element as well. It's an often uneasy balance of elements that the show tends to ping pong between rather than exploit in equal measure. Still, there's a lot to enjoy in A Certain Magical Index, even if some of the "tricks" are starting to get a bit old hat. Recommended.