6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Anime | 100% |
Foreign | 92% |
Fantasy | 21% |
Comedy | 18% |
Romance | 17% |
Action | 16% |
Sci-Fi | 8% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
Japanese: Dolby TrueHD 2.0
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Four-disc set (2 BDs, 2 DVDs)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
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.
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 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.
Disc One:
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.
To aru majutsu no Index
2008
Essentials
2008
Toaru Majutsu no Index
2011
To aru majutsu no Index
2018-2019
To aru majutsu no Index
2019
(Still not reliable for this title)
Season 1 / とある科学の超電磁砲 / Toaru Kagaku No Railgun
2009
劇場版 とある魔術の禁書目録 -エンデュミオンの奇蹟-
2013
Anime Classics / はたらく魔王さま! / Hataraku Maou-sama!
2013
デート・ア・ライブIV / Season Four
2022
2014-2015
Anime Classics
2011-2012
2006
2008-2009
東京レイヴンズ / Tōkyō Reivunzu
2013
コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ / コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュR2
2006-2008
2011-2012
Extra Edition | Standard Edition
2013
Classics / Stray God / ノラガミ
2014
Limited Edition
2013
Limited Edition
2019
甘城ブリリアントパーク
2014-2015
2009
Anime Classics / フルメタル·パニック!
2002
Classics
2005
Classics
2013