RPG Review: Tales Of Symphonia, Part 3: Summons, Relationships and Other Delusions.

Last time, we recruited Best Girl. Now that we have a decent amount of the Party assembled, we need to discuss an important matter: Love.

Not like that!... Kinda.

See, Tales of Symphonia has a hidden relationship system that basically dictates a select few points in the plot. Mostly this comes into play in the final stretch of the game, in which some plot events will be dictated by who Lloyd is closer to. Characters can lose or gain points based on stuff like dialogue options, optional events and so on. Whoever is the winner will become Lloyd's Closest Ally.

So what's the problem? One word: Colette!

She starts out with an astronomically high amount of points, so shaking her off is not an easy task. Worse, she is absurdly easy to please, so often times you may want to give someone else points, but you'll also be giving her points as well. This is even worse if you're not careful, so you could have stuff like wanting to get all the stuff with, I dunno, Raine, but you get Colette instead. Even worse, there's a character later on that has the opposite issue in that he's a pain in the butt to get points, but he's like, the best character in the whole game so more than a few people would like to get all the stuff exclusive to him!

The good news is that most of the main plot stuff this depends on is reliant on one choice in one scene, so there's that, and that scene just needs the character you want to be in the Top 3. So even if Colette is Number 1, it is possible to get someone else to get all those extra moments with Lloyd. However there are still some optional scenes that are often unobtainable in your first playthrough (New Game + carries over the previous relationship values). Overall, this is one of those cases in which they probably should've thought things through a bit better.

As for who I got... well, the answer is obvious by this point, isn't it?

These two are adorable together and you know it.

Whatever the case may be, I did some grinding before heading off to my next destination... and then found out I needed 100000 Gald to pass.

Okay then, guess we're taking the long way around. First of all we need to get to Lake Umacy, in which we find, of all things, an unicorn stuck under some rubble in the middle of the sea.

Remember that, it'll be important later.

Whatever the case may be, our heroes need to do something to get its horn, but what exactly can they do to get it? They can't just swim there, Genis's Water magic isn't powerful enough, and they just don't have anything that could conceivably let them get to it. Sheena does propose just making a pact with a Summon Spirit, but it's not like they have a Summoner anyways so that's a big no.

Well... Sheena is a Summoner.

Well, okay, not exactly. She's primarily an user of Seals, but she is completely capable of use Summons should the need arise. Hell, she already has a Summon, her little pet Corrine, though she is actually an artificial Summon Spirit and not a proper one. Kratos also recommends we Obtain the Spirits of Wind and Fire as, well, since we're here already we might as well do so.

However, getting Undine, the Spirit of Water, comes first. Thus we must make our way to Izoold, which will let us go to Palmacosta. After some hijinks, our heroes do get a ride there, and are dropped off. Sadly Colette's clumsiness makes her break some assholes' potion, so now we gotta get a new one.

Surprisingly the one person who does have one is a girl in a shop who's having a scuffle with the Evil Desians, with her rightfully angry that her grandmother was taken away by them. Yeah, turns out Palmacosta really fucking hate the Evil Desians and their Governor, Dorr, is one of the few people willing to stand up against them. Anyhow, her mum offers the Party the Potion for 1000 bucks.

Although speaking of him, as we give our freshly bought potion to that group of assholes, they claim that he "Sure was trusting" and gave them his family treasure. I agree with Lloyd: They piss me off!

On a nicer note however, we see a bit of Dorr himself, comforting a young child about his father being taken away, and promising that when the chance comes, he'll go and rescue him and all others captured by the Evil Desians. For some reason I imagine this is his thought process:

We also find out he regularly looks for people to help him fight the Evil Desians, and that he has been raising his daughter all by himself since his wife died all those years ago. Truly a wonderful man.

So naturally when Colette claims she's the Chosen One, she tries to kill her.

Okay, not exactly, as Colette shows her wings he realizes she really is the Chosen One and orders his men to stand back. See, a bunch of people claiming to be the Chosen's group came a few minutes ago and he gave them the Book Of Regeneration, records of the events from previous Journey's like the current one, including the locations of all the Seals.

Genis naturally calls him naive, once more showing off his less than stellar views on humans, but Raine stops him from saying anything else, for now they're gonna  just have to go to the church to see if they know of at least some of the book's contents. They don't. Well, we're screwed.

Well, not entirely. Before, the impostors said they were planning to sell off the book, so it's off to Hakonesia Peak! And guess what, the guy with it is totally working with the guys who asked for 100000 to pass the thing in the first place. Thankfully, we do manage to convince him to let us read it, but he wants a Spiritua Statue first. But there's no time for that, as Palmacosta is being attacked by one of its generals!

Who are you and what's up with your hair!?

To be exact, the woman who sold us the potion is about to be executed, and the militia is off doing training exercises so they ain't helping this time. The angry girl from the shop tries to help her mum, but gets in trouble. Then a sassy little kid throws a rock at him and since this is not gonna end well, Lloyd finally intervenes.

In fact the whole Party intervenes, deciding enough is enough and it's time to end this insanity. Magnius leaves, and his grunts are nothing too special, if I may say so myself. The young girl thanks us, and she shows herself as a non-believer, but she is very much grateful that Colette saved her mum.

However, as we head off to the House Of Salvation to get the Spiritua Statue, a soldier comes in and tells us that our sassy young girl whose name I won't even bother to remember for reasons that will soon become clear has been kidnapped. As if that wasn't enough, turns out the Spiritua Statue got lost in the middle of a geyser of all things. We naturally agree to go get it in spite of, you know, boiling water.

Did I mention Sheena is Best Girl?

However before we go get that thing however, it's off to...

Palmacosta Human Ranch:

Get used to seeing rooms like this a lot

Before we reach there however, Neil, one of Dorr's assistants, comes out of some bushes to tell us some bad news.

Yeah, Dorr has actually been collaborating with the Evil Desians. Neil doesn't know since when, but it's probably a recent thing. Raine considers abandoning this mess, but Colette insists on going, claiming saving people and regenerating the world are not and should not exclude each other, something Lloyd agrees with.

As for the Dungeon itself, it's mostly a maze that requires you to use the Ring to change the game's color scheme to that of the OG Game Boy. It's kind of a mess. Either way, wer eventually save our sassy kidnapped girl, but before we can fight the boss... this happens.

I believe you now all understand why I hate this girl. Anyhow, onto the boss. I need to blow off some frustration.

Magnius:

CV: Kawada Shinji/Chris Edgerly

He's easy as hell as he's meant to be fought earlier in the game so... yeah, he didn't put up much of a fight.

At the end of it, Raine notices our Stupid Young Girl is gone from this place, much to my pleasure. Whatever the case may be, Raine once more decides to blow up the base... though as they leave, Magnius receives a call from his superior telling him that, well, there was no order to kill Colette. It was all a lie. Naturally, his time in hell will be one spent with many regrets.

Naturally, it's time for Dorr to give us some explanations, with Neil insisting on coming along. Naturally, he's in the underground of his little building, talking to one of the Evil Desians. And we soon find out why he's been doing this. See, remember his wife who died some years ago? Yeah, she never died. She just got turned into the same Monster Marble did.

To put it bluntly, the guy's been reduced to a self-pitying idiot, something Lloyd calls him out on, basically telling him what he truly is: A Coward. Oh and I forgot to mention, his daughter isn't actually his daughter. She had been killed and replaced by a Half-Elf impostor who stabs him in the back.

She's technically a boss but frankly she's so easy I won't even give her the usual treatment. After dying she lets loose Dorr's wife... but strangely she just leaves instead of attacking the heroes. Lloyd lies to him about his daughter being fine, but at the same time tells her he can't save her because Dorr's sacrificed so many people that saving her should be his job, not anyone else's. He ultimately dies leaving Lloyd a pass.

RIP, I guess

Neil decides that the first step to take will be to reorganize everything, with the heroes wishing him good luck before leaving... but not before Raine lamenting that even as a healer, she wasn't able to save anyone...

But who cares about that!? It's time for some hijinks!

Ah, fear of water will never not be funny in an RPG... well, something else also happens.

Again, keep this in mind for later. Anyhow, we get a pretty easy mini-game after that... and right next to it there is one of those hand-print things meaning that we didn't even need the stone for the next seal.

Ugh, whatever, NEXT DUNGEON!

Thoda Geyser:

Did you know this is the water dungeon?

This one is pretty straightforward. The gimmick here is some balances you need to move using the Ring. That's it. That said, given that this would be the second Dungeon for most people, I can understand why they may have made it this way. Overall a bit bland but not too bad. As for the boss...

Adulocia:

Again, apologies for the lack of images
of better quality

This one's pretty easy. By this point Kratos or Genis should know Thunder Blade, and this Boss is weak to Lightning. Do the math and see the light show as she dies in an instant.

Afterwards Assho-Lord Ramiel reappears, telling Colette that the only Seal left is the one at the Tower Of Salvation. And once it is all done, Colette will become an Angel. Yay...

But who cares, it's time for a Summoning Pact with Sheena! Everyone is quite excited about this, even Kratos of all people. And naturally everyone has 100% Trust on her even though they have no idea what this will entail. And indeed, trouble arises, as this Summon Spirit already has a pact with some dude named Mithos, who is totally not the Great Hero Mithos.

Mein Kaiser's expression says it all.

Kratos suggests that she just request for Undine to null his pact with this Mithos that is totally not important to this game's plot, which surprisingly enough works... with the condition that we must prove our strength first.

Undine:

CV: Sumitomo Yuko/Nika Futterman

Undine is a pain to fight, namely due to her signature spell, Spread. Unlike Genis' version, which takes some time to cast, hers can be cast almost immediately, not helped by her catastrophically high amount of HP! Patience will pay off eventually, but don't let your guard down. And for the record, you need Sheena for all of the Summon fights, so that's another reason she's almost always part of my Party.

I did however ultimately beat her, and thus Sheena fulfilled her pact and unlocked her true power: The first are her elemental Seals, which can change your characters' attack attribute to any of the elements, which can help you exploit weaknesses and sometimes even find new moves (It's the only reliable way to get all of the Elemental/Physical Hybrid Artes for certain characters, of which only a select few like Rising Phoenix and arguably Storm Dance are of any use for all the effort you need to put into getting them) however her second mechanic lies in a certain aspect of the game: Mystique Artes. Or as they should really be called and I will call them...

The conditions vary from attack to attack, but after fulfilling certain conditions your characters will be able to use a Super Move that deals a massive amount of damage. Sheena has one of the easiest ones to trigger, all she needs is to be in Over Limit mode and she can use one of her many Summons, and best of all most of them are mandatory for the story. The difficulty for the others vary, Lloyd gets his (Falcon's Crest) after a certain point in the story and by equipping a specific title and weapon, Genis' Indignation Judgement i-

... Yes, thank you very much, anyhow, it has some pretty lenient conditions of you just having to have used Indignation 50 Times and be in Over Limit,  Colette's Holy Judgement requi-

... Goddammit Shirai... anyhow, it requires her to use Holy Song and Judgement 50 ti-

For the love of-STOP INTERRUPTING ME!!

Anyways you need to use Holy Song and... the Skill That Shall Not Be Named (She'll be getting that one in a bit) 50 times each, but the chances of it activating are completely random. Don't get me wrong, it hits like a goddamn truck, but it's a bit too luck based for my liking. Raine's are kinda ridiculous however, probably due to the fact they were introduced in the PS2 Version of the game. To wit, her first Limit Break, Sacred Light, needs you to be in Over Limit and have used either Photon evolution (Ray or Holy Lance) 100 TIMES!!!

Her second one isn't much better, with you needing to be in Over Limit and used Revitalize (Raine's best Multi-Target Healing Arte) 100 Times as well, but to be fair it gives some of the most powerful buffs in the game alongside a massive Party-Wide heal.

Finally there is Kratos' Shinning Bind (For some reason localized as Holy Binds in this game even though every other game uses Shinning Bind, including the game's sequel, and it is very clearly written as シャイニング・バインド) which is pretty cool and has relatively lax activation conditions (All you need to do is unequip a specific Weapon from Lloyd or not have him in the Party and be in Over Limit), but due to reasons that will soon become apparent he never used it in my playthrough... or most playthroughs really.

Anyhow, back to the plot. As you'd expect, as we leave the temple, Colette ain't feeling so good, but this time she has been given a far bigger punishment: She has become Kenny!

Not in that way! No, what I meant is that she can't speak anymore. She is completely mute now...

At night, Sheena realizes it'd probably be a good time to explain what her deal is, though by this point Raine has figured out she's not from Sylvarant. Indeed, she is from another world named Tethe'alla, basically a world that somehow exist in the same yet different planes of existence, kinda like light and darkness... and indeed that's how it works: If one world's better off, the other one's going to hell. The world regeneration if basically just a glorified way to reverse each world's mana flow. If the journey succeeds, Tethe'alla is screwed. If they fail, Sylvarant is screwed.

Nobody is really happy about this, Lloyd and Sheena especially, but there's really nothing else they can do. As they are now, if they wanna save someone... someone else will have to suffer because of it. Colette will try asking her "Father" for help... but the chances of this working are... well...

Anyhow, at the very least we should go get that unicorn. Unfortunately, there's an extra condition: An Unicorn can only be touched by a pure maiden.

Err... Raine, what did you do? I mean, yeah, maybe it's just her masking her fear of water, but isn't the wording just a tad too specific?

Anyhow, the unicorn confuses Colette for Martel (The reasons are explained later) but ultimately recognizes her as the Chosen of Regeneration and gives her the horn... and then it dies. Okay then... anyhow, they could use it to fix Angel Toxiocis, but it's a one-use item so Colette ultimately decides to let Pietro have it. To be fair, we did go here to save him. At the very least, with this Unicorn's death, another one is born. Hopefully said Unicorn doesn't have to face Christopher Lee and a Flaming Bull-thing.

And hey, now Raine knows Resurrection which... yeah, what it does is pretty self explanatory. And indeed she uses it on Pietro, saving him at last. He tells us also about the Angelus Project, though not the details, and that the Evil Desians are building a Mana Canon which... yeah, what it does is self-explanatory too.

Before proceeding with the main story, I chose to take a small detour and go back some previous dungeons to get some extra Summons, each of them located in a previous dungeon. Starting with:

Sylph:

CV: Shioyama Yuka, Matsuoka Mika and Mizushiro Rena/Debi Mae West, Nika Futterman and Hunter Austin

If you thought Undine was bad, you ain't seen nothing yet. This sucker is three mini-bosses in one and it's as annoying as you'd expect it to be. I hope you brought some gels and Life Bottles, 'cause this will most certainly take some time.

But hey, the next one can't be too hard... right?

Efreet:

CV: Inada Tetsu/Keith Szarabajka

Yeah, he's a bit easier. He's basically just the fire version of Undine, so if you can bet her, you can beat him. Hell, he's arguably easier by value of having a bigger hit box than Undine! So overall, not too hard.

However there are two more things to do. Firstly I went back to Lloyd's house so that Dirk can give him an Exsphere shard along with some other goodies. The second was go to that tunnel in the Ossa Trail. Not just to get some treasure... but also for this ugly asshole.

Sword Dancer:

Doesn't seem too threatening...

Well, you'd be wrong. There are three encounters with him, and while this one is the easiest, he will take you down if you aren't prepared. As his name implies, he is purely into CQC, and so he will decimate you if you enter his range and you aren't careful. I did ultimately take him down, but it was not by any means an easy fight.

Anyhow, back to the main plot. Our heroes manage to convince some dude to let them use his dragons to get to the tower, but before that its time to rest and talk to the rest. In particular, Sheena mentions that there's a Chosen in Tethe'alla too and that he's not a particularly trustworthy fellow.

Have I mentioned Sheena is Best Girl?

But yeah, the time to end it all is coming. Colette and Lloyd talk for a bit, her admitting she's a bit scared, but that from her point of view, even if it dies, her life will be spread towards the rest of the world. Which really just summarizes her whole deal of coping with this, to just become a martyr and accept all the suffering in the world for the sake of others... even if it means sacrificing her own happiness.

At night, Kratos suddenly wakes up and goes out, with Lloyd following him. And then Kratos asks Noshie to take care of Lloyd for a bit longer. You know, people whine that the OVA made this twist way more obvious than in the game, but the game wasn't exactly subtle about it either, but more on that later.

What does matter is that the blue haired dude who doesn't have a mustache shows up and tries to sneak attack Kratos, but Lloyd stops this.

The assassin retreats, with Kratos then telling Lloyd one simple thing: Don't die. Naturally he's really confused, but whatever. That said the Assassin did drop some weird ring for some reason. I bet this will not be important at all unless you do a specific side quest.

But alas, the time for the finale has come: Cue the epic music!

Huh, that's weird, my "Epic Music For The Finale" Generator is not working correctly. I wonder why that is... eh, I'll just have to fix it.

But yeah, they set off in their dragons. Kratos goes with Colette (He is the one getting paid for this, after all) but Lloyd gets to choose who he goes with. You all know who I picked. Lloyd even assures Sheena that they will find a way to save both worlds. Daww...

Also Kratos and Colette went in early.

Will you press it?

Oh and there are a bunch of floating graves in the tower. This doesn't seem fishy at all...

And so, Lord Ass-Ramiel reveals the last thing Colette must sacrifice: Her heart and memories. Yeah in case you couldn't tell already, THIS JOURNEY WAS A REALLY BAD IDEA!! And Colette knew about that too and flat out asked Raine not to tell anyone. Now, Lord Asshole (Yeah I'm not even gonna bothering censoring that even more) claims it's not really dying, just giving her body to the Goddess Martel, but fuck if Lloyd cares about that shit! Oh sure, maybe both worlds will be saved, but if there's one thing this game enforces above all else, it is this: The ends do not, and shall never justify the means.

Oh and Asshole isn't even Colette's father. Everyone thought that and he just went "Sure, let's go with it". After all, they are nothing but... inferior beings. You know, the same thing the Evil Desians call everyone else.

And so, after a pretty tear-jerking goodbye... Colette sacrifices herself.

A scene that would work a heck of a lot better if that little thing down there wasn't there to tell us Colette has learned Judgement. Oh and speaking of that:

But yeah, Colette is now gone... so... who's up for some payback?

Lord Asshole:

CV: Sakaguchi Tetsuo/Wally Wingert

Nothing too special, but make sure your Spellcasters have some solid defenses, as he can snipe them. Otherwise though? Yeah, punching this asshole in the face hits really good.

Yet in the end it's a bittersweet end... for as, as Kratos points out, Colette is still lacking her soul. Oh yeah, Kratos is here, I guess. He's an angel too, by the way, and Lord Asshole's superior. Time to beat his ass, I guess.

Well, easier said than done. Thankfully you don't have to win this fight, but if possible try to do so, as he leaves some very good items if you beat him. Though as it ends Lloyd can tell he was holding back. However... let's just say Kratos has a superior of his own.

Yes my friends, this is the leader of Cruxis this game's true antagonist and one behind the Evil Desians: Lord Yggdrasil. And as I mentioned in Part 1, the Dub for some reason mispronounced his name as "Ygg-DRA-sil" instead of "Ygg-dra-SIL". I know the former is the Japanese spelling, but that's Japanese, this is English. Still better than calling him "King Drasil" though...

He is a hopeless boss fight, so don't even bother with him, especially since Kratos likely made you waste a lot of your resources. He will spam the hell Light Artes though, so there's that...

But yeah, the Party is wasted, with Lloyd even thrown to a pillar with some... random magical sword. However reinforcements arrive in the form of... Botta!?

Okay, shit just got interesting.

Botta takes them out of there, though loses some men in the process. Yggdrasil refers to them as Renegades, and then leaves, and so does Kratos... but not before this:

If you haven't figured out the twist already, shame on you for not doing so.

Sometime later, Lloyd wakes up in the Triet base. Colette is still a soulless husk, but she's thankfully fine otherwise. They also start to think of what to do, given that by this point they know two things: 1) The Evil Desians are probably Cruxis' pawns, and 2) Kratos was using them all along. So yeah, such a happy day alright.

Their leader, whom I shall from now on call by his actual name of Yuan, explains that basically Cruxis is the one that controls everything from behind the scenes, even the church. Most of Cruxis member's are also actually Half-Elves who have evolved with something called the Cruxis Crystal. Oh, and Tethe'alla? Yggdrasil himself created that world.

As for why they wanted to kill Colette, that's simple: They couldn't let Martel gain a vessel, so they had to kill her. Sadly now Colette is stuck in self-defense mode, so even touching her is a bad idea. So what are they gonna do? Capture Lloyd of course!

Thankfully the gang manages to escape, mostly because Yuan hasn't healed from the injury he got from Kratos over at Hima. After some puzzles, the gang just wonders what the hell they should do now. However Raine has an idea. She asks Sheena from where she got her Exsphere, and she tells her she got it from some institute... and also that the Renegades were the ones that told them to kill Colette.

However, this does give them a chance. Since Angels are Half-Elves evolved through Cruxis Crystal... maybe those guys can do something about Colette's own Cruxis Crystal. I mean, they're already researching the other Chosen's Cruxis Crystal, so Colette's should be more of the same thing. Mind you they need some machines called Rheairds, but so long as they can find them, they're set to go. And wouldn't you know, the Renegades have a few of them.

And thus, it's off to a brand new world... which we will cover next time.

RPG Review: Tales Of Symphonia, Part 2: Being the Chosen One Sucks.

Last time, we began this little journey to save the world. So how do we begin the second part? Introducing a new Party Member of course!

Raine/Refill Sage:

CV: Touma Yumi/Kari Wahlgren

Raine is a White Mage and that alone makes her massively useful. She learns basically every healing skill in the game and she has the TP to use it. Best of all, she even has a few offensive tricks up her sleeve, so she's not even completely defenseless. Needless to say, she was totally part of my Endgame Party.

And sadly, that's also why her little Brother isn't in the Party.

See, the game has a system that makes it so you can't have more than one character casting high level spells at once. So even if I did bother to regularly use Genis, he would either drag Raine down or she would drag him down. Basically, you don't want both a Black Mage and White Mage in your party. The Red Mage will have to pick up the other's job.

Anyhow, your next destination should be the game's first proper Dungeon, that being:

Triet Ruins:

That statement speaks to me on a spiritual level.

Indeed, there's some random ruins in the middle of the desert. After being randomly attacked, Kratos teaches our heroes some defensive Artes, our heroes reach the gate, but before they can do anything Raine's Ruin fetish kicks in. On the plus side, this does allow our heroes to open the damn door.

The Dungeon itself sets the precedence for most others in this game: Not too big, but with lots of back and forward In this case you have to move blocks around and light up candles in order to progress. Nothing special, but it works. I should mention that generally speaking, there's one save spot in the Dungeon, but in order to trigger it you need a Memory Stone. How do you get one? Eh, beat up one of the random enemies. How do you know which one it is? Good question!

Still though, not much happens inside here, thus leading us to:

Ktugach:

Oh look, it's a flaming kitten!

Well, for an early Boss he's a moderate enough challenge. He does however have an exploitable weakness in the form of Water Attacks... that I didn't use because, as I said before, Genis isn't exactly a regular member of my Party. So I had to take him down the hard way. Oh well, he did eventually go down.

With it, the Asshol-I mean, Lord Ramiel comes down once more, and even gives Colette a pair of pretty wings.

Oh I wish they were that cool.

Oh well, at least Colette is having fun with them. And hey, combat-wise she learns "Angel Feathers", which is her first of many heavy offensive Artes that work off her Angel deal. Sadly on a purely physical level she isn't doing so well, with her looking kinda sick (Or at least the character say so. Her Sprite barely changes). So it's time to take a break before they leave.

After a nice scene in Triet, it's time to head off to the Ossa Trail. However as soon as they arrive, Colette must face her greatest threat for Lloyd's (But mostly the players') affection: BEST GIRL!!

Wait, what?

Huh, never thought I'd find more reasons to like her... anyhow, this is Best Girl and-

Yeah, she's a bit clumsy alright. But what can I say? That's just one of  her many charms. And hey, as our heroes are just about to exit, she manages to catch up with them. Girl's got skill, alright. That said she's kinda easy so don't worry about to losing to her. She leaves as soon as she's defeated, with Lloyd naturally wondering why the hell does everyone want to kill them. And yeah, more RPG protagonists should ask themselves that in this kind of story.

Before leaving however, Kratos teaches you Unison Attacks. Basically they're a move in which each Party Member unleashes one of their Artes. Doing certain combinations however, will result in a Special Finisher. I sadly learnt about this a little too late into the game to use these, but the regular Unison Attacks were more than enough for me.

By this point I should mention one thing I actually really like about this game: There's a lot of non-linearity. What I mean by that is that by now the path basically splits in two. To illustrate what I mean, I show you a map of the world the game takes place in: Sylvarant.

As you can see, in front of the Ossa Trail lies Izoold, which should be our next destination. That said, there's nothing that says you can't simply go North instead and go the long way around. This path is generally harder, but it will end up easier by the end. It will also make it so your next Party Member will take less time to join your Party, and given the identity of that Party Member, you may or may not want to take it.

Wanna know something funny though? Even though I went that path, at first it was because I got lost and didn't realize where Izoold was. Yes, I ran literally almost all around the Map to find a place that was right in front of me. By the time I realized what I was doing I just said "Fuck it!" and decided to continue taking that path.

Anyhow, in this path we must first go to Hima and waiting us there is...

More Best Girl!!

Indeed, she is the gift that keeps on giving. Anyhow, she needs to go find some healing technique and just leaves our heroes to deal with the rest. Oh and we also find out her name: Sheena. Anyhow, basically there's some dude that's been cursed because he left a human ranch and, well, we kinda need to fix that, now don't we? The previously mentioned technique is over at the Tower Of Mana. So we make our way there and... it's locked.

Indeed, this calls for extreme measures: Grinding!... Did I mention this Review will from now on be based on my New Game + Playthrough?

There's a little fact I forgot to talk about, and that is types. There are two Types in the game: S (Strike) and T (Technical). These will to an extent dictate what Artes you'll get by leveling up.  You can switch between the two Types through EX Gems. Each character can equip up to 4, and all of them give you skills that are S or T type, which is what determines your Artes Type. The more you have, the more you'll swing from one side to the other.

Additionally, the reason the Artes System is as it is is because each base Arte you have to spam to get the higher level version basically branches once it reaches Level 2. So for instance, with Lloyd if you use Demon Fang 50 times and you're an S Type, you'll get Fierce Demon Fang. However if you're a T Type, you'll get Double Demon Fang. However while you can have many S Type and T Type Artes, they must be from different trees, so you can't have both Double Demon Fang and Fierce Demon Fang.

General recommendations for our current Party Members: Colette should be locked in S Type, Kratos is mostly an S Type bar the Sonic Thrust line, Lloyd is mostly a T Type with the exception of the Demon Fang, Beast and Tiger Blade lines, Genis is mostly a S Type bar the Thunder and Fire lines (Indignation is too OP, and this comes from someone who rarely used Genis!) and Raine is primarily a T Type bar the lines for Sharpness, Barrier and Photon.

Whatever the case may be our next stop should be Luin, as we need to get the key to open that door in the first place. However in a shocking twist, guess who we find there!?

Even more Best Girl!

Indeed, she is quite friendly with children, playing around with them for a while... only to realize Lloyd is there.

And yes, for the record, I ship it, dammit! Ship it to the grave!

Anyhow, we head to the church, and we find out that some pastor has it... and that said Pastor is on a pilgrimage.

This is how this mess is feeling right now.

After some grinding for Genis in case of emergencies, we move on to Asgard... in which we're immediately told to go to the Balacruf Mausoleum. Whatever, at the very least we have some Ruins to look at while we're here.

Not like Raine's gonna let us do anything else, anyways.

Still though there are some guys in the background for some reason... and they're planning to destroy the Ruin! Naturally, Raine shall not let this happen!

... Are we sure Colette's the actual klutz here?

Thankfully Lloyd stops this, and we get some exposition afterwards. First of all, the area is forbidden, so even our heroes can't be there. Secondly, the reason they wanted to destroy it is because a girl, Aisha, is gonna be sacrificed to the Summon Spirit of the wind. Originally she just had to do a dance there, but one of the two idiots removed the seal and, well, this is how we got here.

Thankfully there is a way out of this: Let Raine be the Dancer and have them just beat up the Summon Spirit after that. Thus the dance begins.

Oh I wish it was something like that. Yeah the cutscenes in this game reuse the overworld assets, so there isn't much they can do, so the dance barely counts as that.

Oh well, onto the Boss.

Windmaster:

Given the order of events I've chosen to do things, this fight is a bit on the tough side of things, mostly due to the sheer amount of HP he has. Enough perseverance will eventually make him fall (And also spamming the ever loving hell out of Lightning Tiger Blade or Photon Tempest whenever possible).

And indeed everyone's thankful, with one of the two bomb guys even going to help Raine with a map... and another one almost makes the Party realize one small fact: Raine and Genis are Half-Elves.

This isn't explicitly confirmed until later, but yeah, the moment this scene comes the whole deal becomes rather obvious. Still though, it's clear at least Genis has his reasons for not wanting for that to be known. Whatever the case may be, it's time to head off to the Mausoleum. And thankfully the Pastor is nice enough to give  us the key. Now, normally this would be it, but considering we're already here...

Balacruf Mausoleum:

I have no joke for this.

This Dungeon is small, but if you don't know what you're doing it can be a bit annoying. There are a few gimmicks at play here. First are Spikes, which, if you touch, will shave off a bit of your HP. Secondly there's the wind, which will sometimes hit some candles you want to light up. To stop it simply push some blocks to the appropriate spot. Finally is the Sorcerer's Ring, which gains a Wind Element in this Dungeon and must be used to spin some pinwheels around to open the door to the boss of the Dungeon. Not too annoying but the floor spikes are a bit of a pain. Anyhow...

Iapyx:

Apologies for having to use this image, most
of the bosses don't have many good ones

Well, first of all he's a bit of a pain because he resists too elements instead of one, in this case Wind and Lightning. Even so, I surprisingly didn't have much of an issue with him, he just took his sweet time to give up for once.

Once he did, Assho-I mean Lord Ramiel reappears, giving Colette his blessings or something.

Err... yeah, I don't buy that at all.

Anyhow, we begin to head out and guess what? The Beautiful Assassin is back!

Not her!!

Anyhow, it's time for Round 2, and she's a bit tougher but nothing special. I should mention that after releasing any Seal you get a full HP and TP refill. Thank God for that because otherwise this fight would be unbearable. As she is defeated, she claims that unless she stops the Regeneration, her country will be destroyed. Colette points out how odd that statement is as, well, the Regeneration should save the whole world. Sheena then leaves, though her statements do cause Kratos to wonder something...

Anyhow, as we go out, Colette once more falls from exhaustion, with Raine currently naming this phenomena "Angel Toxiocis", but Colette claims to still be fine, oddly enough. At night, she can't seem to be able to sleep for some reason, so Lloyd talks to her for a bit to try and convince her to sleep... which she agrees to, but whether or not she actually does is not shown. Spoiler Alert: She didn't.

Anyhow, onto the reason we went here in the first place.

Tower of Mana:

The sequel to Trials Of Mana nobody knew they wanted.

Yeah, in order to open a door here, three of our Party Members must stay behind... which in this case means "You're stuck with just Lloyd and Colette for a bit". Besides that the Dungeon's main gimmick is that you have to move around some blocks to redirect rays of light to specific areas. Not too tricky overall if I may say so myself. Anyhow, onto the Boss Fight.

Iubaris:

So I guess we're eating winged horse tonight?

His HP is massive, but otherwise he's pretty freaking easy. This thing is basically an endurance battle, as running out of TP won't exactly be rare in this fight. Still though, like before he isn't that hard all things considered.

Anyhow, once defeated the prayer stuff happens again with... crescent moon lady?

... Yeah, kinda like that.

Err... whatever the case may be, she asks where Aska is and then leaves... wait what?

Err... anyhow, Assho-Lord Ramiel appears afterwards for the usual proceedings. Oh and remember to grab the book with that healing spell from the first room. And you know what's next, Colette nearly faints, Lloyd catches her, and so on. However after that, at night, Lloyd looks at Colette's hand, which might as well be bleeding right now even though she says she's fine. Thus I present to you, unedited, one of the most infamous moments from the game.

Yeah, Colette is not okay. Each Seal has been taking something away from her. The first one was her sense of taste, the second one is her fatigue and finally her sense of tact and pain. Her sight and hearing have all improved, sure, but can we truly say this is worth it? This is legitimately one of the game's best scenes, and I can see why it has been memed by some people.

But hey! She wanted this trip to be fun, so let's have fu-Wait, why is Luin burning?

A visual approximation of what's going on.

Well, okay, it isn't burning, but it has been pretty much completely destroyed, and Sheena's there looking as tiered as ever. To give you the brief version, basically some shit happened and thus the Evil Desians decided to attack the city and... yeah, this is the result. Raine heals her at Colette's request, and then Sheena proposes a truce: They help her beat the assholes at the ranch nearby, and she helps them out with this journey. Raine is against it, but everyone else isn't, so yes, Best Girl has joined the Party!

Fujibayashi Sheena:

CV: Okamura Akemi/Jennifer Hale

Alongside being Best Girl, Sheena is quite the useful Party Member, although I'll admit she is a bit of an acquired taste. She has three things going for her: The first is that she has three Trees of Skills that are all based around Debuffing your Enemies Defense, Accuracy and Evasion respectively (General recommendation: Power Seal should follow the S Branch but Mirage and Serpent Seal go to the T Branch). Her second and third Quirks however are what make her character work in my book, but that's for later. Needless to say, she was totally a part of my Endgame Party, if only because her Unison Attacks freaking hurt.

Naturally, it's time to head off to face those bastards head on, and the location will be:

Asgard Human Ranch:

Gotta love the classic "Infiltrate the enemy base" level.

But yeah, we need a plan to do so. Step 1: Ambush the enemy. Step 2: Steal their clothes. Step 3: Have Raine and Sheena dress in Evil Desian Outfits... that lets a decent lot of their skin be seen? Err... okay then.

Anyhow, the infiltration seems to be successful... until we bump into Botta again. Oh well, he's willing to let us go for now... and then more Evil Desians pop up... and then some asshole with white hair too... whoops...

They do manage to escape for a bit, but the general from earlier, Kvar, catches up to them, and reveals a dark truth.

No, seriously, Exspheres are literally just Philosopher Stones, only instead of being many humans for one stone, it's one human per sphere. Oh and we also find out one other small detail: Lloyd's Exsphere is his mother's. Yup. Now you see why Dirk didn't tell him anything,

Sheena gets them all out of there, and thus they retreat to Luin for now. They are all naturally distraught over this reveal, Lloyd in particular, but Kratos convinces the group to keep using them, at least until this mess is over, anyways.

They go back to Hima, We find out that not only did the cursed guy put a boulder in the way he used to get out, but also brought an Evil Desian Orb with him. So naturally we go back and somehow the Orb moves the boulder out of the way. No, I don't get it either. Whatever, we're inside now. Unfortunately there's some system that need to be stopped that are the opposite way from Kvar's room, so you know what that means!

And this time you actually get to choose who to take with you, in my case I took Raine and Sheena. There's also a Refresher nearby, which serves as an Item Shop and also a Full HP and TP Recharge in case of emergencies. Anyhow, this dungeon is fairly simple besides the split. Just shoot some things as Lloyd, turn some switches on with the other group and you'll reach your destination.

Speaking of our destination, Kvar is talking to one of his bosses, who very clearly doesn't like him too much. But whatever, he's power hungry, so he's gonna take that Exsphere away from such inferior beings, thus leading us to...

Kvar:

CV: Ushiyama Shigeru/Chris Edgerly

Kvar is annoying, mostly because he has Three Drone-Things helping him out, all the while you have only two Party Members. And those Balls take a while to kill too! Thankfully once those are out the rest of the fight becomes a lot easier, so you won't be completely doomed.

However the tough bastard somehow manages to get up after beating him, trying to strike Lloyd in the back, but Colette takes the blow instead. So Kratos... you know what, I'm just gonna leave this here.

Again, more on this when I actually cover the Anime.

But yeah, Colette losing her sense of Pain has been revealed to the rest of the party. They decided to just blow the whole thing up... but as they're leaving, another of Kvar's superiors pops up, telling him he's just gonna take all the Research Data for himself now. But yeah, the group otherwise heads for Asgard to rest.

Lloyd informs everyone of the rest of the situation, and naturally they are lessed than thrilled about this, with more than one of them wanting her to either A) Quit, or B) Find some way to do this trip without her losing her humanity. Whatever the case may be, they can't stop now, so for the time being, they'll just have to push on until the very end, even if the fate that awaits her is uncertain.

And this is the point we'll be stopping for now. Will Colette get better? Why does Sheena want Colette dead? What even is that Angelus Project Kvar kept mentioning? That, my friends, is all answers not for now, but next time.

Light Novel Review: A Certain Magical Index, Volume 1: The one part that actually focuses on the title character.

Light Novels... yeah, bar a select few I'm not a fan. In general, I'd tended to notice most of them are amateurish in terms of the quality of writing, and so many of them are just the same shit over and over again. Often times, they seem like the kind of stuff that I wouldn't mind as a one-shot, but often they go on for longer than that and the initial appeal quickly vanishes. This is not helped by how often they aim for the lowest common denominator, with no depth for me to properly make me care.

It's part of the reason why, in general, I tend to either stick with authors that have garnered legitimate praise from the professionals or just stuff that is weird enough to peak my interest. Otherwise, I'll drop it because it isn't worth my time. Insert SAO Joke here, and no, I don't care if the later Novels are better: I gave it 8 Volumes and bar Volume 7 (Which was honestly pretty decent) it squandered any potential the premise might've had. Also, Log Horizon did it better anyways.

Which in turn brings us to Toaru Majitsu No Index, by Kamachi Kazuma. Given all of what I've said, the very fact that I took a look at this may seem baffling... and you're right. So, what inspired me to Read it? Well...

Yup, leave it to my all time favorite Light Novel, Durarara!!, to make me interested. This scene wasn't in the Novel, but it's so in-character for this guy it might as well have been. To see Kadota Kyohei, the only man in the main party to have any shred of normalcy (Bar Celty, but that's besides the point) enjoy this, I was like "Wait, is it really any good?". And so, once I got some free time as I was going on a trip, I read the first Volume on on an airplane ride flight and... yeah, this is how I got into this mess. That said, it'll also become clear why I stuck through with this series whereas others I dropped. Thus, let us get into the beginning of a series... that probably got just a few too many spin-offs.

Our tale begins with our hero running away from a gang of delinquents. Oh and speaking of him:

Meet Kamijou Touma, the guy with no luck
but lots of misfortunes

FYI, I'm using illustrations from later Novels to introduce some of these guys, so they may look a bit weird compared to ones from earlier Novel's I'll also be showing. Unfortunately the Anime is stuck with the earlier designs.

To be more exact, said delinquents don't exactly have running gear and are totally drunk, so after a while he does manage to shake them off. He's a pretty good sprinter as we come to learn, so while dealing with this is a massive hassle, it does end after a while... but not before PikaPika-Tan is there to give him nightmares.

Actual Name: Misaka Mikoto. In spite of being Second Best Girl,
 the author has her stuck in her school uniform.

Yeah, let's wind back a bit. Before this mess started Kamijou went to buy some Manga and found some delinquents surrounding her. But he didn't do so to save her, oh no, he wanted to save them. Bitch's freaking scary yo! Oh and she's a blood knight too, for good measure, so yeah, he ain't shaking her off.

The Narration then gives us some exposition. The Location is Academy City, in which, in the narrator's own word, people are turned into Manga Protagonists (AKA Espers). Well, more like 40% of them anyways. The remaining 60% can't even bend a damn spoon without making their blood vessels burst out.

Misaka then gives us a science lesson about Railguns. She then uses a coin to show what it'd be like to get shot by one. Okay, he doesn't shoot it to him, but the point still stands! Either way, yeah, she's an electromaster, and then she then decides to shoot some lightning at him, and he's hit by it... and he's totally fine.

Actually it's the opposite. Plus Kamijou is an actually decently written character, who while not great is leaps and bounds better than freaking Dumbluck. Plus, Kamijou has the better catchphrase that better summarizes his luck. Here are some uses of it:

Mind you, he does get lucky sometimes, but from his point of view the very fact he got into the situation in the first place negates whatever good luck he may have in the actual events.

Anyhow, the actual reason for that is Kamijou's right hand. For whatever reason it, nicknamed "Imagine Breaker", which is actually written as "Illusion Killer" (I love double meanings), can negate anything that is remotely supernatural in origin.

Actually the whole double meaning thing pops up a lot. For instance 超電磁砲 is read as "Railgun" but is written as "Super Electromagnetic Cannon". I'll try to point out other examples of this as we see them.

Either way, the day ends an Kamijou is safe as he goes back home. And with home I mean his shitty apartment. Oh well, like all Japanese Men, he loves his Futon, so he needs to go get it from his balco-wait, why is there a Sister there?

I guess that's a way to start things off.

This is Index (Yes, that's her actual name), who might just win the prize for being one of the most annoying female leads out there! Thank goodness she has her screentime cut after a while... yes, the Female Lead had to get her screentime cut, she's that irrelevant even though she's the title character!

Anyhow, she introduces himself to Kamijou and the guy has naturally zero idea what's going on. Oh and before that she bit Kamijou's hand. This is a running gag, and while mildly amusing at first, it quickly loses its luster.

Anyhow, she says she's a Magician from the Anglican Church, she was in his balcony because she fell from a roof, and she's being chased by someone. Thankfully her clothes are basically a barrier so at least physically she's fine. Anyhow she's being chased by a Magic Cabal and-hold on, does this make any sense to you all? It doesn't? Well guess what, Kamijou also has no idea what she's talking about. Sadly, this brings me to a big issue some of these Volumes face: Expositions dumps! Now, often these are necessary for a plot, and so long as they are interesting I wouldn't mind them, but when you put one this early on it feels tiresome. We barely know our heroes for pete's sake!

Whatever the case may be, in spite of being a Magician Index can't use Magic. That said the reason they're after her is because she's the one that holds the 103000 Grimoires, hence her name as all the information is literally stored in her brain. That said she quickly proves herself to be rather smug by saying Kamijou can't even bend a spoon, when SHE'S A MAGICIAN WHO CAN'T USE MAGIC!!

Basically she's a bad example on how to do a Tsundere, and I'll just leave it at that.

Anyways, we find out the Imagine Breaker isn't an Esper Power. Apparently he's just always had it. He also reiterates the point of it being able to negate all the supernatural things, even as far as to say that the Miracles Of God are nothing to it. The resident Sister naturally scoffs at this (Though as we later find out, as a Sister she sucks at her job) and Kamijou, tired of all this crap, decides to just show her that he's not the one saying bullcrap.

Index is eager on the challenge, even saying he should try it out on her outfit, which is actually magical (Even has a cute name: The Walking Church). Kamijou does so, and her clothes explode, leaving her naked... which also gets a special illustration.

In the interest of good taste, I will not show this image. Which leads me to wonder WHAT THE HELL!? I mean, people whine about the sheer amount of fanservice in NisiOisiN's works and... okay, he too is pretty gratuitous at points, but at least his works are so riddled with allegories and symbolism that you could argue they in some way mean something, and at least there the main character is an unashamed pervert. Also, THEY DON'T ILLUSTRATE THESE SCENES!!

Here however? It's all for the sake of gags, and it gets old fast, especially this nude crap. The only time it was funny was in a scene in Volume 12 and maybe one in Volume 1, both which I'll be covering when I get there, but besides those two times? Yeah, not at all. What's sad is that the Novels' one-off gags are usually pretty funny all things considered, it's just the recurring ones that tend to fall flat in my eyes. You can only do the same joke so many times before I get sick of it.

... But to be fair, I don't mind it in this one case.

As tasteless as the joke is, I'm willing to let it slide here because it does have a point in the narrative. The fact that the Walking Church has been destroyed pops up a few other times, and it has been used for some decent drama at times. So, in this one case I'm letting it slide... plus the worst stretch of fanservice comes in Volumes 6-11 anyways.

But yeah, this confirms that at least some of what Index said isn't complete and utter crap. She tries to put the thing back together with come safety pins and it kinda works, but ultimately she leaves as, well, Kamijou would probably get caught in the crossfire of the crap she's going through otherwise. Oh and she also points out that... well, technically speaking since the Imagine Breaker negates the supernatural... it means it's also why he has such lack of luck.

See? This series can have good jokes when it wants too.

We also get some background on Academy City, with it having been built on the Western District of Tokyo, and how (As it name implies) it's pretty much entirely comprised of schools. So really most people live in dorms... well, basically everyone.  Also, a whooping 80% of the population are students, the remaining 20% being higher ups, teachers and law enforcement... the latter of which has a lot of people that have both professions, as we eventually come to learn.

Either way, Index leaves and we cut to Kamijou being in school. It must also be mentioned that all Espers are actually ranked. Specifically, they are ranked from Levels 0-5, with them ranging from "Can barely bend a spoon" to "Freaks of nature". The previously mentioned Misaka was a Level 5 (The #3 no less) whereas Kamijou and most if not all of his classmates are Level 0. It must also be said that all law enforcement and teachers are straight up non-Espers... in spite of the impression Kamijou's Teacher leaves.

Behold, the FBI's worst nightmare!

This is Tsukuyomi Komoe, who legitimately is 30 years old. No, I'm not actually kidding you here. I guess smoking (Because of course she smokes) stunned her growth or something, but there's also a character coming up that has the opposite issue, so besides a gag, God knows why this is the case. We also meet Kamijou's only two other friends: Aogami Pierce (Not his actual name, but whatever) and Tsuchimikado Motoharu, both of whom are massive perverts and potential Lolicons.

Either way, Kamijou is too busy just thinking about Index to focus on his supplementary lessons (Yeah, he tends to skip classes), which does eventually give him some trouble. Later on he walks back home, having another encounter with Misaka along the way. I would like to take this chance to mention that the Novels' early art is hair-pullingly basic. It gets a lot better as time goes on, in particular being able to use the fact that the illustrations are in black and white for some very striking imagery, but stuff like this doesn't really work in early Volumes.

See what I mean?

To give bigger insight into my complaint with this particular image: The brightness in the part Misaka is in is too high, the backgrounds lack detail and the facial expressions feel somehow both over-exaggerated and under-exaggerated and the same time.

Anyways, they have a small scuffle but ultimately Kamijou is still distracted by what happened earlier with Index, and even then he makes it out  unharmed as really when facing someone who relies so heavily on supernatural powers it's basically a guaranteed win for him. When that isn't the case... well, more on that later on. Though honestly, were it not for the fact that Misaka eventually becomes a recurring character, you'd end up wondering why this scene was even in this Novel.

He eventually does leave however, later on arriving at the hallway of his dorm and finding some cleaning robots circling around trying to clean something. Specifically Index, of course. She probably collapsed from hunger after all. It would explain why she doesn't seem to react to the robots or why she's resting in a... giant... pool... of blood...

Well... that escalated quickly. And indeed, once he moves the robots away. A new figure appears. I should mention Index is 15 right now, though this hasn't been said yet. A man eventually comes and the narration explicitly says that, in spite of being 2 meters tall, said man is probably around 14, having a somewhat youthful face.

So let me show you the fine picture of a 14 year old.

Oi! Oi!

Oh and he smokes too. Apparently there was some miscommunication between the artist (Haimura Kiyotaka) and Kamachi, so Haimura was left with the impression this guy was older than Kamijou (Who's 16, by the way). At the very least his Voice Actor in the Anime kinda made him sound his age... oh and I'm using an Illustration by Kogino Chuuya here rather than Haimura like I have been for everyone else because Chuuya's art rocks, but more on that when I get to looking at Index's Manga (Which should happen after I Review Volume 6, but that's for later).

Either way, this is Stiyl Magnus (Yeah, Kamachi's naming sense is ridiculous. Actual native speakers have said his Japanese names aren't much better), and indeed he is a Magician looking for Index. Kamijou, blaming himself for this, asks why the hell they injured Index to begin with. Stiyl points out that it wasn't actually him who attacked her but rather someone named Kanzaki, but anyhow, the reason they want her is because the Grimoires in her head. Basically she has literally perfect memory, thus had all the information shown to her and, well, she can't really forget it.

Technically speaking, this is actually kind of based off a real life concept known as Eidetic Memory, the ability to recall something with absurdly high precision. Though it would also be more accurate to say she has photographic memory, given that she's able to remember texts, numbers and the like in greater detail. That said, true photographic memory doesn't exist, but hey, this is more or less just a real concept exaggerated, so I can accept that... mostly.

Anyhow, it becomes clear Stiyl is a firebender, which mea-

... Okay, I'll admit I had that one coming.

Anyhow, yeah, he creates a sword made of flames, and Kamijou freaks out over whether or not the Imagine Breaker will work as technically he hasn't used it in anything that isn't an Esper power... apparently having forgotten that HE DESTROYED A MAGICAL SET OF CLOTHES WITH IT!!

Did I mention the writing of the early Index Volumes can sometimes be on the sloppy side of things?

Whatever the case may be, it does ultimately work, and Stiyl totally freaks out over this sudden event. Eventually he's forced to use his trump card, Innocentius, a giant fire titan that is surely badass as hell, like some hype as fuck Summon from Final Fantasy. This is what Haimura's sketches show him as:

Hard to believe he's come such a long way as an artist, to be honest...

But yeah, it strikes at Kamijou, yet surprisingly the Imagine Breaker doesn't auto negate it. Well, it does, but the moment it's negated it automatically revives. So basically he's done for. Thankfully Index wakes up and begins speaking in a weirdly calm voice. She explains that there's been runes put all around the place and so long as those remain, Innocentius won't disappear.

Kamijou barely manages to escape. He considers calling Anti-Skill (Basically Academy City's police) and run away, but ultimately decides not to do so. Still though, he does ask himself a pretty understandable question: Why hasen't the fire alarm turned on yet? Ah, you can just feel the lightbulb turning on in his brain.

And so the fire alarms in the building all turned on. Naturally this doesn't do anything to the giant fire summon... but it does work for all the paper runes in the building. Thus, Innocentius is officially innocent of burning anything down as Kamijou just one-shots it before punching Stiyl into unconsciousness.

... What? did you think I'd do a Falcon Punch Joke? Nah, that's for Volume 15.

Ah, your anger gives me so much joy...

Either way, Kamijou gets Index out of there. He obviously can't take her to an ambulance (She doesn't have an ID), so he asks if there's anything in those books that can help her. There is but Kamijou's power prevents him from using it... no, not the Imagine Breaker, I mean his Esper powers. Even for a Level 0, the alterations done to Espers make it so using Magic is a really bad idea. We'll see why next Volume.

Of course, so long as they aren't espers, they can use Magic, which leads Kamijou to taking her to Komoe. And he knew her address because Aogami had it. Why did Aogami have it? I dunno, maybe he's God or something. But yeah, her room is naturally a mess of beer and cigarettes. See? Told ya she was 30.

But yeah, she tricks her into helping out, after which we get a really long scene detailing the whole healing process. I'm gonna skip over it, not because it's gross or anything, but because it takes a while before it ends and we need to get going to the rest of the book given that we're barely halfway through.

Once it's all over, Index's symptoms have reduced to what's basically a cold, although knowing Japan this still seems pretty lethal to me. Kamijou tries to lie his way out of Komoe's questions but let's face it, Kamijou's a pretty bad liar. Either way, he manages to at least convince her to not tell the authorities about this little event. Also, Index explains it'd be really dangerous to ask her to use Magic again, so they won't be able to do this little stunt again.

We get some exposition about the history of the church, and also reiterate the fact that Index is basically a bomb with all the content in her head. The actual grimoires aren't what matter, it's the content, and Index has literally all of it. Should someone ever acquire such power they'd be able to twist reality to their whims, a Magic God (Not Demon God as Yen Press' official release calls it) as she calls them. But what are the chances of ever running into one, huh!?

But yeah, Kamijou ultimately earns her trust in a scene that's kinda preachy but it could be worse (And it will get worse). That said, the two are still being observed by Stiyl and the previously mentioned Kanzaki, full name revealed to be Kanzaki Kaori. They have some ominous dialogue and foreshadowing but that's besides the point. Honestly, when I first read this scene I expected this to start happening.

We cut ahead a few days, with Kamijou and Index going to a bathhouse. They have a small conversation that eventually leads to Index pointing out that as far as she remembers she's always been in Japan, explaining why she can speak Japanese so well... except not as she then points out that apparently she only came to Japan a year ago. I say apparently as, guess what? She has amnesia!

After a few unfunny jokes the two continue to make their way towards the bathhouse and Index ends up walking ahead. In the way though, Kamijou notices that he hasn't really seen anyone around... and he's right as he's literally all alone bar one lady in the distance who does not look friendly.

Proto Boobie Lady: She may not be a MILF, but
does posses a supreme Onee-Sama energy.

This is the previously mentioned Kanzaki. I forgot to mention that all Magicians have Magic Names that when said often means a declaration to a duel to the death, yet Kanzaki refuses to do so. The fight goes on for a while, so let me re-establish a little something. You know how I said that anyone who has an extreme over-reliance on supernatural powers is pretty much screwed against Kamijou a lot of the time? Well, that does ask the question: What about people like that who don't just rely on those powers?

The answer is simple: He's screwed.

Kanzaki just mops the floor with him. We eventually find out she's flat out superhuman and it shows. Kamijou doesn't land a single blow on her, in fact his only shot was using the Imagine Breaker to destroy that sword of hers... which fails because that's just a regular sword, so yeah, he bleeds a lot for doing something like that. All the while she just calmly tells him to give up.

Kamijou then just tells her to shut up and that, well she's making no sense. She's hesitating to kill him right now, yet before she didn't even hesitate to nearly kill Index. That she has all the power in the world and she's doing nothing to help her. Kanzaki's answer? Simple. Firstly she didn't mean to kill Index (She thought her clothes' shield still worked) and secondly and most importantly, if she doesn't do this... Index will die.

She explains that 85% of Index's brain possesses the 103000 grimoires, all the while the remaining 15% is for her actual memories. However her perfect memory makes it so she can't discard any useless information, so that remaining 15% fills up in a year and her memories must be deleted, otherwise there'll be too much junk in her brain and won't be able to function.

Oh how have I been waiting for this. To put it bluntly: THE HUMAN BRAIN DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT!! Here's the thing, the human brain has different kind of memories. In this case, the knowledge of the Grimoires would probably occupy her semantic memory, all the while the memories they're talking about would be episodic memory. Now we're never told exactly how Index came to know the contents of the grimoires, so we don't know if she just calmly read them or had all of it forced onto her brain at once. The latter could've caused some brain damage, but even then, it's not as if one kind of memory can overwhelm the other! To put it bluntly, Kanzaki? You're full of shit!

Kamijou however isn't being the most helpful either. He says that if she actually cared about Index, she should've tried out to see some help from someone else, maybe even asking the Science people, but the scene just goes on and on and on and on and on until it's firmly worn out its welcome. Kamijou's speech in particular could've had a few lines cut and nothing would've changed! His little speech is by far the worst part in this Novel and a demonstration of Kamachi's inexperience at the time of writing.

Ugh, whatever, rant over. Kanzaki knocks him out. Kamijou does eventually wake up... 3 days later at least. His wounds are gonna take a bit to heal but he's otherwise fine. Also, remember that thing I mentioned that Index was acting weirdly calm? Yeah, she refers to that as having "Awakened", but whatever. After a mildly amusing joke of Index trying to feed Kamijou, Komoe comes in with the other two Magicians. Index insists on them just taking her on the grounds that Kamijou is left alone, but they dismiss it.

No, instead they give Kamijou a warning before leaving: There is only 12 Hours and 38 Minutes left. Still though, for Kamijou it is quite the tricky thing to do because... well, he doesn't really feel all too comfortable with the idea of erasing her memories. And to be fair to him, I can understand that. Now if only he could understand that maybe Kanzaki and Stiyl were feeling the same way, but to be honest that is an actual character trait of his: He doesn't care why you may be doing it, if you're messing up someone else's life that excuse does not matter.

Anyways, at night Kanzaki calls him, telling him of some extra conditions and also telling him she's willing to give him a bit more time so that he properly say goodbye, somewhat trying to comfort him by telling him that she has been in this situation before and that when she was told this, she at least tried to make what little time they had left worth it once she realized there was no magical solution to this. Kamijou however asks why she didn't bother just trying to find a way to save Index from a scientific point of view. Frankly I can explain why with the following image:

For the record, yes, the higher ups in Academy City are amoral enough to do this.

He still scoffs at it, and... yeah, these parts are what drag the story down for me. I get what Kamijou is saying, and to an extent kinda agree with it, but the problem ultimately lies in that, well, this is pretty much a repetition of his fight with Kanzaki, at least on the verbal side of things. And again, the scene drags on for longer than it actually needs to.

Which is sad because the ensuing moment of Kamijou trying to find a solution only to realize he's out of time is pretty well done. It's brief and doesn't overstate its welcome, yet accomplishes what it sets out to do quite well. That's why early Index is so frustrating: There's a lot of good stuff, but you have to deal with a ton of bad stuff as well.

However, we then start getting into the part that actually did end up making me like this Novel in spite of its issues.

Stiyl and Kanzaki comes in, with Kamijou once again trying to make them give him a bit more time. Stiyl, however, just brings him towards Index to show him in how much pain she's in right now, and just asks him one thing: Can he truly see her like this and take such a massive gamble? By this point all of his excuses are shut down, and Kamijou feels truly powerless. God's Miracle's are nothing to him, but this one girl right in front of him is one he can do nothing to help.

And so, Stiyl does agree to one thing: He does give him time to say goodbye. And indeed, in spite of my dislike of Index, the following scene is truly touching, with Kamijou promising lots of things to her he knows he probably won't be able to give her when all is said and done. And indeed, notices how bullcrap it is that 15% of her brain can only hold one year of memori-Wait, what?

He... he notices how strange this is as, well, otherwise she would've died when she was 7... and asks Komoe over the phone... and says basically the same thing I said earlier. The Novel... admitted that was bullcrap!?

This... this was the scene that sold me on the series. The ability to create bullcrap science that doesn't make sense is one  thing. The fact that they're willing to go and say "Yeah, that's bullcrap" makes me forgive the previous bout of stupidity. Well, not so much Kamijou's rambling, but Kanzaki and Stiyl? All is forgiven.

But yeah, now that Kamijou knows the Church were just manipulating the other two, it's time to take action. But how, exactly? I mean, Kamijou has touched Index many times before. Through some logic I don't entirely understand, Kamijou realizes it must be on the back on her throat... and all of the sudden she turns into what is later Dubbed her "John's Pen" Mode.

I mean, that's the impression this leaves me.

Well, okay, that's not actually accurate. It's actually a self-defense mode in case anyone should figure out that the memory thing is all a ruse that makes zero sense. To put it in the simplest terms possible, it turns her into a Murakumo Unit before Murakumo Units were even a thing to begin with.

You know, mentioning that has made nothing
but remind me of how much better a character Noel is.

Mind you, this does make Kamijou realize the whole "Can't use Magic" thing is also a lie, so basically now it's all a matter of getting that damn hand close to her. Easier said than done since now she's throwing stuff like pillars of light, which are hard to even Negate completely. Stiyl and Kanzaki come in, and a quick explanation from Kamijou plus the scene in front of them is enough to make them realize they've been fooled, thus finally assisting our protagonist.

Even Kanzaki joins the fun, revealing her Magic Name: Salvare000... yeah given her backstory as revealed in Volume 4, I can see why she may not be a fan of it. Oh and we're also explained that the pillars of Light are equivalent to the power of the breath of the Dragon of St George. For those not in the know, said dragon looked like this:

So powerful even a 1* Servant had some problems with him!

Still though he does make his way through eventually, but there's a slight problem. See, there's some feathers of light falling from the sky the moment he was damn close to Index. Kamijou knows they are probably really dangerous, yet at the same time knows this is gonna be his one chance to save Index. So, he does the most unambiguously heroic thing he's done the whole story, finally destroying the damn thing that's been ruining Index's life... and being hit by a shit ton of magic in the process. This... this is the death of Kamijou Touma.

A few days later:

Yeah, we aren't done yet. We see Index in a hospital with a character I shall from now on refer to as Doctor Geckota. She has a letter with her too, which has Stiyl being a massive Tsundere towards Kamijou. Speaking of Kamjou, how is he?

Well... as the doors open to his room... he has amnesia. A bunch of his brain cells were fried, so his background is a complete blank. He does not even remember Index in the slightest. The story of the girl who was cursed to lose her memories ends with her savior suffering the same fate in a cruel twist of dramatic irony... or is it!?

Nah! He's fine. He did lose his memories for a while, but since it is Magical Damage, the Imagine Breaker can just negate it. Index is understandably not happy, and after biting him some more, leaves the room so that Kamijou can finish healing up. Well, way to ruin a perfectly ironic ending.

Except not really. As he admits to Doctor Geckota, he really does have amnesia. He's just lying so as not to make Index Worry. As said before, the old Kamijou Touma is dead, and this new guy just got told what happened from the Doctor, who was told the basics by Kanzaki and Stiyl. Pre-Amnesia Kamijou ain't comming back, and the new one can't help but see what had been told to him as almost like reading a diary of someone else.

Still though.. it was an enjoyable yet heartbreaking one. So he's decided to live the life the old Kamijou Touma left behind. And hey, if there's one thing he's sure off,  even if he's forgotten the actual events, the feelings that he had are certainly still there.

And that ends the first Volume of A Certain Magical Index. It's got its flaws and overall it's just barely okay, but you know what? It did show promise. Compared to, say, Kawahara Reki, who bar the initial concept his writing is often uninspired and not interesting at all, Kamachi at least shows the minimum level of competence, and most of the issues can be ultimately boiled down to simple inexperience.

And while this was a nice ending... it's clear there's more to this story than what only this shows. After all, what was up with that Bug Zapping Middle Schooler? What is even going on in Academy City? And of course, how will this new Kamijou Touma adapt to the life given to him? All of that, my friends, is for some other day.