By Kazumi Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan as “Shinyaku To Aru Majutsu no Index” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse.

The first volume of New Testament did not really feel like the return of the beloved/infamous series, mostly as Touma was entirely absent until the very end of it. The second volume consisted almost entirely of exposition, so also felt like an oddity (sorry, Kaori, I know you tried hard). This one, though, is Index hitting the ground running and announcing that it’s back for good in a full-throated roar. The series has never shied away from action setpieces, of course – that’s its bread and butter – but it’s never felt more like an American action movie than it does in this book. That’s clearly by design, of course – everything’s set up to have the maximum number of explosions and volcano eruptions, everyone gets a chance to show off their cool powers, and even the President of the United States feels more like a movie star than he does an actual President. Unfortunately, Touma ends up figuring out that World War III ending did not, in fact, return everything to normal.

Leivinia Birdway has led a group of all-stars to Hawaii – Touma, Mikoto, Accelerator, Misaka Worst, and Umidori, the villain of the first book, now reduced to mostly being Misaka Worst’s toy, though she gets to be cool near the end, as is traditional with Index books. Unfortunately, from the moment they get to Hawaii, they are caught up in non-stop attacks, explosions, more explosions, terrorists attacks up the wazoo, the aforementioned volcano eruption, and an actual coup by a media mogul who wants to make the United States a theocracy, and also really wants to find her estranged daughter. All of this converges in Hawaii, along with the US president, who has run away from all his handlers as he can’t trust anyone anymore. In fact… can Touma trust anyone anymore?

I mean, probably. Despite her annoyingly evil words to Touma at the end of the book, I doubt that Birdway is really involved with GREMLIN. But it simply works better for her to have Touma in a constant state of righteous fury, and that’s what she gets here, despite the best efforts of Mikoto. Mikoto has, honestly, suffered almost as much as Index (that’s the character, Index, who wears a nun habit, in case everyone had forgotten) since this series began, with whole volumes in a row where she barely does anything. For most of this book, it looks like that may also apply here, given she spends much of this Hawaii trip trying to buy matching promise rings for her and Touma that supposedly tell you if your boyfriend is cheating. Even Misaka Worst points out that she’s been far more relevant than the original Misaka lately. (Every time Misaka Worst mentions the “Third Season”, I roll my eyes.) But Mikoto is pretty much the only one who can try to talk Touma down from the “it’s all my fault, and I alone will shoulder this burden” complex he’s got. I don’t think she succeeds. But she does better than anyone else might have. Touma’s a stubborn nut.

We will be headed back to Academy City next time, but the 4th book isn’t solicited yet. Which is fine, I think we need a small break, this book was exhausting but fun.

By Kazumi Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan as “Shinyaku To Aru Majutsu no Index” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse.

I’ve talked before about how much I don’t like Kamachi trying to be funny. His idea of good humor for the books is very much in the “whoops, I just fell into your boobs and you hit me so hard I became a star in the sky” sort of humor. That doesn’t happen here, but we do get about ten different love interest attaching themselves to Touma like lampreys, Itsuwa beating her superior officer to death in order to help him save face, seemingly every single female character grading themselves on breast size, etc. That said, it didn’t grate on me quite as much as usual. Maybe I’ve gotten used to it, but I think it’s more that it was needed in this book for a greater purpose. No, not to balance anything depressing. But rather, to balance out Leivinia Birdway Explains It All For You. She’s got an exposition hammer and she’s gonna use it, and even Index can only go along with her and chime in. Oh, hey, it’s Index! Hi, Index.

Introduced in this volume: Maria Kumokawa, Mjolnir. And by the end of the volume we know the next major antagonist group will be GREMLIN, and so no doubt they’ll start popping up as we go along. This takes place immediately after the first book in NT. As for the plot, well, Touma’s back in Academy City, and all his love interests are very relieved, though not above biting his head. (To be fair, Touma asked for it.) Eventually, he, Accelerator, and Hamazura end up back at Touma’s dorm room, where, as I noted above, Birdway (with occasional interruptions from Index) explains the differences and similarities between magic and science, the goals of each side, how World War III started, and what happens next. What happens next is the plot with Kaori Kanzaki, who is trying to stop a Colony Drop in the making.

I will admit, I left out a bit of humor in the list above, mainly because it was not “this is a wacky anime” style humor and also because it was genuinely funny. I laughed out loud, but also cringed. Mugino introducing herself to Fremea by saying “Hi, I’m the one who killed your sister” is jaw-droppingly awful but also deeply in character, and it was glorious. That said, the rest of ITEM, as well as Accelerator’s double Misaka combo and Touma’s own original flavor Misaka, take a back seat. Again, though at least Mikoto is trying to stop it in regards to the next book. Instead we get our three heroes coming together to save Academy City, each using their own strengths. And if it’s badass action you want, Kaori has it covered, with a fight against a Nightmare at 20,000 Feet. She is quite badass. Shame no one sees it.

It appears the next volume will head over to America. Will Mikoto manage to succeed in getting Touma to take her along while he tries to save people “for his own sake”? Will the cast get even more unwieldy? We’ll see. Till then, enjoy the humor that is the spoonful of sugar to help Birdway’s exposition go down.

By Kazumi Kamachi and Kiyotaka Haimura. Released in Japan as “Shinyaku To Aru Majutsu no Index” by Dengeki Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Alice Prowse.

I will admit, the moment I saw that the new series of Index books had been licensed, my first thought was “oh, is the anime announcement coming soon?”. It’s been almost four years since A Certain Magical Index 22 came out. While sales figures are never easy to come by these days, word on the street was that it was not exactly one of Yen’s best sellers. But it *is* one of Dengeki Bunko’s best sellers, and a “flagship” title for the company. And there did seem to be some genuine excitement (and hopefully enough sales to justify the cost) of the massive 2000-page Index omnibus that came out earlier this year. So sure, let’s go. We’re jumping back into Index, featuring our favorite ditzy nun, tsundere electro girl, and schlub with a magic hand. Some bad news to report, though, as none of those three feature heavily in this book. This first volume of NT (New Testament) is about the other two male protagonists.

The return of Index also means the return of the “let’s try to keep track of things” paragraph. Introduced in this book: Fremea Seivelun, Kuroyoru Umidori. Also, though we briefly saw Leivinia Birdway in Book 18 of Index, this is her entrance to the story proper – on the 2nd to last page. This book takes place on Guy Fawkes’ Day, the 5th of November, and one week after World War III. Touma has been declared missing presumed dead. From a brief cameo we see of Index, she’s not taking it well. The Railgun manga has not gotten to this point yet. Its most recent arc is a flashback, and the most recent current arc takes place around Vol. 16 of the first series. In Japan, this came out on March 10, 2011, only five months after the “final” volume of Index. The Railgun manga had just released Book 6, so the Sisters arc. And the Index anime was just about to wrap up Season 2.

World War III is over, and peace supposedly reigns over Academy City. Of course, you know that’s not going to last. Much to the irritation of Accelerator, his attempt to stop all the “darkness” of the City can’t even make it work for one week before a new group of eccentrics is trying to use him to help cause chaos. As for Hamazura, all he wants to do is go on dates with his cute girlfriend. Sadly, his cute girlfriend comes with the other two remaining members of ITEM, who are both sadists, so instead he gets chased around the worst slums of the city by goons… and runs into an old friend of his from the gang, Hanzou. Hanzou is watching over a little girl, Fremea Seivelun, whose last name is the same as ITEM’s now-murdered member Frenda. Yup, it’s her little sister. And while Fremea may just be a Level 0, it seems everybody and their brother wants to murder her.

For the most part this “new season” of the Index series plays it pretty safe, as the entire volume is essentially a massive action movie. It’s along the lines of Lethal Weapon, though Accelerator and Hamazura are not exactly wisecracking jokers. The *real* goal of the Freshman, the latest oddly-named group, seems to be having Accelerator and Hamazura, who previously barely interacted, team up with each other to get revenge on the city for killing Fremea. Their leader is a type we’ve seen before, the smug teenager who has really awesome powers derived from scientists experimenting on children, but they turn out to not be QUITE as awesome as Accelerator’s powers. And yes, surprise surprise, Touma is not dead, and shows up at the very end to save the day, stop the villain, and get kicked in the balls, in that order.

If you’ve never read Index, for God’s sake, don’t start now. But if you’re an Index fan, put away that Baka-Tsuki PDF and go buy this.