# A Certain Magical Index (2008)

> A powerless high school student whose right hand cancels any magic becomes the unlikely guardian of a memorizing nun holding forbidden grimoires in a city of espers.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/28561

## Facts

- Seasons: 3
- Episodes: 74
- Episode runtime: 25 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: animation, fantasy, science fiction, comedy
- Network: MBS
- Cast: Atsushi Abe, Yuka Iguchi, Rina Sato, Shizuka Itoh, Anri Katsu, Kana Asumi, Satomi Arai, Nobuhiko Okamoto
- TMDB rating: 6.7/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1308089/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: playful, breezy, action charged, comic, earnest

## What critics say

Audiences find the series mixed, with a lively premise and action-driven appeal, but uneven quality across its seasons.

## Synopsis

A Certain Magical Index (2008-2019) is a Japanese anime series produced by J.C.STAFF and broadcast on MBS, adapted into a sprawling three-season run of seventy-four episodes. Touma Kamijou (voiced by Atsushi Abe) is a high school student in Academy City, a futuristic metropolis where teenagers are tested for psychic abilities, and he is a level zero esper whose right hand carries the Imagine Breaker, a power that negates any supernatural force it touches. He is soon drawn into the orbit of Index (voiced by Yuka Iguchi), a nun who has memorized a library of more than one hundred thousand forbidden magical books and is running from the Necessarius organization that claims her. Their uneasy household becomes the anchor for a series built from episodic skirmishes with espers and sorcerers, interwoven with a longer arc of science and magic colliding. Mikoto Misaka (Rina Sato) and Accelerator (Nobuhiko Okamoto) are among the principal characters who shape the wider city conflicts. The tone swings between breezy school comedy, romantic banter and bursts of visceral action choreography. Fans of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, Jujutsu Kaisen and Bakemonogatari will find a kindred mix of ability battles, urban supernatural mystery and affectionate teen ensemble comedy. The show is a light novel adaptation with a playful, sometimes uneven rhythm.

## Shows like A Certain Magical Index

- [Date a Live (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/41716)
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- [Guilty Crown (2011)](https://ember.film/tv/39348)
- [The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/124233)
- [JUJUTSU KAISEN (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/80604)
- [A Certain Scientific Accelerator (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/76742)
- [The Familiar of Zero (2006)](https://ember.film/tv/32880)
- [Charlotte (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/56085)
- [Strike the Blood (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/54780)
- [A Certain Scientific Railgun (2009)](https://ember.film/tv/28558)

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