A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 13 (light novel)

とある魔術の禁書目録 [Toaru Majutsu no Index] (Novel) #13

by Kazuma Kamachi, Kiyotaka Haimura (Illustrator)

(Volume 12)
September 30th. As the seasons change in Academy City, so do the seasonal clothes. Mikoto Misaka, talented esper student of the elite Tokiwadai Middle School that stands above the hustle and bustle of the city, waits in front of the concert hall for her companion. But...he never arrives. There is no trace at all of that young man who was supposed to show up to accept his punishment game. Mikoto sighs as she cradles her too-thin schoolbag and the violin case she'd been holding all the while but now--
When Touma Kamijou and Mikoto Misaka finally cross paths, the school comedy that revolves around a punishment game will begin!

Genres: Light Novel, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Action, Manga, Comedy

264 pages, Paperback

First published April 10, 2007

About the author

Kamachi Kazuma (鎌池和馬) is a Japanese-born light novel author and the original creator of the Toaru Majutsu no Index light novel series and Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, its spin-off manga series.

Reviews

[Genma496]

A pretty good arc for index. Still has some typical index issues, like one of the antagonists' motivations being very silly, or the simplistic way the moral issues are represented (WORLD OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS) but the main framing device is really cool, and we have some amazing moments with it, like touma and accelerator talking on the phone. Also, index was actually useful for once, so thats always nice to see.

[Damian]

By far the best volume at this point. It is so wonderfully brutal, especially every scene with Accelerator. A lot of gore in this one, and it ends up being an amazing clash between science and magic, with the purpose of the Imaginary Numbers District, the Misaka Network, and Aleister's plan being partially revealed. It also introduced the Kihara family, fleshing out the dark side of Academy City and Accelerator's past. The introduction of God's Right Seat was genius. Overall, it felt like the entire series was leading up to this point.

[Alec Rebert]

4.3

[Nehemiah]

Action filled volume!

[Kristian Dobson]

Accelerator is best boi.

[Abel Thomas]

Time - [01h 41m 48s]

[Lils]

Aside from Touma doing his usual stuff of fighting off the magic side, I think the best part of this story was the development of Accelerator and the changes he has gone through mentally, whilst having to accept his physical limitations and abilities from this point on. Kihara's appearance serves to be the moment Accelerator realises how disadvantageous he is when someone thoroughly understands his abilities, and it doesn't help that Accelerator is forced to rely on the Misaka network etc to do anything, and is forced to limit his use of it due to battery limits. I also really liked the conversation Accelerator had with the frog faced doctor, because I think it was then that Accelerator was forced to acknowledge his powers were limited and that all he could hope to do was get Last Order back, and getting her back uninjured was something highly unlikely within his powers. It was also cool to see Accelerator "fail" for the first time in his life and in the end have to join Group in due to destruction of the city and to protect Academy City itself (and thus, the clones) in the "darkness" since this is the only place where the clones can live. Also, it was rather interesting to see that Heaven Canceller and Aleister are connected as patient and doctor as well.

Overall, a nice solid build up of Accelerator's character as it walks through more of his motivations, the impact of his "loss" of powers etc, definitely a good one if you like Accelerator.