Toaru Majutsu no Index II Episode 08

"Daihasei Festival" (大覇星祭) is the eighth episode of the second season of the Toaru Majutsu no Index anime series. It was first broadcasted on November 26, 2010.

Synopsis
They head over to a stall a short walk away, however, Yomikawa Aiho tells them that a parade going along the street would block their way, and an alternate route would be a detour 3km longer. Out of sheer frustration, Index tries to attack Touma, only for him to be dragged away by Mikoto. As it turns out, Mikoto needed a high school student who has participated in the Pole Assault event for the scavenger hunt, and Touma ends up being what she needed to win in the Borrowed Item contest. After the event, Mikoto gives Touma a towel and a drink before leaving with a flushed face.

Elsewhere, Uiharu Kazari helps a wheelchaired Shirai Kuroko around Academy City. Shirai seems unamused, until she hears an announcement on Mikoto's victory. However, her killing intent seeps out again when she sees Touma with Mikoto.

Touma fails to find Index once again as the parade begins. In his search, he finds a more unusual appearance: of Tsuchimikado Motoharu and Stiyl Magnus. They tell him that the relaxed security of Academy City would be easily exploited by magicians. Stiyl tells them that they only confirmed two who have infiltrated: Roman Catholic Church's Lidvia Lorenzetti and a courier named Oriana Thomson.

Stiyl explains that they are taking the fact that Academy City is neutral ground for both science and magic to perform an exchange involving a weapon called "Stab Sword": a weapon which can instantly kill Saints in one strike. (This rules out Kanzaki Kaori's involvement.) Motoharu later explains to him that it was patterned after how the Son of God was killed. He also adds that the exchange is preparation for a war, another reason to exclude Index from their mission.

Meanwhile, Komoe sees a shriveled Index on one of the benches on the sidewalk and decides to feed her the food she bought. Index is worried about her being separated from Touma throughout the day; Komoe then thinks of a good way for the two to meet more often.

Touma goes back to looking for Index and is found by Maika and Aisa, who then points him to the park where they saw a nun being dragged by a young teacher. He follows their lead, and after finding Sphynx, sees another unexpected sight inside the park: Komoe dressing up Index in a cheerleading costume. Index attacks Touma in response, but her bite missed, and Touma receives a kiss instead. What's even worse for Touma is that Fukiyose saw everything on her way looking for Komoe.

Because of that, Touma receives a nasty punch in the face and is dragged back. Seiri scolds Touma for goofing off instead of helping the school, and by Touma's request, drags him holding hands.

On the streets, Seiri asks Touma if he finds the Daihasei Festival as boring. She finds that Touma's mind is always elsewhere, and she wonders if she is not doing well as one of the committee members for the festival. According to her, she only wanted everyone to enjoy the festival and gain nice memories from it, but she might just be selfish for forcing it to others.

Soon, Touma gets bumped by a running student and is pushed back, his forehead touching Seiri's and his lips only an inch from hers. Embarrassed, Seiri retaliates with a head-butt, which sends him into the breasts of a lady with golden yellow hair and an unusual outfit. The woman apologizes and offers a kiss to Touma as an apology; Touma agrees instantly, but is interrupted by Seiri.

They shake hands instead, and there, Touma feels Imagine Breaker being invoked. The woman is startled by that, and hurriedly leaves them. Seiri is confused, but Touma feels that she is a magician.

Meanwhile, the woman with golden yellow hair tears a slip of paper and contacts someone using it, introducing herself as Oriana Thomson. She reports that the spell she had on her body is dispelled, much to the shock of the woman on the other line. Oriana assures her and tells her she has devised countermeasures, but she needs to lose Kamijou Touma.

Adapted From

 * Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 09

Major Events

 * The first day of Daihasei Sports Festival begins.
 * Touma and Mikoto decide to play a punishment game, in which the loser has to do everything what the winner says.
 * Oriana Thomson infiltrates Academy City.
 * Touma meets Oriana Thomson.

Characters
By order of appearance
 * Tsuchimikado Maika
 * Kamijou Touya
 * Kamijou Shiina
 * Kamijou Touma
 * Misaka Mikoto
 * Laura Stuart
 * Aleister Crowley
 * Index Librorum Prohibitorum
 * Sphynx
 * Aogami Pierce
 * Himegami Aisa
 * Touma's schoolmates from A Certain High School
 * Tsukuyomi Komoe
 * Yomikawa Aiho
 * Shirai Kuroko
 * Uiharu Kazari
 * Stiyl Magnus
 * Tsuchimikado Motoharu
 * Kanzaki Kaori (mentioned-only)

New Characters

 * Misaka Misuzu
 * Fukiyose Seiri
 * Oriana Thomson
 * Lidvia Lorenzetti (voice-only)

Abilities

 * Imagine Breaker - Kamijou Touma, Level 0

New Abilities

 * Several unnamed projectile-like esper powers
 * Shorthand - Oriana Thomson
 * Silent Coin
 * Communication Spell

Locations

 * Academy City
 * Tokiwadai Middle School (mentioned-only)
 * St. George's Cathedral
 * A Certain High School

New Locations

 * Ryouran Maid School (mentioned-only)

Trivia

 * The Tokiwadai Middle School and A Certain High School sports attire make their debut in the Toaru Majutsu no Index storyline during this episode. The former already made its debut in the first episode of Railgun.
 * Shirai Kuroko is seen on a wheelchair, despite being able to stand perfectly without trouble in the previous episode.
 * Though accidentally, Index is the first girl to have ever kissed Touma.
 * Though both members of Necessarius, as well as Stiyl referring to Motoharu back in the 2nd episode, this episode marks the first time both Stiyl Magnus and Tsuchimikado Motoharu appear onscreen.

Referbacks

 * The Daihasei Festival that was referenced as far back as of episode 24 of the first season, as well in episode 2 and episode 6 of the current season is finally featured.

Cultural References

 * The operating system that Laura's computer uses is similar to that of the OS.

Differences in Adaptation

 * In the novel, Laura Stuart wears more formal clothes when she talks with Aleister, instead of having a lower-ranking outfit in the anime.
 * In the novel, Aleister describes Laura's way of speaking Japanese as strange and unique, which frightened Laura for a moment, as he was about to discover something.

Animation Trivia

 * When Laura holds up the Stab Sword to show it to Aleister, several scenes show that the handles of the sword is either touching Laura's hair or missing them all entirely.
 * The episode marks the first onscreen appearance of the "Spiky-haired girl with glasses" and "Girl with the headband" in the Toaru Majutsu no Index anime adaptation. Originally appearing in the background of some of the Light Novel artwork, they later appear in the manga adaptation as well.
 * When Aisa and Maika where in the same scene, Maika has noticeably thinner lines than Aisa, which may be due to her being rendered in CG.
 * A visual pun is presented by Sphynx trying to get away during the scene where Index tries to bite Touma while not wearing her panties.
 * The flashcard that Oriana holds to communicate with Lidvia disappears just before Touma is seen following Oriana.

Unanswered Questions

 * Does Laura know that the General Superintendent of Academy City is Aleister Crowley?
 * How was Stab Sword brought into Academy City, and who is the recipient of the trade?
 * What the relationship the woman that cling beside Kamijou Touya with Mikoto?

Quotes

 * Shiina: "Oh my, Touya-san... Are you at it again?" -said to Touya after he meets Misaka Misuzu.
 * Aleister: "We'll have to get that boy to be the travel guide." -regarding Touma and the Stab Sword.
 * Touma: "Hey, guys... Let me ask again. Are we going to do this or not?" -said to his classmates, after witnessing Komoe's tearful reaction from a teacher's insult of her students.
 * Kuroko: "I'll kill him!" -regarding Touma after seeing him on a monitor, being taken care of by Mikoto.
 * Motoharu: "It's not about whether they'd actually win or not. Wars can start simply because one side has the illusion of having a winning chance." -said to Touma.
 * Index: "Touma! How many times does this make it?" -said to Touma regarding him seeing her in an indecent situation again.
 * Seiri: "If you're finding today boring, Kamijou, it means I'm not doing enough as a committee member... I guess, as someone who worked so hard to come up with all this stuff, I kind of want everyone to share fond memories of the event. Maybe I'm just being selfish, though." -said to Touma.