Toaru Majutsu no Index II Episode 01

"The Last Day" (8月31日(さいごのひ)) is the first episode of the second season of the Toaru Majutsu no Index anime series, and the 25th episode overall. It is the final story from the Three Stories Arc adapted into the anime, and occurs a day before the last arc from the last season. The episode was first broadcast on October 8, 2010, and was directed and storyboarded by Nakatsu Tamaki, and the script written by Akahoshi Masanao.

Summer vacation is about to come to an end. On this day alone, Touma was forced to have a fake date with Misaka Mikoto, and later had to fight an Aztec magician, the every day life of Kamijou Touma is as lively as ever. Of course, the challenge of summer vacation that has been piling up has not been touched at all. Meanwhile, Index pores over Super Powered Kanamin on television, while Sphynx moves about lazily in his room in the studen dormitory. However, an unforseen enemy arrives and a lonely battle follows. While Touma is busy with his summer homework, in the sea near Academy City, figures land on the beaches' tetrapods. They are all wrapped in armor, and they are all from the Knights of England. Suddenly, the Saint Kanzaki Kaori with her Seven Heavens Seven Sword appears before the men, and receive a strange surprise from her.

Synopsis
The last day of August.

Touma Kamijou struggles to get his summer vacation homework done, and for a moment laments on his mysterious ability Imagine Breaker not being of any help to him. Meanwhile, Index is enjoying herself to another episode of Magical Powered Kanamin. According to Index, since Touma is not available as a playmate, she decides to watch Kanamin with the volume almost on maximum. This makes Touma lose his focus, and after an instant confrontation with Index, he loses his half-done homework and reference books over a pile of magazines.

Things go for the worst for Touma when Index tells him to get him some snacks.

Elsewhere, a man dressed in a black coat talks to himself about the Index of Prohibited Texts.

Index manages to find Touma's homework and gloats about her achievement, while Touma feels stressed and pressured about it, especially because Index is expecting for some compensation in exchange for getting his homework. Unfortunately for Touma, Index already ate pudding along with his share, and she is enticed by food commercials flashed on the TV. He is also thinking about time he needs to finish his homework, which he needs to pass the next day. Index tries to give some advice, but Touma dismisses it.

Soon, the man-in-a-coat appears in Touma's apartment, and using a spell to summon a small vortex of wind to launch himself in the air, attacks Touma's apartment unit with a powerful gust of wind. However, he does not find anyone inside.

At that moment, Touma feels something bad going on as he and Index stay inside a restaurant. As Touma toils on his homework, Index chooses the most expensive item on the menu and Touma willingly pays for it. Index's order comes up after a few minutes, but the waitress in-charge of delivering the meal slips, and food splashes down on Touma's homework. Touma feels despair after seeing his effort go to waste again, and not even the waitress's apologies nor Index's remarks of assurance helped him.

Soon, Touma sees a man with a coat and a bow attached to his arm, and before it could unleash its attack, Touma shoves Index back as a strong gust rips through the glass windows of the restaurant. He then uses his Imagine Breaker to dispel the attack, much to the stranger's surprise.

Before Touma could confront the stranger, he finds it behind him, and the man-in-a-coat asks for Touma's surrender. However, Touma is more concerned with the pieces of paper fluttering around him, which are actually pieces of his homework shredded by the attack. Touma loses his temper because of what happened, but the man soon grabs Index and announces his intents to capture her. Before Touma could retrieve Index from him, the man-in-a-coat uses a spell to render him and Index invisible and flees, knocking over Aisa Himegami (a passerby) in the process.

That night, Touma spends the night looking for Index with Sphynx tagging along. Soon, Sphynx breaks away from him and Touma goes to follow Index's cat to a hotel. As it turns out, Sphynx wanted to eat and brings Touma to the trash bin. Thinking that Sphynx is just fooling around, Touma brings Sphynx elsewhere.

Touma has no idea that Sphynx did track Index's location, and she is tied up on the rooftop of the hotel, while the man-in-a-coat looks at the picture of a girl. Soon, their discussion shifts to Index, and the man finally admits that he needs a volume from the 103,000 grimoires in her head.

Meanwhile, Touma continues on his search, and in his haste, he almost collides with someone. It turns out that it's Mikoto Misaka and, remembering the conversation she overheard, blushes as she starts a conversation with him. However, she is ignored by a frantic Touma. Mikoto bursts in anger and blasts through a security robot.

Mikoto manages to approach Touma, but sees him in hysteria, with thoughts of Index and his homework still in his head. Touma asks what Mikoto needs, and before she could blurt out her reply, Touma storms away from her.

Index soon notices the man-in-a-coat finish what looks like an array of ropes and amulets and assumes that he is intent on extracting a grimoire from her. As the man-in-a-coat explains his plans, she notices that she has Touma's phone and uses it to open a line for Touma to listen to the conversation. Index warns the man about his plans, but he knows these risks, in fact, and he starts the ceremony nonetheless.

On the other end of the line, Touma hears a shrill sound from Index's phone and searches momentarily for something unusual, He then sees a purple light from the same hotel where Sphynx has taken him earlier, and he runs for it.

Meanwhile, the ceremony goes underway, and the man-in-a-coat grasps the Baopuzi, a magical book that focuses on becoming an immortal. Soon, he begins to vomit blood as a result of grasping Index's forbidden books; he pushes on nonetheless, and mutters about vowing to become a Magician to save someone using his magic. As the ceremony continues, he makes a bloody mess and soon, Index understands what he is trying to fight for, as the ceremony allows both the man and Index to read each other's minds, and tells him to stop tainting himself with those magical books.

Soon, Touma reaches where they are, and in one touch of his right hand, dispels the entire ceremony.

As Touma and Index reunite, the man-in-a-coat still can't accept the outcome of his urge to save someone and desperately attacks Touma, which was dispelled. Touma then explains to him that he does not want someone to carry the burden of having someone die and the anguish it brings.

Before the man-in-a-coat could attack Touma again, he collapses in his own pool of blood. He laments on being a failure for not being able to endure reading a volume of a magical book. Before he loses his consciousness, he tells Touma and Index about giving up on life thrice, but not giving up on one such thing...

He then wakes up to an array of scratches brought by Sphynx. Touma tells him that he can't let the man die peacefully and gives Sphynx a chance to scratch the man-in-a-coat's face for ruining his homework. However, Touma decides to help the girl that the man-in-a-coat wants to save by using his ability.

Meanwhile, a group of men in armor emerge from the sea and faces Kaori Kanzaki. They march forth to attack, only to be defeated instantly. Motoharu Tsuchimikado joins her, but neither as an ally nor as an enemy. The two talked about her trip from England and about the Knights she just defeated, and Kaori leaves, she wonders why she needs to do the things she did.

Adapted From

 * Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 05
 * Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 07

Major events

 * Touma and Index meet Yamisaka Ouma; Touma later helps him in dispelling the curse that was inflicted on the girl he loves
 * Kaori defeats a small group of English Knights arriving in Japan.

Characters
By order of appearance
 * Kamijou Touma
 * Tsukuyomi Komoe
 * Aogami Pierce
 * Index
 * Sphynx
 * Etzali in the form of Unabara Mitsuki (flashback only)
 * Himegami Aisa
 * Misaka Mikoto
 * Kanzaki Kaori
 * Tsuchimikado Motoharu

New Characters

 * Yamisaka Ouma (not named)
 * The girl Ouma is in love with

Abilities

 * Imagine Breaker - Kamijou Touma, level 0
 * Fire magic - Stiyl Magnus (flashback only)
 * Ars Magna - Aureolus Izzard (flashback only)
 * Electrical attack - Misaka Mikoto, level 5
 * Appearance Borrowing - Etzali (flashback only)
 * Spear of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli - Etzali (flashback only)
 * Grimoire storage - Index

New Abilities

 * Wind-related magic (using an Azusayumi) - Yamisaka Ouma
 * Bon odori - Yamisaka Ouma
 * Current Manipulation Spell - Knights of England

Locations

 * Academy City
 * Kamijou Residence
 * Julian Restaurant

New Locations
No notable locations were introduced during this episode.

Trivia

 * This episode happened on the 31st of August in the Toaru Majutsu no Index timeline, as such events that happened after episode 18 are not referenced by the characters.
 * The tune that was first used in episode 15 by Index in the form of Aogami, is hummed by both Komoe and Aogami in two separate scenes in the beginning of the episode. Index hums the tune as well later in the episode.
 * ESP Cards are seen for the first time in the main storyline. ESP Cards were first mentioned in episode 10 of the first season and were first seen in the first episode of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, being used during a System Scan.
 * Index references the Lotus Wand – Agnese's signature weapon – while watching Magical Powered Kanamin.
 * Touma and Index goes to the same restaurant that Accelerator and Last Order went to back in episode 19 of the previous season.
 * Ouma destroys Touma's room during this episode, though chronologically in episode 21 it is shown that his room is undamaged.
 * Interestingly, Mikoto hits a Cleaning bot because Touma ignored her, similar to that what occured in the first episode of the first season.

Referbacks

 * Mikoto and Touma references events that occured with Etzali from episode 18 of the previous season.
 * Touma references his lying to Index as so she would not cry from episode 6 of the previous season.

Cultural References

 * Ouma uses an Azusayumi – a Japanese crossbow made from the wood of the catalpa tree – as a primary tool for his magic.
 * The rope pattern used by Ouma to tie and subdue Index is a reference to Shibari or Kinbaku.
 * Index metions the Kagura which is a type of theatrical Japanese Shinto dance, when Ouma sets up the decorations for his ritual.
 * Ouma prepares a ceremony similar to that of the Bon Festival, a Japanese custom to honor the dead.
 * The episode references the Baopuzi a book written by Ge Hong with contents regarding immortality, transcendence and Chinese alchemy.

Animation Trivia

 * The Opening of the series, "No Buts!" shows Mikoto throwing electricity after she gets ignored by Touma but, if is seen clearly, the wood isn't an electricity conductor, but since it's not an isolant either, it's well possible to it transport energy.
 * Several scenes depict characters having a different shadows cast on their shoulders depending on their hairstyle, such as Touma having a spiky shadow on his shoulders, though sometimes they are completely changed into the type seen previously in the past season, though this maybe a standard practice by the studio.
 * As this occurs in the 31st of August, several scenes are reused from the previous season (specifically episode 18 since it occurred on the same day) to reference specific events.
 * The waitress on Julian Restaurant happens to be voiced by Kayano Ai, which is Itsuwa's voice actress.

Unanswered Questions

 * Why did the English Knights arrive in Japan and why did Kaori attack them?
 * Why did Kaori come to Japan?
 * Who are Tsuchimikado's current superiors and what is his mission?

Quotes

 * Touma: "I just grabbed hold of something small and soft!" -said by Touma after trying to grab an invisble Index.
 * Ouma: "I thought I would be able to do anything if I became a magician. I vowed to become a magician because I didn't want to give up against a curse. At least not for this stuff. There was a woman nearly dead from some sort of curse. With death approaching right behind her, the only thing she could do was smile. She was a powerless, boring person. Being unable to save such a boring person, I cannot talk about being able to do anything or not wanting to give up. I cannot ruin the precious dream I've always had for such a boring woman. Surely not for that boring woman. Definitely not for the sake of that boring woman!"
 * Index: "I understand. Your Azusa bow's power is amplified so much that your mind is flowing back into mine. That's why I understand. Simply because you love that woman is why you want to save her even at the cost of your life. You had to hurt other and commot crimes in your bid to save her since you didn't want that woman to bear any responsibility. Which is why you must not taint yourself! You cannot choose such a method that relies on these half-tainted magic books!" -said to Ouma regarding his reason for trying to get the grimoire inside of Index.
 * Ouma: "Am I mistaken? Am I mistaken to feel the need to protect someone even if it cost me my life? "
 * Touma: "You already know! The pain of having someone precious die in front of you. Having someone being hurt and in agony right before you...Yet you being unable to do anything for them... You know the pain of being powerless... You must have felt time was running out, the weight of the burden. You must have felt distress. You must have felt anguish. You must have felt fear. You must have shouted out loud. You must have shed tears. Then what you're doing is wrong! You cannot let anyone carry such a burden!"-Touma's lecture to Ouma.
 * Touma: "Now let's set off to break all those stupid illusions." -said to Ouma after agreeing to help him cure the woman Ouma is in love with.