Talk:Index Librorum Prohibitorum/@comment-33169186-20181120003011/@comment-76.180.83.104-20190724034535

Well, I personally like both Index and Mikoto (though I think they need to chill the hell out with abusing Touma, but then again everyone abuses him), so take it for what it's worth.

I don't think the issue is that Mikoto is stronger than index (in fact, Index can be even more useful in specific magic related scenarios). It's more that Mikoto was given a chance to grow from being someone who is violent, prideful, overly competitive, terrible at expressing her emotions (to herself and others) into someone who comes to term with her affections for Touma, and desires to improve herself in order to be able to stand with him as equals, and to support him. Seriously, read her dialogue in the first novel. She sounds like a completely different person, talking about how strong she is, about how level 0s mean no talent, and attacking Touma just to satisfy her desire to 'win' (Honestly, I disliked her initially). I think it's that character arc that made her likeable (and Index can't really have a similar character arc, since her knowledge basically means that any power-up will likely lead to her becoming a magical god).

In comparison, because Index is someone who Touma wants to protect, it's hard for her to grow as a character. The fact that he specifically wants to protect her happiness makes it especially hard for her to face challenges that would force her to grow. She has her positive (selfless, kind, affectionate, loyal, intelligent) and negative (gluttonous, dependent, childish, violent, terrible at dealing with her emotions) traits, but they were mostly locked in after the end of Index arc (with her intelligence/competence being shown later in the series). Certain arcs emphasized her characteristics (such as her kindness during Hyouka arc), but she didn't change much from then on. I mean, how would you give her character development? You could have her mature and grow out of her innocence by having Touma's secret about his amnesia come to light (but it was one amongst many things going on in WWIII arc and didn't get enough time to develop). You could have her lose her dependence by trying to grow stronger (problematic, since magic using Index is far too powerful, and overlaps with Mikoto's arc). You could try to make it so that she comes to term with her emotions with him, and be more honest, which I think could work.

Of course, it could also be that some people really like tsundere characters, and dislike young looking characters (Index is probably older than Mikoto..... somehow. Then again Stiyl is 14, Saten is 12 and Kanzaki is 18, so age is basically irrelevant to how people look)

I know it's a joke, but I don't think Aureolus is much of a character, but rather a representation of what would have happened to Touma if he failed at saving Index (as author points out himself). His character says more about Touma than himself in my opinion.