Sasha Kreutzev

Sasha Kreutzev (サーシャ＝クロイツェフ) is a recurring character in the Toaru Majutsu no Index series. She is an operative of Annihilatus, an organization of the Russian Orthodox Church that specializes in the hunting down of spirits that are not supposed to exist. Her form makes its appearance early in the series during the Angel Fall Arc, but her actual debut is seen much later on.

Etymology
Sasha Kreutzev's name (Russian: Саша Креутзев, Saša Kreutzev), due to the limitations in romanization, is a highly contested affair, mostly regarding her family name. Her name is romanized in the official Toaru Majutsu no Index BD booklets as Sasha Croitsef. However, the closest approximation of Sasha's name in katakana (サーシャ＝クロイツェフ), is Sasha Kreutzev.

Sasha, is the dimunitive form of Aleksandr, and can be both be used for male and female (Aleksandra). Furthermore, according to Russian naming conventions, family names are sex specific (adding the suffix -a for females), as such, Sasha's full name should be Sasha Kreutzeva (Russian: Саша Креутзева, Saša Kreutzeva). Because of this however, the Japanese fandom has speculated that Sasha might actually be a male and only looks female. This theory however, doesn't really have any solid basis, and maybe due to the author's lack of insight regarding Russian names.

Currently, only official english translations as well as the author himself can finally settle this matter, just as Kamachi romanized Leivinia Birdway's family name.

Appearance
Sasha can easily be distinguished by her signature look, a red hood and cape (which hides her long curly blond hair) and matching pointy red shoes. Her torso and limbs are covered with leather belts, and has metal braces on her ankles, wrist and waist, the latter being used to carry her many eccentric weaponry. Under is small layer of clothing that covers her torso and her arms up to the wrist, and acts like a thigh-high socks, they are form-fitting which naturally shows Sasha's figure. Sasha's skimpy dress can be attributed to her female superior, Vasilisa – who forced Sasha to wear it as part of her hobby. Judging by her body, she gives the impression of being 13 years old

Sasha's bangs covers her eyes in most of her appearances.

Personality
She follows a strange speech pattern in which she will politely and almost impersonally point out the contents of what she is trying to address beforehand such as " ", " " or " ". It should be noted that since the questions and answers are numbered, that actually hints that Sasha usually thinks on more than one thing to address at a time; even though there are cases when the flow of the conversation doesn't present the opportunity to reveal such fact, Touma noted that while that manner of speaking gets right to the point, it makes it difficult to chitchat with her.

She is hinted to be an avid drinker and doesn't mind enjoying brandy in work hours even though she is not supposed to.

Angel Fall Arc

 * Main article: Angel Fall Arc

Her form first appears during the Angel Fall Arc, where the fallen angel – Archangel Gabriel—uses her form as a way to find the culprit of Angel Fall, under the name of Misha Kreutzev, and helps the gang in the investigation.

After finding out that the culprit behind the spell was Kamijou Touma's father, she reveals herself to them and tries to use The Sweep to eliminate Touya. She is later preoccupied by Kanzaki Kaori while Touma and Touya find a way to end Angel Fall, and return the angel to heaven. After Tsuchimikado Motoharu destroys the ritual location of Angel Fall, the angel returns to heaven, though leaving a large amount of telesma as a consequence for him using Sasha's form.

Academy City Invasion Arc

 * Main article:Academy City Invasion Arc

It was noted that due to Angel Fall, there is a massive amount of Telesma, the equivalent of mana for angels, left as residue in her as an after-effect of Gabriel's "possession" rivaling that of the Holy Mother. Though the real reason isn't known to her or anyone else of the Russian Orthodox Church, it resulted in her being put under observation for the time being.

Anglican Church–Russian Orthodox Church Prewar Conference

 * Main article:Anglican Church–Russian Orthodox Church Prewar Conference

Sasha goes to London, England, to accompany Vasilisa, the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church. Sasha on the other hand, went to the Anglican Church Women's Dormitory on an informal visit to scout out which side they would be on if war breaks out. As she enters her clothing is repeatedly commented on as being incredibly strange, to which she mutters it's not her choice to be dressed like that, but Vasilisa made her dressed like that. Sasha also mentions in passing the Russian Orthodox Church is a perverted organization filled with people with tastes like Vasilisa's. Most of the women present in the dorm thought the informal visit is to ask for sanctuary from being mistreated into wearing that, and she can't be blamed for that; much to Sasha's chagrin.

Due to the nature of magicians being able to betray any organization if it conflicts with their morals/goals, Sasha decided to come to talk with the ones here at this dorm instead of asking for 'official stances' from the higher-ups. As Orsola gave the views the ones present will be helping anyone who needs to be protected in the war regardless of which side they are on, Sasha left without her question answered.

World War III

 * Main article:World War III

Sasha becomes the target of Fiamma of the Right because of the telesma within her, forcing her to flee to the nation of Elizarina. She is later captured by Fiamma, despite her efforts together with Vento, Lessar, Elizarina, and Touma. Later, it is revealed that the angel that Gabriel called himself as Misha a name derived from the Russian Mikhail, the equivalent of Archangel Michael the mistake made due to their attributes switching, which is also why Fiamma was after her in the first place, as being aligned with Michael that got switched with Gabriel enabled him to use the telesma within Sasha, as well as the Star of Bethleham, to summon and control the angel. Later, while Touma is battling Fiamma, Sasha draws a magic array to disrupt Fiamma's control over the Star before she, Lessar, and several others escape.

Abilities
She carries around a large number of unique weapons from hammers to saws. These weapons appear to be powerful enough to smash through walls, as seen in the anime. She also appears to have some knowledge of runic magic as well, as seen in volume 22 of the light novels, where she draws a magic array designed to disrupt the control Fiamma of the Right had over the Star of Bethleham.

Video game appearances

 * Main article:Toaru Majutsu no Index (PSP game)

Sasha Kreutzev's body is used as a player character in the game, named as Misha Kreutzev, the vessel of Archangel Gabriel. In her route she is tasked in recovering the stone Tear of the Angel a stone that has mysteriously ended in the hands of the science side. For this purpose Sasha hires the help of Oriana Thomson, but while searching for the stone they notice that several factions such as the Anglican Church seem interested in preventing the stone from being used by magicians. The boss of her route is the angel of science, Fuse KAZAKIRI.

Being possessed, Misha can use several powerful water and ice attacks, though is fairly slow moving. To compensate for this, the attacks are longed ranged and can be spammed from a distance, some have relatively quick set-up, allowing enough time for Misha to get close and trap the opponent with her pincer light attack that draws in her opponents to her or use of her Overdrive. If an Overdrive is set-up properly, Misha can rain several ice spears onto the opponent, and can trap them into the wall, allowing for another attack if it doesn't kill the opponent first.

The alternate costume for Misha is the Magical Powered Kanamin costume, referencing Vasilisa's forcing Sasha to wear the costume in the novels. When using the alternate costume, she mimics Magical Powere Kanamin's pose in the magazine that Aogami Pierce shows Himegami Aisa at the end of the 24th episode of the first season.

Trivia

 * In Toaru Majutsu no Index Manga Volume 5, she appears in a short story titled "Her name is"


 * Sasha expressed a great distaste for "luxury foods" such as sweets and bubble gum, which is almost ironic as when Misha was inside her body she developed an almost addiction to chewing gum.

Design evolution
The most striking difference from early Sasha is the presence of a ridiculous red "Russian hat" as part of her ensemble, which according to Haimura was arbitrary (much of her early design). Later designs had Haimura focus on Sasha as an alternate version of Index, thus finalizing her design with a headdress.