A Certain Magical Index Complete Season 1 Collection (Episodes 1-24) Blu-ray

Academy City is a city dedicated to the research and development of supernatural abilities where the students are ranked from zero to five to represent their level of power. The chronically unlucky Touma Kamijo is officially the lowest of Level 0s yet has the ability to council out any supernatural ability with the touch of a hand. Scientifically created abilities aren’t the only form of power in the world and Touma soon finds himself drawn into the Cold War between Magic and Science.This four disc set includes the entire twenty-four episode run of the first season of the 'A Certain Magical Index' ('Toaru Majutsu no Index') anime, based on a series of Light Novels by Kamachi Kazuma. The season includes six arcs: the Index arc, the Deep Blood Arc, the Sisters arc, the Angel Fall arc, the Three Stories arc and the Kazakiri Hyouka arc.The six episode Index arc does a relatively good job of introducing the main characters and the setting as they everyone meets for the first time. The arc sees Touma find a young English nun on his balcony and is subsequently drawn into the conflict between the forces of Magic and Science. The arc includes some good humour, emotion and action but does feel a little lacking when compared to arcs in later series.The three episode Deep Blood arc is an interesting arc that deals with a few things left over from the previous arc. The arc sees Touma forced to help the magicians stop an alchemist who has set up a science cult in the city and save a girl with a mysterious ability. The arc has little in the way of action but the final confrontation is nonetheless very good as the villain shows off the limitations of his power.The following five episodes cover the Sisters arc where Touma discovers that Motoko’s little sister is involved in some dark experiments to create the most powerful Esper possible. This is a very nice arc and was always my favourite part of the Index anime with some brilliantly emotional scenes and some good action as Touma goes up against Accelerator, the number one Esper. The main problem with this arc however is that the second season of the show’s sister series 'A Certain Scientific Railgun' ('Toaru Kagaku no Railgun'), that came out during the Spring 2013 anime season in Japan, covers the same events from a different perspective and is far superior in almost every way, although this version is still very much worth watching.The next three episodes are the Angel Fall arc and they are by far the most light-hearted of all the story arcs this season as it sees Touma try to deal with a worldwide bodyswap spell that could destroy the world. Although this is the funniest arc of the series it does include some very interesting moments such including giving some information about the mythology of the setting, some backstory for Touma and revealing a secret of one of Touma’s friends.The three episode Three Stories arc details the events of August 31st (although only two of the stories are included in this season with the third being handled in the second season). The first half of the arc sees Touma have some funny moments as he has to deal with pretending to be Mikoto’s boyfriend and protect her from a magician. The second half of the arc is probably my current favourite part of this series and sees Accelerator forced to face the consequences of the events of the Sisters arc. This story is very well handled and gives the strongest esper in Academy City some very good character development as he begins his move from antagonist to protagonist.The Kazakiri Hyouka arc covers the final four episodes of the series and sees Touma meet the mysterious Kazakiri and is forced to stop a rogue magician from starting a war between Magic and Science. The arc is a nice end to the series and has some very nice action, as well as some nicely emotional moments her and there. The arc is also noteworthy as it shows the Academy City security forces Anti-Skill and Judgement in action properly for the first time.The animation of the series is relatively good even if it does look a little dated at times (the series is seven years old after all). There is a little gore here and there, as well as some fanservice (although far less than some other anime).The English dub is something of a mixed bag. On the good side, most of the voices suit their characters relatively well with the main characters Touma and Index being very ably voiced by Micah Solusod and Monica Rial. Other standout performances include Robert McCollum as Stiyl and especially Brittney Karbowski who does a very good job of voicing Mikoto and the Sisters. On the downside, I wasn’t much of a fan of Alison Viktorin’s performance as Koroko. Another problem with the English dub is that some of the localization of dialog is somewhat cringeworthy, and while I do understand that the dialog must fit the mouth movements I am sure that they could have found something better than Bug Zapper to replace Biri-Biri (and the less said about Sissy replacing Onee-sama the better). The decision to keep the term esper however is much appreciated. Of course the original Japanese version of the series is included on the discs of course.'A Certain Magical Index' is a series that I have been waiting to be released on DVD for a long time and I am very happy to have it now that it is. Although this first season is probably the weakest of the seasons two seasons made do far, and the 'Railgun' spinoff is also probably superior, this is still a very entertaining show to watch and is probably worth four and a half if not a low five stars.

Okay first of all the review score is that for the sub, not the dub, don't watch the dub as it turns what is an amazing anime into merely a great anime.In the Sub Accelerator sounds amazing, psychotic and truly unhinged, Shirai Kuroko in the sub gives one of the greatest performances in anime, it's no surprise that they won awards for their voice work.In the dub Misaka sounds flat, they also have the voice actress voice three characters and unfortunately she reveals her limitations as an actress in trying to do so.Last Order sounds way too old, Accelerator doesn't have an edge to him, Kuroko's performance was just phoned in, and seriously, what the hell is up with 'Sissy' and once again we see that they are unable to say the names of the characters properly making you ask, are they even trying?(And I wouldn't be complaining about the dub if they had actually given it a good one, like you have with Cowboy Bebop, Fullmetal Alchemist, Full Metal Panic, Ghost In The Shell, Haruhi Suzumiya or Ghost Stories)So, first, watch the sub, I don't normally like to say these things, and I do think there are good dubs out there, but this series, like No Game No Life, is just so much better and more enjoyable in the Sub (same goes for Railgun)This series is close to perfect, the characters are well fleshed out and interesting, there is enough humour to keep you laughing but not too much to ruin the suspense and serious tones this show takes at times, the world is rich and well crafted and one you want to know more about.Our main character is a flawed person, he's not overpowered, he's not perfect, he's weak but scrappy, he fights and pushes forwards but even he feels the urge to run.It's not a nice world, it's not a perfect world, everyone has their own goals and objectives, they often don't care how they achieve them or who it is they are using to reach those goals, and in the middle you have Kamijo, who just wants to live his life, others will use him and drag him into their worlds. This series is about how he survives that and how he keeps on going.The soundtrack suits the show down to the ground, the artstyle works, but isn't as polished as you get in Railgun (I'm referring to stylistic choices that were then removed and not used in Railgun) the voice acting on the sub is some of the best in the business, my only gripe is that you still get the studio's script and get to read the word 'Sissy' for their translation of 'Onee Sama' (which means elder sister but with more respectful tones, so it makes no sense to use Sissy as when Kuroko uses the word she's using it in a reverential way as she worships and adores (and loves/lusts after) Misaka, this is why in the light novel it's translated as Big Sister, and in the Railgun manga it's kept as Onee Sama)The pacing is good, keeps you watching and wanting the next episode, it's also a show that is in no rush to tip it's hand, so if you don't like plot, suspense and build up, and if instead you want instant gratification in every episode, this isn't for you.One of the best anime series out there.

I love this anime well worth the watch, the one thing I will say is when the characters go into long winded explanations about things, it gets a bit tedious and boring, but it's worth it for the laughs and the other more entertaining bits. you do have to be in the right mood to watch it though. The DVD's arrived in good time and were packaged well, very happy with this.

This arrived very fast and was very well packaged.This anime was amazing, a true emotional rollercoaster and great animation.Well worth any penny or any anime lover or collector.

Contrary to the other reviews so far, I found this to be rather too slow-moving to retain my attention. I only got about 4 episodes into the first disk before I found myself skipping forward through them. Obviously it's down to personal taste, but for me, this was a bit too dry to enjoy.There was what seemed like endless "explanation dialogue" and far too little action or interesting scenery to retain my attention.The main character was also not necessarily that likable and I found it difficult to connect on any Human level.After saying that, some of the street scenes were incredibly well detailed and left me wondering if they were actually photographs that had been made to look like like anime.

Give it 2 thumbs way up worth every penny

Certain Magical index season one was funny and fun to watch

Bought this for a birthday gift they are over the moon with it