Touma joins forces with Kaori, Motoharu, and Misha in order to find the culprit behind "Angel Fall".Summary:After admitting to be a member of Necessarius, Motoharu explains to Touma that he serves as a spy for the church in Academy City. Motoharu used to have magical abilities, but he can't use them any more after undergoing the ESP curriculum. Kaori suggests that Touma join her company to find the culprit behind the "Angel Fall" spell, and so Kaori, Motoharu, and Misha check into the same inn as Touma's family.Come on, being Stiyl isn't that bad. At least he's somewhat popular with the ladies.Later at night, Touma is sitting alone on a window sill thinking about what's happening, but he is soon joined by Motoharu. Touma wonders why Motoharu isn't hanging out with everyone else, and Motoharu explains that he and Kaori didn't complete escape the effects of "Angel Fall". Because of this, people under the spell would see Motoharu as a pop idol, while Kaori would be seen as Stiyl. After laughing at Kaori being seen as Stiyl, Touma wonders how Motoharu was able to expand a magical field to escape from "Angel Fall" now that he is an abilities user. Motoharu shows Touma a wound on his waist and explains that using magic now causes his blood vessels to burst, so if he tries to use magic one more time he'll probably die. Motoharu then moves on to another topic and advises Touma not to say "so unlucky" in front of Kaori. Motoharu explains that Kaori used to be the head priestess of an underground Japanese Catholic group called the Amakusa Catholics. Kaori is one of the few people who has the ability to use "stigma", which enables the user to temporarily obtain superhuman powers. Motoharu states that Kaori is not very happy to be given this kind of "luck" from birth, although why Kaori acts like this is unknown. Before Motoharu can continue further, Kaori walks into the room and wants Touma to help her with something.Touma to Kanzaki: Why can't you just use the women's bath? Nobody would dare to enter if you put your sword near the entrance.I'm surprised that Touma isn't blushing or nosebleeding. I guess Touma prefers the loli-types like Index and Mikoto. It turns out that Kaori has finally had enough of being recognized as Stiyl by Touma's family and wants to take a bath. Unfortunately since everyone sees her as Stiyl, Kaori cannot go into the woman's hot springs. Her only choice is to go into the men's bath, but she doesn't want anyone to see her naked (even though most would see her as Stiyl), so she wants Touma to guard the entrance while she takes a bath. While Kaori is taking a bath inside, Touma is trying to stop his father from entering the bath but is dragged into the hot springs regardless. Touma and his dad walk in on Kaori who is tying up her hair but still naked, and the father and son are forced to run for their lives after Kaori attacks with his sword. After getting driving out the intruders, Kaori hears Motoharu outside commenting that she should be a little nicer to Touma since he's the one who saved Index.Touma to himself: Come on Touma, you can do this. You've already won over three cute girls, so there's no reason why you can't get a fourth. Touma and his father stop at a bench to catch their breaths. While talking with his dad, Touma realizes that the person sitting in front of him is just some random guy and not really his dad. Seeing Touma's expression, Mr. Kamijo comments that Touma's mother also has the same expression at times. After the brief father-and-son moment, Touma and his dad spot Misha in the woods. After Mr. Kamijo leaves to give Touma some room to "get the girl", Touma approaches Misha and tries to start a conversation but fails. Touma changes his approach and offers Misha a piece of gum, and Misha carefully takes the gum so that she doesn't touch Touma's right hand. Touma asks Misha about what she knows about "Angel Fall", and Misha explains that whoever is performing the spell either wants the angel's power or want to take the angel's place. Misha states "Angel Fall" has not been completed yet, but disaster is going to happen if the spell is completed, so she and Touma's group must find the culprit before that can happen. After talking with Misha, Touma returns to the inn and overhears his father and his mother (played by Index) having an intimate conversation, and so Touma immediately runs into his parent's room to break up any possible hanky panky.No love for Pierce-Index.Touma ends up spending the rest of the night sleeping with his parents to ensure nothing happens. The next day Mrs. Kamijo needs to go back home because she didn't lock the front door, and strangely Misha decides to accompany Mrs. Kamijo on her trip back home. After Misha and Mrs. Kamijo leaves, Mr. Kamijo reveals that he saw Misha's conversation with Touma and comments that Misha didn't seem to want to touch Touma's right hand for some reason. Touma thinks about his conversation with Misha and feels that there's something strange about the Russian magician, so he finds Kaori and Motoharu and tells them what Misha said. After discussing the situation, Touma and company thinks that Misha might be the culprit behind "Angel Fall", and Touma and Motoharu decide to go to Touma's parents' house.Touma is thinking about how uncool his dad is making a thumbs-up sign while wearing a suit.Aisa finally makes her cameo appearance. She looks so different now that she is capable of expressing emotions.After asking Mr. Kamijo for directions, Touma and Kaori ride a taxi to the Kamijo residence. Touma and Motoharu get to the house before Mrs. Kamijo and Misha, and the two of them walk into the house since the front door is unlocked. Touma and Motoharu examine the house, which is filled by various artifacts that Mr. Kamijo has collected. Touma eventually spots some pictures of his parents and realizes that his father did not switch bodies. Based on this, Motoharu and Touma concludes that Mr. Kamijo could very well be the culprit behind "Angel Fall". At this moment Mrs. Kamijo and Misha walk into the house, and Misha immediately bolts after seeing Touma and Motoharu. Motoharu wants to give chase but he is stopped by Mrs. Kamijo, who thinks Motoharu is the pop idol. Touma follows Misha outside but loses sight of the magician. Touma is then almost run over by a truck which is operated to angry trucker played by Aisa. Touma convinces Aisa/the trucker to give him a lift back to the seaside inn by saying that he has to save his dad. After reaching the inn, Touma tells Kaori about what happened, and afterwards Touma goes to the beach to confront his father.Touma: Dad, stop trying to look cool in front of the sunset.~~~~~~~~~~~~This episode was a little more serious than the last, but it was still pretty entertaining. We now have two prime suspects for "Angel Falls", although the previews seem to indicate that Misha is the true culprit. There's something strange going on with Touma's dad as well, but for now his role in this whole business is still unclear. There is going to be a big fight in the next episode, and we'll probably get to see how the power of an angel stacks up against Kaori's sword and "stigma".The explanations about Kaori's origins and any other magical elements are as boring as ever, but at least in this episode the explanations aren't too long-winded or confusing. What made this episode entertaining was the fact that it had plenty of comedic moments. The fact that Kaori is recognized by everyone as Stiyl is hilarious in itself, and it gets even funnier when she has to ask Touma to guard the bath entrance, but Touma ends up failing at the task and seeing her naked body. The situation where Touma overheard his parents talking intimately was funny as well, and so was the part where Index-Pierce gets crushed by the door. Comedy is one of To Aru Majutsu no Index's strength, so it's nice to see the funny stuff being put to good use in this episode.In the last three story-arcs Touma has won over the affection or respect of a cute girl every time. We don't know if it's going to happen this time around though, since Misha is possibly the bad guy while Kaori doesn't like Touma all that much. I think Touma wins over Kaori in a later novel involving the Amakusa Catholics, so possibly Touma won't get a girl this time. Well, I suppose Touma can hook up with his cousin, although his cousin already likes him anyways so she won't count as a new girl.
Read the rest of this entry
Entry meta
