To Aru Majutsu no Index LN - New Testament Volume 12 Discussion / Poll

[Wandering Soul]

Originally Posted by Hiss13

So, I was going to wait until half of Chapter 4 was translated to make my reactions (and avoided this thread until as such) but then I found out that the entire translation after Part 2 was completed overnight. So, I'll split up my reactions into two posts--one for Chapter 4 and one for the Epilogue+Afterword.

TL;DR…

Reactions

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Whoo. That was a lot to take in. But that was a great fight. I was so happy when Kanou delivered the finishing blow.

Now the only things left are the epilogue and the afterword (which I ended up reading during my Psychology class ).

I see that I am not the only one that still remebers and thinks fondly of Senator Moses.

Also I think the radio incident refers to the version of War of the Worlds that aired on the radio.

[Nvis]

If not for bunny girl, I wouldn't give a f**k about St.Germain and this volume.

Maybe Fairy Othinus, at the most.

[Hiss13]

Originally Posted by Inept Forum User

It's most likely referring to the 1938 radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds.

That makes sense.

Originally Posted by the one above all

I see that I am not the only one that still remebers and thinks fondly of Senator Moses.

Also I think the radio incident refers to the version of War of the Worlds that aired on the radio.

Senator Moses stole my kokoro when he went full Moses.

[zaikoi]

Spoiler for Things I like:

:
1)

Your tears are like a safety lock from your common sense. They’ll make sure you don’t stray from the proper path no matter how unreasonable the obstacle. That’s something I don’t have, so I respect you for having something I could never reach! There are so, so, so many people that will end up doing awful things so easily, but your strength will never allow that. So be proud. In the end, you can be proud of having the strength to cry and forgive anything!!

I like this quote the most which brings me tears.It's really a motivational lines from Frenda.

2)

Touma vs Shiage round 2

I really enjoy this battle the most from Index NT 12.

3)

Othinus interactions with Touma

OTP moments! I really love how Othinus comfort Touma during his worst so called PSTD state about Magic God.The best part is when Othinus seperated with Touma.Othinus,the God of War,proves her worthy that she will do her roles well even though she 15cm.However,St Germain isn't a Magic God unfortunately.But still,Othinus revelaed St Germain isn't a Magic God which it's a good thing to comfort Touma.Due to that,Touma is back to old self and fight back St Germain quite perfectly.

4)

Touma is breaking St Germain's illusion without even need to punch him/her.

He just mindfuck St Germain to leave him/her in weaken state.And,Kanou did the finishing blow which I am impressed with that.

5)

Aleister and Magic Gods

The zombie part gives me the chills and excitement.
And,this is all goes according to Aleister's plan right from the beginning when he first interacts with the Magic Gods from Index NT 10.

6)

6th

I wonder how many fake #6 are there? 10,032? :P

7)

Incoming Magic vs Science

I can't wait!

[Kenju of the Right]

Alot of good stuff in this volume, the Kanou and Germain parallels were spot on, despite how talked about Germain being ''pathetic'', they did a really good job as a villain to stir things up and create chaos(nearly had Touma crapping himself). It managed to pull in a fun ride with Kanou looking for Frenda and being tricked. Was really hoping for Kanou to meet Mugino but I guess that will have to wait. The Dianoid was a very interesting place with the way it was used and how it had an effect, i really think using the setting is one of Kamachi's strengths.

[allfictions]

Hello folks of Animesuki. It's really been a while since I have been on here at all, hasn't it? It has also been a while since I have done such a summary of my impressions of a volume (I think I forgot to do one for NT11, and I can't remember if I did one for NT10 so hung up on the ending I was). Time to rectify this.

My note: 8,5/10, very good, if not excellent.

At first, I thought it was going to be parallel to Old Testament 12, what with the similar setup (trip to a shopping mall, two protagonists, a magician making their move), and so, I went in expecting the first part of a major two-parter, but the actual story was better than that (though it still was the prelude of something major regardless). Plus, it's time to take a break from parters until the final arc.

And after the bitter aftertaste the end of NT 10 left me with and the mostly all right NT 11 (liked the concept, characters, and story, disliked the resolution), the upping in plot quality was pleasantly welcome for me:

TL;DR…

 

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And completely unrelated, we finally entered December in-universe! About time, I thought the entire series would be endless November.

[Flere821]

I'm still not convinced that Kanou was even capable of dealing the final blow to St Germain, he didn't have hax like Touma or Accelerator. All that characterization growth aside, it seemed like this development was ham-fisted through more because the plot demanded it than because it made any sense.

Also, I dunno about others, but I'm getting tired of the hype train of 'OMG more Magic Gods! And a true Science VS Magic conflict!' when the actual writing seemed a bit lack-lustre. Not that the MGs getting worfed to show Aleister was still a threat was bad, per se, they didn't have enough characterization to be anything else other than feeding a established character *points at when Thor solo-ed the rest of Gremlin for the right to fight Touma*

[Ap1001]

Originally Posted by Flere821

I'm still not convinced that Kanou was even capable of dealing the final blow to St Germain, he didn't have hax like Touma or Accelerator. All that characterization growth aside, it seemed like this development was ham-fisted through more because the plot demanded it than because it made any sense.

Also, I dunno about others, but I'm getting tired of the hype train of 'OMG more Magic Gods! And a true Science VS Magic conflict!' when the actual writing seemed a bit lack-lustre. Not that the MGs getting worfed to show Aleister was still a threat was bad, per se, they didn't have enough characterization to be anything else other than feeding a established character *points at when Thor solo-ed the rest of Gremlin for the right to fight Touma*

In typical Kamachi fashion, if the character gets a pic of them show and isn't dead in 1 vol, they typically gets more part later on, but he is hitting the mark where there is too much going on and may need to split out more side-works for fleshing out. Frankly, this volume is filler, so I don't hold that much against him (other than the fact he is writing a filler), but then again Kamachi's writing was never consistent in quality in the first place.

[Kenju of the Right]

He simply punched a woman who was without any supernatural physical feats, theres nothing that needed any hax powers.

And yeah guys lets just ignore the fact that previous volumes are always brought up later to be more important in some than presented

[Miraluka]

Originally Posted by allfictions

Anyway, leading me to my fourth point, 'Aihana Etsu'/Kanou Shinka, the tritagonist. He felt more like a plot device to move the story along than a real character: the parallel between the numerous false Aihana Etsu and St. Germain, his relationship with Frenda, him being the wielder of Queen Anne's shield (one of the biggest red herring this volume) as part of St. Germain's plan, I really didn't feel it was part of him being part of the story, but just events that needs to happen to tell the story, like how St. Germain could have told his backstory to anyone and it wouldn't have made a difference. Maybe it's because we didn't get most of his backstory. I didn't dislike him either though (him buying Touma time by diverting the St. Germains was really cool), but unfortunately his presence made me lower my note. There were some weird shotacon-like descriptions of him by Kamachi though (why the hell focus on his scent!?).

It's been long, welcome.

Good thing I'm not the only one who thinks that.


A Song of Ice and Fire?

Originally Posted by Flere821

I'm still not convinced that Kanou was even capable of dealing the final blow to St Germain, he didn't have hax like Touma or Accelerator. All that characterization growth aside, it seemed like this development was ham-fisted through more because the plot demanded it than because it made any sense.

Also, I dunno about others, but I'm getting tired of the hype train of 'OMG more Magic Gods! And a true Science VS Magic conflict!' when the actual writing seemed a bit lack-lustre. Not that the MGs getting worfed to show Aleister was still a threat was bad, per se, they didn't have enough characterization to be anything else other than feeding a established character *points at when Thor solo-ed the rest of Gremlin for the right to fight Touma*

Remember NT8 when I called bullshit at off screened Gremlin's members?

I got used to his irregular writing so I wouldn't be surprised if in one volume we have yet more magic gods but get wrecked off screen by someone else playing some kind of reverse The Worf Effect ...

[Doom_Paperclip]

I really loved the epilogue. I did find it strange that Aleister would confront the Magic Gods in NT10 only to lose, but it turned out he was actually one step ahead of them all along.

Those Majin were way too arrogant. You could tell from NT10 that they were looking down on Aleister, but I hadn't expected them to underestimate him to the point where they actually believed he, who was able to penetrate their supposedly unreachable hiding spot, couldn't possibly cause them harm. They paid dearly for their hubris. That said, judging from his claims, Aleister is now making the same mistake. He may have defeated the Zombie, but now that they view him as an actual threat rather than an annoyance, the Magic Gods are bound to up their game. Also, neither side seems to be paying Laura enough attention, which might come back to bite them both later.

Either way, love it or hate it, you have to admit that whatever it is Aleister did to them was almost definitely necessary if Touma is going to stand a chance against the Magic Gods in their future encounters. Niang-Niang already pointed this out, but their supposed "nerf" from dividing up their power infinitely isn't really that much of a limitation. There's no point in increasing your attack when you can already one-shot any enemy who stands in your way. There's no point in increasing your defense when you already take no damage from any attack. When fighting a foe with stats in the hundreds, stats in the millions might as well be infinite. If anything, the fact that the spell they used also gave them extra lives actually made them harder to defeat, since supposedly even an anti-Magic God spell like the Fairy Spell would only take away one of their lives. Without giving them an actual, bona-fide weakness, Touma wouldn't last a minute.

Crack Theory: Niang-Niang has been described as a Chinese Jiangshi. In other words, a hopping vampire. She will be defeated by Himegami Aisa.

[bakato]

Originally Posted by Doom_Paperclip

I really loved the epilogue. I did find it strange that Aleister would confront the Magic Gods in NT10 only to lose, but it turned out he was actually one step ahead of them all along.

Those Majin were way too arrogant. You could tell from NT10 that they were looking down on Aleister, but I hadn't expected them to underestimate him to the point where they actually believed he, who was able to penetrate their supposedly unreachable hiding spot, couldn't possibly cause them harm. They paid dearly for their hubris. That said, judging from his claims, Aleister is now making the same mistake. He may have defeated the Zombie, but now that they view him as an actual threat rather than an annoyance, the Magic Gods are bound to up their game. Also, neither side seems to be paying Laura enough attention, which might come back to bite them both later.

Either way, love it or hate it, you have to admit that whatever it is Aleister did to them was almost definitely necessary if Touma is going to stand a chance against the Magic Gods in their future encounters. Niang-Niang already pointed this out, but their supposed "nerf" from dividing up their power infinitely isn't really that much of a limitation. There's no point in increasing your attack when you can already one-shot any enemy who stands in your way. There's no point in increasing your defense when you already take no damage from any attack. When fighting a foe with stats in the hundreds, stats in the millions might as well be infinite. If anything, the fact that the spell they used also gave them extra lives actually made them harder to defeat, since supposedly even an anti-Magic God spell like the Fairy Spell would only take away one of their lives. Without giving them an actual, bona-fide weakness, Touma wouldn't last a minute.

Crack Theory: Niang-Niang has been described as a Chinese Jiangshi. In other words, a hopping vampire. She will be defeated by Himegami Aisa.

I wish we could've seen Othinus remember that they forgot to buy the house.

[Miraluka]

Originally Posted by Doom_Paperclip

Crack Theory: Niang-Niang has been described as a Chinese Jiangshi. In other words, a hopping vampire. She will be defeated by Himegami Aisa.

She is dead, Jim.

[LazyHunter]

Originally Posted by Doom_Paperclip

I really loved the epilogue. I did find it strange that Aleister would confront the Magic Gods in NT10 only to lose, but it turned out he was actually one step ahead of them all along.

Those Majin were way too arrogant. You could tell from NT10 that they were looking down on Aleister, but I hadn't expected them to underestimate him to the point where they actually believed he, who was able to penetrate their supposedly unreachable hiding spot, couldn't possibly cause them harm. They paid dearly for their hubris. That said, judging from his claims, Aleister is now making the same mistake. He may have defeated the Zombie, but now that they view him as an actual threat rather than an annoyance, the Magic Gods are bound to up their game. Also, neither side seems to be paying Laura enough attention, which might come back to bite them both later.

Either way, love it or hate it, you have to admit that whatever it is Aleister did to them was almost definitely necessary if Touma is going to stand a chance against the Magic Gods in their future encounters. Niang-Niang already pointed this out, but their supposed "nerf" from dividing up their power infinitely isn't really that much of a limitation. There's no point in increasing your attack when you can already one-shot any enemy who stands in your way. There's no point in increasing your defense when you already take no damage from any attack. When fighting a foe with stats in the hundreds, stats in the millions might as well be infinite. If anything, the fact that the spell they used also gave them extra lives actually made them harder to defeat, since supposedly even an anti-Magic God spell like the Fairy Spell would only take away one of their lives. Without giving them an actual, bona-fide weakness, Touma wouldn't last a minute.

The Magic Gods were obviously going to suffer for ignoring Aleister as a threat and calling him "just a human". Aleister did hijack their nerfing spell and said that he inputted new parameters as he wished. Also, the three of them felt an object pierce their chest which sounds similar to the Fairy Spell stake used on Othinus and Ollerus. They probably will need to deal with that before doing anything else, maybe get the help of any of the other Gremlin members.

That's something that needs to be explained in a future volume. How did Noukan got the zombie girl Magic God and where are the others? If the nerfing spell was because they were forced to come to the real world and abandon their hidden phase were they all under the nerfing spell in Earth and it was just this three the ones who appeared in AC? Because if they were all using the nerfing spell Aleister got them all in one move.

And both Magic Gods and Aleister should probably be wary of Laura but as we have seen the chesmaster manipulator types have a tendency to believe they are the smartest person around. Arrogance brought down the Magic Gods a peg and it will probably be part of Aleister's downfall too.

Crack Theory: Niang-Niang has been described as a Chinese Jiangshi. In other words, a hopping vampire. She will be defeated by Himegami Aisa.

I've seen other people who made this mistake. While Haimura said the design was inspired by Hsien-ko the novel clearly states that Niang-Niang is a Shijie-Xian in the prologue while describing the Magic Gods.

Here a previous post where I explain what it is and note that Chinese Xians had already been mentioned before in the Norse SS: http://forums.animesuki.com/showthre...59#post5463759

[Ap1001]

Jiangshi is NOT a hopping vampire, that is just a cultural misunderstanding. But niangniang is a shikaisen in the first place, I have no idea why Haimura draw her as a jiangshi.

It would be funny, if right after Aleister backstabs the magic god, Laura backstab him, and then Laura gets backstabbed by the magic gods. Would make one entertaining cluster mess.

[Miraluka]

I'm expecting next volumes a helplesss girl and boy running away from danger Touma steps in and saves them from whatever curse they suffer.

And then those 2 just so happen to be Priest and Mummy at the epilogue

[DragonXX]

We know that Crowley had nerf the three Magic Gods who came AC but are the three Magic Gods and the dead one Zombie are they the only one and if not I don't think the other would fall for the same trick the three of them fell for so Crowley may have to change his attack to something different or put them in a place were thet can't do anything but be hit. Most likey the Magic God will find Magic cabels that use the same religion as them to have work under them because their next move would be to regain the power they just lost by Crowley attack.

I think the final enemy that Tomua will have to fight in Magic Gods Arc would be a full power True Magic God. What do you think will be Tomua final enemy in the Magic Gods Arc would be?

I think it will be a Full Power High Priest or a being that is greater then the Magic Gods full power.

I am ust guessing but I think Accel will be getting a lead role in a light novel coming soon

[dniv]

Well once again this was my favorite volume in this series... though I'll agree with others that Kanou Shinka could have gotten more focus in the Epilogue with Touma.

I do have to say though that I disagree with comments other people have made which claim that he didn't feel like a real character.

I felt completely opposite to that as soon as we saw the glimpse of the real #6 in the epilogue. Given that what happened to Kanou was basically completely orchestrated by the #6... what happened to him... was just part of something planned to make him solve his own problem... which relieves the burden of him being the driving force behind his own character growth. If it was mostly planned out by other forces... then that problem goes away in my eyes.

Furthermore, the final punch to Saint Germain only needed to be a normal physical punch... given that Saint Germain was already rather mentally phased by that point. Kanou Shinka isn't THAT weak even if he is usually a coward.

I also think that Kamachi is so unused to having other new main guy characters (that are regular humans) that he tried to give Kanou female characteristics.

Also, one other comment which will either make people ignore the rest of this post or that they will just generally ignore:

Misaka IS a main character. I've always considered her one of the five main characters in this series. Don't get me wrong, I consider most of the characters as being relevant, but for me Misaka since the Sisters arc and since getting her own Spin-off named after her, basically became one of the most major in-universe characters.

People really shouldn't complain about her getting exposed more than other characters. I do agree that Misaki is almost reaching the point of being loved as if she were a main character and she very well could become one in the near future because of her interactions with Misaka. And the same applies to Noukan for me (Noukan is the best Kihara ever.... please become a protagonist.... )

But, in the end, I consider Mikoto to be a main character... so complaining about her appearing in every volume is like complaining about Touma, Accelerator, Index, and Hamazura appearing in a volume.

And I DO understand that when she is shoehorned into the plot without the plot/story being based around her, then complaints can indeed be made... and I can sympathize... but regardless of those facts... when an arc is to put her specifically in the spotlight... then I can't help but be excited... because she's a freaking MAIN character.

There is way too much Mikoto hate on these forums.

I'll give a review about this volume later on, since it was my favorite volume yet...

Incidentally... my favorite part of this volume was not the epilogue... and it wasn't the afterward... and even though chapter 3 was simply amazing... my favorite part was the between the lines part in chapter 3... we finally got an explanation of the seven original Kiharas... and Kihara Noukan. THAT was the best part of this volume for me, hands down.

[natchu96]

Originally Posted by Flere821

I'm still not convinced that Kanou was even capable of dealing the final blow to St Germain, he didn't have hax like Touma or Accelerator.

Hax is needed to suckerpunch someone in the face while they're fighting a different person?

[The One Above God]

Originally Posted by dniv

Well once again this was my favorite volume in this series... though I'll agree with others that Kanou Shinka could have gotten more focus in the Epilogue with Touma.

I do have to say though that I disagree with comments other people have made which claim that he didn't feel like a real character.

I felt completely opposite to that as soon as we saw the glimpse of the real #6 in the epilogue. Given that what happened to Kanou was basically completely orchestrated by the #6... what happened to him... was just part of something planned to make him solve his own problem... which relieves the burden of him being the driving force behind his own character growth. If it was mostly planned out by other forces... then that problem goes away in my eyes.

Furthermore, the final punch to Saint Germain only needed to be a normal physical punch... given that Saint Germain was already rather mentally phased by that point. Kanou Shinka isn't THAT weak even if he is usually a coward.

I also think that Kamachi is so unused to having other new main guy characters (that are regular humans) that he tried to give Kanou female characteristics.

Also, one other comment which will either make people ignore the rest of this post or that they will just generally ignore:

Misaka IS a main character. I've always considered her one of the five main characters in this series. Don't get me wrong, I consider most of the characters as being relevant, but for me Misaka since the Sisters arc and since getting her own Spin-off named after her, basically became one of the most major in-universe characters.

People really shouldn't complain about her getting exposed more than other characters. I do agree that Misaki is almost reaching the point of being loved as if she were a main character and she very well could become one in the near future because of her interactions with Misaka. And the same applies to Noukan for me (Noukan is the best Kihara ever.... please become a protagonist.... )

But, in the end, I consider Mikoto to be a main character... so complaining about her appearing in every volume is like complaining about Touma, Accelerator, Index, and Hamazura appearing in a volume.

And I DO understand that when she is shoehorned into the plot without the plot/story being based around her, then complaints can indeed be made... and I can sympathize... but regardless of those facts... when an arc is to put her specifically in the spotlight... then I can't help but be excited... because she's a freaking MAIN character.

There is way too much Mikoto hate on these forums.

I'll give a review about this volume later on, since it was my favorite volume yet...

Incidentally... my favorite part of this volume was not the epilogue... and it wasn't the afterward... and even though chapter 3 was simply amazing... my favorite part was the between the lines part in chapter 3... we finally got an explanation of the seven original Kiharas... and Kihara Noukan. THAT was the best part of this volume for me, hands down.

Pretty much all parts that involved Noukan in this volume are awesome .