English Dub Review: A Certain Magical Index “Saint Breakout”

Acqua of the REAR ‘bout to BACK that thang up!

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Toma’s in critical condition and Itsuwa is despondent over failing to protect him, made worse by the fact that she couldn’t heal his wounds either, but Tatemiya tells her to snap out of it so they can go on the offensive against Acqua. As they prepare, Orsola, an ally, calls with news of her investigation into his past: his true identity is William Orwell, a former English mercenary with an extensive combat record who was almost knighted before he mysteriously disappeared and re-emerged working the Roman Catholics. Acqua himself is being attacked by Academy City’s drones to gauge his fighting abilities but takes them down with ease before the Amakusa confront him.

Itsuwa is more than eager to make the first strike, having become totally fired up by her previous failure, but she and the rest of the Amakusa are still no match against Acqua, who holds the powers of a saint (which is pretty dang powerful apparently). In addition, his saint powers allow him to perform traditional magic, something that the rest of the Right Seat of God are incapable of doing, making him an even greater threat. Even their plan to use an anti-saint weapon, Saint Breakout, fails due to his unique Right Seat of God traits, which also allow him to control water as a weapon.

All seems lost for the Amakusa until something lures Acqua away. Kanzaki Kaori, their former leader and a saint herself, has returned to face him. Meanwhile, Toma awakens, still injured but eager to return to the fight.

OUR TAKE

Poor Toma, back in the protagonist seat for one episode before needing to hand the keys off to another group again. Though at least I’m glad it was the Amakusa, who I guess I misjudged last week as being pretty indistinct, but showing this week that they’ve earned some time in the spotlight. Tatemiya shows he is almost too effective as a leader, Itsuwa shows a much tougher side to her in order to make up for getting beaten, and the rest are…still just kind of there, but their banter is fun at least! Showcasing Amakusa-style tactics was cool to see, as we’d seen little uses of them here or there before now, but not against as big an enemy as Acqua, who also got to show off his super overpowered moves too, although I feel like we might be getting the best stuff against Kanzaki next episode.

Sadly, the flaws and the cut corners of this season’s animation are all over this episode too, with very choppy movements, budget-saving still frames, and very odd animation errors like Itsuwa losing her sweater in a fall, but NOT the top she’s wearing over it. Apparently, that was meant to happen a little earlier in the fight from some sort of substitution move she makes, but as it’s shown here, it’s just…weird. It’s hard to say if this downturn in animation quality is because of how long it’s taken to get this season made or because they have so much material to cover or the studio is just not as interested in this property anymore, but it is seriously hampering my potential enjoyment of this series during what I think are meant to be really epic moments.

And another I forgot to mention last week is we have an updated Ending! Instead of pretty still shots, it’s now more images of Index being cute around the house and sadly looking for Toma around town. Like a lot of the animation this season, it’s pretty choppy and unpolished and not what I’d prefer to get in an Index ED. But variety can be fun at times, and this one certainly stands apart from the first three…but is remarkably similar to the one before it, which also centered mainly on Index and her doing stuff around the house. It also had considerably more flow, style, and energy than this one, even when it had still shots, and even with this ED’s improvements. I guess it’s just another thing I need to temper my expectations on regarding this season.