Line #2 YMMV/ACertainMagicalIndex


1	* {{Adorkable}}: Harumi Kiyama: SuperDeformed mode, after being scolded by [[HypocriticalHumor Kuroko and Saten]] for taking off her stained skirt: [[IAmNotPretty "But no man would take interest in my flat and unattractive body anyway."]] Aww...
2	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Aleister: Is he nothing more than a giant {{jerkass}} who loves nothing more than [[GambitPileup piling up one evil scheme after another]]? Or a WellIntentionedExtremist with ulterior motives? His actions would suggest the former, while his backstory leans in the direction of the latter. Revelations in the later light novels suggest that he is indeed a WellIntentionedExtremist, though one who doesn't deny his own selfish motives.
3	* ArchivePanic:
4	** Since the main series' start back in 2004, it just ''hasn't stopped''. The Old Testament consists of 24 novels (including two series-relevant side stories), New Testament consists of 23, and Genesis Testament is likely to reach that number of volumes too. Most novels average between 300-400 pages, and yes, you ''will'' need to read all of them in order to avoid ContinuityLockout.
5	** Note that this is just for the '''main series''' light novels; it doesn't include the various spin-offs mentioned on the main page ([[RetCanon the events of which may eventually get a nod in the main series]]) and their respective Anime or Manga adaptions, or the various ''other'' side stories that have been (and continue to be) released to commemorate various milestones the series achieves (usually as extras for an anime Blu-ray release).
6	** Also keep in mind that this is just for the media that takes place in the same universe as ''Index'' -- Creator/KazumaKamachi has written many, ''many'' novels for other series that he has created, all while still working on main series novels and overseeing respective adaptions or spin-offs.
7	-->'''Kazuma Kamachi''': ''"If I don't keep writing, I'll crash. Like an airplane."''
8	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[AwesomeMusic/ACertainMagicalIndex Has its own page]].
9	* BaseBreakingCharacter:
10	** Whether Touma is [[IdealHero the hero all other heroes should aspire to be]], or a [[{{Anvilicious}} horribly preachy]] Marty Stu. Not helped by how he's perceived by particular detractors as sticking his nose where it doesn't belong, on top of [[InformedAttribute not actually suffering actual bad luck from the Imagine Breaker]]. Defenders of his ChronicHeroSyndrome points out that he does have flaws, while detractors call his attitude narratively broken.
11	*** Another (albeit related) point of contention about Touma is just how much of a character he is, or whether he is a character at all and not just a [[CharactersAsDevice plot device]]. Some people have noted that even though he always saves the day, he rarely if ever has actually any personal relation to the problem at hand, and that the conflict could have been handily solved by any other sufficiently strong character that just happened to come along, and have argued that this makes him something of a SatelliteCharacter in his own series. Said people are also somewhat divided whether this makes him a Black Hole Sue or not.
12	** There are three separate camps for viewing [[spoiler:Accelerator]]. One, the people who focus on his [[spoiler:lethal methods who makes of him a bloody monster]]. Two, the people who focus on him [[spoiler:trying hard to redeem himself even if that means throwing away his life]]. Three, people who [[spoiler: [[DracoInLeatherPants liked him from the start, and don't have to forgive him for anything]]]].
13	** Not to be left out, the third main character Shiage Hamazura. There are those who like him for being a true Level 0 unlike Touma [[BadassNormal who still kicks ass with nothing but wits, guns, and luck]] [[spoiler:(even defeating his own Level 5 Mugino)]], which makes him something of an AudienceSurrogate like [[Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun Saten]], and they think his relationship with Rikou is very sweet while being amused by his ButtMonkey status in ITEM before (slowly) gaining more respect from them. There's also the fact [[spoiler:he's the first person to truly inconvenience Aleister]]. On the other hand, there are those who dislike him because he's not that attractive compared to Touma or [[spoiler:Accelerator]]. He doesn't have any cool or interesting powers unlike the rest of the main characters and yet still manages to pull out wins against incredibly dangerous enemies [[PlotArmor due to the story seemingly bending over backwards]] to give his foes the IdiotBall. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And they find his servant boy and ButtMonkey status for Team ITEM annoying rather than funny.]]
14	** The titular Index has her fans who find her and some of her interactions with Touma adorable, but she also receives a fair bit of flak for also displaying rather [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale abusive behavior towards Touma]] (much of which is provoked by [[UnprovokedPervertPayback actions beyond Touma's control]]), exaggerated BigEater tendencies showing little regard for Touma’s low finances, and [[DemotedToExtra seemingly having no purpose than just being in the background]], [[OutOfFocus with virtually zero stories focused around her]].
15	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Index-tan Episode 1 for the second season: Each of Saten's appearances are this.
16	* TheChrisCarterEffect: A frequent phenomenon among fans. The [[Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex series]] has by now introduced so many plot-relevant characters with [[AlwaysABiggerFish even more potent powers]] with their own storylines that many people have trouble keeping up even with character charts. Combine this with the fact that the revelations about Imagine Breaker and the way Espers work have been minimal so far (and many other less important questions haven't been answered either, but [[KudzuPlot rather just raise new questions]]) and that CharacterDevelopment has been all but non-existent for the majority of characters as of late (including main character Touma), and that the staff seems to be more interested in working on the spin-offs rather than the main story, and you have a giant chaos that has little potential of eventually wrapping itself up completely.
17	* CompleteMonster: [[HolierThanThou Terra of the Left]] is the most violent, [[EgocentricallyReligious self-righteous member]] of God's Right Seat. Using an ancient magical artifact to manipulate the people of a French town, Terra sends them after [[Characters/ACertainMagicalIndexToumaKamijou Touma Kamijou]] and cares nothing when the riot causes the brainwashed citizens to be attacked by an Academy City attack force. Revealing his intent to launch a full-scale attack on Japan, Terra [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain shows disdain for all non-Catholic lives]] and shamelessly admits to murdering "[[KnightTemplar heathen]]" men, women, and children to perfect his magic.
18	* CrackShip: Touma is obviously part of a few [[LauncherOfAThousandShips since he is already shipped with just about every female in the series]] [[HoYay (and some males)]], but one of the most popular characters he's shipped with who currently doesn't show interest in him is Kuroko. Yes, ''[[SitcomArchnemesis that]]'' [[SingleTargetSexuality Kuroko.]] While the image of [[PortmanteauCoupleName "KamiKuro"]] itself is funny enough to get people on the ship, what makes it so famous is that there is ''[[ShipTease actually a degree of evidence to support it]]'', given that the two can get on somewhat cordially so long as Mikoto is not involved, and that Kuroko has recieved the infamous [[BridalCarry "princess carry"]] from Touma twice, which even ''Imaginary Fest'' [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/card_home_200530004_01.png has taken note of.]]
19	* EnsembleDarkhorse: Now with the second season of Index, Seiri Fukiyose has become very popular with fans on her debut in Episode 8. Her AdaptationalCurves in the anime compared to how she appeared in the novels certainly helped.
20	* FandomEnragingMisconception: Neither the name of Touma Kamijou's ability "Imagine Breaker" nor [[spoiler:the Invisible Thing/the Dragon]] is inspired by the American band ''Music/ImagineDragons''. ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'' first volume came out in 2004, while Imagine Dragons band was formed in 2008.
21	* FandomSpecificPlot: Many ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'' fans agree that [[EnsembleDarkhorse Frenda]] [[KickChick Seivelun]] from ITEM was underutilised, underdeveloped, and killed off in an undeserving manner. Some fans actually went out of their way to make FixFic where she survives for much longer and legitimately contributes to the plot, usually by forming a duo with the local [[TheTeamNormal team normal]] Saten.
22	* FanficFuel: The sheer size of Academy City, the number of unresolved plot threads, and the nature of Esper and Magic powers involving practically every area of physical science and fairy tale imaginable provides ample room for creating {{Original Character}}s and new storylines by eager fans.
23	* FanNickname:
24	** While not calling her by her InSeriesNickname "Biri Biri", fans also call Mikoto [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} pikachu-tan (pikachu-chan) or pika-pika-tan.]]
25	** Thanks to Mikoto in Episode 10 of Railgun, fans have now called Touma's doctor, Dr Gekota! (At least it beats calling him Frog Face but it still doesn't beats his title [[spoiler: Heaven Canceller.]])
26	** Franchise/{{Superman}} is what some fans are calling [[spoiler: Acqua of the Back.]]
27	** Enter ''Tou'''MAN.'''''
28	** Cue '''The''' ''[[{{Tsundere}} Thundere.]]''
29	** '''''Pendex''''' for Index's John's Pen Mode.
30	** "Fre nda" for Frenda Seivelun, who had been killed by being sliced in half.
31	** "Walking Porn" for Oriana Thompson, who is practically MsFanservice incarnate.
32	** "[=HOThinus=]" for Othinus, when she was revealed to be incredibly attractive and wear a {{Stripperific}} outfit.
33	** "OTP" for Othinus Touma Pairing.
34	** The duo of Mikoto '''Misa'''ka and '''Misa'''ki Shokuhou have been called "[=MisaMisa=]" as they [[VitriolicBestBuds spend more time together]].
35	** The [[spoiler:Will of the Misaka Network]] was promptly nicknamed "Will" by fans, including acting as if her full name is "Misaka William."
36	** "Headband Girl" for the currently [[NoNameGiven unnamed girl]] that appears in the background of various light novel illustrations. The illustrator apparently refers to her as "mob-ko" ("background girl"). [[spoiler: She is also sometimes called "Observer-chan" after the reference made towards her between High Priest and Touma in NT13]]
37	** "[=KnT=]", or the full title [[spoiler: "Kamijou no Touma", to refer to Touma's EnemyWithout]] that appears in New Testament 22 Reverse.
38	* {{Fanon}}:
39	** Fans have speculated that [[spoiler:the Amakusa Catholic girl that Touma fought and saved from a fall in Volume 7 may be Itsuwa, the Amakusa warrior who was first introduced in Volume 11 which may explain why she has a crush on Touma in the first place. However, the 2nd season anime had it {{Jossed}} as it wasn't Itsuwa that Touma saved but another girl.]]
40	** It's also fairly common fanon that Lola Stuart is Index's mother, especially since the two are specifically drawn to resemble each other. This also adds an extra KickTheDog element to Lola's treatment of Index if you buy that theory. [[spoiler:This was disproven by the revelation that Lola is a demon.]]
41	** Fans have theorized for years that Aogami Pierce is the 6th Level 5, by this point they would be furious if it turned out it wasn't him. Note that even after we find out the 6th's name, this didn't stop the theories, since "Aogami Pierce" [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname is just a nickname]] (it literally means "blue-haired boy with piercings").
42	** As a way of [[HandWave hand-waving]] the aforementioned Stiyl's age discrepancy, a somewhat popular interpretation is that Stiyl [[{{Glamour}} uses magic to appear older]].
43	** It is fairly common for the fans to assume the region/district where Touma lives and places Mikoto and her friends visit on regular basis (such as Seventh Mist shopping mall) as the "Light Side" of Academy City. While the term [[CrapsaccharineWorld "Dark Side" of Academy City]] exists in canon, no one actually mention the term "Light Side" in canon storyline either in the main series "Index" or the spinoff "Railgun" and "Accelerator".
44	* FoeYayShipping:
45	** Touma and pretty much all of his female opponents, be they the ones who actually do grow feelings for him (such as Kanzaki, Agnese, Lessar, and Othinus), the ones who have flirty moments vague or overt (such as Oriana or Carissa), or even those who don't have any such feelings (such as Shelly or Vento). And then there's whatever [[HoYay Thor's got going on]]...
46	** Kakine Teitoku a.k.a. Dark Matter and Uiharu. Yes. That Uiharu. [[WouldHitAGirl Despite their first interaction with each other shows Kakine torturing Uiharu]], that doesn't stop certain amount of fans from wearing their ShippingGoggles.
47	** In a sense, Kuroko x Awaki pairing is also this, since they actually fight each other twice in one arc and barely interact again, yet fanart sites have so many pictures of them being lovey-dovey.
48	* FranchiseOriginalSin:
49	** Many were livid at Creator/JCStaff for not properly adapting ''Index III'', instead making it a CompressedAdaptation, locking out a lot of information. The thing is, JC Staff did the same thing to both ''Index I'' and ''Index 2''.[[note]]''Index I'' covered Vol. 1-6, and ''Index 2'' covered Vol. 7-13 and Vol. SS, a side novel of the series.[[/note]] The difference is, while the first two seasons cut out plenty of information, it was mostly restricted to worldbuilding and extra characterization, and the plot was perfectly understandable otherwise. However, ''Index III'' cut out actual plot-relevant action, dialogue, and characters completely. By the time ''Index III'' had begun airing (seven years after ''Index II''), plenty of fans had read the light novels and caught up to the series by that point, so now the changes that were made were much more noticable.
50	** The KudzuPlot and [[ArcFatigue Myth Stall]] is often cited as a reason why the light novels are hard to get into for potential new fans, but at the beginning of the series the sheer amount of characters, factions, and moving parts was what was considered to make the books worth reading in the first place; Kamachi's skill with worldbuilding created a setting where everything felt alive and dynamic and there were plenty of interesting plot threads to explore. But when instead of resolving those plot threads, more and more characters and factions were introduced of increasingly higher power, cutting out any chance at prior characters being fleshed out, that it started to become a problem. Combined with the fact that [[ArchivePanic the novels have reached over 30 volumes]] with no resolution in sight and it's easy to see why potential new fans would instead be turned away.
51	** Touma is one of the most divisive protagonists among most of the fanbase, with many detractors considering him to be a [[FlatCharacter flat]], [[StockLightNovelHero generic]] InvincibleHero, but most of the reasons cited for that are character traits that were always there but became more apparent the longer the series went on. Touma always was supernaturally durable, possessed a completely overpowered ability, and preached at villains constantly from the beginning, but had quite a few noticeable flaws: his fighting skills only worked against {{Squishy Wizard}}s and he was easily beaten by those who were skilled at hand-to-hand combat, he took absolutely hellacious punishment even from the fights he won, and the Imagine Breaker had the side effect of making his daily life miserable. All these flaws begin to go away until by the time of ''New Testament'' he's convincing a RealityWarper villain to switch sides solely by preaching at her and being the major force behind stopping ''World War III''. This leads to more fans finding him to be genuinely dull and uninteresting, since (as mentioned above) the KudzuPlot prevented Touma from going through any meaningful CharacterDevelopment.
52	** One of the major criticisms of Shiage is how he wins his fights less by being smart and more through groups of villains passing around the IdiotBall. This sort of AssPull actually occurs fairly early on with Accelerator seemingly [[ForgotAboutHisPowers forgetting he can just throw cars and rubble at Touma to crush him]], but it's easily explainable as Accelerator is AxCrazy and might have either legitimately forgotten or wanted to kill Touma in a more humiliating way. In contrast, Shiage's victories are far more contrived and particularly infuriating when they occur because villains who are supposed to be competent grab ahold of the IdiotBall.
53	* FriendlyFandoms: The fandom is on relatively good terms with some other fandoms.
54	** VisualNovel/FateStayNight for various reasons, such as both magic systems being being based on real life myths and religions, the heavy presence of churches in both series, and even taking male historical characters and applying Rule63 to them. Fans will also heavily overlap for both Touma and Shirou Emiya, due to the two sharing several, ''several'' similarities in both personality, motivations, and circumstances, as outlined in [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/txbzx4rewjya1.png this image.]]
55	** WebComic/OnePunchMan, because both Touma and Saitama rely on their fist to win battles. The fact that Saitama's old hair style resembling Touma's also helps the two series relating to each other.
56	** Literature/KonoSuba, usually because of "I believe in Gender Equality" meme and [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=hLbVPpFYp3k the crossover game between the two series]].
57	* HarsherInHindsight:
58	** Index-tan Episode 2: Himegami is asked what her wish for the second season is. Her response? "Um, I won't ask for my episode, but I just want to be treated [[RunningGag more-]]". Guess what happens in her first lengthy appearance in Season 2? [[spoiler:She gets [[BloodierAndGorier filleted]] by Oriana Thomson because she thought that Himegami was an agent of Necessarius due to the Celtic cross around her neck.]]
59	** Aogami's [[ExtremeOmnisexual perverted tendencies]] seem less funny when his first English voice actor, Creator/ScottFreeman, was arrested and convicted of possession of child pornography.
60	** Academy City's Power Curriculum Program. In theory anyone undergoing this program can become an Esper yet there are still people who have yet to gain powers and even those who did never go a higher level which suggest the program has some problems. [[spoiler:However Vol. 22 reveals the program is secretly being undermined by the Higher Ups of Academy City who decide who can and cannot gain Esper powers and/or go a higher level based on the type of the powers that person has. This revelation makes it much worse once you realize Level 0's like Saten, the Skill Out gang members who are actually nice people such as Wataru and low level espers like the Level Upper users, who work hard to gain powers/higher levels but never can because their training is being sabotaged as the Higher Ups see no point of helping anyone who doesn't have the powers they want. That's right, the city is responsible of destroying the dreams of many students and leading them into path of cynicism and crime. Particularly harsh since the Program prevents anyone who goes through it form learning magic, even if they don't get anything out of it.]]
61	** All intentional; while Mikoto claims in SS: Liberal Arts City that Academy City has no intentions of taking the world via military force, the revelation via Chapter 22 suggests otherwise. Why else would you try to make an army of level 5s or an "interceptor" aircraft that has the ability to fly halfway around the world and level a city single-handedly? Basically, the reason why the corporate crooks of AC haven't bothered leveling the level zeros of their population isn't just because they don't want to, its because they need cannon fodder; they needed a group of disgruntled individuals who they knew would resort to violence in order to defend themselves against those termed and rewarded for being genetically superior, so that they might label that group as people on whom it is okay to use your powers, people whom it is okay to murder, because no one will care about them due to their collective reputation.
62	** The Russia arc has a storyline where Shiage helps a village from being taken over by hostile militia forces without any visible uniforms is one if you think about how the Crimea occupation started in 2014.
63	** Kuroko swapping minds with a president in Angel Fall becomes this after her English voice actor Creator/AlisonViktorin lost her job after a couple of political related tweets revolving around the Capitol Riot in 2021.
64	** In the Side Story, ''Biohacker'', Touma and Seria are hit at one point by a plague of rats carrying a bioweapon designed by the eponymous Biohacker that leaves them paralysed. They're able to recover, and Touma notes that if the Biohacker modified something deadlier like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola the Ebola virus]] or [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SARS-related_coronavirus the SARS coronavirus]], the results could have been catastrophic. [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic Yeah...]]
65	*** To make things worse, ''Biohacker's'' final part was released in Feburary 2020, after multiple cases of COVID-19 had been reported. [[HarsherInHindsight An unfortunate coincidence]] or RealLifeWritesThePlot?
66	* HilariousInHindsight:
67	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98RFrzTQQEc This AMV shows]] Accelerator as a singer of rock band. Then in 2015, came a new spin-off manga titled "To Aru Idol no Accelerator-sama" staring Accelerator as an Idol singer.
68	** A big reason for [[spoiler:Princess Carissa's ''coup d'etat'' against her mother]] in Volumes 17 & 18 is that she believes the United Kingdom has become too stifled by the European Union and having its rights infringed upon with impunity by a corrupt alliance deep in the Roman Catholic Church's pockets, and wants to break free of it by force. In June 2016, the real United Kingdom voted by referendum to leave the European Union peacefully, and by the end of January 2020 actually ''did'' leave.
69	* IronWoobie: Touma gets his ass kicked on a regular basis, and even the fights he wins tend to end with him in the hospital. There's no real explanation for why he puts himself through such misery, especially considering he has his own [[BlessedWithSuck inherent bad luck]] to deal with. And yet he claims to be ''happy'' with way he lived his life...
70	** The novels explain all of this in detail... eventually. Volume 22 summarizes it quite nicely, though NT volume 9 best outlines his "real motivations." [[spoiler: NT volume 9 partially trolls and explains that Touma ''doesn't really'' believe half of the "hero speeches" that he gives to villains. He just does this to briefly get through to people who have temporarily gone crazy as a result of experiencing severe loss/tragedy in their lives. As of NT volume 9, he has a higher moral ground and it is actually justified because of what he went through...]]
71	* LauncherOfAThousandShips:
72	** The three primary characters, [[TheHero Touma]], [[AxCrazy Accelerator]], and [[ButtMonkey Shiage]], have all gained their own UnwantedHarem as the volumes moved along. Touma in particular has been shipped with pretty much ''every'' female character at least once, including members of Accelerator and Shiage's harems.
73	** Mikoto can be shipped with practically anyone from Science Side regardless of their gender. Other than mainstream pairing Mikoto/Touma and Mikoto/Kuroko, [[FoeYayShipping Misaki Shokuhou and Accelerator often get paired with the aforementioned Electromaster]]. Oh and let's not forget that Mikoto/[[TheTeamNormal Saten]] has a rather small but solid fanbase too.
74	* LesYay:
75	** Mikoto and Kuroko, though mostly on Kuroko's end. Mikoto's more annoyed at it than anything, but on occasion (when Kuroko isn't being obsessive about it), she does return it.
76	** Misaka WORST and Umidori.
77	** Kuroko admits that she would love to have both Misaka and at least 1,000 of the clones to herself.
78	** Kanzaki Kaori and Index, more so in the first arc and in their past.
79	** Index and Kazakiri Hyouka. Hyouka notes that Index acting {{Tsundere}} for Touma is a sign that she loves him. Then, much to Hyouka's surprise, Index acts '''the exact same way''' towards her.
80	** Kanzaki and Orsola.
81	** With some FoeYayShipping, Oriana towards Himegami and Fukiyose.
82	** New Light, particularly Bayloupe and Lessar, though Floris and Lancis aren't exactly innocent either. The group seems the be well aware of their apparently abnormal closeness too.
83	---> '''Floris:''' "Hey, you two lesbians who look like you’re from some erotic novel or something." [[note]]Said when Bayloupe and Lessar were in a compromising position in the back seat of a car.[[/note]]
84	---> '''Lessar:''' "Floris! Lancis!! Quit awakening strange new tendencies and wake up! We need to use this room!!" [[note]]Said when Lessar found the two sleeping in the same bed when she needed to have a chat with Mikoto. Apparently Floris just likes to crawl into other people's beds when sleepy.[[/note]]
85	** Mikoto and Misaki, carrying over from [[Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun the spin-off it got started in.]] By the later ''New Testament'' novels, the author has reached the point of [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] it.
86	---> ''Their lips were less than 5cm apart, so to an observer it would have appeared as an incredibly [[{{Yuri}} lily-scented]] scene between two high-class girls.'' (from New Testament 18)
87	--> Other notable incidents include:
88	*** Mikoto eating a french fry from Misaki's hand.
89	*** Mikoto picking up Shokuhou bodily and ''spanking'' her (while both wearing swimsuits).
90	*** Kuroko walking into a hospital room to find Mikoto wrestling Shokuhou (who's wearing only a baby doll negligee) on a bed.
91	** At this point, To Aru needs its own page.
92	* MemeticBadass:
93	** Touma Kamijou. In the Japanese side of the fandom: Put him up against ''anything,'' he'll [[AntiMagic Imagine Break]] it into oblivion, and he has his own [[MemeticMutation meme:]] Sogebu (stands for '''So'''no '''Ge'''nsou wo '''Bu'''chikorosu[[note]]"I will Kill that Illusion"[[/note]]). In the West? He's the freaking ''Tou'''MAN'''''.
94	** Accelerator. Dude has invincible powers, loses them, and that just makes him even stronger. He's still Academy City's #1 esper.
95	** Acqua of the Back is Franchise/{{Superman}}.
96	* MemeticLoser: Fre/nda, a mocking nickname used by both Western and Eastern fandoms [[spoiler:after she gets [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe bifurcated]] by Mugino.]]
97	* MemeticMutation:
98	** GENDER EQUALITY![[note]]The fact that the male protagonists have no problem beating up female opponents seems to resonate with the fans when so many other series take WouldntHitAGirl so seriously.)[[/note]]
99	** The Kami-Yan disease.[[note]]what his male classmates tefer to his ability to attract girls as. Also has been adopted by the fandom whenever someone new falls for him.[[/note]]
100	** Creator/GeorgeRRMartin is helping write the series. [[labelnote:Explanation]]NT Vol 7's incredibly dark storyline, which includes characters being told that Maika Tsuchimikado had died offscreen ([[spoiler:it was a false alarm]]), was similar to Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire's AnyoneCanDie style.[[/labelnote]]
101	** {{OTP}} [[labelnote:Explanation]]Othinus Touma Pairing[[/labelnote]]
102	** Maid spin, maid spin, maid spin...[[note]]Maika, a maid, constantly riding a robot and sometimes spinning around on it[[/note]]
103	** '''Hot'''hinus [[note]]A reference to Othinus and her {{Stripperific}} outfit[[/note]]
104	** To Aru Majutsu NO Index due to Index being OutOfFocus and Touma taking the main character role despite Index being the title character.
105	** Normal high school boy/normal magician.[[note]]In NT Volume 9, Touma claims, while fighting the full-powered Magic God Othinus, that he's a normal high school boy who could be beaten by a normal magician. There's a certain fan-made image juxtaposing Touma with Acqua, giving the various abnormal characteristics of each, to show what Touma apparently thinks a "normal high school boy" and "normal magician" are[[/note]]
106	** [[Franchise/YuGiOh "You just activated my trap card!"]] [[labelnote:note (spoilers)]] A common phrase thrown around when Touma's [[AnArmAndALeg right arm gets cut off]], causing [[EldritchAbomination the dragons/Invisible Thing]] to come out, especially [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard when a villain does it.]] The eight dragons Touma unleased at the climax of ''Railgun'''s Daihasei Festival Arc have only strengthened the comparisons between him and a walking [=YuGiOh!=] deck. [[/labelnote]]
107	* {{Moe}}: Several characters count.
108	** Special mention goes to Komoe-sensei, which is even in her name. She's also not above invoking this trope in order to guilt her students into doing things.
109	** Quite a few of the Sisters, but 19090 stands out. She's a minor side character, but in her first appearance (when the four Sisters still in Academy City were getting sized for their winter uniforms), the others discovered that she wasn't quite as identical as she was supposed to be, due to reading girly magazines and dieting. She runs away tearfully, while her Sisters hunt her down ruthlessly in an attempt to measure her more precisely and force her to fix her eating habits.
110	* MoralEventHorizon: There's the [[spoiler: [[AlwaysSecondBest #2]] [[SuperpowerLottery Level 5]] [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Teitoku Kakine]]. He's ObviouslyEvil from the get go, but he still manages to be [[AffablyEvil personable]] enough that you aren't quite sure what you think of him, especially since most of his darker actions to this point have been against people [[BlackAndGrayMorality who aren't exactly paragons of justice even on their best days]]. That is, of course, until he '''beats up [[TheCutie Uiharu]]''', earning him the hatred and rage of the majority of fans. It could have been worse though, it didn't {{break\|TheCutie}} or [[KillTheCutie kill her]]]].
111	* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound:
112	** The noise Imagine Breaker makes when it negates something.
113	** The sound effect of Accelerator's AttackReflector.
114	* {{Narm}}:
115	** Apparently, Accelerator can state-change air into plasma by making ridiculous noises with his mouth, another form of his evil laugh. This is also a case of FormulaicMagic; those noises he was making were Accelerator performing the calculations necessary to use his Vector powers at ''high speeds''... which does nothing to make them ''less'' ridiculous. Things get even more hilariously confusing when it is later revealed that those sounds are in fact a very basic form of the language spoken by Holy beings such as angels, which is why he's able to harness so much extra power whenever he makes them.
116	** Every feeling of suspense or mystery when Kazakiri's Artificial Angel form appears is destroyed when they show her face, with her tongue hanging out and her eyes rolled back up. It doesn't help that it looks exactly like the so-called "ahegao face", a common and rather memetic phenomenon in {{Hentai}}, which just makes it look even more silly and out of place. [[spoiler:Admittedly, it ''does'' get more awesome when she actually has control of it and starts chucking around attacks powerful enough to stand up to ArchangelGabriel.]]
117	* NeverLiveItDown:
118	** [[spoiler:No matter how much good he does or how many heroic acts he does, some fans still hate and can never forgive Accelerator for the terrible things that he's done, especially what he did to the Sister Clones before his HeelFaceTurn.]]
119	** [[spoiler:Misaki turned off many readers when she [[LoveMakesYouEvil sided with]] [[EnemyWithout Touma's Emanation]] in ''New Testament 22 Reverse'', despite her obvious guilt and Mikoto forgiving her by the end.]]
120	* OnceOriginalNowCommon: ''Index'' provides one of the earliest examples, and one of the major {{Trope Codifier}}s, of the StockLightNovelHero archetype. Because of this, many people trying to get into the series now (after the genre has become one of the most saturated in the medium) find it hard to see past its generic over-powered hero, the bevy of beautiful girls vying for his attention, or its ExtranormalInstitute setting. However, being from a time ''before'' those formulas became standardized offers an advantage to still stand out: it also has many elements of a {{Shonen}} series, as well as a greater emphasis on WorldBuilding and extremely entertaining fight scenes, which people who dismiss it at-a-glance may miss out on.
121	* ShipsThatPassInTheNight:
122	** It's rather surprising how many fans pair up [[LightIsNotGood Fiamma]] and Carissa, considering their single canon interaction was an IShallTauntYou on Fiamma's part followed by him [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness trying to finish her off]].
123	** Some of Touma's ships can be like this, since the most you can say of some of their interactions is that Touma punched them while giving them a dressing down (such as Vento x Touma). Heck, some of them haven't even had an [[AccidentalPervert embarrassing perverted moment]] with him in canon yet!
124	*** [[TheHero Touma]] and [[TheTeamNormal Saten]] get paired in a surprising amount of fanfics, despite the fact that they've only met face-to-face when he borrowed her good luck charm for the Daihasei Borrowing Race. Probably because they're both normal (mostly) and that Saten's protection charm actually managed to negate Touma's bad luck for once.
125	* ShipToShipCombat: Which girl should be with Touma? '''Don't ask!''' because the moment you say so, you will get yourself in a nasty ShipToShipCombat between other fans over their favorite girl!
126	** Yet two of the biggest ShipToShipCombat by Japanese fans are the Mikoto x Touma fans and Kaori x Touma fans. These two fanbases are so big, the novel artist Kiyotaka Haimura knows it [[https://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/images/b/b7/Index_First_or_Final_SS_1.jpg and even drew about it!]]
127	** If you still remember Misaka Imouto, [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/to-aru-majutsu-no-index/images/1/14/Index_v12_153_2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140611104627 this only adds more fuel to the fire...]]
128	** There's also a minor one with Touma and [[spoiler:Mitsuko]] versus Aogami and [[spoiler:Mitsuko]].
129	* SignatureSeriesArc: Given [[LongRunner how long the series has been going on]], some arcs are bound to stick in the fans' minds.
130	** In The Old Testament, there is the Sisters Arc, which is famed for introducing many [[EnsembleDarkhorse fan-favourite characters]] into the series like Mikoto and Accelerator, being the first "Science" focused novel in the franchise, and expanding the worldbuilding of Academy City by showing [[DarkSecret what kinds of things go on behind the curtains]]. The arc was so beloved, it received its own adaption in ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun'' that [[AdaptationExpansion expanded on events from Mikoto's perspective]], and between the original Light Novel, Railgun's adaption, the anime adaptions of both series, '''and''' the manga adaption of ''Index'', that means there's a total of ''five'' different versions of the Sisters Arc that exist!
131	** In the New Testament, there's the Magic God Othinus arc, and more specifically [=NT=] Volume 9, which is nigh-universally lauded by the fandom as ''the'' best arc in the entire set of The New Testament, if not the '''entire franchise'''.
132	* SignatureScene:
133	** A popularity poll ran for the best scenes in the franchise, with the results featured in the mobile game Imaginary Fest's second anniversary. The winning scene was Touma's PreAsskickingOneLiner "Grit your teeth, strongest" from the Sisters Arc as he punches out the top esper Accelerator to put an end to his massacre of the Sisters.
134	** In the New Testament, you'll be hard pressed to discuss [=NT=]9 without mentioning [[spoiler: [[{{Utopia}} the Omega World]], and more specifically Touma's [[WallOfText rant]] to the Will of the Misaka Network: "It bothers me."]]
135	* {{Squick}}:
136	** How does the Roman Catholic Church counter Sheol Fear, a sound-based spell? [[spoiler:Whipping out fountain pens and gouging out their ears.]]
137	** Numerous panty shots, nude scenes and skimpy dresses from characters who either are or at least appear to be early '''''teenage''''' girls.
138	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Given the massive size of the cast, it's only to be expected that everyone would complain that ''someone'' didn't get enough screentime.
139	** Index herself, despite being the title character, is largely DemotedToExtra after the first arc. Many fans complain that a character with interesting abilities and backstory is reduced to a couple {{Running Gag}}s.
140	** There are a lot of random one-off espers who show up with an interesting ability and a hint of a backstory, only to never show up again. The anime version of the Level-Upper arc, for example, added a few new users like the gang boss who could control the viscosity of asphalt.
141	** The Sisters have a substantial following that complain they don't show up enough (and when they ''do'' show up, it's almost exclusively just 10032). Parts of the fandom insist we don't need to see anyone besides 10032 because they're all essentially the same person, parts of the fandom insist that runs counter to the theme of the arc, and other parts of the fandom insist that we don't know for sure because they don't show up enough.
142	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The first opening video for ''Index'' anime adaptation features StaggeredZoom of various scenes:
143	** [[TeleportationWithDrawbacks Kuroko Shirai hanging out with her friends and immediately excuses herself by using teleportation]] to glomp Misaka.
144	** [[MagicallyIneptFighter Magnus and Kanzaki showing off their skills]].
145	** [[MundaneMadeAwesome Touma walking past Misaka and Index walking down the steps]].
146	* {{Woolseyism}}
147	** Touma nickname for [[ShockAndAwe Mikoto]] in the original script is "Biri Biri", which is Japanese onomatopoeia for crackling electricity and is a [[EmbarrassingNickname nickname that Mikoto absolutely cannot stand.]] The English dub of the anime, rather than just calling her "zap zap", instead changes it to "Bug zapper" (sometimes just "zapper"), retaining the lip-flaps, the onomatopeia, ''and'' the embarrassing nature of the nickname in a form much more easily understood by English audiences.
148	** Another nickname for Mikoto is [[{{OneeSama}} Onee-sama]], used by Kuroko. However, since the meaning of the nickname may not be caught by English audiences, as well as to avoid connotations of familial relations between the two, the English dub changes it to the affectionate "Sissy" (as in Sister). Notably, [[OurClonesAreDifferent the Sisters]] ''also'' use "Onee-sama" to refer to Mikoto in Japanese, but their use is properly translated to "Big Sister" in the dub.
149	** Exclusive to fan-translations of the Light Novels is the changes to the names of the religious denominations that the Magic side belong to. They're clearly based on real life church denominations, but the original script (as well as official translations) use Japanese slang terms to refer to them (e.g. "Crossism" instead of Christianity, "Roman Orthodox Church" instead of the Roman Catholic Church, etc.). Fan-translations will forego the slang and just use the real life names instead, and is almost universally accepted in the fandom as the "correct" terminology.

Context YMMV / ACertainMagicalIndex