To Aru Majutsu No Index ITEM - Television Tropes & Idioms

Similar to GROUP, ITEM is an organization formed by the dark side of the Academy City to monitor Academy City's elites and keep them under control. Unlike the other organizations, however, the source of their name is clear: Each of their members have an "item" that they use to complement their combat abilities. They have a rivalry against SCHOOL.

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ITEM

Tropes that apply to ITEM as a whole.

Anti-Villain
Applied Phlebotinum / Weapon of Choice: Each member gets one, hence the name "ITEM".
- Meaningful Name
Brick Joke: Twice over the course of the Railgun manga(Chapters 12 and 25), the scene cuts to the members of ITEM talking in the background about going to a pool. Much later (chapter 43) they finally do.
Four Girl Ensemble
Heel Face Turn: The entire team, eventually.
Punch Clock Villain: They're decent people outside of battles. Mostly.
Quirky Miniboss Squad

Shizuri Mugino

See To Aru Majutsu No Index Level 5 Espers

Saiai Kinuhata

Second in command of ITEM. Her ability, Offense Armor, allows her to compress and solidify nitrogen in the atmosphere to act as a barrier, and is ranked at Level 4. After Mugino's "death" in the hands of Shiage, she becomes the leader of ITEM.

Applied Phlebotinum: Her ability requires the use of nitrogen to activate, thus she carries a packet of the stuff at all times.
Barrier Warrior: Her ability, Offense Armor, is mostly defensive.
Beware the Nice Ones / Let's Get Dangerous: DO NOT underestimate her. She's a Level 4 for a reason.
Buffy Speak
Child Prodigy: The "honor student" of the Dark May Project.
Cute Bruiser: It is Offense Armor after all. Her fighting style involves tanking hits, punching people and throwing cars.
Enfante Terrible / Tyke Bomb: She's twelve years old, and a remnant of the Dark May Project designed to replicate Accelerator's powers.
Evil Counterpart: She has one in Umidori Kuroyoru, her kouhai from the Dark May Project, who first appears in New Testament 1. They have practically the same power, with Umidori's focusing on offense and Saiai's on defense.
Senpai: She's the senior of the Freshman who appears in New Testament 1 from the Dark May project.
She's Got Legs: She doesn't wear anything to cover her legs.
Sweater Girl
There's No "B" in Movie
The Tease
Verbal Tic: Super!

Rikou Takitsubo

A member of ITEM, and Shiage's girlfriend. Her ability, ranked at Level 4, is AIM Stalker, which allows her to trace the AIM fields of other Espers. Later events in the novel suggest that she has the potential to reach Level 5 due to the manifestation of another ability: The manipulation of AIM Fields other than her own.

Applied Phlebotinum: Body Crystal, a powdery substance that temporarily amplifies the user's abilities.
- Amplifier Artifact
- Phlebotinum Overdose: Overuse of Body Crystal causes ill effects on the user's abilities, which forces them to use even more of the substance in order to use their powers properly.
  - Heroic RROD: The end result of the above.
Clingy Jealous Girl: Has been developing this as of New Testament.
Damsel in Distress: Thanks to the damage to her body by Body Crystal, this is basically her entire role in the plot.
Ill Girl: As a result of the Applied Phlebotinum.
Kuudere
Living MacGuffin: After being healed from Body Crystal's damage, she gets hunted by Academy City because her power can now basically render the entire Power Development Curriculum obsolete.
Official Couple: Her and Hamazura.
Rescue Romance
Sensor Character: The primary use of her power.
- Power Incontinence: Her power's weakness is that she has to let it go berserk on its own through the Applied Phlebotinum for it to be useful.
Super Power Lottery: After she is healed, it's heavily implied she can now reach Level 5. This would allow her to control the AIM Fields of other Espers. The possibilities of this are pretty much endless.
- Mega Manning: Implied to be how her power is supposed to work after being healed; she can use her ability to replicate the abilities of other espers by controlling their AIM fields.

Frenda Seivelun

One of the main combatants of ITEM, she has exceptional hand-to-hand capabilities. Mugino kills her in Volume 15 of the novels for giving information to SCHOOL.

Adaptation Expansion: Receives almost no development in the Index storyline As Mugino killed her off fairly quickly after her debut in the novels, but Volume 5 of the Railgun manga rectifies this.
Badass Normal: The only one of the four who hasn't shown actual esper abilities, she instead uses a combination of explosives and hand-to-hand combat to fight.
Blood Knight: A mild example.
Call Forward: With Nightmare Fuel involved. When fighting against Mikoto after nearly getting her legs blown off, she notes that they are her best feature. Mugino kills her by severing her body at the waist.
Foreign Fanservice: One of the only non-Japanese characters from the Science Side.
Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Her bombs take the form of stuffed animals.
Hair of Gold
- Princess Curls
Half The Woman She Used To Be: How Mugino kills her.
Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Although she did rather well in her fight against Mikoto.
Mad Bomber: Minus the mad part. Mostly.
Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Is killed by Mugino for making a deal with SCHOOL, a rival organization, in exchange for her own life.
Trap Master: Unfortunately, these traps lead to Mugino's downfall against Mikoto when she forgets to remove her traps.
- Spanner in the Works
Verbal Tic: Basically!