To Aru Majutsu no Index II - Episode 15

As if being scooped up by some giant ice ship as part of a fleet of the little buggers wasn't bad enough, To Aru Majutsu no Index II's previous episode ended with the reappearance of Agnese (from this series first story arc) - not the most welcome sight for Touma and Orsola, that's for sure.

However, it seems that this is a rather different Agnese from the one that (predictably) got punched in the face by Touma way back when - her defeat at the hands of the Amakusa and Touma last time around as left her branded a "heretic" and held captive as little more than a slave on this "Queen's fleet" of craft.  Well, although I say "little more" she is in fact a key to the Roman Catholic church's plans as they pertain to that fleet - knowledge that Agnese plans to use as a distraction to allow Touma and Orsola to rescue a pair of her former subordinates.  Thus, an uneasy truce is formed between these two former enemies in the name of rescuing these innocent parties.

While rescuing these two sisters proves to be simple enough courtesy of Touma's right hand and some top-notch bluffing by Orsola, things soon seem to take a turn for the worse as the ship they are on is sunk without trace by the rest of the fleet, who have clearly cottoned on to the plan.  Luckily for them the Amakusa turn up just at this moment to save the day and the lives of those involved (let's ignore the countless others who presumably died aboard the sunken ship, shall we?), but with Agnese still held by the fleet and the full truth about her role within this fleet and the spell it holds at its core, it's time to put a rescue plan into action.

As per last week's episode, the simple fact that this instalment is moving along at a reasonable pace is a breath of fresh air after the snail-like progress of the previous story arc - this current story is certainly flowing much better, although as per usual for this series it does require a certain suspension of common sense and resignation to the fact that everything will be resolved by Touma's hand more often than not before you can really enjoy it.  If you can do that however, this is looking to be a pretty passable effort so far - it's hardly blown me away, but the nautical change of scenery gives it a certain something and come the chaos at the end of this episode there seems to be enough in place to make for a pretty decent finale to the arc as long as they don't allow it to drag on for too long.