To Aru Majutsu no Index II - Episode 18

From ending with a climax to its last instalment that I wasn't too sure counted as comedy or drama, episode eighteen of To Aru Majutsu no Index II kicks off with not one but two brief scenes that seem almost exclusively designed to offer up fan service, offset by only one item on its agenda that could be considered of any importance.

With those two items from the religious side of the show's coin out of the way, the rest of the episode is concerned with bringing Touma into contact with first MISAKA 10032 and later Last Order as he ends up being dragged into their goggle-induced game of hide and seek.  To be honest I'm not entirely sure what the point of this whole set-up is beyond some MISAKA fan service and a vague attempt to be entertaining, but oh well.  Similarly, this episode also sees Accelerator introduced to Index for the first time, with the latter looking for Touma (and food of course) while the former has gone to find the errant Last Order before she gets herself into too much trouble.

Come the end of the episode all relevant parties are re-united, leaving me unsure as to whether there was any importance whatsoever in what I'd just watched or if it was all just an attempt to fill up some time by throwing a bunch of fan-favourite characters at the screen.  Certainly, there was no depth to this outing or its narrative, so at the moment it feels rather like it was just a waste of time, but as per my feelings last week at least the individuals being focused upon of late breeds hope for a decent story arc once it sees fit to start moving in the right direction.