To Aru Majutsu no Index II - Episode 19

After tearing a tendon in my foot and having to hobble around dragging said foot around with me, I'd like to think I can at least somewhat empathise with To Aru Majutsu no Index's Accelerator at the moment.  Okay, well maybe not, but at least it gives me a better introduction than discussing the light and fluffy (read dull) previous episode which set out its stall to bring together all of its major players in roughly the same location.

Following on from this meeting of certain elements, we follow Accelerator and Last Order on their rain-soaked way home, a journey disrupted by Last Order's playfulness leading to her tripped and grazing her knee.  As she waits at a nearby bench, Accelerator heads off to buy some plasters (bear with me here, it gets more interesting than this I promise), and on his return he finds himself subjected to an ambush, allowing him to have a little "fun" at the expense of his pursuers.

While most of these assailants are easy meet, Accelerator soon appears to have met his match in Amata Kihara, who not only knows all about Accelerator but also knows exactly how his attacks and abilities work - knowledge which means that our unlikely hero on this occasion has met his match, being beaten practically to a pulp while Kihara's "Hound Dog" minions round up Last Order.  The game isn't quite up yet however, as Accelerator uses what little energy he has yet to blast Last Order into the air and to (we assume) safety via his wind-producing power.  With an errant Index walking in on proceedings, unconscious Antiskill members all over the place, MISAKA finding Touma and begging him for help and the Roman Catholic church's supposed most powerful weapon Vento of the Front on the loose, it's fair to say we're building up to a pretty major story arc to close out To Aru Majutsu no Index II.

If nothing else, it's simply a relief to see this series teetering on the precipice of some genuinely epic story-telling after numerous episodes that haven't exactly been firing on all cyclinders.  As build-ups go this was a solidly handled affair that has piqued my interest without blowing me away or leaving me particularly on the edge of my seat for the next episode, so hopefully it will build from what we've seen so far into a more entertaining and fascinating affair.  Goodness knows To Aru Majutsu no Index owes us one of those at the moment.