Once again, the Index series continues on with its story between the two great divisions of mankind: religion and science. Bringing the old and the new together, the second season expands its world of supernatural powers with greater proximity. There are indicators of something huge brewing right around the corner but quite frustratingly, the ever-present narrative issues are still there to dent the story's full potential.

Compared to its predecessor, the second season follows more or less the same formulaic method as the first season, except now, we have some hints to a bigger story. Having a core that holds each arc together gives everything one more level of significance. After all, this is a world where religion and science coexist with one another. It's definitely a story idea full of potential.

But like I've said already, a couple of negative factors sadly bog down the story. The biggest perpetrator is the mishandled pacing that felt too fast here and there. Especially for a complex world like the Index series, a rushed pacing will not bode well at all because it's synonymous to a jumbled-up story. And when you have a jumbled-up story, you will have an awkward time trying to process the many information, interactions, and fights that are present here.

So, how about the concepts of the story? Well, it's clear that there are more substantial movements going on in the religion side with various Christian sects such as the antagonistic Roman Catholic Church making their move. Touma, along with his mysterious right hand and other existing and new characters, must prevent their hostility from affecting the fragile balance of the world. In terms of the characters, the antagonists make up a pretty poor group of people driven by weak reasonings. When combined with their little screen time, they aren't that impactful to the story. They can be entertaining, but you will only reach the bedrock if you want to dig deep for any three-dimensional qualities. Character development is still not a very important factor for this series and as for the unlucky Touma, while he has his tendency to just shout idealistic lines and punch faces, his generic aspects serve as a good dichotomy against the diverse religious and scientific workings, like a litmus paper that functions under different conditions.

The last few episodes, thankfully, brings this season off to a solid conclusion with the focus on the Dark Side of Academy City along with some huge conflicts looming between the religion and the science side. Accelerator, the strongest esper who is also the face of Academy City's darkest secrets, gets more anti-heroic attention here and is put into a parallel comparison with Touma, highlighting their similarities and differences. This neatly ties in with the multifaceted viewpoints of the Index series and is definitely the strongest dynamic for this season.

Another good factor I enjoyed, albeit in the lighthearted zone, is the slices-of-life, usually constituting verbal dialogues that are clever in their humor. There are not as many of these compared to the first season, but they dampen up the inharmonious main story when they do appear. Basically a nice breath of air every once in a while, though the fan service ones are still not that tasteful.

Artistically speaking, the visual is now cleaner with better line work and this results in an environment that is pretty much more polished in all aspects. Particularly, the backgrounds deserve a shout out just because of the high-quality glints that emit through the screen. A lot of the blue vibrancy in the backdrops brings out the magical and supernatural tone of this show, so it's definitely a cool complementary effect. As for the animation, it tends to be inconsistent but once the final climax of the fight comes in and Touma grips that right fist of his, the animation is amplified to noticeable levels. You might get a kick out of seeing all the close-ranged shots of faces getting punched to oblivion. I sure as hell did.

Then we finally have the improved line-up of soundtracks. Of course, the upbeat electronic music with fast beats per minute is still there to pump up the fight scenes but there's a distinguishable presence of angelic soundtracks as well that really fits the religious theme. The diverse range of voice actors further contributes to the entertaining factor and especially for the antagonists, the expression of various personalities is the definition of eargasmic. Mami Kawada also knows how to sing cool opening songs while the second ending theme has a gentle melody that is a treat to listen to.

All in all, the second season of the Index series is a passable continuation. The anime suffers the most from a rushed pacing which left out quite a bit of relevant information from the light novels, affecting how the characters are treated and decreasing the enjoyment value. But religion and science have finally collided with each other this season. What happens next will certainly be bigger than anything we've seen so far.