To Aru Majutsu no Index

To Aru Majutsu no Index (とある魔術の禁書目録, To Aru Majutsu no Indekkusu^?, lit. A Certain Magical Index) is a Japanese light novel series written by Kazuma Kamachi and illustrated by Kiyotaka Haimura; the series is published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint. Set in a city of scientifically advanced superhuman students, but in a world where magic is also real. Tōma Kamijo's right hand, the Imagine Breaker, will negate all magic, psychic, or divine powers, as well as his own luck. One day he finds a young girl hanging on his balcony railing. She turns out to be a nun from the Church of England, and her mind has been implanted with the Index Librorum Prohibitorum—all the magical texts the Church has removed from circulation. The series was made into an anime^[1] and premiered on October 4, 2008.

Characters

[edit] Main characters

Tōma Kamijō (上条 当麻, Kamijō Tōma^?)

Voiced by: Atsushi Abe

The series' main protagonist. He has the lowest psychic rank possible at Level 0—largely because the people testing psychic abilities cannot detect or classify his abilities. Due to this, he is considered by the founder of Academy City as neither a Psychic or a Magician and is just a normal person with a unique ability.

His power is Imagine Breaker (幻想殺し, Gensō Goroshi^?, "Imagine Killer"), a power which negates all magic, psychic, or divine powers but also his own good luck. He tends to stay away from trouble but he is a very honorable person and will always do the right thing. In order to save Index from the need of a memory reset, he had activated her self-protection system and destroyed the spell responsible for her mind strain, but ended up losing all of his past memories, including everything about Index, when he came in contact with Feather of Light (光の羽, Hikari no Hane^?). This remains a secret to everyone except himself and the doctor that takes care of him (who is, unknown to Tōma, the Heaven Canceler) and later Mikoto in the sixteenth novel. Even though he no longer remembers the past, his heart has not forgotten the people he cares about.

Through out the series, he tries to live his life normally while still facing against the many adversaries from the world of science and magic, and the conflicts that follow. Despite his very bad luck, he has managed to get the interest and hearts of many ladies who are infatuated with him, which Aisa jokes about, that his life is like a dating sim where he is bound to unlock more paths to more girls.

Index (インデックス, Indekkusu^?)

Voiced by: Yuka Iguchi

Index, also known by her full name Index Librorum Prohibitorum, is one of the series' co-heroines, a young nun from Necessarius (必要悪の教会, Hitsuyōaku no Kyōkai^?, "Church of Necessary Evil"), a branch of the Church of England. Her mind has been implanted with the 103,000 magical texts of the Index-Librorum-Prohibitorum as she possesses Photographic memory at the cost of her own memories, or so the Church says. Her sorcery name is Dedicatus545. The Church says that the grimoires take up 85% of her mind, so she only has 15% of memory space left to use in daily activities, which allows her to live normally for less than a year. However, all of this is revealed to be a lie after Tōma begins to question how the Church even got to numbers like 15% and 85% and finds out from Komoe-sensei that the human mind can theoretically store up to 140 years of memories. The Church planned to make the grimoires harder to access by telling its underlings to perform "maintenance" on her mind in exactly one-year intervals, once her memory has come to its "limit". That way, she will not remember her close friends and accidentally and/or purposely reveal the contents of the grimoires.

When she is being invaded by outsiders or injured, her self-protection system personality, John's Pen mode, will be activated to allow her to use magic. Her self-protection system will use the Feather of Light (光の羽, Hikari no Hane^?) to force a reset on Index's own memory should a manual reset fails to be performed.

After the events of the first novel, her role within the story changes into a comedic character as two of the recurring jokes about her having a habit of biting Tōma when he makes her angry and her large appetite much to chagrin for those who paid for her food. Despite this, she is still an important character as the knowledge of the Index-Librorum-Prohibitorum within her mind makes her a target of interest for many.

Mikoto Misaka (御坂 美琴, Misaka Mikoto^?)

Voiced by: Rina Satō

The series' other co-heroine and the main protagonist of To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, a side story to To Aru Majutsu no Index. A psychic user of Academy City, her powers are ranked Level 5, the highest rank for the most powerful psychic users and she ranks as third-strongest out of the seven people who hold this rank in Academy City.

She attends Tokiwadai Middle School, a famous girls' school in Academy City for the rich. To most people, she is considered a proper lady, but in reality, she has a short-tempered, prideful and improper attitude with some slight tomboyish tendencies and insecurities, a fact few people know. Despite this, she has a strong sense of morals and hates injustice.

Her power is to generate electricity; she is powerful enough to cause a blackout in the city, make instant railguns by using coins as projectiles and use electricity to magnetically attract iron particles around her into a Chainsword whip. She has a one-sided rivalry with Tōma ever since he tried to save her from a group of thugs despite the fact she did not need help. He also dissipated her electrical shock by blocking it with his right hand, much to her chagrin. Since that incident, she is always trying to have a proper match with Tōma and defeat him, despite his many attempts to avoid conflict with her. She eventually develops strong feelings towards Tōma but is unable to express them due to her insecurities and worse, was the fact others girls were interested in him. In the sixteenth novel, she realizes that she is in love with Tōma and is the first person to know of his memory loss, which made her resolve to help him anyway.

[edit] Necessarius

Stiyl-Magnus (ステイル＝マグヌス, Suteiru Magunusu^?)

Voiced by: Kishō Taniyama

A sorcerer from Necessarius. His sorcery name is Fortis931. He is an extremely heavy smoker; he claims a world without nicotine would be hell. He specializes in using flames and is able to use a flame sword or summon a 3000 degree Celsius fire called Innocentius (魔女狩りの王, Majokari no Ō^?, "Pope of Witch Hunters") to battle his enemies. Despite his looks, he is actually fourteen years old and is physically weak. He has a short temper but is actually kind, as he cares about Index very much and his failure to save her life without losing her memories was his greatest regret. When he learns the Church lied to him and Kaori about Index's condition, he decides to disobey orders to capture Index and allow her to live her life.

Kaori Kanzaki (神裂 火織, Kanzaki Kaori^?)

Voiced by: Shizuka Itō

An eighteen year old sorceress from Necessarius. Unlike her partner Stiyl, she uses magic to magically strengthen her body. Her sorcery name is Salvere000. She uses a two meter long nodachi called "Seven Heavens Seven Swords" as her weapon. She has a special attack called Nanasen (七閃, Nanasen^? "Seven Flash") that uses her sword and some wires. She used to be a kind woman who treated Index like a sister, but when Index's memories were deleted by Necessarius, Kaori changed into a cold and silent woman as Index no longer remembered her and consequentially did not trust her. After Tōma saves Index's life and her current memories, she decides to stay at Academy City to be with Index and protect her.

Sherry Cromwell (シェリー＝クロムウェル, Sherī Kuromuweru^?)

Her sorcery name Intimus115, 'Everything I offer to my lost friend'.

A member of the Necessarius, and at the same time a talented "Decoder". She has tanned skin and wears a black Gothic Lolita dress. Her blonde hair is unkempt and according to Tsuchimikado, she has the silhouette of a lion. She is a master of Cabbalah Statue art and she utilizes oil pastel to draw a spell to summon a Golem.

Laura Stuart (ローラ＝スチュアート, Rōra Suchuāto^?)

The Archbishop of Necessarius (必要悪の教会, Hitsuyōaku no Kyōkai^?, "Church of Necessary Evil"). Despite being the Archbishop, she looks like an 18 year girl with long blonde hair, other than that, any other details about her are unknown. She speaks funny Japanese, courtesy of Tsuchimikado teaching her. She might sound simple and irresponsible, but behind her smile lies a cold and calculating personality. She loves baths and has a collection of the latest bath accessories from Academy City.

[edit] Academy City students and residents

Kuroko Shirai (白井 黒子, Shirai Kuroko^?)

Voiced by: Satomi Arai

Misaka's kōhai in Tokiwadai Middle school and a protagonist in To Aru Kagaku no Railgun. A level 4 psychic, she is a member of Judgment, a special public committee group whose duty is to maintain peace and order in Academy City. She is in love with Misaka who she calls "Onee-sama" (sister) and tends to get jealous if someone else gets her attention. This unfortunately happens to be Tōma since he has caught the attention of Misaka for various reasons. Her powers are instant teleportation, which allows her to teleport herself and anything in her possession as long it weighs around 130-137 kilograms, to anywhere in an radius of around 81-85 meters. One disadvantage of her power is that she has to concentrate on where she and the object(s) and person she holds would be teleported to, for any disturbance in her concentration will make her powers useless.

Kazari Uiharu (初春 飾利, Uiharu Kazari^?)

Shirai's friend and colleague in Judgment and another protagonist in To Aru Kagaku no Railgun. Shy and humble, she goes to a different middle school from Shirai and is known for wearing a headband made of flowers on her head, and sometimes a surgical mask as she constantly suffers the flu. Her powers are currently unknown. She makes a cameo appearance in the opening of the anime.

Ruriko Saten (佐天 涙子, Saten Ruriko^?)

A Level 0, classmate and friend of Uiharu who is known for wearing a flower on the left side of her hair. She is a little shameless as she sometimes flip Uiharu's skirt in public. When rumors of a special tool that increases psychic powers called the "Power Upper" spread, she decides to use it to increase her powers, but ends up in a coma. Later on she wakes up from her coma and is currently recovering. She first appears in the To Aru Kagaku no Railgun manga and makes a cameo appearance in the To Aru Majutsu no Index light novel series and the opening of the anime.

Pierce Aogami (青髪ピアス, Aogami Piasu^?)

Voiced by: Yoshihisa Kawahara

Tōma's friend and classmate. A funny individual who tends to see Tōma bad luck, who he calls "Kami-yan" in a different way. He is a self-confessed pervert lolicon and masochist who enjoys being punished by his teacher, Tsukuyomi. He is always seen with Motoharu. Together with him, Motoharu and Tōma, they are known as the three idiots in their class, as not only do they have the lowest test scores but also they are all level 0's except the latter two have good reasons for being that way.

Motoharu Tsuchimikado (土御門 元春, Tsuchimikado Motoharu^?)

Voiced by: Anri Katsu

A blonde teenager who is always seen with sunglasses and wearing an Aloha shirt. He is a friend and classmate of Tōma who just happens to be his next door neighbor at the dormitory they're staying at. While he seem like a normal average teenager, there's more to him than meets the eye.

Secretly, he is actually a former agent of Necessarius. His sorcery name is Fallere825, 'the back-stabber', who turned into a freelance spy for Necessarius, Academy City, and other unknown organizations. The leaders of both Necessarius and Academy City are both aware of this but have decided to let him be for the time being.

He was formerly a skilled In'yōjutsu-shi (陰陽術師, "Oracle"^?), but gave up his abilities when he went under the ESP development curriculum. He has a younger step-sister named Maika, whom he is also in love with, and for this he is known as the Shisukon Gunsō (シスコン軍曹, "Sis-com Sergeant"^?). He is also a member of one of Academy City's secret organizations, the "GROUP". His ESP ability is the Level 0 Auto Reverse (肉体再生, Nikutai Saisei^?, lit. "Body Regeneration").

Aisa Himegami (姫神 秋沙, Himegami Aisa^?)

Voiced by: Mamiko Noto

A quiet, young girl with a rather blunt personality who wears Miko attire. While she may seem normal, she is also known as "Deep Blood" and has the ability to kill vampires, as her blood's smell attracts vampires who die when they approach her. However, it made her miserable because with the exception of sucking blood, vampires were just like humans. This prompts her to go to Academy City, hoping to find a way to get rid of her powers, until she meets the alchemist Aureolus Izzard. She co-operates with him because he told her that her blood can be used to save a person's life he cared (Index) in return of helping her get rid of her powers.

When Aureolus learns Index's life was already saved by Tōma and tries to kill him, Aisa attempts to defend Tōma, which prompts Aureolus to use his alchemy to try to kill her as she was now useless to him. Her life was saved by Tōma who dispelled the spell on her with his right hand. When she asks Tōma about why he saved her, he told her that he didn't have a reason to rescue her. After the incident, she lives with Tōma and Index in Tōma's apartment and wears a magical power-blocking cross, which enables her to live what she had always wanted - a normal life.

Misaka (ミサカ, Misaka^?)

Voiced by: Nozomi Sasaki

Introduced in both the third volume of the novel and manga respectively, and episode ten of the anime, Tōma meets the younger 'twin sister' of Mikoto who he calls Misaka's sister (御坂妹, Misaka imōto^?) who seems rather quiet and emotionless. Her voice is rather monotonous and computer-like. Her speech pattern is unique as she speaks, for she talks in third person (adding a description of herself after she finishes talking). Despite this, she has a soft spot for cats. While both sisters may look alike from a distance, if one looks closely, there are a few ways to tell them apart. Mikoto has reddish-brown eyes while Misaka has gray eyes, and the former wears shorts under her skirt while the latter only wears panties. Also, Misaka wears special goggles that enables her to see electron beams and magnetic field lines for the reason that unlike Mikoto, she does not have that ability. At the beginning the third volume, Mikoto seems to dislike and worry about Misaka for some reason, and later events reveal why.

In reality, Misaka, the Imōto, is a clone of Mikoto. In fact, the first one Tōma meets is No. 10032 out of 20000 (excluding Last Order) other clones copied from Mikoto called 'The Sisters'. Even though they have a weaker variant of Mikoto's electric abilities (level 3), the Sisters' minds are connected by a special psychic ability called Radio Noise (欠陥電気, Kekkan Denki^?, "Flawed Electric"), which enables their brainwaves to become electric signals. This allows them to share their thoughts and memories within their communication network, a.k.a. the Misaka Network. Being rapidly manufactured clones, the Sisters rarely change their facial expression because they did not learn how to.

Even though 20,000 clones were created in total, all of the clones below No. 10032 were killed (excluding No. 00000) before the timeline of the series, and the rest were being used in an experiment designed to create the first Level 6 psychic ("Level 6 Shift"), who is supposed to be Accelerator. Misaka 10032 was Accelerator latest target but Tōma managed to stop him before he killed her. Confused, she ask him why did he save her since she was a clone which he told her even though she was a clone, she was still an individual with a life. His words along with Mikoto's affected her that she and the Sisters decide to to help Tōma by stopping Accelerator using his Plasma powers by controlling all of the city's Wind Turbines. After the experiment failed, all 9969 surviving Sisters were order back to the research center where they were created to have "readjustments" so they will have normal life spans.

Maika Tsuchimikado

Voiced by: Misato Fukuen

Motoharu's younger step-sister. She wears a maid attire as she goes to a Maid School, and rides on top of a cleaning 'bot. She has a friendly relationship with Tōma and knows that he has two girls (Index and Aisa) living with him, but keeps the secret between her and Tōma. Even though she lives in her school's dormitory, she sometimes goes to live at her brother's apartment. For instance, in episode ten, she stays at her brother's apartment because her dormitory's air conditioner breaks down.

Accelerator (一方通行, Ippō Tsūkō^?, "One Way")

Voiced by: Nobuhiko Okamoto

The most powerful Psychic in the Academy City. A sadistic boy about the same age as Tōma, he has an ability called "Redirection", a form of telekinesis. He can change the vector values of anything he touches. For example, he kills a Sister clone by reversing the flow of blood inside her body (he has to put his finger inside her wound first though). He can greatly uplift the velocity of wind around him, creating a massive plasma storm. He has to consciously allow gravity to affect him, and can block out all sound. Furthermore, this ability is automatic so projectiles like bullets or explosives like bombs have no effect on him, as they will be redirected. It is because of his ability that he has an albino appearance (white hair and pale skin), for his body blocks all ultraviolet radiation and in turn prevents the skin from manufacturing melanin.

This great ability made him the subject of an experiment attempting to create the first Level 6 psychic; according to the City's best supercomputer, Tree Diagram (which was unprecedentedly destroyed by Index's Dragon Breath), this feat could only be achieved by killing 128 skilled Level 5 psychics without a single failure (a real form of Level Grinding). Since there are only six other known Level 5's in Academy City, an alternative plan had to be created. The subject could "level up" by killing 20,000 skilled Level 3 psychics, who were, in this case, the Misaka clones. He willingly join the experiment since he wanted to be the most powerful and feared psychic that no one was foolish enough to challenge him and even killed many who got in his way. Mikoto tries to stop the experiment to save her sisters but it was Tōma who finally stopped the experiment and defeated Accelerator which reveal his weakness: he was physically weak because he had always rely on his powers and his pride of his powers that resulted in his defeat that Tōma manage to defeat him using his Imagine Breaker power along with his skills in street fighting.

After his defeat in Vol.3, he reappears in Vol.5 and takes a more heroic role protecting a girl named Last Order, the last Misaka clone. In later volumes, he becomes weaker along with his powers, which forces him to use a cane and and restricts the duration of his "Redirection" ability to only 15 minutes at a time.

Last Order (打ち止め, Uchidome^?, "The End")

Misaka clone No. 20001, she is the administrator of the Misaka Network and the fail-safe mechanism in case the Sisters got out of control. She is not designed to function independently and survive for long outside a culture container, and appears to be only about ten years old. Unlike her previous clone sisters, she is capable of showing emotions and has a close relationship with Mikoto, Misaka Imōto and Accelerator.

Hyōka Kazakiri (風斬 氷華, Kazakiri Hyōka^?)

She is Index's first "friend" in Academy City. She is gentle but shy. Not much is known about her aside from the fact that she was an overachiever at Kirigaoka Academy for Girls (霧ヶ丘女学院, Kirigaoka Jyogakuin^?), according to Aisa. Her ability is Counter Stop (正体不明, Shōtai Fumei^?, "Unknown Identity"). Detail about her level is unknown but it could be high, since it was mentioned that she was among the top psychics in the Kirigaoka Academy for Girls.

Full-Tuning (０００００号, "Serial-number 00000"^?)

Serial-number 00000 of "The Sisters" designed by Ao Amai. Her details and whereabouts are unknown.

Seiri Fukiyose (吹寄 制理, Fukiyose Seiri^?)

Tōma's classmate and their class representative. She hates people who give up on their life and blaming their bad luck on Tōma as she secretly has a crush on him. She is mentioned as the girl who is "pretty but lacks sex appeal". She is a health-product freak and is frequently ordering different health products from the television shopping channels. Her abilities have yet to be revealed.

[edit] Academy City staff and administration

Komoe Tsukuyomi (月詠 小萌, Tsukuyomi Komoe^?)

Voiced by: Kimiko Koyama

Despite her childish and very short (135 cm) appearance, she is actually an adult and one of Tōma's teachers. This is proven by her apartment being littered with beer cans and cigarettes. She also contradicts her age by acting childish to her students, having a child-like crush on Tōma, and ending her sentences with desu, something a child usually does.^[2] This irony means that she is often regarded as one of the seven great mysteries of Academy City. She has major interest in studying Pyrokinesis and performs magic once, when Index requires her to participate in a magical ritual to heal her wounds.

Aiho Yomikawa (黄泉川 愛穂, Yomikawa Aiho^?)

A teacher at Tōma's school. She is beautiful and has glamorous proportions, and is always seen with a green jersey. She is a member of the Anti-Skills and cares deeply for her students. She was asked by Kikyō Yoshikawa to take care of Accelerator and Last Order after they were released from the hospital.

Kikyou Yoshikawa (芳川 桔梗, Yoshikawa Kikyou^?)

Academy City's researcher. She was in charge of the "Level 6 Shift" project. Even after the project was put to a stop, she kept herself in the laboratory, creating a vaccine for the virus program that Ao Amai made for Last Order. She is shot by Amai while trying to protect Accelerator and Last Order but recovers and is later released from the hospital along with Accelerator and Last Order.

Ao Amai (天井 亜雄, Amai Ao^?)

Former researcher for the "The Sisters" project. His specialty is creating personality data with self-learning capabilities. During the "Level 6 Shift" project, he was assigned to directing the experiments. After the project is put to a stop, he tries to join an organization outside Academy City by planting a virus upon Last Order and leaking the information about the city.

Harumi Sayama

A scientist and a powerful psychic. She has poor common sense which is demonstrated when she stripped in front of others without thinking about it, a result of her years being a researcher. In the To Aru Kagaku no Railgun side story, she is revealed to be the creator of the Level Upper.

Heaven Canceler (冥土帰し, Meido Gaeshi^?, Afterlife Returner)

Voiced by: Yutaka Nakano

Often mentioned as "the Frog-Faced Doctor" by Tōma, the only things that this benevolent man finds impossible to heal are the Imagine-Breaking boy's destroyed memories, and Accelerator's brain damage received while the white-haired boy tried to save Last Order from a mental self-destruction program (however, the doctor still manages to mend it so that Accelerator can use his powers if provided with extra help from the Misaka clones). This genius physician also manages the life extension devices for the ruler of the Academy City, Aleister Crowley, while also supporting the foundation of the city itself.

Aleister Crowley (アレイスター・クロウリー, Areisutā Kurourī^?)

Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki

Once the greatest magicians in modern magic history, more than half of all modern magicians are affected by this man's established theories, and two- fifths of them are direct followers of his ways. Having stretching the boundaries of sorcery farther than the advances made in the last few millenia alone, and having written many top-class spellbooks like The Book of the Law, it is no surprise that many mages were outraged when this eccentric genius literally "dumped" all his magic abilities and decided to "ace it" in the field of science, thus establishing the Academy City and becoming its hidden monarch.

When he chose to stop using magic and was running for his life from a hoard of enraged stalker magicians, he met the Heaven Canceler, who eventually helped him found Academy City in a far eastern island of Japan, and also provides help in this ex-magician's new goal; to extend his lifespan for as long as possible by having all but his consciousness rely on the power of machines.

[edit] Roman Catholic Church Magicians

Aureolus Izzard

An Alchemist and a former Catholic Church magician turn Traitor. 3 years ago, he was Index former partner and was devastated when the young nun was forced to have her memories erases in order to save her life.

[edit] Amakusa Catholics

Saiji Tatemiya (建宮 斎字, Tatemiya Saiji^?)

Currently the substitute-Supreme Pontiff of the Amakusa Catholics. He has impressionable pitch-black hair and unique sense of fashion. He wears an over-sized shirt and his shoe laces are one meter long. He is an expert in Amakusa style combat art and is equipped with a 180 cm long Flamberge.

Itsuwa (五和, Itsuwa^?)

An Amakusa catholic girl. She seems to have a romantic feeling towards Tōma but due to her shyness, she was not able to make a action to tell her feelings for Tōma. During the Amakusa Catholics' rematch against Aqua after Tōma was nearly killed, she displayed a sudden change of personality, becoming more violent and aggressive that even the way she speaks changed. She uses a Friulian Spear.

[edit] God's Right Seat

Vent of the Front (前方のヴェント, Zenpou no Vento^?)

Member of God's Right seat. Blessed with the nature of "God's Flame". Her face is heavily pierced and at the top of it she puts on a heavy make-up. When she was a child, she went with her brother to an amusement park and an accident occurred in which her brother died. Thus, she grew up with a deep hatred against science and technology.

She uses the spell "Divine Punishment" which takes away the consciousness of anyone who has any evil intentions toward her. She also utilizes the hammers made of air to bludgeon her opponent.

Terra of the Left (左方のテッラ, Sahou no Terra^?)

Member of God's Right Seat. Blessed with the nature of "God's medicine". A small man wearing a green robe. He uses the spell "Execution of Light" which could manipulate the hierarchy of everything around him. He also uses the guillotine made of flour, which is a byproduct of the "Execution of Light" spell. It seems that he knew something about Kamijou's Imagine Breaker but it was never revealed.

Aqua of the Back (後方のアックア, Kouhou no Akkua^?)

His Sorcery name is Flere210, "the one who changes the reason of tears". Real name is William Orville. Blessed with the nature of "God's Power". He was formerly a mercenary for the Anglican church, but later changed his religion and joined God's Right Seat. He's also the only one who doesn't ignore the opinions of the Pope. Although he cannot use spells that are used by normal sorcerers, he is blessed with the spell "Divine Mother's Mercy" which nullifies the liabilities of certain special spells so he could perform powerful spells under unfit conditions. He also has the capacity of a saint, so he is also endowed with super-human capabilities. At the top of that, "Divine Mother's Mercy" nullifies the Limiter of the body so he could use 100% of the super-human capabilities as a saint. He also fought against Kaori Kanzaki who also has the capacity of a saint and displayed a great gap between their power.

Fiamma of the Right (右方のフィアンマ, Uhou no Fiamma^?)

Leader of God's Right Seat. Blessed with the nature of "Regard of God". According to him, he holds the symbol of miracles, "The Holy Right" but cannot use its full potential as of yet. In order to do so, he thinks that Index holds the answer to his dilemma. He heads out for England but the details are not yet known.

[edit] Academy City's Underground Organizations

GROUP

Mitsuki Unabara (海原 光貴, Unabara Mitsuki^?)

Real name is Quetzal, a sorcerer. He borrows the appearance of Mitsuki Unabara, Tokiwadai middle school principal's grandson. A certain group outside Academy City became aware of the growing "Kamijō Forces", so they sent him as a spy. Borrowing the appearance of Mitsuki, he attempts to become closer to Mikoto Misaka, but he ends up falling in love with her. After he loses the battle with Tōma, he makes him promise to protect Mikoto and the world around her. Later it is revealed that he is member of the GROUP.

Awaki Musujime (結標 淡希, Musujime Awaki^?)

A sophomore attending Kirigaoka Academy for Girls. She is a Level 4 esper with her ability, Move point (座標移動, Zahyō Idō^?, "Move Target"). Her ability has the potential to be elevated to Level 5, but trauma caused her ability development to stop and she has been a Level 4 ever since. She is the guide to the windowless building where Aleister Crowley resides. She is living with Komoe Tsukuyomi.

SCHOOL

Teitoku Kakine (垣根 帝督, Kakine Teitoku^?)

One of the seven Level 5 espers, ranking second after Accelerator; he is the leader of SCHOOL. He was the "spare plan" for Aleister Crowley's secret project in case that Accelerator would not meet Crowley's expectation. He himself did not like the idea and tried to eliminate Accelerator, but failed. Later, he learns the true capability of his power and had "awakens". He is able to corner Accelerator, but Accelerator also "awakens" and he is defeated. His ability was the Dark Matter (未元物質, Migen Busshitsu^?, "Unknown Matter").

Chimitsu Sunazara (砂皿 緻密, Sunazara Chimitsu^?)

A mercenary employed by the SCHOOL. Uses an Academy City-made magnetic sniper rifle.

ITEM

Shizuri Mugino (麦野 沈利, Mugino Shizuri^?)

One of the seven level 5 espers, ranking fourth after Mikoto Misaka; she is the leader of ITEM, which is at odds with SCHOOL. She looks down upon lower level espers and she doesn't mind eliminating people who get on her way or go against her, regardless of whether they are ally or anemy. Her overconfidence eventually results in her defeat against a level 0 drop-out. Her ability is the Meltdowner (原子崩し, Merutodauna^?, "Atom Breaker"), which converts electrons into an unstable destructive matter.

Saiai Kinuhata (絹旗 最愛, Kinuhata Saiai^?)

Member of ITEM. According to Teitoku Kakine, Saiai is a left-over from the Project Mayday of Darkness (暗闇の五月計画, Ankoku no Satsuki Keikaku^?) whose aim was to create a personal version of Accelerator's ability by using a similar pattern of ability operation. Though the details are not mentioned, she only succeeded in creating a low-level self-defense capability. Her ability was the level 4 Offense Armour (窒素装甲, Chisso Soukou^?, "Nitrogen Armour") which she uses to control the nitrogen in the atmosphere, creating a few centimeters of nitrogen barrier she could use to attack and defend.

Frenda (フレンダ, Furenda^?)

Member of ITEM. Though the details about her ability was not mentioned, she was considerably skilled. She betrays ITEM and tries to go to SCHOOL, but Shizuri Mugino catches her and she is executed.

Rikou Takitsubo (滝壺 理后, Takitsubo Rikou^?)

Member of ITEM. She suffers from brain damage after fighting and being defeated by Teitoku Kakine; as a result, she can no longer use her esper abilities. Her ability was the AIM Stalker (能力追跡, Nouryoku Tsuiseki^?, "ability tracker") which she uses to track down the esper. She also states that her ability allowed her to steal other esper's abilities by memorizing their AIM, potentially allowing her to become the eight level 5 esper in Academy City.

MEMBER

Professor (博士, Hakase^?)

Real name unknown. Leader of the organization, MEMBER. He loves numerical expressions and he finds beauty within it. He fought against Teitoku Kakine, but was defeated. Aleister Crowley's loyal dog.

Yoshio Baba (馬場 芳郎, Baba Yoshio^?)

Operative of MEMBER. He supports Professor from afar by using remote-controlled animal robots from a emergency shelter.

Saraku (査楽, Saraku^?)

Operative of MEMBER. His ability is the level 4 Kill Point (死角移動, Shikaku Idou^?, "Blind-spot movement"). He can teleport behind his opponent, thus the name "blindspot movement". But, he cannot calculate the theoretical value of the 11th dimension, so he needs to know the current location of his opponent in order to activate his ability.

BLOCK

Tatsuhiko Saku (佐久 辰彦, Saku Tatsuhiko^?)

Leader of the organization, BLOCK. The main role of this organization is the observation of the interaction with organizations outside the Academy city.

Megumi Teshio (手塩 恵未, Teshio Megumi^?)

Member of BLOCK. A muscled woman, also working as a anti-skill. She plans to assassinate Aleister Crowley and is after the guide to the windowless building.

Tetsumō (鉄網, Tetsumō^?)

Member of BLOCK. She uses her ability, the Skill Polygraph (意見解析, Iken Kaiseki^?, "Opinion Analysis"), to checkout spies and traitors among the BLOCK

[edit] Terminology

Power users

Also known as psychics or espers, they are people who can use psychic powers or supernatural powers. Most people were born with supernatural powers while others like normal people can acquire them artificially by participating in the Academy City's Power Curriculum Program. Most can use their powers just thinking about it. Unfortunately, due to their powers, they cannot learn and use magic as magic was made for ordinary people who had no powers. In the fourth novel, it is revealed that psychics can use magic but using it damages the user because magic was never designed to be used by psychics.

Magic users

Magic was created by people who wanted to have powers just like their psychic counterparts. Most ordinary people can learn and use magic, no matter what type of magic it is except people with supernatural powers as it was design for normal people (The fourth novel reveals they can except it also hurts them). Like their psychic counterparts who cannot use magic, they too cannot use psychic powers as they were not born with supernatural powers.

Academy City

Located west of Tokyo, is the city where most of the series takes place. Its total population is about 2.3 million with 80% of them being students and 1/8 of those students living in the city dorms. As the city's name suggest, it is a city of several schools and institutions of higher learning from kindergarten to university level who learn side by side along with the scientists who research on psychic powers and higher technology. The city, was founded by the magician Aleister Crowley to do studies and research on the development of preternatural abilities. It is a very high tech and clean city about 30 years ahead of its time. Entry to the city is forbidden to outsiders except those with psychic potential. Because the city's existence is a secret, security is very high, with a spy satellite in space, checkpoints outside of the city, security cameras everywhere and guards constantly patrolling the city to make sure ordinary people cannot enter the city easily. The city power supply comes from the large Wind turbines and Solar panels that appears all over the city.

Power Curriculum Program

The Academy's City Power Curriculum Program is a large-scale program designed to advance a person's psychic or supernatural powers. The programs is a series of tests, studies, lectures, medicines, body simulations and hypnosis used to unlock a person powers. Most students are Level 0, normal people with no powers but who may have the potential to develop powers are therefore encouraged to participate in the program to help them train their powers or acquire them artificially. While most students will fail the program as they never had powers to being with or fail to increase their power, some are able to advance theirs powers from Level 0 to Level 1 and possibly further. One of the program's success stories is Misaka Mikoto, as she started from Level 1 and worked her way up to Level 5; thus she is proof that with enough hard work and determination, anyone can become a powerful psychic.

However, unknown to the public there is a dark side to this program. Some of the scientists who research psychic powers try to increase a persons powers using other methods that are unethical which include dangerous drugs and experiments. Some of these methods achieved their desired results or failed with trauma or injury to the participant or, in worse cases, death. In fact, some of the most powerful psychics in Academy City were the result of these dark programs. It's implied that the board of directors of the city are aware of these experiments but choose to turn a blind eye to them as they allow those scientists to do what they what to do as long sa the public doesn't know.

Judgement

The public moral committee. It is made up of students with powers from every grade level who's duty is to maintain peace and order within the school system. As most of the city population are students, with some of them being trouble makers who abuse their powers, it is the duty of Judgement to catch those delinquents along with other offenders and protect the students. In the event of a situation in which Judgement members cannot handle, their superiors and the city's security forces, the Anti-Skills will take over. Overall, the role of a Judgement officer is more like a part-time civilian patrol officer as their authority is normally limited to their school grounds and they can only use their authority outside when ordered to by their superiors or in cases of emergency. Most Judgement members can be recognized by the stripped green arm band they wear.

Anti-Skills

The city's police and security forces. Unlike Judgement, most members of Anti-Skills are adults who are mostly normal people who are trained to deal with the city day-to-day activities and security, in addition to dealing with rogue psychics who abuse their powers. Most members of Anti-Skills are seen with SWAT armor along with firearms and riot gear, which shows how serious the situation has to be for them to be called out.

Psychic Rank

Every psychic has a rank that determines how powerful their powers are. There are 7 levels, with level 0 being the lowest for no powers to level 6 for the most powerful. Currently there are no known levels 6 psychics as according to the Super Computer Tree Diagram, it would take about 200 years for someone achieve it under the Power Curriculum Program.

As a result Level 5 is the current highest level. There are only seven level 5 psychics; only four have been disclosed so far: Misaka Mikoto, who can manipulate electricity and fire a "Railgun"; Accelerator, who has the power to change the vector values of anything he touches, even bullets; Teitoku Kakine, with the ability "Dark Matter"; and Shizuri Mugino, whose ability "Meltdowner" converts electrons into unstable matter.

Necessarius

Also known as the Church of Necessary Evil, it is a secret branch of the Church of England that conducts supernatural and magical experiments to fight supernatural threats. Ironically, Necessarius was created by English Puritans who despise magic, but since Britain was a magical country during their time, they had to learn to use magic to counter magic. Their headquarters are located at St. George Cathedral in London. They are allies of the Vatican and rivals with the Russian Orthodox Church (which is ironic, as the organization's headquarters in real life is of Orthodox Denomination). The leader of the Necessarius is surprisingly led by a young female Archbishop named Laura Stuart.

Index-Librorum-Prohibitorum

Index-Librorum-Prohibitorum can mean either Index, the character full name or the library of grimoires inside her brain, which are Necessarius most greatest asset. It is a collection of 103,000 of books of sorcery from all over the world. Compile by the Church of England, the Catholic Church and other organizations, these banned books were recorded into the mind of Index, who has photographic memory, as an alternative and safe record keeper and thus making Index a living library and safer way to get information from the books since, Necessarius believes reading the originals will curse and taint that person. According to the higher ups of Necessarius, the information from the collection has cause a strain in Index mind and can only be solve by resetting her memories once a year with the price of forgetting her past.

However it was later reveal that this is nothing but a lie as there is no damage for possessing that much information as The Church, fearing that she will betray them or in a worse case, becomes a threat and the most powerful magician as she possess knowledge of the world's most dangerous spells, created measures to ensure her loyalty to them. A magical rune in her throat is the real reason that's been causing her pain to force her to undergo a memory reset and as a last resort, the Feather of Light is activated to do an automatic reset should a manual memory reset is failed to be performed on time. After the events of the first novel, these measures were destroy by Tōma thus enabling Index to live normally. Unfortunately, the church is not willing to let her go that easily and for the time being are keeping a watch on her and have sent their agents and their allies to "retrieve her" just in case.

Amakusa Catholics

A secret group of Catholic warriors in Japan. These Japanese Catholics were formed when early Japan banned Christianity within the country. They have developed and evolved a unique form of sorcery, merging it with words and things that was used in everyday life, making it almost impossible for outsiders to read their spell pattern and spell composition. They are also skilled in melee combat and group battles. Currently led by Substitute-Supreme Pontiff Saiji Tatemiya.

God's Right Seat

A secret magical Organization within the Catholic Church, a counterpart to Necessarius. While the organization is suppose to be under the control of the Pope, in reality the organization is more loyal to the leader of God's Right Seat, Fiamma of the Right. Currently Fiamma's target is Index for he believes she posses the knowledge to unlock his true powers. So much so that he has sent his magicians and agents to Academy City.

AIM (An Involuntary Movement)

An invisible energy field that the espers involuntarily produce. One example of this is when Tōma finds Misaka Mikoto by following wind turbines that are turning without wind. Mikoto's body involuntarily produces voltage all the time; thus Tōma comes to the conclusion that it can power the wind turbines.