The third season of the Japanese animated television series ''A Certain Magical Index'', based on the light novel of the same name, follows

Toma Kamijo is a fictional character created by Kazuma Kamachi and first illustrated by Kiyotaka Haimura. He is the main protagonist of the light novel series ''A Certain Magical Index'' and a major character in its manga spin-off series ''A Certain Sci ...

and

Index Index (or its plural form indices) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Index (''A Certain Magical Index''), a character in the light novel series ''A Certain Magical Index'' * The Index, an item on a Halo megastru ...

in their journey to stop the God's Right Seat of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and their plans that will lead to

World War III World War III or the Third World War, often abbreviated as WWIII or WW3, are names given to a hypothetical World war, worldwide large-scale military conflict subsequent to World War I and World War II. The term has been in use ...

. It was produced by

J.C.Staff , is a Japanese animation studio founded in January 1986 by Tomoyuki Miyata, who previously worked at Tatsunoko Production. The studio's first release was ''Yōtōden'' in 1987. They have produced several well-known anime series, such as '' Food ...

, with Hiroshi Nishikiori and Hiroyuki Yoshino serving as director and series composition writer, respectively. Atsushi Abe and Yuka Iguchi reprise their respective roles as Kamijo and Index. They are joined by Rina Satō, Nobuhiko Okamoto, and Satoshi Hino as the season's main cast, with the latter voicing Shiage Hamazura, who appeared in the second season's final episode. ''A Certain Magical Index III'' was announced in October 2017 as part of "A Certain Project 2018" and adapts the final nine volumes of the light novel. The third season aired in Japan from October 5, 2018, to April 5, 2019, and consists of 26 episodes. __TOC__

Episode list

Cast and characters

Main

Recurring

Production

Development

Kazuma Miki is a Japanese light novel editor. He is CEO of Straight Edge Inc, editor-in-chief of LINE novel, and outside director of Egg Firm. He is from the Tokushima prefecture. He graduated from Sophia University as a physics major. Overview After gr ...

, the light novel editor, apologized to fans who attended the Dengeki Bunko Autumn Festival 2015 in October for not having a sequel to ''

A Certain Magical Index II The second season of the Japanese animated television series ''A Certain Magical Index'', based on the light novel of the same name, follows the adventures of Toma Kamijo and Index as they face the threat of the Roman Catholic Church. It was p ...

'' (2010) "yet". He teased a possible third season in April 2016 and later asked fans to "wait a little longer" for its release. At the Dengeki Bunko Autumn Festival 2017 in October, Miki confirmed the production of ''A Certain Magical Index III'' as part of several projects under "A Certain Project 2018". In June 2018,

was confirmed to be producing the series, while Hiroshi Nishikiori and Yuichi Tanaka returned from the previous two seasons as the director and character animation designer, respectively. Hiroyuki Yoshino, who scripted '' A Certain Magical Index: The Movie – The Miracle of Endymion'' (2013), was confirmed to be the series composition writer, replacing Masanao Akahoshi. Additional staff members from '' A Certain Magical Index'' and '' A Certain Scientific Railgun'' anime series were confirmed in August 2018 to be returning for the third season.

Writing

Kazuma Kamachi is the pen name of a Japanese author who has published over 100 light novel volumes. He is best known for the creation of the ''A Certain Magical Index'' franchise which, as of 2019, has sold over 30 million copies worldwide and has been licensed ...

, creator of ''Index'' franchise, revealed that there were initial talks to make the third sequel a reboot of the series. Miki said that the production committee decided in the end to adapt the remaining volumes for the new season since fans wanted the whole story to be completed. The third season adapted the fourteenth to the twenty-second volume of the light novel.

Casting

Atsushi Abe and Yuka Iguchi confirmed in October 2017 their return for the third season as

and

, respectively. In June 2018, Rina Satō, Nobuhiko Okamoto, and Satoshi Hino were confirmed to be returning as Mikoto Misaka, Accelerator, and Shiage Hamazura, respectively. Additional cast members were announced in September 2018, including

Yoko Soumi is a Japanese actress and Voice acting in Japan, voice actress. She was born in Niigata Prefecture. She and fellow voice actor Akio Ōtsuka married on February 11, 2005, but they divorced three years later. Filmography Anime Drama CDs Vid ...

as Elizard,

Kei Shindou Kei may refer to: People * Kei (given name) * Kei, Cantonese for Ji(姫) * Kei, Cantonese for Qi(奇, 祁, 亓) * Shō Kei (1700–1752), king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom * Kei (singer) (born 1995), stage name of South Korean singer Kim Ji-yeon * P ...

as Carissa,

Sayaka Harada is a Japanese voice actress who is previously affiliated with Clare Voice. She played leading roles in each series, including ''Tawawa on Monday'', '' Urara Meirocho'', ''Aho-Girl'', ''UQ Holder!'' and ''The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls''. Biogra ...

as Villian, Takehito Koyasu as the Knight Leader, and

Toshiyuki Morikawa is a Japanese voice actor, narrator and singer who is the head of Axlone, a voice acting company he founded in April 2011. His name is also sometimes mistranslated as Tomoyuki Morikawa. In 2003, he and Fumihiko Tachiki formed the band "2Hearts", ...

as Fiamma of the Right.

Music

Maiko Iuchi is a Japanese composer and arranger. Much of her work is for video games and anime. Biography Iuchi was born in Hiroshima. She learned piano and percussion from a young age. As a high school student, she performed as a drummer in various band ...

of I've Sound was confirmed in July 2018 to be returning from the previous two seasons to compose the series. Maon Kurosaki performed the first opening theme music titled "Gravitation", while Iguchi performed the first ending theme music titled , which were used from episodes 1 to 15. Kurosaki also performed the second opening theme music titled "Roar", while Iguchi also performed the second ending theme music titled , which were used from episode 16 onwards.

Marketing

A teaser trailer for ''A Certain Magical Index III'' was released at Anime Expo 2018 in July, while a promotional trailer was released at the 94th

Comiket , more commonly known as or , is a semiannual ''doujinshi'' convention in Tokyo, Japan. A grassroots market focused on the sale of '' doujin'' (self-published) works, Comiket is a not-for-profit fan convention administered by the volunteer-ru ...

in August. The cast attended a stage event for the series at Kyoto International Manga Anime Fair 2018 in September. A commercial video was released on the series' official website in October 2018.

Release

Broadcast

''A Certain Magical Index III'' began airing in Japan on AT-X,

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

, and BS11 on October 5, 2018, and on

MBS MBS may refer for: People * Mohammed bin Salman (born 1985), crown prince and prime minister of Saudi Arabia * Mohan Bikram Singh (born 1935), Nepalese politician Places * MBS International Airport (IATA code: MBS), Freeland, Michigan, US * Mari ...

on October 6. Muse Communication began airing the series in Taiwan on i-Fun Anime Channel on October 7, 2018.

Home media

NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan released eight

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

volumes of ''A Certain Magical Index III'' starting December 26, 2018. Each volume contains a bonus novel written by Kamachi titled ''A Certain Scientific Railgun SS3''. The first and fifth limited-edition volumes are bundled with episodes 6 and 7 of the bonus anime ''A Certain Magical Index-tan''. A 7-disc Blu-ray box was released on September 29, 2021. Funimation released the first combo set in North America on October 1, 2019, and the second combo set on January 7, 2020. In October 2018, Funimation announced their simulcasting and dubbing of the series, while

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...

began simulcasting it outside Asia. Muse Communication started distributing the full season on their Muse Asia

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel on August 21, 2019.

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

released the series in Japan on March 24, 2022.

Reception

Theron Martin of

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...

graded ''A Certain Magical Index III'' 'B−', stating that it was "problematic" and being mishandled as compared to ''

A Certain Scientific Accelerator is a Japanese manga series written by Kazuma Kamachi and illustrated by Arata Yamaji. It is a spin-off of ''A Certain Magical Index'' series, which focuses on Academy City's most powerful Level 5 esper named Accelerator. The manga was seri ...

'' (2019) and ''

A Certain Scientific Railgun T The third season of the Japanese animated television series ''A Certain Scientific Railgun'', based on the manga of the same name, follows Mikoto Misaka teaming up with Misaki Shokuhō to stop the plans of Academy City's dark side during Daih ...

'' (2020). He also noted its pacing and complicated story arcs but praised its delivery of "what has always made the franchise entertaining". The series received heavy criticism from fans due to its "paltry" run and "wonky pacing", prompting them to send Nishikiori their hate messages.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Certain Magical Index III, A 2018 anime television series debuts A Certain Magical Index episode lists A Certain Magical Index J.C.Staff