Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume5 Afterword
Afterword[edit]
If you picked them up one at a time, welcome back. If you bought them all at once…um, how many volumes is the entire series by this point?
This is Kamachi Kazuma.
This one was mostly an Operation Handcuffs rematch, but I also let the mysterious storybook girl Alice Anotherbible go nuts as a guest heroine. She is a lovely girl with a bright smile, but I think you should have sensed a scarier side of her as well.
Alice and Anna are both selfish girls who put themselves first, but while Anna and the Handcuffs villains are dangerous people with a short temper and a penchant for causing explosions, Alice is always smiling and seems more stable. The problem is no one can predict what will happen once she finally does explode with anger. They do say, after all, that even the Buddha will eventually run out of patience, but maybe someone like her isn’t who they had in mind with that saying. …Or is she more like a gentle mother of indeterminate age?
What is the difference between Kamijou Touma and Hamazura Shiage?
This question was referenced a bit in GT3 and 4, but the answer is found here in GT5. Hamazura rushed into battle without trying to determine what was causing it all and did not consider the possibility of converting that evil power into something good, so he placed himself on his opponent’s field and couldn’t stop the tragedy. But things would have been different if he had been dragged into it all on his own, without the Coin of Nicholas’s interference. Protecting what matters to you does not always make things better. And sadly enough, increasing your position only on the side of good does not always give you more options to work with.
I think the most prominent difference between before (GT3) and after (GT5) was Hanatsuyu Youen. Her actions were easier to predict when she was separated from Kaai, who is more violent and loves being self-destructive, but Kamijou still compromised with her quite a bit. With Kaai in GT3 and Kamijou in GT5, Youen proved to be easily influenced by anyone who makes a real attempt. I hope you saw just how cute that little villain is.
Everyone has a good and a bad side, so I decided to show a different side of Anti-Skill this time. I was wondering how they would face the villains after having their headquarters destroyed in Handcuffs. Before, I had mostly shown rogue units motivated by an extremist form of good, so this time I went the other way and introduced an Anti-Skill officer who compromises with the darkness and makes use of the villains. Being flexible and avoiding direct conflicts can increase your options. That might sound nice, but I hope you saw just how sinister an adult organization like that can be. It might be fun to consider what the real difference between Kamijou and Tessou is.
And whether they were good or bad, it was the ghosts who never strayed from their convictions. Kihara Hasuu was a scientist in GT3, so it seems ironic to me that he failed to die within the bonds of the science side, returned as a ghost, and was ultimately finished off by an angel. Unlike the other villains, a benevolent salvation would have the opposite effect on him. I feel like you wouldn’t have anything left if you removed his toxic side.
On the other hand, Frillsand #G had a fairly ominous scene at the end of GT3, but I think it was obvious whether she would choose to focus on her revenge or choose to save the children that Drencher had risked his life to protect. I think it’s important to remember that she was created as a childcare ghost first and the ability to fight external enemies was only an extension of that. None of it was revealed in detail within the story, but that kind ghost had gathered all the tools needed to take revenge on those involved in Handcuffs but threw them all out so she could instead oppose the great malice threatening those small lives. I hope she made you realize that Hamazura and Sodate weren’t the only ones who had inherited Drencher Kihara Repatri’s spirit.
I give my thanks to my illustrators Haimura-san and Itou Tateki-san and my editors Miki-san, Anan-san, Nakajima-san, and Hamamura-san. This was a GT3 rematch, but I imagine that made it difficult to design the new enemies so they could still stand out. Thank you for going along with my ridiculous demands yet again.
And I give my thanks to the readers. Did you find the Handcuffs villains or Alice Anotherbible more frightening? I hope you also had some thoughts about the smaller changes to the world, like the collapse of R&C Occultics and Accelerator beginning his new prison life.
It is time to close the pages for now while praying that the pages of the next book will be opened.
And I lay my pen down for now.
I don’t think there’s anything cuter than a lonely villain girl pouting her lips.
-Kamachi Kazuma
