A Certain Magical Index/Characters/Level 5 Espers

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The most powerful espers in Academy City, the Level 5s hit the Superpower Lottery big time. They are capable of overwhelming shows of force and ability, at almost god-like levels. They are both revered for their powers and despised for the privileges that come with them. It is important to note, however, that esper levels are a measurement of how effective an esper is at using their powers, not necessarily their skill at Blowing Stuff Up. The Level 5s are actually ranked by how useful they are in helping the goal of reaching SYSTEM (Level 6); it's not an accurate measure of their power, but rather their usefulness in Aleister's plans.

Only six of the seven confirmed Level 5s have been revealed,[please verify] appearance and all.

Tropes shared between the Level 5s:

Accelerator

See the Protagonists page.

Teitoku Kakine

The One Who Has Touched the Territory of God

垣根 帝督 ("Kakine tei toku", literally "Hedgerow Emperor") is Academy City's second most powerful Level 5 esper, and the leader of SCHOOL. His ability, Dark Matter, allows him to create entirely new forms of matter that aren't bound by the laws of physics. Teitoku's power is hinted to be related to Accelerator's in some way, and he is the only other esper with the potential to become a Level 6. He has a rather one-sided rivalry with Accelerator, with his fondest wish being to defeat him. He is nearly killed by Accelerator in Volume 15 and reduced to a Brain In a Jar to supply researchers with Dark Matter. In New Testament Volume 5, he returnes, having gained the ability to create his own body from Dark Matter.

  • And I Must Scream: His brain was preserved and forced to create a constant stream of Dark Matter after his "death" by Accelerator. No longer the case as of NT Volume 5
  • Arrogant Kung Fu Guy: He's incredibly confident in his own power, looks down on everyone else, and hates the fact that Accelerator is stronger than him.
  • Asshole Victim / Laser-Guided Karma: He deserved everything Accelerator did to him.
  • Berserk Button: When he's told his ability -- more specifically, his white wings -- would have appeal to kids for a demonstration during the Daihaseisai, he wrecks SCHOOL's hideout. Considering his one-sided rivalry with Accelerator, being told you have appeal to kids is the ego equivalent of a kick to the balls.
  • Bishonen
  • Brain In a Jar: After his "dismemberment" by Accelerator, both his brain and body are preserved and stored separately.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: He spent Volume 15 one-shotting everyone he went up against without getting a scratch, until he went up against Accelerator.
  • Evil Counterpart: He's Accelerator with no standards.
  • Evilly Affable: Provided you don't directly oppose or hinder his objectives, he's actually a half-decent guy.
  • Green Lantern Ring: His ability, Dark Matter, basically does whatever he wants it to and defies the laws of physics while doing so.
  • Foil: To both Accelerator and Shizuri. It's pointed out that he specializes in creation while they specialize in destruction.
  • Friend to All Children: After his Heel Face Turn, to the point of creating an urban legend among Academy City's children.
  • Heel Face Turn: After Beetle 05 gains its own will, it hijacks control of the network and becomes the new Teitoku.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard:
    • Accelerator uses his own Dark Matter against him to finish him off, having learned how to redirect it even before Awakening.
    • One of his own Dark Matter copies gains an independent mind and hijacks control of the network, becoming the new Teitoku.
  • Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: When Uiharu wouldn't tell him the location of Last Order, he tries to get the information out of her by stomping on her shoulder, dislocating it, and continuing to put pressure on it.
  • Jerkass
  • Lack of Empathy: Just as much as, if not more than, Accelerator.
  • Light Is Not Good: Despite his angelic appearance and using weaponized light as his main attack, Teitoku isn’t a very nice person.
  • Meaningful Name: His name can roughly be translated as "Emperor of the Front Fence".
  • No Name Given: 垣根 帝督 literally means "Hedgerow Emperor".
  • Not Worth Killing: He has absolutely no compassion or remorse, but he will sometimes leave his opponents alive if they are completely helpless or already dying, just because he thinks it would be beneath him to waste energy on them.
  • Punch Clock Villain: He has a relatively normal personality when not on the job.
  • Redemption Demotion: He doesn't use his Self-Duplication anymore, as that would risk allowing an evil personality to take over.
  • Satellite Character: His entire character is defined by his relationship with, and inferiority to, Accelerator. After his Heel Face Turn, this is no longer the case.
  • The Sociopath
  • Split Personality Takeover: One of his own creations, Beetle 05, gains free will and refuses to follow his orders. It takes over the network, destroying the original and proclaiming himself to be the new Teitoku. Accelerator and Shizuri surmise that this was likely the part of his original personality that cared for others.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: Stabs Yomikawa just after she saves his life from Accelerator.
  • Unwitting Pawn: His hatred and envy of Accelerator was nurtured and encouraged by Aleister. He was also intended to act as a spare part in Aleister's plan, in case Accelerator failed to live up to his expectations.
  • Villain Ball: Stabbing Yomikawa just to piss off Accelerator.
  • Would Hit a Girl: Let's see: He fights with and defeats Shizuri, attacks both Saiai and Rikou and leaves them for dead, nearly kills Uiharu, wanted to use the innocent and adorable Last Order as bait so he could have a glorified pissing match with Accelerator, and then stabs Yomikawa after she saves his ass from Accelerator.
  • The Worf Effect:
    • When he fights Accelerator for the first time, he's easily defeated.
    • When his original self is brought back in NT Volume 8, Othinus manhandles him with ease and forces him to obey her will.

Mikoto Misaka

See the Protagonists page.

Shizuri Mugino

Voiced by Ami Koshimizu

The fourth Level 5 esper, and the leader of ITEM. Her power, Meltdowner, converts electrons into a highly destructive form of matter that exists somewhere between particles and waves. While kind and gentle to her friends, she has a unpleasant personality once angered. In Volume 15, she kills Frenda and attempts to kill Shiage, only to be defeated and badly injured. She returns in Volume 19, only to be defeated by Shiage yet again. Her third and final appearance as a villain is in Volume 22, where she's defeated yet again. This time, however, he's sick of it all and spares her life. Shizuri undergoes a Heel Face Turn and goes back to being the leader of ITEM.

"Gya ha ha!! Oh, now where to start burning her? Maybe I should roast that little face of hers. Or maybe I should press against her pink ***** and burn it pitch black!! Hey, what do you think, Hamazura? You’d better come out, cause I’m gonna burn her into a black mummy! Or can you still get off to fucking a hole like that!?"
"I’ll count to three. If you don’t come out, I’ll burn Takitsubo’s ***** as punishment. Of course, if you’d rather just abandon her, then you can just sit there masturbating to the stench of her virginity being burned away."

  • Barrier Warrior: She can make shields of energy that are tough enough to withstand Mikoto's electric attacks.
  • Beauty Is Bad
  • Beauty Is Never Tarnished: No matter how badly she gets hurt or how insane she becomes, she still looks beautiful. Even after losing her right eye and left arm.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: While she's a Cool Big Sis to her teammates, offending her is a bad idea. Pissing her off reveals a very different side of her. It gets worse when she turns into a psychopath after losing half of her face.
  • Blood Knight: Battle-hungry? Check. Unnerving temper? Check. Obsesses over Shiage after their fight? Huge check.
  • Came Back Wrong: Became even more psycho and unstable than before, with a Yandere crush on her killer, Shiage Hamazura.
  • Comedic Sociopathy: “I’m the girl who killed your sister. Nice to meet you.” -- said casually to Frenda's little sister.
    • Shizuri is pretty good at this, such as this little exchange when she was giving Shiage a countdown to come out before she roasted Rikou. Shizuri did not give a nice slow count, as was usual. Instead…

Shizuri: "Three-two-one-go!"
Shiage: "FUCK!"

"The kind of person that can’t stand it when you can’t complete a video game without 100% accuracy."
"If you fuck up even slightly, you fly into a rage and won’t accept it even if you complete the game."
"When someone like that fucks up even slightly, they find another goal in order to write it off. When you aren’t able to get 100% accuracy, you instead go for a high score and are satisfied with that."

"Hamazura’s body slid across the roof. He managed to stop himself and then looked around in surprise. He saw Shizuri standing a good way back on the track. She must have jumped from the bridge just as he had. Her hand was stuck deep in the ground. The power cables for Academy City railroads ran through the ground. Muginohad used her power to sever the power cable in order to stop the train.
From a few hundred meters away, Mugino Shizuri said something.
Hamazura couldn't hear her voice, but he understood it from the movements of her mouth.
'I – am – going – to – fucking – kill – you.'
From atop the train, Hamazura took in what Shizuri had said. The Level 5 who had forcibly stopped the train smiled so it looked like her face was split in two.
'…!!'
All of the hair on Hamazura’s body stood on end."

  • Pride: Her biggest fault is her pride. It’s because of this that Mikoto survived their battle, leading to ITEM's downfall and her death/defeat by Shiage.
  • Sanity Has Advantages: If she wasn't so insane, she would have crushed Shiage easily without him being able to do the slightest thing about it. Or would never have ended up fighting him. Or wouldn't have even made an enemy of him in the first place. Sanity definitely has advantages.
  • Shock and Awe: She can control electricity to a minor degree, to the point of being able to deflect Mikoto's lightning.
  • Sir Swearsalot: Her mouth is NOT as beautiful as the rest of her face.
  • Skirt Over Slacks
  • Slasher Smile: Though she is quite fond of Kubrick Stares, Psychotic Smirks, and combinations of the three where applicable.
  • Social Darwinist: Played straight until Volume 22, where she subverts this hard by lashing out at Academy City's "Parameter List", a cost-control mechanism that restricts funds to unworthy (read: Level 0) students (read: Hamazura) and allocates those funds to more powerful and promising espers.
  • We Have Reserves: How she makes an enemy of Shiage, coupled with the fact that her "expendable" henchman had just tried a You Shall Not Pass for his sake.
  • Willfully Weak: It's strongly implied during the fight with Shiage that she's actually quite a bit more powerful than Mikoto, except she lacks immunity to her own power and as such has to limit herself. So she holds back on a large part of her raw power because if she truly went all-out with an attack, the recoil would kill her.
  • Yandere: Towards Shiage, after he defeats her the first time.

Misaki Shokuhou

The Queen of Tokiwadai

The fifth Level 5 Esper. Being the second Level 5 to attend Tokiwadai, her followers and Mikoto’s followers often come into conflict. Her ability, Mental Out, involves the manipulation of memories and the human mind. She is also the leader of the largest clique in Tokiwadai. It's implied that she has some sort of connection with Touma. This is confirmed in NT Volume 11, which reveals that he saved her life in the past, but due to brain damage sustained as a result, he is no longer capable of remembering her.

  • Amplifier Artifact: Exterior, a giant brain cloned from her brain tissue. When she connects to it telepathically, it allows her to control thousands of people at once. However, it's destroyed at the end of the Daihaseisai arc in Railgun.
  • Anchored Ship: She is definitely in love with Touma, but he doesn't remember her at all, and will never be able to remember her. This is due to him having retrograde and anterograde amnesia specific to her.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: In her first appearance in Railgun, she implies that she sees Mikoto trying to make friends as an attempt at forming a rival faction. She attempts to use her power on Mikoto, despite knowing that it won't work and that it only causes a painful reaction. Her next move is to use her power to confront Mikoto with the possibility of being Zerg Rushed by a mass of uninvolved students who would simultaneously be used as shields.
    • However, later chapters and volumes have her subvert this. Her threatening behavior to Mikoto was because she (for justified reasons) didn't trust her at the time. It's also shown that Misaki treats the people she controls well, at one point even risking her life to fix an enemy's mind.
  • Buxom Is Better: Which Mikoto grudgingly acknowledges, and also seemingly how she suspects that Misaki might not even be a middle-school student.
  • Chekhov's Gunman:
    • She was first mentioned in the first volume of Index as someone who might have been able to fix Index's memory loss.
    • Mikoto considered asking her to fix Touma's memory loss, but changed her mind, not wanting to be in her debt.
  • Crippling Overspecialisation: Her power is extremely effective on humans, but completely useless on machines or non-human animals.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Her hair and eyes are both gold.
  • A Day In The Limelight: NT Volume 11, which details her past with Touma.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": She is usually referred to as the "Queen of Tokiwadai" rather than her actual name.
  • Everyone Has Standards: She takes care of people under her control. She also refuses to read Touma's mind.
  • Eyes of Gold
  • The Faceless: Despite first being mentioned in the very first volume of Index, she never makes an official appearance until chapter 41 of Railgun, where she shows herself to Mikoto. Justifed, as she often uses her power to communicate through others.
  • Fandom Rivalry: In-universe, there's a rivalry between her and Mikoto's fans.
  • Foil:
    • To Mikoto. Both are Level 5 espers who go to Tokiwadai, and also of the same age. Both of them have been involved in the city's dark side, due to their power. Mikoto's power over electricity allows her to control many forms of technology, which Misaki is entirely helpless against. They also both fell in love with Touma after he saved them.
    • To Seria. Both of them can exert great influence over the human mind, but Seria manages it without using her (presumably Level 0) esper ability. They're both seen as high-class beauties within their respective schools. And again, they're both in love with Touma and are aware of his memory loss.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Though she loves Touma, she can never be with him since he'll never be able to remember her. She stays out of his life (except when he ends up encountering her by chance), as trying to be with him would only hurt them both.
  • I Will Wait for You: While she knows there's little chance of it happening, she's hopeful that Touma will someday be able to remember her.
  • Irony: The most powerful telepath, and she's unable to be with the person she loves because he can never remember her. On a similar note, she's the only one of his love interests who's aware of his Cool Big Sis fetish and actually fits this archetype, but (again) can never be with him.
  • I Work Alone: Due to her paranoia, she is extremely reluctant to work with people not under her control. She only agrees to work with Mikoto to save the Sisters or to help Touma, or to work with Touma.
  • Magic Feather: She uses various kinds of remotes to focus her power. Each kind is assigned to a specific function, such as reading memories. This is because her power is so versatile that she wouldn't be able to do anything without limiting herself in this way.
  • Memory Gambit: Defeats Gensei Kihara this way. He also has access to Mental Out, along with many other esper abilities. She has the code that he needs to release Exterior's limiter, but she can only stop him from reading her mind as long as she remains conscious. Since Gensei has many other abilities, she wouldn't be able to hold him off for long. So she deliberately rewrites her own mind to switch her memories of the limiter release code and the self-destruct code, and removes her memory of doing so. When Gensei knocks her out and reads her mind, he accidentally inputs the self-destruct code, incapacitating himself.
  • Ojou: According to Mikoto, she's the most Ojou of all the Ojous at Tokiwadai, which really says something. She, however, subverts the traditional archetype by being quite frivolous, making silly poses, not caring for her weight, and saying cliché anime lines. It's just that she erases certain people's memories and that her fangirls don't say anything about it.
  • Opera Gloves
  • Properly Paranoid: She is always justifiably suspicious of everyone except Touma.
  • Secret Keeper: She's aware of Touma's memory loss. She and Heaven Canceller are the only ones who know about the second instance of this.
  • Sitcom Arch Enemy: With both Mikoto and Seria.
  • Squishy Wizard: She's very much out of shape, due to over-reliance on her ability. When Mikoto jogs for a short distance, Misaki is exhausted trying to keep up. Touma repeatedly lampshades this as well.
  • Story-Breaker Power: Her power may only work on the human mind, but it's extremely effective within this domain. She can add, change or remove memories, alter perceptions, easily and safely incapacitate people, read memories (not just from people, but also from anything they've touched), send telepathic messages, and control minds. Only other telepathic abilities (and Imagine Breaker, to an extent) are shown to be able to defend against her power. And she's firmly on Touma's side. Understandably, they don't work together very often, as it would make his adventures far too easy.
  • Super Drowning Skills: She once started drowning in water less than a metre deep, that children were playing in.
  • Telepathy: Academy City's most powerful telepath.
  • Unknown Rival: Has no interest in any conflict with Mikoto, and the feeling’s mutual; it's their followers who are rivals, not them personally.
  • Verbal Tic: She often appends "power" or "ability" to the end of words.
  • The Voiceless: Uses mind-controlled proxies and her own followers whenever she needs to communicate.
  • Wingding Eyes: She has stars in her eyes, and claims that she was born this way. They also appear in the eyes of people she controls, though this is presumably a visual aid for the audience.
  • Younger Than They Look: A middle-schooler who could pass for a high-schooler or even a young adult. This is lampshaded in her first appearance by Mikoto.
  • Zettai Ryouiki: With lace.

Etsu Aihana

The mysterious sixth Level 5 Esper. Not much is known about this person, not even their gender. They are a mystery even in-universe, with their actual appearance and ability being unknown to most. Their real name is only confirmed in New Testament Volume 12, which marks the first time they actually appear for more than the space of a single line.

  • The Ghost: Completely offscreen until NT Volume 10, where they're mentioned toying with their phone. Their first major appearance is in NT Volume 12. Even here, their appearance isn't described and they don't actually have any lines - the reader is only indirectly told what Etsu says, via the reactions of a second person.
  • Helping Would Be Killstealing: Rather than using their power to help people directly, they lend their identity to others so that they can help themselves. It's unclear whether this is the truth or an excuse for laziness or wanting to stay hidden.
  • No Name Given: Their name was only confirmed in NT Volume 12. It was actually first mentioned in NT Volume 7 by an imposter, but it wasn't clear at the time whether it was the real person's name.
  • Running Gag: Whenever they're mentioned, the topic soon shifts to something else. This has actually led to speculation that Etsu's power can control information in some way, preventing anyone from knowing anything about them.

Gunha Sogiita

The Attack Crash

The seventh Level 5 esper, Gunha is a Gemstone, an esper who was born with his powers. His ability is nameless and absolutely impossible to define using Academy City's paradigm, though it allows him to create strange explosions, attack at twice the speed of sound, and recover from being shot in the head or heart with no pain. He is classified as the lowest Level 5 precisely because nobody understands his immense power. He has a strong sense of justice.

Which, of course, means his ability is quite easily defined in Real Life as "sentai hero"... but that name isn't scientific.

  • Badass: Despite getting Worf'd, he's still undeniably badass.
  • Beyond the Impossible: Even in comparison to other espers. His powers are literally considered incomprehensible according to the current understanding of esper abilities. One of his more normal feats is redirecting lightning by punching it.
  • Blood Knight: He wants to fight strong opponents. After seeing the dragon(s) inside Touma, he says that he'd like to fight him some day. Note that the dragon(s) in question were capable of eating the power of an esper close to Level 6.
  • Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Happens with Yabumi Haratani. Whenever Gunha gives out an explanation for his powers, Haratani ends up calling him on it, followed by Gunha responding with a dumbfounded variation of "Then what did I just do?" Gets lampshaded by Mikoto.
  • Book Dumb: In stark contrast to every other Level 5 (barring Etsu, as too little is known about them to come to any conclusions).
  • Born Winner: Being a Gemstone, he was born with his esper abilities.
  • Calling Your Attacks: "Amazing Puuunch!"

Yokosuka: Please, just beat me with an attack that sounds like it's worth losing to at least. Not that Amazing Punch attack.

  • Cloudcuckoolander: In NT Volume 7, when thousands of heroes are fighting each other over Fremea, he's also fighting... to protect the trees from being destroyed.
  • Combo-Platter Powers: His power is stated to be impossible to define, and manifests in a variety of ways, including:
    • Deflector Shield: "Aurora Guard", capable of blocking Mikoto's lightning when she's becoming a Level 6.
    • Healing Factor: He claims that he can stop bleeding and reset bones using just his guts.
    • Make Me Wanna Shout: He can scream loudly enough to slow himself while falling.
    • Nigh Invulnerability: To the point that he can catch Mikoto's Railgun with his teeth (albeit that was at 30% usual power) and survive attacks from Ollerus.
    • Stuff Blowing Up: A common consequence of his attacks.
    • Super Speed: Capable of moving at Mach 2.
    • Super Strength: He can punch with enough strength to extinguish a fire using the resulting gust of wind.
  • Determinator: He repeatedly gets back up during his fight with Ollerus despite being totally outclassed.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Appears unnamed in one of the memories of a Level Upper user during the AIM Burst phenomenon in Chapter 15 of the Railgun manga, well before his actual first appearance in Chapter 44. Witnessing Gunha's amazing power appears to have been the catalyst for that esper to use the Level Upper in the first place.
  • Explaining Your Power to the Enemy: He tries to, but his explanations are considered nonsensical even within the setting.
  • Foil: To Touma. Mikoto even wonders if they know each other after Gunha is able to withstand her electrical attacks.
  • For Great Justice: Making the world a kinder and gentler place..... one ass-kicked villain at a time.
  • Hero of Another Story: His high school teacher notes that he misses school to help people all the time (just like Touma), yet we've barely seen any of it.
  • Honor Before Reason
  • Hot-Blooded
  • How Do I Shot Web?: An unusual example in that he knows how to use his powers, but he has no idea how they work (Touma is probably the only one in the series with similar issues). Ollerus tells him that he might have stood a chance in their fight if Gunha actually knew how his powers worked and took better advantage of them.
  • Lampshade Hanging: At one point, he gives the same kind of fake scientific explanation for his abilities as everyone else does, only to be met with a flat statement that what he just said was completely impossible and makes no sense.
  • Large Ham
  • Meaningful Name: His names can be translated as "Supremacy of the Military Court".
  • Megaton Punch: His Amazing Punch attack.
  • Nice Guy: By Level 5 standards, a pure, good-hearted and righteous boy like him is a veritable saint.
  • Now That's Using Your Teeth: He catches a railgun from Mikoto using his teeth. It was only at 30%, but still...
  • The Paladin: Although without the religious implications.
  • Shout-Out: In his first appearance in SS Volume 2 (and in the Railgun manga and in the Fanfare side story) he makes a dramatic speech that is immediately followed by explosions of colored smoke behind him.
  • Unskilled But Strong: Compared to every other Level 5. He has a wide variety of powerful abilities, but doesn't use any more strategy than "charge".
  • Verbal Tic: He believes in being gutsy over everything else to such a degree that he tries to insert something about 'guts' in as many of his sentences as he possibly can.
  • Wearing a Flag on Your Head: He wears a shirt emblazoned with the Rising Sun.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: He believes in simple ideas of good and evil, and thinks that everything can be resolved by fighting.
  • The Worf Effect: Gets curb-stomped by Ollerus. Going by what we now know about Ollerus, though, Gunha never stood a chance...
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Thinks he's The Hero of a Sentai anime.
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