Rikou Takitsubo

A Certain Item of Dark Side (Toaru Anbu no ITEM) is a new spin-off in the big A Certain Magical Index franchise, the same world as A Certain Scientific Railgun. The TV anime premieres on October 9, 2026, on AT-X and other channels. Studio J.C.Staff, which has animated almost every Index and Railgun series, is making it. Tatsuyuki Nagai directs. He also directed the first seasons of Railgun, and he is well known for Toradora! and Anohana. Shigeki Kimoto designs the characters. The story comes from a light novel series written by Kazuma Kamachi, the creator of Index, with art by Nilitsu. ASCII Media Works has published it under Dengeki Bunko since March 2023, with six volumes by February 2026. A manga version drawn by strelka began in October 2023. The setting is Academy City, a huge, walled city near Tokyo filled mostly with students. Here, psychic powers are not magic. They are treated as a science that can be studied and trained. People with these powers are called espers, and they are ranked by strength, with Level 5 at the very top. Only seven people in the whole city are Level 5. On the surface, Academy City is safe, modern, and orderly. But below the surface is the "Dark Side," a hidden world of secret groups that carry out missions the city could never admit to in public. ITEM is one of these secret teams. It is made up of four young women, each with a special role. Shizuri Mugino is the leader. She is one of the seven Level 5 espers, which makes her one of the most dangerous people in the city. Rikou Takitsubo has a quiet but very useful ability: she can sense and follow the unique energy that espers give off, so she can track almost anyone. Frenda Seivelun does not rely on powers. She is a fighter who uses bombs and traps. Saiai Kinuhata can control nitrogen in the air around her, which she uses to protect herself and the team. Fans of Railgun will remember ITEM as a group of enemies from that series. This show puts them at the center for the first time. It shows their daily life together, their missions, and the bond between them. The official description says it is a story of meeting, friendship, and darkness, and it warns that events move toward a terrible incident. So while there are fun and lively moments, the tone is darker than Railgun. It is best enjoyed by viewers who already know the Index or Railgun anime, but its focus on a new team makes it a possible starting point too.