A Certain Item of the Dark Side Anime Greenlit

A website for A Certain Item of the Dark Side anime has been opened, confirming the adaptation of Kazuma Kamachi’s spinoff to his popular novel series A Certain Magical Index.

Author Kamachi seems to have a penchant for working on various projects revolving around the Index universe. It started with A Certain Scientific Railgun, then followed by A Certain Scientific Accelerator and A Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy, amongst many others.

A Certain Item of the Dark Side was written by Kamachi himself, with Nilitsu as its illustrator. It was published in March 2023 and is still ongoing to this day. It also received a manga adaptation by strelka, published in 2023 and still ongoing.

The anime will debut this year but has no exact date yet.

The dark side of the Academy City unraveled

The A Certain Magical Index series revolves around the power struggle between magicians and espers, with the story unfolding at Academy City, a city built to train and nurture young espers. The main character is Toma Kamijo, a teenager with the ability of Imagine Breaker that can cancel any magician’s and esper’s abilities. But his powers are not quantifiable, so he is classified as a Level 0 esper.

Each A Certain Magical Index spinoff centers around other characters that intertwine with the life of Toma. Such is also the case for A Certain Item of the Dark Side, which focuses on the antagonist group of A Certain Scientific Railgun.

The story is set around one year prior to A Certain Magical Index’s story. It tells the initial formation of Item, a mercenary organization that is working from the dark side of Academy City. They are ensuring that the upper echelons of the city are kept in check while preventing them from gaining too much power.

Item consists of four members. They are level 5 Shizuri Mugino, who can manipulate electrons around her (Meltdowner); level 4 Riko Takitsubo, who is able to sense and track other espers (AIM Stalker); level 4 Saiai Kinuhata, who’s able to create a nitrogen armor around her body (Offense Armor); and level 0 Frenda Seivelun, who compensates for her lack of power with excellent close combat abilities and explosives handling.

The team works by accepting orders from a mysterious female liaison known as Chobi Hanano. She is known as one of several “voices on the phone,” who controls many dark organizations in the Academy City.

A Certain Item of the Dark Side anime Greenlit casts and staffs

JC Staff once again handles the animation project. They are joined by many longtime staff members from the Index and Railgun anime.

The confirmed staff so far are director Tatsuyuki Nagai (Railgun) and character designer Shigeki Kimoto (Index, Railgun chief animation director).

The cast of Item from the previous anime are confirmed to reprise their past roles. They are Ami Koshimizu (Shizuri), Aya Suzaki (Riko), Maaya Uchida (Frenda), and Chinatsu Akasaki (Saiai).

Rie Murakawa is credited as “client” on the A Certain Scientific Railgun S anime in episode 22, which aligns with her status as Item’s liaison. But it is not confirmed that she will play Chobi Hanano in this anime.

More information about A Certain Item of the Dark Side anime will be revealed at the NBC Entertainment Universal Booth at the AnimeJapan 2026 event on March 28.