Ika Musume x Index Crossover

About

Ikamusume x Index Crossover refers to a crossover fandom for Ikamusume from Squid Girl and Index from A Certain Magical Index. This fan work for both cute protagonists was boosted by parody video remixes on the Japanese video sharing service Nico Nico Douga (NND) in late 2010, and even affected to the official franchises in the following year.

Origin

The oldest instance which features the similarity of 2 main characters in each manga/light novel, Ika Musume and Index, was an illustration posted to the Japanese illustrators community pixiv on January 16th, 2009.^[1] However, another illustration by pixiv user Kanikama (かにかま) is known as the actual origin of this crossover fandom. It was posted on May 23rd 2010 (shown below, left).

Then, this fandom arose along with the beginning of both TV animes, the 1st season of Squid Girl and the 2nd season of A Certain Magical Index in October 2010. One of the earliest instances in those days was a parody video swapping each other's voices which was posted to NND on 6th of that month (shown below, right). The impression to their similarity among viewers became to be reinforced by parody videos remixing visual/vocal resources taken from the animes like this.

Spread

Along with the rise of crossover fandom evoked by NND videos, Ika Musume in this fandom became to be called as "Ikadex" (Japanese: イカデックス) or "Ika-nantoka-san" (イカなんとかさん) which come from Index's dishonorable moniker "In-nantoka-san" (インなんとかさん; lit. "In-something-san") representing her little presence in the main storyline which is enough to forget her name. Tagged under these names, videos and illustrations in this fandom were uploaded to NND^[2] and pixiv.^[3] The most famous work in this fandom is a parody where Ika musume literally invades the opening movie for The Certain Magical Index II. it was posted on October 17th and had earned over 350,000 page views within its first week.

Official Ikadex Parody

At the end of January 2010, it made a headline among Japanese anime otakus that "A Certain Magical Index-tan 3", an bonus episode bundled with the limited edition of the first DVD of the 2nd season released on 26th of that month, was an official parody of Ikadex. In the story, Index-tan dressing up like Squid Girl utters the famous phrases "Geso" and "Ika?", and even Touma says "I-It's a squid-like thingy which invaded the OP on Nico-something…". This episode, apparently a homage to the craze on that video sharing service, was leaked on the web several days before the release date.

However, this parody was forced to spark a controversy by a Squid Girl staff's official blog post on January 23rd which mentioned to parody videos on the web.^[4]

Transcript (Summary) :

We, staffs and the production committee, are confused about parody videos uploaded on the web, which seem like a parody for Ika Musume.
We believe it was a pure fan-service. But… in fact, it made some of staffs and interested persons sad. I guess some of fans don't look it kindly.

Due to its vague expression in that timing, readers understood this post as the representation toward J.C.Staff which must have made that parody without authorization of the Squid Girl side. It was quickly spread throughout the blogosphere sharing it with a negative meaning, and occurred a controversy among fanatics of both titles though this careless post was taken down with an apology at the same day.

As Squid Girl anime ended in the previous month, this fruitless controversy put the final nail in the coffin of this crossover fandom.

Notable Examples

Video parodies mostly feature Ika Musume. Meanwhile, Index tends to be inserted as a spice in a reflection of her "In-nantoka-san" nature.

Illustrations

Search Interest

External References

Editor’s Note: Registration is needed to browse the original videos listed in this section.