IS: Infinite Stratos

An exoskeleton weapon engineered by Japan, Infinite Stratos (IS) can be piloted only by women. Its power and combat prowess are so immense that an international treaty has been signed banning its use as a military asset.

When it is discovered that 15-year-old Ichika Orimura is the only male capable of steering an IS, he is forcibly enrolled in the Infinite Stratos Academy: an all-female boarding school, the students of which graduate to become IS pilots. At this training school, Ichika is reunited with two of his childhood friends, Houki Shinonono and Lingyin Huang, and befriends Cecilia Alcott, an IS representative from the United Kingdom.

Guided by the legendary pilot Chifuyu Orimura—their strict homeroom teacher and Ichika's older sister—Ichika and the girls will need to use everything at their disposal to defend themselves and their academy against the dangers that will arise during the course of their thrilling school life.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Dunois, Charlotte Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Bodewig, Laura Main

Inoue, Marina Japanese

Shinonono, Houki Main

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Orimura, Ichika Main

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Alcott, Cecilia Main

Yukana Japanese

Huang, Lingyin Main

Shimoda, Asami Japanese

Orimura, Chifuyu Supporting

Toyoguchi, Megumi Japanese

Shinonono, Tabane Supporting

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Nohotoke, Honne Supporting

Kadowaki, Mai Japanese

Yamada, Maya Supporting

Shitaya, Noriko Japanese

Kasai, Tsutomu Producer, Planning

Iwasaki, Atsushi Producer

Kindaichi, Ken Producer

Tanaka, Gou Producer

Reviews

Apr 21, 2012

WrysOfTalys

Recommended

Here's the deal: I have a dream animé. It's a show that's primarily mecha, with the robots piloted by humans and function like body armors rather than bigass robots that tower over the skyline (Zero--and pretty much all the other Maverick Hunters--from the Megaman X franchise inspired this). I wanted a little romance on the side, and awesome fights here and there, with possibly a few moments of comic relief. Character designs should be clean and crisp, with detail in the eyes and the mecha suits. Fanservice is not desired, but allowable to an extent. A male or a female lead would be fine, so ... long as the female lead doesn't lead the series into a shoujo dive.

Keeping this in mind, I searched for shows that have any one or a combination of these characteristics. I searched high and low (I wasn't aware of MAL at the time I watched Infinite Stratos), and I eventually stumbled on Infinite Stratos.

Characters:
- Clean and neat, with the occasional excessive cheek tints. (AWESOME!)
Fanservice:
- Bordering the allowable and the excessive, but nevertheless still allowable. (Fine.)
Mechas?:
- Yes. Battle suit-style mechas. (F**K YEAH!)
Tags:
- Mecha (AWESOME!)
- Romance (NICE)
- Harem (...huh?)

Then the plot dawned me. Frankly I was initially disappointed to see that the title closest to being my dream animé was quite possibly the largest harem I've ever encountered (and frankly, it still is). At least Gundam 00 had 4 Gundam Meisters; Code Geass had a myriad of pilots; even Megaman X had Maverick Hunters and Navigators. And here we have Infinite Stratos, set in an instructional school in a setting where females are the only ones capable of piloting these mecha suits--with the exception of our lead character. (Whether this is positive or negative is entirely up to the reader.) I'll leave my ranting for now, and move on with my review.

Story: 5/10

Infinite Stratos introduces itself by giving us a heads-up on what's going on in their world: mecha suits called Infinite Stratos (or IS for short) are the latest in technological innovations, but only females can control them. A worldwide pact was made to prevent the use of these suits for war; instead, the suits are used for sport, and a school off the coast of mainland Japan teaches students how to use them. Obviously, the school would be an all-girls school, with a peculiar exception of a student: Orimura Ichika, the only male in the world who can pilot an IS.

The show manages to compress all this in one episode, which was good. The bad part was that they didn't follow it up. They didn't give so much as an amply descriptive story behind why Orimura is the only male who can control an IS (they tried it near the end of the series, and even by then it was still largely vague). Also, for some magical reason only females can pilot the suits. No explanation given. It's probably just a plot device to maintain the "harem" status of the series, but it doesn't help the story at all besides giving the viewers girls and more girls.

The 12 episodes of this series are roughly about class competitions, a single person's flashback, and one mission that was supposed to be a climactic ending but certainly fails to do so. If Infinite Stratos is bad at somethine, it's the story.

Art: 9/10

Here Infinite Stratos tries to redeem itself (and at least in my case the redemption effort works). Art in this show is clean and fluid--just the way I like it. People are drawn quite well, and nothing is left without detail. Even the GUIs of the students' workdesks and the classroom screens are well-made. Mechas are presented in 3D when in combat, and in 2D when in static frames. I think this is a plus, since the 3D action scenes are certainly eye-catching (I mean, with all those lasers and boosters and all that). Color schemes for the mechas aren't really stellar, but at least they match the mood of the show. Also, if you're going to do a mecha show, you have to pay attention to the mecha designs. Luckily, Infinite Stratos does this well, and the mechas certainly look great.

Environment-wise, it's pretty much standard. You won't expect any vivid settings from a school that's pretty much isolated at sea, but at least they try their best to give it a futuristic feel. Personally, I liked the art direction of this series.

I suppose animation goes here as well, and the fight scenes are well-done. Not the type of fight scenes you'd expect from a 12-episode harem series, but still well-done.

Sound: 10/10

Here's something Infinite Stratos is definitely good at. Sound in this show is quite excellent; the quality of BGMs on battle scenes are at a level that probably won't match the storytelling. Opening and ending themes are also well-done. Look, if you want to get a general feel of Infinite Stratos without watching it, then go look for its OST tracks. You pretty much get all the good points of Infinite Stratos by listening to the OST alone. (There's no harem in OSTs, right?)

Character: 6/10

The only reason I didn't give this a score lower than 5 is because of a certain French girl (this statement also happens to be a weird Titanic reference). The rest of the characters are pretty much shallow; actually, they're just "pretty." Not even the lead character stands out. Our lead Orimura is just a dense boy with a strange admiration for his older sister (no worries, it isn't incestuous); his childhood friend is the usual tsundere; the English girl is just simply arrogant and aggressive (but she's not annoying, though; I did like her at one point); the Chinese girl is also a tsundere (surprise, surprise); the French girl is the only character that has an actual backstory worthy of being called a "backstory;" the German girl is the one with a weird obsession for both Orimura and his sister (this is the kind of obsession you should worry about). I've pretty much described the other 4 characters. I'd really like to do defense on the French girl, but she comes out near the middle of the series, so I'll leave it for you guys to watch and find out.

Enjoyment: 10/10

This might seem confusing, since I gave some components pretty low scores. I already mentioned that Infinite Stratos pretty much embodies my dream anime (only ruined by a harem element). In this sense, I did give it a chance, and I did like it. I suppose it was because of the suits? Perhaps I really just wanted to see mecha-stye battle suits. It was so close to being my dream animé. So close.

Overall: 8/10

Generally, Infinite Stratos is lackluster. My scores for Enjoyment are pretty much fed by bias; had I had a different idea for a dream animé, Infinite Stratos would have scored pretty low. However, if you're into harems and fanservice, and if you have the slightest interest in mechas, then you might just like Infinite Stratos. I watched the show like how I leisurely go hiking on a mountain. You don't hike to meet and talk with your fellow hikers; you hike to enjoy the view. That's what I did with Infinite Stratos: I didn't watch to understand the people inside; I really just watched for the view. And by my standards, it was a pretty good view.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Apr 1, 2011

Archaeon

Mixed Feelings

One of the problems with the anime industry is the tendency to overuse stereotypes and themes, and many of the studios in Japan continue to operate under the idea that the shows they create will generate a profit in some manner (regardless of the content), through DVD sales or merchandise. The sad fact is that many producers barely break even from one season to the next, which then prompts arguments of piracy, licensing, pricing, distribution costs, etc, all of which seems more than a little strange as while it may appear that the studios have some perfectly valid arguments, they've neglected to talk about one ... thing - the anime they make.

Every season viewers are subjected to a barrage of average or substandard fare that serves no other purpose than mindless juvenile media, yet these shows continue to be made because the entertainment industries always prefer the safe bet over a "risky" venture. That said, there are always one or two anime that manage to rise above mediocrity, but there's still a very large gap between being good, and being great.

IS is, first and foremost, a reasonably popular ongoing light novel series by Yumizuru Izuru that began publication in May 2009. Six volumes have already been released under the MF Bunko J label (part of Media Factory), and the seventh is due out in April 2011. In May 2010 a manga adaptation by Akahoshi Kenji began serialisation in Monthly Comic Alive, with production on the anime adaptation beginning later that year.

Set in the near future, the story initially seems to be about powered exoskeletons called Infinite Stratos, an advanced piece of technology that is more powerful than any existing weaponry, but can only be used by girls and women. Because of this, society and the world have had to adapt so that females are now in authority, but all of that changes when Orimura Ichika, a 15 year old student, is found to be the only male in the world with the ability to pilot the machines. Because of this, and for his own protection, he is forced to attend the prestigious Infinite Stratos Academy.

Seems a pretty straightforward set up right?

In fact this show is so straightforward and predictable it verges on being dull. Aside from being a light novel/manga adaptation (which seems to be the rage these days), the storyline is about as generic as one can get in anime, with almost every stereotype and "popular" theme on display. The plot initially seems intriguing until one realises that the whole concept of Infinite Stratos is nothing more than an excuse to put a "special" teenaged guy in a school full of hormone crazed girls, and let them have fun with each other. The storyline is only peripherally about the problems resulting from the development of the Infinite Stratos machines as they never really come to the fore until towards the end of the series.

But those are only the surface issues.

The series is limited in terms of design as many aspects of the visuals are adapted directly from the manga. Unfortunately this doesn't really do the show any favours as aside from a degree of futurism in the backgrounds and the conceptualisation of the exoskeletal armours, everything else is the epitome of genericism. The big book of harem characters has been used extensively for pretty much everyone, with all of the lead roles looking more like cardboard cut-outs that would readily grace any other generic high school anime of this type. Granted there is a degree of facial expression, but that's not enough to raise the character design in any measurable way.

Thankfully there are two areas where the visuals actually manage to pass muster. The backgrounds are coloured and detailed rather well, but there are some scenes where the quality improves dramatically in order to focus the viewer's attention on the action. In addition to that, the animation is pretty good throughout the series, but the quality work only really comes to the fore during sequences of IS combat.

Another area where Infinite Stratos does manage to attain a degree of respectability is the acting, but even that's not really saying much. After all, this is a harem romantic comedy with some science fiction and fanservice thrown in for good measure, so viewers shouldn't expect Shakespeare. It's surprising then, that Uchiyama Kouki actually manages to play the role of Ichika rather well, and the same could also be said of Hikasa Youko et al in the roles of the girls who want to find out how well Ichika can use his weapon.

That said, all of the exclamations, weird noises, mannerisms, and changes of pitch and tone that one would associate with this type of show are on offer, but while they're handled rather well by the seiyuu, there's simply too little going on for them to really show off their talents. The main reason for this is the mundane script, and viewers may find themselves suffering from bouts of deja vu during specific scenes, especially if they've recently watched any other harem anime.

As for the music, the background tracks are nice enough and there is some variety to be had thanks to the composition skills of Nanase Hikaru, but the problems lie in the choreography, and more importantly, the relevance. There are occasions where the score seems out of place with the on screen action, and while this is due to a slight error in the timing in some cases, more often it's because the background music simply doesn't mesh with the scene. This is also true for the opening theme, Straight Jet by Kuribayashi Minami, which already has difficulty standing out since it's a pretty standard J-pop affair so the last thing it needed was poor choreography. As for the ending theme, Super Stream, this generic little ditty is sung by the actress of whichever female character is managing to keep up with the manliness of Ichika during the credit sequence, while the other female seiyuu performing backing vocals.

Speaking of manliness, it should come as no surprise that there's little in the way of it here, but then this is justified to a degree by the fact that Infinite Stratos features a female dominated society. Ichika is the typical harem lead who doesn't seem to have a clue that so many girls like him, especially as he has very few redeeming features and a slight complex about his older sister, and in true harem fashion he even forgets or misunderstands childhood promises so the story can have that little bit more drama.

And that's just him.

The girls are just as poor when it comes to characterisation, although thinking about it, maybe poor isn't the right word. They fit into the story rather well, they may look like cardboard cut-outs from other harem anime but they do retain some individuality. They can be annoyingly self centred and stupid, but they're supposed to be hormone crazed teenaged girls so maybe that's normal (apologies if you're a hormone crazed teenaged girl who doesn't act self centred and stupid).

Oh wait. Most of them are supposed to be tsundere characters (all of them except the one with the short blond hair in fact), so maybe poor was the right word after all.

There's little in the way of actual character development as the derived and contrived nature of the plot and story doesn't really allow for any great introspection from any of the roles. There are many potential opportunities to push the characters in a totally new direction, but these are not taken as the whole series is less about telling a good story, and more about cashing in on the harem bandwagon.

Regardless of its flaws, Infinite Stratos will undoubtedly find a home in the hearts of some viewers, which is perfectly fine if you like this type of show, and to be honest much of the series is reasonably inoffensive, especially if the viewer has managed to sit through any other harem anime. That said, it should be pointed out that the concept of the story had the potential for being something special. The idea of a society dominated by women due to the development of a new weapon offers up questions of gender roles, societal balance, political machinations, technological advancements, etc, etc, all of which are treated as minor annoyances that get in the way of finding out which girl Ichika is going to choose.

Granted there are some good points to be found in various aspects of the series, but these are outweighed by a lacklustre storyline, poor characterisation, and an overall sense that everything has been done before.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jun 23, 2014

GloriousKaiser

Not Recommended

PLEASE READ: This is a review of both IS seasons. Scroll to the very bottom of this review to see IS S2 review (it's legit I promise!!)

There is absolutely nothing wrong with over-used generic stories. Nothing, really! Except when they're like IS. The anime that failed from the start. Though I can't say I'm surprised, with predictable story, characters, there's nothing to keep me guessing or wondering what's going to happen next.

I can sum up the story with a couple of common words:
Boy
Girl(S)
High school
Mechas

... Now go ahead and guess: Will the story be interesting or not?
There you go.

Instead of putting us into a world where the reality of a Woman > Man type world with mechas and perhaps applying Marshall Mcluhan's four laws to that, and showing us the complexities of it's layout. Instead we get, teen boy hustled by horny teen girls.

Plot? Oh I'm sorry, THAT WAS THE PLOT!!!

In all honesty though: the story takes a while to introduce the full cast using a few episodes dedicated to each girl. In some parts there are fights and a tournament, terrorists yadda yadda blohmadda.

The art suffice to say was, great!(it is in no way close to any of the other factors in terms of weight) The settings were detailed enough so I could recognize the general things. You could identify the main characters easily as well (although you can't remember their names cause they're blander than me blending water). The fights were, pretty good but the MC should really ask people to stop giving his butt to him as a damn Christmas gift. All I can say is, decently-good.

The sound was fine as well, but no really interesting music to get your blood pumping.

Characters: Shit. Now I know what you're thinking, "Hey don't be too harsh, the characters are vibrant and have different personalities". I say NO. Let me explain:

What makes a good character? Personality sure! but what other qualities should they have? A decent art model yes. But what makes the character -stand out from the rest-? There we go.

Picture those 5 girls. Imagine in your head about how they interact with Ichika. Now take away Ichika. What do you see now? Nothing.

You know that saying where you say "I can't imagine X without X". Yeah well that's mostly used in a positive context. Here? Bad.

Ok I found their names and here: let's see how this goes now.

Houki: Childhood Tsundere. Enough said.
Cecilia: Proud, stuck-up rich girl who likes Ichika.
Rin: Chinese Loli (pig-tails are bonus OH YEAH!!)
Charlotte: Blonde girl who tried to be a guy.
Laura: Angry German Loli with military background.
BONUS: Chifuyu: Angry older sister, constantly hits Ichika. Gets mad at him for unfair reasons.
BONUS: Tabane: Created the idiocy that was IS.

See? Aside from the 2 bonus characters, I can't see any sort of character in these Haremettes. All I see is some saltless-butter of a bunch of dolls. This is the problem in most harems. (ignoring the fact that harems in general suck) The girls are nothing without the dumb MC to anchor them to be pseudo realistic in any sense.

Almost forgot Ichika.
He sucks......I won't go too much into it I'll point form it.

-Too stupid to exist.
-Boring personality
-Scared of girls
-Did I mention boring?


Enjoyment. I forced myself to watch this because it was so bad, I really had to see just to what extent of bad this was. No I don't torture myself to watch anime, I did this as a self experiment to see just what to expect when going into this type of genre. It didn't disappoint my expectations at least (good!) because they were zero (oh...). But seriously, I was bored as heck. I was very tempted to skip to the second halves of the episodes to see some action... then to my dismay finding out that there was no action in some episodes. Boring Boring Boring. *SPOILER* Not even that climactic battle with Laura was good, it was just stupid in all places. *END SPOILER*

This anime was bad, I'd hate to see it's manga/LN version because I bet that's a bunch of useless writing.

I obviously expected too much from this anime. No wrong. I expected too much of what I WANTED from this anime. Instead, it did the usual pander otaku schtick and rolled with it. Obviously it was a harem/romance/romcom/highschool/mecha anime. But still, just seeing these always piss me off at how blatantly Japan doesn't care to try and even try something new for once.

The settings could really have been expanded on. Like I said, Marshall Mcluhans 4 laws could have been applied here.

Enhancement: No brownies here, this is too easy to explain.

Reversal: Instead of it's intended purpose of space exploration, it could have added on to that, explaining how technology can be manipulated into a purpose of reversal.

Retrieve: What earlier actions/service could have been brought back because of the intricacies of IS?

Obsolesce: What does this technology make obsolete. Again too easy.

It could have showed these 4 laws applied in greater detail. EVEN IF YOU DON'T KNOW MARSHALL MCLUHAN, there could have been some more focus on looking at the mechs do stuff. But no, Ichika and his teenage crisis with his girls is wayy more important. (sigh)

But as I said. It was doomed from the start when it said Harem, Ecchi and those buzz words right off the bat.



...

Anyways here's my IS S2 review.

It's shit.

THANKS FOR READING!!!

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: IS: Infinite Stratos Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Inarius - Jan 20, 2011	212 replies	by PedroKarim64 »» Aug 24, 12:51 PM
	Poll: IS: Infinite Stratos Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) tsubasalover - Jan 13, 2011	194 replies	by PedroKarim64 »» Aug 22, 3:26 PM
	Poll: IS: Infinite Stratos Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) avrc - Mar 31, 2011	293 replies	by il887 »» Aug 12, 3:34 AM
	Poll: IS: Infinite Stratos Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Yumekichi11 - Mar 24, 2011	165 replies	by il887 »» Aug 11, 6:20 PM
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