IS: Infinite Stratos 2

(Review may contain minor spoilers for IS Season 2)

Infinite Stratos, what a fine anime it is truly, you can find anything from ecchi moments and the male protagonist being a pervert with the classic harem aspects. The anime is a deluxe bundle for fan-service anime, truly a hidden treasure but of course it is also very poorly produced with many plot-holes and moments throughout the season leaving you dumbfounded and confused.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed watching IS series because of the fan service content and not exactly for the plot or the quality of the anime itself. I think we all watch anime so we can ... be obviously entertain and enjoy it and that's what exactly this anime has done for me in return.

Story (6): I couldn't seem to enjoy enough as much as I trying to, multiple times the anime was filled with ecchi moments and mostly the male protagonist getting absolutely beaten up by the other female MCs. Most of it is useless garbage and generally fillers but I seemed to like it and probably you too as well.

Art (7): The art in IS is nothing memorable or special, it was fairly decent and basic as well, it carried the story and characters together otherwise I would never even considered watching this anime.

Sound (6): Some of the audio soundtracks are very nostalgic and as well as similar to a classic superhero "saving the day" or kids show, it is questionable at most but for the most part it was okay in building the mood.

Characters (6): Like I said before, the characters in the anime are nothing really special and most of it throughout the anime are just pure ecchi and fan service all throughout. Ichika is like any determined, heroic, and stupid MC's male protagonist you would find in some animes.

Enjoyment (7): I did for the most part enjoyed watching Infinite Stratos purely just for the fan service because it was entertaining as well as the ecchi stuff.

Overall (7): Overall IS is not unique or genuinely a good anime, it's simply just entertaining to watch as the male MC's get pulled apart by his own harem as well as mech fighting. You should consider watching this!

THIS IS A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

I recently watched the first season of 2011´s premier mecha anime “Infinite Stratos” a few months ago, and I got exactly what I wanted out of the show. Sure, the plot is non-existent, the characters are super one-dimensional and the whole setting is just a type of teenage-boy fantasy but sometimes, after watching a lot of heavy action or drama, i need something like this, and i was super excited to dive back into this light-hearted world.

Story – 6/10

My god, going back to this story after watching heavy-hitters like “The Tatami Galaxy” and “Macross” really gives your brain whiplash. Everything that ... i wrote about the first season also applies to the second one. But the one big difference is that this time, the show actually sets up some storylines. Yes, you heard it right, there is actually a story this time around, and it mostly thematizes the Orimura family. We finally have villains in this show, instead of random encounters with remote controlled mechs that merely serve as little disruptions from the rom-com sections of the story. And although they didn´t show any type of motivation (at least so far, but we are already two seasons into the story!) it gave the show at least a tiny bit of a direction. Other than that, this is just your typical ecchi, rom-com. The show definitely shows it´s age here a little bit, but the sections are still a ton of fun if you are able to ignore your suspension of disbelief. Even though there is some action here, this is mostly a fun, light-hearted, highschool show with a little sci-fi twist.

Art – 8/10

This season follows up the already fantastic looking first one and continues to surprise me with it´s technical quality. Like i said, this show came out in 2011, a time where these kinds of shows definitely not receive the same amount of budget as today. Infinite Stratos does still look good. Great characters models, super expressive and fluidly animated. The fights in this season are also a joy to look at. Although the final fight did not have the same amount of emotional weight as the one in season one, it looked great from a technical standpoint. Super solid stuff overall.

Sound – 6/10

The first season has one of the coolest OP/ED combos I have heard in a long time, so the second season had some big shoes to fill in. The new combo is still pretty good, but not outstanding. The sound design is pretty crisps. The variety in weapons of our characters mechs in combination with the sound design makes it so that you can tell apart the different machines just from their sound, which i thought was pretty damn cool. But overall, the BGM is nothing special.

Characters – 6/10

Man, they really went a bit overboard this time around. The show just keeps introducing new characters all the time. We have 5 new characters that play an important part in the storyline who get introduced very fast. The villains are mostly comical. I could not really take them seriously (Like, where do they even have the resources for their insane technical equipment?). The only one that has at least a little bit of mystique around her persona is the third member of the Orimura family. But even that storyline, which should have been the main focus of this season, if you ask me, is severely underdeveloped. Ichika gets a little bit better this time around, but he still makes stupid decisions left and right.
The only character who I thought was done really well this season was Sarashiki Tatenashi, who actually gets a little mini-arc all to herself. She has quickly become my favourite female character in the show (Which is hard, cause there is just one male character in the whole story).

Enjoyment – 7/10

This is the last anime season of Infinite Stratos. We will probably never get a season three after this many years. I am glad i watched this show, because i just love these kinds of stories where you just 100% know what you are getting, and Infinite Stratos has delivered exactly what i wanted. Every ecchi or rom-com fan should check this one out, even if you don´t like mecha as a genre. Everyone else...you know what you are getting into.

- Marco_Yooo

FINAL SCORE - 6/10

A very sad conclusion to an already boring story. The season 2 of Infinite Stratos is surprisingly worse than the first season which is mediocre enough. What made the first season watchable was the funny banter, introduction to the harem and mystery to the whole robots. Even the relationship between Houki and Ichika was pretty good. Season 2 seems devoid of everything I already mentioned and somehow made the plot less interesting.

The biggest mistake this season made is making it more fanservice but not even that good fanservice. It seems forced and less funny. I'll say the new girls to the harem, the Sarashiki sisters, ... are good. They still are not memorable because of how much they put fanservice for the main 5 girls. The villains of the series are also underutilized. They barely get any screen time because Ichiki doing something then a girl suddenly shows up is somehow more important for the series. Truly impressive on how ridiculous this anime can get.