Soukou no Strain


Strain: Strategic Armored Infantry

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: 奏光のストレイン
English: Strain: Strategic Armored Infantry
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Information

Type: TV
Episodes: 13
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Nov 2, 2006 to Feb 15, 2007
Premiered: Fall 2006
Broadcast: Thursdays at 00:00 (JST)
Licensors: Funimation
Studios: Studio Fantasia
Source: Original
Genres: ActionAction, DramaDrama, Sci-FiSci-Fi, EcchiEcchi
Themes: MechaMecha, MilitaryMilitary, SpaceSpace
Duration: 24 min. per ep.
Rating: R+ - Mild Nudity

Statistics

Score: 7.001 (scored by 95269,526 users)
1 indicates a weighted score.
Ranked: #44532
2 based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity: #4842
Members: 24,204
Favorites: 80

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Filtered Results: 20 / 20
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Preliminary Spoiler
Jul 1, 2007
Soukou no Strain is without a doubt one of the best sci-fiction series out there. The series isn\'t heavily focused on the war itself and between regular mecha battles but instead its primarily focus is on Sara Werc, on how she cope with the loss of her friends and the betrayal of her brother.

Clearly the first episode is what drives us towards the edge of our seats. With the lost of Sara friends and the shocking revelation of being betrayed by her own brother, it instantly give us the questions into why he betrayed her? what made him betrayed her? etc. and in addition, who ...
Jul 14, 2008
This is quite simply one of my favorite anime series, ever. It's amazing how much tension, mystery, drama, romance, and anguish it packs into just 13 episodes. Occasional comedic interludes underscore the generally serious nature of the show.

So, what is it about? Set in a far-off future, it tells the story of a fascinating young girl named Sara Werec. She is smart and competitive, yet kind and caring. She is also completely devoted to her older brother Ralph, who is all the family she has in the entire galaxy. Unfortunately Ralph, a mecha pilot, has been sent to the ...
Apr 16, 2009
Mixed Feelings
In the future there are giant robots (shocking, eh?). Humanity has been forced into a civil war (for some reason) and is battling each other in space (wow). There are two factions, arbitrarily named the Union and the Deague; about the only noticeable difference is that the Union uses robots called Strains, which have to be piloted by a cannon-fodder teenager--in this series named after characters from The Little Princess. The Deague is smarter and uses unmanned drones. Oh, yes, to pilot a Strain, you also need a mysterious black box which is the crucial plot element in this story.

So, there's Sara Crews, Cruz, Werec, ...
Nov 27, 2007
this show was fantastic! not good enough to be called a masterpiece, but very close.

as to be expected, a mecha anime usually has action in it. this is no exception. you'll get all the action you want in the short 13 episodes it has. but lets break this series down a bit.

the art was very well drawn. the drawings seemed to be rather sharp, and a wide variety of vibrant colors were used so it never seemed to get boring.
in simple terms the art was great! the way the design team meshed the computer generated design of the ship with the standard art of ...
Mar 30, 2016
Summary: This is the perfect epitome of a good anime. It has a handful of unique and fantastic moments but for the most part is fairly straight forward and forgettable. It isn't bad, it isn't great... it's good. If you're looking for a middle of the road mech anime that focuses more on character development than fighting you will likely enjoy this, but I doubt you'll be moved. One thing I should emphasize is this is NOT ecchi. This is a mech anime. There are a few topless scenes for... reasons... and if you come in thinking high school dxd meets mobile suit gundam you ...
Nov 17, 2009
The individual rating describe the first 2/3 of the series, the overall score is with the ending included.


Most of this series is semi-constant and believable, but why bother if you are going to screw shit up in the last episode? That and the characters and story excellent but they crashed and burn after episode 9 or so. This series got an 8 instead of a 10 because they fucked up so bad.

This series could have been a great and very realistic series worth of a 10 if they had extended it, taken time to expand on the implication of relativistic travel and spent more time ...
Jan 30, 2010
While the real plot of this show doesn't come out until you're a few episodes in, the story is very engaging and pleasant. It doesn't dwell overly long on most subjects, and gives a fair amount of time to character development, something I deeply enjoy, as it delves deeply into the main characters motivation for their actions. As the story focuses primarily on Sara Werec, and her brother Ralph, it gives sufficient time to the other major characters. The plot, is fairly simple and easy to understand once it is laid out for you in about the tenth episode, but until then it keeps you ...
Feb 5, 2010
Although mecha figures greatly in Soukou no Strain, it is not the focus and that is a good thing because I found them generally lack luster. That aside, with the exception of a throw away ecchi episode, the rest of the show is first rate. It takes off at a good clip and continues to pickup speed. There is plenty action, drama, romance, tension, as well as the mystery of why Sara's beloved hero brother turned trator. A couple of times it was even more than a little sexy.

Strain racks up a body count equal to most Gundam's but ...
Aug 15, 2010
Oh my FReaking god!!! There haven't been an epic like this since... Code Geass yes...
This series have been a great run from begin to end. Man oh man where to start ...
the Agony, Dedication, Drama, Thrill, Tension heck even the fanservice as a part of the story connected SO well it is worth watching. (although I wish there were more male character screen time)
normally I do not write reviews but seeing how this have less than 10 reviews and only 2000+ watches is just unbearable.

Story- 10/10
The story is relatively simple in the beginning and takes a complete BARRELROLL YES A BARRELROLL from ...
Jan 4, 2014
If you are looking for a deep and comprehensive review, look somewhere else. Sure there is a lot to be said about this anime, what with its ever so deep plot... I enjoyed it. I will highlight what I consider to be the most important points.

First of all let me ask, what better reason to start a war than over this: Naked alien lolis. That's right, I said it. Who wouldn't take up arms for these adorable creatures?

Then on the other side, we have the bro-con sister who was abandoned. She seeks to understand her brother's motivation for his actions. She couldn't understand until ...
Apr 17, 2012
I really enjoyed this anime, but that does not mean it was a very good production. There's is a lot that could have been done to improve the story telling and characters. Perhaps the director was limited by the amount of episodes since the story seemed rushed. A couple things stuck with me after I had finished.

First, the protagonist, Sara Werec is memorable enough. She's your typical space drama lead character who is innocent but for some tragic reason is thrown into space to fight. Based on her personality it's impossible to not feel sympathetic towards her character so you ...
Mar 12, 2021
Mixed Feelings
Summary: Strain is a solid sci fi action series for fans of mechs and space operas. While the action itself is not always the best, the plot is interesting and engaging and has a solid payoff to its various mysteries. If you like fanservice, there's plenty of titties and girl on girl kissing as well.

Positives:

+ Interesting plot. The main story of Sara Werec and her attempt to understand why the brother she loved slaughtered all of her friends is appropriately dramatic for a space opera. The series is paced well and gives you answers at the right times, and it's fun ...
Apr 23, 2012
This anime manages to pack so much story and character development into just 13 episodes, while it doesn't get respect at in its ratings. I've never written a review for an anime and this is my first but I felt that I had to because I enjoyed this anime so much. I can't comment on the Subbed version because I watched it Dubbed and the voices were great.

The story isn't really hard to follow but it is complicated enough to have some plot twist later down the road. Again for having only 13 episodes there is a lot going on in each episode not ...
Jun 24, 2009
i thought this was one of the best animes i have ever watched, i highly recamend this to anyone who likes giant robot battles mixed in with big plot twists, unpredicting outcomes and breif lesbian nudity ;) *im not into lesibians im a straigt girl but theres this one part in the series that made me die laughing*

The anime that made me cry! What an amazing story! I mean, I normally hate robot animes and oldish *well not really old but sorta like 2001 ish old i think you know* animes, but WOW!

Soukou no Strain is about a girl who's brother gets shipped off ...
Aug 24, 2023
Story: 3/10
Supposedly, this anime draws from an existing novel for inspiration called A Little Princess in which the main protagonist attends a rich school in New York City but her father dies in World War II which causes her to become a maid for the school. There she is laughed at by her peers and treated poorly. This anime utilizes that setup to create a similar scenario of the main character having it all and losing it all and being bullied.
The story is nothing special. In the background, two nations are fighting to establish an existing conflict and they aren't really explored or fleshed ...
Aug 24, 2022
Soukou no Strain is one of those rare shows I wish I never wasted my time watching it. The show is slow and boring and devoid of anything worthwhile. The characters are not interesting or fun the story barely tries and fails to be compelling in any regard. The animation is passable I guess but battles(for as rare as they happen) are dull. The music is bland or forgettable and the dub while yes not the worst one I've heard just being kinda eh at best. There's ideas of something that could have been good but the show either only mentions off handedly or brought ...
Mar 15, 2022
[ This review previously contained spoilers. They have since been edited out. ]
The following is an excerpt from the Deep Dive project:
- STRAIN: Strategic Armored Infantry
- Completed February 13, 2021
- TV, 13 episodes, dubbed
- Not Recommended

Wow, that was amazingly, painfully average. Honestly, it was below average. How do I even begin to break down the weird-ass anime I just finished?

Well, for starters the writing is all around terrible. This was like a weird mecha adaptation of Black Bullet, only slightly less edgy and way less interesting. What first seemed like an odd, sibling-oriented hardcore drama turned into some kind of bad acid trip ...
Apr 17, 2025
Mixed Feelings
Is this show... good? Uh... hard to say. It feels like it spends about half of its run kind of floundering around aimlessly. But once you hit the back half, it basically deletes all of its worst aspects and goes whole-hog into some wild yuri sci-fi and the ending as a whole is shockingly fun. It wouldn't be one of my first recommendations, but if you've watched a lot of the similar yuri sci-fi action shows of its era and are just looking for something new, there is. SOME appeal here. As long as you're okay with the entire first six episodes being kind of ...
Aug 24, 2020
Mixed Feelings
Soukou no Strain. This anime because it was a "mech" anime I was super excited to watch it for that reason alone. Something automatically attracts me when an anime has a lot to do with mechs or gian "robots" it actually makes me even more interested. My other genres are Psychological, Samurai, and what I have been watch a lot of here lately and that is "historical" anime that has been part of our earth for many years. This anime really did have a "strong" female lead, and I think there needs to be more anime just like this in the very near future.
Feb 17, 2010
Honestly,from the first moment of it had me captured.

Soukou No Strain is one of the best animes I've ever had the pleasure of watching.It may be short,but the story line is just as good as 178 episode anime.I have to be honest,if you look at it the right way,there are no questions left waiting to be answered besides 'What happened Next?' But that happens with most.The story line was phenomnial,but not only that,the character's we're even better.I truly believe,that though not many have seen it compared to Inuyasha and or Bleach,it's one of the best anime ever made.