IS: Infinite Stratos (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]

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Adaptation:	IS: Infinite Stratos
Sequel:	IS: Infinite Stratos Encore - Koi ni Kogareru Rokujuusou

Shitaya, Noriko
Japanese

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Staff

Kindaichi, Ken

Producer

Iwasaki, Atsushi

Producer

Kikuchi, Yasuhito

Director, Storyboard

Mima, Masafumi

Sound Director

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Opening Theme

"STRAIGHT JET" by Minami Kuribayashi

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Ending Theme

	1: "SUPER∞STREAM" by Yoko Hikasa (eps 1)
	2: "SUPER∞STREAM" by Yoko Hikasa and Yukana (eps 2-3)
	3: "SUPER∞STREAM" by Yoko Hikasa, Yukana, and Asami Shimoda (eps 4-5)
	4: "SUPER∞STREAM" by Yoko Hikasa, Yukana, Asami Shimoda, and Kana Hanazawa (eps 6-7)
	5: "SUPER∞STREAM" by Yoko Hikasa, Yukana, Asami Shimoda, Kana Hanazawa, and Marina Inoue (eps 8-12)

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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 ...

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Sep 23, 2013

GodlyKyon

Mixed Feelings

With the dawn of the second season, I think it's time to revisit an old friend. In this review, I will attempt to describe IS: Infinite Stratos and it's components, then give you it's worth as a series.

The basic premise of Infinite Stratos is set in a world where armored mecha suit, the Infinite Stratos is invented, thus rendering all other technology obsolete. One catch, this suit can only be worn by women.

While this was an interesting premise, the setting itself just attracts questions. Why can only women wear it? What has the effects of this technology had on society? What happened to the political ...

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Mar 6, 2011

Exkalamity

Mixed Feelings

Infinte Stratos has absolutely dreadful plot but top notch harem romance comedy and fan service. The key to enjoying this anime is to completely ignore the attempts at plot throughout the anime while savoring the characters and their fanservice. Infinte Stratos' premise is begins with our main protagonist, Orimura Ichika, just happens to be the only male that can pilot the Infinite Stratos mecha unit, which was thought to be only compatible with females. Thus our main protagonist is sent of to the IS academy and becomes the only male in a sea of females. And by stint of being male, he becomes the most ... popular student in the academy -_-.

The plot is simply torturous to watch. Throughout the series, major story developments have been random and sporadic; the events throughout the anime seem to have no relation to one another. Major events often occur suddenly only to fade away without leaving any trace of their occurrence or importance. The premises and themes used all have their potential, they were just extremely poorly developed by sloppy writing. The societal structure of woman dominating men which would have provided numerous opportunities for genuine conflict and for Ichika to develop as a main character is completely ignored. Various fancy names and technical terms are thrown around without explanation of their significance or origin. The power levels between characters are not only ambiguous, but also inconsistent, so no apparently growth in IS piloting skill actually takes place. The complete abolition of plot would have made IS much more tolerable.

Character development simply fails due to its ties with the plot. Ichika undergoes no development at all; his skill at pilotnig the IS as well as his thickheadedness remains constant throughout the story. The development of the girls themselves lacks the drama needed to make their supposedly difficult pasts believable, which results in a general lack of empathy for the characters. Important plot elements used in character development are grazed upon so shallowly that they fail to be thought provoking and emotion evoking and end up as just laughable. The development itself is sometimes overly drastic; some characters experience complete 180 shits in attitude and personality that do not coincide with the resolutions of their non-existent drama.

Once their development has been completed however, the characters become astoundingly entertaining; the actual characters are easily the strongest part of the anime. Ichika, although undergoing no development, was never really a weak or herbivorous character, given his tendency to feed and massage the ladies around him. Each female character can be easily related to a certain trope or character archetype, but they are portrayed as more than just moe anthropomorphisms of abstract personality fetishes, although this certainly does not mean that the characters are not moe. Each character is given personality traits and quirks outside of their defined trope that makes them more real and likeable; even aspects that seem trivial are given some detail. Most entertaining is the interactions between characters, the abundance of various personalities allows for different chemistry mixtures that spice up situations that are otherwise very cliched and trite. Although all the reactions are often predictable, the characters are executed soundly and the situations are still fun to watch. Easily the weakest character is our main protagonist himself, as he remains a thickheaded punching-bag for the girls around him.

The production quality for Infinte Stratos is quite high, which is a shame given it's agonizing plot. Immediately noticeable is the cast of seiyuu; most characters are voiced by a well established seiyuu famous for her roles in other anime. Not surprisingly, the voice acting is top quality; special props goes to Kana Hanazawa for the most moe anime voice this season. The music is of satisfactory quality with a catchy opening theme and a decent ending theme. The animation for the ending theme is actually not a harem-o-meter; the most recently captured character runs closely behind Ichika and moved to the back of the line as the next character is captured. The art itself is clean and vibrantly colorful, up to today's standards as a 2011 anime. The IS personal units themselves are well designed and easily differentiable from each other. The battles themselves are quite well done, with dynamic camera movements drawn well and plenty of special effects.

The amount of negative reaction Infinite Stratos has received is definitely understandable; I myself at first whined and pussy bitched about the horrendous plot, and found the character interactions to be predictable and boring. However approximately half-way through the season, I finally accepted that Infinte Stratos was not the awesome mecha anime that I expected, but was instead a decent romantic comedy. Suddenly the plot became much easier to ignore since I stopped looking for it, which allowed my mind to be more positive and accepting of the character interactions, making them more entertaining. Therefore, although still accompanied by the frequent face-palm, I found myself smiling much more naturally and frequently as I watched this anime, and was sufficiently entertained.

Questions, comments, criticisms and compliments are welcomed whether you found this review helpful or not.

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Why do people defend Ichika Orimura so much? Ikarumi - Jan 21	10 replies	by Chaos-Zero »» May 7, 10:14 AM
Poll: IS: Infinite Stratos Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) avrc - Mar 31, 2011	292 replies	by Nerleos »» Apr 17, 4:12 AM
Poll: IS: Infinite Stratos Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) tsubasalover - Jan 6, 2011	270 replies	by Tenshig2005 »» Apr 7, 3:59 PM
I love the opening goldfishluke - Aug 20, 2022	11 replies	by MeguSae38 »» Mar 21, 12:19 AM
Poll: IS: Infinite Stratos Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) avrc - Mar 10, 2011	130 replies	by JesanPerhaps1 »» Mar 12, 6:29 AM

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IS: Infinite Stratos

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