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

Iwasaki, Atsushi Producer

Kasai, Tsutomu Producer, Planning

Kindaichi, Ken Producer

Tsuruoka, Shinya Assistant Producer

Reviews

Nov 12, 2023

Mr_Ubaldo2

Recommended

Infinite Stratos is very dear to me. This was one of my earliest animes I ever saw. The IS suits are fantastic, basically humanoid body armor that gives the person a unique power set depending on either potential. That really cool. The OST soundtrack for this is great and the animation/fights are well choreographed. The characters are all fun and very well designed. The dub is my personal favorite, not only is the MC played by the King of Harem Scott Freeman who has been in everything from Highschool DxD to Date A Live. But the main heroin is voiced by my favorite VA Monica ... Rial. Its also a nice touch that the girls from France, England, and German all have accents. I highly recommend this series place go and check it out

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Mr_Ubaldo2 (19)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

May 10, 2024

Marco_Yooo

Mixed Feelings

THIS IS A SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

On my way back into anime I decided it would be time to come back to my favourite genre, which has always been mecha. Infinite Stratos is the premier mecha anime of the year 2011 and it´s combination of mecha, comedy and fan service looked like something that would suit me, so I gave the first season a go.

Story – 5/10

My god, what an absolute car crash this plot is. Imagine every single high school cliche packed into a single school. This show has it all: Insane fan service, beach episodes, our main character literally has to share a dorm with ... like 1000 Girls at this school. The sci-fi mecha aspect was clearly not the main focus of this show. This is more like a ecchi, harem comedy set in a school WITH mechs in it. There has been absolutely zero plot progression so far. There are fights, but besides the final fight in episode 11/12, they all lack a certain emotional weight. The comedy is, to be fair, pretty funny and I just really like the world, but you can´t deny that all the sci-fi and mecha concepts are just a facade to carry the comedy and fan service aspect. I have absolutely zero issues with something like that but even a veeery simple story would have worked to carry this setting instead of the lacklustre mess we got.

Art – 8/10

Well, this is maybe the shows biggest strength. This came out in 2011 and still looks good. I mean, reeeeally good. The camerawork is great during the fight scenes and I personally like the mech designs a lot. The characters all look fantastic and different (except the male ones, of course) and the movement is really crisp and fluent.
For the mechs, they decided to go for a kind of 50/50 approach, and constantly switch between 2D and 3D which can look horrifyingly bad if done wrong. This show however managed to nail this aspect. I still prefer 2D mechs over everything else, but I think this approach also has it´s merits.

Sound – 8/10

The OP of this show is amazing with great visuals and a fantastic song that fits the atmosphere of the world perfectly. However, the main thing that I would like to talk about for this category is the ED. My god, they did not have to go that hard. This is an instant hood classic. All of the female voice actors came together and created one of the catchiest anime endings ever. This actually could have inspired later ecchi shows like “Highschool DxD” to do the same. The voice actors even toured Japan and sang the ED in front of live audiences. Fantastic stuff here.

Characters – 7/10

Well, this is a typical harem setup of characters. Our main character is just absolutely dreadful. No personality, dense and clearly of the overthinking type. The female characters were a little bit better. This show is set in an international boarding school, so every girl has a different national background. We have a Japanese, British, French, Chinese and a German girl here, all with different mechs, looks and personalities. The quality of depth in their characters is inconsistent, but they are all likeable and fun to watch. If the main character wasn´t such an irredeemable idiot, there would actually be a lot of potential here, but I cannot give this category a higher score at the moment

Enjoyment – 7/10

Well, I have to admit that I like these kinds of trashy comedies from time to time and this is just another big entry in the gerne. Although the story is a mess and I hate the main character, I will absolutely watch season two. This is just great entertainment, something to watch during lunch or in the subway on the way to university. If you like shows like “Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry”, “Highschool DxD” or “The Irregular of Magic Highschool”, this show is for you.

- Marco_Yooo

FINAL SCORE - 7/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Marco_Yooo (81)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Jun 30, 2021

SatellitePass

Not Recommended

Honestly I really liked the idea of the story but all the girls were REALLY and I mean REALLY annoying the "love conflicts" voices make me want to scream into a pillow and throw my computer against a wall, and their always getting on the mc's ass about them being better than him and about how he's not doing things right and that's the entire show. I would like to say that was just the beginning of the anime but it was the entire 12 episodes this was probably one of the worst animes I have watched in a LONG while.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by SatellitePass (1)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Harem

by ST63LTH

49 Entries · 23 Restacks

Argentina references in anime

by kenobi_senpai

44 Entries · 31 Restacks

animelon complete catalog: JPDB level 5

by database_animal

49 Entries · 7 Restacks

North American Anime & Manga Releases for May

Here are the North American anime, manga, and light novel releases for May Week 1: May 3 - 9 Anime Releases 2.43: Seiin Koukou Danshi Volley-bu (2.43: Seiin High Sch...read more

May 4, 2022 4:32 AM by Aiimee | Discuss (3 comments)

	Poll: IS: Infinite Stratos Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Yumekichi11 - Mar 24, 2011	164 replies	by Kusanagi_Shouta »» Dec 28, 2023 9:55 AM
	Ichika’s Denseness FiddlePie - Aug 28, 2023	17 replies	by that_kool_kid »» Nov 11, 2023 11:23 PM
	Poll: IS: Infinite Stratos Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) tsubasalover - Jan 13, 2011	193 replies	by Flaviomoe199 »» Oct 10, 2023 5:53 PM
	Poll: IS: Infinite Stratos Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) avrc - Mar 31, 2011	292 replies	by Nerleos »» Apr 17, 2023 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, 2023 3:59 PM

In Numbers: The Best Anime of the Decade

What's the #1 anime of the 2010s? Which year was the best? What studio had the most hits? We have the answers to all these questions and more!

by Shymander

634,075 views

15 Hottest Anime Girls With an Eyepatch

There is something really alluring about anime girls who wear eye patches, but have you ever wondered what exactly makes them so interesting? If the answer is yes and there is at least one anime eye patch girl that you like, check out the article to see 15 of the best!

by FreeNightFalls

1,302,160 views

CollectionCute GirlsKawaiiMoeHotGIF