Let me first begin by explaining my grades. I don't really have a good eye for art, unless it is absolutely fantastic, and the same goes for the sound. It isn't annoying or peculiar in any way, and unless you are very selective or attuned to sound and art, you shouldn't notice it. The story has elements and pieces of intrigue or interest, but they never amount to anything and ultimately will betray your expectations in frustrating ways. The cause for such mediocrity in story stems from the fact that many of the characters are annoying and are truly victims of ridiculous plot lines that can't even be considered as 'story'. Even the most casual viewers can find something more entertaining to spend their down time watching than Infinite Stratos, whether it is the first season or the second. Allow me to venture further.
The premise of the story is quite simple. Orimura Ichika is the only man in the world who can use an IS, and so that in of itself makes it perfectly okay for him to attend an all-girls school where he is to learn how to master and utilize a powerful military grade machine that is apparently is used for sport. This plot invites a multitude of misunderstandings between Ichika and every single female student he encounters, which definitely increases in number from season to season. Although this academy he attends is focused on training IS units, it also functions as a military base of operations, using emotionally charged high school students as soldiers who are sent into battle to confront threats that even the armies of the world can't handle. Season two throws in an evil organization that has a terrible habit of appearing every other episode, no doubt to make room for overly cliche fan-service sequences, that will ultimately have no closure whatsoever. Although there are some specks of greatness reflected throughout the duration of Infinite Stratos, it is hardly worth the time or effort to suffer through. One moment Ichika's life will be threatened by an intriguing assassin, and the very next day he'll be on some play date with one girl or another, unknowingly angering the others, as if his life was never in danger. Most viewers will question whether or not the show has a serious case of short term memory loss, as it continually picks up and drops the plot several times throughout the season.
The battles and fight sequences have their moments as well, until the animation zooms out, leaving two colored balls streaking across the sky and ignoring the finer details of mech on mech combat. I won't deny that some of the designs are pretty darn cool, but it doesn't matter because most of the fights are short lived, and ultimately lead up to more slice of life moments that are jam packed with awkward moments that become so redundant, it becomes near unbearable. The second season ends with even more questions than answers, and if a third season ever emerges, it seems quite unlikely that anything will get resolved from it without a change of director or author. For anyone who finished season one thinking that the variety of unanswered questions would get elaborated on in season two will be sorrily disappointed. In fact, the entire premise of the plot is only vaguely hinted at, and never truly expanded upon at all.
In regards to the characters who are apart of this jumbled mess of plot and harem pointlessness, there are some stars among the mix, though ultimately they will frustrate you with their cliche behavior or pointless interjections into the story. The main character, Ichika, is a fairly basic male protagonist, who wants to protect his comrades and is overall a very nice person. There is no doubt that he is purposefully designed to be incredibly oblivious, and while that may invite some hilarity at first, it becomes very stale, and very quickly. Naturally, surrounding him are a cast of female characters, the most important being his childhood friend, Houki, who clearly has a stronger bond with him than the other girls. Houki may be my personal favorite among the bunch, but like everything in this show, her character and morals are often broken for the purpose of setting up a pointless interlude in the plot for fan service. The Houki of season one, was a respectable and hardworking girl who actually carries genuine feelings for Ichika, which are more than likely mutual. The Houki of season two periodically falls to Cecilia and Lin's level of attention grabbing nonsense. While Lin is also Ichika's childhood friend, she and Cecelia are nothing but obnoxious intrusions who serve little to no purpose to anything relevant within the story. Their personalities are bland and predictable, and you can pretty much expect what they are going to do. In fact, Cecelia's only redeeming quality is her inability to cook remotely edible food, which provides a single episode of laughs, but is still irrelevant. Much like Houki, Charlotte is another character who has many respectable qualities, but ends up drowning them in the obvious pursuit to be the one chosen by Ichika. It is unfortunate because Charlotte is an intelligent and well-meaning person who probably could serve as a good source of information for Ichika in terms of how the other girls think of him. Surprisingly, the only character I don't have a problem with in terms of the fan service and the cliche harem tactics is Laura. Perhaps it is the fact that I gave up on expecting a serious female student to appear and stay for long, and Laura benefits from being somewhat clueless about society, and doesn't overplay the "blushing girl who wants to go on a date no matter what the cost is" stereotype the others do. Of course, season two had to add on a few other characters to the list, including the student council president, and her kid sister, who ultimately take up a few episodes of drama that don't really have much to do with anything.
The best characters of the show are those who aren't involved with the harem whatsoever. This includes Ichika's older sister, Chifuyu, who just happens to be a teacher at the academy. She is a serious, no-nonsense, military-minded instructor who once was one of the greatest IS pilots the world has ever known. It is unfortunate that her much needed presence is put to waste by locking her up in a control booth giving orders. The times I smiled the most while watching this anime was when Chifuyu would call out the ridiculousness of the other girls, and ultimately deny them their right to be Ichika's girlfriend. While I feel that Houki is a good and decent person who has been victimized by the show's designs, her sister is undoubtedly one of favorites of the viewers. Tabane is a super genius who originally created the IS, and is pretty much an unstoppable god who plays tricks on the other characters just for fun. While she is a vital piece of the story's plot, her appearances are so rare, it hardly amounts to anything until its too late.
To conclude, I would advise not to venture into this anime, even if you found the first season somewhat intriguing. I would say that Infinite Stratos 2 is best enjoyed by those who don't mind a redundancy when it comes to typical cheap anime romantic troupes such as: feeding a girl her lunch and saying "aah", accidentally seeing a girl's panties, accidentally pissing off the other girls repeatedly by showing accidental favoritism towards one over the others, going on pseudo dates, blushing excessively and playing coy, and most of all, hitting the male protagonist many times for being accidentally stupid. If in the hands of a suburb writer or producer, I believe Infinite Stratos could've been a very successful anime. One thing that makes it so difficult to watch is that there are moments when it truly feels awesome, only to knock you down with overused heroics. The peak of this show occurred near the end of season one, and as hard as season two tried, it never came close.
