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
