The first fact is something that most viewers will find hard to deny: with a few notable exceptions, the vast majority of IS is fairly generic. Most of the girls who keep appearing to follow Ichika around fall into this category as well, having little characterization and undergoing strange personality shifts from their initial appearance. Some are hit by this harder than others, and one is actually fairly interesting and innovative (I thought her few episodes were probably the highlight of the show), but overall the setup is rather clichéd. Not bad, in and of itself, but definitely not new or developed to its full potential.
Another problem I thought this series had was the (in my opinion) strange shift in tone that happened towards the end of the show. The ending, in my opinion, didn't really "jive" with the rest of the series and kind of sticks out as...not quite the same as the rest. It kind of seemed like the writers were trying to create a "big finish" for the season and the characters, but honestly I think something with less grandeur would have been okay if it pieced together better with the other 10 or so episodes.
So, ordinarily I'd give a show like Infinite Stratos something like a 6, for an overused scenario and (IMO) strange ending. However, the series was helped by many of its base aspects (nice art, great sound, a couple of interesting characters amid the mostly flat ones), and given that there were a couple of episode I really did enjoy, my final verdict is a 7, for "incomplete overall, but with some attractive aspects". If you're looking for a series that is going to draw you in with its complex plots and deep characters, Infinite Stratos isn't really going to suit you. But if you want something that's both fairly easy to follow and has some spots of quality amid the overall rough surface, you might want to give it a try.
