IS: Infinite Stratos

[KrayZ33]

Question: why do you guys think/believe that his weapon is useless for the IS-sport and meant for hurting people?

its a shield nullifying sword right?
he can pierce his enemy shield -> shield pierced means zero shieldpoints because a pierced shield is broken -> he is the winner with a single blow. (they never said that the sword "bypasses" the shield like a ghost-sword or something like that, at least not in Ayako's version)

his problem is that he has to get into close-range to make this attack work, which is why this sword is a all-in-weapon and *needs* to end everything with one or 2 blows.

[Buffalobiian]

Question: why do you think that his weapon is useless for the IS-sport and meant for hurting people?

its a shield nullifying sword right?
he can pierce his enemy shield -> shield pierced = zero shieldpoints -> he is the winner with

From my understanding, it's a shield bypassing sword.

Take a hit = full shield, dead pilot.


Edit: No, you're right. The explanation does use "nullifying". For some reason, I thought it was the above ^.

In light of that, it does work (and very well) in sport - but still very dangerous. That is unless you have the control (and the technology works in a way that will allow you) to slash into the "energy field" to nullify it, but not contact the enemy.

[KrayZ33]

the question is if the sword can actually *cut* things
it could be a kendo sword of some kind (for example)

and I doubt laser and rockets are safer than that sword
gee.. sports <-> rockets, what am I watching, but its fun

[Buffalobiian]

the question is if the sword can actually *cut* things
it could be a kendo sword of some kind (for example)

It cuts missiles pretty well.

[MFauli]

wasnt the problem that the sword nullifies HIS own shield? Takes all the energy from defense and puts it into offense. Something that could be advantagous in a real life-death-battle, but makes you lose per-default in this sports-situation, where "no shield" means loss. thats how i understood it.

[Buffalobiian]

wasnt the problem that the sword nullifies HIS own shield? Takes all the energy from defense and puts it into offense. Something that could be advantagous in a real life-death-battle, but makes you lose per-default in this sports-situation, where "no shield" means loss. thats how i understood it.

You use some of your power to nullify all of their shield.

That's how I understood it.

But I see your understanding as valid too. You would have to assume that his sister's tournament used different rules though, since she couldn't have won like that otherwise.

[KrayZ33]

exactly...

in an RPG game this would be a berserker class IS (in most cases)
or if you play league of legends, take Sions enrage ability as an example (each attack costs health but deal more damage)
or Lost Planet T-Eng weapons (probably the best comparison)

and there is no difference in life-death-battle and the sports battle
if your shield reaches zero points you have lost your defence and the next hit will finish you off, the sports-battle will just stop right before that happens

so its a double edged sword in both cases and equally dangerous to use.. but it can end everything with a single blow...(or 2... who knows how much attack power he will gain
but from what his Sister (that weapon was the key to victory) it sounds like she had problems fighting certain enemies, maybe because she couldn't hit them too often because they were too fast, and that attack helped her dealing enough damage.

[Kraco]

Like I said earlier, he just needs to develop it further so that he has a trace of his own shields left. I can't believe it would be so stiff that's not possible.

Otherwise he can become the new draw king: All fights end with neither having any shields left...

[MFauli]

You would have to assume that his sister's tournament used different rules though, since she couldn't have won like that otherwise.

That´s what confused me. How could his sister win any tournaments, when it nullifies her own shield energy? So, I guess it only drains a certain amount, then...which makes it totally overpowered...and his sister´s victories all the less impressive.

[Ryllharu]

but it can end everything with a single blow...(or 2... who knows how much attack power he will gain
but from what his Sister (that weapon was the key to victory) it sounds like she had problems fighting certain enemies, maybe because she couldn't hit them too often because they were too fast, and that attack helped her dealing enough damage.

The biggest flaw is it looks like he can take very little damage at all before he goes in for the strike. Cecilia pounded him pretty good but his shield still had a lot of strength before it went.

He went to 470 after her first hit (14:29, Ayako) down to about 238 (18:53, Ayako), and then immediately to zero. I'm guessing it starts at around 500. That means he has to use at or around half of his shield to strike.

As far as I'm concerned, that makes it a highly flawed weapon. If all his opponents focused on kendo like weapons, fine, but there are a lot of varied types of attacks as we saw in the opening moments of the first episode. No matter how fast he is, no matter how good at dodging, he will take some hits. He essentially cannot win if he takes any kind of significant damage.

Maybe he can control how much he puts into it, maybe he can't. For now, I'm going off of what we know and what we have seen.

[KrayZ33]

there was no need to transform it so early, he could do it right before he strikes

and we don't even know if this is his only weapon/attack
and to be honest that shield energy display is weird in the first place, he lost shield energy even though he didnt get hit.

So, I guess it only drains a certain amount, then...which makes it totally overpowered...and his sister´s victories all the less impressive.

I believe this fight proved pretty well that its not easy to get into melee-range

[MFauli]

I believe this fight proved pretty well that its not easy to get into melee-range

How so? Because a total beginner managed to get close to a sniper IS? I assume that both sniper and sword IS are rather unusual, with the typical IS being some kind of mid-range beam shooting vehicle.

[Kraco]

He was at a mid-range distance at best from the beginning. It's not easy to snipe a fast moving vehicle from that distance anymore. And the harder it got the closer he got. Ichika wasn't the only inexperienced in this fight. Cecilia was far too sure of herself possibly due to too single-sided experience from previous mock battles. We can also assume Ichika's movements were anything but orthodox - he's a stupid noob with only inborn talent at the moment, after all. Kind of like a drunken boxer...

[Buffalobiian]

there was no need to transform it so early, he could do it right before he strikes

Transform (what)?

Armour? - The form-fitted armour is here to stay.

Sword? - Holding the beam-sword doesn't take energy, it only went down when he swung the sword.

[KrayZ33]

Sword? - Holding the beam-sword doesn't take energy, it only went down when he swung the sword

I doubt that heavily...
during the first episode he used his beam-sword to attack, then when he dodges, his sword is normal again

don't get fooled by bad anime/animation-logic (since they don't want to or can't show the shield-display while they fight)
rewatch the fight especially the part @ around 15:30, even though he dodges attacks the shield power is still being consumed
that didnt make sense either, he dodged every single shot and his shield went down from 500-300 or something like that

[Buffalobiian]

I doubt that heavily...
during the first episode he used his beam-sword to attack, then when he dodges, his sword is normal again

don't get fooled by bad anime/animation-logic (since they don't want to or can't show the shield-display while they fight)
rewatch the fight especially the part @ around 15:30, even though he dodges attacks the shield power is still being consumed
that didnt make sense either, he dodged every single shot and his shield went down from 500-300 or something like that

True enough, the counter seems to be independent of what happens on screen.

[Marik]

Ayako - Infinite Stratos IS - 03: 720p | 400p

[MFauli]

And that is how this show reached the basement.

Boobs, panties and your typical dumbass surrounded by the ever-growing harem - that´s what I saw in this episode.

See, I´ve come to see a lot of such anime, but IF you have to do a show like that: Don´t make one girl the obvious love interest. In case of IS, it´d be miraculous if anyone but Houki turned out to be Ichika´s girl friend at the end of the show. Boring.

[shinta|hikari]

It'd be miraculous if anyone turned out to be his girlfriend at all.

[NeoCybercoin]

It would be even more miraculous even if he'd even notice what's going around him.