IS: Infinite Stratos

[Kraco]

For me it reduces a person's hotness if her personality is beyond bad. It eats away from the first impression, which is usually visual, when the character appears on the screen. Houki's favourite pastime is to be violent, disagreeable, dishonest (in an emotional manner), yet still obsessive despite those aforementioned qualities that only serve to push people away from her. So, what does it matter if she has a cute face and a sexy body? They are only wasted on her. Even somebody like Laura who knows more or less as much as Terminator about human relationships is far more loving than Houki.

[Buffalobiian]

For me it reduces a person's hotness if her personality is beyond bad. It eats away from the first impression, which is usually visual, when the character appears on the screen. Houki's favourite pastime is to be violent, disagreeable, dishonest (in an emotional manner), yet still obsessive despite those aforementioned qualities that only serve to push people away from her. So, what does it matter if she has a cute face and a sexy body?

Does it not make you want to break her?

[vejita613]

Wait, is this really a second season? I see the word "reboot" and I find myself a bit skeptical.

[Dark Dragon]

Trailer of the second season for those interested.

[Ryllharu]

[HorribleSubs] Infinite Stratos 2 - 01

Let the Carnival of Complaining begin!



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So the series largely picks up where the last one left off, skipping over the apparently completely uneventful summer. It is implied that Ichika barely talked to Rin at all, that Laura snuck naked into his bed frequently, and that Houki and Charlotte were around somewhere, but not really involved either. Cecelia was the only one who went away.

It still the same series of five girls vying for the affections of a guy denser than osmium (though I kinda suspect he isn't quite as dumb as he comes off).

Overall, it was okay, but there were a few changes I noticed. They swapped Charlotte for Houki as the girl who Ichika is most aware of (once past his sister complex), which as a Charlotte fan, feels a bit cheap. The previous season, Houki was just his friend and Charlotte was the only girl who made Ichika blush all the time. Maybe it is her ever-growing boobs. If she takes after her sister Tabane...

They also pushed Charlotte and Laura into a pair the same way they put Rin and Cecilia into a permanent losers-bracket pairing. It was also something that felt forced, but then I remembered the beach episode of last season, where Charlotte first started to play with Laura. I guess Laura is subservient to Charlotte because Charlotte had a hand in defeating her along with Ichika.

Charlotte and Laura got to show off in this episode, which was entertaining, but I'm still hoping for more Charlotte x Ichika instead of the inevitable Houki victory.


I wonder if the mysterious M is an illegal clone of Chifuyu?

The animation also seems a bit muddier, but I guess that is to be expected. 8bit is really busy this season. This is the first of three shows they are doing this season.

[Buffalobiian]

Charlotte and Laura got to show off in this episode, which was entertaining, but I'm still hoping for more Charlotte x Ichika instead of the inevitable Houki victory.

I actually don't.

Houki and have the loser Ichika. If this episode taught me one thing, it's that IS is better without Ichika's involvement. He's necessary as the girl-magnet, but he should just remain that. It's not like he can become anything more anyway.

Laura X Char ftw!

Cecilia can fight aggressively for Ichika and give Houki a run for her money. Their rivalry was the strongest (against each other, not with reference to Ichika) and it was funny watching them piss each other off. She'll never get Ichika, but she'll seem happier in his company than with any other girl.

Nothing wrong with Rin.. but no one cares about her either.

[MFauli]

japan is becoming more progressive, having a gay character as the hero.

:|

[Kraco]

I wonder why they don't try to have more homosexual men attempt to activate IS, to see if that worked just as well as being a woman, as a universal rule. No doubt religious fundamentalists and other ultra conservatives wouldn't approve, but somebody should have thought about it by now.

[Ryllharu]

Ichika is the only man allowed to pilot an IS, mostly because Tabane personally approved of him as a family friend. She may even have done it at Chifuyu's request, since we haven't seen her pilot since she rescued him, and there is reason to believe she never piloted in Germany either, only instructed.

For whatever reason she came up with in her twisted, deranged skull, Tabane wants only girls to fight using her ultimate weapon.



Infinite Stratos is a genderswapped reverse-harem.
The girls try to seduce him, as he slowly becomes aware of the opposite sex.

Ichika isn't as dumb as he comes off, I'm fairly sure of that. He's not as good as a lot of the Hagure Yuusha protagonist, but I'm reasonably sure he'd doing it on purpose. That and he has an enormous sister complex, that is only starting to wear off this past year.

Look out where the girls currently stand:

• Houki = Friend Zoned. Her ever expanding boobs and physical similarity to Chifuyu is what is starting to make Ichika aware of her.
• Rin = Hardcore Friend Zoned. She's doomed.
• Cecelia = Creeps him out. Ichika has shown definitive aversion toward her, but is willing to keep her as a friend so she doesn't go yandere on him.
• Charlotte = Debatable. Charlotte is definitely the girl he is closest to as an actual fuck-friend, as learning she was a girl and her relative forwardness without going full-on Cecelia Creeper Mode made him very aware of her. She will probably get Friend Zoned though as this season progresses. Ichika is noticeably more open to any kind of a relationship when he is around Char.
• Laura = Debatable. He finds her cute, she's very territorial and forward, so far beyond the Cecelia Creeper Point that she reached the, "Holy Shit I Drank too Much and Who's That Sleeping Next to Me?" levels. Ichika doesn't push her away though, despite definitely not being blasé about waking up next to her frequently.

In reverse-harem bishonen archetypes:

• Houki is the childhood friend who the heroine suddenly discovers is quite manly and dependable.
• Rin is the childlike childhood friend who always wants to play, but probably only gets one chapter of seducing before giving up forever.
• Cecelia is the fashionable rich guy who always touches the heroine and ultimately drives her off.
• Charlotte is either the crossdressing male lead, the transfer student who sweeps the heroine off her feet, or the heroine's best male friend and confidant after a date chapter that didn't pan out.
• Laura is the surprise fiancé with a dark hidden past.

Ichika of course, is the shy, introverted heroine who loves her manly big brother and has a special attribute or ability like, genius intelligence (definitely not this one), can see ghosts, surprise inheritance, or defies social customs.

[shinta|hikari]

That is disturbingly true. Might be the reason I never liked this show.

[oyabun]

Of all the passive naive male lead anime characters, Ichika is the one I utterly hate. This show really put me in a bad mood after I watched it.

[MFauli]

I´d love to put myself in Ichika´s shoes. It´d go something like that:

- have sex with Cecilia who was all over me from the start
- have sex with Rin who kinda came to my school only because of me, her childhood friend
- have sex with Houki, who obviously is in love with me
- have secret sex with Charlotte, who everybody thinks is a guy
- ignore Laura, because she´s got no boobs.
- get killed by Houki - oh, wait, no, wrong anime. Here, all the girls follow me to some islam-centric country and become my brides. :>

Back to real Ichika:

- ignore all girls
- jerk off to his sister
- cry right after cumming

:|

[Ryllharu]

a) Laura would definitely have sex with him. He would probably not be awake. See also, Cecelia.

b) You also forgot that Chifuyu would have to be unconscious in a hospital bed before he tried anything.

c) You know there is a "Happy Ending" to School Days, right? Some one even took a video of the ending from the game and subbed it.

[MFauli]

a) Laura would definitely have sex with him. He would probably not be awake. See also, Cecelia.

b) You also forgot that Chifuyu would have to be unconscious in a hospital bed before he tried anything.

c) You know there is a "Happy Ending" to School Days, right? Some one even took a video of the ending from the game and subbed it.

Surely not a happy ending for the harem-route, right? otherwise ill have to replay the game :P

[Ryllharu]

Continuing to be off-topic, but yes. There is a "both of them" happy ending.

[Ryllharu]

Infinite Stratos S2 - 02 [Horriblesubs]



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Overall, this episode was actually rather promising. The point of this eps was for Ichika to understand how terrible he is at piloting. As we see in the opening minutes, he's still as exceptionally bad as he's always been. His sword still drains his own shields and he uses it like a moron. Even putting combat aside, it becomes clear that he can barely even pilot the IS to begin with.

I'm at least a little glad they've decided to make him competent.

Don't really care for the new character. But as Houki pointed out toward the end, his big sister complex is so strong, he will be naturally subservient to any female older than he is. What a loser.

As a side note, I guess Laura really enjoyed being a maid for a few hours.

[Buffalobiian]

The new girl is really refreshing. I was worried that her addition would be a big turnoff, but it's quite the opposite. Her aggressiveness is just what I needed to break the stagnant deadlock with everyone. Ultimately I'm sure nothing will change, but at least all the girls are getting flustered and outraged. Hopefully they'll do more to drag Ichika out of his shell instead of just quietly complaining like they always do.

I mistook Tatenashi for Char when she played the "Who is this?" prank. She's bringing back the playfulness that Char had mid-season last time, but since then Char's mellowed out a bit. She's still most-wife material though, as comfirmed (again) this episode where she's simply the most perceptive of Ichika's (and everyone else's) needs. That's why she helps Laura out even though they're love rivals - she's that nice.

[Kraco]

It's already the fricking second season and Ichika still sucks more than a 2kW shop-vac. To make it all the better, right after a splendid demonstration of his suckage, we get a scene where the girls in perfect chorus call him cool. Cool.

I wish this show was more action and less brainless loser harem. Maybe then we would actually see Ichika develop. Nay, maybe then this second season would have already begun with a moderately asskicking Ichika instead of this sorry excuse for a main character.

This show is so bad that it's funny, especially with the obviously high animation budget.

[shinta|hikari]

Of all the LNs to adapt, they had to pick this...

I tried giving this a chance, but it is as generic as generic can get, then you add a protagonist like Ichika...

Makes me miss Tatsuya and even Kazuto.

[David75]

All those girls should spend some bucks on a Vibrator and forget Ichika already. At least a vibrator is useful and you can move on and search yourself a real man...