Infinite Stratos - Anime Review

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I was so conflicted about this series throughout the season...well. Onward. Warning: May contain some incredibly minor spoilers. There's no actual plot to spoil anyway.

Japan created mecha. No, not the anime genre, just...mecha. Which makes sense, because we all know in real life that when there is finally mecha it will be because Japan made it.

So in this world, you these more skeleton-variety ones called Infinite Stratos, and they can only be used by women. Unless you're Ichika Orimura, in which case you can use them too because you're a special snowflake.

The anime opens up with him transferring to the training school to learn how to use the damn things properly.

From there, this anime had two options. Be a true mecha series with some badass robot fighting, or be a harem anime because come on, look at that setup: one guy, school full of girls, and he's special.

They all want him automatically. And there are so many chances for inappropriate panty shots! So you end up with the harem. Go figure.

The Characters: Infinite Stratos

Do I have to? (Yes, that should be read in a whiny voice). I do? Fiiiiiine. Okay, for one we have Ichika. A carbon copy of every other male lead ever. And you know, I'm not even just referring to anime here.

I'm referring to everything. You have this world where a certain thing is law, be it of physics or what have you (in this case, Infinite Stratos can only be used by women and won't respond to men) and then you have some character who somehow goes against this (Ichika is a dude but can use them anyway).

Off the top of my head I'd most liken it to how Edward Cullen can read everyone's mind except for Bella's. Yeah. It's terrible. And there's nothing about Ichika to make me forgive him, either.

Then...the harem. It's kind of like Hetalia. And when I say that, I mean you can refer to them by country.

You have your childhood friend, Houki. She's Japan. And she is the childhood friend in every sense of the word you know, she's been in love with him for years and they have a marriage promise that the guy never realized actually was that.

Great stuff. Then...you have another childhood friend. (I'm not even kidding here). This one is China Lin. She's just as annoying as the normal childhood friend in terms of not being anything new.

You have your tsundere, aka England, aka Cecilia. High-pitched, selfish brat, kind of a bitch at first and then she's all up on him just like every other chick at the school.

Nothing new there. And...France. Charlotte. You first meet Charlotte as Charles.

So here's your character who doesn't necessarily appear in all harem anime, but they do show up in plenty of anime.

Boy who is actually a girl. And you see it the other way around, of course. It's overdone either way. And then...then you have the most annoying of all. Germany. Her name is Laura.

And why is she the most annoying of all? Because she starts off 100% badass. And then...then she likes him too. After hating him! She becomes a girly “I want Ichika” girl just like the rest of them! Don't talk to me about the cast of this anime.

The Clear Error in Judgement: Infinite Stratos

Look guys. This is like Dragon Crisis! right here. We're talking about a world where you can use these very efficient and cool-looking mecha to fight: And we're focusing on this: Why, guys? Why?

Conclusion?

For a time, I enjoyed Infinite Stratos anime. That is to say, the episodes where it acknowledged itself as a harem series (it was hard to miss, what with all the fawning women) but still kept the focus on the epic mecha. And then it decided to be a bitch and pay more attention to the harem.

So what I'm saying is...if you watch the first half and then stop, it's perfectly good. If you watch all the way to the end, it's not.

In fact, especially the end is not. On the whole though, would I recommend Infinite Stratos? I can honestly say no. No I would not. And I don't care what kind of anime you're into, you shouldn't watch Infinite Stratos Crunchyroll.

You might absolutely love all harem anime, and you still shouldn't watch Infinite Stratos Funimation. Just...just don't.

My rating: 4/10

I give it some points for the first half being pretty okay. That is all.

Infinite Stratos
Episodes	12
Genre	Action, Comedy, Mecha, Sci-Fi, Shonen, Harem
Aired	January 7, 2011 to April 1, 2011
Directed by	Yasuhito Kikuchi
Producers	Sentai Filmworks, 8bit
Opening Theme	Straight Jet by Minami Kuribayashi
Closing Theme	Super Stream by Yoko Hikasa