Infinite Stratos Review

Synopsis:

Ten years after the first IS were introduced; the world has entered a new age of peace. The peace is shattered, however, by an unexpected discovery. A 15 years old Japanese boy, named Ichika Orimura, is discovered to be capable of operating an IS. Realizing the potential, Ichika is forced by the Japanese government to attend the prestigious Infinite Stratos Academy, an international academy where IS pilots from all over the world are trained. Thus his busy school life surrounded by girls begins.

Review:

The description practically nails this series on the head, and it does very little to stray from that idea. Infinite Stratos does have some very good high points, one being the animation. It flows seamlessly a majority of the time for hand drawn to computer generated art, and the fights look very beautiful. There is also a nice quality of voice work though there are a few exceptions; British dialect in a Japanese anime always ends terribly. Those who enjoy Harem genre anime will find great comfort because that is pretty much the only consistency to be found in the series. Also if you love almost offensive anime stereotypes then Infinite Stratos has you covered.

As you can tell Infinite Stratos and I have some issues with each other. I did love the Harem aspect of this series, but the series pretended to be something more and it isn’t. The mechs are just a means to an end to get back to the young girls and their interest in the lead male. There are some charming episodes such as when they go to the beach, but otherwise the plot is thin. Infinite Stratos is constantly veiling itself with the idea of a major overall plot, which by the way there isn’t one. Character wise everyone is one dimensional, some of them have back stories, but they don’t really phase the overall story. If there was a better story behind this series it could have truly been great, but it just seems to be another quick cash Harem anime.

Now to wrap things up I’ll do a little math, Harem + Mechs – Mechs – Story – Character Development = Infinite Stratos. As much as enjoy certain aspects of the series it is my job to be unbiased in my reviews. I hope the artist and voice actors get together again in another series just without the same writer. For those that love Harem then this series will be great for you because that’s all it really is. You may also like this story if you enjoy looking and questionably young girls, but there are much better series for you to do that. Rest in Peace Infinite Stratos…I am truly saddened at all of you potential dying. FYI this overall score was somewhere between a 2 and 3, so I am going to round up, because that’s the classy thing to do…something this anime could learn from me.

3/5

Studio: 8-bit Genre: Romantic Comedy/Fantasy Episodes: 12

Original Run: January 6, 2011 – March 31, 2011 Language:Japanese with Subs

Article by: Larry Harris