Story: 9 points
Ladies and gentlemen, men, women, and all others. Prepare yourselves for what will surely be the most fun part I write in this review of Infinite Stratos (IS). Get ready to embark on a journey to the near distant future, where a wacky super genius with Rabbit Ears and lovely lady lumps is the great Inventor of these self-titled (IS) Mecha units. These manned machines, well actually, let me accurately re-state that last statement. These (wo)manned machines will revolutionize the world on a global scale, bringing peace and prosperity to all nations of the Earth!
Ah forget it…this is not a drama and/or war anime. Simply put, this is a near plotless story about a teenage boy named Ichika, and his ability to be the only male capable of flying an IS unit. Yes, that is a true statement. He is the only one among billions of others around the world. In other words, only female pilots may pilot an IS unit aside from this strapping young lad. So naturally he attends a prestigious All-Girls School (previously now) surrounded by nothing but young virgin, teenage IS pilots in training; and the virginity excerpt is confirmed in episode 10 or 11, no joking.
At this esteemed academy, he will learn how to master the teenage girl, I mean IS. Yes! I meant to say IS! He will learn to become a skilled IS pilot alongside these beautiful bosoms butts breasts, um uh, b-beautiful lady classmates of his (gulps, nervously sweats). To be honest, even if I meant any of the previous comments it would not due Ichika any good. He is so dense and clueless when it comes to his fellow female classmates that they could all strip naked and begin begging for his IS unit to be deployed and he would just stare and stutter aimlessly saying, “W-What are you all d-doing?” Duh, dummy. Your Harem of Houki, Cecelia, Charlotte, Laura, Lingyan, girls A, B, C, etc. await you to hold them into your arms, sweep them off their feet, brutishly place them onto your bed, and in your case, do nothing.
Honestly, if this was any other single teenage guy in Ichika’s situation, they would know exactly what to do with all these ladies flaunting and throwing themselves at him. But this anime is not to be taken seriously nor is the above ever likely to happen. Ever! Otherwise, the correct title of this anime would be Infinite Wet Dream, because like so many other Ecchi titles before (and after) it, one male main character is forcefully “thrusted” into nothing butt an all-girls school. Oh, and one important side note to add: they are all attractively drawn in their appearance and erotically drawn to Ichika as well. Image that…
…still imagining…
…okay, that’s enough unrealistic 2-D fantasizing for one afternoon; back to the hand on matter, err, I mean matter at-hand (cough cough). I guess I am being comical here because that’s what IS is, a sexualized, mini-gundam harem-comedy. Now that’s not to say that the actual plot is not enjoyable at all, assuming you can locate it. You would have a better chance of getting into your own IS unit and trying to hit the Silver Gospel Third Gen IS with it, which by this universe’s definition means you must be either a female reader of this review, or Ichika himself. If you are the latter, then get lost and go enjoy your pick among the litter of lovely heroine ladies that could only happen in the world of Infinite Wet Dream.
Animation: 6 points
The art and animation are standard, generic fair with the IS units looking the best and most detailed. It’s not at the bottom for production budget, but it certainly is not at the top either. It is colorful and average overall.
Sound: 7 points
The music is less than captivating, but manageable, including the OP and ED. In fact, I kind of enjoyed the ED a little bit, not that I am hitting the replay button over and over. That would be an exaggeration.
The best part of the audio comes in by way of the sound effects. The mecha on mecha grinding, the IS explosions, and the embarrassing squirms and squeals of the plethora of IS pilot trainees is pretty spot on, with the latter-most being comical at times. A lovely example is when Ichika rubs sun tanning lotion all over Cecilia. I laughed so hard because as soon as his hands grazed her back, it sounded as if he (bleep)’d her and she instantly (bleep)’d all over his (bleep). Sorry but this is a family-friendly review and young teenagers may be reading this.
Did I mention explosions yet?
Characters: 9 points
At last we have arrived to the other all ass-piring and tit-illating section, the characters! However, to simplify this section I have created an outline of each female character that will justify the ecchi-ness of IS. It is definitely directly from the standard playbook of the genre:
- Houki:
Extra-long black hair with blue eyes
Childhood friend
Young Tomboy turned semi-Tsurdere teenager
A larger bust that is still growing (according to the LN)
- Cecilia:
Long blonde Hair Drills hair with lighter blue eyes
British class with a touch of narcissism and snobbery (at first)
A modest busted babe who is not afraid to wear lacey lingerie for her main squeeze
Could kill with cooking, literally
- Charlotte (aka Charles):
Blonde, purple-eyed female
French, mid-year Transfer disguised as a male student IS pilot
Genuinely sweet and more classy than Cecilia
Fawned over by the girls on how feminine and pretty “Charles” is for a male (prior to the reveal)
- Laura:
Long silver-grey straight hair with Heterochromic eyes
Shorter statured German, blunt-speaking IS badass who wants to kill Ichika upon first sight
Awakens from a defeat with Ichika whispering sweet nothings to her (in her mind anyway)
Later anonounces him "her bride" immediately after a shocking classroom moment
Unofficial Masochist
- Lingyin:
Long pigtailed brown hair with green eyes
An even earlier childhood friend of Ichika’s
Chinese born transfer who is on the shorter side like Laura
Hot-tempered, smaller busted lolita-type
As you can read, there is flavor of girl that almost any ecchi-harem fan could find fan-servicing 2-D pleasure in. That is how these bland, sex appealing anime produce popular results. The profits benefit so many, such as studio 8-Bit, the Kleenex® company, and CeraVe® company.
Finally, there is Ichika. Aside from his Air-Headed ways with the ladies, he is the most inexperienced IS pilot trainee, who miraculously becomes the savior to all the other, way more experienced female pilots of his harem. It is only natural that the clueless teenage girl magnet would be their savior. Am I right?
And do not forget his super large busted teacher, Ms. Yamada, in which his hands just happened to find their way to her bosom as he falls down right on top of her, missionary style. Then there is his older sister, Chifuyu, who is a Stoic badass that just loves Ichika’s “magical fingers” all over her body. Yes, she does say that. Again, no joking.
Bottom line, like the plot, do not expect there to be too much by way of character depth and development. They are all practically shallow, twitter-pated Ichika oglers with the "possible" exceptions of Charlotte and Chifuyu. Maybe.
Overall: 46/100 points
There really is not much more I can say about this anime. My overall score would suggest that this is not that good of an anime, and in many ways it truly is not that good, but mindset is everything. It is an ecchi, harem anime that tries to be funny and fails, but ends up being funny when it is not trying to be.
If you go in watching it after reading this review, then you should be entertained enough to see it through to the end.
Entertainment Score: 12 points
Achievement Score: +3 to Overall
My expectations were Low, and it delivered Slightly Above those expectations.
Age Rating: TV-14+ (mecha action and violence, ecchi elements)
Additional Information:
Video Format: FHD (1080p) Streaming
Audio Format: English dubbed
Publisher: Hulu
Equipment Used: Acer AN515-53-55G9 Nitro 5 Laptop