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View Poll Results: Infinite Stratos - Episode 3 Rating
Perfect 10 12 15.00%
9 out of 10 : Excellent 10 12.50%
8 out of 10 : Very Good 25 31.25%
7 out of 10 : Good 20 25.00%
6 out of 10 : Average 9 11.25%
5 out of 10 : Below Average 2 2.50%
4 out of 10 : Poor 0 0%
3 out of 10 : Bad 2 2.50%
2 out of 10 : Very Bad 0 0%
1 out of 10 : Painful 0 0%
Voters: 80. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 2011-01-21, 22:42   Link #81
ZeKeR
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Originally Posted by DragoZERO View Post
Speaking of... why does is his midriff bare!?
if my nerd side for power armor is correct...

the carapace only protects the most hit areas. should the shield fail or is breached, the armor, combined with the carapace, will instantly repair the damaged tissue, replacing it with a black patch were the wound was, like warhammer's space marines. other side is that so that the armor will fit and move smoothly when operating.

i guess the females wanted to see his abs... you DID notice it in this episode, right?
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Old 2011-01-21, 22:43   Link #82
MeoTwister5
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Originally Posted by DragoZERO View Post
Speaking of... why does is his midriff bare!?
Thank you for pointing that out. I can never watch this the same way again.
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Old 2011-01-21, 23:08   Link #83
thundrakkon
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Originally Posted by ZeKeR View Post
the reason for the minor pain he received is due to the concussion inside the power armor... if that swimsuit-like carapace had anything to do with it, i demand explanation.
I am not a novel reader, so anything I say is just a guess. My guess is that the suit does have some inertia dampeners, but it is not completely inertia-less. Hence, you do have some feel of motion, but not the full impact. Therefore, since he had such a huge crash, he felt some minor pain (the suit taking the brunt of the force) due to some inertia felt.
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Old 2011-01-21, 23:30   Link #84
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My usual requirements for a "show I want to watch" as 5W+1H, and IS fits in very nicely and this episode shows me why I should keep watching

Even as a character I regard as "my natural enemy the Ojousamas" Cecilia quickly rose as a very likeable character in my opinion.

... Can't wait to see the results of Ichika versus Rinin battle.
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Old 2011-01-21, 23:48   Link #85
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After watching episode 3....

This series reminded me of "Ladies vs Butlers"... >_<
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Old 2011-01-22, 00:37   Link #86
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Oh my Jesus you're right Chaos. I see the resemblance too!
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Old 2011-01-22, 01:18   Link #87
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This show... I want to enjoy it. The premise carries a bit of potential, the setting is absolutely gorgeous and creative, and while the animation isn't breathtaking, it does its job well enough.

But what has dragged this show into the ditch are the characters. Seriously, they are incredibly obnoxious! It's like the novel author made a draft of the character personalities and decided that they weren't cliche and annoying enough so amped up their annoying traits in the final version.

You have your typical good-natured handsome protagonist who drags in the ladies without any effort. That's fine, but we see that Ichika doesn't know the very basics of IS, he has trouble even lifting and landing, and yet he is shown to somehow have l00t fighting skilz and nearly defeated the representative of a whole country in his first battle! Worst of all, Ichika is devolved into an absolute moron by episode 3 and cannot tell if any of the 3 girls like him! They're almost catfighting over him, and he stands at the sidelines with a huge metaphorical question mark drifting over his head as he laughs nervously. Most guys would have moved to Rin's room by now and would have hot sex with her every night, but such a straightforward direction in plot would have eliminated the oh sooo interesting romantic tension so the author had to knock down Ichika's IQ by 25.

Houki, she's the cool, dark and bishoujo tsundere swordsman childhood friend. Whoa, that's a lot of tropes already. There are times, usually when she's in her deredere mood, when she's a respectable and interesting character. She reminds me of Sakurazaki Setsuna, who is one of my (many) favorite characters in Negima. But why does she have to be so darn harsh? Tsundere characters can be written well, it's not necessary for them to say horrible hateful words like "get kicked by a horse and die" or try to beat the protagonist up with a kendo stick.

Cecilia honestly makes me cringe ever since her debut in episode 1. I've seen overconfident, snobby ojou types in anime before, but the writer of IS seems to want to stuff every bad and "seen that before" ojou cliche onto her. I don't think I've ever seen any other character so full of themselves and yet completely open about it, other than comic relief, which Cecilia is not. I can't take her seriously, she acts like someone with no significant social life.

Rin, she's the least annoying character yet, but that could change very quickly in the upcoming episodes. Why does she have to be another tsundere though? Frankly, the author looks like an idiot when it comes to writing romance, as he seems to think combining a moronic elusive protagonist with multiple tsundere heroines creates interesting romantic tension. The conversation Rin had with Ichika about their childhood promise was torturous to watch because of their completely incompatible personalities.

I'm sorry if I offended any fans of this show and its characters. It would be easy to say that it's not my type of show, but I can see myself liking it if the characters were written better. I find nothing wrong with fanservice or harems but if I can't appreciate the characters, everything falls apart. I can only wish that this'll improve but at this point it's easily begging for me to drop it soon.
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Old 2011-01-22, 02:43   Link #88
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Hmm I wonder if the reason why Ichika is having problems using his IS after showing his skill in the previous episode either due to:

1) Not taking the situation seriously
2) The teachers are trying to train him using the wrong method

When he was told to fly, he was trying to do what the teachers are telling him to; "Imagine a pyramid in front of you", to which he doesn't even know what the heck they're talking about, but tried anyways because thats what they told him to do.

Rather that tell him, "Go ahead and fly.", they're telling him "Go ahead and fly using this particular method I taught you.".

Ichika might not be compatible with this particular method of learning.
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Old 2011-01-22, 03:52   Link #89
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Originally Posted by Tempester View Post
You have your typical good-natured handsome protagonist who drags in the ladies without any effort. That's fine, but we see that Ichika doesn't know the very basics of IS, he has trouble even lifting and landing, and yet he is shown to somehow have l00t fighting skilz and nearly defeated the representative of a whole country in his first battle! Worst of all, Ichika is devolved into an absolute moron by episode 3 and cannot tell if any of the 3 girls like him! They're almost catfighting over him, and he stands at the sidelines with a huge metaphorical question mark drifting over his head as he laughs nervously. Most guys would have moved to Rin's room by now and would have hot sex with her every night, but such a straightforward direction in plot would have eliminated the oh sooo interesting romantic tension so the author had to knock down Ichika's IQ by 25.
Besides the fact that he goes from complete master of IS to complete moron of IS in just one episode, you can expect the cluelesness from him from a majority of other male protagonists who cannot see through the harem that the girls actually like them. So I'm sorta used to the male protagonists being clueless when it comes to romance situations. I have the feeling his amazing IS skills will come once again in episode 4, only because he was "specially trained" by Houki and Cecilia this time, although we don't know how long that was to really tell.

Quote:
Houki, she's the cool, dark and bishoujo tsundere swordsman childhood friend. Whoa, that's a lot of tropes already. There are times, usually when she's in her deredere mood, when she's a respectable and interesting character. She reminds me of Sakurazaki Setsuna, who is one of my (many) favorite characters in Negima. But why does she have to be so darn harsh? Tsundere characters can be written well, it's not necessary for them to say horrible hateful words like "get kicked by a horse and die" or try to beat the protagonist up with a kendo stick.
Some tsunderes are somewhat worse then Houki, but just by a little. I just have the feeling that Houki is 95% Tsun, and 5% Dere to be this harsh towards Ichika, I mean they were childhood friends and yet she treats him like he was the most hateful person in her life. Getting jealous way too easily when Ichika is harassed by the majority of fangirls around him.

Quote:
Cecilia honestly makes me cringe ever since her debut in episode 1. I've seen overconfident, snobby ojou types in anime before, but the writer of IS seems to want to stuff every bad and "seen that before" ojou cliche onto her. I don't think I've ever seen any other character so full of themselves and yet completely open about it, other than comic relief, which Cecilia is not. I can't take her seriously, she acts like someone with no significant social life.
It would have been a more interesting development for her if she was just aching to get revenge against Ichika after that representative battle fight. But she takes a complete 180 degree turn which destroys things quite a bit in her development sadly.

Quote:
Rin, she's the least annoying character yet, but that could change very quickly in the upcoming episodes. Why does she have to be another tsundere though? Frankly, the author looks like an idiot when it comes to writing romance, as he seems to think combining a moronic elusive protagonist with multiple tsundere heroines creates interesting romantic tension. The conversation Rin had with Ichika about their childhood promise was torturous to watch because of their completely incompatible personalities.
I do like Rin the most character-wise so far in IS, but just as you said her character can take a very dramatic turn in just one episode like Cecilia. But I think that is not the case, her character is pretty solid so far with being completely dere to Ichika, while being very tsun to her rivals. I think 2 tsunderes is good enough in a anime... If they add one more to the mix though... There is some serious issues with character variety..

Quote:
I'm sorry if I offended any fans of this show and its characters. It would be easy to say that it's not my type of show, but I can see myself liking it if the characters were written better. I find nothing wrong with fanservice or harems but if I can't appreciate the characters, everything falls apart. I can only wish that this'll improve but at this point it's easily begging for me to drop it soon.
Just stating your opinions, nothing to be offended of.
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Old 2011-01-22, 04:27   Link #90
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Originally Posted by thundrakkon View Post
Love is blind, and people tend to fall in love for the smallest of reasons. What might be insignificant for you could be overwhelming for someone else.

That said, here are some of Ichika's strong points that will lead to girls swooning over him. Any one of these reasons is good enough for girls to fall in love with him.

1) He is handsome
2) He is famous (only male to pilot an IS suit)
3) He appears strong and has a backbone (charisma is always nice)
4) He is aggressive and straightforward on what he wants without being too aggressive (women tend to love men who take charge)
5) He is thoughtful of other people's need and desires to help them improve (women love it when her guy helps her achieve her dreams or makes her better)(Ex: Classroom to Cafeteria with Houki in episode 2)
6) He is social, friendly, and easy to talk to (women love to be around someone they feel comfortable with)

Well, these are only some of the reasons I can think of for now. I am sure there are more.
One and two i can agree with but the rest I'm not seeing, at all. And number one doesn't really apply since all male protagonists are that by default. They'd have to be.

Quote:
The energy barrier of the suit protected him from the fall, so his survival is not unexpected at all.
It's not the fall that kills you.
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Old 2011-01-22, 04:31   Link #91
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One and two i can agree with but the rest I'm not seeing, at all. And number one doesn't really apply since all male protagonists are that by default. They'd have to be.
I can see 3 and 6 taking place, he had the backbone to go against a supposed ace IS pilot like Cecilia without much knowledge of the IS itself. He is also very friendly to chat with when around the fangirls that admire him.
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Old 2011-01-22, 04:36   Link #92
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Anyone would do that though. I'd go against Ceecilia because she's an ass and most people are generally that sociable, especially students.

But no matter how hard you look at it, getting a harem is not normal. You have to have something more than qualities that anyone else would have and besides him being the only guy there (which isn't the greatest reason) there's nothing else that actually explains it.
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Old 2011-01-22, 04:44   Link #93
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One and two i can agree with but the rest I'm not seeing, at all. And number one doesn't really apply since all male protagonists are that by default. They'd have to be.



It's not the fall that kills you.
I will try to provide some examples for you.

3) He appears strong and has a backbone (charisma is always nice)

He stood up to Cecilia for the class representative challenge in class, even if he was a novice. After that, he kept his word and fought with her, even giving her a scare near the end.

4) He is aggressive and straightforward on what he wants without being too aggressive (women tend to love men who take charge)
Two examples are when he "forced" Houki to go with him to the cafeteria and wanted her to go with the other classmates, and when he was forward in asking her for help in piloting an IS. (Oftentimes, male pride stands in the way, and you try to act cool and not ask for help when you need it, which I believe is a downfall for many guys).

5) He is thoughtful of other people's need and desires to help them improve (women love it when her guy helps her achieve her dreams or makes her better)(Ex: Classroom to Cafeteria with Houki in episode 2)
Again, same example of episode 2 with Ichika "forcing" Houki to get along with her classmates. He knew she needed, and she even thanked him for it.

6) He is social, friendly, and easy to talk to (women love to be around someone they feel comfortable with)
He has a large following, even among his classmates and the senior girls. They are able to talk with him very casually, and he is able to talk straightforwardly in return. It is a lot better than, "I'm too cool to bother to talk to you" (silent type), "I'm too shy to talk to you" (shy type with no communications skills), or "I believe all are trash before me" (badass type). He does not turn anyone away or runs away from anyone (again, another point to his having a backbone).

Edit:
As for the fall, if he can make a suit appear out of nowhere, that suit is probably an extension of him. It acts as an energy barrier, and most likely has inertial dampeners.
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Last edited by thundrakkon; 2011-01-22 at 04:46. Reason: Answer for the fall
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Old 2011-01-22, 04:47   Link #94
Haak
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^ Again, any normal person would do that. Numbers 3 and 4 are essentially the same thing. And believe it or not, sociable students are far more common than shy, silent or asshole types..

Granted, his converstation with Houki in the cafeteria did show something, but Houki was already tsundere for him already and nobody else saw that.

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Edit:
As for the fall, if he can make a suit appear out of nowhere, that suit is probably an extension of him. It acts as an energy barrier, and most likely has inertial dampeners.
Yeah, I figured that. I don't like fanwanking. Apparently he hit the ground hard enough to get his head stuck in it like an ostrich. Explain that.
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Old 2011-01-22, 05:00   Link #95
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But no matter how hard you look at it, getting a harem is not normal. You have to have something more than qualities that anyone else would have and besides him being the only guy there (which isn't the greatest reason) there's nothing else that actually explains it.
To be honest, option 2 (he's famous) is enough reason for the general population to have a huge following. Adding to it that he is also handsome. Those 2 reasons would have girls swooning all over him (think of movie stars).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Haak View Post
^ Again, any normal person would do that. Numbers 3 and 4 are essentially the same thing. And believe it or not, sociable students are far more common than shy, silent or asshole types.

Granted, his converstation with Houki in the cafeteria did show something, but Houki was already stundere for him already and nobody else saw that.
Alright, let's take a look at it in a different way. The world that he lives in, the girls are mostly training to be IS pilots. If that is the case, they have been mostly going to all-female schools, since males do not have the luxery to go to those schools. All of a sudden, they have one male guy in their midst. Of course all the girls will be interested and wanting to know him. It is their first chance. Add to that, competition makes him even more popular (women are very competitive by nature). You always hear some girl complaining about how another has a head start.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Haak View Post
^ Again, any normal person would do that. Numbers 3 and 4 are essentially the same thing. And believe it or not, sociable students are far more common than shy, silent or asshole types..

Granted, his converstation with Houki in the cafeteria did show something, but Houki was already tsundere for him already and nobody else saw that.



Yeah, I figured that. I don't like fanwanking. Apparently he hit the ground hard enough to get his head stuck in it like an ostrich. Explain that.


Furthermore, due to his popularity, going out with him automatically boosts your popularity and bragging rights. Also, they are very curious as to why he is so special, to be able to pilot an IS suit. Maybe marrying him will bring a lot of prestige to them as well.

Finally, since he is the only guy, it is very slim pickings for the girls of the school. Also, since most consider men below them for being unable to pilot an IS suit, he can be seen as an equal to them, which is a lot more appealing as well.

Edit:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Haak View Post
Yeah, I figured that. I don't like fanwanking. Apparently he hit the ground hard enough to get his head stuck in it like an ostrich. Explain that.
Added for comedic effect.
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Old 2011-01-22, 05:07   Link #96
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It would have been a more interesting development for her if she was just aching to get revenge against Ichika after that representative battle fight. But she takes a complete 180 degree turn which destroys things quite a bit in her development sadly.
I'll join the bandwagon and agree, that development was way too fast.

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Originally Posted by Hooves View Post
Just stating your opinions, nothing to be offended of.
Thanks. Duly noted.

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But no matter how hard you look at it, getting a harem is not normal. You have to have something more than qualities that anyone else would have and besides him being the only guy there (which isn't the greatest reason) there's nothing else that actually explains it.
When it comes to the "believability" of harems I tend to look at the plausibility of the situation. Ichika being the only known boy who can pilot IS in the whole world is destined to be popular with the girls. And there are sure to be girls who would actually fall for him. But most of the time I simply don't care as long as the characters are likable and the romantic tension doesn't get obnoxious. It sometimes hurts too much to think about these things. I do hate the bromantic foil trope at times though. It seems to be a cheap way to make your boring protagonist look charming and desirable when you put him next to a weird, overly hormonal butt monkey. At least we can be happy there is no bromantic foil in this series!
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Old 2011-01-22, 05:07   Link #97
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Just to clarify, when I said it's not the greatest reason I didn't mean practically (because I'm more than aware of that theory). I meant storywise, as in it doesn't give him a lot of depth and falls under the 'quality any otaku can easily acquire'.
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Old 2011-01-22, 05:31   Link #98
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The conversation Rin had with Ichika about their childhood promise was torturous to watch because of their completely incompatible personalities.
The 'childhood love promise (usually one that the male protagonist forgets)' is also getting pretty annoying. Just once, just once, when one of these come out into the open, I want the dude to go, "Huh? I was like nine when I made that promise. How are you still holding that over my head!?" Just once.

I agree with everything else you said btw, that specific plot point had been annoying since I saw the third episode.
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Old 2011-01-22, 05:32   Link #99
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Just to clarify, when I said it's not the greatest reason I didn't mean practically (because I'm more than aware of that theory). I meant storywise, as in it doesn't give him a lot of depth and falls under the 'quality any otaku can easily acquire'.
Yeah, I think you hit the nail there, obviously this show is primarily targeted to otaku and thus the 'quality any otaku can easily acquire' is intentional for obvious reasons. Really, with all the complaints that most haremettes are mostly cookie cutter of the usual archetype (token tsundere, token loli, etc), it's the male lead that's usually similar with each other. Maybe a small change of background and interest depending on setting, but mostly they're just your average everydude who won the heart of the girls by being caring and kind to them, but is very dense. Only one in recent memory that's quite different from the mold is Sai Akuto or Keima Katsuragi, the rest are quite similar...
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Old 2011-01-22, 05:34   Link #100
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The 'childhood love promise (usually one that the male protagonist forgets)' is also getting pretty annoying. Just once, just once, when one of these come out into the open, I want the dude to go, "Huh? I was like nine when I made that promise. How are you still holding that over my head!?" Just once.
I'm sure the male protagonists don't want to get their head bashed by the girl they say that too.... Especially in Ichika's case... Even if he din't forget, it would be surprising to see that he actually remembers.
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