Infinite Stratos

“Infinite Stratos”, published up to volume 12 in MF Bunko J and Overlap Bunko (up to volume 7 in MF Bunko J).

In a world where only women can use IS (Infinite Stratos), a high-speed school battle romantic comedy in which Ichika Orimura is able to activate IS despite being a man.

The TV anime started airing in January 2011 and attracted a lot of attention, with the first BD volume reaching No. 1 overall in the Oricon BD Weekly Chart on 11 April 2011. The anime is also ‘Eight Bit’ first solo production.

In this article, we would like to share with you the appeal of the TV anime “Infinite Stratos”.

It was only recently that I watched “Infinite Stratos” . This is because when I was a student I heard the ending theme of this anime, ‘SUPER∞STREAM’ (probably a commercial for a disc) and the chorus was in my head all the time. So I put it on my list to watch one day.

Table of Contents

• Mecha x Bishojo
• Cute sub-characters
• Eight Bit
• TV animation “Infinite Stratos” Production information
• Original information

Mecha x Bishojo

The mecha x bishojo genre has a Wikipedia article with excellent illustrations as Mecha Shojo. Unfortunately, “Infinite Stratos” is not listed in this article.

Modern weapons, fighter planes, tanks and ships are basically absent from “Infinite Stratos”. Also, there are no male characters except for the main character Ichika Orimura and his male friend as sub-characters, so you can enjoy pure mecha (IS) x bishojo in this work.

Cute sub-characters

In “Infinite Stratos”, which is considered a harem, beautiful girls gather around the protagonist. But it is not only the main heroine who is cute.

Sub-characters are also given names and nicknames, and are also given voice actors. The sub-characters who appear from time to time also seem to have a liking for the hero, and the interactions with these sub-characters are interesting, unlike those with the main heroine. The sub-character I would like to draw attention to in this work is the leftmost girl in the image.

Eight Bit

The founder, Mr Tsutomu Kasai, worked in the past as a production worker for the animation production company Satellite. He was also involved in the production of animation, mainly satellite productions, after the founding of ‘Eight Bit’. The company name comes from 8-bit, which is also the CPU of the family computer (cited from Wikipedia).

Famous works include ‘Encouragement of Climb’, ‘the Grisaia series’, and That ‘Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime’. I was surprised because I had an image of mecha and CG from “Infinite Stratos”and ‘Busou Shinki’.

TV animation “Infinite Stratos” Production information

Delivery information

Available on d-Anime Store and U-NEXT (unlimited subscription).
Also available on various other distribution platforms.

Introduction

All classmates are girls!?
《Mecha x Bishojo》High-speed school battle romantic comedy, starting with a TV anime!

IS (Infinite Stratos), a flying powered suit that can only be handled by women.
Since its development and publication in Japan, the world has become a female-dominated society.

The IS Academy, a school for training IS pilots, is,
It is a girls’ school for representative candidate girls from all over the world.
However, the main character, Ichika Orimura, is a man, but for some reason he is able to activate IS,
He is forced to enrol at the IS Academy.

One man in a girl’s garden, including his childhood friend Broomstick, a kendo girl,
A fast and furious action battle and love story with a multinational and diverse group of girls.

The enemy suddenly attacks, the mystery behind the IS, and the girls’ love for Ichika!

Staff

original work：Izuru Yumizuru（Published by MF Bunko J / Media Factory）
original illustration：okiura
director：Yasuhito Kikuti
Series composition・ script：fumihiko Shimo
script：Atsuhiro Tomioka・Chinatsu Hojyo
Character design・ chief animation director：Tomoyasu Kurashima
mechanical design：Takesi Takakura
CGI animation director：Eiji Inomoto
art director：Shunichiro Yoshihara(bihou）
art setting：Yoshinori Shiozawa(bihou）
colour design：Kumiko Nakayama
cinematographer：Kazuya Arahata
editing：Kashiko Kimura
sound director：Masafumi Mima・Toshihiko Nakajima
Sound production：TechnoSound Co,Ltd.
music：Hikaru Nanase
music production：Lantis
Animation production：Eight Bit

Cast

Ichika Orimura：Kōki Uchiyama
Houki Shinonono：Yōko Hikasa（@hikasayokoSP）
Cecilia Alcott：Yukana（@from_yukana）
Lingyin Huang：Asami Shimoda（@shimoda_asami）
Charlotte Dunois：Kana Hanazawa（@hanazawa_staff）
Laura Bodewig：Marina Inoue（@Mari_navi）
Chifuyu Orimura：Megumi Toyoguchi
Maya Yamada：Noriko Shitaya（@shitaya_noriko）
Tabane Shinonono：Yukari Tamura（@yukari_tamura）
Ran Gotanda：Noriko Obato
Dan Gotanda：Makoto Yasumura（@ysmrmkt19750328）

OP＆ED

opening theme
「STRAIGHT JET」
song:Minami Kuribayashi
song lyrics:Minami Kuribayashi
Compositions・ arrangements:Daisuke Kikuta

ending theme
「SUPER∞STREAM」
song lyrics:Saori Kodama
Compositions・ arrangements:Akihiko Yamaguchi
song:Houki Shinonono(Yōko Hikasa)
:Cecilia Alcott(Yukana)
:Lingyin Huang(Asami Shimoda)
:Charlotte Dunois(Kana Hanazawa)
:Laura Bodewig(Marina Inoue)

※The ending theme has additional singers as the story progresses.

Official website
Official Twitter（@is_anime）

Original information

“Infinite Stratos”

original work：Izuru Yumizuru
illustration：okiura（MF Bunko J）、CHOCO（Overlap Bunko）
MF Bunko J：Volumes 1-7.　※Currently out of print
Overlap Bunko：Volumes 1-12 on sale now.