IS- Infinite Stratos

Recently, I've been looking into an anime reminding me of Strike Witches called IS or Infinite Stratos. Anyone familiar with this?

Also, I was wondering if shows and games like Sky Girls, Strike Witches, and so have their own genre. Since they're having similar themes, I was wondering if it is or will be a genre of its own.

It's a harem rom-com. Summary of first few eps:

We built these mechs, but only women (girls) can pilot them.

We use these mechs in contests, not real battles, so the best of the mecha pilots go to this elite school.

Uh, there's this one boy who can pilot them.

Okay, throw him into the school as well.

Hilarity ensues.

I think the next season comes out in the spring,the schools are used as a sort of weapons limitation treaty, the use of IS's in combat is strictly prohibited,so the girls battles are used instead of open warfare

Hold on a sec, I though Sky Girls was an early concept for Strike Witches?

Back on topic. Infinite Stratos is an alright show, Kapt me ammused. And one of my mates did get me to watch it by saying it was like Strike Witches.

Mr. Antonic wrote:Hold on a sec, I though Sky Girls was an early concept for Strike Witches?

Back on topic. Infinite Stratos is an alright show, Kapt me ammused. And one of my mates did get me to watch it by saying it was like Strike Witches.

That reminds me of what I asked before. Is this "girls on fighting machines" genre of its own? If not, then it looks like it should be.

JameyoftheMegacosmos wrote:That reminds me of what I asked before. Is this "girls on fighting machines" genre of its own? If not, then it looks like it should be.

Well, IS comes under Sci-Fi, Romance, Comedy and Harem in Wikipaedia, and Strike Witches comes under Military Science Fiction. Thought I would have thought they'd both come under mecha becuase of the machine-that-they-wear part. I will admit I don't know too much about mecha stuff to begin with though.

It may become a genre though. I see no reason why not.

At it's best, Infinite Stratos was a pretty entertaining show. I liked the way it showcased the downsides to being the only guy in an otherwise all girls school (too many curious girls!). Also Ichika may be dense about realising that the girls in his harem like him, but he's so dense about it it's actually rather amusing.

My favorite character in the show is Charles/Charlotte. Even if her reverse trap routine was pretty unconvincing (I suspected "Chales" was a girl just from the next episode preview prior to her introductory episode!). Of course Ichika needed to walk in on her in the shower before he cued in. (That scene was pretty cliche, but it was still hilarious due to brilliant execution. And then there was the bit afterwards when she'd finished her shower and come out. Both she and Ichika know they've got to address the elephant in the room, but neither one of them wants to be the first one to broach the subject. )

While I can kind of see the two shows appealing to similar audiences, I'd say the fact that IS is a harem show with a male lead character makes it a very different show from Strike Witches.