「ルームメイトはブロンド貴公子(ジェントル)」 (Ruumumeito wa Burondo Kikoushi (Gentoru))
“Roommate is a Blond Young Noble (Gentleman)”

After all the obvious hints dropped last time, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Charle is in fact Charlotte and not the second male in the world to be able to pilot an IS. What does come as a surprise is how Charlotte was able to conceal her voluptuous bust in that skintight pilot suit, and in ways that completely defy physics. I don’t care how much sarashi she uses or how tightly she binds it, because she just showed us a case of a disappearing bust, much like her disappearing and reappearing IS armor when she was showing Ichika how to fire her rifle.

Once the secret was out in the open for the entire world to see, Ichika’s interactions with Charlotte came off as some of the most “genuine” in the series thus far. I would’ve normally wrote off his sympathy towards her being an unwanted love child when she confessed about coming to IS Academy to spy on him and the other representatives, had Ichika not brought up how him and Chifuyu were abandoned by both their parents. It made it more believable in the sense that he wasn’t just being nice to her because she’s a girl, which tends to be the implicit reason in anime regardless of the context. It’s a subtle difference yet one I found much more agreeable, paving the way for Charlotte to really open up to Ichika by showing her girlish side and having him spoil her a bit. The chemistry they had in light of the awkward moments was really cute, and it only felt a bit odd because Charlotte started off as a “reverse trap”. It was an incredibly refreshing change of pace from Houki, Cecilia, and Rin, who have (unfortunately) fallen into the stereotypical clingy and jealous behavior.

In the series’ defense, it’s probably difficult to avoid falling into that formulaic trap with five heroines, as the focus continually shifts to the next one and pushes all the previous ones to the sidelines for the time being. The other girls are just screaming for attention… and some screen time. However, what did irk me this episode were all the misguided feelings of guilt and hate from Ichika and Laura respectively. In Ichika’s case, I don’t really understand why he’d blame himself for getting kidnapped and Chifuyu choosing to save him instead of defending her championship at the second Mondo Grosso IS tournament. Did he expect himself to be able to fight off his kidnappers? Also, for all he knows, the whole thing may have been staged by the Germans themselves to coax Chifuyu into training their army on how to pilot an IS. It seems rather convenient that Ichika wasn’t harmed, the German army knew exactly where he was, and Chifuyu didn’t run into any resistance rescuing him.

Then there’s Laura, who absolutely idolizes Chifuyu in a personal interest kind of way and hates Ichika because she perceives him as what’s holding Chifuyu back. For whatever reason, she hasn’t considered that returning to Japan may be what Chifuyu wants, nor how she may care about her little brother a lot more than she cares to admit (like we’ve seen). Instead, Laura somehow figures that if she gets rid of “Ichika problem”, Chifuyu will gladly return to Germany with her. It’s probably safe to say she’s unaware about the whole kidnapping part, but even if that’s the case, I don’t see why she’d think that “offing” Ichika would make Chifuyu happy. I respect her firm resolve since she’s in the military, but something’s not right with that line of reasoning. It looks like the next episode should clear things up in that regard, though I suspect it’ll involve Ichika changing her opinion of him rather than him beating some sense into her. I really can’t see Laura being left out of Ichika’s harem of girls, especially when the cold open in premiere already gave us a glimpse of them working together.

 

ED4 Sequence

ED4: 「SUPER∞STREAM」 by 日笠陽子, ゆかな, 下田麻美, 花澤香菜 (Hikasa Youko, Yukana, Shimoda Asami, Hanazawa Kana)
Watch the 4th ED!: Download, Streaming ▼

The ending sequence sure is getting crowded with Charlotte joining the running (…for Ichika’s heart). It comes with the bonus of seeing her in a female uniform with a skirt, which I doubt we’ll be seeing in the actual show since Ichika promised to keep her true gender a secret.

Preview

131 Comments

    1. Looking forward to Laura pwning the two girls, she is cut out to be badass…
      Kudos for Ichika for handling the shower surprise in a cool way, though Accelerator in Index was even better (though he was in a better position because he chanced upon some mature and stoic women, not tsundere teenagers…)

      ewok40k
  1. Dawwww….. “Ichika kun no ecchi”, Lovely, Noble, Honest and a little tragic past French Girl made me die from MOE overload ^_^ I gotta admit Reverse Trap is the best trap. Charlotte officially my favorite heroine on infinite stratos

    Tama
  2. “Do you want to see?”
    “I already got a full frontal just now but if you don’t mind showing me again…”
    “●  ω  ● 僕と契約して魔法少女になってよ”
    Oh wait wrong show.

    SnooSnoo
  3. That’s the weird thing about Ichika’s Battle Harem. They’re a little clingy, they clearly compete among themselves for attention.

    But you never, ever see them seriously try to undermine one another.

    It’s like they collectively decided to take the high road or something.

    Anonymous
      1. Or maybe they just think that trying to undermine one another will lead to the loser going rampage with their IS, since all of them (unless Houki) have an personal unit.

        Girls with guns…

        MercenaryX10A
  4. I can easily suspend my disbelief enough to overlook the MAGIC BREASTS thing, but the hammerspace that the IS’ seem to come from is really starting to bug me.

    I did like that Cecilia showed a little more backbone this episode (even if it was clingy jealousness) after the whole “OMIGOSH he’s so smexy!” thing she had going on.

    Personally I think the Jealousness, irksome as it might become should it continue, is more a result of the increased competition than any flandernization. At least, I hope it is.

    Bio D
  5. Well, that was better than I thought. Charlotte being extremely cute helps alot and she certainly came out strong this episode. I especially like the awkward moments when Ichika finds out.

    I still think her reveal would have been much better if her gender wasn’t so blatantly obvious last episode.

    fragb85
  6. Like this episode. And the way Charles’ reacted very nice, the best part is the ending. The ending shows the ‘real’ Charles in girl’s school uniform with a short skirt and a ribbon tied on her hair.

    So far:
    Cecilia for her jealousy and self-centerness.
    Charles for her cuteness (Still don’t BELIEVE that Charles is so cute?!)
    Rin nin for her height. Look how short she is compared with Houki and Cecilia.
    Houki for her tsundere, switch personality, and embarrassment

    Don’t know how Ichika did it.

    Now Laura is something that I don’t understand her much. Hating Ichika because of Chifuyu’s forfeit on the second tournament. Her humanity is gone because they made her genetically-altered experiment.

    lester
    1. Laura basically isn’t as mature or controlled as she wants people to think she is. She sees Ichika as competition for her teacher’s attention and affection, something that she wants very badly. Chifuyu is basically her idol and the closest person she has to a parental figure, I gather. She sees Ichika as the person who ‘stole’ Chifuyu from her.

      Anonymous
  7. Wow, I seriously didn’t think Charlotte would turn out to be my favorite character in the series yet. Once she got out of that damn male uniform I found her to be surprisingly cute. Not to mention that she isn’t another damn tsundere, but instead a cute and honest girl. Heck, she’s voiced by one of my favorite voice actors, too!

    Besides… “Ichika-kun no ecchi.”… So freaking lovely without all the tsundere violence!

    HenDarou
  8. it’s a TRAP!! well, we’ve all seen that coming…anyway, Charlotte definitely has an edge now over all the other girls, she lives with ichika and they can get all lovey-dovey without anyone noticing anything, smart move blondie:D especially that she IS damn cute, she’s hot too, ichika saw her naked (and what a spectacular view was that) and there was more chemistry in this episode between them than Mendeleev could have ever discover:P Charlotte for the win!!

    prejsu
  9. “The ending sequence sure is getting crowded with Charlotte joining the running (…for Ichika’s heart).” => More like Ichika’s running away from his rabid harem who are out to violate him(and it looks like the harem is gonna win when Laura joins it).^^

    fluidity
  10. ichika is probably one of the most dull characters for me. he isnt skilled in handling IS and doesnt really show a good reason for having a harem.
    at least the other characters who are weak train hard and have motivation, most of the time he only seems to be lucky. characters who generally dont train and have motivation are at least skilled enough to keep up and fight evenly with elite, or being able to beat them easily. outgoing and relax guys like him should be a bit more competent in battle, he handled cecilia, a girl with a relatively normal gun shouldnt be that hard. at the very least he should not be defeated that easily unless he was caught by surprise.

    I hope he will get better in fighting and also show how he easily gets girls, he gets them too easily. harem leads like that should at least be a bishonen or have a really kind and thoughtful personality. though he did show some bits of that, he needs more good moments that show how he attracts the girls.

    and I was really hoping for some yuri even just a bit…

    amado
    1. He may be dull but hell I definitely like him. He’s always pushing the right button and also, remember he did say that although he looks like that, he is a hard worker. Also, it seems that he had more difficulty when fighting again long ranged IS so hopefully he gets better at that because I got spoiled a bit and it seem that he did become really good. Besides, he still have not handle an IS as long as the other people.

      Silver
    2. Do you prefer “skilled” characters, who would dance a weird dance in a stupid clown uniform, puke twice and take 10x super-booper-swords out of their a**, instantly winning therefore ?
      They must be very skilled and super cool with such super booper moves, right ? 😉

      SpoilerMaker
  11. could they have been any more blatant about the Eva reference during that examination flashback? I half expected a shot of Gendou and his glasses. at least the character interaction between Charlotte and Ichika was natural and fun. i get the feeling Charlotte is going to pull a Kuroneko and steal the show. can Hanazawa Kana make it 2 shows in a row…

    a42
  12. This episode would have been better if he already knew he was a she and just kept on having fun with her. Like that locker room scene, I can’t imagine many guys hugging each other and saying “let’s change together sometime” uh-huh.

    I was hoping this would be the guy to show more of a backbone but I guess I’ll have to keep waiting for another series.

    CakeOil
    1. seriously, and last episode when he grabbed “his” hand. dude, maybe it’s some cultural thing. Russell Peters said in his stand up that for some reason guys have no problem holding hands in India.

      haha loved the girl that commented in that scene “look they’re holding hands!”

      RickyMack
  13. “The ending sequence sure is getting crowded with Charlotte joining the running (…for Ichika’s heart).” aka the harem-meter
    But seriously, how often is the ‘walking into the bathroom while the person showering is getting out’. I know he went in there fully intending to give himher soap but they just threw that in there for little fan service, huh? And I think Ichika behaved himself really nicely in that scene. He didn’t freak out nor turn super embarassed. He reminds me of Accelerator in ep 17 of Index II, although not as chill 😉
    Anyways, I can’t wait till next episode, yet again, and wondering when Laura will join the harem. So far I like Charlotte the most, esp with Kana-chan’s ‘Ichika no Ecchi’ being so moe. This will likely go down as a harem, but I’d like Charlotte > Rin > Houki > Ran (psh, she needs more screentime) > Laura (eventually) > Cecilia

    BTW, geass more? And what’s with the eyepatch, I mean, someone must have asked her what happened, but noo

    Evident
  14. Well, it seems Laura is the last to be taken into the collective of Ichika-lovers. And luckily, SHE’S NOT GOING DOWN WITHOUT A FIGHT.

    Laura: I’m not joining your mindless cult!

    Ichika: But…look at how cute I am! My intentions are pure, so I will most likely just lead you on the entire time, but you’ll imagine that I’m making a pass at you when I’m really just being more nice than I should be.

    Every other girl in the academy: Joooooooiiiiiinnnn uuuuuusssss…..

    Laura: Ooooooooookay. It IS only halfway through the show.

    Da5id
  15. Ichika really has the natural ability to built his harem
    he even memorized the text in the book to say it coolly

    damn charlotte is hot

    yet again, im getting a feeling that chifuyu has a bro-con

    ♕Croozboy♕
  16. After seeing the ‘infinite harem’ made possible by Ichika, I am kinda hoping to see some signs of yuri (since it is orignally an all girls school), but I know I am not going to get that. *sigh*

    CL100100
  17. Personally, I prefer Charlotte to the other girls. She’s the only girl in the series whose personality isn’t completely eclipsed or defined by a title ._.

    Plus, she’s way cute which always a plus.

    Click
  18. so the German little girl dislike Ichika for a very silly reason and said Ichika is useless man… whatever.. get over it. Just face the fact. I don’t understand what kinda motivation that drive her so mad about this.

    Nine
    1. I think perhaps she also have a pretty bad past and then Chifuyu came and “saved” her which causes her to be the way she is. She also seems like someone with no social skills so I’m expecting to see character development from her as well.

      Silver
  19. “I don’t care how much sarashi she uses or how tightly she binds it, because she just showed us a case of a disappearing bust”

    Girls with big boobs can get really flat, I’ve seen it happen. The only thing is that it’s ridiculously hard to breathe, which wouldn’t be very ideal when fighting in an IS unit.

    ra
  20. This anime seems so wrong because it doesn’t have enough violence. Usually animes with this much love going on comes with a slapstick. Ichika is way too smooth for the normal anime protagonist, and the girls are way too brave and fair, just trying to get Ichika for themselves instead of stopping the other girls’ advances. Combined with the girls all better than Ichika in piloting the IS.

    Yet, this is the reason why I like it. But it definitely strikes an odd discontinuity to me relative to the others.

    acolyte
  21. Dang… The part with Ichika feeding Charlotte is so ridiculously cute… Eitherway all the characters so far are all very likable so this is a very enjoyable series and makes me look forward to it every week.

    What’s with the thing about Chifuyu being a brocon though? He is her only family so of course she would be worried so I don’t see any problem with that. Lol, it’s like everyone wants that to be true haha.

    @ CakeOil
    He doesn’t have a backbone because he does not tease her? What? Is he supposed to tease her or something which shows that he have a backbone? I say that he has a backbone because he doesn’t take advantage of anyone and in fact have self-control even when he saw Charlotte like that. Reminds me of the silly “he’s not a man” stuff I’ve been reading all due to reasons that just doesn’t make any sense.

    Silver
  22. Anime goins’s down for me, all the girls except the new one are becoming more and more unlikeable.
    “lets just drag him around everywhere and get jealous 24/7” worst type of anime girls.

    Omegan
  23. A few spoiler stuff…(I hope the tags work)

    Most scary thing about Charlotte is, even with tons of her moe moments in this episode, she is not done yet.
    Show Spoiler ▼

    And the boobs…
    Show Spoiler ▼

    As for Charlotte’s girl uniform,
    Show Spoiler ▼

    U Doh
    1. I don’t remember that part in your second spoiler O_O. It’s from vol 2 right? Then again, maybe it just doesn’t leave me that much of an impression to be able to remember it now when I read that part since it doesn’t have much importance with the overall story.

      aiueo123
  24. I love Charlotte… Love her………. and does make this show better. And it’s pretty obvious that Laura will join the harem. Anywho… anyone else catch what they were trying to do there at the beginning of the episode? Laura Vs. Charlotte… Germany vs. France… no? Okay, let’s leave it alone.

    If you want to relive this episode but only with Charlotte’s cutest and best moments then check out my new video!: http://vimeo.com/19821560 (made especially for everyone)

    Solarguardian
  25. A fantastic idea creeped into my mind while watching the episode. What if… Ichika was gay? My random musing is not without reason… He seemed to be too keen to get Charlotte to get changed with/in front of him… Now there’s a plot twist! How unique would that be! The effect of it on the world of anime would be like school days. But more shocking… Enough of that, ’twas a good episode indeed…

    SirMuffin
  26. Having my doubts that the harem is complete already

    HAS NOONE OF YOU SEEN THE BUNNY-EARED PINK-HAIRED GIRL IN THE OPENING?

    I just spotted her today, we still need to find out who she is…

    Danté
  27. after watching this episode I have to say “This is the most oddest romance moment I have ever seen”. Well Amanda Bynce did the same thing in a movie which I don’t know the title of

    SilentmanX
  28. Who knows? Maybe the writers will pull a Shuffle on us and make him choose the girl that he is the most human with. Acutally I can see him choosing Charlotte because they have the most chemisty so far. IchikaXCharlotte for the win!

    1. It would sure be nice if the main character didn’t always end up with the obvious main heroine. For example, the thing that made Toradora so great was the big chunk of episodes in the middle where it actually seemed possible that Ryuuji could end up with Ami rather than Taiga — it’s nice to actually have some suspense instead of just waiting for the obvious pairing to happen.

  29. Hmm, the possibility of only females and gay male being able to operate those IS things…
    That could strengthen the positions of gay people and bring a faillproof test to see if someone was gay or not ^_^

    Damrod
  30. I think I’ve just found another favorite MOE character in Charlotte. =D

    Speaking of which, I guess that’s what made me feel a little…off about the other girls. The jealousy routine kicks in, though I guess that was mainly to give Charlotte more screen time as well as a background story.

    One thing, though, is that none of the backstories of the Houki, Cecilia and Rin were told to us in the anime yet. The theory of the Germans kidnapping Ichika doesn’t seem too far-fetched either and could make for an interesting development with Laura.

    Looking forward to the action next episode, and the formal introduction of Laura.

    Owaranai
    1. I came to the same conclusion that the Germans planned the whole thing with Ichika’s kidnapping, which lead to Chifuyu defaulting on the championship (gee, I wonder who won the second championship?), which lead to her being indebted to the Germans due to their intel, which lead her to train the Germans, which was way too obvious. Laura doesn’t have a clue.

      bertman4
  31. I have to say when I saw the ending with Charlotte running in her skirt, some sort of strange switch just flipped inside me. I knew she was cute, and I was never a skirt fetish of any kind, but seeing her like that and how beautiful she is… eh… i think i might have became a pervert.

    thenewhorde
    1. Yeah, for some reason being jumped by three agents taken hostage is something that any “worthy” brother would have avoided. PFFT! I agree with Divine, his whole “I’m responsible” is stupid…
      And eye-patch lesbian(or is it just me?) is just as bad..

      Omegan
  32. Now that I think of it, why are females only capable of operating IS units? There must be some sort of scientific explanation. Were they made to respond to a female’s genetic structure (XX chromosomes etc)? But that wouldn’t be the case because Ichika is a male (unless his genetic structure is just whacked).

    As for Charles–I mean, Charlotte, I definitely saw that one coming. Otherwise it would’ve been a case of boy-love *shivers*. Yes, we all agree that we find her surprisingly cute and hot. And her uniform at the credits is quite, um…a bit revealing.

    Now to Laura, I don’t know what to say about this woman. Is that some sort of Geass on her left eye (her left)? She’s got issues, I’ll tell her that, but she can’t go blaming it on anyone just because the one she admires the most “graduated in shame”.

    And to think the Winter Anime set, as they said, was boring. Fools.

    Razgriz
  33. Wow, Charles is just soooo moe, I can’t believe it. Just in ep 5 I was thinking “Meh lame reverse trap, the only thing she has going for her is Kana-chan’s awesome voice”. Then 1 episode later I’m all “HNNnnnnnnnng”. Damn, no wonder she’s first in the race for Ichika’s heart. She just went from my 2nd least favorite to my favorite char in one episode.

    As for the IS, a have a theory that it could be just Houki’s sister massively trolling the world. IS all have some kind of AI and all need Cores that can only be produced by Houki’s sister. PMaybe she programed those Cores to only react to females on purpose, and maybe made as exception for Ichika. She knew Ichika after all. It would explain the whole IS only reacting to girls thing quiet logically.

    FlameStrike
    1. The Alaska Treaty prevents them from being used in combat, but countries probably acknowledge that if push comes to shove, someone might break it so they train to use them as a deterrent. It’s almost like nukes of the modern world.

  34. tch. i knew it now. laura’s gonna join ichika’s harem. whatta bummer. DX

    and man, i never thought i’d say this, but.. I LOVE CHARLES!!

    *cough*

    i meant, I LOVE CHARLOTTE. XDD it’s a bit of fresh air to see a non-tsundere character here.

    lastly, i am looking forward to houki’s sistah. she seems pretty close to mah chifuyu-onee-sama. XD

    keiOnDaisuki
  35. Wow, I think Charlotte has become one of my favorite girls along with Houki, Ichika better wake up and start realizing what is happening around him. Next in line is Laura, but something tells me that this is going to be a though one to turn around.

    haseo0408
  36. I know it’s not the best idea to judge a character based on their character design alone, but wow, I honestly had this preconceived image of Charlotte being a really plain character. I guess it had a lot to do with her male uniform, but watching ep 5 and 6 changed my opinion completely.

    That said, CHARLOTTE FTW!

    Now I’m really interested on how Laura will join Ichika’s harem. O:

    lightning
    1. Lol! Haha but it’s actually explained in the novel that it was due to that special suit Dunoa Company had provided for her which is why it magically appears when she’s not wearing the suit.

      Silver
  37. Why is it always a shower scene that reveals a characters “true gender”? Im not not complaining mine you, its just a bit over used. Also how the hell did she hide a bust of that size? Do those suits provide some sort of physical alteration abilities or something?

    Snicket
  38. Charles….she’s sooo moe half due to her hilarious actions and half due to the ever cute voice acting of Hanazawa Kana

    I agree they are getting a bit TOO clingy I would’ve been happy if Houki stayed as the nonchalant I’ve got a much better chance than the rest of you tsundere

    Torrigan
  39. I love the “Kind, caring, and innocent” type of anime girl who helps people and thinks of getting nothing in return. I know some of you may think that type of character is “perfect” just because she helps people and does the right thing. I’d rather have this character in a show anytime rather than the tough go-get em girl who would get through somthing with only her atheledic ability rather than her inner strength.

  40. Just Realized this but if we look at both of this picture

    https://randomc.net/image/Infinite%20Stratos/Infinite%20Stratos%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2038.jpg

    https://randomc.net/image/Infinite%20Stratos/Infinite%20Stratos%20-%2006%20-%20Large%2039.jpg

    They look like twins with different hair color and eye color. While this might just be a person limitation in drawing different characters, wouldn’t it be interesting if there are any relationship between the two? (separated sister at birth, clones of the other, etc)? ^_^

    Himeya
  41. The only reason I suddenly watched IS is because of Charles. I’m not a fan of yaoi but I wish he remained as Charles because it’s funny seeing the girls jealous over a boy =)))

    Tan-Tan

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