Orimura Ichika, Shinonono Houki, Cecilia Alcott, Fan Rinin, Charlotte Dunois, Laura Bodewig, Orimura Chifuyu, Shinonono Tabane
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「ボーイ・ミーツ・ボーイ」 (Booi Miitsu Booi)
“Boy Meets Boy”
It’s probably safe to say Ichika’s inexplicable appeal knows no bounds, as he’s been attracting cute girls long before he landed himself in an all-girls paradise. In school, out of school, cue in Gotanda Ran (Obata Noriko) for the latter. It’s easy to feel sorry for all the girls when Ichika isn’t aware of how popular he is, and utterly impossible for Ichika for the very same reason.
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「決戦！クラス対抗戦（リーグマッチ）」 (Kessen! Kurasu Taikousen (Riigu Macchi))
“Decisive Battle! The Inter-Class (League) Match”
For a decisive battle, Ichika’s scrimmage with Rin was somewhat unsatisfying since their wager was quickly brushed aside by the latter in the end. However, their short-lived match came with a bit of a twist, in the form of an unknown and unmanned IS that doesn’t use one of the 467 cores out there.
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「転校生はセカンド幼なじみ」 (Tenkousei wa Sekando Osananajimi)
“The Transfer Student is the Second Childhood Friend”
If an anime is only as good as the sum of its parts, then Infinite Stratos’ formula is pretty sketchy with the inclusion of two childhood friends. What’s more, the recipe seems to go on the assumption that one tsundere isn’t enough, and adds two more for good measure. The setup sounds ridiculously lopsided, but it’s executed well and surprisingly works.
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「クラス代表決定戦！」 (Kurasu Daihyou Ketteisen!)
“Decisive Battle for Class Representative!”
As the title indicates, this second episode was all Ichika’s IS battle with Cecilia, yet the absolute highlight for me came from his interactions with Houki. He’s not a complete pushover and treats her like the childhood friend that she is, which leads to some interesting scenarios in the face of her tough and seemingly cold demeanor.
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「クラスメイトは全員女」 (Kurasumeito wa Zenin Onna)
“The Classmates Are All Girls”
As with most premieres, the start of Infinite Stratos was primarily about character introductions and establishing the plot, most of which I already mentioned in the Winter 2011 Preview. What was nice though was the cold opening of some IS training that helped offset the lack of any scrimmages for the rest of the episode.