Forum - View topicREVIEW: Infinite Stratos + Encore Blu-Ray
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BigOnAnime
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 1253 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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Wow, got a better score than I thought. I was expecting a C- or lower, even an F. Story got a "C" mark though.
I finished the show on Monday, and I must say I found it to be pretty good. Sure the harem aspects are fairly meh, and the show brings basically nothing new to the table, but it was still both good and enjoyable for me. The mecha was the big highlight of the show, and what I really saw in it, along with the story, even if some parts were a little sub-par. Overall 8/10. I'm hoping more releases like this happen, you know soundtrack CD's, and many more on-disc extras. |
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tmsidr
 Posts: 26 Location: Germany |
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I can understand your points but I liked it nevertheless because it was so over-the-top-harem-show-like and the male protagonist was such a big idiot in terms of understanding his situation. After the 1st episode I thought it was stupid, but a couple episodes later it was even more stupid and then I enjoyed it for it. I don't like many harem shows but this show was simple, big fun. Everything looks very generic, but it doesn't take itself seriously for a second in my opinion.
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Covnam
 Posts: 3839 |
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Started watching this on The Anime Network and I've enjoyed it so far. The harem cliches wore out pretty fast, but provided at laugh or two at how obvious they were.
Nice to see Sentai putting out a beefier release. Hopefully more will follow. |
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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I actually enjoyed watching this series tbh and re-watched once before. Yes, it's a harem. Yes, it falls into the cliche, but there's also some nice action and story development especially mid-season.
I also liked the OP song and remembered it for awhile and the animation is also nice...in my estimate. As for the OVA, it kinda dropped the ball imo as there was no action at all. (was even uncensored lol) Anyways, not a bad series and certainly an interesting review to read. Too bad the next volume will be the last though as I heard that light volume 8 will the be finish one to be published. *sigh* |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6902 Location: Kazune City |
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I could tell this would be a Key review from the front page synopsis alone, since said synopsis wasn't dripping with revulsion from every word.
Combining the mecha and harem genres puts Infinite Stratos in the company of such past classics as Dual Parallel Trouble and Rahxephon. And while the mecha part is hurt by the lack of an overarching conflict (another "go buy the manga/novels" hook), the harem part is very precise otaku crack. The "service" comes not so much from the visuals, but from the personalities and behavior of the girls... the blushing, the competition, the totally-inappropriate indoor materializations of IS suits during petty squabbles, and so on. It's stupid, but it's fun, the kind of fun that you find yourself continuing to watch in spite of yourself. Objectively, I still wouldn't call the end result any more than average, so imo the review is quite fair and reasonable. Worth noting is that the English dub (like RahXephon's!) was directed by Matt Greenfield, as opposed to the dozen or so Steven Foster dubs that've come out in the last few months. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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If you think I have big problems with Moretsu Pirates you haven't seen anything yet. I found the first episode of Infinite Stratos to be so incredibly offensive I struggled to make it to the end (of the episode). It's not just the Harem aspects that killed it though they are of course a huge negative. The rock-hard stale characters also piss me off, but even they're not too bad. And it ain't the absolutely mind-bogglingly-stupid way they've designed the Mecha either*, or the general level of writing which was so akin to garbage it reeked of a hobo who's spent the past decade in a sewer.
No, the show's problem is that the entire package is bad. This isn't close to being the worst show I've ever seen but it still manages to fail in every single category except for animation and character design, the former of which only gets showcased in the battle scenes and is mediocre at best elsewhere and the latter of which is still clichéd and unoriginal. The show deserves to be consigned to the museum of nineteenth-century torture devices, as it is so out-of-date that you'd have to go back to the eighteenth century just to find the last time any of the show's crappy elements were considered half-way fresh. Really, series like this one usually make me weep for the state of Anime today. Luckily, in this particular case, I was too busy being blown away by Puella Magi Madoka Magica (they both aired in the same season) to pay Infinite Stratos any more attention. * Where're the helmets? Where're the goggles? Where're the pressure suits and oxygen masks? The pilot is exposed to the elements and to enemy attacks, which is crazy. And did you notice that all the weight of the mecha's arms and its weapons are being held up with the pilot's own arms and not the arms of the mecha itself? Wow, those girls must be really capable of pumping iron if they can take the recoil of those big guns and swing the giant swords with that much force using their own flesh-and-blood arms. Last edited by dtm42 on Wed Apr 04, 2012 4:14 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Asterisk-CGY
 Posts: 398 |
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Simple. Science! |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Science can't save this show. Not even Superman if he flew around the Earth and went back in time. Infinite Stratos is like what Satan leaves after he has Thai food for lunch and Taco Bell for dinner. |
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SecretJustin1130
Posts: 128 |
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That's one godawful combination. 
Well I know I'm not buying this... |
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3495 Location: Back stateside |
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Okay, so I have never seen this show and have no opinion on it, but may I use that metaphor elsewhere? I will attribute it to you (unless you got it from somewhere else). |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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As you were nice enough to ask, you may indeed use it elsewhere. You don't need to attribute it to me, I don't want some random person on a faraway Forum going, "What the hell is a dtm42?" I didn't take it off anyone else - came up with it on my own - but since it is such a good turn of phrase I'm unlikely to have been the first one to think of it. It has probably been independently thought up hundreds of time, I'm just #704 or whatever. |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3673 |
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I don't normally have a problem with harem shows. The problem with this particular one, though, is that whenever there was a situation where the "harem wish fulfillment" writing choice conflicted with the "humor" choice, the show chose the former. I mean, it's a girl's school, where the school clearly only expected girls. Why, when the dude shows up, is there a dude's version of the uniform? The school is cool with him rooming with a girl, but not with him crossdressing? What a wasted opportunity. I don't even think I know of a show where the lead has to openly crossdress, though I'll admit less-than-comprehensive knowledge.
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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There's a show called Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?. The lead male is a zombie except he is also a magical girl whose battle costume is, well, that of a magical girl. Frills and everything. From what I've heard there are even panty shots of the dude, as if the show was poking fun at audience's expectations or something. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24202 |
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Not that I think anybody who is familiar with dtm42's schtick is in any danger of paying him any heed, but I may as well counter the absurdity, anyway. IS, in my opinion, is not a terribly fine show. I'm pretty forgiving and I only managed to limp to the conclusion. MC did nothing for me, but some of the girls were amusing so I hung around. I'd say the show is pretty relentlessly mediocre but it doesn't deserve the nerdgasm outrage that dtm42 lavishes on it. Anyone familiar with his, er, "unique' fixation with science knows where his head goes when a show doesn't conform to 100% scientific accuracy. I think I remember him also bitching about how "unrealistic" it was that a military academy would allow males and females to room together.
 So yeah, unless you are one of the tedious comic book store gargoyles who stands around moaning in a shrill "please punch me in the face voice" that the physics of Superman make no sense and why the hell would a chunk of Kryptonite make a former resident of that planet weak on Earth, you will probably be okay with IS. You may not like it much, but you probably won't be ridiculous about it, either.
Last edited by Blood- on Wed Apr 04, 2012 5:34 am; edited 1 time in total |
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aereus
Posts: 576 |
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It's not "as if" -- Kore wa Zombie IS making fun of it. It's a parody show at it's heart. Hence the "Masou Shoujo" instead of "Mahou Shoujo" who carries around a chainsaw instead of a magic wand, etc.
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