Infinite Stratos

Sometime in the Future, a new exoskeleton called the Infinite Stratos (IS) system was developed in Japan and quickly demonstrated just how easily it could take out a variety of conventional military weapons. The weapon was soon adopted by several nations... save for one flaw -- only women could pilot it. This shifted the social structure to favoring females over males, until Every Man Ichika Orimura becomes the first male to activate an IS and is soon thrust into a new life as a new student at the prestigious -- and previously all-female -- Infinite Stratos Academy.

However, his school life is filled with many hurdles and interesting characters. His Tsundere childhood friend Houki Shinonono is one of his classmates, but her sister Tabane is responsible for building the I.S. and Houki hates her for it. English Upper Class Twit Cecilia Alcott hates weak men and has trouble finding a decent guy. Flat chested Chinese Genki Girl Huang Lingyin is Ichika's second childhood friend (and not too happy about it). From France, there's also Charles Dunois, another male pilot who tries to be friendly and get close to Ichika. Finally, German Super Soldier Laura Bodewig idolizes legendary I.S. pilot Chifuyu Orimura, who happens to be Ichika's older sister, and therefore hates him for ruining her idol's reputation. Oh, and naturally, there's an evil corporation that wants to steal his I.S. Core.

Ichika's high school life is about to get very interesting...

A Light Novel Series by Izuru Yumizuru. Infinite Stratos was adapted into an anime in January 2011. It was simulcast with The Anime Network. Not related to Stratos 4.

And look! We have a character sheet.

The light novel series has 7 volumes, all of which translated by BakaTsuki and can be found here.

Warning! Both the main page and the character sheet have spoilers for the light novels as well as the anime. You Have Been Warned.

Tropes used in Infinite Stratos include:
  • Academy of Adventure: More or less
  • Action Girl
  • Action Prologue: The animated version begins with a mid-air skirmish. In actuality it is the final skirmish versus Silvario Gospel in the final episode.
  • Adaptation-Induced Plothole: The anime fails to explain how Ichika knew Cecilia was within firing range against the berserk unmanned I.S. The Light Novels explain that he secretly communicated with her to fire on his command after unleashing Yukihira Type-2 by taking advantage of its barrier-nullifying ability. Cecilia, being frustrated to not be able to help out, answers the call.
  • Almost Kiss: At the end of the TV finale, Ichika and Houki are about to kiss. Then the rest of the girls show up.
  • Alternate Character Reading: Kanji that roughly translates as "Fallen Nation Corporation" is given the English reading of "Phantom Task". This doubles as a reference to the in-series nickname given to the 81st Autonomous Mobile Group, otherwise known as "Phantom Pain".
  • The Ace: Sarashiki Tatenashi. Student Council President, beautiful and attractive, virtually the strongest I.S. user in the school, easily tames all of Ichika's harem, whose family is an organization fighting the evil secret organization, and has a sister with massive inferiority complex. Yes, Thirty-Sue Pileup right on your face. The catch? Even our Celibate Hero Ichika thinks that she's too perfect, and virtually unreachable by him, which makes her the only female protagonist who hasn't managed to get roped into Ichika's harem.
  • Amazon Brigade: The Schwarzer Hase (Black Rabbits), the German IS squad that Laura belongs to. As of episode 11, Ichika's harem has crystallized into this.
  • And Now You Must Marry Me: After Ichika saves Laura's life, she responds by sticking her tongue down his throat, declaring him to be "her wife," and in the next episode, climbing into bed naked with him.
  • Animation Bump: The I.S.' are noticeably more fluid than everything else.
  • Attack Drone: Cecilia's I.S. is armed with four remote controlled drones armed with lasers that she can use to perform all-range attacks on opponents. The unmanned I.S. "Golem" also counts.
  • Ax Crazy: Laura, to the point of sadism. She gets better.
  • Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: Chifuyu may smack Ichika around a bit, and he complains, but she'll do anything to protect him, and he wants to be an I.S. pilot so he can return the favor.
    • Also Laura is far more lovey-dovey towards Ichika than you'd expect.
  • Badass Adorable: Charlotte. Despite being a very shy and sweet girl, she can hold her own against 3rd generation IS machines with her slightly-inferior 2nd-generation IS.
  • Badass Arm-Fold: Laura is prone to do this with her I.S.
  • Balanced Harem: So far, Houki is Ichika's first girl, Charlotte had the most Fan Service-laden screentime, and Laura had a First Kiss with him, so there is really no way to tell.
    • Houki seems to have pulled into the lead with the last episode, but it still looks like a setup for a Type 1 Tenchi Solution.
  • Barehanded Blade Block: Around the middle of the first episode when Houki attacks Ichika
  • Bare Your Midriff: The male variant of the IS suit, but only in the anime.
  • Beach Episode: Episode 9.
  • Bedmate Reveal: In Episode 9, Ichika wakes up and finds Laura naked in bed with him.
  • Berserk Button: Lingyin doesn't like being called flat-chested.
  • Bifauxnen: Charles's real name is Charlotte, forced into drag so France could gather Ichika's IS data. He finds out pretty quick and helps her hide it due to her situation.
  • Black Box: Invoked in reference to the IS Cores.
  • Bridal Carry: Ichika does this to help Houki getting in her training IS, much to the latter's delight.
    • Ichika does it to her again at the end of the TV series to get both of them away from the rest of his (furious and jealous) harem.
    • In novels, he does it quite frequently, about 3 times to Laura and once to Kanzashi
  • Bright Slap: Rin gives one to Houki in episode 11 to help her snap out of her Heroic BSOD after Ichika loses consciousness from saving her earlier.
  • Brother-Sister Incest: Some of the girls worry that Ichika and Chifuyu might have this kind of relationship (as if they needed another romantic rival), especially after eavesdropping on a suggestive-sounding massage, though it turns out to be nothing.
  • Bunny Ears Scientist: Tabane Shinonono (complete with actual bunny ears) who may act like a Cloudcuckoolander, but she is the creator of the IS machines.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Played straight for most of the series with the exception of Laura post-defrost, but averted with the three girls who actually have a shot by the end of the series. In episode 8, Charlotte gives Ichika a naked hug in the bath and declares she wants to be with him. At the end of the same episode, Laura sticks her tongue down his throat and declares him to be her wife. And at the end of episode 12, Houki puts his hand on her breast and flat-out asks "You do know I'm a girl, right?"
    • Houki finally averts this trope in the second part of the OVA, but unfortunately for her, she says it right as some fireworks go off, and Ichika not only gets distracted by it, the sound mutes out her confession to him.
  • Cast from Hit Points: Ichika's special attack drains his own meager shields in order to launch a devastating attack that can theoretically 1-shot his opponent. That is, if his shields aren't worn down before he can get close enough to use it, or if the target doesn't simply dodge the attack first.
  • The Cast Showoff: The ending theme song, Super Stream, is sung by Ichika's harem girls.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Charles unlocking the permission for usage of the Rafale Revive's rifle proved to be very useful when Ichika uses it against Laura in their match.
  • Class Representative: Ichika and Cecilia fought for the position with their ISs. Cecilia won but handed over the position to the former. Also, Rin became her class's representative after transferring in.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Practically every girl at this point, with Houki at lead position. Back off, bitches. Ichika's my training partner.
    • Charlotte is an exception. As is Laura, oddly enough. You'd think a Proud Warrior Race Guy would be more violent. Not really.
    • And it seems even Yamada-sensei herself isn't immune to Ichika's charm, judging from her reaction to discovering Ichika and Charlotte together in a fitting room.
    • And at the end of the anime, Ichika is caught in a compromising position with Houki, sending the rest of his harem into a real jealous rage enough to show up in their IS Suits ready to kick his ass. Even the sweet and friendly Char is ROYALLY pissed.
  • Clueless Chick Magnet: Ichika, Ichika, Ichika. He's got a truckload of admirers inside (most of his schoolmates, particularly Houki, Cecilia, Rin, Charles and Laura) and outside (e.g., Ran Gotanda, his junior-high former neighbour) the IS Academy... and he's none the wiser.
    • Lampshaded quite succinctly by Charles in the latter half of episode 8:

Ichika: *On the floor after getting beat up for saying something insensitive again.*
Charles: Sometimes I think you're doing it on purpose.

    • Though he get a little better when some of them confess.
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience: All of the girls have different colored hair and hairstyles, and all of their IS suits have different colors.
  • Credits Running Sequence: The ending uses this as well as Evolving Credits as each person is introduced it adds a new person into the ending.
  • Crippling Overspecialization: Several examples:
    • Ichika's IS is a close-ranged fighter, so in a ranged fight he has to dodge or absorb shots thrown at him until he can get close enough. Unless another IS user allows him to use their ranged weapons. Averted with Rin, who has a weapon that has some medium range capabilities.
    • Laura's A.I.C. (Active Inertial Canceler) seems to nullify any attack thrown at her, but she has to stay focused on the attacker for it to work. So if someone else shoots her from behind...
    • Cecilia's IS is designed solely for long ranged combat (eg. powerful but slow-firing long beam rifle), so if an attacker can close the distance before she can take them out, she usually seems screwed. Chifuyu also comments in one episode that she's also designed to take on multiple opponents, but in the anime at least, she only ever fights against one opponent at a time.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Laura easily defeats both Cecilia and Rin at the same time in her debut battle.
    • Yamada-sensei does the same to those same two girls during a training fight, with an inferior IS suit.
    • An unknown IS named White Knight (*:*cough*Chifuyu*cough*) took out 2341 hacked missiles shot towards Japan 10 years ago. After the attack was repelled, countries from all over the world send airplanes, satellites and warships to capture or destroy White Knight; it destroys every single thing sent after it, without killing a single enemy combatant. The White Knight is a first generation IS. Heavily implied to be Tabane's work, trying to convince the world that the Infinite Stratos far outguns any weapon or weapon platform then available. It works.
  • Custom Uniform: Is understandable in Ichika's case but there's not really any excuse for the rest of the main characters.
  • Cute Little Fangs: Lingyin's got these.
  • Dudette, He's Like, In A Coma!: After the battle with the unmanned IS, Rin tries to kiss a sleeping Ichika in the infirmary, but then he wakes up, and she quicky jerks back.
    • And again just right after a half-naked Charlotte knocks Ichika out during a little misunderstanding between them. This time, it's just the forehead, though.
    • And in the beginning of Episode 9, Ichika wakes up to find that at some point during the night, Laura snuck into his room to sleep with him in his bed... naked.
      • In Laura's defense, her lack of social skills, and the fact that she believes them to be "married", means that she doesn't understand the impropriety of her actions.
  • Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The Byakku Shiki's signature attack is extremely powerful, but it comes at the cost of draining the suit's own shield energy.
    • There's also the Valkyrie Trace System where the I.S. will absorb you due to overwhelming emotions.
  • Date Peepers: Cecilia, Lingyin and Laura tailing Ichika and Charlotte in Episode 9. Enforced when Laura tries to walk up and just ask what's going on, but Cecilia and Rin stop her.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: Laura is initially very hostile to everyone, particularly Ichika. But after he beats her, and saves her post-meltdown, she softens up. Sort of.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Poor Ichika. Looked at Cecilia's breasts accidentally? Get punched with an IS arm. Take a bath with a guy who turned out to be a girl? Rin will go Yandere on you! Caught in an arm grapple by a naked girl who snuck into your bed? "Divine Punishment!" And later, get caught trying to kiss Houki? All the girls will now hunt you down like the dog you are. No wonder he has to act like a Chaste Hero most of the time, because no matter who he chooses, he loses lol.
  • Dramatic Pause: When Laura steals Ichika's First Kiss.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: When Ichika's harem eavesdropping on him and Chifuyu in episode 10, accompanied by Sexophone, no less. Ichika's just giving her a massage.
    • In preparation to deal with the rogue IS, Ichika needs Houki's IS' speed and Houki says this.

Houki:"Although my pride would naturally prevent any man from mounting atop a woman. I'll make a special exception this time."

  • Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Executed by both Cecilia and Rin upon seeing Ichika and Charlotte holding hands as they go shopping for swimsuits.
  • Eagle Land: Apparently America is to blame for the Japanese goverment handling the IS academy, President Obama much more specifically on the manga.
  • Empathic Weapon: The IS system is adaptive and semi-"aware" of its pilot, constantly adjusting to better suit them complete with a synchronization rate and controlled by thought as much as motion. Especially so the personal IS units, which perform like generic trainer units until they've seen some use and adapt. Several suits also have powerful functions that can be triggered by the pilot's mental state. Probably the reason why self-piloting drone IS systems have long been considered impossible, lacking a pilot's guiding will.
  • Even the Girls Want Her: Nearly all the girls in Ichika's class have a crush on his sister Chifuyu.
  • Evolving Credits: It seems that with the addition of every girl Ichika adds to his harem, the credits will have the girl added to it and the seiyu singing the song together with the other cast.
    • Same thing happens with the opening when Charlotte reveals her gender, she's wearing the female IS suit.
  • Expy: Cecilia's I.S. "Blue Tears" bears a fair resemblance to the Strike Freedom Gundam.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Laura and the Schwarzer Hase.
  • Face Fault: Seems to happen with a fair amount of frequency. And that's only as of episode 1.
  • Falling Into the Cockpit: Or more like walking into it. How did Ichika discover he's the first male IS pilot? He accidentally wandered into the IS Academy's exam room while looking for the exam room for the school he was going into (which happened to be adjacent to the Academy, and had a similarly pronounced name). An IS happened to be in said room.
    • Chifuyu theorizes in the anime that Tabane may have engineered the whole thing. Tabane denies it, and says she has no idea how he's doing it. While the exam room's IS unit was indeed rigged ahead of time to generate a response, a random, non-rigged trainer unit that was brought in for Ichika to actually use for his exam also responded, casting aside any notion that it was a mere co-incidence.
  • Fan Service: Bits of it here and there can be seen in the beginning, and pretty full-fledge starting with episode 3.
    • Heck, the entire premise was made for this. Making the IS only pilotable by women was not from the progressiveness of the writers' hearts.
    • Laura Bodewig berating Ichika's ground fighting technique, while naked and holding his arm between her legs. (Nice, lengthy scene.)
  • Forceful Kiss: Laura took Ichika's first kiss by shoving her tongue down his throat. While still wearing her IS armor.
  • Freudian Excuse: Laura is a genetically engineered Super Soldier who had undergone intense military training since birth. Naturally, this means that she has zero social skills, which is why she initially comes off as a huge Jerkass.
    • Cecilia's views of men as weak stem from witnessing her socially weak and inept father.
  • Funbag Airbag: In episode 9 Rin runs into Orimura-sensei and Chifuyu herself being quite tall...
  • Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Rin gives Houki a good slap after she blames herself for Ichika getting hurt.
  • Girly Run: In the ending theme, Cecilia and Charlotte seem to run like this.
  • Gossip Evolution: What originally was "Ichika agreeing to date Houki if she becomes tourney champion" one evening becomes "Ichika agreeing to date anyone who becomes tourney champion" the next morning. All thanks to three certain girls, of course.
  • Gratuitous Foreign Language: The original sub only has a few minor instances of Gratuitous English (such as the name Infinite Stratos itself). The dub, however, gives Charles and Laura thick French and German accents, respectively, and they pepper their speech with French and German.
  • Guns vs. Swords: Cecilia vs. Ichika. Cecilia wins because Ichika's sword drains his shield energy with every attack and his shields ran out seconds before he won.
  • Gun Slinger: Cecilia and Charlotte
  • Hair Decorations
  • "Happy Ending" Massage: Cecilia gets massaged by Ichika twice. The second one made her orgasm with him none the wiser.
  • Harem Hero: Ichika. As his co-homeroom teacher Maya once stated, with his force of six representative pilots, he has more than "enough to start a war."
  • Heroic BSOD: Houki goes through a brief one in episode 11 after Ichika loses consciousness while protecting her from one of Silvario Gospel's attacks.
  • High-Speed Missile Dodge: Pulled off and subverted hard. Ichika still takes a hit from Cecilia's missiles... and survives.
  • Historical In-Joke: Charles and Laura's relationship is similar to the relationship of France and Germany, who at first were at odds with each other, until they became friends through the Franco-German Friendship after World War II.
  • Hot Chick with a Sword: Houki, Chifuyu and Rin.
  • Hot Springs Episode: Ichika and Charles, er, Charlotte, get one together in episode 8. Nobody thinks much of it at the time, until Charlotte comes out of her shell the next day, causing a big ruckus.
  • How We Got Here: The first part of episode one depicts a battle between Ichika and his team versus the unknown IS machine. The rest of the series depicts the events leading to that scene.
  • Incest Subtext: Charlotte accuses Ichika of this when he sees Chifuyu in a swimsuit, but who could blame him anyway? Bear in mind, Ichika picked the swimsuit himself, so that's a plus.
    • Given what they overhear coming from their shared room in Episode 10 afterwards...
    • Also from Episode 10, the conversation that Chifuyu and the 5 girls have heavily implies that she has challenged them to "try and get to my level". And she doesn't mean IS piloting skill.
    • In the OVA she notes this to Yamada, saying; "On that field trip, I told those five girls I wouldn't let them have Ichika. I didn't think much of it or put any deep meaning into it, but it seems the girls think that I'm a rival now."
  • Informed Ability: In the anime, it's mentioned that Byakku Shiki is quite possibly the most powerful IS in the school, if not the world. However, Ichika so far has not been able to defeat an enemy (or at least has extreme trouble in doing so) in a straight up one-on-one fight.
    • The Byakku Shiki is considered powerful due to it's only weapon: a sword that one-hit-KO's opponents. This, coupled together with its insane maneuverability and speed, makes it extremely formidable. The problem comes from the fact that said assets also rapidly drain the shield energy of the IS. Basiclly, it has a lot of raw power and speed, but very little endurance.
    • There's also the matter of the pilot, who is still very much behind everyone else in both formal and informal training (being that no men before him piloted an IS, that's justified). This discrepancy shows very well in Ichika's first battle with Cecilia; he's completely untrained, flying an IS for the second time in his life - a close-range type he's wholly unfamiliar with. She's practically a professional considering her age, and fights in a long-range model. He lasts over thirty minutes, figures out a tactic that could potentially beat his opponent, and then his IS enters First Shift - i.e., he kept up with her while overwhelmingly outgunned, outprepared and outmatched in every way on the equivalent of the lowest power setting Byakushiki has. And then comes within a hair's breadth of winning. No wonder Cecilia breaks down after this and falls for him; had they been on an even level in mere training, she wouldn't have lasted five minutes against him.
    • Also, women being the dominant gender. It's there just to justify the Unwanted Harem. The novel explained this one better, a bit...
  • Innocent Cohabitation: Because the IS Academy wasn't designed with proper coed housing, Ichika and Houki are forced to share a room, with the usual implications for the trope.
    • The situation is resolved when Houki is transferred to another room and Ichika gets Charles as his new room mate... which means the trope still applies considering Charles's true nature.
    • He ended up by himself Until Tatenashi moves temporarily as his bodyguard, emphasis with the word temporary because it's a mental torture for him to endure.
  • Instant Armor: Most IS users can summon part or all of their at any given moment.
    • implied to be nano-technology or matter teleportation; how or why is never precisely explained. Counts as Applied Phlebotinum
  • Kendo: Ichika and Houki trained in this together as children. Years later, Houki is more skilled and has to reteach Ichika prior to his IS duel with Cecilia.
  • Leeroy Jenkins: Laura initially, and Houki at first when she gets her personal IS. Ichika is sometimes forced to utilize this trope since his only default weapon is a sword.
  • Left Hanging: Ichika's current fate in the Light Novel.
    • Laura saves him from the gunshot.
  • Let's Get Dangerous: Episode 5 has Yamada-sensei sweeping the floor against both Lin and Cecilia at the same time.
  • Lightning Glare: Houki vs Cecilia vs Lingyin in Episode 5.
  • Limit Break: An IS' One-Off ability.
  • Male Gaze: Plenty already starting from episode 1 of the anime, as Ichika is the only important male character.
    • During the few Transformation Sequence we see, there seems to be a bit of focus on the girl's bosoms, or their waists.
  • Megaton Punch: Ichika and Dan Gotunda are often on the receiving end of these.
    • A notable instance is on the beach, when Cecilia gets fed up with Rin rubbing suntan oil on her sensitive parts and stands up. Her untied bikini top is left on the towel, and Ichika is innocently staring right at them. He gets a literal Megaton Punch from Cecilia's IS arm.
  • Moment Killer: By the end of the TV series, Houki finally confessed to Ichika and he's about to kiss her when the rest of his harem show up in their IS Suits in anger with the intent to "punish" him.
  • Mouthful of Pi: Ichika forces himself to recite Pi as a means to avert thinking naughty thoughts about Charlotte as she's changing in the same changing room that she dragged him into.
  • Multinational Team: Ichika and Houki are Japanese, Cecilia is British, Rin is Chinese, Charles is French, and Laura is German.
    • Furthermore, the light novels have already introduced an American pilot, Natasha Fairs.
  • New Transfer Student: Ichika followed by Rin, Charles, Laura and finaly Charles as his... er, her authentic self, Charlotte.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Laura delivers such a mean-spirited thrashing to Cecilia and Rin in Episode 7 that the damage sustained by their IS made them unable to participate in the actual school tournament.
  • Nonuniform Uniform: Rin has Detached Sleeves on her uniform, Cecilia has a knee-length dress in the style of the uniform, Laura forgoes the skirt/dress altogether, opting for pants and boots, and of course Ichika's uniform is completely different from everybody else due to being the only guy in the academy.
  • No Romantic Resolution: In the anime at least, none of the girls hook up with Ichika at the end. Houki does seem to have a significant lead over them in the second half of the OVA, but Ichika gets distracted by some fireworks.
  • No Social Skills: Laura to the hilt. First we have Alura calling Ichika her bride after kissing him on the lips in the classroom, and then we have, in the 4th book, Laura licking the creme from a crepe off of Charlotte's lips., to Charlotte's chagrin.
  • Occidental Otaku: The vice-captain of the Schwarzer Hase, Clarissa Harfouch.
  • Orbital Shot: When Cecilia and Ichika duke it out in Episode 2.
  • Parental Abandonment: If you are a main cast of this show, it is a must that you don't have any parents present with you. To wit:
    • Ichika and Chifuyu's parents abandoned them, leading Chifuyu to raise Ichika by herself. And then there is the little detail that Ichika doesn't have baby photos at all.
    • Houki's entire family had to constantly move around due to her older sister Tabane introducing the IS system, and thus needs protection, causing Houki to hate Tabane for it.
    • Lingyin's parents divorced due to differences and the restaurant that Ichika used to visit has closed.
    • Cecilia's parents died from a train accident, forcing her to protect her family's treasure from pretenders by herself.
    • Charles is the illegitimate child of a (now-deceased) country woman and the CEO of the French IS company who abandoned him/.
    • Laura's a genetically enhanced Super Soldier and was raised in a military environment, and thus had no parents.
  • Patient Childhood Love Interest: Two of them! Houki and Rin
  • Powered Armor: The I.S.
  • The Power of Love: Chifuyu and Ichika both claim that their skill comes from protecting others. Laura decides that if she wants to be stronger, she needs to follow their example.
  • Red and Black and Evil All Over: Laura's IS is also this color scheme, possibly as a Shout-Out to Elzam, as the series likes to reference other mecha anime. And she does a Heel Face Turn as well (Sort of).
  • Relationship Voice Actor: Kingdom Hearts fans will finally have their wishes granted with the Orimura siblings: making Ventus and Aqua as siblings.
    • The order in which they run, and subsequently their distance from Ichika, reflects the episode's focus and shows how close each member of the harem is to him... at least at the end of that episode.
  • Schedule Slip: Due to the author's health, the sixth novel was delayed until December 2010.
  • School Swimsuit/Leotard of Power: Female IS pilot uniforms complete with Zettai Ryouiki
  • Sensei-chan: Yamada-sensei.
  • Shmuck Bait: Ichika comes across Houki staring at a sign behind two metal flaps which says "Please pull them out." She doesn't. Ichika can't resist.
    • Well, the little carrot on the sign (and the very shape of the trap istelf) made it quite obvious who is behind this trap, and probably Ichika thought something along the lines of 'The sooner, the better'. After all, none of them seemed too happy about seeing Tabane.
  • Schizo-Tech: while the date for the series is never given, the Manga and the Anime specifically show president Obama as the main driving force behind IS Academy and the Alaska treaty, placing the series somewhere around present day to 2016. Considering that the IS is an artificial intelligence embedded into what seems to be a fusion reactor or zero-point energy source roughly the size of a baseball or smaller...yeah, you get the picture. Granted, Shinonono Tabane is rumored to be a genius who makes Einstein look dumb.
  • Shower of Awkward: How Ichika finds out Charlotte's true gender.
  • Super Prototype: Ichika's Byakku Shiki is actually a 4th Generation Super Prototype. However, as a testbed for new technology and concepts, its full of flaws making it more of a Flawed Prototype.
    • Houki's Mid-Season Upgrade, Aka Tsubaki, utilizes all the technology in the Byakku Shiki after all of its flaws had been corrected, making it the true 4th Generation Super Prototype.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": There seems to be a disparity with some characters' last names. Rin's last name causes some issues depending whether you're romanizing from the Chinese or Japanese pronunciation, and with the former, depending on what dialect you're doing.
    • Charles's surname also causes issues. It's written as "Dunois", but read as "Dunoa".
    • Another example would be the joint US/Israeli IS unit that caused a ruckus over the skies of Japan. While it's written as "Silver Gospel", plus having its kanji title be a direct translation of that, the "Silver" part is always read as "Silverio".
  • Stay in the Kitchen: Possibly Gender Flipped. The revolutionary IS suits, having made most other weapons obsolete, can only be piloted by women, which kinda leaves the men in a bad place, combat-wise.
  • Stop Helping Me!: When Houki, Rin, and Cecilia all try to explain to Ichika how to use the IS with their Techno Babble, it only serves to confuse him. On the other hand, Charles offers to duel Ichika, and after soundly stomping him, he offers some tips on Ichika's weaknesses and explains things that makes it easy for him to understand. He also helps train Ichika on using a rifle, and seems a bit too friendly, causing the girls to get quite jealous.
  • Stripperiffic: An excellent example of Stripperiffic Powered Armor.
  • Thanks for the Mammary: When a shaky entry by Yamada-sensei in her IS results in crash landing on top of Ichika, after the dust clears he finds himself on top of her with his hand on one of her boobs. Unlike most girls, she doesn't react violently to it, and instead hints something about becoming Chifuyu's sister-in-law.
  • The Promise: Ichika, being the clueless harem hero, misinterprets his promise with Lin and prompts another angry duel.
  • The Tease: Tatenshi. Just Tatenashi.
  • The Wiki Rule: Still small, but it's there.
  • They Call Me Mister Tibbs: Chifuyu prefers DEMANDS the students to call her Orimura-sensei.
  • Think Unsexy Thoughts: Ichika is forced to do this after Charlotte drags him into a changing room. He does it largely by reciting Pi. All the while still imagining Charlotte's figure.
  • Tournament Arc: Played with, almost to the point of a running gag. Every time a tournament begins, Ichika always ends up fighting against the respective arc opponent(s) in the very first round, of the very first match, and something always goes wrong in said match that ends up getting the entire tournament cancelled.
  • Transformation Trinket: The IS, sort of.
  • Tsundere: Houki, but she seems to go into deredere mode more easily than most. Possibly justified by Ichika's personality.
    • Cecilia after her battle with Ichika.
    • Several female characters actually fit this. Charlotte may be the only one who averts this.
  • Unwanted Harem: The premise of the show, if you don't count the Powered Armor.
  • Violently Protective Harem: Why else would they go after the rogue IS despite being told to standby?
  • Wacky Marriage Proposal: After she's done shoving her tongue down his throat, Laura claims Ichika as her wife in front of their entire class and the rest of Ichika's harem.
  • What Could Have Been: In the Light Novel, Silverio Gospel (in contrast to the anime, where it's an unmanned IS) is a personal IS piloted by American representative Natasha Fairs.
    • There's a theory going around that it was manned in the anime, and they're saving it for the second season. After all, computers don't need a freaking heads up display.
  • When All You Have Is a Hammer: It turn out the worlds' best IS pilot uses only one blade and nothing else.
  • Wire Dilemma: In Volume 5, Ichika and Dan participate in one. Ichika proceeds to cut the wires leaving with Red (Houki/Akatsubaki) and Blue (Cecilia/Blue Tears). Ichika then asks Dan as to which one he should cut. Dan picks blue and they fail in defusing the fake bomb.
  • Worf Effect: Cecilia and Rin, being national representatives and possessing custom 3rd generation IS suits, are touted as being the most powerful pilots in the school. Cue them getting curbstomped by both Yamada-sensei and Laura in separate occassions, with both fights even being a two-on-one.
  • X Meets Y: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED meets Strike Witches.
  • Wolf In Sheep's Clothing: Houki calls Cecilia one of these.
  • Zettai Ryouiki: Apparently, their gym uniform is a swimsuit + stockings [dead link] .
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