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I always seem to lose interest in 13ep harem-esque shows about 8 eps in. (samurai girls, asu no yoichi, bombshells from the sky, this show)

It was somewhat entertaining, but there always comes a point where I just don't care where the story is going.

I do remember fast forwarding through a lot of the mech fights to get back to the character interactions.

As far as silly harem anime go, IS still wasn't that good. Something like the recent Highschool DxD had more personal character interactions, driving plot, and tighter focus. It also delivered on the fanservice where IS fell short. I enjoy harem shows, but I still prefer they actually go somewhere.

darkchibi07 wrote:

This will forever boggle my mind. Out of all hetero harem series that came out in the past few years, THIS managed to pull in at least 30K on average? Was it the sleek setting? Was it because of Kana Hanazawa's Charles/Charlotte?

Funny, uncomplicated and fills the checklist. I'm sure it boils down to "cute girls doing cute things". Don't even know if harem has much to do with that.

Yttrbio wrote:

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.

They probably didn't go with the crossdressing because of what happened in Dual! Parallel Trouble!. There the lead Kazuki was in the same situation as Ichika and they tried the crossdress thing. It was an absolutely spectacular and hilarious failure. Kazuki was probably scarred for life. I am not sure how he survived that.

Last edited by RyanSaotome on Wed Apr 04, 2012 10:07 am; edited 1 time in total

darkchibi07 wrote:

jl07045 wrote:

If I'm not mistaken, the first volume sold around 35k units in Japan. It was also quite popular in 4chan, so, yes, there are quite a lot of fans for this one.

This will forever boggle my mind. Out of all hetero harem series that came out in the past few years, THIS managed to pull in at least 30K on average? Was it the sleek setting? Was it because of Kana Hanazawa's Charles/Charlotte?

It basically combined everything good about harem series while drawing in mecha and moe otaku fans.

Its not surprising that most American fans "just don't get it", but this is one of those shows that the Japanese will love. It did everything right in pandering.

Funny enough, it got into the top 35 anime on that NicoNico list made by Japanese reviewers, top people in the industry and other important people in the industry did last year for the top 50 anime since 2000.

Heres the list if you're interested:

1. Bakemonogatari
2. Clannad
3. To Aru Kagaku no Railgun
4. AIR
5. Angel Beats!
6. Haruhi
7. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
8. Ano Hi Mita Hana
9. Toradora!
10. K-ON!
11. To Aru Majutsu no Index
12. FMA
13. Lucky Star
14. Code Geass
15. Steins;Gate
16. Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo
17. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
18. Macross F
19. Natsume’s Book of Friends
20. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha
21. Ore no Imouto
22. Gintama
23. Hayate no Gotoku
24. Minamike
25. Full Metal Panic
26. Eureka Seven
27. Shakugan no Shana
28. Spirited Away
29. Grave of the Fireflies
30. Sora no Otoshimono
31. Working!!
32. Gurren Lagann
33. Ghost in the Shell
34. Fate stay/night
35. Infinite Stratos
36. Rozen Maiden
37. Amagami SS
38. One Piece
39. Seitokai no Ichizon
40. Aria
41. Garei Zero
42. Gundam Seed
43. Durarara!!
44. Naruto
45. Zero no Tsukaima
46. Milky Holmes
47. Hanasaku Iroha
48. Tiger & Bunny
49. Shinryaku! Ika Musume
50. Sousei no Aquarion

I had far less problem with the mecha (whose problems can be explained away by the same type of magic-like advanced science that allows them to be instantly teleported around the operator) than Charlotte being able to wrap her not so small breasts tight enough to pass as a guy...especially in those skin tight IS operator outfits.

I found IS to be an enjoyable diversion. Some of the character designs did nothing for me and the excessive use of cliches was tedious, but it was still entertaining. I have to agree with Key's point about the lack of a good villain. That was one of the biggest issues I had with the show.

One minor note, the ending of the show suggested that the story, if allowed to reach its conclusion, it might actually have the cojones to actually break one of the standard harem rules: spoiler[The Childhood Friend Never Wins]. I think there is a strong likelihood that Ichika will end up with spoiler[Houki] in the end...

As for the intense cluelessness of Ichika, I don't have nearly the trouble with that as many people seem to have. After all, its not like they portray him as a pervert that for some reason cannot figure out that all these girls are in love with him. They portray him as a genuinely clueless wonder. Even his friend from middle school comments on the fact that he is like that. (spoiler[His friend's little sister also has the hots for him...])

I wouldn't be surprised if it gets a 2nd season, based on the popularity in Japan. But the light novels are probably done without a conclusion, since the author's health is in decline and he has stopped writing. Perhaps this is one case where an anime only ending will be welcome by fans of the light novels?

dtm42 wrote:

Yttrbio wrote:

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.

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.

that's not a kick

on the score well i seen a few epiosdes and just didn't care to much for the rest of the series, sure it was fun to watch on guilty pleasure level but that's all it was.

While it did great in Japan, I have a feeling it will do pretty good, or good enough in the US and judging from our Taiwanese friend earlier, elsewhere as well Laughing

configspace wrote:

While it did great in Japan, I have a feeling it will do pretty good, or good enough in the US and judging from our Taiwanese friend earlier, elsewhere as well Laughing

Well right now it is sitting 7 on the Top sellers for anime BD's on Amazon so I guess it is doing alright for itself. I'm sure it is dong okay for RightStuf and RACS.

MrTerrorist wrote:

Theron Martin wrote:

...and Kana Honiara (Charles/Charlotte)

Uh, Martin. You got her name wrong. It's Kana Hanazawa.

Erp! Corrected.

dtm42 wrote:

Infinite Stratos is like what Satan leaves after he has Thai food for lunch and Taco Bell for dinner.

Easily my favorite series put-down in recent months. Cool

And Blood- is overreacting, so I'd just ignore him in this case.

For the record, I also had a big problem with the more scientific aspects you mentioned. The emphasis placed on "shields" suggests that invisible force field-like projections are protecting the pilot, but this is still more magic than technology.

In general: Yeah, this series is crazy-popular in the otaku base in Japan, I'm guessing because it can draw both harem and mecha fans. It's just further proof that popularity and quality have little to no correlation with each other.

asimpson2006 wrote:

configspace wrote:

While it did great in Japan, I have a feeling it will do pretty good, or good enough in the US and judging from our Taiwanese friend earlier, elsewhere as well Laughing

Well right now it is sitting 7 on the Top sellers for anime BD's on Amazon so I guess it is doing alright for itself. I'm sure it is dong okay for RightStuf and RACS.

RACS sold out completely according to their news letter. They also stated Sentai had to order another print run. So I guess it should be doing pretty well.

Personally, whether or not you like this show, I think you should be rooting for it to do well. If it does, Sentai might be more inclined to include the level of extra features it did on other series.

Key wrote:

MrTerrorist wrote:

Theron Martin wrote:

...and Kana Honiara (Charles/Charlotte)

Uh, Martin. You got her name wrong. It's Kana Hanazawa.

Erp! Corrected.

dtm42 wrote:

Infinite Stratos is like what Satan leaves after he has Thai food for lunch and Taco Bell for dinner.

Easily my favorite series put-down in recent months. Cool

And Blood- is overreacting, so I'd just ignore him in this case.

Yeah right, dtm42 reacts to the single episode he saw as if it was one of the worst show's ever created, yet I'm the one over-reacting? Rolling Eyes

What ever you say, dude.

I went ahead and got it as a blind buy and I was mildly satisfied. When I read the synopsis, I knew I had to lower my expectations a bit and expect the same old clichés.

For a while, I thought Ichika was downright gay. He had no interest in women whatsoever. At least until the last few episodes. The fighting scenes were really nice, though.

Quote:

Its not surprising that most American fans "just don't get it", but this is one of those shows that the Japanese will love. It did everything right in pandering.

Given how well it's selling, clearly some American fans do "get it". This show is popular with the /a/ and /jp/ crowd I'll bet.

And there's nothing to "get". It's a generic harem show with a dense protagonist and mecha shoved in. You harems fans always act like there's some special thing about harems that us other people just don't get. That's not it. We just don't like them.

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