Infinite Stratos is the Guiltiest of Pleasures

 

After the fall previews are over I was left witth figuring out what material I should write for the next two and a half months. I figured that one thing I would rather not do is put on the airs of pretension and attempt to lavish praise over whatever shows appeared to be the most intellilectual or artistic simply to make myself appear to be more intelligent. If there is one thing that I have learned it is that you can learn as much or more from a silly entertainment show as one that is trying to be intelligent.

 

Half of all anime maids kick ass like Laura

Infinite Stratos is one of those shows that is rather popular in Japan but is relatively obscure in the English speaking anime community. I big part of this is that Infinite Stratos a rather decent amount of fan service and this turns off the anime snobs like little else. However I found that even so not all fan service shows are created equal and Infinite Stratos is a better than a lot of them.

 

New girl is totally awesome when it comes to fighting

A big plus for this show is how it can handle action scenes. While including action elements to a show with a different genre is never a guarantee of quality Infinite Stratos is something more Akin to Nanoha or Negima (manga only) being a type of moe show that will bring the action when there is an action scene. In fact I might just say that post 2008 this is perhaps the best mecha show other than Star Driver and Gargantia. Part of this is that there isn't fights in every episode which could allow for the animation staff to concentrate their budget on a few good fights as opposed to mediocre fights every episode.

 

And here is how you subvert the damsel in distress trope

There is also the simple fact that this is a harem show. While I know that this turns certain people off, there is a simple pleasure to such shows for many people. Something that I learned long ago when following Shuffle when it came out is that Shipping is definitely not a female only activity and sometimes it is just fun to watch a show aimed at that social activity among the fans of said show. While there are some shows that can obfuscate the final pairing the general rule of thumb in these types of shows is that the first girl to show up on screen is usually the winner. While there is always some people that will always find a secondary character to be their favorite Infinite Stratos has one rather prominent dark horse in Charlotte Dunois.

I never said this was a particularly classy show

However I am in no way implying that Infinite Stratos is in anyway some work of high art. All I am saying is that it is a show about stupid fun that I enjoy and maybe if you can have an open mind you might enjoy it too.