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Tropes for individual Infinite Stratos characters go here. Any contributions are appreciated.
Most of the characters are in the same class; first year high school students (10th grade, 15 or 16 years old).
Students[]
Ichika Orimura[]
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Voiced by: Kouki Uchiyama (Japanese) and Josh Grelle (English) |
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The main protagonist and the first ever male able to pilot an Infinite Stratos.
- Accidental Pervert
- In Episode 1, he stumbles onto Houki getting out of the shower. He later comes across her bra (hanging from one of her wooden katanas) and almost doesn't recognize what it is.
- Somehow after being crushed under Maya's IS, he winds up on top once the dust clears, face down in front of two classes.
- And then there's those moments with Charles (er, Charlotte post-reveal).
- Barehanded Blade Block: Blocks Houki's wooden katana with this.
- Bare Your Midriff: His IS suit.
- Battle Couple: With Charlotte and Houki at one point.
- Bishonen: Described as one by the girls.
- Bishie Sparkle: This is apparently how Laura sees him.
- Book Dumb: Very bad when it comes to theoretic application, such as the mechanics of firing an IS-outfitted gun. This is why Chifuyu encourages him to simply stick to close-range combat.
- Butt Monkey: Gets smacked around by his harem and older sister on a near regular basis. He is completely incapable of catching a break.
- Character Tic: Has a habit of clenching his fist whenever he's frustrated.
- Chaste Hero
- Class Representative: For Class 1-1. Cecilia originally won it by way of a duel, but later cedes the position to him.
- Clueless Chick Magnet: Most of the time, though at least he knows of the affections of Charlotte and Laura toward him — after all, the former snuck onto his bath and gave him a naked hug; the latter gave him a kiss and later snuck naked onto his bed.
- Also, he almost kisses Houki after she confesses.
- Comically Missing the Point: Does this with pretty much anything romance-related.
- Crippling Overspecialisation: Played with — the Yukihira is his only weapon, leaving Ichika crippled in ranged combat. When he notes this, Chifuyu points out that it'd be extremely hard for the inexperienced Ichika to learn the complex mechanics behind firing an IS-outfitted ranged weapon, advising him to instead perfect his melee skills such that he won't need long-range firepower anymore... just like how Chifuyu won the 1st Mondo Grosso Tournament.
- That all changes, Mid-Season Upgrade-style when Byakkushiki second-shifted into the Setsura to save his life giving him a powerful Beam Cannon & Shield combo weapon.
- The Dulcinea Effect: Uhh yeah, check.
- This got him into a temporary coma, though.
- Estrogen Brigade Bait: A boy who doesn't look too bad on the eyes, frequently seen wearing skin-tight outfits, and is ripped to the point that Charles blushed.
- Expy: Essentially Shinji Ikari Played for Laughs.
- Falling Into the Cockpit: Averts the usual basics of this trope. During his high school entrance exam, he wandered into a storage room, where he discovered he could operate an IS upon touching one. Come Episode 1, he's already used ISs a few times.
- First-Name Basis: With pretty much almost everyone in his harem. His new name for Charles after revealing her true gender is Char.
- First-Person Smartass: In the Light Novel, especially regarding Chifuyu.
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"Oh my, this voice definitely belongs to Chifuyu-nee. A black knight’s song rings in my mind without conditions. On a side note, there’s also another tune in my mind. It’s called The Terminator." |
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- First Kiss: Laura steals it, and declares Ichika to be her wife.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: More-or-less the Foolish to Chifuyu's Responsible.
- Fragile Speedster/Glass Cannon: Byakkushiki can deal a lot of damage and is also way faster than any other IS, but it can't take a ton of hits due to its low energy pool.
- Of course, it turns to Lightning Bruiser after Byakkushiki second-shifted into the Byakkushiki Setsura. It's still an energy guzzler though.
- Genre Blindness: Still hasn't figured out he's in a Harem series.
- "Happy Ending" Massage: He's very skilled at it.
- Harem Hero: Type 2B
- The Hero
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Blames himself and his kidnapping for Chifuyu forefeiting her title defense at the 2nd Mondo Grosso Tournament to save him. Obviously, it wasn't but he still thinks so.
- House Husband: Has the qualities of one.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: During his duel with Cecilia, he gets caught by missiles after destroying her drones. After the resulting Smoke Shield clears, it turns out he survived due to his IS upgrading and optimizing itself at the last second. Right then, Cecilia realizes that Ichika had been holding her off with his IS's default settings.
- Idiot Hero
- Innocent Cohabitation: With Houki, and a double-subversion with Charles (the "double" part comes once her true gender is revealed).
- I Take Offense to That Last One: In the light novels when he blocks Houki's wooden sword, someone comments that "he's not bad at receiving." He definitely doesn't appreciate that comment.
- Jack of All Stats: The Byakkushiki Setsura is armed with a particle cannon, an energy claw, and a force shield, in addition to his standard weapon Yukihira.
- Katanas Are Just Better/Laser Blade: Yukihira Type-2
- Cast From Hit Points/One-Hit Kill: In exchange for Shield Energy, Yukihira Type-2 allows for shield-nullifying attacks, powerful enough to force an opposing IS to activate its Absolute Defense and thus Ichika wins a match. Its main drawback is the Byakkushiki's low Shield Energy reserves and its limitation to said weapon.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: Byakkushiki Setsura
- Nice Guy: He is a Harem male protagonist, after all.
- Oblivious to Love: Comes with his Idiot Hero package.
- Off-Model: Happens to him. Twice.
- Oh Crap: When Rin fires off a Wave Motion Gun at him without his IS suit.
- Or when Cecilia almost blows his head off for almost kissing Houki.
- The One Guy: Who can pilot an IS.
- Out-of-Clothes Experience: He experiences this with Houki. The same way with Banagher and Marida.
- Our Hero Is Dead: This is how volume 6 ended. Due to the long wait between volume 6 and 7, fans assumed that he really did die. Cue Laura's Big Damn Heroes moment at the opening of volume 7.
- Parental Abandonment: He and Chifuyu were abandoned by their parents.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Pretty much is in charge for taking care of their home.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Chifuyu's blue.
- Relationship Voice Actor: Both Orimura siblings are Ven and Aqua.
- Running Gag: Every single time he's about to deal a finishing blow, his Byakkushiki's energy always seems to run out at the worst possible time.
- Shout-Out: In Episode 1, he pulls off a Shining Finger.
- Super Prototype: Ichika's IS core is actually Core 001 — the very first of its kind. Chifuyu claims Tabane put her heart and soul into it as her first creation.
- The Byakkushiki 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.
- Survival Mantra: Naked girl nearby? Recite pi in your head.
- Trash Talk: When Cecilia and him argue in the first episode. He even states that England has the worst cuisine in the whole world.
- Unlucky Everydude: Ichika is very uncomfortable being the only guy in what is essentially an all-girls academy, leading to a number of awkward situations. Nevertheless he's not a complete pushover — especially towards Houki, who even hit him once, but he still got up and didn't let it faze him (and he even was the one who dragged her out to lunch by the hand, rather than the other way around), making him somewhat a subversion.
- However, he was tossed in harm's way after the reveal of the IS, first being kidnapped before he knew he was an IS pilot and now a target of terrorist attacks because they want his IS core.
- Unwanted Harem: So far, he has gained the affection of Houki, Cecilia, Rin, Charlotte, Laura, and Ran. Not to mention, a lot of his female admirers in school. Despite all that, he's still Oblivious to Love.
Houki Shinonono[]
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Voiced by: Youko Hikasa (Japanese) and Monica Rial (English) |
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Ichika's childhood friend ever since they're little kids. Although she moved away during their grade school years (due to tight security surrounding her older sister Tabane, chief developer of the IS, and her family), he still remembers a lot about her, and is happy that they're in the same class. Due to an extreme coincidence, they also end up sharing a dorm room, though Ichika doesn't see any harm in this. Later, Charles Dunois gets paired up with him, but Houki still keeps close contact with her old friend.
- Action Girl
- Adorkable: Her moments of being flustered or genuinely happy are incredibly cute.
- Almost Kiss: With Ichika.
- Battle Couple: In the last few episodes with Ichika.
- Badass Adorable: Especially when she defrosts and acquires the Akatsubaki.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: The reason she fell for Ichika; he was the first boy to view her as a girl rather than a tomboy.
- Boobs of Steel: Has the largest chest of Ichika's harem, not that she's best pleased about this.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Implied to have grown out of the trope upon the closing scenes of season 1 episode 12, when she allows Ichika to grope her and almost succeeds in kissing him. By the time of the first OVA, she confesses... but he couldn't hear 'cause of the fireworks..
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Can stab through wooden doors with wooden katanas and launch Ichika up in the air with a single punch.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: While initially hostile towards Ichika, when a senior offered to teach him on the IS, she immediately declines the offer for him. She also told him that if she won the championship tournament he will date her, which gossip blew out of proportion into a winner-take-Ichika tourney.
- Cute Bruiser: She trained in kendo prior to the introduction of the IS suits, and her IS suit is melee oriented.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Already melted and down the drain by Episode 5.
- Deuteragonist: What sets her apart from the other girls is that she gets by far the most amount of screen time, which cements her status as the female lead. In particular, she knows Ichika the longest, she has one of the strongest mechas, she sings the ending for every episode, she gets the closest to getting him to reciprocate her feelings, and she gets half of an OVA dedicated to her. There are moments where she honestly seems like the main character rather than Ichika, like the aforementioned OVA focusing more on her thoughts than that of everyone else.
- Do-It-Yourself Theme Tune: Her Seiyuu sings the ending for every episode including the OVA.
- Dual-Wielding: Aka Tsubaki has two katanas.
- Expy: She could easily pass as Kaoru Kamiya's descendant, being a Type B Tsundere with a number of emotional problems who's devoted her life to kendo and gets into some really awkward situations with her bumbling love interest.
- Considering Ichika and Laura's expies, she can also be seen as a mild Asuka Langley Soryu.
- Dark-haired Tsundere, knows martial arts, massive strength, and is voiced by Monica Rial. Is that you, Misaki Ayuzawa?
- Heroic BSOD: Struck with one when Ichika made a Diving Save to shield her from Silver Gospel.
- Rin, of all people, reminds her that they can still win, proceeding to slap her to her senses.
- Hot Chick with a Sword
- Innocent Cohabitation: With Ichika, until Charles, the other male (or is she?), comes in.
- Irony: Her sister created the IS but she doesn't get her own personal IS until the story is well underway.
- But when she finally gets her hands on Aka Tsubaki, what a monster of an IS it is.
- Jerkass Facade: Puts this on at first so Ichika will see her as a woman. By episode 5, she's dropped it entirely.
- Katanas Are Just Better: She's a kendo ace, after all. Also applies after receiving Aka Tsubaki.
- Leotard of Power
- Lightning Bruiser: Aka Tsubaki
- Modesty Towel: Ichika catches her in one after he enters their dorm room for the first time. Her reaction is... less than pleasant.
- Out-of-Clothes Experience: She experiences this with Ichika.
- Parental Abandonment: Became part of a protection program which requires constant relocation due to Tabane's critical importance, and has since hated Tabane for affecting her family life and relationship with Ichika.
- Patient Childhood Love Interest: In a rarity among harem novels/manga/anime, she's also the first girl to be introduced in the series.
- Perpetual Frowner:
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Ichika: Can't you at least stop frowning so much? |
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- Rapunzel Hair: Most apparent after her post-shower mishap with Ichika.
- Serious Business: How she takes cooking.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: With her sister Tabane.
- Different As Night and Day: The night to Tabane's day.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Also the blue to Tabane's red.
- Super Prototype: Aka Tsubaki, a 4th-generation IS built by Tabane.
- Sword Beam: One of the attacks of Aka Tsubaki.
- Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Her seiyuu is Yoko Hikasa, after all.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: A thoroughly justified example; Houki has been interested in kendo since she was a kid because her place of residence is home to a kendo dojo, and she continued to practice it during her six years separated from Ichika because it was the only connection she had to him. She also has Rapunzel Hair tied in a ribbon, is shown to be a very good cook and blushes whenever Ichika compliments her looks, due to the fact that when she was young, boys picked on her for being a tomboy. There's also the fact that she's Japanese, a culture in which masculinity in girls is generally frowned upon.
- Took a Level In Badass: After gaining her IS Aka Tsubaki
- Tsundere: Type B. Appeared to be a Type A at first, but only because Ichika kept pissing her off.
- She was a Tsundere when she was a kid. After Ichika stood up for her against a group of boys, she asked him to call her by her first name... because there were three other Shinononos.
- Unskilled but Strong: Akatsubaki is a 4th-generation Super Prototype and the most powerful IS in existence. However, Houki's only a C ranked pilot, so she can only be as powerful as the rest of Ichika's girls.
- Averted as of season 2, when it's revealed she's skyrocketed from rank C to rank S.
- Victorious Childhood Friend/First Girl Wins: If the anime finale is to be believed. Reinforced in the OVA.
- Woman in White: Her IS suit after obtaining Aka Tsubaki.
- Wooden Katanas Are Even Better: Comes with the territory as a Kendo ace. To the point she can pierce through wooden doors like they're nothing. Even Ichika hangs a lampshade on it.
- Zettai Ryouiki: Her school uniform exhibits this.
- And like all girls in their IS suit.
Cecilia Alcott[]
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Voiced by: Yukana (Japanese) and Brittney Karbowski (English) |
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Official representative of the United Kingdom for the IS Academy. Although tension initially sparked between her and Ichika due to the latter's lack of knowledge about her impressive history, she warms up to him after he almost defeats her in a duel.
- Action Girl
- Anti-Heroine: While she's a good person at heart, she's far too arrogant and pompous to be a true hero.
- Attack Drones: Her Blue Tears has four of them, all of which shoot lasers.
- Beam Spam: All but one of the Blue Tears' weapon systems are beam-type weapons. In fact, Blue Tears was designed from the ground up as a test bed for IS-carried beam weapons.
- Black Bra and Panties: When she wants to seduce Ichika, she comes prepared.
- Blue Eyes
- British Stuffiness
- Cannot Spit It Out
- Class Representative: She won the duel for the position against Ichika (simply because his IS ran out of shield energy just as he's about to deal the finishing blow), but nevertheless cedes her position to him.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: While she hated Ichika initially, after nearly beating her in a duel, she became very friendly to him, and hates it when the other girls get close to him, particularly his two childhood friends.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Inverted- She wins the duel for the Class 1-1 Representative position against Ichika, but starts falling for him afterwards.
- Played straight since he becomes her friend.
- Does Not Like Men
- Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Together with Rin while they were stalking on Ichika and Charlotte holdings hands as they buy swimsuits.
- Friendly Sniper
- Godiva Hair: Episode 9, by way of her Princess Curls.
- Hair of Gold
- It's All About Me: When Ichika said that he hadn't heard of her, she took it as a great offence.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold
- Keigo: To emphasize her nobility.
- Laughing Mad: In Episode 12, after witnessing Ichika and Houki's Almost Kiss and nearly blowing off the guy's head in the process.
- Leotard of Power
- Lethal Chef: Shown when she gave Ichika some sandwiches. Her cooking can be described as "looking exactly as depicted in the cookbook, but tastes just like the cookbook". Then again, there's that joke about British culinary skills...
- Season 2 shows how her lack of common sense is a major cause of her horrendous cooking skills. While teaching her how to cook, Houki, Charlotte and the latter's roommate, Laura, all get sick from her attempts to make the food look better. Later, when Rin to teaches her how to make sweet & sour pork, Cecilia ends up blowing the latter's room up, as upon hearing Rin stating that Chinese cooking is all about "firepower", Cecilia decides to use her IS's laser.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Played straight in the original sub, averted in the dub.
- Ojou: Makes a big point of her noble birth and upbringing.
- Parental Abandonment: Her parents died in a train accident.
- Princess Curls: Two sets.
- Seiza Squirm: Ichika even lampshades it when he sees her discomfort, asking why didn't she sit at a table instead.
- Those Two Girls: With Rin.
- Tsundere
- Upperclass Twit
- Zettai Ryouiki: In her IS pilot Suit.
Lingyin "Rin" Huang[]
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Voiced by: Asami Shimoda (Japanese) and Hillary Haag (English) |
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Representative of China for the IS Academy and Class 1-2 Representative. She and Ichika were friends since grade school, some time after Houki left. They have fond memories of eating together in her family's restaurant, though it seems that Ichika doesn't remember things quite the same way Rin does...
- Action Girl
- A-Cup Angst: Never ever say to her face that she's flat-chested.
- Almost Kiss: She nearly gave one to a sleeping Ichika, till he started to wake up.
- Anti-Heroine: Considering she's a Yandere on the side of the good guys, this is a given.
- Bright Slap: Gives Houki one of these to snap her out of her Heroic BSOD.
- Cannot Spit It Out
- Catch Phrase
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- Childhood Marriage Promise: She made a promise with Ichika in which she'd treat him to food everyday if she got better at cooking (the implication being that they'd get married). Ichika, ever Oblivious to Love, took her words literally.
- Chinese Girl
- Class Representative: For Class 1-2.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Houki and Cecilia hate her instantly for being a childhood friend of Ichika, but she also hates it when the other girls get close to him, particularly Houki and Charlotte.
- Cute Bruiser: While she does have cannons with medium-range capabilities, her IS suit is melee-oriented.
- Cute Little Fangs
- Detached Sleeves
- Dual-Wielding: Her Shenlong's Souten Gagetsu, a pair of swords that can be combined to form a lance-like weapon.
- Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: When slipping into Yandere mode.
- Genki Girl
- Girlish Pigtails
- Green Eyes
- Just Friends: With Ichika, who's completely clueless about the implications of the aforementioned Childhood Marriage Promise.
- Leotard of Power
- Multiform Balance: Her Shenlong IS, armed with a pair of Impact Cannons on the shoulder armor and the aforementioned Souten Gangetsu.
- New Transfer Student
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Played straight.
- Parental Abandonment: Both parents divorced due to differences, and the restaurant Ichika usually visits has closed down, forcing her to return to China, where she was scouted as an IS pilot.
- Patient Childhood Love Interest
- Those Two Girls: With Cecilia.
- Tsundere
- Unlucky Childhood Friend: If the anime finale is to be believed.
- Yandere: Busting through a wall and attempting to kill Ichika after Charlotte admits to her true gender (with most of the school knowing that she and Ichika took a bath together the previous day) counts as this. She also seems to have no qualms about hitting Ichika with her IS weapons even when he's unarmed.
- Then there's this conversation between her and Cecilia while peeping at Ichika and Charlotte going shopping together.
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Rin: "Are they holding hands?"
Rin: "Let's kill them!" |
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- Zettai Ryouiki: Grade S in her IS pilot suit.
Charles/Charlotte Dunois[]
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Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (Japanese) and Shannon Emerick (English) |
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Representative from France and the only other male in the world that can pilot an IS... Or is he?
- Ace Custom: Rafale Revive Custom II is actually a heavily modified 2nd-generation mass production IS.
- Action Girl
- Ambiguously Gay: Frequently blushes around Ichika (especially when they get too close for comfort). Of course, this is a Foreshadowing of his... er, her true gender.
- Badass Adorable
- Bash Brothers/Battle Couple: With Ichika. During the duel with Laura they perfectly cooperated, taking advantage of the latter's IS's weakness and capabilities of their own ISs.
- Bare Your Midriff: Double inversion.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Is the kindest, sweetest girl you'll ever meet, with the smile of an angel. Just don't piss her off (or cheat on her), lest her smile will turn into that of an angel of death.
- Bifauxnen/Bokukko
- Catch Phrase: "Ichika no ecchi." ("Ichika, you pervert.")
- Char Clone: She is blonde, has an orange IS, and is a Bifauxnen, as well as a nickname.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: For all her kindness, she definitely is one.
- Covert Pervert: A little bit. For example, he changes clothes in the same room as Ichika even when there's really no reason to. To the surprise of absolutely no one, Doujinshi took this and ran with it.
- At least one doujin was written by the author (technically making this semi-canon), involving a... colorful daydream.
- Disappeared Dad: He only got to see his dad for the first time shortly before attending the Academy.
- Everyone Looks Cuter If French
- Fire-Breathing Diner: Nearly becomes one after trying a piece of pure wasabi. Still, his reaction is really cute.
- Genre Savvy: Understands the Subtext of hand-feeding quite well, then makes Ichika do it to her soon afterwards, and has no difficulty detecting the other girls' feelings towards Ichika.
- Also, notices Rin and Cecilia peeping on her swimsuit-shopping trip with Ichika.
- And is aware of Ichika's cluelessness romance-wise.
- Girl Next Door
- Gratuitous French: In the dub.
- Guns Akimbo
- Hair of Gold
- Heroic Bastard
- Hidden Buxom: Trope Picture. As Charles, she wears something akin to a girdle to suppress her breasts.
- Hyperspace Arsenal: His Rafale Revive Custom II isn't nearly as fast or powerful as other personal ISs, but has a massive capacity for weapons and equipment specific for any situation. Normal ISs can carry around two or three different weapons. Rafale Revive II can carry over twenty, and he can also unlock their access for other IS users.
- I'm Taking Him Home With Me!!: He is so gentle, sweet, cuddly and adorable that this is the reaction he provokes from fans of both sexes, on both sides of the fourth wall.
- Lady of War
- Leotard of Power: Post-Bridget Drop, a standard female outfit.
- Missing Mom: His mother has already passed away.
- The Mole: She was originally sent to gather data on Ichika for her father's company to collect. Of course, once she was found out she may risk imprisonment, but Ichika assures her that her stay at the Academy would at least give her some sort of asylum.
- More Dakka: Rafale Revive Custom II is equipped with around twenty different guns all stored in Hammerspace.
- New Transfer Student: Twice. She gets a do-over when she reveals her true gender.
- Nice Guy/Nice Girl
- Noodle Incident: Ichika stripping Charlotte of her panties while trying not to look at her while changing together in their room. The DVD releases rectify it, showing that Ichika stumbled onto her, accidentally taking a grab of her panties.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Played straight in the original sub, averted in the dub.
- Only Sane Man: In addition to being neither a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, a Tsundere, or a Yandere, Charles often lampshades Ichika's romance-wise stupidity.
- Unless one of them tries to kiss him... just ask Houki.
- Parental Abandonment: The illegitimate child of a French IS company CEO and a country woman, who already died. And the father doesn't care about him one bit.
- Proper Lady: The sweetest, gentlest and nicest girl of the main cast, who ironically still uses the masculine profile of "boku" even in private with Ichika, the only time it's safe to be a real girl (at least until she finally comes out of her shell at the end of Episode 8).
- Justified since her father had her memorize the masculine dialogue.
- Purple Eyes
- Shipper on Deck: Is actively encouraging Laura to get closer to Ichika. May have something to do with the fact that unlike him, who at least knows his parents, Laura is an artificial human who knows next to nothing of such concepts as love or compassion (except maybe that specific "no woman gets left behind" type).
- Shout-Out: A cross-dressing French girl? Now where have we seen that before?
- In Episode 9 (as in post-Mass Bridget Drop), Ichika begins calling her Char, which is both a shout out to the obvious as well as the Sea Harrier.
- She shares a family name with The Bastard of Orleans, Count of Dunois.
- Shower of Awkward: How Ichika finds out her true gender with a Full-Frontal Assault.
- Sweet Polly Oliver
- Tranquil Fury
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(After Ichika almost kissed Houki) "Ichika, what are you doing?" |
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- Unsettling Gender Reveal: To Ichika on Episode 5, and three episodes later, to the entire class via Yamada-sensei. Obviously some girls (especially Lingyin) didn't take the implications well, especially considering it was known to everyone that she (as Charles) bathed together with Ichika the previous day!
- Weak but Skilled: Rafale Revive Custom II is a heavily modified 2nd-generation mass production IS. However, his skill allows him to keep up with the rest of the main cast, all of whom use 3rd-generation prototypes upwards.
Laura Bodewig[]
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Voiced by: Marina Inoue (Japanese) and Tiffany Grant (English) |
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German representative and a former member of the Schwarzer Hase ("Black Hares"). Chifuyu used to train her during the former's time in Germany, and despises Ichika for being too weak and causing Chifuyu's early retirement.
- Action Girl
- Actor Allusion: Her eyepatch is on the left eye instead of the right and doesn't use knives, perhaps to avoid making her look and sound any more like Cinque than she already does. Though she never leaves home without her trusty knife on her hip.
- Adorkable: Post-meltdown. Her lack of social skills make almost any social interaction awkwardly cute.
- Amazon Brigade: Was the CO of Schwarzer Hase ("Black Hares"), a German IS unit, whose members wear Eyepatches Of Power on their left eye.
- Arrogant And Proud Pilot Soldier Girl: She isn't very fond of the idea of the ISs being used for combat sport, like at the Academy. She really likes to express that opinion in battle as much as allowed.
- Awesome but Impractical: Her Schwarzer Regen's Active Inertia Canceller (AIC) can block any attack, beam-based or not, including Rin's powerful Impact Cannon. The catch — it relies on Laura's concentration abilities, making her susceptible to multiple enemies.
- It may have worked during her match with Cecilia and Rin, as both went long-range... but not so much with Ichika and Charles, who threw her off-guard by combining melee and long-range.
- Ax Crazy: She gets better... big time.
- Badass
- Badass Adorable: Post-meltdown
- Bedmate Reveal: To Ichika while naked.
- Badass Arm-Fold
- The Berserker: Her Schwarzer Regen's Valkyrie Trace (VT) System was meant to increase an IS's performance by mimicking previous Mondo Grosso champions (e.g. Chifuyu). However it went rogue due to Laura's brief mental breakdown upon realizing that Ichika and Charlotte exploited her AIC's weakness and turned the tide of the battle against her. No wonder research, development and application of the VT System is strictly banned.
- Bring It On: To Rin and to Cecilia.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Averted. She hates Ichika, so the first thing she does is slap him across the face. In battle, she always goes straight for him (which he and Charles quickly learn to take advantage of). She worships Chifuyu, and pretty much states it outright. And when she realizes she's in love with Ichika, she does state it outright, and makes absolutely sure it cannot be misinterpreted.
- Clingy Jealous Girl
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"You're not paying enough attention to being my wife." |
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- Defeat Means Friendship/Defusing the Tykebomb
- Defrosting Ice Queen: More like having gasoline poured all over her and set alight in a single episode.
- Evil Eye: Laura's eyepatch covers her special, bright gold left eye (as revealed in the opening) — a result of a failed attempt to increase her capability to pilot an IS.
- Expy: Besides being a Rei Ayanami Expy, she can also be seen as a female Sousuke Sagara.
- Eyepatch of Power
- Fan Girl: Manages to stand out in a school filled with Chifuyu fangirls.
- First Kiss: She steals Ichika's first kiss.
- Germanic Efficiency
- Giant Poofy Trousers
- Gratuitous German: In the dub.
- Idiot Hair
- Irony: She's a Rei Ayanami Expy with Asuka's voice actress. Crazy or what?
- Jerkass: Pre-meltdown.
- Leotard of Power
- Love Redeems
- More Dakka: Her Schwarzer Regen.
- New Transfer Student
- No Social Skills: A side effect of being raised by the military since birth.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Played straight in the original sub, averted in the dub.
- Parental Abandonment: Raised in a military environment, with no parents in sight.
- Putting on the Reich: Her pants mostly. But on her teammates from Schwarzer Hase it's much more prevalent (style of their uniform, their caps, also their ARMBANDS).
- Rei Ayanami Expy
- Serious Business: Swimsuit shopping. She calls Clarissa Harfouch, her second-in-command during her days at the Schwarzer Hase, for advice, and it's freely given. Which makes sense.
- Bonus points — Clarissa is an Occidental Otaku.
- Super Soldier: She was genetically engineered and raised from childhood to fight.
- Tyke Bomb
- Wacky Marriage Proposal: Due to having No Social Skills.
- White-Haired Pretty Girl
- Wrestler in All of Us: Puts Ichika in an armbar. While naked in Ichika's bed. And thought he wanted to practice CQC...
Teachers[]
Chifuyu Orimura[]
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Voiced by: Megumi Toyoguchi (Japanese) and Luci Christian (English) |
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Ichika's 24-year-old sister and herself a retired IS ace, as well as head teacher of IS Academy's Class 1-1, where Ichika, Houki, Cecilia, Charles and Laura are placed. She gained popularity for her skill with a katana, with which she won the 1st Mondo Grosso Tournament, only to disappear after forefeiting her title defense at the 2nd Mondo Grosso to save the kidnapped Ichika; during her hiatus she went to Germany to train IS pilots (one of which was Laura) as repayment for the German army's contribution to her rescue of Ichika.
- Ace Pilot
- Action Girl: If winning the 1st Mondo Grosso armed with nothing but a Laser Blade doesn't qualify a woman as this, then what does?
- Aloof Big Sister: To Ichika, though it overlaps with Cool Big Sis.
- Badass Normal: Wields a BFS just by herself without piloting an IS and stops Laura's weapon with ease.
- To add to that, she is rumored to be the insanely strong IS pilot, 'The White Knight' who saved Japan when the country was being targeted for destruction by rogue ICBMs years ago.
- Big Sister Instinct: Her little brother is kidnapped!? Screw the Mondo Grosso title defense, time to save Ichika!
- Also has hints of My Brother Is Off Limits — she's fully aware of Ichika's Unwanted Harem and their affections towards him, but she's making it clear she's not simply letting them just have their way with him.
- Dope Slap: Did this to Ichika (thrice!) and to Rin.
- Even the Girls Want Her/Hot for Teacher: Almost all of the girls in her class (save Ichika — at least until he saw her lingerie-like bikini — Houki and Cecilia) admire her.
- Onee-Sama: Most said girls refer to her as this.
- Harem Nanny: More or less... she keeps Ichika's harem from going wild on him, for the most part. Mind you, it's something that is purely coincidental due to her patrolling around the school and needing to safe guard the class in general.
- Hot Teacher
- Lady of War
- Katanas Are Just Better: Weapon of Choice
- Parental Abandonment: She and Ichika were abandoned by their parents, resulting in...
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to both Ichika's and Tabane's red.
- Tall, Dark and Bishoujo
- Which apparently happens to be Ichika's type.
- They Call Me Mister Tibbs: She
prefersdemands that the students to call her Orimura-sensei on school grounds else they'll get dope slapped. Not even her own brother is excused. - When All You Have Is a Hammer: Chifuyu won the first Mondo Grosso with nothing but a Yukihira Type-2... and now she's passing on her technique to Ichika.
Maya Yamada[]
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Voiced by: Noriko Shitaya (Japanese) and Cynthia Martinez (English) |
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Sub-teacher of Class 1-1 and herself a former national candidate whose skill never waned even after years on the sidelines.
- Adult Child
- Badass Adorable
- Beware the Nice Ones
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: An airheaded, ditzy teacher, right? Well, yes... but she's also a former national candidate with impressive piloting skills (aside from a self-inflicted crash landing that gave Ichika a handful and faceful of her chest), as shown when she manhandles Cecilia and Rin at the same time with an inferior suit.
- Curtains Match the Window
- The Cutie
- Friendly Sniper
- Fun with Palindromes: Her name in Japanese form (Ya-Ma-Da Ma-Ya) is completely symmetrical; spelt backwards, her name is still "Ya-Ma-Da Ma-Ya." Lampshaded by Ichika's monologues.
- Gag Boobs
- Gainaxing
- Genius Ditz
- Hot for Student: Apparently she enjoyed the experience of Ichika getting a handful and faceful of her ample bosom.
- Hot Teacher
- Kawaiiko
- Leotard of Power
- Meganekko
- Nice Girl
- Older Than They Look: So bright, sweet and adorable she looks younger than her 15 year old students. Heck, in the first episode when she gets embarrassed in front of her class, the entire class Squees.
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"Aww, she's so cute!!" |
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Others[]
Tabane Shinonono[]
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Voiced by: Yukari Tamura (Japanese) and Allison Keith (English) |
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Houki's older sister and inventor of the IS suits.
- Adult Child: She's quite childish compared to Houki, much to her and Chifuyu's chagrin. She might as well be mistaken for Houki's younger sister.
- Bunny Ears Lawyer: She sports mechanical bunny ears on her head that are quite "expressive".
- And to add to the pun, her first major appearance in the series involves arriving in a... Giant Mechanical Carrot. Yeah.
- Christmas Cake: And more than likely in her mid-twenties considering she invented the entire IS technology more than 10 years ago.
- The Chessmaster: Maybe... she neither confirms nor denies Chifuyu's hypothesis that it'd take a considerable intellect to hack twelve nations' computers simultaneously to fire over 2000 ICBMs at a helpless East Asian country only to save it with the introduction of a hyper-advanced exoskeleton-weapons system, send Ichika to inadvertently become the world's first male IS pilot, and drive Silver Gospel berserk just in time for Houki's "big debut". But it's all just theory, after all.
- She admits it'd take a genius to launch all those missiles, confirms that she drove Silver Gospel berserk, but denies setting Ichika up. She doesn't know how he's doing it.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Despite (or probably because of) being the infamous inventor of the IS suits, she is very weird.
- Cool Big Sis
- Curtains Match the Window
- Dynamic Entry: Apparently her favorite method of crashing a party, but usually with a lot of noise (which subverts this trope's surprise element). One of her attempts was pacified by Chifuyu, with just one hand.
- Fiery Redhead
- Genki Girl
- Hot Scientist
- Hyperspace Arsenal: Summoning a missile launcher out of nowhere counts.
- Justified, since the ISs are built with this trope in mind.
- Incoming Ham: Her Dynamic Entries may qualify.
- Insufferable Genius: Loves to remind people that she is a genius.
- Kawaiiko: Much older than most, but nevertheless extremely cute.
- Large Ham
- Mad Scientist: A rare benevolent example.
- Older Than They Look: She invented the entire IS technology system over 10 years ago, and somehow still looks like an extremely cute girl who has just entered her twenties...
- Parental Abandonment: Due to her invention of the ISs in the first place.
- Perpetual Smiler
- Playful Hacker: Chifuyu hypothesizes that she may caused Silver Gospel's rampage just to help Houki's debut as a personal IS user.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to both Chifuyu's and Houki's blue.
- Red Headed Heroine
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Whereas Houki is more serious, Tabane is very energetic.
- Stealth Hi Bye: On occasion.
- Strange Girl
Dan Gotanda[]
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Voiced by: Makoto Yasumura (Japanese) and Chris Ayres (English) |
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Ichika's friend from back in middle school up until the time he transfers to IS Academy.
- Bromantic Foil: To Ichika.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: With Ichika, and their friendship never seems to have waned long after the latter transfers to the IS Academy.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy
- Nice Bandana
- You Gotta Have Red Hair
Ran Gotanda[]
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Voiced by: Noriko Obata (Japanese) and Luci Christian (English) |
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Dan's younger sister and a third-year junior high schoolgirl.
- A-Cup Angst: Though in a subversion, she's actually got a decent bust.
- Fiery Redhead
- Nice Bandana
- Ship Tease: Hinted to have some hidden feelings for Ichika.
- Student Council President
- Unkempt Beauty: Her usual getup at home.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: She only resorts to this whenever Ichika shows up.
Natasha Fairs[]
Light Novel-only Official Representative to the IS Academy from America. She is the pilot of Silver Gospel, an IS co-built with Israel.
- Eagle Land
- Hair of Gold
- I Owe You My Life: Kisses Ichika on the cheek — in the presence of the rest of his Unwanted Harem, no less — in gratitude for stopping her Silver Gospel's rampage.
Tatenashi Sarashiki[]
Light Novel-only Official Representative to the IS Academy from Russia (though apparently half-Japanese) and currently the strongest IS fighter in the Academy, warranting her the position of Student Council President. She's the pilot of Mysterious Lady, a third-generation cerulean IS.
- The Ace
- BFS: Mysterious Lady's main weapon is a giant laser lance.
- Bodyguard Crush: For Ichika, unto whom she was temporarily assigned to protect after the Silver Gospel incident.
- But Not Too Foreign: Implied to be half-Japanese — in fact, her name is written in kanji instead of katakana.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them: Used her position to become Ichika's new roommate.
- Spoiled Sweet
- Student Council President
- The Tease: Which doesn't sit well to Ichika.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair
M adoka Orimura[]
Pilot of the Silent Zephyrs is also part of Phantom Task.
She actually looks like a younger Chifuyu who tells Ichika that he stole her life.
- Cloning Blues: Really looks like Chifuyu.