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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/strategic_armored_infantry.jpg]]

->''"Only you can do what you've decided to do. If you keep that in mind, nothing is impossible."''

''Str.A.In.: Strategic Armored Infantry'' is a 2006 {{Mecha}} {{Anime}} series by Happinet and Creator/StudioFantasia.

Sara Werec (a jumbled "Sara Crewe") has been groomed from birth as an elite Reasoner, pilot of a mecha called a Strain. Only those who were chosen before they were born can pilot one (the thing relies on a psychic connection with a power core that includes the user's own brain cells), generally meaning the upper-crust military families. Her main reason for joining the army is to find her beloved brother, over whom the staff at Grabera Academy gushes. She's just about to graduate and take the side of the galactic Union in an ancient war against TheEmpire of Deague.

[[FirstEpisodeTwist Then in come Deague forces, led by a stolen, modified Strain piloted by Sara's dear brother. The entire school is destroyed. No one except Sara is left alive.]]

Several months later, she takes another identity, goes to another school and starts training as a grunt pilot, having lost said brain cell core in the attack. But a mysterious doll with a psychic aura (called Emily) changes everything again, and soon Sara's back in the fray, although nothing will let her go that easily. Her goal: to find her brother (who now works for Deague Captain [[BigBad Vivian Medlock]]) and figure out just why he would do something so horrible. And when she does, can she face him?

Aside from its rather shocking beginning, the series has become notable for being chosen as one of the series to headline the launch of Funimation's own Internet video-on-demand service, allowing the entire series to be legally viewable online in fairly high-quality standard-definition for free, with higher-quality single-episode purchases and DVD purchases available. This later became industry standard for almost any licensed anime. Anyone interested (and living in America) can see the series [[http://www.funimation.com/video/?page=show&b=93 here]].

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!!''Str.A.In.: Strategic Armored Infantry'' provides examples of:

* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: The Strain fights. They're still pretty rad-looking, but, compared to the actual animation, they're obviously computer-generated.
* AdaptationalNonsapience: This is an anime based on ''Literature/ALittlePrincess'' with characters from other Frances Hodgson Burnett books (''Literature/LittleLordFauntleroy'' and ''Literature/TheSecretGarden'') appearing as well. Most of the characters have [[NotAsYouKnowThem little in common]] with their book counterparts.
** Ram Dass is an Indian assistant to the rich man who saved Sara from Miss Minchin's abuse in the book. In the anime, Ram-Dass is a HumongousMecha. In a way, it retains its role as Sara's protector.
** Zigzagged with Emily, who's just a doll in the book. In the anime, the Emily that Sara found is a Mimic, a machine fused with brain cells taken from a Reasoner before birth. To further explain the {{Technobabble}}, Reasoners are mecha pilots while Mimics are "[[{{Synchronization}} keys]]" for the titular [[AMechByAnyOtherName Strains]], which are HumongousMecha biometrically locked to those with Mimics and superior to those mecha that don't require it. The Mimic enables a PsychicLink with the person from whom the brain cells are taken from. A Reasoner who lost their Mimic can no longer pilot a Strain. Sara lost her personal Mimic but, somehow, she was able to use the Emily Mimic to pilot the Ram-Dass Strain. It's then revealed that Emily is a Mimic of [[spoiler:an alien race who consisted of pale-skinned identical girls, all of whom share a [[HiveMind telepathic connection to one another]] and the Emily Mimic that Sara found contains the mind of one of two surviving Emilys]].
* {{Aesoptinum}}: [[spoiler:The Strains are derived from research done on aliens that look exactly like [[{{Anvilicious}} little human girls]], and the research is supposed to continue ([[WhatHappenedToTheMouse though they don't really finish that plot thread]]) so they can achieve instantaneous communication and more with the further dissection and possible brain removal of said girls.]] Naturally, [[spoiler:Ralph [[DefectorFromDecadence didn't like this]], so he decided it would be best to punish humanity for this]].
* AgainstTheSettingSun: First episode; after the big tragedy, such speeches happen gazing out at space.
* AlmostKiss: Interrupted once by an enemy attack and once by a phone call. [[spoiler:Both are immediately followed by the death of one of the would-be participants.]]
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: While Sara was popular at Grabera, she's ridiculed in Basion.
* AlphaBitch: Isabella often insults Sara. [[spoiler: She doesn't last more than a few episodes, and afterwards her allies continues to harass Sara, blaming her for Isabella's death.]] In episode 5, Isabella's friend Mariette becomes the new leader, [[spoiler:and ends up ridiculing Sara to the point that she is about to ''kill her''. Not even Funimation's Youtube channel has this episode as part of it]].
* AlternativeCalendar: The first episode takes place in 7008 S.E. (Standard Era), and the rest in [[FasterThanLightTravel various years around that time]].
* AnyoneCanDie: Made clear in the first few episodes, where the cast is pruned from hundreds of extras to double- and single-digits.
* ArcWords: "Only you can do what you've decided to do. If you keep that in mind, nothing is impossible."
* BackForTheFinale: Mariette and the Gambee pilots return for the final episode.
* BadassLongcoat: Ralph's outfit is a black long coat.
* BarbieDollAnatomy: Played straight when Reasoners are shown linking with their Mimics or inside their Strains (they're not ''actually'' naked, but it's used to signify the link); however, the nudity in the OP and episode 7 is uncensored.
%%Doesn't explain what the reaction is.* BerserkButton: Lottie's gets pressed accidentally by Sara at the end of episode 8 when [[spoiler:she hears Sara calling Ralph her brother]].
* BigBad: Captain Vivian Medlock, who runs the [[TheEmpire Deague]] ship that the heroines' Union ship comes into combat with, is technically this; however, she is mostly in the background, as the show focuses more on her [[TheDragon enforcer]] Ralph Werec, once a star pilot and beloved [[CainAndAbel brother]] of [[TheHeroine Sara]] until he [[FaceHeelTurn defected]]. [[spoiler:Ralph ultimately turns out to be the real threat when he betrays and kills Vivian to accomplish his goal - [[MisanthropeSupreme eliminate humanity]] as revenge for their [[PlayingWithSyringes treatment]] of the little girl aliens called the Emilies]].
* BigBrotherWorship: Sara ''used'' to feel this way about Ralph, until he betrayed the Union. Lottie, on the other hand, ''still'' feels this way about her own brother, who was murdered by Ralph.
* BigDamnHeroes: Towards the end of episode 5, the Reasoners stop the Gambee pilots from beating up Sara.
* BlackBox: The invention of Strains and Mimics.
* BloodFromTheMouth: Happens to [[spoiler: Ralph]] later in the series.
* {{Bookends}}: [[spoiler:Sara's and Ralph's matching musical pendants being snapped off as they destroy each other's Strains.]]
* BottleEpisode: A good number of the episodes don't leave the ''Libertad'' and/or surrounding area.
* BreatherEpisode: Episode 6, in which the crew holds a party, and episode 7, in which the {{Fanservice}} is cranked up as [[MsFanservice Lavina]] attempts to seduce Sara.
* BroughtDownToNormal: Sara losing her first Mimic.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Melchi and Carmichael, the two mechanics. Melchi especially tends to be a bit eccentric, but his superiors seem to overlook it because he does some genuinely useful things that end up saving a lot of lives.
* CapturedSuperEntity: [[spoiler:A large sample size of an entire alien race was captured and vivisected to study their powers and steal their technology. This is where Strains and Mimics came from.]]
* CartwrightCurse: [[spoiler:Sara's two serious love interests both get killed in battle.]]
* {{Catchphrase}}: Melchisedec's "Shut up, Carmichael" whenever she teases him or says something he doesn't agree with.
* CharacterNarrator: Sara narrates the beginning and end of some episodes, although, in a few cases, she might be talking to Emily.

* ChekhovsGun: Episode 1 mentions a number of things you'll only notice on a rewatch, like Ralph talking about the rescue mission he's been sent on ([[spoiler:which we see in flashbacks in episodes 10 and 11, detailing his StartOfDarkness]]) and the instructors at Glabella asking what the orbital forces are doing during the attack ([[spoiler:where Lottie's brother was stationed, and he and his entire squad were killed just before]]). In episode 2, Sara walks by the cloaked Ram-Dass before she finds Emily.
* CollapsingLair: [[spoiler:Inverted with the ''Kunrun''. Medlock activates the SelfDestructMechanism ''before'' any of the heroes are anywhere near it, to try and trap Ralph inside. Only after that does Ralph take the controls and ram the ship into the ''Libertad''.]]
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience:
** Strains other than Sara's Ram-Dass (magenta and blue) and Ralph's modified Gloire (brown and gold) are mass-produced, so there's a lot of this; the trainees at Grabera used yellow and green Flyssas, while the ones for the trainees in Basion are green, and the instructors and higher-ups at Basion are briefly seen with purple Strains of an unknown model. Ralph's first Gloire was blue and white, as are those belonging to the instructors at Grabera.
** The uniforms at Basion are colour-coded, too. Orange for Gambee pilots, powder blue for Reasoners, teal for BridgeBunnies, white for medics.
* CompetenceZone: Subverted. Nearly the entire Basion force is made up of teenagers, but only because they are cadets on a training cruise, and a good number of the teachers died in the first battle protecting the students. Many of the cadets die due to inexperience, and they ''do'' keep calling for adult backup and set out to try and reach the actual army, [[spoiler:which they only can't because the platoon they were supposed to meet up with went to fight the Deague forces that were on the way]].
* CoolShip: Both the good guy's and the bad guy's main ship in the series.
* ConservationOfNinjutsu: When the Reasoners are fighting thousands of Tumors, they cut through them like butter. When there's only a few Tumors around on the other hand, they have a lot of trouble with them.
** A blatantly hilarious example happens in the beginning of episode 12, when Lottie and her remaining crew manage to destroy what looks like tens of thousands of them in a few moments. Then there's 2 left, and she's unable to get them off without Sara's help.
* ADayInTheLimelight: "Lavinia's Lovely Plot" for PluckyComicRelief Lavina, as she tries and fails to seduce Sara.
* DeadlyBath: Captain Medlock is {{shower|scene}}ing when [[spoiler: Ralph betrays her by trapping her in the bathroom and leaving her there freezing as he takes out the rest of her crew] while she's helpless.]]
* DeadStarWalking: Mary and Isabella were both played by the same, fairly famous, VA.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Sara herself resists getting close to anyone after she cuts her hair and changes her name, but slowly, the Spatial Armour Division starts to bring her around,
* DittoAliens: [[spoiler:Emily (both of them) come from a HiveMind of identical alien children.]]
* DoggedNiceGuy: Every one of Sara's {{Love Interest}}s at least starts out as this. Lavinia, the GenderFlip version, plays the concept truest.
* DoomedHometown: Sara's school and home planet suffer devastating attacks in the first episode.
* ElegantGothicLolita: Emily wears lolita dresses.
* EmotionlessGirl: Sara tries to come off as this, but her facade breaks throughout the course of the series.
* EmpathicWeapon: Mimics are created from the user's brain cells and are made to synchronize with the user and run their mecha.
* TheEmpire: Deague is implied to be this; if you look carefully during the first episode where the lecturer is explaining the war, you will see the word "DIGUO." ''Dì guó'' is the Mandarin word for "empire." Additionally, on the series' [[http://www.s-strain.jp/story.html official website]], Deague is written with the Chinese characters for "empire," 帝国.
* EverybodysDeadDave: By the end of the first episode, Sara is the only survivor of her entire school, and as we learn, nearby military outposts (like [[spoiler:the one Lottie's brother was stationed at]]) suffered a similar fate.
* EveryoneHasStandards: [[spoiler:The Gambee pilots are fine harassing Sara in all sorts of ways, but when Mariette gets into actual violence, the other girls say it's going too far and beg her to stop.]]
* ExplosiveDecompression: Well-done in the first attack on the ''Libertad'', where the bridge is ripped open and becomes a vacuum -- people have time to at least get to safety. However, in later episodes, [=TUMORs=] and mechs rip into the ship ''and whole conversations are had with the big hole to hard vacuum in the background'', with onlky the excuse that a Strain is plugging up the hole in the ship.
* FacialMarkings: The living Emily has strange markings on her face, [[spoiler:as does the rest of her race]].
* FallenPrincess: Sara. The show's based off ''Literature/ALittlePrincess'', and fittingly, Sara goes from a prodigy from a rich family who's constantly praised and held up to her brother to a nobody who's lost everything and can't even pilot a Strain anymore, tormented by bullies who set out to take everything that makes her happy.
* FallingIntoTheCockpit: At least she's a trained pilot, but Sara ends up in the cockpit of Ram-Dass thanks to a psychic call and the drunk and despondent engineers just deciding to let her because they've given up anyway.
* {{Fanservice}}: Quite a bit; it comes to the surface in the form of {{Shower Scene}}s usually showing the girls ShouldersUpNudity or SceneryCensor (but not always) or [[LingerieScene in their underwear]] and {{Modesty Towel}}s in the changing rooms. Lavinia is by far the character that [[MsFanservice presents it the most]], having quite a few SexyWhateverOutfit options in her wardrobe.
* FasterThanLightTravel: Not actually present, since the ships' maximum speed is still ''sub-''lightspeed. The effects of relativity causes some interesting time distortion effects that basically shape the whole plot.
* FingerSuckHealing: Lavinia tries to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this trope with Sara but fails.
* FirstEpisodeTwist: Sara's friends all end up getting killed... and the culprit is Sara's beloved older brother Ralph.
* FlatCharacter: Most of the Spatial Armour Division have only a handful of character traits.
* ForgottenChildhoodFriend: Ralph resembles this, despite most certainly not being forgotten.
* FunWithAcronyms:
** Str.A.In.: [=STRategic=] Armoured [=INfantry=] (also the show's official English title). Many other terms -- like GAMBEE -- are actually acronyms.
** [=TUMOR=] is apparently an acronym (Tactical Unmanned Maneuver [=ORb=], for the record), but more of a MeaningfulName.
* GenreShift: It starts off focusing on school life and romance, with the assurance that the war won't be much of a problem in comparison. Then [[WhamEpisode everyone's dead]].
* GirlPosse: Isabella and her fellow Gambee pilots frequently taunt Sara when she's in their division and for some time after she transfers, considering her gloomy, antisocial behaviour "creepy" and berating her for disobeying orders, "sucking up" to Reasoners (when Lottie takes an interest in her), and being a poor Gambee pilot (as she still fights like she's in a Strain). [[spoiler:This doesn't last long, however]].
* GoryDiscretionShot:
** Every time [[spoiler:Ralph kills someone on the Deague ship ''Kunrun''.]]
** Medlock [[spoiler:is brutally killed by her own security system in this manner. We only see her being picked by the Tumors tentacles before the scene cuts away to the floor where we see the silhouette of the tentacles start vivisecting her as [[ScreamDiscretionShot she screams in anguish]].]]
* GrailInTheGarbage: Sara finds the doll Emily in what looks like a scrap junkyard portion of the ship. She immediately grows attached to it. Even Melchi, who created the doll as a prototype Mimic casing, found the original Mimic inside and decided to use it for the doll as he'd assumed it was a useless Mimic that didn't have a Reasoner anymore; he had no idea where it had come from.
* GratuitousForeignLanguage: The Union uses GratuitousEnglish naming schemes (although all the characters have English names, so it would be less realistic if the machines and locations had Japanese names), while Deague names places and things in Anglicized versions of Chinese words (including "Deague" itself, which comes from "diguo" for "empire").
* GreenEyedMonster: Isabella and her friends are a bit jealous at how skilled the "new recruit" Sara is, and continually try to undermine her as much as they can. They even go so far as to steal her pendant, berate her, and tear her uniform, and later [[spoiler: Mariette nearly kills Sara after Isabella died in an earlier battle, and blames Sara not helping out sooner in that fight.]]
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Medlock after Ralph betrays her and the living Emily.]]
* HeroicBSOD:
** Sara is in this mode for much of the series, actually.
** Happens to Lottie in episode 9, and she nearly kills Sara over it.
* HeroicSacrifice: Cedie in the first episode. Averted with [[spoiler:Melchi and Dufarge. They were unable to stop the self-destruct of the enemy ship, so decided instead to move it as far away from the Libertad as possible. But then Lottie flies in to pull them out of there.]]
* HighPressureBlood: Explicable in some cases -- they're in space, after all.
* HighSpeedMissileDodge: ''Lightspeed''. There's a lot of not only dodging speed shots but also Tumors swarming after the Strains.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Medlock is killed by her own Tumors once Ralph deletes her from the ship's recognition system.]]
* HumiliationConga: Lavinia suffers one in episode 7. After many failed attempts at seducing Sara, Lavinia decides to be bold and [[ShowerOfLove breaks into the bathroom while she's showering and kisses her]]. Only it [[ShowerOfAwkward turns out to actually accidentally kissing Jessie in the shower]] and Sara walks up behind her seeing Lavinia fully naked and making a fool of herself. Embarrassed, she unintentionally runs out of the showers into the halls full of students. When she notices she's naked in front of a cheering crowd, she has a NakedFreakOut and tries to rush back in, [[NakedPeopleTrappedOutside only to find herself locked out]]. She then goes {{Streaking}} through the academy, crying and [[HandOrObjectUnderwear doing her best to cover herself]]. This is all [[NakedPeopleAreFunny played for laughs]].
* HumansAreBastards: [[spoiler: When Ralph learns what the Union did to the little girls, he swears to avenge them, hence why he goes around killing as many humans as he can.]]
* HumansAreWhite: Weird for an Asian show, but maybe not considering the source material. Most of the cast is human and the vast majority are either confirmed or probably supposed to be white; Dickon and a few extras are AmbiguouslyBrown, and there are background characters named Chie and Lin, but that's about it.
* HumongousMecha: Strains are the actual ''humongous'' variety. Gambees are only slightly bigger than their pilots.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Isabella calls out Sara for refusing to work as a team, but that describes Isabella herself just as well if not better. [[spoiler:She dies due to a combination of not taking Sara's advice (continuing to cherry-pick easy targets and not watching out for something that blindsides her) and not taking her ''own'' advice (she refused to work as a team, sabotaging Sara's Gambee and ignoring directions to be a glory hog).]]
* ILetGwenStacyDie: [[spoiler:Sara's got the CartwrightCurse; who do ''you'' think this applies to?]]
* ImagineSpot: Lavinia has a couple of these in episode 7, all involving Sara retuning her affections.
* ImportantHaircut: Sara chops off her hair between episodes one and two.
* ImportedAlienPhlebotinum: [[spoiler:Strains were stolen and reverse-engineered from the weapons of an alien race the Union vivisected to study and covered up.]]
* ImprobablyFemaleCast: Basion Tactical Training School at least ''started'' with an equal number of male and female pilots, but the mass slaughter of most of the students ended up with a squad of pilots mostly composed of cute girls and all reporting to male officers too old to be a [[{{Shipping}} ship]] threat. Only two male Reasoners are left, [[spoiler:one dies later, and the other spends the last battle on the sidelines with a broken arm.]])
* IsThatCuteKidYours: The living Emily on Sara and Carris' "date".
* ItAlwaysRainsAtFunerals: Or at least it did at James and Annie Werec's funeral.
* ItsAllMyFault: Sara blames herself for Grabera's destruction. [[spoiler:Lavinia later blames herself for Carris' death, as she lost the important item that he was searching for when Ralph killed him.]]
* ItsPersonal: Both Sara and Lottie have personal motivations for fighting in the war and for wanting to defeat Ralph.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Sara mid-series.
* JigsawPuzzlePlot: Bits of foreshadowing come as the show goes on, but we're just as in the dark as Sara about what Ralph is doing and why.
* KarmicDeath: Happens to [[spoiler: Isabella. She seemed impatient at getting out into the battle, and as a result, was one of the first Gambees attacked and killed.]]
* {{Kiai}}: There is a lot of spirited yelling during fight scenes.
* KilledOffForReal: Might be easier to just list survivors considering the high body count in this series.
* LastOfHisKind: The two Emilys, one of whom you couldn't really call alive.
* LightningBruiser: Ram-Dass is extremely fast and a match for any Gloire strength-wise, including Ralph's custom; its biggest weakness is fuel consumption.
* LipstickLesbian: Lavinia is attracted to girls and is one of the most traditional females in the cast.
* LittleMissBadass: [[spoiler:The army of Emilys, alien children in mechs, but they still went down like... well, dolls.]]
* LoopholeAbuse: The enemy ship chasing down the Libertad has sensors that closes off portions of a ship to unauthorized personnel. Emily tries walking around at first, but keeps getting locked off. Later, when Ralph returns to the room and takes a shower, she puts his jacket on, and while it's clearly too big for her, it lets her pass, and she's able to board one of the transport shuttles to head towards Gall.
* LonersAreFreaks: Subverted, somewhat.
* LukeIAmYourFather: In the first episode, Sara confronts the traitor who killed all her friends, only for him to turn around and reveal that he's her brother.
* LuminescentBlush: Lavinia whenever she's daydreaming about Sara.
* MadLove: Ralph to Medlock. [[spoiler:Or at least ''she'' thinks so. It ends up going the other way around.]]
* MayflyDecemberRomance: [[spoiler:After Lavinia's aged and Sara hasn't, she ''still'' has that crush on her.]]
* MeaningfulName: "Tumor" is a backronym, but it's also a good descriptor of mindless identical drones that overwhelm and tear apart their targets. Similarly, "Mimic" is also a backronym, and when we learn about their origins, [[spoiler:we discover that the reason Strains require Mimics harvested from cells to clone the Reasoner's brain is because it's ''mimicking'' the connection that the original Strains used; since the aliens were psychic, they could just link to their machines, but humans had to create Mimics to get the same result.]]
* MenAreTheExpendableGender: Surprisingly averted. Women die just as often (and pointlessly) as the men do in this series.
* MidSeasonUpgrade: Sara's Mimic and Strain mech is destroyed in the first episode, but she gets replacements in episode 4, which are much tougher.
* MistakenForSpies: Sara creates a new identity to avoid this. [[spoiler:For good reason -- once she's outed, everyone believes she's a spy for Deague anyway.]]
* ModestyTowel:
** Several scenes in the locker room show Sara and the other girls wearing towels.
** This is all [[spoiler:Captain Medlock is allowed to wear after Ralph betrays her, locking her in the shower and killing the rest of the ''Kunrun'' crew. When he goes back to take her prisoner, he only hands her a towel having disposed of all her clothes since [[NudityEqualsHonesty her security pass is incorporated into her clothing, and depriving her of it leaves her dependent on Ralph.]] When she manages to flee from the ''Kunrun'' via an escape pod, she's still only clad in the towel and the heroes make fun of her when they arrest her.]]
* MoodLighting: During Sara's DarkestHour in episode 1, the sun has just set. Episode 2 (when Sara's given up on finding her pendant), 5 (when [[spoiler:the GirlPosse calls her into the boiler room and nearly beats her to death]]), and 9 (when [[spoiler:Lottie confronts her in solitary confinement]]) also have dark and painful scenes where the lights have all gone out.
* MoodWhiplash: Again, episode seven.
* MoralityPet: The living Emily, to Ralph; the fact that he's protective of her and treats her like a person makes it easy to sympathize with him over Barrow, who treats her like a tool and a way to get back at Ralph. [[spoiler:It still doesn't work to redeem him, though -- he gets ''worse'' when he can't help Emily and when she discovers the extent of what he's done and sides with Sara instead -- until he finally accepts defeat just before he dies.]]
* MsFanservice: Lavinia. She even gets her own episode where she fantasizes about Sara, kisses Jessie in the shower, and [[{{Streaking}} runs around naked]].
* MyGreatestFailure: Sara has a bad case of PTSD and [[SurvivorGuilt blames herself]] for not stopping Ralph at Grabera.
* NaiveEverygirl: Sara, to a point. Much like the original Sara Crewe, while her suffering is far from her fault, she's "not an angel," prone to despair and self-destructive behaviour like cutting herself off from other people.
* NewMeat: Sara once she joins the Spatial Armour Division.
* NewTransferStudent: Sara at the academy in episode 2.
* NeverGrewUp: See ReallySevenHundredYearsOld below.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Lavinia in episode 7 [[spoiler: when she tries hiding Emily in the hopes that helping Sara "find" her would help win her over. Unfortunately she put her in the garbage room, and the doll got knocked into the trash chute. Which then got sent into a garbage truck, which is also speeding away from the ship to take out the trash.]]
* NonIndicativeFirstEpisode: Episode 1 starts out like it's going to be a happy school drama about changing the face of an endless war. Then comes the FirstEpisodeTwist, where most of the cast is killed off and the stakes change from defeating Deague to the more personal finding out what happened to Ralph.
* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: Ram-Dass. In their defense, creating custom mecha was ''illegal'', and the Union made an exception on the spot.
* NotADate: Episode eight, where Sara and Carris, while looking for Emily, end up going for lunch, mistaken for a married couple, and take a break to watch the degaussing light show.
* NotSoDifferentRemark: [[spoiler:Lottie is a young girl who entered the military in order to follow in the footsteps of her beloved big brother -- just like Sara. The main difference is that Lottie's brother was killed by Sara's, which results in Lottie demanding answers from Sara at gunpoint once her identity is revealed. The realization that they really aren't so different convinces Lottie not to shoot her.]] This is even lampshaded by the title of the episode where we learn all this: "Like Looking At Myself".
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Sara and Lottie both claim this right against Ralph.
* OrphansPlotTrinket: Sara's and Ralph's matching musical pendants.
* PaperThinDisguise: How did Sara's hair divorce and new last name fool anybody!?
* ParentalAbandonment: Sara's parents are dead and nobody else's are mentioned.
* PlayboyBunny: Lavinia owns a {{pink|means feminine}} Playboy Bunny suit. [[http://media.animevice.com/uploads/2/25603/487882-1164854850938b010xz1.jpg She wears it]] in one of her many, many failed Sara-seduction plans.
* PlotRelevantAgeUp: [[spoiler:In the last episode, the rest of the Spatial Armour Division shows up older, having followed Sara into sub-lightspeed.]]
* PostEpisodeTrailer: Every episode has one, save for the first, since the show premiered with the first two episodes back-to-back.
* PostKissCatatonia: Jessie is in a daze after Lavinia kisses her (mistaking Jessie for Sara).
* PreExplosionGlow: Lots of things blow up in this series, and usually with the same lighting up before blowing up in an orange ball.
* ThePromise: Sara and Lottie promise to meet their brothers in the army. It doesn't go well.
* PseudoRomanticFriendship: Sara and Lottie grow into this, becoming one another's most important people on the ship aside from their Mimics [[spoiler:after Sara loses another would-be boyfriend]]. Martha and Ermengarde don't get much development, so we don't know if they're actually dating, but they're always together, one is very feminine while the other is very masculine, and their entire personalities suggest OppositesAttract.
* RainAura: Seen in the flashback to James and Annie Werec's funeral.
* RammingAlwaysWorks: Done in episode 12, where [[spoiler:the approaching Kunrun rams the Libertad and is about to explode]].
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: In its truest sense, the Emilys, as well as Melchisedec and Carmichael, who look like children but are treated as adults and don't appear to age; due to sub-lightspeed travel, just about everybody.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Captain, or Instructor DCraven on the Libertad. He actually takes suggestions and advice given to him by his subordinates, such as giving the crew some time off on Gall, and when he learns of Sara's true background, he tries to understand why she did what she did without throwing random, baseless accusations.
* {{Retirony}}: Graduation, not retirement; Sara's friends discuss graduation plans and how they're about to be assigned to different areas just before they all die instead.
* RunningGag: Lavinia is constantly attempting to seduce Sara, usually featuring [[MsFanservice her]] wearing many FanserviceCostumes, but something always ends up foiling her attempts, usually in a comedic and embarrassing manner.
* SayMyName: Sara cries out her friends' names in episode 1 when they're struck down, Craven calls out for Jake [[spoiler:as he gets sucked out of the ship when the Tumors break in]], and Ralph is screaming Sara's name in rage in their fight at the end of the series.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: In episode 5, Mariette and the Gambee pilots hightail it out of here after the Strain pilots rescue Sara.
* SelfDestructMechanism: Medlock has one installed on the ''Kunrun''. [[spoiler:A subplot in the last few episodes is devoted to first engaging it and then trying to disengage it.]]
* SenselessSacrifice: Pretty much anyone who dies in this series. None of them really get to do anything heroic, they're just another casualty as far as the bad guy is concerned.
* SexyDiscretionShot:
** In episode 5, Captain Medlock in a rove and Ralph start kissing when they both fall behind the sofa out of the viewer's view as the screen FadeToBlack.
** Episode 7 also has a scene with Ralph throwing Medlock in bed before getting on top of her, with the scene ending with a FadeToBlack and we hear her have TheModestOrgasm.
* SexySilhouette: Lavinia [[EatingTheEyeCandy eyes up]] Sara's in episode 7, and even strips down to [[ShowerOfLove join her in the shower]] with the intent of seducing her. But when she does, it turns out it was actually ''Jessie'''s SexySilhouette in the shower, turning the whole thing into a ShowerOfAwkward.
* ShooOutTheClowns: After Lavinia's focus episode, she starts to fade out of the show and barely appears by the end, as the story's gotten more serious again and her brand of comic relief caused enough problems.
* SleepingWithTheBoss: Ralph is in a sexual relationship with his superior officer, Captain Medlock [[spoiler:as a means to an end]].
* SlidingScaleOfLivingToys: Emily's at Level 0.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Melchi, who seemingly can't go a single conversation without mentioning how much of a genius he is.
* SnowMeansDeath: Used by juxtaposing happy SnowMeansLove scenes with serious battles in the end.
* SnowMeansLove: On Sara and Lottie's home planets, snow means brother-sister love.
* SpaceOpera: An adventure set in space in the midst of a war.
* SpannerInTheWorks: The ''Libertad'' wouldn't have stood a chance if Sara had gotten into her Gambee as planned, but Isabella cutting the wires as part of her bullying left Sara free to heed Emily's call and pilot the experimental Strain in the engineering bay. Isabella still isn't sympathetic or celebrated for it, of course.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS:
** Is Sara's home planet Grabera or Glabella? The manga and the English release use the former, but official art and the website use the latter, and Glabella fits the ThemeNaming. Also, "Deague" is pretty consistent for the most part, but "Diguo" is used once, and it has an actual meaning.
** The story takes place in the Cranial System, hence the planets being named for parts of the head. A screen in episode 1 shows it as the ''Clanial'' System.
** Another question is whether "Strain" and other acronyms should be capitalized or not. (The official release doesn't capitalize them.)
* SpiritualSuccessor: Shares many themes with ''Anime/{{Gunbuster}}'', such as sub-lightspeed TimeDilation, a PseudoRomanticFriendship [[spoiler:with a side of [[CartwrightCurse killing off male love interests]]]], and lost family.
* SpoilerOpening: At first; eventually subverted by the death of a character in the OP and the survival of some that didn't make the cut.
* StealthHiBye: The living Emily does this to Carris and Sara in episode 8 when at the open air restaurant.
* SurvivorGuilt: Pushes Sara to work herself to the bone and shut out anyone else.
* {{Synchronization}}: Reasoners and Mimics. A Mimic is a clone of the Reasoner's brain (with the plot-relevant exception of Emily) that links up with said Reasoner and allows them to pilot the Strain.
* TeamSpirit: Lottie insists that the Spatial Armour Division needs to work together and treat one another as TrueCompanions in order to survive. As much as Sara initially rejects it, she comes around.
* TerribleArtist: Sara's drawings are unrecognizable (she designs a dress and the boys assume it's either a space monster or some kind of abstract art). Somehow, Carmichael can still figure out what they are.
* ThemeNaming: Most characters are named for characters from ''A Little Princess'' and occasionally its author's other works. Locations in Union territory are named for body parts (Basion, Gall, Glabella, Bregma, Cranial System). Deague and its military ships have names in [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign anglicized Chinese]].
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Or at least Sara didn't go see one before changing her name and running off to join the army.
* TimeDilation: Sub-lightspeed travel has the effect of moving unaging characters into the future.
* TimeTravel: Oh, theory of relativity, you drive this entire plot.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Martha and Ermengarde.
* TookALevelInBadass: While Sara was pretty competent as a Strain pilot, her brother absolutely stomps her the two times she tries to fight him in episode 1. As the series goes on, she's gradually able to withstand him a little better (albeit clearly holding back at one point in episode 4) and finally can stand toe to toe with him in episode 13.
* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: [[spoiler:Isabella's impatience in battle ends up doing her in]].
* TrainingFromHell: Mostly self-inflicted, as Sara proposes and actually follows a schedule that puts her in training every waking moment so she can catch up with her classmates and get to sub-light training faster.
* TronLines: Mercurion circuits in Strains.
* TrueCompanions: Lottie makes it clear that her team are this, and Sara is ''going'' to treat them like equals.
* ATwinkleInTheSky: The first time Sara launches Ram-Dass, she speeds off into space, twinkles, and comes right back.
* TwoDSpace: Formations all seem to rely upon it.
* VaporWear: The first episode makes a point of showing that [[FanService Sara doesn't wear anything under her flight suit]].
* WarIsHell: While they don't preach it, many characters suffer relatively pointless and non-dramatic deaths. They seem important in one scene, then [[AnyoneCanDie get caught in an explosion or stabbed/sliced apart by Ralph in the next.]]
* WellExcuseMePrincess: Ermy shuts down Dickon every time he hits on her, giving him this attitude.
* WhamEpisode: The very first episode. You think you know what's going on and then there's a brick to the face. And then the third episode, and then... heck, the show basically tosses a solid object at your anatomy ''every other episode''. There ''is'' a BreatherEpisode. [[spoiler:Which is also a Wham Episode.]]
* WhatTheHellHero: Mariette and her posse in episode 5. At first they're extremely angry at Sara's involvement in Isabella's death, but as Mariette continues her beating, even the other girls begin to get a little disgusted by how far she's taking it. [[spoiler: It's likely she would've killed Sara with the lead pipe had Lottie and the other Reasoners not of intervened.]]
* UnholyMatrimony: The main antagonists are the villainous couple Captain Vivian Medlock and Ralph Werec. It soon become very clear that while she truly loves him, he's simply using her.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:Ralph betrays Medlock and her crew once he's close enough to retrieving Sara's Emily. He keeps Medlock alive for a while though]].
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