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).
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).
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.
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.
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.
Mr. Fanservice: 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.
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.
"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."
First Kiss: Laura steals it, and declares Ichika to be her wife.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Unskilled, but Strong: Aka Tsubaki is a 4th-generation Super Prototype and the most powerful IS in existence. However, she's not a skilled pilot, so she can only be as powerful as the rest of Ichika's girls.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rin: "Are they holding hands?"
Cecilia: "Yes."
Rin: "Ah, then it wasn't an illusion or a daydream."
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.
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.
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.
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... colorfuldaydream.
Disappeared Dad: He only got to see his dad for the first time shortly before attending the Academy.
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.
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.
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 Hammer Space.
New Transfer Student: Twice. She gets a do-over when she reveals her true gender.
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.
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.
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).
(After Ichika almost kissed Houki) "Ichika, what are you doing?"
Unsettling Gender Reveal: To Ichika on Episode 5, and three episodes later, to the entire class via Yamada-sensei. Obviously some girls (especiallyLingyin) 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.
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.
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 alreadydoes. Though she never leaves home without her trusty knife on her hip.
In the dub, it's apparently changed to resemble another eyepatch-wearing Tyke Bomb.
Adorkable: Post-meltdown. Her lack of social skills make almost any social interaction awkwardly cute.
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.
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.
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 sureit cannot be misinterpreted.
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.
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).
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.
Badass: If winning the 1st Mondo Grosso armed with nothing but a Laser Blade isn't badass enough, then what else?
Badass Normal: Wields a BFSjust 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.
Harem Nanny: In the anime, 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.
They Call Me Mister Tibbs: She prefers demands 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
Voiced by:Noriko Shitaya (Japanese) and Cynthia Martinez (English)
Sub-teacher of Class 1-1 and herself a former national candidate whose skill never waned even after years on the sidelines.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
