Ichika Orimura

Ichika Orimura (織斑 一夏) is the main protagonist of the Infinite Stratos series. He is the only male in the entire series who has been able to pilot an IS since its introduction. Ichika currently is a 1st year student at the IS Academy in Class One, where he serves as Class Representative as well as Vice-President of the Student Council in the IS Academy.

Appearance
Ichika is a young man of average height with short black hair (blue in the anime) that is parted in the middle, dark brown eyes and a slim but trained body. He commonly wears his IS Academy uniform. For IS practice, he wears a black tank top, revealing his stomach and tight-fitting bermuda shorts. On his right wrist, is Byakushiki's Closed Form:


 * A white gauntlet in the light novel and manga


 * A very big white metal bracelet in the anime.

Personality
"Ichika...you're the worst kind of an idiot!"

-Chifuyu Orimura Ichika has a habit of personally assessing the situation with interior monologue as well as being easily guessed on what he is thinking, making him the brunt of certain jokes where he wonders how do they know what he is thinking. He has a tendency of clenching his left hand when he gets overconfident, which his older sister points out, means he would start to make a mistake very soon.

Ichika can be extremely clueless when it comes to the feelings the girls have for him, as more often than not, he is more worried of the fact that being the only male who can pilot an IS, he does not know the requirements of controlling it, and the fact he has to live among a very large group of girls (he even told Charles that he was very glad that another male transferred in). He sometimes is sensitive to the change of mood in certain situations, but always manages to rationalize the change in mood to something completely unromantic. He believes that there is absolutely no chance for him to get a girlfriend, as he told Chifuyu that he would not be able to match any of the girls' perfect sides (not knowing that he is the type of guy all the girls want).

Additionally, he is a person who doesn't seem to be able to facilitate implication in daily life. When it comes to things like holding hands or old promises, for example, Ichika tends to misinterpret or is even completely unaware of the implications of his actions and their respective circumstances, such as turning what one of the girls hopes to be a date into a group activity. This quirk often earns him stress on both the mental and physical level from the girls around him.

He is the type who learns with his body rather than his head, as more often than not, he tends to surprise his fellow classmates with questions on matters they take for granted (like when he first met Cecilia, his first question was "What is a Representative Candidate?", causing the other students to do a comical collapse). After sometime, he is able to understand basic fundamentals of IS to help him get by (he is aware, for instance, that his IS has no available bus-slots for an Equalizer).

Having been raised (suggested to be Spartan-trained) by Chifuyu, Ichika learns to be polite to all the girls and respectful to those older than him. Although a gentleman at times, he will not take any insults to his family or his country, as shown when he first met Cecilia, she was commenting on how a commoner from Japan could handle the class representative, he remarked that her country isn't anything special (he even ask when was the last time her country won the award for worst cooking). Also, in the manga (and some parts of the light novel) Ichika tends to be rude when he is pissed off (he named Lingyin "ironing board" and idiot during their fight of the "Sour pork" promise. When Laura slapped him, he reacted angrily by shouting at her why she did that (LN), and when she used the VT System to copy Chifuyu's data and Yukihira, he wanted to punch Laura, without her IS, as much as he could).

He believes, when questioned by Laura, that his strength is his freedom to choose and helping those around him. This is shown when he chose to protect a ship of fishermen who were illegally poaching during the mission against the Silver Gospel.

Ichika has shown to be a very passionate person willing to accept any kind of circumstance for something he has done as long as it was something he either believes in or wants to do. He is willing to help companions or, in general, others as long as it is something he is willing to do. His emotions can get the best of him, and this has happened on several occasions. He was even like this in his childhood. However, his blockheadedness and reckless behavior are flaws that come with his saving grace. That quality is his overpowering will, confidence and passion. He may not be too smart, but he can do what he has to do when he wants.

Due to his new-found popularity, he is often surrounded by girls who often use various methods to gain his attention, much of it being a major embarrassment for him (the Tennis Club once asked him to wipe everybody's back while they changed their clothes when they saw him wiping the sweat off Cecilia's face). He once commented that whoever thought of sending him to a lab to be examined had to be a complete nutcase. Furthermore, due to his behavior, remarks and gossips of the girls, he is often mistaken by his friends to have weird tendencies (such as being yaoi towards "Charles" or has a liking for an older woman).

He is a very kind person despite his sometimes reckless and clueless behavior, as he will go to fairly extreme lengths to achieve a goal he has set for himself. Examples of this include the time when Laura copied the Kendo style and stance of Chifuyu and he was offended on Chifuyu's behalf because of it. The most prominent example of this is when he jumped in front of Houki to save her from a blast meant for her. This kind of trait is very predictable for a person of his social standing and behavior. More than once, he has made compliments and taken actions that have taken even Laura by pleasant surprise. Ironically, while most girls like this about him, they dislike it as well because he would it for anyone.

He is careless when it comes to the higher levels of consideration and thinking, and this is often the reason he gets hurt in most (if not all) of his situations. When he lost against Cecilia during their match in episode 2, for example, it was obvious he did not have any observations about his methods. Despite the fact he managed to read Cecila's battle movements and nearly managed to defeat her, he technically lost the match due to his carelessness. However, this may be because, at the time, he didn't exactly have a lot of options to fight with to begin with.

Infinite Stratos & Abilities
Currently he is the only male in the entire world who is able to operate an IS. Why that is, nobody knows. Even Tabane, the genius who created IS, is also pleasantly surprised as to why he can activate the Byakushiki, since, by right, a male should have zero relation to IS. Due to this, the government is willing to give him his own personal IS, so as to gather data on him.

As stated by his sister in the novel & episode 2, his IS seems to be more offensive in tactics than most, given that he could use the Barrier Void attack that helped his sister win the first Mondo Grosso. But because of this, he is forced to limit his power during class tournaments and practice, due to the amount of damage that could be inflicted on his opponent (He can potentially injure/kill the opponent).

In terms of IS knowledge and piloting, his skills are at best slightly above average. He is often overwhelmed by pilots more skilled with units that have more arsenal at their disposal. He makes up for it with his intellect for spotting out attack patterns and weaknesses of the units, due to his childhood training in kendo, to which he trained alongside Houki, and some training he received from his older sister. He also understands in time that his unit has no available slots for equalizers due to the Fold-Out Armor utilizing all of them.

Ichika is able to perform a partial deployment (summoning a part of the IS), first seen with his fight against Laura's mutated IS in episode 8 when Charles offered him enough energy to manifest his sword and arm, allowing him to cut through the mech and save Laura.

At the seaside school's inn, Ichika is good at massaging, he can give great massages to Chifuyu, Cecilia and the girls. Chifuyu mentions to Houki, Cecilia, Lingyin, Charlotte and Laura that Ichika is good at housework and cleaning in episode 10. Because of these skills, his sister said he make a good boyfriend for which ever girl he dates.

He learned how to disarm a bomb as shown when he was participating in a school festival event that had students disarm "Dummy Bombs". In the end, he failed when it came down to cutting a red wire and blue wire, seeing he could not decide, he asked his friend Dan Gotanda. Using Houki and Cecilia's hair color and connecting them to the color of their IS's.

Despite being far behind the rest of the students in terms of IS knowledge, both Chifuyu and Tatenashi have praised his learning rate (Tatenashi even said that Ichika learns faster than any other girl she trained before), and now he is able to fight mostly on par with Houki, Cecilia and Lingyin, while being slightly behind Charlotte and Laura in terms of overall ability.

Childhood
About 6 years before the story, when Ichika was a child, he used to train with Houki in the art of kendo. At that time, he promised her to be her boyfriend if she can win the Kendo Tournament. Unfortunately, before she got to fight in the finals, the world was shocked by the existence of the IS. Due to her relation to Tabane, her older sister and creator of the IS, she was forced into the protection program, thus forfeiting the tournament.

Around the time Houki transferred out, Lingyin Huang (or Rin, her pet name) transferred into the same grade school as them. Ichika regularly went to the restaurant her family owns, to play, eat and have a sleep-over, until about a year before the story. During this time, he made the promise that if Rin could be a good cook, he would eat her sweet and sour pork everyday (although he mistook it for her simply cooking for him, when actually she meant for them to be in a relationship).

Although he has a faint recollection of his past, during the second Mondo Grosso, he was kidnapped by an organization who did not want his sister, Chifuyu, to win the tournament. That effectively cause her to forfeit the match, but the end result was her flying (literally in her IS) all the way to their camp, guns blazing. This would be his greastest regret for costing his older sister record and title because he was too weak.

Middle School period
At some point in his elementary or middle school period, Ichika befriended a boy named Kazuma Mitarashi, who would later attend Ichika's 16th birthday party. Ichika's encounter with the IS is depicted differently in the light novel and the anime.

Light Novel
Ichika went to the wrong examination hall that was meant for IS trainees and the female teacher in charge was too hassled to notice a guy had entered and told him to go and suit up. He went on to operate the machine and defeated the instructor (though technically he just dodged to one side, letting her crash into the wall). Later Chifuyu speculates that Tabane purposely changed the location for his high school examination and deliberately placed the IS unit so that it would activate when in contact with him. However, the second part is doubtful, as Tabane says that if she had done so, then Ichika would be unable to use the other IS. Chifuyu concedes that it seems too bothersome for Tabane.

Anime
Ichika was trying to get to the school hall for his entrance exam, but he got lost and stumbled into a restricted room where there was a training IS inside. Being curious, he touched it to his surprise and the surprise of the 3 female staffs who found him inside, the IS responded to his touch.

When the government found out about it, they immediately forced him into entering the IS Academy.

The entire synopsis can be found in the article of Ichika Orimura at the Infinite Stratos wiki.

Relationships
Main Article: Ichika's Relationships

Ichika has encountered many different individuals, ranging from family, friends and allies, to enemies. His interactions with these people have led to some strong bonds and rivalries being formed. Some of these friendships have been ongoing since childhood, while others have only developed since joining the IS Academy. Furthermore, Ichika did have some feelings for Houki Shinonono. There was an episode where he tried to kiss Houki, but the other girls stopped him so he picked her up and ran. (Ichika's true feelings toward Houki are still unknown.) Another childhood friend would be Lingying Huang but her nickname is Rin.

Because of Ichika's personality, many girls have feelings for him. From girls who knew him before he became famous (Houki, Lingyin, Ran) to when he join the IS Academy (Cecilia, Charlotte, Laura). Although, most girls are interested in him due his fame of being the only male IS pilot and the only male in the IS Academy. Most girls are often trying to get close to him (such as being his tag partner for a tourament) or appear more appealing to him (such as cooking for him).

At the end of Volume 8, Ichika started avoiding the 5 main heroines after seeing that they all have delusions about him. This embarrasses them since he still remembers what he saw and heard instead of forgeting it like they wanted.

Quotes
- Ichika to Charlotte (Episode 6) Ichika: "I'm not strong. I'm really weak. If I were strong...I'd be strong because I want to become strong. Once I'm strong, there are things I'd like to do." Laura: "Things you'd like to do?" Ichika: "There's someone I'd like to protect. I'd like to fight for that someone with all I've got." Laura: "That's completely...like that person." Ichika: "Yes...that's why I'll protect you, Laura Bodewig."'' - Laura and Ichika after their inter-class tournament (Episode 8)
 * "Charles, you need to learn to depend on others. You'll suffer if you keep being so hesitant. How about you start by depending on me?"
 * ''Laura: "Why are you trying to be strong? What makes you strong?"

Overall Franchise Role
Despite being the male protagonist and displaying genuine kindness to his family, friends, and a lot of people, Ichika Orimura is constantly mistreated cruelly by his (predominantly) possessive, mean-spirited, selfish, jealous, irresponsible, inconsiderate, ungrateful, hypocritical, unjustified, short-tempered, mentally-ill, violent, sociopathic companions to the point of being portrayed as the scapegoat/black-sheep/punching-bag of Infinite Stratos. Although the girls aren't completely evil and their reasons are regarding to his unbelievable denseness plus below-average intelligence, they can still be very unlikable due to Ichika being unfairly treated like a doormat/lightening-rod/victim from little to no reasons (especially certain times when it is not his fault or he's completely innocent).

Whenever the girls hang out with each other (whether Ichika is there or not) and there isn't anything regarding romance involved, they all treat each other as equals like one big family by satisfying all the basic conceptions of bonding, ethnics, friendship, and more. However, they'll immediately throw away those appealing concepts by once again seeing each other as enemies the moment any kind of objectives related to "winning" Ichika's heart is present. Spectators to this melancholy relationship are justified by describing it as incompetent, infuriating, unacceptable, sad, depressing, vulgar, toxic, pathetic, and much more.

Some (if not all) of their assaults toward him include the potentials of Ichika actually receiving a severe injury that could remain permanent or being brutally killed (something that the girls continuously fail to realize nor ever learn). Additionally even though Ichika is admired by many (from people at the IS Academy to the general public worldwide) and guys would generally call Ichika's position as "paradise", it should be noted that at this point anyone in Ichika's shoes would retaliate against the girls in anyway possible, remember all the horrible stuff (including pursued assassinations) they've pulled on the character, constantly question themselves if those girls are truly the person's friends, and develop PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) over time.

In the anime series, the worst of them all was throughout Season 2 Episode 8 when Ichika was pleaded by Tatenashi Sarashiki to pair up with Kanzashi Sarashiki. Upon learning about this, the 5 female protagonists immediately started to behave towards Ichika as their worst enemy to the point of acting like there was never a friendship between them to begin with. Being the dense person he is, Ichika is unaware of the main reasons regarding the girl's hostile treatment towards him recently. It's unknown if they had ever apologized to Ichika for this, but because of everything they have done before, it can be greatly assumed that they never did and just moved on like they're completely justified (which they really aren't).

Because of these, the female protagonists had received a lot of controversies by fans for their poor friendships, ruthless nature, character derailment, and neglected persona developments. In addition, the dramatic decline in the comprehensive ratings of both seasons is also due to the series focusing too much on harem conflicts, cosntantly displaying Ichika's irritable denseness, and having so much unused potentials that could've been explored more such as matriarchy, designation of workers by collar color, and rising social/political movements for gender equality. Through those perceptions, it can be theorized that Ichika's incessant abusement portrays how males are generally treated in school, public, and work (discrimination, segregation, ignorance, hate-crime, violation of human rights, etc.) nowadays as a result of the Infinite Stratos, which (realistically) should've triggered a series of widespread protests/riots. This overall concept of a global dystopia is presented and elaborated in the fan-fiction Perseus by MAC A10N50.

The artworks in the gallery were uploaded by ShegoXP in DeviantArt.

They each received immense praises for depicting the IS Girls' immoral status.

Alongside with reddit posts questioning the numerous attempts of killing Ichika and youtube videos criticizing Season 1 and Season 2, this had furthermore lead to the creation of various fictitious stories. Houki, Cecilia, Rin, Charlotte, and Laura all serve as the main antagonists in all these anecdotes.

Fanfictions


 * Singularity (By: MKM2K) - Ichika Orimura. The human black hole for his sheer density. However, everything has there limits. Ichika has reached it. Tired of the antics of his classmates. He struggles on what to do. Will he rise and stand up for himself? Or will he collapse under the pressure? Minor Love Hina crossover
 * The Final Straw (By: dardanellia) - Ichika gets almost killed by jealous Rin. After this, Ichika decides that it's finally time for him to leave the IS Academy for good. However, two girls accompany him on this new journey.
 * NOTE: This fanficiton serves as a "what-if scenario" regarding what will happen had Laura Bodewig failed to protect Ichika from Lingyin Huang's (Rin's) deadly attack from Season 1, Episode 8.
 * IS and Sekirei: Brave New World Second Season (By: Kerlongsj Evert Orlejov) - Request fic. Minato believed that when the Sekirei plan came to an end, his troubles would be over and his life could finally begin. Turns out, the world moves on, boy. Best you do too. His past, among others, is catching up to him and he has to look out for an old friend. Ichika Orimura didn't ask to be sent into an insane school and his single lifeline is an old friend.
 * NOTE: Ichika serves as a deuteragonist in this one.
 * Star Wars: The Jedi Stratos (By: HootersBoy123) - Caleo is one of Luke students during the reign of a New Jedi Order. Taking place in the year 12 ABY, Luke Skywalker sends Jedi Knight Caleo Trinjim to find new people who can use and have connection to the Force. He arrives in an undiscovered planet called Earth where he finds that majority of the people he will met are complete absence of the force, but one boy isn't.
 * List of Oneshots: Chapter 25 (By: yugiohfan163) - What if Ichika snapped after the girls kept going with their actions?

Wattpads


 * Ichika Snaps (By: Creeperleap) - After much abuse and no comfort, Ichika finally snaps and the Byakushiki tries to find him a new home. Can Chifuyu and the girls fix the broken and link?
 * Ichika Snaps 2# (By: Creeperleap) - After much abuse and no comfort, Ichika finally snaps and tries to flee the academy. Can Chifuyu and the girls fix the broken and link? There will be two scenarios, one where the girls can subdue him in his attempt to leave, and another where he gets away and an old friend tries to fix the damage.
 * Suffering (A Infinite Stratos/Persona fanfic) (By: TheFoolAngel) - What happens when Ichika Orimura can't handle the constant teasing and hitting from any females? He never did anything wrong...so why?   After all this time, from him connecting to an IS, he had enough. Enough is enough. he won't be tied down to anyone including his older sister.   The only thing he experienced at IS Academy was suffering.   "So long, IS Academy. I am no longer tied down to this forbidden school. I'll find my own path."  I don't own anything except the story line!!!  [Will be a full story in the near future].
 * Infinite Stratos: Spiral to Nowhere (By: BizarreFishface1959) - Ichika Orimura, after holding in the various accounts of assault done by his harem, decides to run away. In his journey, he encounters various people. Some may help him, some may not. What bizarre situations will he get himself into? What bizarre phenomenons will happen?

Overall, they are all about Ichika (in a more realistic scenario) finally standing up to the girls, including his own sister (who also has a couple of flaws regarding Ichika's abusement), and permanently changing his relationship with all of them.

Regardless, Charlotte Dunois received the most praise by everyone for having a personality that doesn't involve being 'Tsundere', being the most tolerable out of all the girls, and prioritizing in making Ichika happy. In fact most noticeably during the Cinderella play (Season 2 Episode 3), Charlotte decided to protect Ichika from the other crazy girls (Houki, Cecilia, Rin, Laura, and IS Students participating) instead of immediately attacking him (despite the fact that she's after the crown too). While it should still be acknowledged that Charlotte does act irrational and resentful (like the other girls) towards Ichika sometimes, many fans legitimately speculate that she'll end up winning his affection.

Trivia

 * Ichika's name in kanji means one (Ichi, 一) summer (ka, 夏), while his family name Orimura (織斑) means molted weave. His name can be seen as being the opposite of his older sister name: Chi means thousand (opposite of one) and fuyu means winter (opposite of summer). Likewise, it matches his position (only male IS pilot and student at the IS Academy) and warm personality
 * Ichika's IS unit name, "Byakushiki" (meaning "White Expressions" or "White Type") seems to come from the variation of Gunpla's Hyakushiki. The wings that spread after its recognization during episode 2 has the same concept as the ZGMF-X10A Freedom/ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom, or ZGMF-X42S Destiny.
 * While most of the harem girls are foreigners (except for Houki and Kanzashi, who holds the role of the Japanese bishoujo), he is designed as an average Japanese male. Despite this fact, he is considered as an attractive harem lead by many female fans.
 * Byakushiki's IS core is IS Core #001, which is the same core used by Shirokishi, the 1st generation IS, also known as White Knight.
 * Ichika's seiyu has dubbed Banagher Links from Gundam Unicorn. Ichika's beam saber pose action is similar to the Unicorn's beam saber pose while it's in NT-D mode.
 * The Byakushiki's 2nd shift is very similiar to the ZGMF-X42S Destiny in that its main weapons are similar: a high-energy beam sword, hand energy weapon which resembles the Palm Cannon, an energy shield and a high particle beam cannon.
 * Although Ichika is a personal IS user, he is not a IS Representative Candidate, because of him being the only male, thus spawning debate at the UN as to whether he is allowed to take part in certain operations and be given the status of a representative candidate.
 * He is largely oblivious towards the feelings held by the women surrounding him, even when those said girls can recognize each other's feelings for him right away. However, he seems to acknowledge Houki's feelings at certain times, possibly harboring love for Houki also.
 * Out of all the heroines, he has never had a fight with Charlotte in an IS battle, only a duel.
 * Ichika has a similar appearance to Shinn Asuka from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY.
 * Ichika's Byakushiki and Shinn's ZGMF-X42S DESTINY Gundam are also very similar. Both of them always use a long sword as their main weapon.
 * in an inconsistency in the anime production, within episode 2, after a short commercial break, Ichika was seen wearing the school uniform then immediately after a camera pan in Chifuyu and Maya's place, he was now seen wearing an IS suit.
 * The reason why Ichika stopped practicing kendo is because he needs to attend a part time job.
 * Ichika is usually blame for everything by the other girls and his older sister, even when he didn't do or say anything. This usually lead him to have to buy them something or go out with them.
 * Many of Ichika's friends have compare his personality to that of an old man.
 * He has a similar appearance to Ryotaro Nogami, but his hair were custom version of Yuuta Togashi's hair.