Ichika Orimura

Ichika Orimura is the main character of the anime Infinite Stratos. He is an academy student at the Infinite Stratos Academy. Ichika is one of the only males who can operate the Infinite Stratos arms system and as such seen as a one of a kind. Ichika seeks to prove himself as a skilled Infinite Stratos operator to improve himself as he views himself as otherwise weak and unimportant.

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:

Personality
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).

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).

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.

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 Cecilia'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.

Setting
The Infinite Stratos were advanced exoskeletons created by Japan as weapons. The devices are extremely powerful full-body technological interfaces that act as powerful weapons. Infinite Stratos are so powerful thy dwarf all other known weapons systems and the United Nations had to impose the "Alaska Treaty" a pact between the world nations to supply the device to all countries to assure the systems could never be abused for war with the mutual assurance of destruction to all sides. Infinite Stratos have fundamental operating limitation though, they can only be interfaced with by females. In addition to shifting the nature of war and national competition the Infinite Stratos created a major social change around the world giving females a distinct societal edge over males as part of the new age.

Background
Ichika Orimura is the brother of Chifuyu Orimura, a prodegy IS operator. Chifuyu raised her brother after their parents abandon them. Ichikia was kidnapped by the IS pirate force Phantom Task while Chifuyu was in the midst of the prestigious Mondo Grosso tournament. Chifuyu had to forfeit her place to save her brother. Ever since the ordeal Ichika has seen himself as weak and a burden to his sister. Ichika is the only known male who can operate the IS system and in order to prove himself and make up to Chifuyu for his folding her back, Ichika has enrolled at the Infinte Stratos academy to become a professional.

Because of the interface limitation Ichika is naturally the only male student. He tends to be awkward and seemingly oblivious around girls. He is tolerated by the teachers because of his bizarre ability to use IS, but his station as the sole male causes him a variety of social and romantic complications from his fellow students.

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).

Byakushiki (白式?, lit. Type "White") is a 3.5 - 4th Generation Close Range Combat Type developed by Kuromochi Machinery Development and is used by Ichika Orimura. It contains the very first IS core ever made, Core Number 001. Its basic armaments are.

1. The Yukihira Type 2

2. Fold-Out Armor

Byakushik's special abilities

1. Ignition Boost

2. Reiraku Byakuya

3. Barrier Void Attack

2nd Shift, Armaments and Abilities
Ichika's Byakushiki under goes a transformation where it's armor changes and becomes much more powerful. Bayushiki's 2nd shift form is called Bayushiki Setsura, Its armaments are,
 * 1) A large caliber charged particle cannon
 * 2) An energy claw for CQC
 * 3) An energy shield with One Off attribute