Houki Shinonono

Houki Shinonono is the main female protagonist of Infinite Stratos. She is a first year student at the IS academy and has been friends with Ichika since they were kids though they have not seen each other for six years. She has a very long ponytail. Her place of resident is home to a kendo dojo and she has been interested in kendo since she was young. Houki even competes in kendo competitions at a national level and was the winner of the national tournament that was hosted one year before the story of Infinite Stratos began. She is part of the kendo club at the IS academy. Houki harbors feelings for Ichika. She pilots the Akatsubaki IS.

She is voiced by Yoko Hikasa in the Japanese version of the anime and Monica Rial in the English version, the former of whom also voices Rias Gremory and Seraphim.

Appearance
Houki's appearance is a young teenage girl with long black hair and a green base ribbon with black stripes tied around her hair as a ponytail (later white base and red stripes in episode 12), and parted at her forehead, she has dark blue eyes, and usually wears her IS Academy uniform with high stockings that creates a Zettai Ryouiki. She is also seen wearing a kendo uniform. At first her IS training uniform matched the standard one that all other female students used but after gaining Akatsubaki she changes to one that is dominantly white with a black neckline and black edges on the legs.

In the light novel, it states that she is very well-endowed, as she was once complaining about the size of her breasts being too big, only to think to herself that maybe Ichika likes that. Tabane also comments on her growth in that area before getting hit on the head with a bokken.

Personality
Having been raised in a shrine, her personality is of discipline and temperateness. As such, she had a hard time socializing with other kids (other boys made fun of her for being boyish) so she had virtually no friends (until she went to the IS Academy), except for Ichika who thought of her as a cute girl and helped her out by chasing those boys away whenever she was being mocked. She also has some serious emotional problem, not being able to suppress her temper and often resorting to violence. Although she has been training kendo (which emphasize obtaining self-control as with most other form of martial arts) she is somewhat emotionally unstable, often resorting to be controlled by her own strength rather than controlling it herself, especially when she gains a new power. Therefore she has an admiration toward Ichika who shows steadfast sense of what's right and wrong, regardless of his strength (which goes through a drastic change).

As Ichika say "  She's pure evil ." sometimes. This is because she's too prideful and stubborn to agree with others. Ichika even note that this has lead her to make mistakes and self-destructive behaviour as a result. She has very little cofidence in her looks and feminine. She always feel uncomfortable when she has to wearing revealing and/or feminine chothes like dresses(a fact she's well aware of). She also become quite shy when Ichika looks at her or compliment her on it (once even thinking she was dreaming after Ichika called her pretty).

History
Prior to the start of the main series, she was a childhood friend of Ichika. Her place of residence is home to a kendo dojo and she has been interested in kendo since she was young. Houki even competes in kendo competitions at a national level and was the winner of the national tournament that was hosted one year before the story of Infinite Stratos began. Her older sister, Tabane, is the creator of the IS yet Houki hates her because six years ago, Ichika agreed to become her boyfriend if she could win the national kendo tournament of their grade. However, the day of the tournament was also the day the IS were introduced to the world. Because of their links to Tabane, Houki's family was placed under government protection and Houki was forced to withdraw from the kendo tournament. Since that incident, Houki has hated her sister for moving her away from the boy she loves and abandoning their family.

2nd Shift, Armaments and Abilities
She is particularly skilled in the art of Kendo, having won the national tournament a year prior to the story. Her fighting style is decidedly offensive, as in the past she has always won her competitions with pure power, and she had issues defending against  during the Grade Level Tournament.

Akatsubaki (紅椿?, lit. Red Camellia), is a 4th-Gen personal IS specially designed for Houki Shinonono by her older sister and IS creator Tabane Shinonono, built from the experiment data resulting from modification of Byakushiki its Armaments include,

1. Foot Blade

2. Twin Katanas

3. Amatsuki Right Katana

4. Karaware Left Katana The One Off Ability:
 * 1) 2 blade bits that detach from the wings of Akatsubaki for aerial combat after the activation of the Fold-Out Armor

1. Kenran Buto Energy Recovery

2 Thousand Pierces Crossbow