History Anime / StrainStrategicArmoredInfantry

* AcePilot: Ralph is considered the best Reasoner in the Union, having taken down ten warships singlehandedly and being the youngest Reasoner to be granted a Gloire model at just 18. He's just as competent if not more so when he's older and on the Deague side, albeit hampered by the fuel and repair issues that come with siding with an army that doesn't use Strains.

* AloofBigBrother: Ralph is quite aloof towards his little sister Sarah, especially after his betrayal.

* BrokenPedestal: Ralph was Sara's inspiration, up until he slaughtered her classmates.

* CainAndAbel: Ralph as the evil older brother and Sara as the good younger sister.

* CharClone: The show's been called "''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Gundam]]'' starring Sayla". Ralph himself looks '''exactly''' like [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Zechs Merquise]] (plus a scar), who's viewed as the most blatant CharClone in ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}''.

* CurbStompBattle: Ralph dominates any fight that he participates in, save for the FinalBattle.

* DefectorFromDecadence: Ralph was a celebrated war hero, but defected when [[spoiler:he discovered the horrifying research that led to Strains and the war crimes he was being instructed to do to cover it up]].

* DyingAsYourself: [[spoiler:Ralph, as crazy as he was, gets a moment to recognize his sister and entrust her with Emily's care just before he dies.]]

* EvilCounterpart: Ralph, like Sara, [[spoiler:loses everything and discovers the AwfulTruth about the Union]], but Ralph turns against them [[spoiler:and humanity in general]], whereas Sara stays loyal and fights to prevent any more death.

* FaceHeelTurn: Ralph in the backstory, setting up for the rest of the show.

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: [[spoiler: Happens to Ralph, when he discovers that an "unmanned" robot he was fighting turns out to have what looks like a little girl inside. She then reveals how the girls share all their thoughts and memories with each other over vast distances, and gives him the same feelings. Which then causes an immense guilt trip when he discovers the Union performed hideous secret experiments on the little girls, effectively torturing their entire species.]]
* GoodScarsEvilScars: Ralph has an Evil Scar over his eye.

* TheHeavy: The two villains are Ralph Werec, the protagonist's [[BrokenPedestal once-idolized]] [[CainAndAbel brother]] and the [[AcePilot best pilot either side of the war has ever had]], and Vivian Medlock, the immediate superior he's got around his finger. Ralph is clearly Medlock's {{Dragon}} for much of the series, but he, not her, is always presented as the main antagonist. [[spoiler:Ralph ultimately leads the FinalBattle, while Medlock [[AlasPoorVillain gets screwed over]].]]

* HiddenAgendaVillain: Ralph hides his true intentions from the rest of Deague, and the Union can only guess at why he defected.

* MisanthropeSupreme: Ralph Werec despises humanity [[spoiler:for what they did to Emily. He defects to Deague in order to kill as many Union soldiers as he can as well as retrieve any survivors of Emily's race, but actually wants to turn on Deague and kill them all too]].

* MotiveDecay: Ralph's insanity makes him go from "make things right" to "make the Union pay" to "kill all the humans ever".

* PsychoSupporter: Ralph to Vivian. [[spoiler:Although not entirely: he is insane, and he does hate the Union, but he also hates Deague and all other humans. He's just pretending to support Deague because it's convenient for him.]]

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The captain 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.

* SexGod: Heavily implied to be the case with [[TheAce Ralph]] and it's how he manipulates Medlock, who, despite usually being a [[TheBaroness cold and domineering woman]], [[AggressiveSubmissive turns into putty whenever he starts getting intimate with her]].

* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:Ralph seems to suffer one after Emily refuses to go with him because she didn't want him going on another killing spree.]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: Ralph feels what humans did to the little girls is unforgivable, and will stop at nothing to wipe them out. Hence his FaceHeelTurn.]]

* TheWrongRightThing: [[spoiler:The dying first Emily whom Ralph meets shares what the Union did to her species and opens a Baxter Gate to send him back to the past to try to right things. Unfortunately, showing him the truth breaks him and he becomes omnicidal.]]

* GirlInABox: The doll Emily is a Doll in a Store Room and the living Emily is a Girl in a Stasis Pod, each taken in by one of the Werec siblings. [[spoiler:A third Emily is a Girl in a Mech found in much the same way. She doesn't survive.]]

* LipstickLesbian: Lavinia is attracted to girls and is one of the [[TheChick most traditional females]] in the cast.

* {{Expy}}: Vivian Medlock and Ralph Werec are essentially [[Anime/SpeedGrapher Shinzen Tennozu and Chouji Suitengu]] in space. Both are a [[UnholyMatrimony villainous couple]], with the sultry, domineering woman serving as the BigBad and the tall, [[WhiteHairBlackHeart white-haired]] man serving as TheDragon whom the show [[DragonInChief focuses much more on]]; who are shown about to make love multiple times, [[spoiler:until the man betrays and kills the woman, then reveals himself as the ''[[TheManInFrontOfTheMan real]]'' villain -- except he ''then'' reveals that he is a WellIntentionedExtremist and [[GoodAllAlong has good reasons]] to do what he is doing, and a sympathetic backstory as well]]. The main differences are that [[spoiler:Ralph ''isn't'' portrayed as ultimately being in the right, and ''doesn't'' win in the end]].

%%Doesn't explain what the reaction is.* Berserk Button: Lottie's gets pressed accidentally by Sara at the end of episode 8 when [[spoiler:she hears Sara calling Ralph her brother]].

* BerserkButton: Lottie's gets pressed accidentally by Sara at the end of episode 8 when [[spoiler:she hears Sara calling Ralph her brother]].

* BreatherEpisode: Episode 6, in which the crew holds a party, and episode 7, in which the {{Fanservice}} is turned UpToEleven as [[MsFanservice Lavina]] attempts to seduce Sara.

* TheCheerleader: The Gambee pilots act like this towards Sara, which progressively gets worse when the Strain pilots try to befriend her and when she gets Ram-Dass. [[spoiler:Comes to a head after Isabella is killed in battle, at which point Mariette lures Sara to an isolated portion of the ship and starts harassing her, before she starts actually beating Sara up. However, at about the point where she goes for a large lead pipe, the Reasoners intervene.]]

* AdaptationalNonsapience: This is an [[LikeThatShowButWithMecha 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.

* {{Expy}}: Vivian Medlock and Ralph Werec are essentially [[Anime/SpeedGrapher Shinzen Tennozu and Chouji Suitengu]] RecycledInSpace. Both are a [[UnholyMatrimony villainous couple]], with the sultry, domineering woman serving as the BigBad and the tall, [[WhiteHairBlackHeart white-haired]] man serving as TheDragon whom the show [[DragonInChief focuses much more on]]; who are shown about to make love multiple times, [[spoiler:until the man betrays and kills the woman, then reveals himself as the ''[[TheManInFrontOfTheMan real]]'' villain -- except he ''then'' reveals that he is a WellIntentionedExtremist and [[GoodAllAlong has good reasons]] to do what he is doing, and a sympathetic backstory as well]]. The main differences are that [[spoiler:Ralph ''isn't'' portrayed as ultimately being in the right, and ''doesn't'' win in the end]].

* LikeThatShowButWithMecha: It's based on ''Literature/ALittlePrincess''.

* HairColors: Blue, maroon, pink, and purple. Ralph's white appears to be caused by trauma, since his natural hair colour is blond.

* TokenYuriGirls: Lavinia and Jessie. They never do get together in the end, or at least it's left open-ended, despite having a ''very'' close encounter due to a misunderstanding. Which is rather strange, since Jessie seemed very responsive, yet she [[ResetButton never brings up the incident again afterward]].

* SpiritualSuccessor: Shares many themes with ''Anime/{{Gunbuster}}'', such as sub-lightspeed TimeDilation, a RomanticTwoGirlFriendship [[spoiler:with a side of [[CartwrightCurse killing off male love interests]]]], and lost family.

* RomanticTwoGirlFriendship: 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.

* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: While some stuff is on the soft side of this scale, other aspects border on the harder parts, such as when they travel in close to lightspeed, they age slower than people in normal time. In one episode, an instructor mentions that four days have passed for them, while back on their home planet, a month has passed. Sara also took five years of relative time to get from Glabella to Basion without aging a day, since the attack occurred in 7008 and the show takes place in 7012. Also, when they reach Gall, Carris meets his little brother, who is actually physically older than him due to the amount of time Carris spent at relativistic speeds. [[spoiler:A quick glance at the displays in Sara's STRAIN shows that her final sublight battle with Ralph took ''over 100 years'' of relative time, supported by her friends wearing full military (as opposed to cadet) uniforms when they come to rescue her in TheStinger.]]

* AlmostKiss: Interrupted once by an enemy attack and once by a phone call. [[spoiler:Both are immediately followed by [[StuffedIntoTheFridge the death of one of the would-be participants]].]]

* SchoolgirlLesbians: Lavinia and Jessie at least, and possibly Martha and Ermy too.

* UnfortunateNames: Sara's Strain is actually named Ram-Dass. Yeah, it's a literary allusion, but ''seriously?''

* {{Hypocrite}}: Isabella calls Sara out 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).]]

* WhatTheHellHero: Mariette and her posse in episode 5. At first they're extremely angry at Sara somehow being responsible for 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.]]

''Soukou no Strain'' -- the English language localization release is stylized as ''Str.A.In.: Strategic Armored Infantry'', is a 2006 {{Mecha}} {{Anime}} series by Happinet and Creator/StudioFantasia.

!!Tropes:

* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[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.]]

* GirlPosse: The Gambee pilots at Basion bully Sara relentlessly when she's in their division and even for some time after she transfers, considering her gloomy, antisocial behaviour "creepy" and berating her for not following 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).

* NotSoDifferent: [[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".

* {{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 [[spoiler:punish humanity for this]].

* BarbieDollAnatomy: Played straight early on, subverted when Lavinia strips naked [[ShowerOfLove to join Sara in the showers]] in episode 7.

* GenreShift: It ''seems'' to be a shoujo-ish mecha series, odd as that may sound ([[Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne or maybe not]]). Then [[WhamEpisode everyone's dead]].

* GirlPosse: The Gambee pilots at Basion.

* GrailInTheGarbage: Sara finds the doll Emily in what looks like a scrap junkyard portion of the ship. She immediately grows attached to it.

* MidSeasonUpgrade: Sara's mimic and Strain mech is destroyed in the first episode, but she gets replacements in episode 4, which are much tougher.
* MisanthropeSupreme: Ralph Werec despises humanity [[spoiler:for what they did to Emily. He defects to Deague in order to kill as many Union soldiers as he can, but actually wants to turn on Deague and kill them all too]].

* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: While some stuff is on the soft side of this scale, other aspects border on the harder parts, such as when they travel in close to lightspeed, they age slower than people in normal time. In one episode, an instructor mentions that four days have passed for them, while back on their home planet, a month has passed. Also, when they reach Gala, Carris mentions having a little brother, who is actually physically older than him due to the amount of time Carris spent in at relativistic speeds. [[spoiler:A quick glance at the displays in Sarah's STRAIN shows that her final sublight battle with Ralph took ''five years'' of relative time, supported by her friends wearing full military (as opposed to cadet) uniforms when they come to rescue her in TheStinger.]]

* MoralityPet: The living Emily. [[spoiler:It doesn't work.]]

* NewTransferStudent: Sara at the acadamy in episode 2.

* PreExplosionGlow: Lots of things blow up in this series, and usually with the same lighting up before blowing up in an orange all.

* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: in its truest sense, the Emilys, Melchisedec and Carmichael; due to sub-lightspeed travel, just about everybody.

* SnowMeansLove: On Sara and Lottie's home planet, snow means brother-sister love.

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 Sera is left alive.]]

* AcePilot: Ralph is considered the best Reasoner in the Union, having taken down ten warships singlehandedly and being the youngest Reasoner to be granted a Gloire model at just 18. He's just as competent if not more so on the Deague side, albeit hampered by the fuel and repair issues that come with siding with an army that doesn't use Strains.

* AcePilot: Ralph is considered the best Reasoner in the Galactic Union.

* 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]].

* ChekhovsGun: In episode 2, Sara walks by the cloaked Ram-Dass before she finds Emily,