Magical schoolgirl figures Internet Explorer's foray into anime

Meet Inori Aizawa, a young girl with magical powers who is ready to save the Internet from the forces of evil—and other browsers too, apparently.

 

Inori is the new mascot for Microsoft’s “fast, fluid” Internet Explorer 11. Created by Microsoft Singapore, the energetic, manga-styled tech-heroine is featured in this action-packed “Special Video”. Taking a cue from various anime belonging to the mahou shoujo (“magical girl”) sub-genre, Inori is seen transforming Sailor Moon-style into a super-powered schoolgirl, complete with a Windows-themed uniform.

 

 

OS-Tan

 

Inori was partially inspired by the popular OS-Tan Internet phenomenon. The meme depicts operating systems (most notably the various versions of Windows) personified as young girls, illustrated in a manga-influenced style. The video even acknowledges this at the 2:02 mark, advertising the new Internet Explorer website as “www.InternetExplorerTan.com”.

 

Big eyes and colorful getup notwithstanding, Inori is by and large a product of Microsoft’s attempts to put the past behind it and keep up with the times.

 

The company is no stranger to using anime-styled characters as mascots for its products, with Silverlight’s Hikaru Aizawa and Windows 7’s Madobe Nanami as examples.

 

Microsoft also based its marketing strategy for the previous version of Internet Explorer, IE 10, on the browser’s negative reputation—a fixture on the Internet that the Redmond giant is seeking to dislodge with IE 11.

 

“The concept that we wanted to go for with our IE-tan was ‘redemption’,” says KC Komicer of Collateral Damage Studios, the creative talents responsible for Inori’s design. According to the artist, the previous versions of IE were like “a clumsy girl who tries to do too much. She is klutzy, nerdy (like Bill Gates)[…] someone that everyone would love to bully.”

 

Design elements were incorporated into the mascot to reflect IE’s “transformation” from an “ugly duckling” that was “constantly trying to handle too much and unable to cope” to a slick and “confident” browser that could hold its own against more popular competitors like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera.

 

Even the mascot’s name had a considerable amount of thought put into it. “‘Aizawa’ because she comes from the same Microsoft mascot family as Silverlight,” explains the artist. “‘Inori’ because given what she represents, she could definitely use a prayer.

 

Enhanced performance and security

 

User reviews indicate that IE does exhibit faster performance and improved functionality. It also introduces a few innovations that aren’t found in other browsers, such as the ability to pre-render pages, improved scaling for high-resolution screens, and enhanced Windows integration.

 

In terms of anti-malware security, researchers at the PacSec Applied Security Conference in Tokyo attested that IE 11 is quite challenging to hack due to its improved security controls and protection features.

 

However, users have branded its exclusive compatibility with Windows 7 and 8.1 as a disadvantage for the browser. — TJD, GMA News