KaminaKai

*Fan-service aside, this anime did a great job at adapting the manga material.* It breaks my heart to see such horrible overall ratings and reviews on this anime that, for all intents and purposes, was fairly accurate and stayed faithful to the manga if one were to ignore the anime original contents (eg. mostly fan service and one useless episode). While it is fair to say there are multiple flaws in the anime series that could have been improved on (or unnecessary contents that could have been done without), the anime as a whole has served itself quite nicely considering it is only a one-courseries. Covering nearly 60% of the available manga materials at the time the anime finished airing, there really isn’t any way for the production staffs to wrap up the story without ruining any chances for a second season. For the record, the manga material is only two measly arcs ahead of where the anime finished at the time this review was written and the actual plot did not proceed very far. I fully understand the complexity the anime brings to the new viewers who have no background knowledge from the manga. Numerous terminologies coupled with even more numerous unfamiliar faces does prove to be quite difficult for one to digest at first. Additionally the anime added tons and tons of boobs and nipples sprinkled everywhere in the show from the dormitory room change scenes to intense battles scenes. In short, there are bound to be boobies for the unprepared! Thus this served as another excuse for viewers (even loyal manga readers) to detest and despise the show. Even I have to admit it would have been better if the staffs can use those boobies air time to produce something more constructive like elaborating on certain flashback stories or further develop some characters and their personality or background. So let this be a fair warning to all you potential viewers, only watch this show IF you can stomach the fan services and accept the fact that the story is a work in progress!! With that said, let us finally turn our attention to introducing this anime for those of us who are still interested. Set in the near future, roughly 50 years from now, the world we know today has already been invaded by an alien race known as Nova. Normal military is powerless in the face of this new threat and thus the world can only rely on girls with special tissues implanted into their backs (called Stigmata) to fight these unknown aliens. These girls, known to the outside world as Pandora, fight in pairs with a younger boy, in order to neutralize a special effect cast by the aliens (called Freezing which freezes anything within the cast radius). Now don’t quickly jump to conclusion just yet. While this may sound like a military action genre to you, the story in actuality takes place in an academy where Pandora are being trained. Following the school life of a second year sophomore, Satellizer el Bridget, the story introduces the problems and threats of the reality very (and I mean very) slowly to the point where one may end up asking more questions than there are answers to. Thus to be fair, I would categorize the anime as ecchi, school life, romance with a fair bit of action, but nothing dramatic nor is it deep in plot (though the manga is getting there). Without a doubt, the story department is the weakest one of all as all the emphasis so far is placed on the characters interaction. Characters. Many many lovable girls with great looks and even better body proportions, albeit with a nasty attitude. Yes! This is certainly not for the average female viewers! In fact, the anime was never meant for the female audiences as evident from the trailers and even more evident as the series progress with all the boobie attacks on the screen. With that said, the one major downside in the character department for this show is the fact that there are too many girls with not enough time to introduce them properly. It will come as no surprise that you will likely be introduced to a new character in each episode and that the old ones will be brushed aside until close to the finale. On the bright side, our main hero and heroine does have their own lengthy flashbacks and character development for us to “know them better”. As a manga reader, seeing this series get animated with voice was wonderful. Unfortunately it was not quite to my level of expectation in a few ways. Firstly and perhaps the most obvious is the fact that the broadcast of the uncensored version is at a horrendous 4:3 aspect ratio (and please don’t bother with the censored version, you won’t understand a single thing). Though it remains a mystery as to why the opening and ending animation are in 16:9. The second disappointment, coming from a manga reader perspective, is the altered character looks which may or may not discourage some readers, but it was a disappointment nonetheless. Lastly, and this I am sure is a common sentiment among all viewers, is the miscast voice acting role for Aoi Kazuya. This voice will surely cause some damage to your eardrums. However, other than that one miscast role, it is fair to say this anime has a lot of strong seiyu in the cast. Additionally, both the opening and ending them songs are extremely catchy and are few received by fans in general. Overall I have mixed feelings for this anime. It was a pleasant surprise when the news that Freezing manga was to be animated. While the fan service ruined some enjoyment of the show for me, I must confess that in the short one-cour time frame I am quite impressed by the production studio with the amount of manga content they were able to include in the series. Most notably the inclusion of certain subplots that really makes certain characters much more realistic and likable. Staying faithful to the original material and introducing some anime-original contents as enhancements to the overall story made me very pleased particularly with the fact that the production studio did not opt for an anime original ending. With that said, I still cannot recommend this series to those who does not enjoy watching ecchi series as this show clearly relies on boobies as its major selling point. However, if the premise of the story does intrigue you then I highly recommend giving the manga a try. Afterall Dall-Young Lim’s manga are quite well received in Korea, Japan, and even Taiwan.

Skadi

I freely admit that I have a guilty pleasure when it comes to silly ecchi action anime just like Freezing. So initially at least I was quite intrigued with this series and for the first few episodes I was amused. However that amusement soon waned as it was buried under it's dozens of characters, inane nonsensical plot, and confusing terminology and technobabble. The premise for Freezing seems like it might have had an enormous amount of potential. Mysterious entities called Nova are invading earth intent on wiping out mankind. All that stands in their way are special soldiers known as Pandora andtheir Limiter partners. Our setting is a school/laboratory called West Genetics which trains future Pandora and their Limiters. This is where that potential I was speaking of starts to get lost. The Pandora are all, unsurprisingly all big breasted girls (hey this is anime after all!) and the Limiters are all guys. Given that the Limiters are timid, weak, and mostly useless this is unsurprising and the only thing they really do is hide behind the skirts of the Pandora and yell "Freezing!" and other clichéd nonsense. The girls on the other hand are violent and uncouth and spend most of their free time trying to kill one another or bully their underclassmen. Now since I have not read any of the original manga I can’t speak to how well this anime adapts its story. Even if the manga has an amazing story (which I doubt honestly) it is completely lost in its transition to an anime. Really nothing is adequately explained from what the Pandora are to what the enemy is or why or how they are even ended fighting. Eventually by the end you do get some explanation and can make some conclusions from the action and context but this is a piss poor way to present a story to your viewers. Additionally for pretty much two thirds of the series nothing of significance to the plot happens. We get introduced to the lead, Satellizer el Bridget, learn a few snippets from her past, watch her take ALOT of showers, and get groped and bullied by the cunts and bitches she has as classmates and seniors. And for about the first eight episodes that’s just about all that goes on. What story there is remains unresolved with the ending. Though it leaves the viewer with the impression that at least one additional season should be expected. This kind of series always seems to get a sequel if it wants one so it’s really hard to hold the ending against it. For a series that is at its core about fighting, the overall action is a bit disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of fighting but the majority of it is crammed into the last few episodes. Most of the early fighting is uninteresting and more about tearing apart the girls’ flimsy school uniforms to expose their breasts. If you enjoy exposed nipples and breasts then the world of Freezing should be like heaven to you. Like most fighting anime, the characters yell out lots of nonsense. With Freezing most of it is mindless technobabble and engrish and little to none of it is ever explained. While you can get the meaning from some of it through context it sure would be nice for the story to explain this to you once in a while. Like the story the characters are also a major weakness. Neither one of our leads, Satellizer or the boy Kazuya are very interesting. Kazuya is your typically weak and unremarkable anime boy with powers (unsurprisingly) far beyond your typical Limiter. He has a special attraction to Satellizer that is both mysterious and due to the fact she reminds him of his dead sister. I know shocking that someone should have a sister complex in anime right? (Pardon my eye rolling) Satellizer, known in the school as the "Untouchable Queen" is a girl of dual personalities. Her external persona is that of a cold and ruthless killer while her true personality is that of a meek and mild mannered girl with a fear of men. Other than learning every inch of naked body through her regular trips to the shower or having her uniform torn off in all her battles we don’t learn all that much about her. What is learned fits into the narrow stereotype her character has its basis in. The supporting cast is no different. I seem to beat this point to death in an awful lot of the shows I review but the main issue with Freezing's cast is the sheer number of characters in the cast. It is literally impossible to keep track of all the characters. They bring in 2 or 3 a week, many of which looks almost identical to each other. Their main purpose seems to be only to bully Satellizer who for some reason seems to really butt hurt them. Even so, you’re likely to have at least a couple that amuse or even interest you just a little bit. For me it was Rana Linchen who is a quasi-main but whose personality I enjoyed as well as having a pretty sexy character design. Artistically, Freezing is also weak. For one the character models are absolutely ridiculous in most cases. While I do like the "full figured" look, the extreme and impossible bust and waistlines really detract from the series. Given how much tits and nipples are visible they really should have done a better job with this. Everyone's figures are pretty much interchangeable and the actual animation of all the "jiggle" is really not that realistic or even appealing. The color palette is very drab and depressing, with maroons, dark blues, grays, and blacks dominating the series. The world is also incredibly dark and depressing. While I am certain this is by design that doesn't explain why there is basically no sunlight at all and while they seem to be stuck in a world of eternal midnight. Freezing's voice cast is quite impressive as it seems to include almost every current seiyuu of note. However this is a double edged sword as the reason it has so many is because the cast is so enormous. Because of this none of the actors really gets a chance to shine. Additionally Satellizer is horrible miscast with Mamiko Noto. While I really enjoy her work and also seeing her portray a bit of a different character than she normally does (though also exactly the same) I just don't think her voice works for her character. The music is solid but unspectacular action anime fair. The OP is particularly exciting but also really drives home how ridiculous, Satellizer's in particular, chest measurements are. Even though I never really had any high expectations for it, ultimately Freezing is a failure. I was hoping it would entertain me somewhere between other anime it has a lot in common with such as Seikirei and Ikkitousen. But its lack of a coherent story, bland characters, and unappealing visuals make me unable to recommend this to anyone.