So I was going over my MAL list yesterday and dumping some titles I’ll probably never watch, and it got me thinking about shows from the last couple seasons that I heard about, but didn’t fold into my active watch list for the season. One from Winter 2010-2011 was Freezing and I have to admit, I actually dig this series enough that had it been on the active roster, it would have been Top 5 and maybe even Top 3.
It’s a pretty simple story and setup really, in fact if you took the main female lead from LadiesXButlers, changed her name, and gave her one hell of a large blade, that’d be your start. Take some other characters from the same show and give them crazy weapons and retain the “heartless bitch” you’re getting there. That’s not all though, mix in the plots of Evangelion, Ikkitousen, Mai HiME/Mai OtoME, Shinkon Gattai Godannar, and fanservice ala Queen’s Blade (seriously, clothing around their tits, always the first to go) and you have the potential recipe for real awesome. Fortunately, if you like all of these things, you’re in real luck with Freezing.
In a world constantly under invasion by alien beings known as “The Nova”, the military utilize a form of technology known as “Stigmata”, modified tissue embedded into female bodies that materialize weapons and clothing on command. “Genetics”, or specifically “West Genetics” is a school for training these girls to become “Pandora” to fight against the Nova. In order to unlock their full power as Second Year students, they select younger males from the First Year class as “Limiters” and perform a baptism that allows them to form an “Eienbar Set”, utilizing all five senses and forming a barrier known as “Freezing” which can neutralize the very same barrier the Nova use. Besides the ability to use weapons and materialize other objects, Pandora are able to regenerate limbs and repair otherwise fatal wounds with help from the school’s infirmary as long as they don’t die in battle.
Satellizer L. Bridget is a second year student seen in the first episode battling other second years in a festival known as “The Carnival”. Here she is referred to, as throughout most of the series, as “The Untouchable Queen” for how she strikes down her opponents without being touched. It also applies to her outside of the battlefield, as she does not like to be touched by anyone, due to personal trauma from her childhood. Enter Aoi Kazuya, who lost his older sister, also a Pandora, when she sacrificed herself to save everyone from an S-Type Nova in the 8th Nova War. Upon transferring to the school, he encounters Satellizer during the Carnival and mistakes her for his older sister due to similar body type and weapon. In distracting her (and burying his face between her breasts) she was defeated by Genessa Roland. Believing her to not be what the swirling rumors were about, and wanting to apologize, Kazuya set out to become her Limiter and break through her otherwise icy exterior, little by little. Unfortunately her reputation precedes her and one after one, second and third year students set out to challenge her no matter if he was in the way or not, and in doing so, everyone discovered that he has the ability to cast Freezing without a contracted Pandora, due to having Stigmata of his own. Towards the end however, the Nova attack again, this time with a plan, and an end goal, and the girls have to band together to stop not only it, but some of their own.
When I had initially heard of the series, it was mostly /a/ tripe about fanservice and nothing else, but having completed the series, I found myself actually sucked into it from the first episode, and rather than throttle back or waste episodes going into backstory and whatnot, this series holds on and doesn’t let go, right up to the final episode. The story itself is a little cliche given the similar series I mentioned above. It felt too much like watching Evangelion and Mai OtoME with fanservice. I was okay with this however, really, especially uncensored. Character-wise I definitely found myself drawn towards Satella, because girl-with-glasses is my fetish for one, and tsundere being the second. However, I also found Kazuya to be pretty badass, and one of the best male protags in an action show, which is why I really wish I traded Dragon Crisis for this when I had the chance.
That said, coming back to the “cliche” part of the story, given the ending, it felt somewhat cheap to learn where their abilities come from and the obvious conclusion of where the Nova were heading. Don’t get me wrong, I was a huge fan of Mai OtoME and watching it’s original run back in 2005-2006, but it’s a page out of typical alien/robot anime. Alien invades, someone fuses their technology with humans/robots to combat them, stalemate for a bunch of years, aliens come back to destroy the source. I think Freezing could have benefited from a little more beyond that, and given the open ending of the series (and obvious ending dialogue) I have to imagine this won’t be the last we’ve seen and I for one could swing a second season, even a second full season.
TL;DR: the bottom line is, if you want a quick 12 episode action series with cute girls, most with tits, uncensored tits, weapons, mayhem, Satella’s unhealthy obsession with burgers, and some seriously badass moments, GTFO here and go download.
Title: Freezing
Sub Group I Watched: WhyNot (uncensored)
Episodes: 12
Rating (1-10): 9
Favorite Character: Satellizer L. Bridget
Least Favorite Character: Attia Simmons
Favorite Volt Weapon: Farashion (Cathy Lockharte)
Favorite Pandora Fight: Satella/Rana vs. Creo/Arnett
Wow Louis, Seriously? They say everyone has a backstory, and Satella’s is a pretty powerful one that affects her character in the series. Definitely wished he got punched in the face a few times in that flashback.
Also, love the ED song “Kimi wo Mamoritai” by Kobayashi Aika. Definitely in my pool of OP/ED music on my Zune.
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