Freezing - Complete Seriesby Sheena McNeilReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Studio
Credits Grade: 8 Kazuya enrolls in West Genetics Academy, a school for training girls (Pandoras) to fight aliens and boys (Limiters) to help them with a "Freezing" power.This is supposedly the "complete series," but it definitely ends in such a way that you know there's much more to come. I would welcome more episodes, but the current plot does wrap up, so if it really doesn't continue that's ok too. Like many anime that focus on female fighters, there area lot of naked breasts and other forms of partial nudity. Clothing during battle is even "created" (almost digitally) by their Pandora power and it still gets ripped, cut and torn before being regenerated. The girls have crazy powers and their bodies take a beating. Limbs get cut off, bodies hacked and mangled, and they get regrown by the technology in the school's lab. The part that sucks is that the pain is very real. You get an arm cut off? It hurts like you get an arm cut off. In the few scenes we see, it doesn't look like they anesthetize the girls for the procedures that will heal them, so the girls are still screaming in anguish. That's some serious determination for high school girls. They are also scary manipulative, power-driven and competitive. The school hierarchy is like the military, which creates more issues for Satellizer since she's stronger than those in a higher grade than her). It's totally farfetched, but it is well done, so it works very well as an exciting fantasy / sci-fi story. I got sucked into it pretty quickly, and by the end I was totally on board with the strange battle skills and their abilities (including their pain tolerance and ability to keep fighting or moving). There's a hint of the harem genre thrown in as Kazuki is forming a bond with Satellizer. A new girl arrives, wanting to claim him as her own Limiter and another classmate becomes his friend and seems to unconsciously wish to have him as her Limiter as well. Kazuki's ability to cast a powerful Freezing without being bound to one girl in particular allows us to see him interact with several girls. Normally, I would be very upset at using rape as a plot device. However, in this particular case the sexual abuse that Satellizer suffered at the hands of her half-brother is tied quite clearly and closely to who she is and how she acts around other people. It is especially important to the relationship a Pandora has with their Limiter, and why her relationship with Kazuya is as powerful as it is sensitive. Pandoras and Limiters unite an area of the brain, so they share their five senses. It also seems to be pleasurable in a sexual way (at least for the girls) as it's activation causes them to blush and moan (and as we see in the extra OVA episodes, it makes them feel hot and bothered all over). So, the only plausible way for Satellizer to have such an aversion to this bond and an aversion to being touched in general, is to have had her suffer abuse with such intimate contact. The way that abuse is conveyed is well done in the story, building up to the actual flashbacks that show just enough. The battles are as exciting as they are bloody. These girls are out to kill and maim each other as well as the aliens. And, of course, there's a girl for every taste. Most of them are buxom beauties, but there's a least one petite girl. Some are pretty, some edgy, and even Satellizer falls into the geek-girl-with-glasses when she's not being absolutely terrifying and cold. The story is truly interesting once you get into it a bit, but if you just want to see some bloody action and breasts, it satisfies that as well. The extra OVA episodes are just a couple minutes each and play up the sexual side of things. They are a fun addition to watch after all the seriousness of the series. I highly enjoyed it and would love to see more. Written: September 2, 2012
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