Freezing Anime Review

Set in a slightly futuristic world where Earth has been invaded and is at war with aliens from another dimension called the Nova, the story follows the adventures of a Japanese boy named Kazuya Aoi who enrolls for training at a special school for genetically modified girls called Pandoras who battle the aliens, and their male partners, called Limiters, who use a special power called "freezing" to limit their opponent's mobility. The protagonist makes the acquaintance of an unusual older girl named Bridgette L. Satellizer who appears to be the most powerful Pandora in her class, but has not yet chosen a male partner to be her Limiter, and in spite of the warnings of all his friends, he decides to be her Limiter. - Anime News Network

I'm actually pretty familiar with the Freezing story. I read the manga and liked it. Having the women out in the field conducting combat while the men were relegated to a supporting role was in interesting bit of gender role reversal. So I was genuinely pretty interested when I heard that there was going to be an anime of it. Then I saw the first trailer and that excitement went from a deafening roar into more of a low rumble.


The main characters are Sattelizer L Bridgette and Kazuya Aoi. Stella (nickname) is a powerful fighter reacts violently when touched. She was branded the "untouchable queen" after she nearly beat a prospective limiter to death. Kazuya Aoi is a shy and passive boy and the younger brother of  a famous Pandora.

The series generally revolves around internal conflicts between Pandora than the fight against the Nova. The anime generally sticks fairly close to the source material. Of course, there are some new things added and a few things removed or tweaked, but nothing that would cripple the series to someone unfamiliar with the source material.

Two words. Fan Service. You see, in the manga, the fights were visceral and intense. These are girls who fight using super-strength, speed, and reflexes coupled with weapons. So of course, when these abilities clashed, someone gets hurt. Faces get punched, limbs get severed, bones get broken. When the Pandora got cut, they got cut.

In the anime, the visceral intensity is gone. Instead of grievous bodily harm, the fights result in a lot of torn clothing and a couple of superficial scratches. For example, there is a particular fight on a roof top early in the series. In the manga, after being smacked around and humiliated, Stella goes into a rage and stabs her opponent right through the chest, almost killing her. In the anime, she just gets up and walks away. It's this diluting of the source material that kind of killed it for me.

Verdict:  Maybe

For someone who's unfamiliar with the source material and just wants to see cute anime broads rip each other's clothes off, this is right up your alley. There's a decent story that newcomers may end up liking, but anyone who's more familiar with the source material should stay away.