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 and their 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.
