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-cour series. 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.
