The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie Review

The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague is a fantasy and romantic-comedy. Based on the manga created by Miyuki Tonogaya, The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague was originally published by Square Enix. The series was originally broadcast on Tokyo MX, ABC, Mētele, and BS Asahi. The series was broadcast in Japan between January 4, 2023 and March 22, 2023.

The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague features animation production by studios Liber (Bartender Glass of God, Farming Life in Another World) and Zero-G (Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It, My Roommate is a Cat). The theme music is performed by Takao Sakuma (opening) and Nowlu (ending). Featuring the voices of Chiaki Kobayashi, Yui Ishikawa, Ayane Sakura, Hiyori Nitta, Kōki Uchiyama, Shugo Nakamura, and Yumi Uchiyama. The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague will appeal to fans of light romantic comedy series.

Himuro-kun (Chiaki Kobayashi) is no ordinary guy. Himuro-kun is a spirit – no ordinary spirit at that, either. Himuro-kun is a descendant of snow spirits.

Being a descendant of snow spirits comes with unique and peculiar quirks that set him apart from others around him. Quirks for Himuro-kun include little snow-men and an unexpected blizzard of snow falling on him when his emotions run high. Sometimes it even causes Himuro-kun to have issues with social interactions and with animal friends. The snow storms even prevent Himuro-kun in his mission to be friends with kitty-cats! Meow!

Despite unexpected snow storms surrounding this strange spirit descendant, Himuro-kun becomes even more flustered – and hot-and- bothered. The result is more snow storms falling on him when he least expected it. Snow storms keep on happening when Himuro-kun is close by to Fuyutsuki-san (Yui Ishikawa). Is there something special between Himuro-kun and the beautiful Fuyutsuki-san?

Himuro-kun is a solid protagonist for the character. One can sympathize with the character and his plight. Being someone who can cause sudden and unexpected blizzards isn’t necessarily a coveted gift by everyone. The character has a pretty big dilemma and wants to be someone not inhibited by his snow spirit descendant gift – after all, how else is Himuro-kun to have fun with cats? The interactions between Himuro-kun and Fuyutsuki-san are also essential to the story. The romantic element is one of the main components of the series.

The character designs by Miyako Kanō are well done and are a significant part of the production. The character designs are certainly important to the series. The designs fit the central characters and the aesthetic works well with the other aspects of the animation.

The animation is certainly beautiful and something to appreciate. The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague features solid art direction by Eiji Iwase (In Another World With My Smartphone, Tamayomi: The Baseball Girls). The production also features chief animation direction by Miyako Kanō (Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It) and Yuji Ushijima (Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It. r=1-sinθ). The animation is impressive with the pleasing background art. The animators did excellent work with the series animation. The animation is colorful, vibrant, and engaging. A well-done effort by the team.

The score composed by Ruka Kawada (If Her Flag Breaks, Isekai Quartet) is quietly charming. The music for The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague plays a nice role in the production. The score by Kawada is a nice backdrop to the romantic comedy elements and the subtle drama of the series. The score is certainly well done and plays well with the series sense of style.

The cinematography by Tomomi Saitō (The Prince of Tennis II OVA vs. Genius 10, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable) is engaging and one of the visual strengths of the series. Cinematography flourishes with the series. The aesthetic makes a nice difference for the series combination of romance and fantasy whimsy.

Written by Tomoko Konparu (Kakuriyo -Bed & Breakfast for Spirits-, Kimi ni Todoke - From Me to You), The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague will hit audiences right in the feels with an emotionally engaging romantic-comedy. Konparu does a solid job with the writing. Dialogue is well done.

Mankyū (Fist of the North Star: Strawberry Flavor, Mobile Suit Gundam-san) directs. The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague is a fun fantasy-romance with a nice sense of style and charm. Fans of light and enjoyable anime series will find something to appreciate with this production. The style is nice and director Mankyū did a solid job with the production. Romantic anime fans should certainly find The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague of interest.

The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray by Crunchyroll, The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high- definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The high-definition presentation is crisp, colorful, and engaging. Animation looks incredible with nice detail and color reproduction. The presentation shines with vibrant cinematography and the encoding capably handles the background animation and line art.

One of the strengths of the Blu-ray disc format is the superior video encoding. Streaming video services tend to provide video quality with lower video bit-rates and more compression compared to physical media and the Blu-ray format. Not only are there inherent differences between the streaming version and physical media option, there are other variables that can always interfere – internet connection performance, speed, and data plans.

The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 (with English subtitles). The English dub option provides a somewhat more expansive surround soundstage with a 5.1 sound mix. The surround option offers a soundstage with both the score and sound effects integrated into the surround channels. The Japanese language version is limited to 2.0 stereo but purists and enthusiasts with a preference for the original language audio versions will easily prefer the lossless audio encoding of the Japanese audio version. The English subtitles are also well done and are free of egregious spelling or grammatical errors.

One of the best features of the Blu-ray disc format is the lossless audio encoding. The release provides lossless audio in either English or Japanese. For audiophiles and home theater enthusiasts, the audio quality provides a notable improvement over streaming video platforms. The lossless audio encoding adds to the experience.

The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The first print-run of the release includes a nice o-card slipcover. The slipcover features a quality art design with different artwork from what is highlighted underneath the slipcover. The main sleeve artwork is unique from the slipcover art and the combination of the art selections makes the set considerably nicer looking as a package. The packaging is all the better as a result and will appeal more to collectors looking for a nice package.

On disc extras include:

Promo Videos (HD, 2:32)

Textless Opening Song (HD, 1:32)

Textless Closing Songs (HD, 7:42)

The one area of the box-set that underwhelms in the on-disc bonus content. The set could have been improved with some more interesting bonus features. The set could have used the inclusion of some audio commentaries, making-of featurettes, cast/crew interviews, photo galleries, and other extras. Unfortunately, the almost bare-bones set doesn't add much value to the package.

The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague is a sweet and charming romantic-comedy fantasy series. The series features beautiful animation and nice production values. The series also features a nice score composed by Ruka Kawada (If Her Flag Breaks). The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague is a fun fantasy for fans of the genre.

The Blu-ray release provides a quality high-definition presentation and lossless audio encoding. The release also includes a nice o-card slipcover on the first print run. The only drawback is a lackluster supplemental package. Fans of the series may wish to consider a pickup. Recommended.