Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Freezing: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Will Freezing leave you cold?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 23, 2012

If aliens ever do show up in the skies above Planet Earth, we better hope that whoever is in charge of defending us is an anime fan, because heaven knows this particular subgenre within anime has offered lots of different "solutions" for how to handle an incipient alien "problem". Alien invasion has been an anime trope for years, and the kind of interesting thing about it is the somewhat varied approach various anime have taken towards the subject. Some deal in gloom and doom, positing a post-Apocalyptic future with alien overlords. Other anime tend to favor a more whimsical approach. The aliens may in fact be just as dastardly, but nothing seems to be all that serious, with some series actually playing things largely for laughs. Freezing is yet another anime outing pairing genetically altered girls and boys whose special “talents’ will hopefully prevent a mid 21st century world from being overrun by aliens. The show may not be quite as buffoonish as Sekirei or Strike Witches, but it will probably remind many anime fans of those shows due to Freezing’s somewhat similar emphasis on both science fiction and some ubiquitous fan service. It’s a kind of bizarre situation in a way that so many anime series tend to feature “girl power” while at the same time not hesitating to have their female heroines fairly busting (pun intended) out of their skimpy clothing, but that’s been the case in any number of high profile anime through the years, and it’s something that Freezing also exploits. The show plays almost like a reverse harem enterprise in a way, even though we do have a singular male hero surrounded by a bevy of extremely buxom heroines. But in this particular formulation the girls hold most of the cards and in fact a good deal of the power. That may be the single most salient differing characteristic between Freezing and other shows of this ilk, so the question is immediately raised: is that enough to warrant interest?

In the world of Freezing, the pairs of alien fighters are made up of male Limiters and female Pandoras (I have to assume there are whole cities in Japan simply made of up of people who name various characters and groups for all anime outings). The main focal duo here is Limiter Kazuya Aoi and Pandora Satellizer el Bridget (speaking of naming people and/or things, even FUNimation voice artist Caitlin Glass can’t quite wrap her head around her character’s name). Without getting to involved in what really is an almost insane amount of terminology and ideology, Kazuya’s Limiter abilities are incredibly singular, which sets him up to partner with Satellizer el Bridget, since she also has exceptional skills but also doesn’t want to interact with any Limiter in too intimate a fashion (if this sounds like it’s hinting about sex, it is, kind of, at least in that roundabout way that many anime of this type tend to).

Freezing may seem from the outside like just another “mutants fight aliens” anime replete with bountiful action and fan service in about equal measure, but the fact is the series really has a surprisingly complex mythology, and there is the rub about this series. At only twelve episodes long, there simply is too much material to comfortably squeeze into a somewhat abbreviated arc. The series attempts to stuff a lot of exposition into brief little snippets, but that doesn’t always tip the scales in favor of comprehensibility or dramatic continuity. The best thing here, at least in terms of easy accessibility, is the slowly developing relationship between Kazuya and Satellizer el Bridget, especially with regard to Satellizer el Bridget, who slowly but surely becomes less of a robotic cold fish (for want of a better description) and begins to show her true feelings for Kazuya. On other levels, though, the show is simply too labyrinthine for its own good, a complexity that is distinctly at odds with its balls to the wall action sequence and intentionally brainless fan service.

One of the oddest elements of Freezing is how it spends so much time setting up the conflict with the aliens (called Nova in the series) and then decides more often than not to put that conflict on the back burner in order to emphasize internecine warfare between various Pandora and their Limiters. In this aspect, the series tends to stick pretty close the standard shōnen format, with the training academy for the Pandora and Limiters akin to high school, replete with the “cool kids” and, in Satellizer el Bridget’s case, the unapproachable Prom Queen (she’s actually called the Untouchable Queen throughout much of the series, which pretty much mimics my high school experience with that class of girl).

There’s probably something sociological to be examined about who this series is skewed toward and how exactly they’ll react to it. The fan service obviously has one demographic in mind: the young male population. But that brings up the interesting question of why the males in the series are relegated to something akin to second class status, something that might turn off the very audience this series seems to be intentionally geared toward. Is this some sort of self fulfilling prophecy for geeks who like to gaze at buxom women but who don’t want the responsibility of “real life”, meaning, in the Freezing world, getting out there and decimating the aliens? That may be taking things too seriously, obviously, but this series frankly doesn’t offer enough actual interesting content to keep cynical minds from wandering into questions like that.

Freezing: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Freezing is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. I was just slightly disappointed with the sharpness of this release, especially considering how recently it was produced. Things certainly are nowhere near as bad as the upconvert on the recently reviewed Shakugan no Shana: Season 1, but things rarely rise to the relatively tack sharp levels of, say, Sekirei: Pure Engagement. This presentation offers acceptably sharp line detail and some nicely robust colors, but the character designs are pretty standard and aside from some nice CGI elements, things don't pop with a lot of force and in fact quite a bit of this series looks oddly soft, as can clearly be seen in some of the screencaps uploaded with this review. Those who love this series—and there are many who do—will no doubt be quite pleased with this high definition presentation.

Freezing: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Freezing features the original Japanese language track presented via a Dolby TrueHD 2.0 mix, and an invigorating English dub offered via Dolby TrueHD 5.1. Both of these tracks have their good points, though as has often been the case recently on a number of anime, the English track is significantly more aggressive, even divorcing the surround versus stereo aspect. The English track also presents a wealth of surround activity that really helps to make the series a lot of fun to listen to. Fidelity on both of these tracks is excellent, and dynamic range is very wide, especially on the surround mix.

Freezing: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Episode 6 Commentary features Josh Grelle (Kazuya Aoi) and Jamie Marchi (Rana Linchen).


• Episode 11 Commentary features Caitlin Glass (Satellizer el Bridget) and Luci Christian (Ganessa Roland).


• OVA Episodes (HD; 18:11) offers six shorts that are pretty long on fan service and short on story elements.


• U.S. Trailer (HD; 1:02)


• Promotional Videos (HD; 5:07)


• Original Commercials (HD; 1:18)


• Textless Opening Song: Color (HD; 1:32)


• Textless Closing Song: Kimi o Mamoritai (HD; 1:32)

Freezing: Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Freezing is another okay to middling anime that really doesn't have anything especially wrong with it, but which is so old hat (and/or old bust, so to speak) that it just becomes tiresome to sit through, especially if you've watched any number of other anime that trods this same general territory. The series presents some interesting characters, none more so than the extremely oddly named Satellizer el Bridget, but it's hobbled by being too complex for its relatively short episode length. Fans of the series will probably enjoy this Blu-ray presentation, even if the video is strangely soft at times, but those unfamiliar with the series may want to do a little "comparison shopping" of other titles with similar themes. Heaven knows there are more than enough to choose from.