Freezing Vibration: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Freezing Vibration: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Nothing here but a chilly reception...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown April 14, 2015

Good God, Freezing Vibration can be generic and gratuitous. And that's putting it mildly. Ecchi doesn't get more transparent or tiresome than Freezing's second 12-episode season, or more forgettable. The animation is nothing special, the fights are dull, the mythos is convoluted, several characters are irritating, the tone is all over the place, and the story doesn't have a compelling hook. At least none that snagged me. The complexities of the sci-fi/fantasy plot are baffling too, especially for what amounts to one lazy excuse after another to position bouncy, genetically modified, sword-slinging girls in various states of undress; moaning, jiggling, writhing, fondling, showering, you name it, and sometimes during bondage, rape, incest... it only gets more unpleasant as it drags along. Is it better than its first season? I'd say so, if only because it devotes more time to character development and the business of Pandoras functioning as Pandoras (rather than bickering middle schoolers). There's also a nice through-line involving Pandoras and experimental E-Pandoras trying to work through their differences to come together (groan) and battle evil. But if there's redeeming value to Vibration, a substantial source of entertainment beyond skin, blood and more skin, I can't see it. Even the title is slathered in eye-rolling innuendo. At its worst, it's softcore hentai in the guise of more serious genre stuff. At its best, it's a meandering distraction that offers very little other Ecchi series haven't offered a hundred times before. Fans on FUNimation.com love it, so I suppose you should take my distaste with a veritable grain of salt.

Satellizer el Bridget and some of the most powerful and desirable Pandoras in the world are summoned to a secret base in the wilds of Alaska. These gorgeous warriors arrive primed for battle, but they soon discover the true purpose for their presence: to assist the clandestine Chevalier organization in forging a new breed of soldier: E-Pandoras! Once normal girls, these eager beauties volunteered to have their bodies genetically-enhanced in order to join the fight against the deadly alien invaders plaguing the planet. But there's more to becoming a superhuman battle vixen than tattered uniforms and sultry slugfests. Rumors of heinous experimentation haunt the E-Pandora project, and only Satellizer and her loyal companion Kazuya can unravel the mystery before it's too late!

The Blu-ray release of Freezing Vibration (Season Two of Freezing) features twelve episodes spread across two BD-50 discs; eight episodes on Disc One and four on Disc Two. Episodes include:

• Pandora Returns: Satellizer and other Pandora battle an unexpected foe during a trip to Alaska. Later, they're going to assist in a project to create artificial Pandora.
• Evolution Pandora: Original Pandora and Evolution Pandora face off in exhibition fights in order to determine their difference in abilities. Meanwhile, everyone grows accustomed to life on the new base.
• Mark IV: Rana and Satellizer keep their competitive spirit alive. Meanwhile, the E-Pandora project continues with a test of the experimental Mark IV, a drug that could make E-Pandora just as powerful as Original Pandora.
• Mate: An emergency situation develops as the Mark IV slowly changes Jina into a Nova. Elizabeth insists that Satellizer needs to stay out of the matter, which only complicates things further.
• Noblesse Oblige: Elizabeth leaks top-secret information to the Mably family in an effort to protect the E-Pandora. Meanwhile, Kazuya and Satellizer visit Bali instead of returning to Japan.
• Marionettes: Satellizer comes face to face with Luis, a part of her dark past she had hoped to forget.
• Spellbound: Emotions run wild as Satellizer and Kazuya square off against Luis and Holly in an epic, decisive battle in Bali.
• Rebellion: Furious that the Mark IV experiments are scheduled to resume, the E-Pandora girls plan to escape from the Alaskan base. But the situation only worsens when the regular Pandora learn the truth.
• Traitor: The E-Pandora rebellion tears allegiances apart and pits Pandora comrades against each other in battle. Meanwhile, Amelia continues to transform into a Nova.
• True Pandora: The in-fighting between regular Pandora rages on as the E-Pandora rebellion continues. Skills and hidden talents are revealed one after another... as are new secrets.
• Nova Crash: The chaos on the Alaskan base intensifies as a new Nova threat and a massive army of Maria Lancelot clones descend upon the Photon Generator.
• Shaft of Light: Chiffon and the remaining Pandora girls must face the Nova threat in one final battle for humanity's future.

Freezing Vibration: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Freezing Vibration features a solid 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation that faithful represents the aesthetic of the series' animation. The image is somewhat soft, but nothing is amiss. Between diffuse lighting, dense fog and snow, shower steam, radiating light and other elements, the animators' line art isn't as crisp as it might otherwise be. Thankfully, there isn't much in the way of aliasing, and I didn't notice any instances of severe banding, macroblocking or errant noise. Colors are lovely and pleasantly saturated too, though the aforementioned fog, snow, steam, light and such tend to wash out primaries and rob the presentation of richer hues. Ah well. Contrast remains consistent, black levels are deep and satisfying, and there aren't any major distractions of note.

Freezing Vibration: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Blu-ray release of Freezing Vibration offers two lossless audio options: an English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround track and a Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 stereo mix. Both are excellent on their own terms, it's just a shame the original Japanese audio isn't presented via six channels as well. This won't strike anime fans as anything new, of course, and there aren't really any other issues to detail. Voices are clean, clear and intelligible, effects are bright and effective, and the soundscapes are balanced and prioritized without incident. The English dub benefits from some welcome low-end oomph and engaging rear speaker activity, particularly when storms swirl and rage, horrific experiments are conducted, or the Pandoras leap into battle, but so many scenes involve nothing more than conversations between two or three characters that the 5.1 track occasionally becomes very front-heavy. No matter. Fans of the series will be pleased with the results.

Freezing Vibration: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentaries: "I mean, the whole experience was really odd. This is the closest I've been to incest... so..." Two English production audio commentaries are available, the first for Episode Three, "Mark IV," which features voice actresses Milly Prower (Jina) and Whitney Rogers (Amelia), and the second for Episode Seven, "Spellbound," with Austin Tindle (Luis) and Caitlin Glass (Satellizer).
• OVA Episodes (HD, 18 minutes): Six original video animation shorts, which further hypersexualizes the series' hypersexuality. Nudity abounds, breasts jiggle endlessly, and groping and fondling are out in full force.
• Textless Opening Song (HD, 2 minutes): "Avenge World," with Japanese audio and English subtitles.
• Textless Closing Song (HD, 2 minutes): "Sekai wa Kizu o Dakishimeru" in Japanese with English subtitles.
• U.S. Trailer (HD, 1 minute): An English-language FUNimation promo.
• Additional Trailers (HD): Senran Kagura: Ninja Flash!, Space Dandy, Sankarea, Tokyo Ravens, Noir, Nobunagun and Michiko & Hatchin.

Freezing Vibration: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Freezing Vibration is Ecchi through and through, with more fan service per square inch than clothing. I'm not here to judge your taste, so that would be a-okay if it weren't for one small problem: it isn't very good. Generic, bland, derivative, gratuitous, haphazardly conceived and written, and decently (but not exceptionally) animated, it's an average show that's more interested in titillating than intriguing. Fortunately, FUNimation's Blu-ray release offers a solid AV presentation and a number of extras, among them six OVAs.