Freezing

“You know ‘that look’ women get when they want sex? Me neither.” – Steve Martin.

Looking at the front cover on the DVD for Freezing, I can tell you that the amount of fan service in it is actually more than you might be expecting. This is because the front cover of the DVD does not show any nipples.

In terms of fan service in anime, there are shows which have a light sprinkle of it, then there are others which come across a bit like a Carry On film, but Freezing at times is more akin to Confessions of a Window Cleaner with some added sci-fi elements thrown in.

Set in the future, the world is under attack from an alien race known as the Nova. In order to fight them off, children have been undergoing genetic modification. The girls, known as “Pandoras”, do the actual fighting, while the boys, the “Limiters”, use special “Freezing” powers to prevent the enemy from moving.

At the West Genetics School, one of the strongest girls is Briton Satellizer el Bridget, known as the “Untouchable Queen” because she hates people touching her. A new boy, Kazuya Aoi, transfers to the school and notices that Satellizer looks similar to his late sister. He immediately tries to bond with her but she has no interest. However, the two become close due to their strengths: Satellizer being a great fighter, and Aoi whose Freezing abilities are unlike those seen in anyone else before. The problem is that the older girls in the school disapprove of the duo being stronger than them and upsetting the supposed “order”.

For those more interested in the sci-fi element of the show, this does not kick in until the second half of the series. Most of the series mainly just consists of battles in which Satellizer fights with rivals for power or for the affections of Aoi. Also these battles are just an excuse for clothes to be ripped to reveal breasts. What is more, the Pandoras uniforms are designed to self-repair so they can be ripped to reveal the breasts over and over again. If you watch the OVA extras it is nothing but breasts and leching. The levels of fan service are just laughable.

The main problem with Freezing is that the fan service appears to take precedence over the plot. In comparison to a series like Strike Witches, Freezing is certainly inferior to it. Yes both shows feature quite a bit of fan service, but Strike Witches does feature more drama, more tension, and more interesting characters. Also, in Strike Witches every episode features at least one battle with their alien invaders so the more dramatic sci-fi elements are also kept afresh in your head. In Freezing it just tends to be catfights, without cat-ears. For me, Freezing left me cold – pun intended.