Freezing Vibration Episode 1 [First Impression]

Nice pair of plot you got there.

Impression

First things first – this airs on AT-X, and is therefore uncensored. To be honest, it’d be quite hard to watch properly if it weren’t, since you’d have white bars constantly plastered all over the screen. Instead, we have boobs everywhere, which is a nice alternative. If you can’t tell, this is one of those shows in which fanservice is integrated in the plot, with clothes conveniently ripping during fight scenes. While I’ve watched a fair few of these, it’s my first time actually covering one!

Don’t worry, I’m not shit.

Freezing is… a mixed bag. Putting any comparisons to Claymore aside, this show is clearly orientated towards fanservice. All the main male characters (a grand total of one) are sort of wimpy, and the art looks better than in Season 1 but is still sometimes a bit grainy. Oh, and the entire cast has mental problems. On the other hand, its true that it’s got a decent plot – and having read the manga, I know this arc in particular will be quite enjoyable. The fight scenes are pretty good, there’s lots of blood, and people actually die. Boobs are also… present, though at least they’re not a plot point. And there are these giant alien things who turn up once every so often and start massacring teenage girls. Yeah, that’s about it. It’s no Attack on Titan, but it’ll do.

I have a feeling the Type-S Nova at the start was put there to remind us of the show’s plot – because the producers know just as well as we do that almost no-one is here for just the plot. Even though I’ve kinda forgotten as well, I clearly remember that it’s not possible for two Pandora to take down a Nova by themselves. Unless you’re Chiffon – then you can take on a couple at the same time. Leaving two Pandora halfway up a snowy mountain at night to fight a Nova is literally a suicide mission – you’ve got to wonder how all of them just accepted and jumped off. A normal Nova would not have gotten killed that easily, much less a Type-S. They also don’t have eyes.

The anime didn’t really explain itself too well – it sort of just started in medias res, after having skipped the manga’s Siblings Arc. We have Satella, Rana, Chiffon and Elizabeth together on a boat, off to Alaska to help out in the E-Pandora Project, which aims to artificially create Pandora. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the particulars explained to me, but don’t girls only become Pandora if they’re compatible with Stigmata? And those with a high compatibility rate get more of them. With Stigmata originally coming from Nova, there’s that risk of the Pandora being overtaken and all that. But now we have Scarlett Oohara, who claims that with artificial implants, anyone can apply instead of just those compatible. Yeahhhh… that’s like a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode. Isn’t there like… a reason why normal girls can’t become Pandora? And who’s to say these E-Pandora will be just as strong as the normal Pandora? If anything, that’s why Aoi Gengo is against it. While true, his argument about ethical issues is a load of bullshit from him. And as Roxanne implied, just how many girls had to die until successful prototype E-Pandora like Amelia were made?

Speaking of Roxanne, we met the top five this week! Chiffon’s #1, and Cassie Lockheart is another (Satella cut off both her arms last season, remember?) I must admit, I have a thing for Charles… it’s probably the headphones she’s always wearing. Note that all these Pandora have special abilities that probably helped them rise to the top – Chiffon has her Illusion Turn, and Cassie is one of the best Accel users (she goes up to Quadruple). With so many talented Pandoras from all around the world in one room, I can’t help but feel that there’s more to it than Oohara’s need to collect data. Especially with the E-Pandora making an appearance near the end there – it looks like there’s some shady stuff going on in the background.

So yeah. Up for a bit of Freezing every Saturday? It’ll be fun, I promise. There’ll be boobs and stuff.

Possibility of Blogging: High