Freezing – 8

Here are your super-soldiers of tomorrow, participating in a beauty contest Pandora Queen competition and dancing at the school prom.

We’re screwed.

In an episode unlike any other in Freezing, mainly due to the lack of character introductions and unsanctioned brawling, we’re treated to some emotional development between Satellizer and Aoi.  We’re finally able to witness some progress in their relationship, which is rewarding after seeing everything Aoi has done to get here.  It’s also satisfying to see Satellizer try to make their relationship work, too.  After all, she was initially introduced as a powerful and frightening warrior who would never consider pairing with a Limiter.  This is also contrary to her other original personality, the withdrawn and timid girl who trembles in fear when touched or embarrassed.  Neither of those Satellizers would have cared to make a relationship work with a boy, so what Satellizer is doing now is actually significant and remarkable.  I’m hoping to see some more development here before any upcoming Nova fights.

Rana, however, seems to be falling behind.  When she was initially introduced, I figured there’d be some more setbacks between Satellizer and Aoi.  I figured Aoi, with his compassionate and sympathetic personality, would want to spend time with Rana and thank her for what she did for him, thus causing misleading signals to Satellizer who would then be angry with Aoi.  For the most part, Aoi has ignored Rana.  Aoi seems unwavering in this commitment to Satellizer, all while trying to be kind to Rana.  It seems the only one working toward this relationship is Rana.  What I like about this relationship is that there is little to no confusion going on between the two individuals.  Aoi isn’t being ambiguous in his relationship toward Rana like what plagues all those harem anime relationships; Aoi just wants to be friends with Rana and nothing more.  And what I like about Rana’s end is that she’s persistent, too, trying to do whatever she can to leg-up on the competition and take Aoi for herself.  I’ve got to admit, I wasn’t expecting this type of relationship in a fighting/ecchi anime such as Freezing.

What I hoped for in my mid-season review was for more screentime and progress for the secondary characters.  I jokingly recommended that the school come together for a little community bonding (specifically a BBQ), bring students together for something fun that would boost their morale and entertain us, the audience.  I wasn’t expecting it to come immediately with the Pandora Queen contest and the school dance.  While I question Genetics’ reasons for holding such events in a military training academy (and yes, I will continue to bash Genetics at every chance I get), it was nice to see the students do something different instead of aggressively attacking each other with weapons in potentially fatal scuffles.  I’m sure the students were happy to have a festival like that instead of concentrating on school and their potential deaths on the battlefields that lie ahead.  And it looks like everyone enjoyed themselves: Satellizer for making Aoi happy, Aoi for Satellizer accepting and winning the duel, Atia for humiliating Satellizer in front of the school, and all the guys for seeing a virtually naked Satellizer.  Roland and Arthur were happy dancing together.  Even Rana and Hiiragi, unable to find guys to dance with, were enjoying themselves at the festival, too.  Hopefully there’ll be more screentime for these secondary characters besides seeing them in action during the Nova battles, but I don’t expect there to be anymore.

So with that, I believe we’ll return to a more routine episode next time, focused on fighting and hopefully filled with blood.  Without any type of real clash in this episode, it was free to be as fanservicey and ecchi as it wanted, filled with fetishistic costumes, bikinis, and naked swimming.  I’m going to guess that the fanservice will begin to decline from this episode and the violence will steadily increase until the finale.  This is just speculation, but unless they have some fights where clothes-shredding is more a priority than winning, I can see the violence and battles taking center stage.  There’ll be some mix sure, like the necessary bare breasts and panties in each fight, but the level will be greatly reduced as the story nears its climax.

I kinda wonder what’s going on in the world outside of Genetics.  We know there are invading aliens conquering parts of the globe, but I’m curious to see what the outside metropolises are like and the citizens who live normal lives.  I’d like to see the cast go out to the city and see the world before they are forced into fighting those titanic monsters.  After all, it is this world, these cities and these people that they’re risking their lives to save.  It would be interesting to see everyone’s reaction given the diverse range of personalities in the series when they see what they’re protecting (especially when you consider students like Ganessa, Miyabi, and Aita).  Maybe we’ll get to see something like this while the students are being deployed into battle.  They’d be given the chance to do that unless the Novas appear at Genetics.  So I hope the Novas appear in a serene and tranquil countryside, somewhere far from Genetics, allowing us the opportunity to see the students have sometime looking at the world around them, the world that they plan to save.