The fight against the Nova has to start with a fight amongst ourselves.
What They Say:
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!
Contains episodes 1-12 in a chipboard art box.
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release is standard and solid fare from FUNimation in that we get the original Japanese in stereo and the English in 5.1 using the lossless Dolby TrueHD codec. The show has a very good deal of action in it overall and it works these scenes well in both mixes, but there’s definitely a larger and louder feel coming from the English mix. It just comes across as more dynamic and intense with more bass overall. The Japanese track is quite solid and appealing though as it brings the action home well while conveying the dialogue, be it the intense stern side or the meek side of some of the characters, along with everything in between. Both do the job well and it just comes down to what you want out of a performance. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout and we didn’t have any problems with dropouts or distortions during regular playback.
Video:
Originally released in fall of 2013, the transfer for this TV series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in native HD 1080p using the AVC codec. The show is spread across two discs with nine on the first and three on the second along with the extras. Similar to the first season, I watched the censored version of the simulcast when it aired and that meant going into this transfer is like a revelation. Whereas I found that one murky and almost too oppressive with its dark colors and atmosphere, here it feels like a completely different show. Colors are brighter while still retaining the dark side that’s in many of the scenes that focus on the action at night and at sunset. The show has a much more appealing animation design here as details are cleaner, colors look really strong and the animation’s fluidity shines through in a new way. While I liked the vibrancy it had at times before, it’s more balanced here and the end results is a far more appealing show than I thought it would be.
Packaging:
The packaging for the limited edition version of this season mirrors the first season pretty well as we get a heavy chipboard box that holds the two Blu-ray cases inside, one for that format and one for DVD. The front of the box has the main promotional image that has the group of Satelli, Elizabeth and Chiffon together amid the snow with their weapons out and it definitely looks great, even if a touch soft because of the wind and snow, as the colors stand out well from the uniforms. The back cover under the data sheet has a great image of Satelli and Rana together in their uniforms and showing off solid expressions and just enough fanservice. Inside the box we get the two cases where each of the main panels outside of the one back panel allows the main character girls to stand solo in their uniforms, such as the Satelli and Rana pieces broken up into their own from the back of the box. This also includes the reverse side where we get two more images of supporting characters like Charles getting their due. The breakdown on the main back covers are good with a list of what episodes are on what discs by number and title and an overall look at the extras that are included with the set. No show related inserts are included with this release.
Menu:
The menu design for the show is pretty nicely in theme in a simplistic way but one that works quite well. The menus are all clips of big action scenes from the series with a mixture of darker and lighter pieces with some ominous instrumental music playing along. It shows off the cast, fanservice and action well. It also has a simple navigation strip along the bottom that’s done as the Freezing design from within the show that fits well and is rather minimalistic in an appropriate way. Navigation is a breeze and the layout is generally easy to move around in, though it can be a touch awkward in the extras submenu. Everything loads quickly and the show defaults to English with sign/song subtitles.
Extras:
The extras are all on the second disc outside of the commentary that the first disc gets for an episode. We get the standards here with the US trailer, the promotional videos and the clean versions of the opening and closing sequences along with some commercials from the Japanese release. The really good extra here that we get are the six bonus OVA extras from the Japanese release which have a combined runtime of about eighteen minutes – and a play all feature which is always very welcome. Similar to the first season bonus shorts, they’re humor oriented but also very sex oriented. Not just fanservice oriented, but very sexually oriented. Which is fine, but it also felt like it went a bit too far in some cases.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The first season of Freezing when it aired back in 2011 was the kind of show that was surprising in a way. While it played out with some really significant fanservice, it also played the main story itself in a very dark way. It made no bones about wanting to be titilating with all the nudity and sexual situations, but it was also clear that it wanted to tell a darker story around it about these strange beings called Nova that were invading. Putting it into an all girls academy with guys that work as limiters on their powers, we were shown a very cutthroat world where the competition was all there was for them in order to become the front line Pandora members that would save humanity. As much as I like fanservice, I like story even more. Giving me both with a really dark, brutal edge to it just made it a must see show.
So I was pretty thrilled when over two years later we got a new season at the end of 2013 that took us back to these characters since there’s plenty more story to be told about it. As of this writing, the manga series is still ongoing and there’s twenty-seven volumes from the main book alone, never mind the various single or short run spinoffs. Suffice to say, there’s plenty of material to animate and if Seven Seas gets most of the main manga out, there’s a fun trip ahead for fans. This season definitely provides an evolution for the show though as it takes us to the next stage of events while toying with us in a big way. There’s some good philosophical moments that come into play about creation and the cause of the Nova, but it’s hard to tell what the truth is. But mostly, this season is about the lengths humanity will go to in order to protect itself. It’s not trying to bring the story to a conclusion but rather to tell a particular chapter in the larger narrative. And it succeeds spectacularly.
The premise for this season is a straightforward enough one where the girls we’re familiar with from West Genetics end up going to a special facility being run out of Alaska that the Chevalier are invested in. It’s here that the process of trying to create artificial Pandoras is underway and these E-Pandora members are being tested by the real thing with our girls. The E-Pandora members are interesting in that they’re normal girls who opt in for this because they want to step up and defend their homelands and world from the Nova and are willing to take all the chances involved with it. They’re able to use some of the powers through the artificial means, such as acceleration and the like, but we see early on that with the current level, they can’t Volt generate weapons, which puts them at a disadvantage. The early sparring encounters are almost cute in a way where, while not dismissive, the West Genetics girls do their best to keep themselves in line without humiliating them, but making it clear that they’re the real thing. This really gets to the E-Pandoras as one would expect, and when the option for a higher class of the injection comes along, complete with risks, there are those that take it and start to come across as being capable of standing against the traditional Pandoras.
Essentially, you can see where it’s going to go if you’ve watched anything with similar storylines. There’s some solid fights between the two sides, some secrets revealed about the Chevalier operation and some real tragedy along the way while hinting at what it is that potentially creates the Nova. The fight sequences for the show continue to be one of its best attributes and they definitely have a lot of fun with it here, though it doesn’t seem quite as brutal as the fights between class members in the first season. But there’s a different approach here since the Pandoras don’t see them as being equals here, which is understandable and it makes sense. When it gets serious, the gloves come off, but we also get fights between the West Genetics members as the truth of what Chevalier is up to comes out. That provides for some old grudges to surface, but also the reveal of what Chiffon’s truly all about. While she wears that smile, you realize it truly is just a mask to what kind of person she truly is. And that’s a great risk to take with the character along the way.
What really gets me with this season is two-fold though beyond all the things that made the first season fun. The first is that Elizabeth Mably’s role is expanded here in a good way as once she learns there’s something amiss with the facility and what they’re doing with the E-Pandoras, she brings out her noblesse oblige and makes it clear she has a responsbility to protect the girls in the program from being hurt by it. That has her using her powerful family to begin an investigation, but it goes so disastrously wrong as Chevalier is essentially a corrupt worldwide organization, that it completely destroys the family. And not just the family, but it also puts Elizabeth herself into such a terrible position for a good chunk of the show – after really humanizing her – that it’s crushing to see her reduced to an empty husk because of it.
And that leads into what makes Satelli’s main storyline here so compelling. When she gets injured during one of the trials, she and Aoi end up heading back to Japan to get her fixed up, but she slips them onto a flight to Bali instead as she intends to do what Elizabeth tried to do. It’s a noble thing, and her family is more powerful in a way because they’re invested in Chevalier, but that’s not the real focus. The real focus here is that upon arrival, she discovers that Luis is in the resort her family runs there as well. And he, along with the girl from Genetics Britain that he’s a limiter for, is intent on getting her back. Holly Rose doesn’t quite get it, but she’s so slavishly in love with Luis that she’ll do anything. But she doesn’t realize just how cruel he is when it comes to Satelli, and neither does Aoi. Which makes the scenes between Satelli and Luis so utterly disturbing as they do make it clear for the viewer just what kind of hold he has on her, and the depths of his own cruelty. It is, unfortunately, all wrapped up too neatly, but I really have to give the series credit for screwing with its cast like it does here, from Satelli to Elizabeth and to Chiffon and then all the others that fall along the way on both sides.
In Summary:
Freezing Vibration, like the first season, is an easy series to write off as being all about fanservice and violence. And it’s true, it has those elements. It has a bigger story to it as well, characters that are quite different from each other that are being explored piece by piece and a grand scale to it all in the background with the Nova and what’s happening to the world. This season is strong on the action and strong on character material, even as it adds lots of new characters by shifting the focus away from the academy and to Alaska instead. There’s a good tale being told here across the whole set and while it has its minor deviations for a little bit of fun from time to time, it is like the first season in that it’s focused on the big picture story and wants to make you feel a part of this world. FUNimation’s release is solid here across the board and it’s definitely a great second act to the story of Freezing that has me hopeful for a few more seasons to be put into production.
Features:
Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 Language, English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Language, English Subtitles, Six OVA Short Episodes, Episode Commentary, Textless Opening and Closing
Content Grade: A-
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B_
Released By: FUNimation
Release Date: April 21st, 2015
MSRP: $69.98
Running Time: 300 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
