It must be Wednesday, because we have a Guest Review! Even better, we have a brand new Guest Reviewer. I love when that happens. ^_^ Today we welcome Grisznak, who has kindly offered to review something I had never heard of, much less watched. So let’s settle in with some popcorn as Grisznak takes the stage. /applause/

Anyone here remember Freezing? Yes, this series from 2011 with lot of bloo… I mean boob… well, technically, with a lot of boobs and blood as well. Another generic danger to the humankind (this time an unknown monster called “Nova”) and some scanty clad girls with super powers – we’ve seen this lot of times, haven’t we? Usually, in such series we can find some Yuri hints. But was that a good reason to watch? Not this time, trust me. Freezing wasn’t bad a anime – it was a very bad anime. So, why even mention it here? Because it is getting a second season. And, surprisingly, Freezing Vibration (sic!) isn’t THAT bad. After all that what I can say after watching some episodes. Full opinion can be made when this series will be finished. But let’s take a look…

This time our bunch of superpowered girls (called “Pandoras”) arrive in the USA, where group of scientists work on a program that allows turn every girl into Pandora. This project is called “e-Pandora” and you can probably guess that there’s something fishy about it. But before we find what’s going on, some dresses will be torn, some boobs revealed and some blood will be spilled.

There are some major differences between the two seasons. Freezing focused on Satlizer el Brigett, blonde meganekko whose nickname was “Untouchable Queen”. With such a nickname it’s rather easy to predict that character will be touched lot of times.

And most of the series was about that – Pandoras were fighting against each other, girls were doing something that could be called “Strip Fighting” and everyone was waiting until Nova appears.

The second season shows Pandoras on duty – there’s little place for girly fights and arguments,  there is serious business going on.  We have two groups – Pandoras and E-Pandoras. They are different, but they’re meant to cooperate. Of course, it won’t be easy, because E-Pandoras not only have to compete with original Pandoras, but they need to survive deadly experiments their makers are performing on them.

Lot of fights, lot of drama, but what about Yuri? Those who were watching first season already know that each Pandora has her male sidekick called a “Limiter.” To cooperate at full power, they need to perform a “Baptism.” (It amazes me how the Japanese creators use Christian terminology for what is simply sex). Our Untouchable Queen had problems with that and still has, but her Limiter was really the protagonist of the first season. Now he’s in the shadows; he rarely appears and hasn’t much to do. The second season is about girls. And this is good, especially if you’re Yuri fan.

Almost since beginning of the story we can see tension between leaders of both groups – Elizabeth Mably and Amelia Evans. And, this is not the usual love-hate, but rather a much more complicated relationship between two strong women who holds responsibility for their people. Yes, Yuri fans could be happy, seeing Amelia in Elizabeth arms at the end of the fourth episode. Of course, we have lot of groping, boob touching and other fanservice moments in this anime as well. Boys are still there, but they’re merely tools, without much use in the plot.

I’m always curious if they make clothes from some kind of very frail materials in anime. Remember Ikkitousen or any other series like that? Right, those anime where you can perform a punch and the girl’s blouse is ripping apart, often with bra as well. Freezing has same problem –  in almost every battle, participants have to lose some of their clothes. Years ago I found this amusing, today I found it boing… I mean boring. Still, original Freezing had an annoying tendency to mix fanservice with gore. Freezing Vibration has lost some of gore. And it’s good.

With a plot (finally), less gore and some nicely done relationships between characters, this series looks watchable. Still, I’m not calling this anime good – it’s a deep valley between Freezing Vibration and lot of good series. But, if you like to see something action and fanservice-oriented and already watched Ikkitousen, check this out. Of course, you have to break through first season (or just read summary in the web), but some sacrifices always should be made.

Art – 7
Story – 5
Characters – 6
Yuri – 4
Service – 8
Overall –  6

Erica here: Funimation is streaming both Freezing and Freezing Vibration online for free (with regional restrictions) so you too can “enjoy” what sounds like it might be some kind of fun.  Thank you Grisznak for the highly amusing review. I’m almost tempted to watch it now…but I expect that will pass. ^_^