Freezing (manga)

Freezing
Cover of Volume 1, as released by Kill Time Communication, featuring Satellizer el Bridget
フリージング (Furījingu)
Genre	Action, Harem, Science fiction
Manga
Written by	Lim Dall-young
Illustrated by	Kim Kwang-Hyun
Published by	Kill Time Communication
English publisher	NA Seven Seas Entertainment
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Comic Valkyrie
Original run	January 27, 2007 – present
Volumes	28
Anime television series
Directed by	Takashi Watanabe
Produced by	Shinsaku Tanaka Takashi Tachizaki
Written by	Masanao Akahoshi
Music by	Masaru Yokoyama
Studio	ACGT
Network	AT-X (4:3, uncensored) Tokyo MX, CTC, Sun TV, TVA, tvk, TVS (16:9, censored)
English network	US Funimation Channel
Original run	January 8, 2011 – April 7, 2011
Episodes	12 + 6 OVAs
Manga
Freezing: First Chronicle
Written by	Dall-Young Lim
Illustrated by	Jae-Ho Yoon
Published by	Kill Time Communication
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Comic Valkyrie
Original run	September 27, 2011 – January 27, 2012
Volumes	1
Manga
Freezing: Zero
Written by	Dall-Young Lim
Illustrated by	Soo-Cheol Jeong
Published by	Kill Time Communication
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Comic Valkyrie
Original run	March 27, 2012 – present
Volumes	6
Manga
Freezing Pair Love Stories
Written by	Dall-Young Lim
Illustrated by	So-Hee Kim
Published by	Kill Time Communication
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Comic Valkyrie
Original run	April 2013 – present
Volumes	3
Anime television series
Freezing Vibration
Directed by	Takashi Watanabe
Produced by	Shinsaku Tanaka Takashi Tachizaki
Written by	Masanao Akahoshi
Music by	Masaru Yokoyama
Studio	A.C.G.T
Network	AT-X (4:3, uncensored) Tokyo MX, Sun TV, TVA, BS11 (16:9, censored)
Original run	October 4, 2013 – December 20, 2013
Episodes	12 + 6 OVAs

Freezing (Japanese: フリージング, Hepburn: Furījingu) is a Japanese manga written by Dall-Young Lim and illustrated by Kwang-Hyun Kim. The series revolves around the invasion of Earth by an extraterrestrial force called the Nova, and a special force of genetically engineered young women called Pandoras, and their male partners, called Limiters, who are created to combat the Nova. It centers on Kazuya Aoi, a Limiter whose late sister was a Pandora, and Satellizer el Bridget, a Pandora with a cold personality who is known as the "Untouchable Queen" due to her intense aphephobia. Both enrolled at West Genetics Academy, a training school for Pandoras and Limiters.

Freezing began serialization in Kill Time Communication's seinen manga magazine Comic Valkyrie in its March 2007 issue. The first collected volume was released on October 17, 2010, with a total of seventeen volumes sold in Japan as of January 29, 2013 under its Valkyrie Comics imprint. On August 12, 2010, an anime adaptation produced by A.C.G.T was announced, and aired twelve episodes in Japan between January and April 2011 on AT-X and other channels. The anime is licensed in North America by Funimation Entertainment, who released the series in August 2012. A second anime season titled Freezing Vibration (フリージング ヴァイブレーション, Furījingu Vaiburēshon) premiered on October 4, 2013.

There are currently three spin-off series based on the world of Freezing being published. The first spin-off, called Freezing: First Chronicle (フリージング　ファーストクロニクル, Furījingu: Fāsuto Kuronikuru), was serialized in Comic Valkyrie from the November 2011 issue to the March 2012 issue. The second spinoff, called Freezing: Zero (フリージングZERO, Furījingu: Zero), began serialization in the May 2012 issue of Comic Valkyrie. A third spinoff, called Freezing Pair Love Stories (フリージング　ペアラブストーリーズ), began serialization in the April 2013 issue of Comic Valkyrie.

Plot

See also: List of Freezing characters

In 2065, Earth is in the middle of a war with extra-dimensional aliens called Nova. The military develops and trains Pandoras (パンドラ), girls who are able to use special genetic tissue called Stigmata (聖痕, Seikon) to manifest superhuman fighting skills and weapons. Supporting the Pandoras are male partners called Limiters (リミッター, Rimittā), who use special "freezing" powers to limit their opponent's mobility.

One of these limiters is Kazuya Aoi, whose late sister was a Pandora. While attending West Genetics Academy in Japan, Kazuya meets Satellizer el Bridget, a powerful Pandora, nicknamed the Untouchable Queen, for her ruthless personality and her intense aphephobia. Despite warnings from his schoolmates to keep away from Satellizer, Kazuya befriends her, and asks to be her Limiter. After helping her through several fights against school rivals of varying ranks and classes, Satellizer agrees to partner with him, although she soon encounters a rival in romance named Rana Linchen, who thinks Kazuya is her soulmate. Their rivalry is put aside when the Novas attack their school using Pandoras under their control to access the school's underground lab.

Satellizer and Kazuya join a handful of West Genetics students to a research lab in Alaska, where they are to help with the Evolution Pandora (E-Pandora) project, which allows ordinary girls to undergo Stigmata transplants to become Pandoras. When one of the E-Pandoras goes berserk, the others question whether the drugs in the experiment are safe, but are forced to comply with the director and the corporation's wishes. Upon discovering that they are to be used until they are expendable, the E-Pandora Amelia Evans leads a rebellion which escalates into a full-on Nova Clash.

Kazuya learns more about his family's connections to the Pandora and the Nova. Kazuya's grandfather Gengo Aoi launches a similar project, which puts Satellizer and Rana into a special team with girls called Valkyries. However, during the demonstration exercise with custom-designed dummy Nova, the Pandoras experience illusions, and the dummy Novas become a legion of hundreds of Nova that decimate Genetics. Gengo counters this by unleashing the Legendary Pandoras who are Kazuya's aunts. The Chevalier attempt to assassinate Gengo using a group of convicts called the Busters, but the mission falls apart when some of the Legendary Pandoras turn into deadly Novas.

Media

Manga

Main article: List of Freezing chapters

Written by Korean manhwa author Dall-Young Lim and illustrated by Kwang-Hyun Kim, Freezing began serialization in Kill Time Communications' male-oriented Japanese manga magazine Comic Valkyrie in its March 2007 issue. The first collected bound volume was released in October 26, 2007, with a total of sixteen volumes sold in Japan as of November 2, 2012 under its Valkryie Comics imprint. Freezing is currently split into two parts: Part 1 which ran from Volume 1 to Volume 14, spanning 96 chapters; and Part 2, going from Volume 15 onwards and currently ongoing in Comic Valkyrie. Outside of Japan, Freezing is published in South Korea by Haksan Culture Company and serialized in Booking; in France by Bamboo Edition under their Doki-Doki manga imprint; and in Taiwan by Tong Li Publishing. The English version of Freezing is scheduled to be published in 2-in-1 omnibus editions, starting with Volumes 1-2 by Seven Seas Entertainment in June 2015.

A spinoff manga, called Freezing: First Chronicle (フリージング　ファーストクロニクル, Furījingu: Fāsuto Kuronikuru), illustrated by Jae-Ho Yoon (the illustrator of Lim's light novel-based manhwa The Phantom King), began serialization in the November 2011 issue of Comic Valkyrie (released on September 27, 2011), and ran four chapters until the March 2011 issue (released January 27, 2012). A prequel to the original series, the story centers on Chiffon Fairchild and Ticy Phenyl's first year at West Genetics prior to them becoming Student Council President and Vice President, and also explains the origin of Chiffon's title, "The Unmatched Smiling Monster". First Chronicle was later released as a tankōbon volume on February 29, 2012.

A second spinoff manga, called Freezing: Zero (フリージングZERO, Furījingu: Zero), illustrated by Soo-Cheol Jeong (the illustrator of Lim's novel-based manhwa The Legend of Maian), began serialization in the May 2012 issue of Comic Valkyrie (published on March 27, 2012). Like First Chronicle before it, Zero is also a prequel to the original series, chronicling the back stories of many Pandoras prior to them attending Genetics. The first bound volume of Zero, centering on Kazuha Aoi's second year at West Genetics alongside Yumi and Elize, was released on August 29, 2012.

A third spinoff manga, called Freezing Pair Love Stories (フリージング　ペアラブストーリーズ), illustrated by So-Hee Kim, began serialization in the April 2013 issue of Comic Valkyrie.

Anime

See also: List of Freezing episodes

An anime adaptation produced by A.C.G.T aired on AT-X between January 8, 2011, and April 2, 2011. The show aired uncensored in 4:3 format on AT-X, while the airing on Tokyo MX (which began on January 9, 2011) and other channels were in 16:9 widescreen format, albeit heavily censored. Episodes 11 and 12 were pushed back due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Six DVD and Blu-ray volumes were released by Media Factory between March 23, 2011, and August 24, 2011, each volume containing two episodes and an original video animation called It'll Explode! Heart-Pounding Trouble♥Freezing (はじけちゃう!ドキドキトラブル♥フリージング, Hajikechau! Dokidoki Toraburu♥Furījingu), as well as other bonus material. The anime is licensed in North America by Funimation Entertainment for simulcasting (in its 16:9 censored format prior to the Elite subscription) on their video portal, Funimation later gained additional licensing rights to the series, and released the series on August 28, 2012, on DVD and Blu-ray. A second anime season, titled Freezing Vibration (フリージング ヴァイブレーション), premiered on October 4, 2013, with a promotional video being featured at the 2013 Anime Contents Expo and the show's official website. Funimation will also simulcast Vibration on their website.

The opening theme for the series is "Color" by MARiA, a cover of a song that was originally sung by the Vocaloid Hatsune Miku, while the ending theme is "To Protect You" (君を守りたい, Kimi o Mamoritai) by Aika Kobayashi. A CD single containing the two songs was released by Media Factory on February 23, 2011. For the second season, the opening theme is "AVENGE WORLD" and the ending theme is "The World Embraces Scars" (世界は疵を抱きしめる, Sekai wa Kizu o Dakishimeru), both are performed by Konomi Suzuki.

Internet

An internet radio show called Izumi Kitta and Aya Uchida of Freezing: West Middlefield Genetics Academy!! (橘田いずみと内田彩のフリージング ウエストミドルフィールド ゼネティックス学園分校!!) aired six episodes on HiBiKi Radio Station between December 10, 2010, and May 13, 2011. The show is hosted by Izumi Kitta and Aya Uchida, the respective voices for Cleo Brand and Ticy Phenyl. Each radio episode features guest voices from the anime series.

An internet video show called Freezing: Genetics TV (フリージング ゼネティックスTV, Furījingu Zenetikkusu Terebi) aired on Media Factory's official YouTube account. The show is hosted by Mamiko Noto and Kana Hanazawa, the respective voices of Satellizer el Bridget and Rana Linchen, and ran eight episodes from December 10, 2010, to March 10, 2011.

Reception

The anime adaption of Freezing has received mixed reviews. Anime News Network gave the series a B- overall, stating "As is, the series is nowhere near as bad as its premise suggested it could have been, and comes off a little better in the end than the initial impression it gives, but its appeal is still not going to extend much beyond the normal crowd of fan service and graphic action aficionados."

External links

• Freezing at Comic Valkyrie (Japanese)
  • Freezing: First Chronicle at Comic Valkyrie (Japanese)
  • Freezing: Zero at Comic Valkyrie (Japanese)
  • Freezing Pair Love Stories at Comic Valkyrie (Japanese)
• Official anime website (Japanese)
• Freezing at FUNimation
• Freezing (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia