Freezing (2011– )

It is certainly true that the creators of the "Freezing" series wanted to create something that was serious and sexy, and they did exactly that mixing it with some sci-fi technology. That sci-fi only provides mechanisms for a plot and drama, but the series itself is actually about the people, the beautiful and sexy young women - called Pandoras - who are genetically modified to become powerful fighters and warriors to fight humanity's extra-dimensional enemies, the Nova. What the Nova exactly are and why they've come to fight humans on Earth is nebulous, but an unimportant concept. We only have to know that they are there, they kill people, and they have to be fought for humanity's survival. The gorgeous and scantily clad female warriors are aided by their ultra-loyal, young male counterparts to form a fighting team; the males are Limiters, who are able to counteract the Nova's freezing paralysis, or, alternatively, cast their own freezing field; this enables the young women to fight the Nova, who are still deadly with their freezing ability held in check.

Satellizer is one of the most powerful Pandora, and her partner, Kazuya, is a powerful Limiter, making them an effective team; it takes some difficulties for them to get there, but eventually they do. Much of the story is about Satellizer getting situated in the school with the other women. She is an astonishingly beautiful and sexy character who, despite that, becomes a sympathetic character that we want to see succeed in her life both as a Pandora and a person. Some of the high- powered females in the school give her a hard time, as you might imagine, with all that power and ego they possess which is necessary for them to put their lives on the line and fight some pretty scary and horrifying alien beasts. Satellizer has to grow up some more and come of age to be an effective Pandora fighter and develop into a normal, unaffected adult, which is difficult for her due to an abusive background, which we eventually get to see, and which has made her hateful of being touched by or intimate with anyone, giving her the moniker, "the untouchable queen."

The art is quite beautiful and the battle scenes graphic and moving as these young people risk their lives to fight off the alien enemy. But the strength of the series is the portrayal of the inter-relationships between the young females and males as they interact, go through real and dangerous training battles with each other, and try to find a way through all that to have some kind of normal life with friends and mates that they care about. As a sci-fi author myself, who enjoys good anime - which this is - one can see that the creators worked hard to display this struggle between the characters, which is routine and difficult enough for normal teens, but is even more difficult for these modified, powerful teenagers who must sacrifice a lot to go to war against those deadly alien creatures, where they could easily die and in fact many have. The series is well-done, visually stunning, emotionally gripping at some points, and an adventure that should keep you glued to the story until the end. The sexiness and nudity of the females, where you would think it doesn't belong, is instead an integral part of the characters' persona, providing a positive developmental evolution for them in that environment; it is a necessity for these young, battling females, who must maintain their personal pride not only as warriors but as feminine females, always remaining youthful, attractive, and powerful, while it does give viewers an eyeful of feminine beauty they will not soon forget.