One of the things I keep reading in these reviews is that this manga had a lot of potential. I definitely think so myself. The mangaka gives the background of what would ordinarily be the focus of the manga, but then he neglects it to do fanservice and show a bunch of girls acting like they're in high school. Meanwhile, we only read that the Nova have appeared numerous times and generally wreaked havoc and killed many people, but this is never portrayed strongly enough. I don't get the feeling of a society threatened by extinction. I get a sense of "look at us, we're in high-school being total bitches to each other. Novas invade Oh yeah, that's what we're here for! invasion defeated after much carnage Yay! Back to more high school!" But the Novas seems to be the last of this mangaka's concerns; his focus is on the interpersonal relationships of the Pandoras and their limiters, especially on Stella's tortured psyche and tragic background, into which he has delved no shallow amount as of chapter 46. And although this is developed while other aspects of the setting, such as the Nova menace, are left mostly unexplored (are they merely incomprehensible higher beings? If so, why do they want to destroy Earth's population? To take Earth and its resources? What the hell is going on here?), the mangaka has drawn at least me into his main characters, made me hate them, sympathize with them, cheer for them, hope for them, cry for them. This arc with her half-brother is truly infuriating (how can Stella's older sister be that ridiculously stupid? Why can't Kazuya sense that something is seriously wrong?). The latest chapters have been released late, and after reading them I can't go to sleep. This is good, insofar as I'm engaged in the story, and counts positively toward the rating.
However, aside from this psychologically rich (if sometimes psychologically implausible) storyline, the background feels a bit contrived to me. Why is Genetics run like a boarding school with a dumbfounding lack of oversight when the attendees possess such potent abilities and powers? The warriors behave like they're high-school girls because they're treated that way. Sure, it creates drama, but it's completely unbelievable.
All things considered, the background is a bit like Claymore. There's an inhuman menace that is fought using specially trained girls whose powers derive from elements from that same menace. Claymore's plot centers mainly on the conflict between the Claymores and the evil forces, but the Claymores don't feel human; as far as character development goes, many of them feel like shells of humans (although several of the actual main characters are not one-sided). Freezing is the opposite, but a lot of the supporting characters still feel one-dimensional. But not to say that Freezing should essentially be Claymore. Everything, the character development and backstories, the Nova, and the love story aspects should all be there in a well-ballanced, harmonious symphony.
For all of its flaws, I'm still optimistic that the story can only get deeper as it progresses. Chapter 46 is still be too early a point to pass judgment completely, and I'm looking forward to finding out how well this series will mature.
(-195)
(+127)
