First Impressions / FREEZING

「Godspeed of the East」

I wasn’t sure what to make of Kugimiya Rie cast to play Cathy Lockharte at first, but she brought out the best of the powerful yet soft-spoken Pandora and left me thinking this is her new calling in anime. Less loud, violent, little girls and more kind ones like this would probably make me look forward to her roles again, which I haven’t been able to do for some time now. She’s been typecast and milked for all she’s worth in them, which has overshadowed her actual talent to play a wide range of characters. Hopefully this will mark the start of changes to came, despite my reserved expectations about it.

As mentioned last time, this episode coincides with where I was finally able to put down the manga during my research for the season preview. All of it was entirely new to me, including the “Godspeed of the East” herself. The quick introduction of the second coming of Kazuya’s sister followed by her subsequent downfall did leave me wondering how much material was shuffled around though. Much like episode seven, it wasn’t the least bit jarring and even fleshed out Cathy’s character rather well, highlighting her aspirations of becoming a novelist and her previous encounter with Satellizer that struck fear in her, so it was mostly the feeling that a lot was covered that had me thinking that way. A quick skim of the manga afterward showed that to be true, with various scenes shuffled around and extra characters replaced with ones we already know to help condense the story.

In that regard, I must say this adaptation is a good example of straying from the source material yet adhering to it enough so that it doesn’t feel like the screenwriters were trying to change it into their own story. In this particular case, one may assume that’s because I saw the anime first and had that as the basis to go on, but I actually had the same feeling about the aforementioned seventh episode that covered seven chapters I had read beforehand. Having seen it both ways and felt positive about each time, I’m compelled to throw out the thought that one shouldn’t be so fixated to original source material if they were exposed to it first, as it’s a really closed-minded way to lose sight of how changes can be better from an anime standpoint. Taking Freezing for example, I never expected the story to get to this point in a mere 12-episode adaptation, but the producers have proven that they can do a lot with very little time.

As for the episode itself, I can’t recall the last time I’ve seen a character like Cathy, who’s grown up with expectations of being the most powerful Pandora and inherited Kazuha’s stigmata to become it, when in reality she’s a sweet girl who doesn’t want any part of it. That aspect didn’t really make her any more complex, but it did make the reasons she explained to her senior Milena Marius (Oohara Sayaka) a lot more captivating. It was largely in part to trying to understand how someone so powerful could have no confidence in her resolve — to the point that she admits to being terrified of the battlefield. While it was pretty understandable given that it was Satellizer’s “never say die” attitude she was comparing herself to, Cathy’s backstory served as good foreshadowing for the second half when she and various other Chevalier class Pandora from East Genetics were sent in to deal with the four Novas that appeared simultaneously.

I was pretty much convinced that Cathy would mess up her role as a finisher, even with her Quadruple Accel and all, but I don’t think anyone can blame her given that this is a new strain of Nova they’ve never encountered before. I somehow figured her miss would serve as a means to re-spark her resolve, so you can probably imagine my surprise when she was absorbed by one of the Novas shortly after. It came as a bit of a disappointment too since I had already grown fond of her character, even though she’ll make a return in the Nova Form mentioned in the preview. With all the focus on Cathy, it was pretty easy to forget about Satellizer, who is clearly disheartened over the idea that Kazuya only wants to be with her because she reminds him of her deceased sister. He sure knows how to bring down the Untouchable Queen unintentionally, even with his words alone. Anyway, that should be an interesting subplot in the final three episodes.

* I haven’t been posting links to the end cards each episode, but I have been capping them. Sister Margaret gets the nod this week and shows us the hairstyle she’s been hiding.

 

Preview

40 Comments

    3. That is right, it’s only likely to catch up to the translations, but the manwa is well ahead of those. But it’s pretty obvious that they are aiming for where the translations are right now as that is a good ending point for a season.

      Znail
      Reply

  3. The manga is right now around chapter 60ish. Its only been subbed to around 40 or so last time I checked.

    I still have this feeling that Show Spoiler ▼

    Karmafan
    Reply

  4. hmmm… it is interesting to see the problem in the relationship front right now given it is only 3 episodes left… hopefully it will be resolved soon.
    too bad if untouchable queen isn’t the answer, our whimp male lead also have another lovely girl in store… :3
    now I really want to read the manga, which has 61 chapters I think so far.

    jrj
    Reply

  11. I already read the manga but I don’t remember the part where Satellizer overhears a conversation that Kazuha has. Anyways, good episode and can’t wait for the next.
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Zangkin
    Reply

  12. this anime fails! Theres too much focus on characters & school life crap , and less focus on the story. it took 9 episodes for the anime to get interesting. They should just put novas in every 2 or 3 episodes in the anime. that should make it intersting.

    Rahxephonn everyone !!?

    Alec
    Reply

    2. In the story they explain that there were years between Nova attacks and the time between them has been shorting. Thats part of the storyline. They can’t have them attacking every 2-3 weeks.

      Karmafan
      Reply

    3. Not to mention that the “character & school life crap” is also a HUGE part of the story. People actually DO care about such development, believe it or not. Not everyone wants something like Bleach, Naruto, and whatnot where it’s constant fighting with little actual character development involved.

      The whole thing about the connections between a Pandora and Limiter, then throwing in a wild card like Kazuya who, somehow, defies all the “rules” of such things while Satellizer defies the regular “rules” of the school (at least from some 3rd years’ perspectives) is one of the key points of the story, not solely the Nova Attacks. This is not meant to be like Evangelion either.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
      Reply

  14. Definitely a nice manga-to-anime transition through and through.

    I am a bit disheartened that bits of backstory were sliced out, even if solely for time constraints and all…first Ingrid’s backstory getting watered down and now Cathy’s missing out on pieces too. The slight loss of drama doesn’t kill the anime, but it does make a bit less of an impact.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    Reply

  15. Well, this episode has both backstory and actual fighting, nicely balanced.
    With new and improved Nova on the move, I expect total mobilization, including all the girls we met so far, to begin soon. No more fun and games, time to kill and get killed.
    And Satella gets a downer confession at exactly worst moment…

    ewok40k
    Reply

  18. oh man, what a heart breaker!!! no fret though, Satella-senpai did not hear it from Kazuya’s mouth, so there’s still a chance!! she’s just over-reacting. Kazuya’s not being Satella-senpai’s limiter because she looks like his onee-san right? right?
    Anyways, looking forward to next week’s episode. I hope it follows the manhwa though. 🙂
    No more anime originals please. I was looking forward to the manhwa’s version of the date.

    Nimmy
    Reply

  19. The Novas couldn’t seriously be trying to take over the human race with just one Nova at a time(or in this case 4). I get the feeling that the Novas are evolving(more like adapting i guess) with every attack they make on humanity. They come in, attack, and the entire time they are gathering information. That would explain why nobody at Genetics had ever seen those attacks before. If that’s really whats happening then it would only be a matter of time before the Novas launched a full scale assault, unlike this one which is probably just another attempt at gathering info.

    With the way things are now and the very limited information we’ve gotten from the anime(this is about where I stopped in the manhwa too Divine), humanity is pretty much doomed. The only way I see that not happening is if they develop the technology that will allow them to attack the Novas directly before the Novas advance any further.

    Justa_Dream
    Reply

    1. Oh and I wonder if Show Spoiler ▼

      Plus, it would look really cool if they pulled it off right.

      Justa_Dream
      Reply

  20. Novas are attacking from seemingly safe base somewhere in other dimension. That is enormous bonus. But we dont know exactly how many of them are out there. Maybe they are mobilising their last wave already? Plus they might have blundered into a war by inter-species communication problem (Ender’s War anyone?) and still dont know how to end it?
    There is no way of knowing first 2 until someone is able to go into their dimension, and 3rd until some form of communication and translation occurs.

    ewok40k
    Reply

  21. It was all light-hearted in the beginning. Then Rahxephon happened with all the gore and death to go along with it! Definitely surprised that Cathy was utter fail against even one Nova. It’s sad to see someone like her be forced into battle just because she’s strong despite her heart of gold. D’:

    Shirt
    Reply

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