Satellizer el Bridget is the top-ranked Pandora at the West Genetics academy. The Pandoras are female warriors, being trained to help defend the Earth against the Nova, alien invaders who are (as usual) hellbent on destruction. With the Pandoras all capable of a high level of regeneration, enabling them to regrow lost limbs and repair other wounds that wwould be lethal to normal humans, they're formidable warriors indeed - and Satellizer is head and shoulders above her compatriots. But with each Pandora expected to partner with a Limiter to help control her abilities, Satellizer has a problem: she's the "Untouchable Queen", refusing to allow anyone to touch her - and touching is a key part of what Limiters do. But a chance encounter with young Kazuya Aoi may just be the key to her overcoming her problem... Just started watching Infinite Stratos the other day, and on the surface there are certain similarities here - boy attending military academy where the girls are top dog. Can't tie this in the Battle Athletes, though - Claymore is probably a closer influence, in terms of how violent and gory it can get - and Freezing certainly has a much darker tone - the students of West Genetics are doing this for athletic competition, they're doing it to save the world, and they're taking a hell of a lot of damage in the process. The violence is countered by a healthy dose of fanservice - when you get to see it. This is the TV edit version, and there are scenes where so much of the screen is obscured (panties with lensflare, violence simply blacked out) that you can't actually see anything. At all. And it's inconsistently done, which puts the lie to the idea that it's done out of sensibility to broadcast standards. In one scene, underwear is on show; in the next, is washed out. No, this is purely a "buy the DVD" gimmick, and it's done to such a blatant extent that, frankly, it pisses me off. There's potential here, though - the idea is decent, and while you don't get to see much in the first episode about how the Pandora / Limiter arrangement works, it's interesting. There are some half-decent characters, too. The Good: Service, service! This should really be an Anime Network show. :) Interesting ideas, played out by potentially interesting characters. The Bad: Satellizer, who is just a bitch as presented in this episode. She may mellow over time, but so far she's a really unlikeable lead. TV edit leaves the screen almost blacked out for large portions of the episode. Ironically, the fanservice may get in the way of the story, a la Highschool of the Dead. One to keep an eye on, then, so long as the editing doesn't get you down. And that, sadly, is a real danger.
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