Doing what you hope they do is also a pretty good way of screwing themselves over. Sorry, but I think the creators would rather stay in business.
I wouldn't exactly say the Pandoras are useless. And it's been said that the Novas are recently getting more powerful and are getting harder to deal with compared to past encounters. And don't forget, in Berserk and Claymore, there's considerably less people capable of taking on their respective threats, so yeah, we can see more of their characters. Freezing can afford to get lots of background characters slaughtered (somewhat). Not to mention that plenty of humans pointlessly die off in Berserk as well. Also, Cassie gets to live and somewhat get a happy ending.
While I agree that it is a bit similar to Claymore, I think that a lot of the points you make are incorrect. The above too posters summed up most of them. I'll also add that Claymore has almost zero romance in it. We have one kiss between Clare and Raki...And that's it. Now just look at Freezing.
I can see what you guys are saying, but it still bothers me that most of the battles involve tremendous loss of life, while at the same time emphasizing how special and powerful the Pandoras are. It seems to contradict itself in that way. Good point about "Berserk" — a lot of people are slaughtered on a regular basis. The only reason I threw the reference to "Berserk" in there is because it also involves scores of characters fighting demonic beings. The thing with Cassie is that it seems like it's gearing up to have her thrown back into the action (of course, at the time, I wasn't entirely sure if the manga-reading site I was using was up-to-date), and I haven't read the manga in a while, so you may be correct about that. And Golden Axe: the comparison to "Claymore" had nothing to do with romance; it had to do with the plot of the manga. "Freezing" has a bit of romance in it, and I will admit that that makes it somewhat different from "Claymore." I was focusing more on the "young women fight monsters, yet are also susceptible to becoming monsters themselves" part of the plot. So I wouldn't say that my points are incorrect, but a matter of perspective. If you enjoy this type of manga, "Freezing" is a great story — it's well-drawn, the characters are fleshed out, and the action is usually rather intense. It's just too similar to "Claymore" at times for my taste. Although, given what you've said, I might go back and read it. I think it deserves a second chance.
I haven't read the manga, but I couldn't make it past episode 5 or 6 of the anime. The reasons? The staff are effectively useless, and the senior female students are all utter bitches. They are more concerned with the so-called "rules", and with their own rankings. How this would result in more effective soldiers is beyond me.
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Claymore Lite
Let's be honest: this series is a toned-down version of "Claymore." The fights are brutal, the ladies are powerful, the monsters are terrifying... and it's ripped right from the disturbing series we all know and love. Don't get me wrong — I'm not saying "Freezing" is a total knock-off of "Claymore," but that many elements were borrowed from the older manga/anime. While I was a little suspicious from the get-go ("Claymore" has ruined "young women fight terrible monsters"-based stories for me forever), what really sealed it was the revelation that Pandoras can become Novas, whether unwillingly or willingly. While this seems pretty innocuous, the idea that these young women can transform when pressed hard enough (or by activating the Stigma's full potential) comes off as derivative. Another problem with "Freezing" is that it vacillates between gripping and dull. The battles are consistently hopeless and gory, to the point that the Pandoras seem pretty useless. Unlike series such as "Berserk" and "Claymore," in which battles may involve a large loss of life, individual attention is paid to the combatants; in other words, we actually have a reason to care about what is going on. In "Freezing," however, scores of anonymous young women are slaughtered without us ever knowing who they are. At the same time, the main characters have immunity to this, or at least, that's how it seems. If the battles alternated in scope, "Freezing" would actually be a very interesting series (that is, not all battles involved massive amounts of death — some may be minor skirmishes, others are devastating struggles). I just can't be immersed in a story in which everything seems pointless, in which everything seems to be going downhill (there are series that can pull this off and keep my interest, however, but they are character-driven). Finally, the creators of the manga seem determined to sap all hope and life from the series. Take, for instance, Cassie: a character who deserves to be happy and alive, a character who has found love... she probably won't make it out of the series alive. Some manga can pull your heart-strings like this and make it work; this one doesn't. I only hope that the creators stop being so derivative and actually make this into an engaging, deep series.