Jonathan L. Switzer
Mar 22, 2004, 02:51 am
<a href="http://robotechcomics.50megs.com/_blog/sgtfrog1.jpg"><img src="http://robotechcomics.50megs.com/_blog/sgtfrog1t.jpg" align=left alt="Sgt. Frog Vol. 1"></a>Reviewer: Jonathan L. Switzer, captainjls@animejanai.com
Quick Rating: Good
"... if it's still here when we come back, let's dismember it and bury it in the yard."
Story & Art: Mine Yoshizaki
I have just digested a particularly difficult volume of manga to discuss. Very difficult, very packed with strangeness and stories upon stories, with cute curvaceous girls and a bevy of Gundam in-jokes I presume are probably hardwired into most manga readers back in Japan. I keep weighing the book in my hand, hoping that the words will pass from the shiny-covered volume (oh, so shiny ...) directly into my fingertips so that they might then escape into keystrokes and my task would be done. But unfortunately, the world doesn't work that way. Perhaps within the world on display in the first volume of Sgt. Frog things could happen that way, but certainly not here.
The premise is simple; this is an "alien with the family" story of the sort showcased in sitcoms every few years--the Alf mold. The alien is Sgt. Keroro, a small frog-like creature with a star on his belly and military regulations hardwired into his brain. The family is the Hinatas: spiky-haired sixth grader Fuyuki, tempermental seventh grader Natsumi, and their freakishly beautiful manga editor mother Aki. A stock bunch, in a lot of ways ... well, except for the fiendishly plotting frog, who was originally sent here to lead a full-scale invasion. The stories are relatively simple as well, dealing with the Hinatas' slow and steady acclimation to living with their unusual houseguest, and then the similarly slow and steady addition of new characters to liven things up--new characters like Momoka, a super-rich girl who can be super-cute and super-nasty, and is super-obsessed with Fuyuki, and Private Tamama, Keroro's subordinate who lives with Momoka and has roughly the same bipolar temperment.
But the execution ... the execution is some twisted stuff, folks. There is violence! There is bizarre unexplained phenomena! There is dark, morbid humor! There are oddly mature jokes (though the details are usually neatly evaded), and random pop culture references from both sides of the Pacific! The book may look cute, and may operate in a rather simplistic formula, but the whole thing comes off very, very strangely. You have to worry about a series where, when the children bring up the fear of their mother finding out about their new extraterrestrial friend, the image that sister Natsumi uses to illustrate is a silhouette of the demonic Eva Unit 01 from Neon Genesis Evangelion going berserk.
I mentioned that I found most of the characters rather stock. The thing is, they're all fairly typical archetypes at this point; siblings Fuyuki and Natsumi come off a lot like Yu and Ai from the Final Fantasy Unlimited anime series and other sibling pairs I've seen in Japanese works lately, with the boy being friendly and a little naive, and the sister being feisty and a shade domineering. Their mom is kind of irresponsible and doesn't exactly act her age, like so many modern anime and manga parents. Even Keroro isn't exactly unique in the pantheon of characters; the invading alien who becomes friends with the people of Earth almost against his will is nothing new, though the way his zeal for conquest doesn't totally abate due to his friendship with his human family is a bit uncommon. When, in the last chapter of this volume, the Lord of Terror predicted by Nostradamus arrives to destroy the Earth, Keroro joyously encourages the rending of the planet. The way Fuyuki gets the Earth out of this fix is tremendously amusing, albeit a little typical.
The art is pleasing in a friendly, cute sort of way; it reminds me strongly of the style of MegaMan video games, or the recent Dreamwave comics featuring the character. Everyone is super-cute with super-big eyes. Keroro himself is kind of an oddball, cute in a sort of creepy way, but still begging loudly to be made into a plush toy. (Perhaps with the upcoming anime series they'll be making some plushies. I'd buy one ...) The art and nature of the storyline make it feel like a kids' series, though there is a two-part beach story which does put an awful lot of female flesh on display, and as I said, a lot of strange humor crops up that Western audiences might find mature--there are a few gags that even struck me as a little mature for Japanese material of this particular flavor of cuteness.
I would be remiss if I didn't point out just how dense a read this is. There's a lot of material here, ten chapters with only one acting as a real "two-parter," each rather self-contained and filled to bursting with sight gags, lots of tiny panels, and rambling dialogue. It's a good value for the money. While it looks slimmer than other TokyoPop volumes, it took me longer to read this than any given volume of wispy shojo stuff like Kare Kano (not that Kare Kano is bad, but really, it reads like a breeze).
So, would I recommend this? Yeah, if you're in the right mood. If you like the idea of something cute, dark, twisted, and downright odd in that special jaw-dropping awkwardly silencing way only the Japanese can craft a series, Sgt. Frog is right for you. Even if you don't like cute things, you may find something to like here--after all, while the art is cute, the story tends so much towards the bizarre that it seems the cute look is just window dressing. Something is horribly amiss with this manga. I think I like it.
ART:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tphalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg
STORY:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg
Check out TokyoPop's website to see where to buy this and other volumes online! (http://www.tokyopop.com/dbpage.php?page=product&productid=2005)
Quick Rating: Good
"... if it's still here when we come back, let's dismember it and bury it in the yard."
Story & Art: Mine Yoshizaki
I have just digested a particularly difficult volume of manga to discuss. Very difficult, very packed with strangeness and stories upon stories, with cute curvaceous girls and a bevy of Gundam in-jokes I presume are probably hardwired into most manga readers back in Japan. I keep weighing the book in my hand, hoping that the words will pass from the shiny-covered volume (oh, so shiny ...) directly into my fingertips so that they might then escape into keystrokes and my task would be done. But unfortunately, the world doesn't work that way. Perhaps within the world on display in the first volume of Sgt. Frog things could happen that way, but certainly not here.
The premise is simple; this is an "alien with the family" story of the sort showcased in sitcoms every few years--the Alf mold. The alien is Sgt. Keroro, a small frog-like creature with a star on his belly and military regulations hardwired into his brain. The family is the Hinatas: spiky-haired sixth grader Fuyuki, tempermental seventh grader Natsumi, and their freakishly beautiful manga editor mother Aki. A stock bunch, in a lot of ways ... well, except for the fiendishly plotting frog, who was originally sent here to lead a full-scale invasion. The stories are relatively simple as well, dealing with the Hinatas' slow and steady acclimation to living with their unusual houseguest, and then the similarly slow and steady addition of new characters to liven things up--new characters like Momoka, a super-rich girl who can be super-cute and super-nasty, and is super-obsessed with Fuyuki, and Private Tamama, Keroro's subordinate who lives with Momoka and has roughly the same bipolar temperment.
But the execution ... the execution is some twisted stuff, folks. There is violence! There is bizarre unexplained phenomena! There is dark, morbid humor! There are oddly mature jokes (though the details are usually neatly evaded), and random pop culture references from both sides of the Pacific! The book may look cute, and may operate in a rather simplistic formula, but the whole thing comes off very, very strangely. You have to worry about a series where, when the children bring up the fear of their mother finding out about their new extraterrestrial friend, the image that sister Natsumi uses to illustrate is a silhouette of the demonic Eva Unit 01 from Neon Genesis Evangelion going berserk.
I mentioned that I found most of the characters rather stock. The thing is, they're all fairly typical archetypes at this point; siblings Fuyuki and Natsumi come off a lot like Yu and Ai from the Final Fantasy Unlimited anime series and other sibling pairs I've seen in Japanese works lately, with the boy being friendly and a little naive, and the sister being feisty and a shade domineering. Their mom is kind of irresponsible and doesn't exactly act her age, like so many modern anime and manga parents. Even Keroro isn't exactly unique in the pantheon of characters; the invading alien who becomes friends with the people of Earth almost against his will is nothing new, though the way his zeal for conquest doesn't totally abate due to his friendship with his human family is a bit uncommon. When, in the last chapter of this volume, the Lord of Terror predicted by Nostradamus arrives to destroy the Earth, Keroro joyously encourages the rending of the planet. The way Fuyuki gets the Earth out of this fix is tremendously amusing, albeit a little typical.
The art is pleasing in a friendly, cute sort of way; it reminds me strongly of the style of MegaMan video games, or the recent Dreamwave comics featuring the character. Everyone is super-cute with super-big eyes. Keroro himself is kind of an oddball, cute in a sort of creepy way, but still begging loudly to be made into a plush toy. (Perhaps with the upcoming anime series they'll be making some plushies. I'd buy one ...) The art and nature of the storyline make it feel like a kids' series, though there is a two-part beach story which does put an awful lot of female flesh on display, and as I said, a lot of strange humor crops up that Western audiences might find mature--there are a few gags that even struck me as a little mature for Japanese material of this particular flavor of cuteness.
I would be remiss if I didn't point out just how dense a read this is. There's a lot of material here, ten chapters with only one acting as a real "two-parter," each rather self-contained and filled to bursting with sight gags, lots of tiny panels, and rambling dialogue. It's a good value for the money. While it looks slimmer than other TokyoPop volumes, it took me longer to read this than any given volume of wispy shojo stuff like Kare Kano (not that Kare Kano is bad, but really, it reads like a breeze).
So, would I recommend this? Yeah, if you're in the right mood. If you like the idea of something cute, dark, twisted, and downright odd in that special jaw-dropping awkwardly silencing way only the Japanese can craft a series, Sgt. Frog is right for you. Even if you don't like cute things, you may find something to like here--after all, while the art is cute, the story tends so much towards the bizarre that it seems the cute look is just window dressing. Something is horribly amiss with this manga. I think I like it.
ART:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tphalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg
STORY:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/tpnone.jpg
Check out TokyoPop's website to see where to buy this and other volumes online! (http://www.tokyopop.com/dbpage.php?page=product&productid=2005)