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The Show:
FUNimation continues on their region one anime dominance
with the release of a long running comedy series that is sure to have
wide
appeal here in the states. Sgt.
Frog Season One Part One is a 13
episode set that brings an outrageously funny show to American shores. Filled with wacky and outrageous humor the
show is entertaining to both adults and kids, with a good number of
anime
insider jokes thrown in for all the otaku.
If the series continues to be this strong it looks like
FUNimation will
have another hit on its hands.
The Earth is in danger.
A ship full of troops from the planet Keron are in orbit and
ready to
invade, but first they send down a squad of five frog-like
reconnaissance
soldiers led by Sgt. Keroro.
Unfortunately for the invaders, Keron is an idiot.
Soon after landing on Earth he meets up with
the Hinata family, mother and manga creator Aki, son Fuyuki, and
daughter
Natsumi. In the first episode Fuyuki
takes Keroro's very powerful control ball and accidently sends a signal
to the
invasion fleet to flee the planet, leaving Keroro and his comrades
behind.
Aki quickly agrees to let Keroro stay at their house, in
exchange for some 'light' house work (so she can chronicle his
adventures in
her manga.) He agrees and basically goes
from intergalactic soldier to slave in one quick motion.
The frog lives in the spacious basement which
sounds like a sweet deal until he discovers that the Hinata's house is
built on
the ruins of a mental hospital which was built on top of an old
cemetery and
the basement is haunted by the ghost of a wrongfully committed female
patient. There's always something, isn't
there?
Though he's trapped on Earth (or Pekopon as Keroro calls it)
that hasn't stopped the soldier from trying to conquer the planet... his
love of
Gundam models has. He spends all of his
free time building models and recreating famous Gundam battles, and
only thinks
about destroying humans when he has to.
This first collection contains 13 episodes. In
those Keroro manages to find the other
members of his squad: Private Second
Class Tamama who goes along with whatever Keroro says; Corporal Giroro,
the
group weapons master who is constantly irritated by Keroro's lack of an
invasion plan; Sergeant Major Kururu, the intelligence expert who
invents
various items at the drop of a hat; and Lance Corporal Dororo, who
follows the
ways of the ninja and has vowed to protect Earth, even from his team
mates.
There's little continuity in the shows, aside from the
introduction of new characters. That's
fine, as the off the wall humor makes up for the lack of a continuing
story. Many shows involve a plan to
conquer Earth, which goes awry, or Keroro's quest for more Gundam
figure.
A typically episode, and one that is hilarious, is Sgt.
Frog versus the Cavitians of Cavity 9! When Keroro has a tooth ach, Dororo gets very
worried. On Keron cavities are caused by
the diminutive Cavitians, a sworn enemy of Keroro's race. The sergeant's tooth ache means that his mouth
has been invaded and the Cavitians will try to destroy Keroro and then
the
Earth itself. Kururu invents a shrink
ray and while Keroro is under they all shrink, including Fuyuki and
Natsumi in
Gundam-inspired outfits, and get shot into the Frog's mouth. Oh yeah, Keroro goes too.
He doesn't want to miss the action so Kururu
creates a robot frog that's wirelessly linked to Keroro's brain. It's strange and off kilter, and very very
funny.
The DVD:
Audio:
This show comes with
the original Japanese soundtrack in stereo and a DD 5.1 English dub
(with
optional subtitles). I viewed the show
in Japanese and spot checked the dub track and found them to be both
fine, if
unexceptional, mixes. There are not a
lot of effects in the show, but the 2.0 track has some good separation
and the
5.1 option does make some good use of the rears in the occasional
action
sequences. The rare explosions do sound
better on the dub track though they aren't as forceful as I would have
liked. Whether you prefer watching anime
with subs
or the dub, you'll be pleased with this set.
Video:
The show was made in 2004 and features a 4:3 image that
looks very good. The colors are solid
and bright, the lines are tight, and the blacks are deep.
There was a bit of aliasing in the
background, but nothing too tragic. Overall
this is a nice looking show.
Extras:
Not much in the way of extras. The second
disc includes a clean opening and
closing as well as a text 'database.'
*yawn*
Final Thoughts:
This is a really funny series. My boys and
I had a great time watching it,
laughing the entire time. The show is
popular in Japan
too, with well over 250 episodes in the can so far, so it looks like
there's a
lot more where this came from. I can't
wait. Highly Recommended. |
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Buy: