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The Show:
FUNimation boldly rushes into the second season of Sgt.
Frog with their third collection of
episodes, aptly entitled Sgt. Frog Season
Two Part One. Filled with more puns,
quips, and jokes, this set is just as uproariously funny as the earlier
ones. This is easily the best humor
anime currently in release and deserves to be in everyone's anime
collection.
Series Background:
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?
In addition to Keroro, there's also 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 Kululu, 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.
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 volume:
This laugh-out-loud collection continues in the same
humorous vein as the previous releases. This time around the Armpit Platoon gets
pulled into a school play, Peter Pan - A Tale
of Terror, they present a parody of Jurassic Park complete with a
cloned
T-Rex, and try to raise money (to pay off Keroro's Gundam model debts)
by
opening a Ninja Training School.
Unfortunately this competes with Space Detective Kogoro's
attempt to
raise some cash with a "Space Deputy Seminar".
Mayhem ensues.
Like the other collections, just about every episode on
these discs has some good laughs. One of the best this time around is the
Christmas episode where Keroro decides that Santa is a rival alien
trying to conquer
Pekopon and sets out to kill him. Or
tickle him, whichever is easier. There's
also a funny parody of practical joke shows where the space pop-idol
Sumomo
gets into a Natsumi disguise and tries to 'punk' Giroro by getting the
frog to
kiss the human on TV. It's not as easy
as it sounds.
Even the shows with weaker plots are funny because the show
is filled with rapid-fire puns and jokes; so many that you can't catch
all of
them the first time around. Not all of
them are aimed at kids either, such are the time that one character
pulls out "A
weapon so horrible even North Korea has banned it!"
Basically, if you enjoyed the first two sets,
this is more of the same. Pick it up.
The DVD:
This two disc set contains the next 13 installments in the
series, episodes 27-39. They
come on two single-sided DVDs each in its
own thinpak case. The two cases are housed
in an attractive slipcase.
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 'Pekopon Invasion Database' which is a
gallery of
character designs.
Final Thoughts:
Filled with rapid-fire jokes and fast flying puns, each
episode of Sgt. Frog has more laughs
than any other show I can think of.
Clever, witty, and outrageously funny, this is a must-buy series. Highly
Recommended. |
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