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The Series:
"Sparkling vampires are just twisted fiction from a mad
woman's mind." - Natsumi Hinata
Woo-hoo! Otaku in Region One finally get
new episodes of Sgt. Frog! FUNimation
has continued with the series
after a long 16 months hiatus with no new episodes.
It was worth the wait, as Sgt, Keroro and his
Armpit Platoon are still hilarious with their bizarre and off-the-wall
plans
for taking over the Earth. Sgt.
Frog Season Three Part One is
another 14 episodes of goofy fun.
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 the rest of his command, the Armpit
Platoon. This consists of 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 it is called on Keron) 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 Season:
Season Three has more irreverent wacky goodness as the
Armpit Platoon continues to try to take over Earth.
All your favorite supporting characters make
appearances in this set, including "Queen of Terror" and planet
destroyer the
cute Angol Mois, the ever-smiling Space Deputy Kogoro, and another
member of
the Viper clan, Cool Big Brother Viper, who is out to avenge the defeat
of his
brother.
One of the better episodes has Keroro and his squad visiting
ancient cities and ruins after watching a TV show on ancient aliens. They immediately recognize that old sites as
being constructed by aliens and decide to investigate, hoping to find
weapons
they can use. The Great Pyramid of Giza
turns out to be a haunted house, the ruins of Machu Picchu (which the
narrator
points out is NOT a pokemon) is an ancient roller coaster ride,
Stonehenge is a
cosmic deep fat fryer, and the statues on Easter Island turn out to be
a giant
Whack-a-Mole game. Yes, that's
right...
aliens visited Earth in the distant path and turned it into an
amusement park.
Another favorite from this set is "Dial M for Maybe I can
Solve This Murder" where Keroro decides to become a detective and the
first
case he tackles is the murder of Space Deputy Kogoro!
Is the tofu found near his body a clue? What
about the white model paint on the
floor? And how did the killer get out of
the locked room? Don't rely on Keroro to
come up with any sane answer.
If you've seen the other volumes, you can expect more of the
same. Yeah, some of the shows miss and
are just sort of stupid (like the first episode in this set) but those
are few
and far between. It's a hilarious show
that's filled with solid laughs.
The DVD:
This two-disc set contains episodes 52-65. They come on two
single-sided
DVDs each in its own thinpak case.
The 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. There are clean versions of the
opening
and closing. That's it.
Final Thoughts:
Filled
with more puns, quips, and jokes, this set is just as uproariously
funny as the
earlier seasons. Sgt. Frog is easily the best humor anime
currently in release and deserves to be in everyone's anime collection.
Highly Recommended.
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