Customer Reviews

Sgt. Frog Volume 9

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The basic premise behind Mine Yoshizaki's SGT FROG manga is this: froglike alien Sgt. Keroro and his extraterrestrial compatriots, in a failed attempt to conquer Pokopen (the Earth), find themselves stranded in the company of two Pokopenian siblings, Fuyuki and Natsumi Hinata, and their friends and family. Hilarity ensues. There you go. That's the series - beyond that there is no real coherent plot. But that's not particularly important, because the fact is a complex storyline isn't required for madcap comedy of this order.

The best comparison you can draw to Sgt. Frog is probably to Pinky & the Brain: overloaded with pop culture (Japanese anyway) allusions and socio-political send-ups, our protagonist conjures up preposterous scheme after preposterous scheme, to no avail. Another easy comparison would be with Invader Zim. The biggest difference between Sgt. Frog and these others, however, is the ensemble size: while P&B revolved around the clashing personalities of the title characters, and Invader Zim a team of four or so, Sgt. Frog is propelled by a stable cast of about a dozen unique, distinctly off-the-wall personalities.

There's Natsumi Hinata, for instance, the Pokopenian teen whose authoritative hot-headedness remains the biggest obstacle on the path to invasion - apart from Sgt. Keroro himself, equal parts inept interstellar conqueror and freeloading plastic Gundam model fanatic. Then there's Natsumi's younger brother Fuyuki, a quiet, introverted kid with a keen interest in the occultm or Momoka Nishizawa, the insecure heiress to a worldwide fortune with a keen interest in Fuyuki. Not to mention Private Tamama, one of the Sgt.'s fellow-invaders, whose adorable exterior belies a violent split personality; the ditzy Lady Angol Moa, sent to Earth by her father the universal Lord of Terror to destroy it, but diverted by Keroro's misadventures; and many more.

The various plots, goofy and overblown as they are, make full use of the characters' interpersonal chemistry. For instance: when the School Sports Festival rolls around, athletic Natsumi petitions mom Aki to join her in the child-parent activities. But Aki is unable to attend due to her demanding career as a manga editor, which causes her to be gone most of the time anyway. Natsumi is forlorn by yet another absence, and while Keroro schemes to stand in for Mom Hinata in an attempt to put Natsumi in his debt, Corporal Giroro, whose hard-boiled shell hides a monstrous affection for the girl, has other plans. Meanwhile, Fuyuki suffers from a lack of self-confidence living in his sister's athletic shadow, and wealthy Momoka's attempts to aid his cause at the Festival, like having her bodyguards tranquilize the other racers, are sweet but probably misguided. That's just a sampling, from one of the tamer chapters at that - the insanity quotient is generally far more in excess.

Many of the installments have sensitive undercurrents: unrequited love, the clash between friendship and duty, jealousy, emotional insecurity, family dynamics, and so on. But there's something of overanalyzing in that evaluation, because any pyschological underpinnings involved are offset by copious coatings of over-the-top illustration, harebrained scenarios, laugh-out-loud hilarious gags, and unforgettably zany characters. Be forewarned: in spite of Keroro and Company's admitted adorability it's not for kiddies - there's enough sexual suggestion here to border on ecchi at times. But it's all in fun, and if you have a well developed sense of the absurd, as I like to put it, Sgt. Frog is as good n' silly as it gets.

This manga is very funny. The Drawings are hilarious when the frogs go angry or plan a scheme. I recommend this book to older manga readers because its shows little pron but it is okay.

Alright, well, I saw this Manga in my library and I thought I'd borrow it, to read it and boarden my horizans of different genres because I'm a Shonen Ai and Yaoi Fan.

This book was rated 13 TEEN and let me tell you, if you think this is a cute little kiddy story it's not! Not only is it [...], featuring a woman with [...], girls showing their [...] in almost every shot they can get away with, there's almost no plot too. It isn't even funny, just increiably stupid.

It's trully is a horrid Manga. If your a fan of Bishonen, stay away from this one! There is none and no Yaoi!