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Manga/Magazines
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Written by maehara
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Monday, 19 February 2007 00:00 |
 Normal life in the Hinata household ends with the arrival of the green-skinned and decidedly frog-like Sergeant Keroro, leader of a platoon involved in the invasion of Earth - but who's been left behind when his comrades made more like chickens than frogs. One frog against the massed ranks of humanity aren't odds that the sergeant likes - most of the time - and so he seeks refuge with junior-high student Natsumi and her younger brother Fuyuki. And so begins the chaos...
So. Natsumi's a 9th-grader whose figure is developing a little faster than she'd like (cue fanservice) and whose temper isn't something to mess with (cue pain for the sergeant whenever he steps out of line). Fuyuki is an ardent believer in aliens and the occult, so the arrival in his home of a real live alien is almost a dream come true - although the sergeant's antics soon prove him to be far from what you'd expect from an alien. He follows orders happily - especially when they come from Natsumi, who's quite prepared to use her foot to back them up - spends him spare time building Gundam models, and has a room that's much like any Earth teenager's. He even has an iMac.
Keroro's platoon included four other members, so of course there's opportunity for them to appear. First to arrive on the scene (and the only one this volume) is Private Tamama. He's found lodgings with little rich girl Momoko Nishizawa, who's very much in love with Fuyuki but just can't bring herself to tell him. Taking care of Tamama gives her plenty of excuses to visit the Hinata home, though, so it's all good. Momoko and her amphibian friend share one unfortunate personality trait, though: while both seem friendly at first glance, get on their wrong side and you'd better beware the other side of their split personalities, who'll rip you to shreds at a moments notice. Tamama's particularly protective of Keroro, while Momoko of course won't allow anything to come between her and her beloved Fuyuki. Like owner, like pet.
The final characters to be introduced here are Aki Hinata, Natsumi & Fuyuki's mom, and Moa, Lord of Terror who's come to destroy the Earth, as prophesied by Nostradamus himself. Aki's a workaholic manga editor who very rarely comes home - until the frogs arrive and start supplying her with 101 fresh story ideas. She's almost the ideal woman, with a body to die for and a wonderful personality. Moa looks like your average schoolgirl for most of the time, but since she has the power to break the Earth into miniscule fragments she's not someone you want to mess with. Fortunately, the sergeant used to play with her when she was a kid, so she'll do as he says - and since the thought of no more Gundam models is too much for him to bear, global destruction is off the agenda for now.
This volume gives us the first 10 parts of the Sgt Frog story. It's all quite straightforward slapstick humour, with plenty of references to other anime shows & movies dotted throughout - it's great fun trying to pick them out - and a liberal dose of fanservice. Don't be expecting much in the way of plot - that would be missing the point - but as light entertainment goes it's hard to beat. The fanservice quota is higher than it is for the Keroro Gunso anime, but otherwise the anime follows the manga quite closely, so if you've seen any of that you'll know what to expect. Great fun, and well worth a read.
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