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Manga/Magazines
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Written by maehara
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Thursday, 28 June 2007 17:00 |
 More Keronian mayhem with the fourth volume of Sgt Frog - and still the final member of Keroro's platoon has yet to make their appearance. And here's me thinking it was just the sergeant who had a general lack of interest. That's not to say the frogs don't have to deal with visitors, while along the way there are, as ever, other problems to deal with...
Only eight chapters this volume, but seeing Natsumi packing a submachine gun on the title page almost makes up for it. While messing around with the character's ages was the overriding theme of the last volume, this book gives the gang some visitors to deal with. First up is one of Tamama's former subordinates, Taruru, who seems to have a completely hyped-up impression of what the platoon have been up to on Earth - I wonder why that might be? - while later, the frogs stow away while Aki and her family pay a visit to her mom's home town, and naturally wreak plenty of havoc while they're there.
Best of the stories is the New Year Special, where Moa gets stinking drunk and is found come morning in a rather compromising position, while there's great fun to be had when Keroro gets a toothache and has to have it dealt with in the traditional Keroron way (which involves shrinking his comrades to miniature size, Innerspace-style, and letting them fight an anti-cavity war inside his mouth), while fights on a larger scale take place when Natsumi gets carried away with Setsubun soybeans and ends up being turned into a character from Urusei Yatsura, and the first snowfall of the year soon leads to the first snowball fight.
Phew. There's more to this volume than that, of course, but that should give you a pretty good idea of what's served up by the residents of the Hinata home this time around. A little more restrained on the fanservice this time around - not necessarily a bad thing - but the comedy is well up to the usual Sgt Frog standard and will easily keep you amused.
Sgt Frog may be as shallow as it's possible to be, but it's one manga that's never anything but entertaining, and never really gets tired. In amongst the chaos, there's always the fun of trying to spot all the anime and manga references that are dotted about the stories, which is part of what gives these book such good re-read value - there's always something hidden in the background that you missed first time around. I can't get enough of the antics of Keroro and co, really, and until the anime gets its DVD release, this is the only way to get my fix. Highly recommended.
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