Sgt. Frog 14
Posted: May 15, 2011 Filed under: Sgt. Frog Leave a comment »Mine Yoshizaki – Tokyopop – 2008 – 21+ volumes
I… I’m still tired of the jokes in this series. I’m sorry. I still have a lot of volumes backlogged, too. I should just stop reading, but I have a hard time giving up on former favorites. It’s why I still read Bleach.
Granted, there are lots of cute stories in any given volume of Sgt. Frog. I can’t fault it that. Cute stories like the Keronians shrinking down to swim in a kiddie pool in the middle of summer, or one where Natsumi and Fuyuki stumble accidentally into the morning exercise routine the Keronians share with other alien creatures… these are why I grew to love the series so much. They are quirky and bizarre, and the characters always act themselves. It’s got the best elements of a sitcom-style manga at its disposal.
It also still does serious stories (the Sargent is mistaken for a cryptid in one story, and almost has to leave Fuyuki) and plot-driven stories (an adorable story where Giroro has to fight a creature with his estranged older brother, or another where Angol Moa is almost revived as the destroyer of worlds). Those are thrown in there to somewhat break up the lighthearted tone.
I can’t quite figure out why reading it is a chore, then. Is it that it uses a lot of the same material over and over again? Is it that I just don’t enjoy reading all the copious details about how the newest takeover attempt works and the science behind it? That’s always original and a little fun, but maybe it can get bogged down in details. The plot driven stories are rarely more than a chapter or two long, too, so maybe it’s missing longer story arcs to break up all the random side material. And maybe seeing the same comedic over-reactions to things is getting old for me. I don’t know.
It’s not doing anything wrong, though. It’s still very adorable and charming, with a fun cast of characters that isn’t too huge. It does a good job of capturing the essence of the everyday with a slightly alien spin, too, and the art has been pretty consistently unique for the whole run, too.
I don’t know. I should stop. I won’t, though. Not until the last five volumes I have are read.
