A title similar to my last post in terms of plot, Squid Girl, aka Shinryaku! Ika Musume is one that's more down to earth, and thankfully shorter. I never thought I'd see this title so soon, but the internet just keeps throwing the title in my face (in various ways, at that.) I might as well get started on this.
The title character is, of course, Squid Girl, a sea emissary who plotted to invade Earth as the denizen's consequence for the pollution of the sea. And yet, after busting a hole in the wall of the Lemon Beach House (a restaurant owned by the Aizawa sisters Eko and Chizuru), she ends up serving the very humans she wanted to conquer. However, it's not as depressing as it initially sounds, as she meets curious characters, learns things on the surface, and eat loads of shrimp! Will she ever invade the planet?
Unlike Sgt. Frog, Squid Girl isn't perceived as an alien, and while she looks close to human, she actually features and uses traits you would find in squids, well... various squids. The title in question is a slice of life comedy, and having seen stuff of this genre, it's a breath of fresh air to see a type that's actually humorous a little. Squid Girl has 2 seasons that are 13 episodes a piece, with an OVA released August of last year, and another debuting overseas in 2 weeks. Media Blasters licensed this title for the US release, so it has been dubbed, at least Season 1 has, which I found via Netflix. The cast this times feature mostly names I never heard of before, though Christina Vee has a role in here. Christine Marie Cabanos voices the lead character, and I remember hearing her before in Rozen Maiden Overture.
Initially, I couldn't make heads or tails of this, but as it progressed (yes, I still hung in there), I started to come to terms with it a bit more. And it's definitely a bit more upbeat, compared to normal slice of life titles, and a huge plus over the dramatic ones. An interesting thing to note here: in the raw/subbed versions, she stresses the ika term and usually ends her sentences with de geso. In the dub, these are dropped, being replaced by dialogue with squid-based puns. What charms me about the latter is that some of the puns are positioned in a way that it can be considered unintentionally censored.
Squid Girl was as... redundant, but a bit more bearable, so I'll file it as a 7 of 10. I never thought I'd get around to completing this, but I tried, and did. On to the next, as they say...
2013/05/24
CCXIX: "Sgt. Frog"
Sgt. Frog... where do I begin with this? Ever deal with anime that deals with a strange being that plots to take over your world, only to live there and do anything but that? On record, there are two titles like this I have seen, one of which I'm still viewing, so I might as well cover this one since I'm done with it.
Sgt. Frog (Sergeant, in case you're not familiar with the abbreviation), also titled Keroro Gunso, is an anime involving an alien race of frog-like beings, who attempt to conquer Earth, only to mess up in comedic outcomes. The leader of this platoon is the point character Keroro, the platoon's Sergeant. While initially successful in missions prior to this, his arrival to Earth more or less changed him. Long story short, he shifted more towards otaku interest as opposed to his original task. Moreover, he ends up residing in the Hinata residence, whose members include the nerd Fuyuki, the brash Natsumi, and the house head Aki. And even with his squad there, something tells me it'll be a while before he completes his goal...
Sgt. Frog is a title that has an absurdly large episode count and a batch of films under its belt. I can't recall how many of them were dubbed, but it has in this phase 358 episodes that began in April of 2004, with talk of its return. The film count is Super Movie Keroro Gunso 5, which is the latest entry that dates back to 2010, and neither of the films are dubbed. In terms of studios, Sunrise was more or less all over this. The episodes that DID come stateside were licensed under Funimation, something I felt would happen. But as I stated, there is talk of its return, and what hardens this statement a bit is that the manga for it is still ongoing.
Honestly, I wasn't sure what to make of it, and in some ways, I still don't. Even when entertained with pop culture references (especially that of different anime titles), and the occasional 4th wall humor, I still couldn't bring myself to thoroughly enjoy it yet. It is a sci-fi- comedy with action involved, but a tad too long for my tastes, which is funny considering I still keep tabs on Detective Conan.
Well, I'll update this when I decide to come back to it, but for now, I'll call it a 6 of 10. It doesn't necessarily suck, but it wasn't all that interesting to me either...
Sgt. Frog (Sergeant, in case you're not familiar with the abbreviation), also titled Keroro Gunso, is an anime involving an alien race of frog-like beings, who attempt to conquer Earth, only to mess up in comedic outcomes. The leader of this platoon is the point character Keroro, the platoon's Sergeant. While initially successful in missions prior to this, his arrival to Earth more or less changed him. Long story short, he shifted more towards otaku interest as opposed to his original task. Moreover, he ends up residing in the Hinata residence, whose members include the nerd Fuyuki, the brash Natsumi, and the house head Aki. And even with his squad there, something tells me it'll be a while before he completes his goal...
Sgt. Frog is a title that has an absurdly large episode count and a batch of films under its belt. I can't recall how many of them were dubbed, but it has in this phase 358 episodes that began in April of 2004, with talk of its return. The film count is Super Movie Keroro Gunso 5, which is the latest entry that dates back to 2010, and neither of the films are dubbed. In terms of studios, Sunrise was more or less all over this. The episodes that DID come stateside were licensed under Funimation, something I felt would happen. But as I stated, there is talk of its return, and what hardens this statement a bit is that the manga for it is still ongoing.
Honestly, I wasn't sure what to make of it, and in some ways, I still don't. Even when entertained with pop culture references (especially that of different anime titles), and the occasional 4th wall humor, I still couldn't bring myself to thoroughly enjoy it yet. It is a sci-fi- comedy with action involved, but a tad too long for my tastes, which is funny considering I still keep tabs on Detective Conan.
Well, I'll update this when I decide to come back to it, but for now, I'll call it a 6 of 10. It doesn't necessarily suck, but it wasn't all that interesting to me either...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)