Publisher: IVL (Intercontinental Video Limited, Hong Kong)Format: Region 3 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional Cantonese dub and English, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified) Subtitles.
Length: 60 minutes
Production Date: 2006
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes
The first of the “Sgt Frog” movies begins with Fuyuki buying a limited edition Gundam model kit for Keroro, while the rest of the platoon dutifully practice their invasion in a simulator. Keroro and Fuyuki walk home from the hobby shop where they discover a small shrine in a disused block of land. When Keroro throws a coin into the shrine for good luck, it seemingly disappears inside some portal. Keroro chases after it (as it didn’t mean to the give the shrine that much money) with Fuyuki. Inside they seem to have been transported to back millions of years. Fuyuki accidently opens an ancient ruin which has inside a glowing crystal, which they naturally manage to break. Keroro does a substandard patch up job and the both run through the portal back home. The next morning most of the population of the city (including those of the Hinata household) find they are have a red “X” somewhere on their body and they have telepathic abilities. While almost everyone is delighted by these powers, excitement soon grows to unhappiness. In reality the mark is part of an ancient lost Keronian weapon called Kiruru that Keroro and Fuyuki have accidently unleashed.
I think with this film you really have to have seen the first season of the series to fully understand what is going on. The movie is no more or less just a big budget one hour version of a TV episode. Sunrise has really gone all out to make the film look as spectacular as possible. It’s a fun rollicking big ride of adventure from start to finish. Early on there is a rather bizarre cameo from a fox like creature. He’s there because he’s a character from “Incredible Zorori: Quest for the Mysterious Treasure”, which was shown alongside this film in cinemas. Tamama, Giroro, Keroro, Kururu and Dororo appear as special guests in the “Incredible Zorori” film as well. The other thing I noticed was this film plays to family audiences a bit more than the TV series. It’s not surprising that it was partnered with the “Incredible Zorori” film, as that is a children’s anime. The subtitles on this disc are a little bit Engrishy at times, but are more than adequate. Overall it’s not the best film I’ve seen, but it’s a whole heap of fun. 7 out of 10.
“Keroro Gunso the Super Movie 2: The Deep Sea Princess de arimasu!”
Publisher: IVL (Intercontinental Video Limited, Hong Kong)Format: Region 3 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional Cantonese dub and English, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified) Subtitles.
Length: 78 mins (feature), 16 mins (short)
Production Date: 2007
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes
Film two follows on for the first where a second Kiruru appears in the South Pacific attacking an ocean freighter, but is defeated by two unknown entities that look like Keronians. Momoka presents Fuyuki with a strange unseen small aquatic creature, apparently found by her father’s company in the South Pacific. This is a part of her plan to ask him out on trip to the South Pacific to a private island, but of course the rest of the household invites themselves along, mainly because the Keroro platoon want to discover and obtain the source of the power that destroyed the Kiruru. While on the island, they are attacked by strange creatures and Natsumi is abducted and taken to what seems to be an underwater kingdom, ruled by a creature called Maru who claims he is prince of the deep sea, but who really, really looks like an alien. Maru wants to claim Natsumi as his princess. Naturally the rest of the gang go to rescue her. At the end of the film is a 16 minute short called “Chibi Kero: Secret of the Kero Ball!?”, which a CG short feature which tells the adventures of the young Keroro, Giroro and Dororo as Keroro forces Giroro to borrow his brother’s Kero Ball so he can impress a girl. As you’d expect, things go wrong.
The main feature is quite a fun film filled with lots of action sequences, much like the first film. Sunrise has done yet another great job on the film’s designs and animation. It looks spectacular. The focus here is on Natsumi and deals a lot with her emotions and relationships wither her oddball members of her household. I think perhaps the film is a touch too long and the short film that accompanies is way too long. It’s a really unfunny and dull short. The English subtitles on this disc are woeful. It was a little hard to figure what was going on. It’s not at the level of incomprehensibleness of say your average bootleg DVD, but it’s getting there. Surely a proper commercial DVD in country that has English as an official language shouldn’t be this bad. While the main feature was very good, the short takes my score down to 6.5 out of 10.
“Keroro Gunso the Super Movie 3: Keroro vs. Keroro Great Sky Duel de arimasu!”
Publisher: IVL (Intercontinental Video Limited, Hong Kong)Format: Region 3 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional Cantonese dub and English, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified) Subtitles.
Length: 96 mins (feature), 11 mins (short)
Production Date: 2008
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes
The Keroro Platoon invites Fuyuki along to explore Machu Picchu in Peru. In reality they want him there as guide because they have detected a highly level power source which they want to obtain. After some misadventures, the platoon find themselves in a room with a large blue crystal in the centre. Keroro tries to pull out a large key causing the room to activate and transform. Fuyuki notices a strange girl in the room before they leave but can’t alert the others due to the chaos. The platoon run for their lives and head home. Later that day a large alien craft appears over the city an hovers over Momoka’s family residence. It seems to be an (competent) invasion by another Keronian group, but their leader is a dead ringer for Keroro. In no time the new invaders seem to have brainwashed the entire planet into worshiping their leader, and set about to wipe out the old invaders. The short coupled with this film is “Warrior Kero: Debut! Planet Sengoku Ran Big Battle!!”, where Keroro’s superiors banish the platoon to a planet that looks like a set of a samurai drama. They are given instructions to overthrow the current tyrant Viper before they can return to Earth.
The main feature seems to rehash a lot of the Kiruru plot elements from the first and doesn’t seem as fresh and fun as the first two films. Some of the jokes and visual gags are rehashes too. I felt it really dragged for a while in the first half while the story was being set up. The second was much more fun with great little plot involving the seemingly unbreakable bond between Keroro and Fuyuki. The short was OK, but not great. The major problem for me with this film was the horrible English subtitles. I’m not sure if they’re worse than the second disc or about the same. I had real difficulty trying to figure out what was happening in the story. Quite disappointing really, but it was fairly entertaining and fun for most of its length. 6.5 out of 10. I was hoping I’d received the fourth film I ordered from Hong Kong, but alas it hasn’t arrived. Unfortunately IVL hasn’t released the fifth film in the series. I kind of doubt Funimation is going to release these films.
Remaining Backlog: 26 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).
No comments:
Post a Comment