I tend to have a knack of watching anime at really poignant times in my life. After just getting out of high school was when I first watched Azumanga Daioh. While it was an amazing show which is an enduring favorite to this day, its ending still made me depressed that that period of my life was over. Four years later I suppose I should have known what I was getting into when I started watched Honey and Clover, the story of a boy going through his college days with good friends. It’s at the tail end of Honey and Clover that I was looking for something, anything to cheer me up and brighten my mood. It was then, scrolling through Hulu’s surprisingly robust selection of shows that I rolled over a gag series I’d only heard of in passing, that of the hilarious escapades of Sgt. Frog.

A lot of what I find to be the defining trait that makes a comedy good is a terrific cast of characters, and Sgt. Frog is no exception. The eponymous Sgt. Frog, a consummate ne’er-do-well, absolutely makes the show. His incompetence and laziness always result in him finding the most elaborate and amusing ways to ditch his duties or get more money for his gigantic Gundam model collection. Eventually joining him is the ever faithful Tamama, a cutesy soldier with a mean jealousy streak; Giroro, a hardened fighter and fish out of water in a platoon full of lunatics; Kululu, a mad scientist whose sadistic tendencies are a main driver of physical comedy; and Dororo, a quiet ninja who has sworn off the crazy group for his own safety. Each character really plays off the others well and show how incompetent this earth invading squadron is in the most ludicrous fashion.



Supporting the platoon is a group of humans who has decided to take the frogs in as they are scattered from a botched invasion attempt. The members of the Hinata household are the main supporting characters and their house is the seat of most of the action. Dorky Fuyuki and fiery Natsumi have a great dynamic as brother and sister. However, I usually feel they are underused and seem primarily in the show to react or be victims to the antics of the ARMPIT platoon. Their mom is by far the most exploited character in the show, with most every scene involving some kind of fanservice. By far my favorite human character is the lovecrazed Momoka, the guardian of Tamama, who steals every scene with her wild internal monologs and hilariously exaggerated obsession.



The entire cast is rounded out by two great additions which I really think change the show from simply funny to outright hilarious. Throughout many episodes there is a narrator who often interacts with members of the cast. He is the source of great back-and-forth scenes that really add to the light-hearted insanity of the show. I also love the liberties taken in the English dub with translating the scrolling text. By either making offhand comments on the show as it’s unfolding or even refusing to properly translate what it is saying, it’s given it a personality all its own. It can suffer from the Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei effect of too much text too quickly to analyze it all, but it is not very common and usually everything it has to say is given plenty of time to read.

With a cast of alien frogmen bent on taking over the world, it’s easy to tell that Sgt. Frog is an absurdist comedy. Much of the humor comes off of the banter between characters as they deal with whatever messed up situation the Sergeant has gotten them into today. I cannot stress how much of a better experience this is made by watching the English dub. There’s a lot of care gone into the writing here to maximize jokes for an American audience. While I do enjoy it when it is executed well, referential humor can really fall flat if it is too localized. I loved the gag dub of Ghost Stories, but when I watched it back in 08 many of the references, like Christian Slater’s acting career, really fell flat because I barely knew what they were talking about. While Sgt. Frog inherently benefits from current events not being too stale since it was just made in 2009, there are a lot of well executed references to timeless pieces of pop culture. While Sgt. Frog has a lot to offer, it isn’t perfect by any means. There are many episodes where the comedy lasts throughout the entire length of the show, some episodes fall flat, or have punchlines that take way too long to capitalize on.





I may have been spoiled by Nichijou’s flawless style, but as a typical comedy show, especially one that was animated back in 04, there isn’t much to say of Sgt. Frog’s technical values. Frames will often be reused and even if done for comic relief it can become boring to watch the same scenes or simply look at a still of the Serge talking as he lazes about. Since it doesn’t really gain anything from better definition this does at least make it quite an easy decision if you’re strapped on cash to simply check the show out on Hulu.

Despite some flaws, I obviously enjoyed Sgt. Frog. It has a great cast and a fantastic sense of humor. I would definitely consider it with the likes of Azumanga Daioh or Cromartie High as one of the best comedies I've ever had the pleasure to watch.

This was a piece I made for the last round of hiring. I had totally forgotten about it until the announcement, and since Marc has graciously allowed it to become relevant again with his end of the year article, I felt like I might as well finally release it to the general public. Enjoy!


Like many other people, I’ve immensely enjoyed Nichijou. It has a great blend of fantastic animation and surrealist gags. However, I could never shake the feeling that there was something sinister just under the surface of this light-hearted affair. Something so devious that it hides its malicious agenda under a façade of slapstick antics and adorable diversions. The Shinonome household may seem happy, but it is really an oppressive environment ruled by a mad and cruel Professor.



Pure Evil.


Now I know what you’re thinking “She’s just a little kid, there’s no way she could be that evil.” That’s the genius of it, though. She may act like a child, but think for a second: Could a mad scientist who created a fully sentient robot and neural-linguistic cat amplifier really be a child? Rather, I think she plays the immature angle simply to make her sadistic temperaments look like the chaotic actions of a child.

It is said that most psychopaths exhibit instances of animal abuse. Then, is it really all that surprising that we see the professor quickly playing with Sakamoto like an expendable toy? She hits him with a box of popcorn for nothing, continuously holds him by the tail, and generally is a menace to the poor creature. When Sakamoto was stuck in her glue trap she did not care for his wellbeing. Even when he is completely encased and visibly struggling for air she is only worried about herself. She doesn't care about the other creatures in the house as they are just other playthings to manipulate and nothing more. However as a testament to her malice, this just begins to scratches the surface.


Pictured: Animal Cruelty


To expose the true evil of the professor one needs look no further than her metal daughter, poor Nano. At first it would seem that Nano is the guardian of the house, that the Professor created her in order to fill a role missing in her life. However, a look at any of the scenes in the Shinonome household and it would appear Nano is more a slave, made to cater to the whims of a capricious owner. Nano tries to assert authority, but is undermined at every turn by the Professors callousness and greed. She tells the Professor not to eat snacks, she does not listen. She makes a deal with the professor to remove her screw and the Professor simply uses it as a ruse to distract her. She undermines Nano at every turn and always puts her own needs ahead of hers. Even when she lets Nano go to school it is simply so that she is out of her hair and can eat with impunity, which seems bizarre since that never stopped her in the past to begin with. I suppose even a black soul like hers knows compassion every once in a while.



You know she’s only thinking of snacks and plotting the misery of all mankind.


Really, the only reason I could possibly see for creating Nano is this: the Professor needed someone to be her proxy in stores since the sight of an eight year old alone in a supermarket would definitely draw suspicion. On that note: Why does she have no family? Are we really meant to expect that a supposedly eight year old girl bought and furnished a house all on her own? Everything considered, I wouldn’t be surprised if she killed them. Honestly, that would explain a lot.

The defining characteristic of a master-slave relationship is that the master denies the slave the will to do what it wants on its own. She herself has admitted to thinking of her as nothing but a robot, a tool that she made and that she has total control over. How cruel is the Professor to make a robot of completely free will, and then limit it by preventing what it can do? It is an even darker take to see how the Professor does not regard her very body with any dignity, deciding to modify it with anything imaginable, either to benefit herself at Nano’s expense or seemingly just to irritate her.



I can just see her dabbing that in Nano’s tears before eating it. Tears made of frosting.


However, it seems that it may be her own hubris that will inevitably be her downfall. She constantly falling for her own traps and has seen plans backfire tremendously. At one point Nano finds out that the Professor had installed a gun inside her body; she uses it against her, even though she had no idea whether it was real or not. She literally shot to kill. I can only see Nano snapping in the future and murdering her cruel creator in desperation of wanting true freedom. Maybe then would the world of Nichijou be free of this menace once and for all.

Everybody, Yotsuba& 10 is out in stores earlier than its original shipping date, go buy it now!
I command ye!!!


http://www.amazon.com/Yotsuba-Vol-10-Kiyohiko-Azuma/dp/0316190330/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318520638&sr=8-1

God, I hope this rambling makes sense.

To be honest, I didn’t get into anime as early as most. Sure, I watched Pokemon or Digimon as a kid, or went over to a friend’s to watch DBZ, but I didn’t even have cable until the late nineties, and even then I opted to watch Nickelodeon rather than Toonami. However, something happened around sixth grade. I think my conversion started with G Gundam. It was a ridiculous show for a kid that loved ridiculous things. I went on to soak up every offering Cartoon Network had to offer, and for a while, that was enough. However, while I came to love anime, I also became incredibly conscious about the stigma placed upon it. My brothers would taunt me if they caught me watching even the best of shows. Even my best friends all throughout high school took to it with disdain. That is how I learned to hide it. I bought nothing. I talked about nothing. I would only watch shows in the dead of night when my family was asleep.

Finally, I graduated, and I would be separated from many of my friends. However, the first year I spent there I spent in solitude. I had dinner with a group of like-typed people, but I thought they were just gamers, just like my old friends were gamers. It was watching in solitude that I actually learned about the idea of watching anime as they came out. I’ll always remember when I talked to some people in a group for flash artists about a new romcom named Toradora, and where on Youtube you can find it. It started a love of the genre that I continue to be suckered into today. I found myself almost religiously waiting on the submitter’s youtube page every Friday for fresh releases, and by the end of the series, I actually had a thought. I got opinions.

It wasn’t until the summer of that year, 2009, that I would find Destructoid through my love of gaming. A few months later, I noticed an icon at the top of the page. “Anime” it said. How could I refuse such a tempting invitation? Next thing I know I find Japanator. One could call me kind of a coward. I was much the lurker, just watching from afar to see if anything interesting showed up. This is one thing I had to thank Japanator greatly for; they turned me on To Kimi ni Todoke. I believe I first was aware of it from a recommendation by Dale claiming that it might become the greatest romcom ever. Is it really slow? Yes. Is it really cheesy and unrealistic? Yes. Do I love it to death anyway? You know it. It was like pure granulated cane sugar straight to the eyes, and I loved every minute of it. Finally, I decided to make my voice heard. The forums will tell you I joined in November, but I honestly can’t remember when I started participating outright. It’s been such a joy to talk with so many people about anime when I’d never really had the forum for something like this before. Japanator, thank you, all of you, for accepting me.

Now, I could end it there, but that would be an injustice to some other very important people. At the same time I started participating in the Japanator community, I started to notice some of my friends showing more of a passion for anime. As products of Toonami we’d watch streams of Dragonball Z, and slowly I realized I had finally found the people I was looking for, people who didn’t scoff at the first mention of anything weird and Japanese. Then, the ultimate test of friendship happened. One of my friends decided he wanted to watch Elfen Lied, without knowing much of what it was about. Full disclosure here, I had previously freshman year read the entirety of the Elfen Lied manga, a time in my solidarity that included a few others like it which I really shouldn’t admit to reading in public. No, I did not stop them, and yes, I am a horrible friend. Even I had honestly forgotten how terribly graphic the manga was, let alone have it played out in motion. By the end of it, my Halo-enthusiast friend dropped out and to this day refuses to enter the fold, but a new friend of mine was intrigued. Don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t into dismemberment or that sort of thing, I already have a friend who’s weird like that, but he was receptive of anime in general.

It was from his interest that I decided something. I had to be the Anime Guy. Sure, we watched DBZ every once in a while, but we never sat down and watched more complex shows, and no one ever brought anything new to the table. I had to be the proprietor, their anime dealer so to speak. As broke as I was, I gambled on one purchase. Over the years as an anime fan, there’s been one title that I’ve loved to death. I’ve never been able to watch an episode and find it unenjoyable. That was Azumanga Daioh. “Brilliant!” I thought, “That’s perfect for a beginner to get into.” I apparently forgot that by Episode 4 we have a bit devoted solely to teenage girls in swimsuits and their perverted lit teacher being generally unsettling the entire time. Somehow, this worked. Instead of me having to broach the subject, I would literally be pulled from my room and brought out to watch more of it. It was on one of these excursions that I realized, again, that I had found true company. Not just people that I’ll talk to while eating every day, or people I’d talk to in the halls, but confidants in anime. Once more I had found acceptance, and I can never be too grateful for the friendship it’s brought.

My father is a business masters, and thus is the kind of man that actually has a subscription to the Wall Street Journal. I was intrigued to look at it this morning and find this as its top headline for today.

It seems that figures from the last three months on the economic output of China and Japan has shown that China is beating Japan by more than 50 billion, 1.339 trillion USD to Japan's 1.288. This isn't the first time that China has beaten Japan, but it marks the very real possibility of China finally becoming the world's 2nd largest economy behind the United States.

It was comforting to look at this article and realize just how huge of a player the United States is, as our economic output still triples that of China.

The Wall Street Journal: China Output Tops Japan

Where apparently Nevada and Arizona formed together to create Desertland. Kentucky then annexed West Virginia after participating in a four-way land grab over Indiana and Ohio with my home state of Illinois, Michigan and Pennsylvania, which itself apparently also took over New Jersey, New York City, Long Island, and Connecticut.

Also, apparently some catastrophe destroyed cape Cod and reduced Rhode Island to actual islands.

Seriously, what is up with that Midwest? Bones, you can do better than that.


It is interesting to note that Mexico and Canada are actually relatively well proportioned except for that the Mexican states of Coahuila and Durango are fused.