Sgt Frog volume 1 manga review

I get bored at the salon a lot, so I’ve taken to bringing my own literature. Last week it was Sgt Frog volume 1.

Keroro, the frog sergeant in question, is an alien who comes to Earth as a scout in readiness for the invasion of the Earth. By chance he ends up in the Hinata family house where he is quickly captured. When a hilarious misunderstanding leaves him and his platoon stranded on Earth, Keroro is left to fend for himself as he best knows how…which means slaving for the Hinata household as their unpaid housekeeper!

Sounds like a sad tale, but it’s actually quite hilarious, mostly due to Keroro’s charm and upbeat attitude. Far from a shrinking violet he’s a tough-talking, mischievously insubordinate, choleric and has a crazy love for building Gundam models. Part of the humor comes from the disjointed fact that he’s an alien frog and yet loves modern things like iMacs and manga.

The human component is the Hinata family: Natsumi the bossy older sis, Fuyuki the easygoing little brother and their mother Aki. Personally I’m always more interested in the activities of the frog team, but the humans provide a good foil for their personalities to bounce off. It wouldn’t be the same manga without them.

Volume 1 starts Keroro’s abandonment on Earth. He later finds his subordinate Tamama (soooo cuuuuuuuute) who is living with Fuyuki’s classmate Momoka. The end of the volume introduces Moa, a.k.a. Angol Mois, the Lord of Destruction… currently disguised as a 14 year old girl who called Keroro “Uncle”. I can’t wait for volume 2!

Learning Swedish?

Have you heard of All Japanese All the Time? You can just check out the site for the details, but basically it’s one man’s tale of how he learned Japanese to fluency (or so he claims) in 18 months just by immersing himself steadily and constantly in the language. This means listening to only Japanese music, watching only J-shows, reading only J-sites, etc. The idea is sound. It’s like Sink or Swim. If someone dropped you in the middle of Timbuktu one day I bet you’d pick up the lingo in a hurry.

So how does that apply to me? Well I was thinking of applying for a job with a certain Swedish organization. There’s no way I’d learn enough Swedish in time to land the job, but afterwards in the time I’m working there (if I decide to apply and if I get the job) I’d be surrounded by Swedish people and materials. It’s a good chance to pick up a language I’d never actually learn left on my own.

With that in mind, I checked out a few resources for learning Swedish. First need to get some textbooks and materials, and then need to find music, books, radio stations, etc to complete the environment. This was all a few days ago now to be honest my desire is waning, but I think I’ll list them here in case I ever do get round to learning it.

Foreign Service Insitute courses – Haven’t tried them yet, heard good things

U-Z Translations site – Massive number of textbooks and materials but you need to sign up first

How to Learn Any Language search results – it’s a forum for language learners

Learn Swedish with Swedish LingQ – Self explanatory title. It looks like a blog with podcasts and other materials for the intermediate learner.

Off Course

 

Known in Japanese as オフコース, Off Course was a Japanese “folk” band active between 1969 and 1989 when they split up so lead singer Kazumasa Oda could pursue a solo career. Although they termed themslves a “folk” band, the majority of their songs could be classified as pop, with an emphasis on smooth, soulful ballads powered by Oda’s silky, unforgettable voice.

Band Members
Kazumasa Oda (小田和正) – Lead vocals, keyboard
Yasuhiro Suzuki (鈴木康博) – Guitar
Shimizu Hitoshi (清水 仁) – Bass, vocals, chorus
Ooma Jirou (大間 ジロー) – Drums
Matsuo Kazuhiko (松尾 一彦) – Guitar, harmonica, vocals, chorus

History
Oda and Suzuki met as classmates in high school. Together with Shinushi Michio they formed a group that went on to win several local singing competitions. They made their record debut in 1970 with “Gunshuu no Naka de (Inside the Crowd)” but met little initial success. Shinushi left the band in 1971, and in 1976 they added Matsuo, Hitoshi and Ooma to the band. In 1979, 10 years after they started, Off Course finally got its first big hit in the form of “Sayonara (Goodbye).” They maintained a huge level of popularity with a long string of mega-hits until they disbanded in 1989. Although fans have repeatedly called for reunion, Oda in particular has made it clear that the band is finished.

Off Course was famous for their western-sounding pop ballads, simple love-focused lyrics and smoothly-blended harmonic choruses. Even today their songs continue to be covered contemporary artists and sung throughout Japan.

How I discovered Off Course
Purely by chance back in 2005 when I was looking for Japanese learning materials, I downloaded an album of old Japanese “natsumero” (nostalgic melodies) off Youtube. I didn’t listen to it then, though, just stashed it away for later. Fast forward to 2008 and I was bored one day. Loaded up those files on my mp3 player and was completely blown away. The album had songs by other great J-bands like RC Succession and Tulips, who I’ll write about eventually, but Off Course was definitely the star of the show. One listen of YES-YES-YES and I was putty in their hands. The sound! The lyrics! Since then I’ve acquired about half of their songs (illegally, but I’m working on better ways) and I still think YES-YES-YES is their masterpiece, so I’ll be uploading it soon for you to check out.

Key songs
Nemurenu Yoru
Aki no Kehai
Ai wo Tomenaide
Sayonara
Yes-No
Kotoba ni Dekinai
YES-YES-YES
Kimi ga, Uso wo, Tsuita

So Long, and thanks for all the Fish (1) book review

I love the title, but the fourth book in the Hitchiker Quintology just doesn’t do it for me. For those unfamiliar with the series, it’s a series of books about the literally out-of-this-world adventures of an ordinary earthling, Arthur Dent, thrown into space after the Earth is demolished to make space for an intergalactic bypass. It’s as crazy as it sounds, and each volume is jam-packed with impossible happenings, fantastic new locations and colorful characters of all shapes and colors (my personal favorite is the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal, btw).

Then you come to So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish and everything takes a turn for the worse. I’m about a third through it and I bet it picks up later, but I’m really bored so far. Actually I’ve read the whole series before way back in high school and I don’t remember this one being quite so bad, so we’ll see.

What’s wrong with it? Firstly, you’re just dealing with Arthur Dent so far. He works as the straight man to a host of nutters, but as a character on his own he’s dreadfully boring. Secondly everything takes place on Earth, and not just Earth…Britain! The least romantic nation on the planet. Thirdly, nothing’s happened except Arthur’s got a crush on this girl and he doesn’t know how to handle it. Well whoopdy-doo! Welcome to puberty! Color me unimpressed!

Ah, it’s good to get that off my chest. 90-10 odds that things will pick up very shortly and make this slog worth it (I distinctly remember Arthur and Fenchurch making out on the wing of an airplane, which is seriously gross), but man, what a let-down after the last three.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1)

If you’re at all interested in self-improvement, you must have heard of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. It’s become something of a ‘bible’ in this modern day. Schools recommend it to their students, bosses to their employees (and vice versa), I bet even hospitals recommend it to patients sometimes.

Just because something is popular or bestselling, though, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good. I will come straight up and admit I haven’t read the whole thing yet. I’ve only read the first few pages. I agree with his overall idea, that instead of changing our personalities we need to change our principles and our deep thinking in order to be more effective. That’s a good idea. Better than good, it’s true.

What I have a problem with is the preachy, excessively wordy, downright disheartening way these ideas are expressed. A book at least has to hold your attention before it can proceed to inform or educate you, or even educate you. Stephen R. Covey fails at the very first step, with his cheesy metaphors, self-flagellating examples and plodding writing style. I’m thinking of buying the audio version instead. I mean, there might be something good in there since it’s spawned so many spin-offs and rip-offs, but getting to it…that’s another matter.