Volume 20 of the popular and ongoing Sgt Frog (Keroro Gunso) series.

This volume is somewhat unusual in that the story (and the chapter) actually encompasses the entire volume. Usually, these volume long events are far and few in between, and are sometimes written with future movie releases in mind. Normally, it's more of the case where the stories tends to be short and self contained within each chapter. Also, contrary to the usual gag filled chapter, volume long stories tend to more epic in nature and tend to involve plots revolving around a global crisis, which our cast would have to unite to defeat.

"Lost in the Abyss the Monster and Eden", Encounter(Chapter) 164 fills that description to the 'T'. The plot revolves around the fact that the Earth is once again in danger of alien invasion. Except, this time, it's a different race of extraterrestrials.

Overall, the art and action was a notch better than usual (especially the two page spread after the title page. Too bad it wasn't in color). However, the story itself felt somewhat lacking, maybe due to the fact that you never get a sense of actual danger from the antagonist throughout the story. Also, either the dialogue (or it's translation) is left something to be desired. There are several occasions where sometimes the dialogue is either confusing, or just doesn't seem to match the actions of the characters.

Possibly, this might be one of those cases where the story might actually improve as a movie, with its tighter focus on story and impressive action visuals. ( )