D-Frag! Volume 04
ディーふらぐ!
D-Fragments 04

–> Buy D-Frag! Volume 04 from Amazon.com

***SPOILERS***

Lets get the D-Frag! volume 04 goodness started with a very brief synopsis of the events in the volume.

Kenji and Takao are called in front of the teachers, not because of the competition for Roka’s bag, but because Takao’s zipper popped off and injured Kenji. Takao wants to make things right for Kenji, but on the day she asks him out, her mother reminds her of a special game that’s on sale. As such, Kenji is forced to spend time in a line to buy the game. Roka happens to also be in said line, causing Takao to hide and Kenji to end up buying the game for her. Kenji’s sister Noe decides to investigate what kind of club her older brother has joined. She finds it full of incredible, if insane, people. Ataru and Hachi try to get Roka’s bag that Kenji won, causing Funabori to protect the bag.

Finally, Sakura gets Noe and Kenji to help her in a competition for some special spring water from a local temple. Roka and Chitose team up against them. Takao’s mother also joins the frey, but bails when Sean Connery-sensei shows up. Sean Connery-sensei busts the temple head for running a fraudulent water same, which devastates Sakura.

I’ve said this before, and I know I’ll say it again; I love wacky, comedy manga titles. D-Frag! certainly is one of the best I’ve read, and D-Frag! volume 04 is no exception. The first chapter is simply a wrap up of the tournament parody from the previous volume. Yet the teachers aren’t worried about the tournament, but are instead fretting over Takao’s zipper popping off and folks trying to imitate that. That’s just funny in and of itself, but then the story goes on a humorous tangent on why Ohwasa-sensei wears a school gym uniform.

The second story dealing with Kenji spending time with Takao in line to buy the latest Ghasts ‘n Ghouls series had a bit more of a personal connection for me. Obviously, this is a parody of the Ghosts ‘n Goblins game franchise. I played the heck out of Ghosts ‘n Goblins back in my youth, and I knew there was a sequel called Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, but I didn’t realize there were additional sequels created.

Yeah, hours and many a dollar I spent in the arcade on this game. I never made it to the caves. But I digress. (That’s why I get so behind in things — I’m so easily distracted. 😛 )

Anyway, Roka having camped out overnight to buy the game was funny, especially since her tent looks like her. The ending with Takao and Kenji was sweet. I feel badly for Takao though.

The introduction of Nao is pretty awesome. This is where Seven Seas use of full honorifics really comes into play. When Nao is snapping off comebacks and being her normal self, she addresses Kenji as “Aniki.” However, when her encounter with Takao and the members of Game Development Club (Temp) caused her to panic and call for her “Oniichan.” I laughed out loud about that since Nao comes off as even more gruff than her brother.

The fourth story dealing with Ataru and Hitachi going after Roka’s unprotected bag is funny because it is just a stupid thing to desperately want. Funabori’s solution to protect it is funny just because it worked.

The final story takes the rest of the manga. Having the competition force Kenji, Sakura, and Nao go against Roka and Chitose would have been amusing enough. Making a lot of their competitors be elderly men is twisted and thus funny. However, the funniest element of the chapter is Takao’s mother also being a competitor.

Takao’s mom is twisted and funny. She’s the woman who abandoned Kenji and company on a burning building as children is none other than Takao’s mother. I love how Haruno-sensei manages to give this character a decent amount of background, and we don’t even know her name.

On the Seven Seas side of things, I’ve already mentioned that Japanese honorifics are used. There are a couple of omake manga mini-chapters. One deals with Takao, her two older sisters, and their twisted mother. Hilarious. The other manga deals with an element from the temple water competition and a photo of Funabori that was in the possession of one of the old men.

There’s also a two page aftermath manga that features Sean Connery-sensei, his son Harrison (Ford), and Nicholas K.G (Kage). 😆 Seriously, Haruno-sensei is just nuts in addition to being a fan of action movies.

In the end, D-Frag! volume 04 is more of the same, wacky, insane comedy that I just love.