Sgt. Frog: Difference between revisions

Originating as a gag-manga by Mine Yoshizaki, published in ''Shonen Ace'' starting in 1999, and every bit as goofy as its English title, ''Sergeant Frog'' would suggest, '''''Keroro Gunsou''''' is the story of a not-so typical Japanese family and the alien frogs who turned their lives upside-down.

Of course, Keroro is still an invader, and still plotting the downfall of "Pekopon" (his species' name for Earth in the anime -- [[wikipedia:Sgt. Frog#Notable differences between the anime and manga|Pokopen in manga]])... when he's not doing chores for the Hinata family, or being distracted by such aspects of Earth culture as ''[[Gundam]]'' model kits and the Internet. Before long, Keroro manages to reunite with his squad-mates: hot-headed rookie/Keroro fanboy Private Tamama, hard-boiled combat specialist Corporal Giroro, smarmy intelligence officer Sergeant Major Kururu/[[Spell My Name with an "S"|Kululu]], [[My Friends and Zoidberg|and Lance Corporal Dororo]]. With this eclectic crew, Keroro attempts to conquer the planet through one [[Zany Scheme|convoluted scheme]] after another, though sometimes he feels torn between his mission and his obligation to the Hinata family... but not that often.

Surprisingly, for a series that's not meant to be taken seriously, often has [[No Fourth Wall]], and is frequently brimming with pop-culture references, it has a lot of heart (which may be why they got [[Junichi Sato]] to direct the anime). Though it stops far short of being sappy, there are many heartwarming moments sprinkled in that sometimes constitute [[Tear Jerker]] material. It's still firmly in the comedy genre, though, and hence, occasionally brings these scenes to an abrupt halt with a quick joke.

Insanely popular in Japan, the manga was eventually released in North America in 2004 by Tokyopop, with the title ''Sgt. Frog''. An anime adaptation naturally followed, also begun in 2004. In November 2006, [[ADV Films]] announced that they had acquired the rights to the anime version. However, after nearly two years without a single word on the project save for a couple of trailers, [[FUNimationFunimation]] acquired the distribution rights in 2008 (along with about 30 other ADV titles). After a bit more [[Development Hell]], the first season 1 DVD was released September 2009. Episodes can be viewed on [https://web.archive.org/web/20101216004048/http://www4.funimation.com/video/?page=show&b=223 Funi's video portal.] By March 2010, all of the first season had been released on DVD - split into ''two'' "seasons" for whatever reason. In February 2011, Funimation announced that it has licensed further seasons and will continue the dub. Adding to the multimedia franchise, [[Namco Bandai]] released an RPG adaptation using the ''[[Tales (series)|Tales]]'' engine in March 2010.

* [[Actor Allusion]]: Giroro's voice actor also played Leonidas in the Japanese dub of ''[[300]]'', which is quite appropriate, as they are both [[Badass]] warriors or violent, cryptofascist lunatics [[Alternate Character Interpretation|depending on your point of view]]. At one point Giroro even utters [[ThisPunctuated! IsFor! SpartaEmphasis!|the film's most memorable line]].

* [[Added Alliterative AppealAlliteration]]: "Animal Army Attack! ...Alliteration!" "Kitty Conundrum! ''Another'' Alliteration!"

* [[An Aesop]]: Early episodes had the Narrator end every episode with one of these, which eventually descended into [[Spoof Aesop|Spoof Aesops]]s such as, "[[Crowning Moment of Funny|Kids at home, don't grow up to be stupid adults like them!]]"

* [[All Love Is Unrequited]]: Momoka likes Fuyuki, Chiruyo likes Fuyuki, Alisa likes Fuyuki, Fuyuki likes... being nice? Natsumi likes Mutsumi, Giroro likes Natsumi, Koyuki likes Natsumi, Tamama likes Keroro, Mois like Keroro, Keroro likes his Gundam models, Bariri likes Pururu.. and the list goes on, including situations involving one -shot characters.

** Played straight to hilarious results in episode 320. {{spoiler|When Pururu finally falls in love with Bariri, Bariri is the one who becomes disinterested.}}

** {{spoiler|Events in Volume 17 and Season 7 correct this error.}}

** And DON'T'don't EVERever'' break any of Keroro's Gundam models! In the dub this extends to all mech-related merch; he once punched Tamama for breathing on his Voltron playset.

** Which on one occasion led to the use of [[Gratuitous English]] which led to [[media:vlc-2010-09-21-16h57m40s196_153216h57m40s196 1532.jpg|the logical conclusion.]]

* [[Brilliant but Lazy]]: Kululu -- asKululu—as shown in the [[Nintendo DS]] game ''Keroro Gunsou: Enshuu da Yo! Zenin Shuugou'', he can't be bothered to get out of his seat for the leg race minigame, even when a giant [[Squashed Flat|spiked steamroller]] is chasing him. (Why, when the seat runs ''for'' him?)

* [[Cannot Tell a Joke]]: Koyuki is like this in the English dub of episode 18, judging by her failed attempt to tell the joke about [[The Aristocrats]]. When they return to the beach a year later to compete in the comedy contest again, she's improved a little -- shelittle—she can now ''tell'' a joke, but her material, featuring "walk into a bar" jokes, is extremely stale.

* [[Cross-Dressing Voices]]: To be expected in any anime with pubescent boys -- keepboys—keep that in mind when you listen to Keroro, a veteran soldier and avatar of the very otaku who watch this show. [[Wholesome Crossdresser|There's a reason all his female impersonations are so realistic.]]

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj31e-jVgyc Video here,] from Episode 103, unfortunately sans subtitles. Complete with [[Transformation Sequence]] and [[Theme Music Power-Up]] due to [[The Power of Friendship]], along with [[He's Back|He's Backs]]s for the rest of the team, followed shortly by [[Shout-Out|shoutouts]] to god only knows how many animes, reminding us that for all their problems, we ''are'' dealing with an elite alien invasion force, after all.

** Fuyuki has a bit of this too -- intoo—in several instances Sgt. Keroro pushes him too far, he gains a [[Battle Aura]] and [[Hidden Eyes|a shadow covers his face]], then the manga cuts over to a terrified Keroro and a cheerful Fuyuki. The first time this happens he actually stops the otherwise unstoppable Keroro described above. See [[Berserk Button]], pretty close above. Also [[Beware the Nice Ones]], far above.

* [[Development Gag]]: In episode 12-B of the English dub, Kululu accidentally calls Giroro "Giro" -- which—which was his name in the preliminary dub (of that same episode no less)

** Anime Sumomo displays some princess behavior in her first appearance -- theappearance—the plotline is basically ''[[Roman Holiday]]'' [[Recycled in Space|with a galactic pop star]].

* [[Gag Dub]]: Funimation pretty much took the same approach as they did with ''[[ShinCrayon ChanShin-chan]]'' for this dub. That said, it leans a bit more towards [[Woolseyism]] (if with a side order of [[Lull Destruction]]) than most Gag Dubs, staying faithful to the main plot of each episode, while changing up references and adding new jokes.

** [[Engrish]]: Once scene involving Tamama's Jealousy Ball has its proper Japanese name, 'Shittou Ball', written in the background in English -- onlyEnglish—only it's spelled ''Shit Ball''. Seriously.

** The 4th movie starts out with Keroro dresing up as the Zeta Gundam and ZZ Gundam, then takes advantage of the retro setting of France to homage ''[[Turn A Gundam (Anime)|Turn a Gundam]]''. Case in point, Pierre's uniquely shaped moustache, and the presence of antique coat-of-arms that resemble known UC mecha.

* [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters]]: Well, at least, that's what the Angol clan considers humanity to be in the manga, sensing various evil thoughts throughout the world and even being able to count how many sins are happening on Earth in a specific moment. This would explain why the Angols seem nice, despite their destructive aims.

** Also in ''[[Soul Calibur]] 4'', which features Angol Fear, Angol Mois' cousin who'd go on to appear in the Keroro manga later. Her story suggests the Angol race thinks [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters]], and possibly the reason they want to destroy Earth is to save the rest of the Universe from that corruption expanding; Ultimately, {{spoiler|Angol Fear observes that there are many innocent humans, and leaves it up to Angol Mois to decide whether to destroy Earth or not.}}

* [[Identical Grandson]]: After being zapped with Kululu's "Midlife Crisis" gun in Episode 9, preadolescent Aki is shown to look very similar to Fuyuki (but not close enough that Funimation's dub could resist [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshading]] it). A later episode involving time travel reveals that teenage Aki looked a lot like Natsumi -- exceptNatsumi—except for the hair color and the glasses, of course.

** American Keroro says "de arimasu" after ''one'' episode's title, [[Throw It In|just for the hell of it]]. However, most episode names are Shouts Out to various other media: [[V for Vendetta|V for Valentinedetta]], [[The Producers|Springtime for Hitters]], [[Last Action Hero|Lost Action Hero]], [[Lost in Translation|Lost in Transportation]] (de arimasu), you get the idea. Note that this is only ''most'' episodes, though all the others are puns ("Pop Startled", "Fake It Til You Make It", etc.) As of the second season a couple of episodes use a line from the show as the title, a la ''[[ShinCrayon ChanShin-chan]]''.

* [[Jerkass]]: Kululu -- notKululu—not the [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|nice version]] either.

** Occasionally Keroro comes off as this, except he's not so much a jerk to begin with as an annoying, mooching houseguest. However, he ''does'' tend to do the right thing when all the cards are down to crisis point--rightpoint—right by human perspectives; his own race may think differently.

* [[Merchandise-Driven]]: Inverted here - it's Keroro's love of [[Gundam|Gundams]]s that earned them Bandai as its merchandising arm. The KeroPla line of plastic models features Keronian characters and mecha all compatible with existing Gundam models.

** Kululu's female Pekoponian suits (to date, Kululuko and a faux-Natsumi loaned to Sumomo) fit more closely, placing the Keronian pilot entirely within the torso instead of leaving the head exposed to allow for a more realistic human appearance -- despiteappearance—despite being quite unnecessary (see [[Paper-Thin Disguise]] below).

* [[Paper-Thin Disguise]]: Keroro's various "Pekoponian Suits", which range from sumo to businessman to schoolchild. These are robotic human suits with no head -- thehead—the various characters riding them have their heads replacing the normal suit. So you have a 6 foot tall schoolchild with a giant frog's head. Note that these disguises always work perfectly. It's occasionally mentioned people take them for weirdos with masks, though.

* [[Plot Induced Stupidity]]: Natsumi, taking on Keroro -- aKeroro—a clearly amphibious lifeform -- inlifeform—in a ''swimming contest.'' Cue Keroro's first [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].

** What makes it interesting is that though in English, Animax's dub was still made for Asian audiences, so there was probably no percieved need to change it--thoughit—though it's anyone's guess why they thought it needed to be in English.

** [[Lampshaded]] at least once -- theonce—the chamber collecing March Zone Energy creates a manifestation of [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Ayanami Rei,]] who claims to be "the fourth one" and starts talking about "March Impact". [[Crowning Moment of Funny|The reference goes clear over Fuyuki's head.]]

** In the episode where the Hinata family visit the grandma, at the very beginning, two people are driving... Hilariously, they're [[Palette Swap|Palette Swaps]]s of [[Lupin the ThirdIII|Lupin and Jigen]].

** The size-changing spoon thing is called [[Vince Offer|SpoonWOW]] in the dub -- anddub—and Sarge mistakes it for a [[The Little Mermaid|dinglehopper]].

** One episode shows Momoka hammering a table that Tamama is standing on, catapulting him into the air -- theair—the action freezes for a second as labels appear to indicate force applied, fulcrum, and work produced for an impromptu physics lesson.

* [[Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl]]: Played with -- shewith—she's actually [[Cute Ghost Girl|friendly]].

* [[Theme Naming]]: Fuyuki, Natsumi, and Aki -- whoseAki—whose names contain the words for winter, summer, and autumn respectively. Fan speculation that their Disappeared Dad will have the name Haru, for spring, is not unwarranted.

* [[They Would Cut You Up]]: In early episodes, this is part of the reason (along with imprisonment and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|potential traffic accidents]]) why the alien frogs are not allowed to go out on their own, at least before they develop their [[Mobile Suit Human|Mobile Suit Humans]]s.

* [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]]: To date, Sumomo, Pururu, and Miruru can all take on human form. It's suggested that this is a uniquely female privilege -- orprivilege—or maybe [[Fan Service|another excuse to draw cute human girls]]...

* [[Wholesome Crossdresser]]: All five Keronians have crossdressed at least once, with Keroro himself as the biggest repeat offender. On the flipside, Kululu's debut episode has him turning Aki back into a 14-year-old -- whereuponold—whereupon she dresses up in Fuyuki's school uniform and sneaks off to his school. [[Generation Xerox|Their resemblance is uncanny.]]

** For Giroro, it's sea cucumbers -- apartcucumbers—apart from paralleling Natsumi's only fear, there seems to be no other explanation.

*** Technically Giroro has another -- ghostsanother—ghosts. Counts as [[Primal Fear]] on its own, until you consider that Giroro is a war veteran, implying that he's spent ''a lot of time'' [[Fridge Brilliance|in the company of death]].

* [[Yandere (disambiguation)]]: Momoka and Tamama.

"''[["On the Next Episode of..." Catchphrase|Sonna kotoyori!]]'' Up next on TVAll the Tropes: "''TVAll the Tropes, [[Keroro Gunsou{{PAGENAME}}/Characters|Our Character Page]], de arimasu!''" "''TVAll the Tropes, [[Keroro Gunsou{{PAGENAME}}/WMG|Our Wild Mass Guessing Page]], de arimasu!''" Two more things to read! How's that? ''Gerogeerooo...''"

{{spoiler|Bow to the frog.}})

[[Category:KeroroManga Gunsouof the 1990s]]

[[Category:FUNimationFunimation]]