Sgt. Frog

Sgt. Frog, known in Japan as Sergeant Keroro (ケロロ軍曹 Keroro Gunsō), is a manga and anime series created by Mine Yoshizaki.

Sgt. Frog (Keroro Gunsō)

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Sgt. Frog (Keroro Gunsō)

This comedy is published in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in the magazine Shonen Ace, and published in English by TOKYOPOP. The anime is produced by Sunrise and has aired on TV Tokyo since April 2004, already reaching 102 episodes. In addition, around August of 2005 talk began about a "Keroro Gunsō" theatrical movie to be directed by Junichi Sato, produced by Sunrise, and set for release summer of 2006. As of this time, everything seems to be progressing to meet that predicted release date for the first "Keroro Gunsō" movie.

Sgt. Frog is about a frog-like alien invader named Keroro who winds up on Earth in the care of two siblings, Fuyuki Hinata and his older sister Natsumi Hinata, after he is caught by them. Keroro spends most of his time plotting the takeover of the planet Pekopon (which refers to the Earth) while trying to escape from the Hinata family. Keroro is easily sidetracked or distracted, and several episodes show him browsing the Internet or building Gundam scale model kits (aka Gunpla).

The series takes its comedy from a combination of wordplay (puns, homophones), physical humor, cultural references, and situational humor.

Keroro Platoon

Sergeant Keroro (ケロロ軍曹 Keroro Gunsō)

The erstwhile leader and eternal antihero of the series. Although Keroro is clever and implied to have been a very good soldier in the past, he is typically ruled by his hobbies (especially Gundam models, aka Gunpla), easy to emotionally cow, and distracted by pretty much everything. He's typically the butt of the series' humor, usually after taking advantage of his Earthling hosts or his other squad members (though often enough through simple bad luck). The name "Keroro" comes from the Japanese word for the sound a frog makes, kerokero.

Corporal Giroro (ギロロ伍長 Giroro Gochō)

The platoon's combat specialist, the series' straight man, and often Kururu's guinea pig. Giroro is a grizzled veteran, and is often at odds with Keroro and Kururu for their unmilitary demeanor and lack of dedication to the invasion. He has a fierce temper that sometimes drives him into "combat mode", where he fiercely attacks the enemy, speaking in only simple words and ignoring all other orders. However, he has a soft spot for Natsumi Hinata, and eventually acquires a pet cat. Giroro lives in a tent, concealed from busybodies by Keronian technology, in the backyard of the Hinata household. His name derives from the Japanese word girogiro, which is an adjective describing sharp-looking eyes.

Private Second Class Tamama (タママ二等兵 Tamama Nitohei)

Tamama is the youngest, least experienced member of the platoon. This is represented in two ways: his emblem is the mirror image of the wakaba, a Japanese emblem for "New Driver", and he has a tadpole-like tail. He has split personalities; one personality is cute and happy while his other personality is an insanely paranoid lunatic who can fire an energy blast (known as "Tamama Impact", "Neo Tamama Impact", or "Hyper Tamama Impact", depending on the strength) from his mouth. He seems to believe in returning any and all favors to him or to the Sergeant. His devotion to the Sergeant borders on romantic and goes well past utterly fanatical, and he will sometimes attempt to discredit or destroy others in order to get closer to the Sergeant. His name is derived from the Japanese word for tadpole, otamajakushi. In addition, the Japanese word tamatama means "unpredictably changing", which describes his personality rather accurately.

Sergeant Major Kururu (クルル曹長 Kururu Sōchō)

The platoon's intelligence officer. Though technically superior in rank to Keroro, he defers to him on most issues (usually because Keroro is supplying the funding for his bizarre experiments). He is thoroughly unmilitary, and as such is on very poor terms with Giroro. He's also an inventor, though many of his devices are designed with what Keroro calls a 'kinky role-play effect' in mind (such as the age-changing rays from manga chapters 23 and 24, and the "oni-girl" gun from chapter 31). Most of the things that happen in the series revolve around some crazy invention he has come up with. His name Kururu derives from the Japanese word kurukuru, which means "spinning". Also, Kururu is a hunchback, which is kuru in Japanese.

Lance Corporal Dororo (ドロロ兵長 Dororo Heichō)

The quiet one. Originally called Zeroro, he is always calm, and never loses his temper. He follows the way of the ninja (along with his "owner", the kunoichi Koyuki), as he is the top assassin in the entire Keronian Army, and is an avid nature lover, and thus, he always objects to plans that would damage Earth's eco-system. He also never kills a living thing; he always use the back of his knife to strike his opponents, so as not to harm them. He is often forgotten by the rest of the squad, which usually results in his Trauma Switch turning on. He's known Keroro and Giroro since they were little, and though they were "friends", Keroro took advantage of Dororo more often than not. His name derives from dororo, which is a Japanese onomatopoeia of disappearing like a ninja. In addition, the Japanese word dorodoro means syrupy, which is his image of crying in trauma. (It should be noted that there is an anime about ninja called Dororo).

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Human

Fuyuki Hinata (日向冬樹 Hinata Fuyuki)

Fuyuki is a 12-year old boy who captures Keroro and keeps him in his house. Fuyuki is a fan of the paranormal, including aliens and UFOs, so naturally he's delighted to