Sgt. Frog

Infobox animanga/Header
name =


caption =
ja_kanji = ケロロ軍曹
ja_romaji = Keroro Gunsō
genre = Comedy, Science FictionInfobox animanga/Manga
author = Mine Yoshizaki
publisher = flagicon|Japan Kadokawa Shoten
publisher_en = flagicon|Canada flagicon|United Kingdom flagicon|United States Tokyopop
publisher_other = flagicon|France Kana
flagicon|Germany Tokyopop
flagicon|Hong Kong flagicon|Republic of China Kadokawa Shoten
flagicon|Indonesia Elex Media Komputindo
flagicon|Italy Star Comics
flagicon|Spain Norma Editorial
flagicon|Sweden Carlsen Comics
flagicon|Thailand Siam Inter Comics
demographic = Shōnen
magazine = flagicon|Japan Shōnen Ace
flagicon|Malaysia Arena Komik
first = November 29 1999
last = ongoing
volumes = 16
chapter_list = Infobox animanga/Anime
director = Junichi Sato
studio = Sunrise
network = flagicon|Japan Animax, TV Tokyo
network_en =
network_other = flagicon|Brunei flagicon|India flagicon|Singapore flagicon|Vietnam Animax
flagicon|Catalonia TV3, K3
flagicon|France TéléTOON
flagicon|Galicia TVG
flagicon|Germany flagicon|Poland Cartoon Network
flagicon|Hong Kong TVB Jade
flagicon|Indonesia antv, Animax
flagicon|Italy Italia 1
flagicon|Malaysia ntv7, Animax
flagicon|Philippines ABS-CBN, Animax
flagicon|Portugal Canal Panda
flagicon|Republic of China Mighty Media, Chinese Television System Inc., Cartoon Network
flagicon|South Korea Tooniverse
flagicon|Spain Cartoon Network, DTV, Canal Extremadura Televisión, Telemadrid, Canal 2 Andalucía
flagicon|Thailand TITV, Animax
flagicon|Valencia Canal 9
licensor = flagicon|Canada flagicon|United States ADV Films, FUNimation
first = 3 April 2004
last = ongoing
episodes = 232
episode_list = List of Sgt. Frog episodesInfobox animanga/Other
title = Movies
content =
* "Keroro Gunso the Super Movie" (2006)
* "" (2007)
* "Keroro Gunso the Super Movie 3: Keroro vs. Keroro Great Sky Duel" (2008)
* "Keroro Gunso the Super Movie 4" (2009)

nihongo|"Sgt. Frog"|ケロロ軍曹|Keroro Gunsō|Sergeant Keroro is a manga series by Mine Yoshizaki. It was later serialized into a TV anime series directed by Junichi Sato. Both the anime and manga are comedies that follow the attempts of a platoon of frog-like alien invaders to conquer Earth. Sergeant Keroro, the titular character, is the leader of the platoon, but is at the mercy of a human family of three. In both the manga and anime, Keroro is forced to do meaningless chores and errands for the family after his army abandons his platoon on Earth.

The series takes its comedy from a combination of wordplay (particularly puns and homophones), physical humor, situational humor, and numerous pop culture references (especially to "Gundam", "Space Battleship Yamato" and "Neon Genesis Evangelion"). Various anime, games, manga, and other aspects of pop culture are parodied/referenced throughout the series as a bonus to older viewers. Both the manga and the anime are laden with pop-culture references, and even in the same story the references often vary wildly. In particular, the anime does not explicitly refer to "Evangelion" and other animations to which Bandai does not hold the copyrights, and only recreates the "feel" of famous scenes from other anime. The anime is instead much more detailed and direct in its "Gundam" references, since Bandai does hold rights to the Gundam franchise.

"Sgt. Frog" is published in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in the magazine "Shōnen Ace", and published in English by Tokyopop. The anime is produced by Sunrise, has aired on Animax, TV Tokyo, and TXN at 10:00 A.M. until 10:30 A.M. every Saturday since April 2004. In addition, 3 full-length theatrical movies have been released: Keroro Gunso, the Super Movie, 2006; Keroro Gunso 2, The Deep Sea Princess, 2007; and Keroro Gunso 3, Keroro vs. Keroro, 2008. All 3 films were directed by Junichi Sato and produced by Sunrise. At present, 15 English manga volumes have been released. ADV has announced they have acquired exclusive rights to the English dub of "Sgt. Frog". [" [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-release/2006-11-20/adv-acquires-sgt-frog ADV Acquires SGT. Frog Anime News NetworK Announcement] " URL Accessed September 21, 2007.] . On 4 July 2008, however, it was announced that rights to the English release were transferred to FUNimation Entertainment [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-07-04/funimation-picks-up-over-30-former-ad-vision-titles] .

In 2005, the manga received the 50th Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga.cite web | url=http://comics.shogakukan.co.jp/mangasho/rist.html | title=小学館漫画賞：歴代受賞者 | publisher=Shogakukan | language=Japanese | accessdate=2007-08-19]

Characters and plot

:"See also:List of Sgt. Frog characters"Both the manga and the anime focus on the steadily deteriorating conditions of the Keroro Platoon, a group of two-foot-tall frog-like invaders from the planet Keron, who try to conquer the world, but fail miserably. The platoon's leader, Sergeant Keroro, is easily distracted, and would rather spend his time making plastic Gundam models and surfing the Internet than destroying Earth, much to the chagrin of the bellicose corporal, Giroro. Aside from Keroro's laziness, what most stands in the way of their mission is the Hinata Family, a trio of rather benign humans who keep Keroro busy with ridiculous demands and constant abuse, primarily from the family daughter Natsumi.

Keroro Platoon

Sergeant Keroro is the manipulative anti-hero and title character, who spends most of his time making Gundam models and doing chores for the Hinata Family. He and the platoon were sent to Earth to conquer it and put Keroro's face on every piece of merchandise they could find. Despite being the leader of his platoon, he does little to help and lets his subordinates do all the work. Serving Keroro without question is Private Second Class Tamama, who loves him and is portrayed as very cute, but is extremely sensitive to the point where he reverts to a violent berserker at the single buzz of a fly. He is also jealous of anyone who gets near the Sergeant. Perhaps the only sane individual in the platoon is Corporal Giroro, the group's gunman who has deadly accuracy and is exceptionally good at cooking sweet potatoes. He is often frustrated with Keroro's laziness, and is disgruntled to have him as a leader. He is also in love with Natsumi, which is also starting to get in the way of the invasion. The platoon's intelligence officer [Giroro: Now we need someone intelligent. .... Keroro: The Keroro Platoon's intelligence officer Sergeant Major Kururu. ("Sgt. Frog" Episode 9 Part A: Natsumi, Kururu Stepping To the Road of Love) Kururu's official title is posted on the screen as the "Third Communication Officer for the Invasion."] and inventor, Sergeant Major Kururu, is gloomy, insidious, unpopular, and disliked by everyone, who see him as a depressing jerk. He makes most of the platoon's inventions and in spite of his malevolent nature, none of his inventions have any permanent effect. The fifth and final member is Lance Corporal Dororo, who fancies himself a ninja, and has known Keroro and Giroro since their childhood. Despite Dororo hailing from a rich familyFact|date=August 2008, Keroro often uses him as a meat shield, but Dororo still follows Keroro's insane orders without question. Due to these childhood abuses, Dororo falls into a deep but temporary state of depression (this is often called his "trauma switch") whenever he is reminded of something bad Keroro did to him in his childhood. He is often overlooked by the others, also triggering his depression.

Hinata Family

Opposing and controlling the Keroro Platoon is the surprisingly normal Hinata Family. The son of the family is Fuyuki Hinata, who is obsessed with all things paranormal and supernatural. The daughter is Natsumi Hinata, the gifted one and the main voice of reason. The mother, Aki Hinata, is a manga editor who takes a liking to Keroro due to him becoming an inspiration for her new manga.

Other characters

In addition to the main cast, "Sgt. Frog" features a wide array of secondary characters, including the wealthy Momoka Nishizawa and her butler Paul Moriyama. They are friends of the Hinata Family, and Tamama lives with them. Momoka secretly admires Fuyuki Hinata and tries all kinds of ways to make him fall in love with her. Other human friends include the radio show host Mutsumi Hojo and the female ninja Koyuki Azumaya. A friend of the Keroro Platoon is Angol Mois, the King of Terror, who was sent to Earth to destroy it, but is now forced to protect it for Keroro. Other humanoid aliens include the space detective Kogoro and his sister, Lavie. Sumomo is a recurring character in the anime, where she is a highly popular singer, while in the manga she only appears in a bonus chapter. And late to arrive is Alisa SouthernCross and Pururu.

Anime

Opening Themes

# by Nobuaki Kakuda & Juri Ihata
# by GaGaGa SP
# by Group Tamashi
# by Jicho Kacho
# "You-You-You" (130-154) by Polysics
# by Ichirō Zaitsu & Yuko Ogura
# by Dylan & Catherine
# by Keroro Platoon (Kumiko Watanabe, Etsuko Kozakura, George Nakata, Takehito Koyasu, and Takeshi Kusao)
# by JAM Project

Ending Themes

# by Dance Man
# by Ondo Gal meets Keroro Platoon
# by Keroro All Stars
# by Naoya Ogawa & Mayuko Iwasa
# by toutou
# by Chinatouchable (Chinatsu Wakatsuki & Untouchable)
# by Kirin
# by Afromania
# by Kigurumi
# by Non Style
# by Osamu Minagawa & Hibari Children Chorus
# by Keroro Platoon
# by Natsumi Kiyoura

Notable differences

The transfer from manga to anime is somewhat uneven, as some episodes strongly resemble the manga while others only borrow the basic story or even use it only as a starting point.
* Perhaps the most subtle difference is that in the manga, Earth is referred to as "Pokopen", whereas in the anime, it is "Pekopon". "Pokopen" is a derogatory word Japanese used to describe China during the Sino-Japanese Wars, and has since been banned from TV programs by the mass communications authority in Japan.
* Whereas the manga is somewhat oriented towards teens, the anime is toned down to a level acceptable for children.
* Because Giroro, Kururu, and especially Dororo are introduced in the anime much earlier than in the manga, several storylines not featuring them at all were modified to include them.
* Because of the time difference between the Manga's start and the Anime's Start, Angol Mois's backstory is somewhat modified. Everything up to the point of Mois telling Nostradamus about her destroying the earth was true but she ended up being five years too late (2004 instead of 1999).
* Mutsumi (623) still has his radio show in the anime, but he is a student in Natsumi's class instead of a high school dropout, and his last name is Saburō (326) rather than Hojo.
* In the anime Sumomo is a hit intergalactic popstar who appears in several episodes, while in the manga she is a female 'Ahotoran' who appears in a bonus issue.
* Dororo and Koyuki live in a house next to the Hinata's in the manga whereas in the anime they live in the woods near Momoka's estate and can see the Nishizawa tower from their home.
* In the anime Keroro usually chants 'Gero', as the manga, he chants 'Ribbit'

Episodes

Merchandising

A signature element of the manga series is its frequent Gundam references, ranging from Keroro's Gunpla obsession to the Keronian military equipment, which is based on those of various Gundam series. As a result, the series was picked up by Bandai, who have supported it with an extensive line of merchandise. For example, Keroro action figures are called "Keroro in Action?!", a play on the long running "Mobile Suit in Action!!" Gundam action figure line. Indeed, the Keroro name on the packaging is even designed to appear to be hastily pasted over the MSiA!! name (referring to the recurring theme of get-rich-quick schemes in the show). Other such lines include the forthcoming Keroro FIX (based on Hajime Katoki's popular Gundam fix figuration) and Keroro model kits, formally dubbed KeroPla in honor of Keroro's beloved Gunpla, which come in two distinct lines:
* Keroro figure models depicting the Keronians themselves (up to the recent Musha Kero line), which include rotating eyes to depict facial expressions made famous by the anime ('scheming' Keroro and 'trauma switch' Dororo, to name a couple) and special neck joints to allow the user to place the heads on various Gundam kits.
* Keroro mecha models, depicting the Mk. I basic robots, the Mk. II mecha, and recolors of the Mk. I line dubbed the Real Type series, all able to combine into their Great Keron and God Keron forms. The latest line of Keropla mecha depicts the Musha Kero mecha, all with combining abilities of their own.

pin-offs

Popularity of the series has spawn two popular MMO games in South Korea: Keroro Racing, racing game and Keroro Fighter, a strategy-and-fighting gameFact|date=October 2008. Other spin-offs include a manga called "Musha Kero" that has recently been adapted in the anime. cite episode |title= Musha Kero Volume One: Legendary Hero, De gozasoro! |series= Keroro Gunsou |station=TV Tokyo |airdate= |season=5 |seriesno= |number=211 ] The series has also spawned a magazine called "Keroro Land" that promotes toys, games, media, and events based on the manga and anime.

International versions

North America

* ADV Films has added a brief teaser page to their website, announcing their licensing of the anime. The site turned to static before playing a short clip of Keroro dancing to "Afro Gunso," then leaving the message "hacked by the frog." This was followed by a press release by ADV, stating that they have licensed all Sgt. Frog properties (except the manga, which was already licensed ) for the US. It was confirmed that the anime dub will be released on DVD in the United States in February of 2007. However, ADV Films have not yet confirmed a release date. ADV announced at Comic-Con International 2007 that the US release date has been delayed because of TV negotiations but would not comment on which networks they were talking to. As of July 4th, 2008, the English license for the anime was transferred to FUNimation Entertainment.

In a DVD included with the December issue of Newtype USA was an English-language trailer for Sgt. Frog with voices for Keroro, Natsumi, Fuyuki, Aki, and the narrator. Vic Mignogna has been confirmed as the voice of Keroro in the dub, but other characters' voices have not been confirmed yet.

Asia

* In Hong Kong it was initially broadcast by Cable TV, then by TVB. It was dubbed in Cantonese separately by the two stations. The Chinese terms introduced in the Taiwanese version as mentioned above were only applied in the TVB dub.
* In Indonesia, the anime version of Keroro Gunso is aired by Animax since 1 July 2008, and later dubbed in Indonesian broadcast everyday on antv since August 11, 2008,also the manga version has been released up to volume 11 by Elex Media Komputindo, the major publisher in Indonesia.
* In Israel, the anime recently began airing on the "Children's Channel". "De Arimasu" is translated as "iim kol hakavod" which means "with all due respect". The names changed by a bit but not too badly. Keroro's rank is changed to captain while Giroro's rank is changed to sergeant. The Children's Channel only aired the first season, and finished it then, all first season except episode 30Fact|date=August 2008, and will launch the second season by the ending of October 2008.
* In Malaysia, the series is broadcast since April 27, 2007, dubbed in Bahasa on ntv7, known simply as "Keroro". There are notable changes in the dubbing of the series. For example, Keroro does not address his human captors with honorifics. Now broadcast on Animax since July 1, 2008, in English or Japanese.
* In the Philippines, it is dubbed in Tagalog and aired as "Sgt. Keroro" on ABS-CBN on June 4, 2007. About a year later, it made its return on Animax in English as "Sergeant Keroro".
* In South Korea the anime is aired on Tooniverse as _ko. 케로로 중사 ("Keroro Jungsa"). Like in most Japanese anime targeted to younger audiences there, the human Japanese names were changed to Korean-sounding ones. Aliens' names were generally the same (in pronunciation) as the Japanese names.
* In Taiwan, Keroro was broadcast in Mandarin on Cartoon Network and CTS. The names of Keroro and the other Keronians are transcribed in Kunrei-shiki romanization rather than into Chinese characters; and "Pekopon" is translated as "the Blue Planet" (zh-cp|c=藍星|p="lán xīng") while Keroro's signature "de arimasu" is translated as _zh. 是也 ("shì yě").
* In Thailand, the anime is broadcast on TITV's Cartoon Club slot between 9.00-9.30 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays under the title "Keroro Khabuankarn ob ob Puan Loke" (เคโรโระ ขบวนการอ๊บอ๊บป่วนโลก). The manga is published by Siam Inter Comics under the same title.
* In India, the anime has been broadcast on Animax between 6.00-6.30 pm every Mon-Fri under the title " Sergeant keroro" since July 1, 2008, in English.
* In Indonesia, the anime has been broadcasted on Animax with English voices and Bahasa Indonesian subtitles, and on ANTV with Bahasa Indonesian voices / in dubbed.

Europe

* In France, the anime is aired on Télétoon under the title "Keroro, mission Titar". The human characters' names were changed from Japanese to French-sounding: the Hinata family is renamed as Monaté, with Fuyuki, Natsumi and Aki as Artus, April and Anna respectively. Momoka is called Garance Beller, Mutsumi as Mael while Koyuki is Énéa Azuma. "De arimasu" is translated to "Sauf votre respect" (or "sauf mon respect") -"With your/my respect"-, in the manga, published by Kana, the names are the same as the Japanese version.
* In Germany, the anime is aired in German on Cartoon Network via cable.
* In Italy, the anime series was broadcast on Italia 1, beginning September 11, 2006. "De arimasu" is translated as "Signorsì" ("Yes, sir").
* In Poland, the anime is aired in Poland on Cartoon Network via cable.
* In Spain, the anime is aired in Spanish on Cartoon Network via cable. In Catalonia, the anime is also aired in Catalan on public broadcaster TV3; and in Galician on public broadcaster TVG in Galicia.
* Any news relating to the United Kingdom release of the anime is tied with Funimation's release (and hence will ether be done by Revolation Films or MVM Entertainment. The manga is published under Tokyopop with no name changes.

References

External links

* [http://www.keroro.com/ Keroro Gunsō website] ja icon
* [http://sunrise-inc.co.jp/keroro/ Sunrise's Keroro Gunsō website] ja icon
* [http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/keroro/ TV Tokyo Keroro Gunsō website] ja icon
* [http://www.keroro-movie.net/ Official Keroro Gunsō Movie Website] ja icon
* [http://www.tv.com/keroro-gunso/show/32077/episode_guide.html Keroro Gunsō episode guide]
* [http://www.animaxindia.com/program/synopsis.php?i=315/ Official Animax India webside]
* [http://www.tokyopop.com/product/1214/SgtFrog/1.html/ Official Tokyopop Sgt. Frog manga website]
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