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

This comedy is published in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in the magazine Shonen Ace, and published in English by TOKYOPOP. The anime was produced by Sunrise and aired on TV Tokyo since April, 2004.

Sgt. Frog is about a frog-like alien invader named Keroro who winds up on Earth in the care of two siblings, Fuyuki Hinata (Hinata Fuyuki) and his older sister Natsumi Hinata (Hinata Natsumi), 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.

Characters

Sergeant Keroro (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), 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). "Kero" is close to the sound of the Japanese word for frog.

Corporal Giroro (Giroro Gochō)

The platoon's combat specialist, the series's 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, as well as a pet cat. Giroro lives in a tent, concealed from busybodies by Keronian technology, in the backyard of the Hinata household. "Giro" sounds like the Japanese word for brave.

Private Tamama (Tamama Nitohei)

Tamama is the youngest, least experienced member of the platoon. This is represented in two ways: his emblem is the japanese emblem for "New Driver", and he has a tadpole-like tail. He has split personalities; his other personality is an insanely violent, paranoid lunatic who can fire a energy blast from his mouth. His devotion to the Sergeant is well past romantic and utterly fanatical, and he will sometimes attempt to discredit or destroy others in order to get closer to the Sergeant.

Sergeant Major Kururu (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 unabashed pervert, and 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). His "owner" is Mutsumi Saburo, a poet and artist (whom Natsumi has a crush on) who shares Kururu's laid-back attitude and some of his odd sense of humor. His name derives from the Japanese sound for evil laughter, "Kukukuku..."

Lance Corporal Dororo (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", wannabe kunoichi Koyuki), 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 "doro," another word for ninja.

Fuyuki Hinata (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 have a real alien living in his home. Despite Sgt. Keroro's repeated attempts to conquer the Earth, Fuyuki develops something resembling a friendship with Keroro as the series progresses. In Japanese, his name means "winter," which is written on his room's door in English.

Natsumi Hinata (Hinata Natsumi)

Natsumi is Fuyuki Hinata's 14-year old big sister. She is smart and athletic, but also emotional, and somewhat overprotective of her brother. Natsumi, nicknamed "Devil Summer" at school for her fierce temper, is suspicious of the aliens, and pushes Keroro around whenever she can. Her name means "summer" in Japanese, which is written on her room's door in English.

Aki Hinata (Hinata Aki)

Fuyuki and Natsumi's mother. Aki is a manga editor who decided to base the main character of her popular manga on Keroro. She's surprised (and a bit disappointed) by how "normal" Keroro's lifestyle on Earth is. Her name means "autumn" in Japanese.

Momoka Nishizawa (Nishizawa Momoka)

A 12-year old multi-billionaire who has a huge crush on Fuyuki. She is the "owner" of Tamama, and like him she appears very cute and innocent, but has a sneaky and violent side. She puts much of her vast fortune into her romantic pursuit of Fuyuki, with only limited success. Her name derives from the Japanese word for peach.

Paul Moriyama

Momoka's butler and sometime-bodyguard. He is fiercely protective of his mistress, and willing to do anything for Momoka, from helping with her efforts to win over Fuyuki to risking his life for hers. As a war veteran, he has a rather strong feeling of camraderie with the Keronian invaders (especially Giroro), whom he sees as fellow soliders.

Angol Moa

As predicted by Nostradamus, Angol Moa comes down from the sky on July 1999 to destroy the Earth as the "Lord/King of Terror"; fortunately, Keroro and the Hinata family talked her out of it. Moa turns out to be a ditzy, insecure attention addict who is a family friend of Keroro. In the anime, she arrived 500 years early, decided to take a nap in orbit, and ended up being 5 years late. Angol Moa calls Keroro ojiisama (roughly, "Uncle"), and has a huge crush on him, which sometimes earns her the jealous ire of Tamama.

Lieutenant Garuru （Garuru Chui）

Giroro's big brother. He, much like Giroro, is a straight man and follows military rules strictly. Unlike Giroro, he does not fire his weapons in barrages; instead, he is the best sniper in the whole army, with a devistating one-shot-one-kill style. He appeared in volume 10 of the Keroro manga with his team to replace Keroro's (not too successful) team (Though he also appeared in a flashback in volume 6.)

Taruru

Tamama's "apprentice". During his days as a cadet, he came to visit Tamama, and wound up causing trouble by revealing how Tamama had bragged about being the real brains of the squad, and what Tamama really thought of his comrades. Taruru eventually joined the army, and became part of Garuru's team. In volume 10 he defeated Tamama (and has adult Keronian features which Tamama doesn't have) and put shame onto his master.

Anime on air time in Japan (in JST)

• TXN: from 18 o'clock until 18:30 every Friday

Cast

• Keiji Fujisawa - Narrator, Paul Moriyama
• Kumiko Watanabe - Sergeant Keroro
• Etsuko Kozakura - Private Tamama
• Jouji Nakata - Corporal Giroro
• Takehito Koyasu - Sgt. Major Kururu
• Takeshi Kusao - Dororo
• Tomoko Kawakami - Fuyuki Hinata
• Chiwa Saitō - Natsumi Hinata
• Akiko Hiramatsu - Aki Hinata
• Haruna Ikezawa - Momoka Nishizawa
• Akira Ishida - Mutsumi Saburo
• Ryou Hirohashi - Koyuki
• Mamiko Noto - Angol Moa

External links

• Keroro Gunso website
• Sunrise's Keroro Gunsō website
• TV Tokyo Keroro Gunsō website
• Keroro Gunso episode guide

• Manga
• Anime