Sergeant Keroro (Eng)

Sgt. Frog (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, 16 English manga volumes have been released. ADV has announced they have acquired exclusive rights to an English dub of Sgt. Frog. On 4 July 2008, however, it was announced that rights to the English release were transferred to FUNimation Entertainment .
In 2005, the manga received the 50th Shogakukan Manga Award for children's manga.

Plot

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

Characters

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 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 family[citation needed], 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. He's also often ignored and forgotten by everyone.

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 Pekopon 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, another childhood friend of Keroro, Giroro and Dororo.