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Sgt. Frog (ケロロ軍曹, Keroro Gunsō?, Sergeant Keroro) is a manga series by Mine Yoshizaki, and a TV anime series based on the manga and 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). Various anime, games, manga, and other aspects of pop culture are parodied/referenced throughout the series, making it difficult for younger audiences to appreciate. 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 Shonen 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, and is currently at episode 162. In addition, around August of 2005 it was announced that a \"Keroro Gunsō\" theatrical movie was to be directed by Junichi Sato, produced by Sunrise, and set for release summer of 2006. A second movie has been announced for March 2007. The English manga releases amount to 14 volumes in total. ADV has announced they have acquired exclusive rights to the English dub of Sgt. Frog. Currently, volume one of the DVD is slated for release in the United States in late 2007.[1]
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