Sgt. Frog, known in Japan as Keroro Gunso (ケロロ軍曹, Keroro Gunsō, lit. "Sergeant Keroro"), is a Japanese anime series based on the manga series of the same name written and illustrated by Mine Yoshizaki. The anime series was produced by Sunrise. The series ran for 358 episodes from April 2004 to April 2011. A second 23-episode series was broadcast from March to September 2014. In 2005, the manga received the 50th Shogakukan Manga Award for the Adult's manga category. The story follows 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 after being captured by them. Keroro is forced to do meaningless chores and errands for the family after his army abandons his platoon on Earth.
Dubbing History[]
ADV Films originally licensed the series for distribution in 2006, with plans to release the series on DVD in February 2007. This didn't come to be, however, as ADV decided to try and negotiate a television deal for the series with the aid of members from the then recently shut down syndication arm of 4Kids Entertainment, The Summit Media Group. The Judy's were commissioned the theme for the show with help from Dan Workman, who played the guitar and mixed the song. But Jeff Walton, a member of The Judy's, has stated on his SoundCloud that only a pilot was ever produced and only refers to this theme song as TV pilot on his webpage. The episode was dubbed three times; an otaku/fan pilot (similar to the FUNimation dub seen today), a mass-market pilot, and a kid-oriented pilot. Cartoon Network liked the mass-market pilot while Nickelodeon liked the kid-oriented pilot. Nickelodeon informed ADV that they would pick up the series if they got the merchandising rights as well.
There were several notable changes in the original dub, mainly characters being renamed. For example, all of the Keronian characters had the third syllable in their names removed; in this case, Keroro became Kero, Tamama became Tama etc. The names of the human characters were also changed; to date, the only confirmed change is Natalie or Nathalie, the English name for Natsumi. When the FUNimation dub was made, all characters retained their original Japanese names.
However, due to financial troubles ADV was having at the time leading up to their demise, the rights were transferred over to FUNimation Entertainment in 2008, who instead opted to release the series straight to DVD in America. The first five episodes of FUNimation's dub were screened at Otakon 2009, with them stating at their panel that they were going to keep the anime as similar as possible to its Japanese counterpart, and claimed to only change references from Japanese pop culture (save for those Americans were already familiar with) to references from American pop culture. Those present at the showing seemed to enjoy the changes, and the reception of the official dub was very positive. On February 19, 2011, Funimation announced at Katsucon that they had licensed more episodes of Sgt. Frog.
While the first 51 episodes of the series were known as "season one" in Japan, FUNimation divided up the first season into two, with the Season 1 Part 1 DVD set containing episodes 1 through 13 and Season 1 Part 2, containing episodes 14 through 26. Season 2 Part 1 was released on January 26, 2010, containing episodes 27–39. In addition, Season 2 Part 2 was released on March 30, 2010, containing episodes 40–51. The first two boxsets were re-released into one Season 1 set on March 29, 2011. The complete Season 2 set followed up on April 26, 2011. Season 3 Part 1 was released to DVD by Funimation beginning on July 26, 2011, containing episodes 52–65. Season 3 Part 2 was released to DVD on August 16, 2011, containing episodes 66–78. A complete Season 3 boxset containing episodes 52-78 was released on November 13, 2012.
By 2013, however, FUNimation announced that the dub of Sgt. Frog was "now on hiatus", with only the first 78 episodes out of the 358 having been dubbed. FUNimation's home video license to the series would later expire, to which Discotek Media picked up the license and released the first season on an SD Blu-ray on October 26, 2021. Season two later followed on June 28, 2022.
Another dub was also produced in Hong Kong by Omni Productions and Animax.
Cast[]
| Image | Character | Seiyū | FUNimation Dub (eps. 1-78) |
Animax Dub (eps. 1-?) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keroro Platoon | ||||
|
Keroro | Kumiko Watanabe | Todd Haberkorn | Andrea Kwan (first voice) |
| Sarah Hauser (second voice) | ||||
|
Tamama | Etsuko Kozakura | Brina Palencia | Alice Beaver |
|
Giroro | Jōji Nakata | Christopher Sabat | Scott Evans |
| Akiko Hiramatsu (young) |
||||
|
Kururu | Takehito Koyasu | Chuck Huber | Michael C. Pizzuto |
|
Dororo | Takeshi Kusao | J. Michael Tatum | David Lee McKinney |
| Earthlings | ||||
|
Fuyuki Hinata | Tomoko Kawakami (eps. 1-231) |
Leah Clark | Candice Moore |
| Hōko Kuwashima (eps. 232-358) | ||||
|
Natsumi Hinata | Chiwa Saitō | Cherami Leigh | |
|
Aki Hinata | Akiko Hiramatsu | Jamie Marchi | Candice Moore (first voice) |
| Gloria Ansell (second voice) | ||||
|
Akina Hinata | Hisako Kyōda | Linda Leonard | |
|
Akiko Hiramatsu (young) |
|||
| Nishizawa Family | ||||
|
Momoka Nishizawa | Haruna Ikezawa | Monica Rial | Andrea Kwan |
|
Paul Moriyama | Keiji Fujiwara | Kent Williams | Michael C. Pizzuto |
|
Baio Moriyama | Shūichi Ikeda | Robert McCollum | David Lee McKinney |
| Recurring Characters | ||||
|
Mutsumi Hojo | Akira Ishida | Joel McDonald | David Lee McKinney |
|
Koyuki Azumaya | Ryō Hirohashi | Luci Christian | Andrea Kwan (first voice) |
| Jessica de Borja (second voice) | ||||
|
Chiruyo Tsukigami | Chinami Nishimura | Alexis Tipton | |
|
Ms. Furbottom | Ema Kogure (ep. 12) |
Colleen Clinkenbeard (cat form) |
|
|
Asuka Tanii (ep. 242) |
Brittney Karbowski (human form) |
||
|
Melody Honey | Megumi Toyoguchi | Tia Ballard | |
|
Ghost | Chie Matsura | Trina Nishimura | |
|
Yayoi Shimotsuki | Ema Kogure (first voice) |
Kristi Kang | |
| Asuka Tanii (eps. 223, 226) | ||||
|
Satsuki Shiwasu | Chie Matsura | Kate Oxley | |
|
Masayoshi Yoshiokadaira | Hiro Shimono | Mike McFarland | David Bridges |
|
Angol Moa | Mamiko Noto | Carrie Savage | Candice Moore |
|
Zeroyasha | Naoki Makishima | Zach Bolton | |
|
556 | Nobuyuki Hiyama | John Swasey | David Lee McKinney |
|
Taruru | Akeno Watanabe | Chris Cason | Gloria Ansell |
|
Sumomo | Juri Ihata | Caitlin Glass | Candice Moore |
| Chie Matsura (ep. 351) | ||||
| Others | ||||
|
Narrator | Keiji Fujiwara | R. Bruce Elliott | Michael C. Pizzuto |
Additional Voices[]
Test Dubs[]
| Image | Character | Seiyū | ADV Films Test Pilot (ep. 1) |
FUNimation Test Pilot (ep. 12) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Keroro | Kumiko Watanabe | Vic Mignogna | Chris Cason |
|
|
Kururu | Takehito Koyasu | Todd Haberkorn | |
|
|
Chiruyo Tsukigami | Chinami Nishimura | Lisa Gonzalez |
Notes[]
- Vic Mignogna also voiced Keroro in a guest appearance in Lucky☆Star.
Video Releases[]
| Distributor | Year | Format | Contents | Region | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FUNimation Entertainment | 2009-2011 | 
|
Episodes 1-78 | 1 NTSC |
United States | 
|
| 6 Volumes | ||||||
| 2011-2012 | Episodes 1-78 | |||||
| 3 Volumes | ||||||
| Discotek Media | 2021-2022 | 
|
Episodes 1-104* | |||
| 2 Volumes | ||||||
*Standard Definition Blu-Ray / including the undubbed episodes with subtitles