Keroro Gunsou - 108 (Adult pastimes and deserted island fun)

ケロロ軍曹/Sgt. Frog/Keroro Gunsou Anime Review episode 108

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

It is Children's Day and Tamama finds he's lost his tail. Keroro, Giroro, and Kululu help celebrate by getting sushi. They mention that as an adult, one can now buy, drink, and hit. Giroro and Kululu won't explain and Keroro is to involved in his collector's cards to notice. Tamama buys cases of the same snacks as Keroro, scoring a gold card on his first package, depressing Keroro and leading Tamama to know what "buy" is. Tamama heads underground to an adult, alien place, ending up at a bar, where he buys a cola on the rocks. Seeing another patron use a card to pay for their purchases, Tamama says he has a gold card, which gain him attention from an alien named Sayuri, who steals his wallet, but discovering nothing inside, she gives it back. When the police come to bust her, Tamama decides "hit" means fight, so he attacks and escapes with Sayuri. However, his tail has returned and she tells him that he wouldn't last in the world of adults. She disappears, but Tamama feels sure he'll see her again.

It is Golden Week, so Momoka has a trip with Fuyuki planned, but Keroro, Giroro, and Tamama tag along. Keroro accidentally hits the emergency eject button, sending them all out of the plane. Momoka wakes up to Fuyuki and is happy. When she realizes they are on a deserted island, she decides not to press the gem on her blouse for help. After catching fish for herself and Fuyuki, she helps make an SOS out of wood. The two go looking for water in the nearby forest, which Momoka notes is rather artificial looking. The two are soon attacked by Keroro, Giroro, and Tamama in power suits, but not acting themselves. Momoka defeats them, so they combine into a super mecha unit, which then captures both Momoka and Fuyuki. Momoka realizes she has no choice but to summon help, which she does. At the same time, the mecha gets fried in electricity and comes apart. Kululu reveals that this island is his testing ground, so he took advantage of his unconscious team mates to do some testing.

Thoughts/Review:

A couple of OK episodes here, but nothing too special.

The first story had some Space Battleship Yamato references with the in-series parody anime/manga franchise having the collectors cards thing.

Tamama becoming an adult was kind of fun, though the excuse to return Tamama to a non-adult was weak. Not that I didn't expect the status quo to be reset, but it would have been refreshing to have left Tamama as an adult.

For the second story, we get a parody of the combining mecha genre, though I don't know which specific series is being parodied. As to the island itself, I couldn't say what, if anything, was being parodied here.

As with the first story, the status quo is returned in the end, which is always the element of these kinds of series that I don't like.  I mean, it would have been nice for Momoka to get somewhere with Fuyuki.

In the end, a couple of OK stories, but as I said, nothing special.

Keroro Gunsou - 107 ("Sieg Keron!" and sibling fights.)

ケロロ軍曹/Sgt. Frog/Keroro Gunsou Anime Review episode 107
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Fuyuki is fretting over his underwear as they are having their yearly health exams at school. Keroro hears about this, so he and the platoon don human-sized disguises (showing their real faces) to take the part of doctors; Keroro takes the part of a nurse. Giroro is not happy about this until he hears of Keroro's plan to grow their army. However, Keroro just wants a bunch of servants, so Giroro is unhappy again. Natsumi learns of their scheme and goes to bust it up. Keroro and Giroro get snared in one of Koyuki's and Dororo's traps. Keroro cons Dororo in order to escape, whereby the foursome flee to where Fuyuki's grade are being examined. Keroro busts in as Fuyuki is taking off his pants, causing both to end up outside, where Fuyuki in his underpants are there for everyone to see.

Fuyuki is angry, so Natsumi makes him cookies, which he refuses to come down for. Keroro, fearing the blame be shifted to him over the underwear incident, stokes their fires so that the two agree to battle it out. The first contest is arm wrestling, in which Natsumi easily beats Fuyuki. Fuyuki wants a change of contests, so they shift to Indian Poker. There, Fuyuki wins two battles, but in the third, he loses because Natsumi recalls their earlier childhood playing Trump, when her facial expressions gave away what kind of cards she had. So she manages to fool Fuyuki and win. She tells Fuyuki of her memories and he also remembers that time fondly. The two reconcile, and Natsumi gives cookies to all. Fuyuki reveals that he was angry about a magazine Natsumi trashed. She didn't do it, so when it is revealed that Keroro had Giroro burn it as trash, Natsumi burns them at the stake.

Thoughts/Review:

Another couple of fun stories to be had here with some minor bridging between the two tales.

For the first story, there was the parody of the usual health exams performed on Japanese kids at school, with the Keroro Gunsou twists. As such, it was amusing to me, though I didn't understand Fuyuki's obsession over underwear at the beginning of the episode unless he doesn't normally wear the stuff.

The first story was also crammed full of Mobile Suit Gundam references, including the various senior members of Zeon, right down to the "Sieg Keron" instead of the infamous "Sieg Zeon" in Gundam. That made me really laugh.  I'm glad I've watched Gundam now so that I Gundam jokes like the ones here.

The second episode was fairly simplistic and predictable. I knew there would be no way for Fuyuki to beat Natsumi at physical contests, and Natsumi would be hard pressed to beat Fuyuki in cards.

Still, things were fun enough, right down to Keroro and Giroro being punished at the end for burning Fuyuki's magazine.

I'm glad these episodes have been pretty fun since my return to the series. I hope the rest will be as well.

Keroro Gunsou - 106 (Of underground alien cities and ojisama Gundam love)

ケロロ軍曹/Sgt. Frog/Keroro Gunsou Anime Review episode 106

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Fuyuki and Natsumi tail Keroro as he sneaks down back alleys until they fall through a boarded hole in the ground to a large, alien shopping center (Alien Street) under ground. Police Officer Poyan-chan is about to take them in, since humans aren't allowed, but Keroro and Tamama save the pair, saying they are Hysterics in disguise. After getting Fuyuki and Natsumi disguises, Natsumi eventually gets angry with Keroro, causing the Kamuran robot patrol to intervene since no fighting is allowed. Natsumi wants to explore, but Keroro forbids it, causing another fight. They flee the robots to a concert recital, where Natsumi is soon outed as human. However, since she saved an alien's life, she's given a pass, though the injured Keroro is not happy. Giroro becomes unhappy when he learns Keroro was about to sell his weapon for Gunpla.

Giroro busts Keroro making Char's Zaku Gunpla and Natsumi busts the pair of them. She discovers resume's they'd made up years earlier showing Keroro's Gundam interest, Mois "ojisama" interest, but nothing for Giroro. Keroro decides to use this to his advantage, twisting Natsumi's words so that Giroro thinks he needs a hobby to win favor of Natsumi. Giroro fails at Gunpla, flower arranging, cookie making, and singing. When he consults with Mois, he gets angry at her interest in doing things for "ojisama" (Keroro). So he desperately tries to find an interest of his own, causing Keroro to be pleased at the thought of more leisure time. When Natsumi learns of his efforts, she tells him a hobby isn't work and Giroro should just do what he wants. Since Giroro wants to invade Earth, that's what he's going to do.

Thoughts/Review:

Another episode with two stories that were pretty fun.

For the first story, in addition to having cameos from many of the various aliens who've appeared in the series, I also noted a nod to the Macross franchise, with the horrible singing alien's request to "listen to my song."

Beyond that, there was the usual amusement from Natsumi's fights with Keroro, and her being forced to flee since fighting isn't allowed.

The second episode was heavy on the Gundam references, going well beyond the normal Gunpla models to actually talking about characters and even reciting one of Char's speeches. It makes me glad I took the time to watch the original franchise (still have others in the franchise on my plate).

I couldn't help but giggle at Mois's resume, which was all about "ojisama" (older male/uncle).  Has Natsumi noted, this was very weird.

So as I said, a couple of fun stories here. Since I'm actually enjoying myself, I'm going to keep pressing forward for now.

Keroro Gunsou - 105 (Of burgers and love from legendary sakura.)

ケロロ軍曹/Sgt. Frog/Keroro Gunsou Anime episode 105

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

With 169 days left to invade, the pressure is on the complete the invasion of Earth. Keroro comes up with an infiltration plan, which involves opening a hamburger joint. Fuyuki and Natsumi drop by Keroro Burger, not realizing what it is until they see who's running it. Natsumi drags Keroro off, having figured out his plan, but he says it is just hard work and a normal life, crying that Natsumi would deny them of this. Natsumi reluctantly agrees, and Fuyuki gets her to help him since the restaurant is doing so well. Tamama runs out of ingredients, so he makes a run to the warehouse for more. Unfortunately, the only thing customers are buying are ¥500 smiles from Natsumi and Mois. As a result, the shop has massive debts. With Natsumi and Mois wiped out, the platoon tries to cover, but no one wants their smiles and the restaurant is done.

Momoka asks Fuyuki to see the sakura in bloom even though it is past season. He agrees but invites Natsumi and the others. She reluctantly agrees and sends her team to find the legendary sakura tree and transplant it to her mansion grounds. The party is in full swing when the tree lights up, causing Keroro and Tamama to fall in love. Mois and Giroro come to check them out, only to fall in love. Momoka and Paul see this, so they go to the next phase of the plan, which is to get Momoka and Fuyuki together. After some setbacks, Fuyuki and Momoka are on stage, where they get lovey-dovey. However, the Sakura is an alien Sakura Sakuura, and its parents come back to take their child back. The Nishizawa force does battle, but Momoka gives up being romantic with Fuyuki to give the child tree back. She is frustrated when the tree leaves, those affected lose their feelings and memories of what happened.

Thoughts/Review:

Well, it has been ages since I watched an episode, but since I was recently reminded via comments, I thought I'd pick this up again.

For the first story, it was mildly amusing with the normal dopey plan and failed results. Still, being a cheeseburger lover, I did like the concept of the platoon opening a hamburger restaurant. Not that I'd eat any of the nasty "burgers" they sold. *lol*

As to the second story, I liked that Momoka got a brief, romantic moment with Fuyuki, even if he was just under the influence of the tree. Yeah, she's a spoiled ojousama, but I can't help but want her to actually succeed in winning Fuyuki's heart.

As to the alien sakura tree, I don't know if there's a legendary sakura tree or not. However, it did remind me of the legendary World Tree, as seen in Negima!, which also glowed and would cause folks to fall in love.

In the end, we had a couple of fun stories.  I really do miss the manga. Too bad no one will license rescue it.