Natsumi: Alright, let's get this over with. Who and what are you?
Keroro: Uh, I'm Keroro. I'm the house inspector. Good house.
Fuyuki: You look more like a house maid.
Natsumi: Don't engage it in conversation!
Fuyuki: It's a talking frog!
Keroro: That's "Mister Sexy" to you! Oh...
Sgt Frog Abridged is an Abridged Series started by Mugiwara Yoshi and made by TheMidnightFrogs. The series takes the characters' quirks and cranks them Up to Eleven (several characters' Jerkass tendencies being taken to absurd levels, Keroro creating even more ridiculous schemes to take over Earth, Dororo getting mentally abused throughout his life, etc.), but nevertheless, the premise of the series is the same of the original. The writing, however, focuses more on absurdity, surrealism and one-liners than the original's referential humor. Viewers have noted that SFA is considerably different from Keroro Gunsou.The series is notable for being a popular and well-received parody of a comedy, something that numerous people found to be a bad idea before they saw SFA. Its fans include a mix of fellow abridgers, Keroro Gunsou fans, and people who otherwise don't care for Abridged Series or Keroro Gunsou. It has numerousarticles maintained by ThornBrain on the team's personal Wiki, including all of the episodes, side-projects and one-shots, and most of the cast and crew.The series began its second season on August 25, 2011. The first three episodes were remade in the interim between Seasons 1 and 2. Series creator Yoshi stepped down as writer after Episode 16; Thorn now has creative control, and the team confirm that the main episodic series will end after Season 2.Other projects done by TheMidnightFrogs include TheStrawhatNO!, their Let's Play/Retsupurae channel; Jetters Abridged, ThornBrain and BigTUnit1's Abridged Series based on the Bomberman Jetters anime; and Thorn's music on ''Futures Passed Free Music''.Episode 6 of the series notably placed 9th out of 200 entries in the 2011 Abridged Contest held by LordMoonstone and Xerostyle.
Serious Keroro jokes tend to subvert this, as he's usually mangling a joke with a punchline.
In Episode 13 several characters make Halloween puns, with Keroro even saying the pun directly above.
Aborted Arc: Giroro's crush on Natsumi. Its last appearance was in Episode 10 before Giroro turned his affections toward Dororo, though this was foreshadowed a few times.
Actor Allusion: Keroro often speaks Spanish or embodies various Hispanic stereotypes due to his voice actor Yoshi being Dominican.
In Episode 2, Aki mentions that the guy who removed the ghost from the basement was "some guy from Florida", a reference to Kululu's voice actor, Jpace92, a then-resident of Florida.
Actor Existence Failure: Thanks to a fiasco involving Momoka's voice actor, Momoka is intentionally kept out of the series as much as possible. She was brought back in Episode 10 after being silent since her debut in Episode 2R.
The remake instead plays this as Tamama being annoyed by Momoka to the point of not speaking with her until trees start dying.
Omiyo the ghost girl has only appeared once, also in Episode 2R. The SFA2 remake instead has her exorcised from the series.
All of Tamama's invasion plans in Episode 9 are two-to-three-word phrases that start with a hard "k" sound (Kangaroo Catapult, Cockblocking Cantaloupe, Colostomy Coffee Pot).
Affably Evil: Alisa and her father Black Nebula in Episode 13. Nebula releases the trapped squadron, who he was going to eat, if Fuyuki agreed to be Alisa's boyfriend, which he has no trouble accepting.
Pururu: "Keroro, you're fine. You're just an oversexed asshole."
Keroro: "NO- Oh. Yeah that's me."
Bilingual Bonus: Keroro (and occasionally other characters) have random bouts of Spanish. While Funimation did this with Angol Mois just for laughs, The Midnight Frogs did it because project leader Yoshi is actually Dominican.
Fun with Subtitles often happens at the same time, especially in cases where the supposed Spanish is actually gibberish, or is an actual Spanish statement being passed off as gibberish. Episode 1 also featured Spanglish interplay between Keroro and the caption.
Keroro: "Soy un major yes."
Caption: I am grande si.
Future Kululu's random placement of the numerals 4 and 9 become hints when the Japanese language is involved.
Keroro uses Morse code in Episode 12 to send a message to Giroro. It's assumed that he's sending the Serious joke he is saying at the same time; he's actually tapping out Dororo's catchphrase, "I'm lonely".
"Ahhh. Nothin' like doin' nothin', eating fruit, and rifling through your friends' emails."
Brick Joke: With the remake of Episode 1, Kululu's brief appearance at the beginning turns into one when the viewer reaches Episode 10.
In Episode 2, Fuyuki thanks Keroro after singing a song, though Keroro can't hear him. In the Post-Credits, Keroro suddenly says "No problem, Fuyuki!" and has no idea why he said it.
The Episode 8 Post-Credits includes a voice saying "Dang, man! Mop need him a cigarette!" The end of Episode 10 features a mop coming out of nowhere and saying "And I'm a talkin' mop!"
The Narrator also leaves early-on in Episode 10 to get some dollar store cheese. Future Kululu's base turns to be a dollar store. Also, the credits feature Mop screaming "Cleaning up the cheese! CLEANING UP THE-"
One of Tamama's invasion plans in Episode 9 is putting cake into the Hinata house's fridge. Later, Kululu finds cake in Keroro's fridge.
Everyone goes on a picnic in Episode 10, with Dororo insisting on holding hands. Later, Giroro seems to freak out after reading Keroro's letter to them, with Dororo saying "See? this wouldn't have happened if you held my hand."
In Episode 6, Dororo temporarily loses his sight and wonders if it has something to do with the coffee. In The Stinger for Episode 12, HQ tells someone to "fix the coffee machine; I think it's making me blind".
Episode 13 has Keroro remarking the object delivered from HQ was not what he wanted for his birthday, first referenced in Episode 6.
Buffy Speak: In Episode 8, everyone describes the pink armbands on Dororo's arms as "pink, poofy things".
Keroro in Episode 9
Keroro: "Come on guys! You can't make an omelet without doing whatever the fuck it takes to make an omelet!"
No Bisexuals: Averted overall; deconstructed in Episode 11. Keroro always acted as a Straight Gay while having a very obvious attraction to women, yet when Tamama reveals that she is really a girl, Keroro exhibits a form of "straight panic" and fails to acknowledge that he may simply be Bi. The ending of the episode parodies the LGBT mantra "It's okay to be gay" by saying "it's okay to like both men and women". It's worth noting that Giroro, the off-screen Wholesome Crossdresser, had this figured out from the start and gets irritated at Keroro's blatant ignorance.
Giroro and Dororo become closer friends at the end of Episode 7. By Episode 11 it's much more noticeable in how the two back each other up at different points in the episode, and in the Episode 14 Post-Credits Dororo asks Giroro to marry him in a very idiosyncratic way.
After having an episode-long daydream in Episode 9, Tamama decides that she is happy being the submissive one in her relationship with Keroro. This doesn't stop her from laying out everything that annoys her about Keroro right to his face in Episode 12.
Characterization Marches On: Keroro's personality didn't truly develop until around Episode 3, with Episodes 1R and 2R having him simply be a weak parody of the original.
Kululu's personality has also mellowed out considerably from the first season; he's now more apathetic than Jerkassy.
This was actually the personality the team originally intended for him, but when Jpace92 became his VA they went the creepy jerk route. Then Future Kululu happened, and they steadily went back to making him apathetic.
Chekhov's Gag / Chekhov's Gunman: The constant appearance of the numerals 4 and 9 ("What is this code?!"), his bizarre demeanor through the second half of Season 1, him suddenly disappearing from Tamama's office in Episode 9, and his ethereal cackling throughout Episode 10 all culminate in Future Kululu's reveal in the climax of Episode 10.
Tamama, upon Keroro introducing him, calls himself "a pretty princess" in Episode 2. Then in Episode 8, Giroro reads a joke from Jimmy Carr about vaginal pain, during which Tamama can be heard groaning "ow". Tamama also remarks about having "air boobs" in Episode 9, then later discovers a "hole" in the Post-Credits. The end of Episode 10 is Tamama revealing that "he" is actually a "she", with her attempting and failing to do so throughout the episode.
Cliff Hanger: Season 1 ends with Tamama revealing that he is really a girl and HQ leaving a message revealing that they're sending someone out to get rid of Keroro.
Then Episode 11 ends with Pururu contacting HQ, revealing that she is a double agent. Episode 12 has HQ calling to send out a bioweapon to take out the platoon.
Continuity Creep: The series started with the intent of being as Negative Continuity as the original. Then Episode 10 arrived and, alongside a heaping helping of retcon, developed its own plots and subplots. As former writer Yoshi put it:
"You can only take a show about nothing so far."
Continuity Nod: Jokes and quotes often reappear in later episodes, usually in an altered form. Proper Running Gags are listed further down the page.
Lil' Keroro describes something as "shooty Deus ex Machina" in Episode 7, which was previously used as "shitty Deus ex Machina" in Episode 4, notably the previous flashback episode.
In Episode 4, Dororo asks Koyuki if Earth ever stops having a full moon, which she flatly responds "no". In Episode 9, Dororo asks the platoon if any of them can actually read; Kululu flatly responds "no".
Dororo seems to briefly lose his sight in Episode 6. When it is discovered in Episode 11 that he has every disease ever, Pururu asks if he can even see. He responds, "Usually".
Giroro mentions (and shows) that flashbacks make him nauseous. Come Episode 11 he is around for both flashbacks, and he promptly reminds us of his little weakness.
Keroro took Mois to a "dollar store" when she was a child; Future Kululu's base is a dollar store.
Pururu finds Tamama inexplicably tied to a tree in Episode 11. In Episode 12 the platoon ties Kululu to the ceiling; Pururu remarks to Keroro, "I think your platoon is addicted to rope..."
George Albert Nishizawa's first appearance is him acknowledging Todd's Toilets' hot air balloons from Episode 1 and the George Albert radio commercial in Episode 6.
Keroro begins an invasion plan in Episode 3 with "We're gonna take a can of soda..." In Episode 13 while at a Halloween festival, he repeats that exact line to the others before the camera cuts away.
In Episode 2 Fuyuki laments that girls aren't attracted to him with "What happened to my game...?" In Episode 13 Alisa kidnaps him, causing him to triumphantly shout "I got my game back!"
Episode 14 has several nods to Episode 4, due in part to it being a flashback to the events leading up to 4.
In Episode 15, a delirious Keroro remarks to Fuyuki "I'm your uncle, and I heard what you said", a Call Back to Fuyuki lamenting about not having an uncle in Episode 5.
Crossdressing Voices: Averted for most of the characters, though Tamama is a weird example. He starts out being an aversion, unlike both the Japanese and Funimation versions of the original series, but he is revealed to be a girl in Episode 10, becoming both a subverted/straight example and a complete inversion of the original's crossdressing voice.
Giroro also "attempts" this himself by pretending to be Sumomo.
Cross Over: Fuyuki appeared briefly in both of TheMidnightFrogs' Pokemon one-shots, and Birdy from Thorn's Jetters Abridged interviewed the platoon in Episode 9 and left a message about Jetters Abridged in the Post-Credits for Episode 13.
Rule of thumb: If ThornBrain voices a character, they will have this at some point.
Demoted to Extra: Mois, due to her voice actor often being busy, and the writers getting anything they could have really gotten out of the character in her first episode. She still has the occasional line, but overall the writers just never have a use for her.
Epic Fail: Giroro shutting up Keroro was one thing, but Giroro shutting up Keroro in Keroro's own imagination is just sad.
Keroro does manage to get back at Giroro: Keroro writes a letter to the group and Giroro reads it in his head as Keroro's voice. Keroro immediately starts goading Giroro to attempt his "AGH" laugh. Giroro shortly after loses his mind.
Evil Counterpart: Zoruru is the clear evil counterpart to Dororo: where Dororo is friendly and always feels alone regardless of if people are with him, Zoruru is a cold-blooded assassin who is always alone but feels like people can never leave him alone.
The rest of the Garuru Platoon are subversions. Garuru is out to invade Earth just like Keroro's initial mission, but he is so warm and friendly that, if Giroro were still in the Keronian military, Garuru would be the good counterpart by comparison. Taruru isn't much of a threat, and he's at least as clueless as Tamama. And Kululu's counterpart Tororo, despite possibly being dangerous, is really just unhinged over his father more than anything.
Fantastic Racism: Episode 7 hints at/plays with the Viper clan being the subject of racism, particularly through the use of a police robot.
Filk Song: The team have done numerous song parodies since the team's inception:
"A Pekoponian Day in the Life" - A mostly non-humor parody of The Beatles' "A Day in the Life". John Lennon's parts are sung by ThornBrain from the perspective of a human as the Keronian army invades; Paul McCartney's section is sung by Yoshi from the perspective of Keroro on an average day.
"Pretty Girl's All Mine" - Parody of Chris Isaak's "Pretty Girls Don't Cry". Sung and performed by Thorn from the perspective of Giroro, singing about his crush on Natsumi.
"The Lonely Dance" - Parody of Men Without Hats' "Safety Dance". Sung by ThornBrain as Dororo with RevyMoonshine making vocal cameos as Koyuki. Dororo tries to pretend that he doesn't need his former friends, only for him to have catastrophic emotional breakdowns in each chorus.
"White Blanket" - Parody of "White Christmas", sung by Dororo about wanting a security blanket due to being lonely during the Christmas season.
"Giroro's in Natsumi's Room" - Parody of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", sung completely out-of-time by Keroro and with incoherent lyrics.
"Walking in a Mall at 12 O'clock" - Parody of "Walking in a Winter Wonderland", sung by Fuyuki about dangerous Black Friday shopping.
"I'll be Home for Christmas" - Sung by Dororo about how nobody ever notices him, not even in his dreams.
"Baby, It's Cold Outside" - Sung by Natsumi and Giroro, with Natsumi trying to get Giroro to leave her room.
"Durdeedeedur" - Also a parody of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", sung by both Yoshi's and Thorn's respective Tamama's, with even more incomprehensible lyrics than Keroro's version.
"Carol of the Kululu" - Parody of "Carol of the Bells", sung by Keroro, Tamama, Dororo, and Giroro about Kululu and how he acts. It is the only song that does not utilize a karaoke track.
"The Valentine's Parody" - Parody of Billy Joel's "The Longest Time". Sung by Yoshi as Keroro with Thorn singing cheap backup as Giroro and Dororo. Keroro sings a Valentine's song for Tamama, alternating between being a romantic, a cheap date, and a general Jerkass.
The team also recorded a parody of The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" way back in December 2009 called "Tamama's Titties". It was based on an in-joke involving Tamama with breasts, and though Thorn still has the file, it is not available to the public. It and the in-joke it was based on, however, are notable for influencing the direction the team would take with Keroro and Tamama's relationship.
Flanderization: This series actually managed to out-flanderize the anime, though the creators would rather develop their characters further than reduce them to single jokes. However by Episode 14 they've stopped caring about many of the human characters.
Freudian Excuse: Dororo blames his massive friendship and emotional issues on his parents.
Follow the Leader: The series has inspired at least two other Keroro Gunsou abridged series, according to those series' creators: AbridgeShion's Keroro Abridged and TheSmashBro's/Bokegaeru Productions' Sgt Frog: The Other Abridged Series.
In Episode 17, the news reporter can be heard giving an Incredibly Lame Pun while Keroro and Natsumi argue. Shortly after that while Giroro and Kululu talk, Keroro can be heard sobbing to himself about how joining the military was a mistake.
Gratuitous Spanish: Yoshi has a habit of breaking into random Spanish when voicing Keroro with expected effect. Many other characters have also slipped into Spanish at points.
Given that Yoshi is Dominican, it's not so much gratuitous as it is a Bilingual Bonus.
Viper. Poses a threat to the platoon at first, but simply being flabbergasted by Dororo causes him to give up.
Same with Future Kululu, who simply leaves after three impossible things happen right in front of him.
Heroic BSOD: Though Keroro was hardly the hero anymore by Episode 17, he suffers a BSOD after being blamed for the world's communications being hacked.
Mildly Military: Due to Keroro being a moron. By Season 2 they don't even try to pretend that they're still in the militay.
My Name Is Not Durwood: Characters often call Dororo something that starts with the letter "D" (Dorito), is a "Dor" pun (Door Knocker, Doorbell), or is completely unlike his name (Hangnail, Laryngitis).
Lampshaded in Episode 14, when Keroro realizes that he actually got Dororo's name right (immediately after getting it wrong, of course).
Myth Arc: It doesn't get revealed until the end of the first season, but the overarching plot of the series, and the reason the platoon are on Earth in the first place, is that Keroro is useless and people want to kill him for it.
N-Word Privileges: Averted. Keroro outright says "Nig-" in Episode 8.
Out-of-Character Moment: Kululu consciously drops his creepy demeanor to bring Tamama back to reality in Episode 9. He only did this because Tamama was being particularly out-of-character himself. Justified in that the whole thing was Tamama imagining if he were dominant in his relationship; he very much is not, and it got very out of hand for everyone.
Overly Prepared Gag: Kululu works his way up the Nishizawa Corporation, nearly making it the leading world economic power in the process. Soon he finds himself addressing the leaders of the world, whereupon he...sings a "HEGH" harmony. He's back with the platoon the next day.
Pet the Dog: Giroro, both as a child and as an adult, offers Dororo/Lil' Zeroro drinks in Episode 7, an important point in their Character Development.
Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Every flashback involves Lil' Zeroro saying something that causes Lil' Keroro and Lil' Giroro to instantly hit puberty. Keroro lampshades this the first time it happens in Episode 4, but every time after he just runs with it.
Precision F-Strike: Variation in Episode 7. While the characters cuss profusely as adults, their young selves avoid cursing throughout the episode until Zeroro meets Solid Snake and screams out the F Strike in terror, whereupon Keroro and Giroro immediately hit puberty and begin cussing.
Reality Subtext: Subversion. Writer Thorn came out during production of Episode 11 as a bisexual transvestite, but he states that he has always been an LGBT activist, so the series' examinations of sexuality were likely to happen anyway. He does however acknowledge that making all of the characters bisexual and making Giroro a Cross Dresser is Hilarious in Hindsight.
Record Needle Scratch: Frequently used to coincide with an awkward statement or before an awkward silence.
Reference Overdosed: Another subversion in stark contrast to the original series. Yoshi and Thorn subscribe to the idea that if you can come up with your own joke, it'll be funnier than making a reference. (Not that they don't make references, but they're few and far between, especially when compared to the original series.)
Kululu's "HEGH" harmony at the end of Episode 12. He basically trolled a leading economic power (which he helped to build) and the leaders of the world.
Retcon: The creators have completely disowned the original Episode 1 and Episode 2, both episodes being completely remade in-between Seasons 1 and 2. Episode 3 was also remade in order to fix a few plotholes that resulted from retconning Episodes 1 and 2.
The three original episodes are now referred to as SFA1R, SFA2R and SFA3R, the "R" standing for "Retconned".
The numerals 4 and 9 appear frequently in random places and dialogue. Revealed to be a message from Future Kululu that he is going to kill Keroro. The numbers continue appearing after Future Kululu returns to his time.
Schoolgirl Lesbians: Though the original series features at least three distinct girls with a crush on Natsumi, SFA has every girl in her school obsessed with her, including the teachers.
Reporter: "We are live at Generic Japanese Bridge, where a live seal-"
Person off-screen: "No, it's a Pikac!!!"
Keroro's line "Huh. I just broke my hand" in Episode 9 is a Shout Out to Koyuki-voice actor Revy Moonshine's Patlabor the Abridged Files Movie.
Future Kululu's pencil mustache was inspired by Ron Mael's signature mustache since the 80s.
While Solid Snake provides plenty of Metal Gear Solid references on his own, the message left by HQ in the Post-Credits of Episode 10 is a Shout Out to similar sequences at the end of Metal Gear Solid credits.
Kululu: "I'm gonna go watch Matlock; I don't need this crap." (Though Yoshi and Thorn have never seen Matlock, Thorn has watched The Andy Griffith Show since he was little.)
Giroro's poem at the end of Episode 15 quotes a YouTube Poop by team member Vorhias.
Show, Don't Tell: Averted. Tamama locked in a car, "Poodlejumper", and "Keroro Love Fighters" are all heard, not seen.
Played with when Mois talks about the things Keroro did for her when she was little. While she lists all of the things he did, the images that appear don't coincide with what she says. Until you think about it.
Silence Is Golden: Several outside shots in Episode 17 have no sound unless it's caused by the cast, so as to show that the world has indeed stopped dead in its tracks.
Singing Voice Dissonance: Sumomo is voiced by 1KidsEntertainment with a deep rasp when speaking, but she has a clean, feminine singing voice provided by LillyLivers.
Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Credits inversion throughout Season 2. Let's Player MrFailGame is listed in the credits of each episode as a person or object who either does not have a speaking role or doesn't even appear.
So Proud of You: Garuru to his little brother Giroro, though for mundane things like when he taught Giroro how to read. Subverted however: it drives Giroro nuts.
Natsumi: "You know, he seems like a pretty nice guy."
Giroro: "But he's so supportive!!!"
Sound Defect: In Episode 8 - instead of the usual "woosh" that would be used in such a situation - Kululu slides into frame with a rubbery stretching sound.
Spell My Name with an S: The series goes with the "Kululu" spelling and pronunciation of said character's name. They also emphasize the second syllable in Giroro's name, and they spell the "Sgt" in the series' title without a period*
The Stinger: Every episode features two brief clips after the credits (referred to as Post-Credits), usually following up a joke or situation earlier in the episode, or filling up a plothole. They have also served as Sequel Hooks in Season 2.
Stunned Silence: The platoon at the end of Episode 8, after they view their new "animation".
The platoon again at the end of Episode 12, after Kululu trollsthe world.
Stylistic Self-Parody: In Episode 12 Dororo recovers from a very long sneeze with a laugh, only to immediately realize that he doesn't have a nose.
Stylistic Suck: The entire 2010 Christmas special, from the bad singing on most characters' parts to the mostly-unedited background video malfunctioning and looping halfway through.
The "cartoon" in Episode 8.
Suicide As Comedy: In Episode 16, Keroro suggests number 4 on his list of backup escape plans. Number 4 is suicide by gunshot to the head.
The point where it possibly Crosses the Line Twice is when Keroro then tells Kilili to "spread [his] teachings across the galaxy", which leads to mass ritual suicides on every planet in the system.
Take That: Keroro literally invokes this in Episode 1 after Fuyuki takes the Kero Ball.
Then again in Episode 5 after "getting back" at Giroro in a nonsensical way.
In Episode 5, Asami makes a crack about emo/break-up poetry.
In Episode 6, Giroro suggests making cologne as an invasion plan, ripping on Axe Body Spray in the process:
Axe is lampooned again in Episode 8, when Keroro randomly reads a section of article in his animation manual that states "Axe spray does not work".
In Episode 8, Tamama asks from where Kululu stole the anime backgrounds. When Kululu simply answers, "It was Haruhi", the platoon is so disgusted that they lose all motivation to work on the project.
Keroro gets a job selling coupons in Episode 10: "Sad thing is, I still make more than Wal-Mart employees."
They Do: Dororo and Giroro in the Post-Credits of Episode 15. Kululu acts as minister. Hilarity Ensues.
Toilet Humor: Literally with Todd's Toilets and the kids hiding in the train bathroom in Episode 7. Joke-wise the series averts this for the most part.
George Albert Nishizawa spoke to his stockholders in urinal puns during Episode 12.
Too Kinky to Torture: Natsumi is frequently hinted to have an interest in bondage and/or rape.
Two Lines, No Waiting: Episode 12 alternates between Kululu working at the Nishizawa Corporation and everyone else being terrorized by his cursed DVD at the Hinata house.
Tamama: "Like a bean burrito, you're goin' south."
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: In Episode 1, no one reacts to a hot air balloon crashing outside their house, or to the very same balloon crashing outside the school.
Subverted when Aki shows up, revealing that this isn't the first time this has happened:
Aki: Jesus christ, Todd. Again?!
When Mois falls off the roof in Episode 5, Keroro merely responds, "Well that's odd."
In Episode 14, Koyuki seems unfazed by seeing Dororo's blood splattered across her wall.
Vocal Evolution: Yoshi's Keroro voice started out as him trying and failing to emulate Todd Haberkorn and instead just talking like himself. Circa Episode 5 his Keroro voice no longer has Haberkorn influence and is now him...just talking like himself.
Jpace92's Kululu gradually became rougher and more sinister after his first appearance. Even his casual lines sound disdainful now.