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I would say check Free the Frogs but it's only got the one anime listed, though maybe it's not anime, but some Western Animation?
That's a good thought, but I already tried it, and it's definitely not what I'm looking for. I also checked out Those Two Guys and Those Two Evil Guys, and nothing.
I'm sure it was anime due to the style and story I remember. Honestly, it makes perfect sense that it doesn't have much coverage on tvtropes—it was still in the era when anime was carving out a mainstream niche in Western audiences, it was geared towards children, and the children (and their parents) wouldn't have been on tvtropes.
Edited by ElaineRose Writing is about the joy of creation. Publishing is all about the money.I also said I couldn't remember details exactly, or where the lines between this and Flint The Time Detective were. =)
Writing is about the joy of creation. Publishing is all about the money.

You remember how back in the early 2000s networks were churning out Hilarious in Hindsight bad dubs of kids anime just as fast as they could so that they could cash in on some of the success that Pokemon had? And a lot of these were hilarious crap, like Flint The Time Detective. There was one, and it's been bugging me like crazy that I can't remember it, and that I can't totally differentiate which parts I remember from this show or Flint The Time Detective (I blame the likelihood that they were in the same time block).
Here are the details of what I remember: The two protagonists were children, and there was a Responsible Adult father who was some kind of scientist. They went on adventures to some alternate world, where it assumed a pretty non-challenging Monster of the Week format, if I'm remembering correctly. Remembering character designs and interactions is a bit sketchy, unfortunately. I get the feeling the girl had pink hair and the boy had some two-tone haircut, and the the scientist father acted a lot like Dr. Toros from Zoids. The villains as a whole were a threat, but the daily ones were a female set of Those Two Guys.
The one episode that's sticking in my mind revolved around Frog Dissection Day in the normal world (which freaked out the female protagonist to no end), and the villains in the other world doing some freaky bug experiments (with at least one of the underlings complaining about the ridiculous bug-like hairstyle the master had her wearing). Also appearing was some blond chick filling the role of Distressed Damsel (possibly with dryad-like empathic powers), who got an Imagine Spot of the male protagonist, I Am Not Making This Up, in a cloud of Bishie Sparkle and a kilt (the ludicrousness of which was lampshaded in the Imagine Spot—gotta love faithful translating). I believe the female protagonist got a little Tsundere about that. The protagonists eventually beat the genetically altered gigantic bug creatures with some combination of light and sound tricks, and the two minions were tied up and dangling from their ship. Back on planet Earth, the female protagonist got over her froggy issues and was the only one not bothered when the frogs all got out.
If I had to sum it up, I'd say it was probably what would happen if you mashed up Flint The Time Detective with Shinzo, favoring the ridiculous side of things. I've looked through some lists of programming blocks from that time period on Wikipedia (with a very wide window for time), and have so far turned up nothing. Any help for this rambling and possibly over-specific query would be appreciated.
Edited by ElaineRose