15+ Secondary Blog of @cosmicsponge2004 (Send any asks, submissions, or requests there if they don't reach me here.)
Covering random things about the Sgt. Frog Manga (the anime too once I watch it) along with other media
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While I knew TP had wide german operations and I fact still exist as a regular publisher there today, I just discovered that Sgt. Frog was actually published by them in Germany. Lasting 16 Volumes from 2004-2011
These covers use the American Logo (As TokyoPop owned that one) but the Original Japanese Tankoban art instead of the edgier 2D stuff
As of now I do not have any German scans
Unlike in america, TokyoPop Germany still seems to own their version of Sgt. Frog. As the first 10 volumes were added to Kindle in 2019
Starting with this issue, the Japanese Scans online are of a "special edition" print version. I've also found covers of 9 & 12 online.
I swear there used to be one for 13 online but I can't find it. Only 16
I don't actually know what's "SPECIAL" about these editions beyond the covers using 2D Art instead if 3D art. I kinda prefer the 3D. As did the Spanish licensors
Skipping 2 Chapters, ENCOUNTER 112!! (for anyone who forgot, TokyoPop called Chapters "encounters" in Sgt. Frog).
On Page 76/72, (US/JP, Publishers number differently for some reason) The phrase of a "SS-Rank Jump" is Changed to Super Mario. Since S as a rating is from the Japanese School grading system, which would be unfamiliar to the average american unless they were intesne GAMER (tm) who plays HARDCORE SHIT like King of Fighters or Sonic Rush!!
kinda weird seeing a mario reference since Yoshizaki usually sticks to SEGA, Nintendo, & PlayStation but as of 2008, Natsumi's been shown to own both a Nintendo GameCube and a Super Famicom and am early Chapter referenced Pikmin. So not a bad change really
BUT WE'RE NOT DONE WITH THIS CHAPTER YET!! A couple pages later at page 83 (US), Fuyuki's report is missing the Keroro Gunso logo seen in Japanese. Why didn't they replace it? TP literally has a Sgt. Frog Logo. They kept the other Keroro stickers, just not the logo
The crop is also so severe that it doesn't even look like a book within a book anymore. Now...
ENCOUNTER 115
The penalized page's final panel with Garuru talking about Giroro & Natsumi has all the text in the wrong spots in English. Thanks TP. YA FUCKED UP!!
OG JP
TokyoPop's Fuckup
My Correction (tinted red for clarity)
I feel like the final art of Natsumi is reused... but I can't find it. Maybe I'm confusing it?
Very Next Chapter, The VERY START of Encounter 16!!! This one is actually more about the localization decisions of Volume 1 affecting us now!
Natsumi calls Keroro Stupid Frog as usual, bit this time he gets SUPER defensive and upset about it instead of just comedically taking it. What!? There is a reason for this though. The usual word for Stupid that Natsumi refers to Keroro as is "Boke" (ボケ) meaning stupid or clueless. Typically used in Lighthearted Manzai Comedy as most of us probably know. However THIS TIME, She refers to him as "Kudaranai" (くだらない).
While this still means STUPID as TP translated it as, it also means Worthless, Trivial, or Insignificant. Far harsher than simply clueless. Hence him taking it as a personal attack and getting VENGANCE
Finally, Encounter 117. The Final one of the Volume
Fuyuki's writing a document on The Prophecies of Nostradamus (very important to this chapter) BUT instead of translating all the text on screen, TokyoPop removed the text and simply translated like the title. Formatted like a PowerPoint instead of a Word Document.
End
BUT WAIT!!!
TOKYOPOP PRESS IS BACK!!!
We're back on track baby!! The Next Volume's gonna start with a Chapter about ANOTHER NEW KERONIAN!!! A FEMALE!!! Will Pupupu-Chan be abandoned like Sumomo was back in Volume 3? Find out next time in VOLUME 15 OF SERGEANT KERORO!!!!
Thank you to COMIC VINE for hosting all these scans. They're not the highest quality but it's what we got. This is every Shonen Ace cover prominently featuring Sgt. Frog prior to the premiere of the anime
KERORO'S DEBUT!!! (April 1999 Issue)
1999-2001
My Personal Favorite (July 2002 Issue)
These final two directly promote that the manga's getting a TV Anime
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I was gonna go through everything left on Mangafox (they're missing vol 17, lots of 18, and 19) and they ended up not having 16's back and cropping 14's. So those are from eBay (14) and The Mage's Emporium (16)
I found a strange unavailible 2008 Amazon Listing. Another Custom Library Binding of Sgt. Frog. But this time NOT by FolletBound. Instead, by Paw Prints.
Sgt. Frog 14 : Mine, Yoshizaki: Amazon.sg: Books
Paw Prints' cover removes all mention of TokyoPop
It's only Volume 14 and weirdly it was seemingly purchased by someone 10 years later in 2018.
I found a Japanese site from the 2000's where someone was blogging about the manga. Mostly just the Otaku references, but that's actually pretty helpful to me since I don't know alot of this stuff
like, did you know? Angol Mois' outfit was apparently designed by OKAMA. No wonder she looks so much cooler than everyone else
One of my favorite panels in Volume 14 was literally just references to Battle Tendency (JOJO Part 2) down to the dialouge
I really should've read the Jojo manga instead of the anime. Araki's brush strokes are just so elegant... so sexy～
Though the stand name changes would probably bother me in English lol (should've studied fucking Spanish more)
It's a testament to Yoshizaki's talent that I was already fascinated by these without getting the references, but seeing them kinda makes the Keroro chapters more exciting and funny than my first viewing
I was kinda doing something else but I ended up coming across this with zero documentation on the English Web.
In August 2024, Kadokawa started publishing a Vertical Colorized Version of the Sgt. Frog Manga on their various digital manga sites.
ケロロ軍曹【タテスク】【フルカラー】
The first 3 chapters are free, with the rest costing either site points, real money, or subscription depending on the app/site (Kadowkawa owns... many). Though this is partially a farce as chapters are split up depending on length. Chapters 2 is actually just the second half of chapter 1
Here's that half cause it was easy to download and a good example for what the Colorized palettes look like (compressed heavily by Tumblr)
I doubt Yoshizaki was involved in these, Colorized manga rarely include the original mangaka. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure's for example had no involvement from Araki so the colors are very different from the anime which he did have creative control over.
It does however seem to just scan the original full color pages when applicable. Though just like Dragon Ball, Chapter 1's limited color green tint pages ARE recolored. Good point of comparison
I feel like it's kinda weird seeing the chapter covers colorized
I wonder if this version re-colors the pages that were made monochrome in the tankoban like in Volume 6 or does it use the original Shonen Ace Magazine Versions
I know this was done in color not just cause of Koyuki' hair but because the cover gets reused in the book
This was an issue with the initial Dragon Ball Tankobans iirc but some newer collector's releases have all the color pages... in Japan. ViZ Media's American release is always incomplete yet inconsistent. Both with colored pages and Censorship
These are still released today (Keroro Vertical Color AND Dragon Ball Rereleases. I hear Poland's is uncut. MUST BE NICE!!!)
You can see it a bit better here (Keroro, not Dragon Ball. Pay attention)
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MeroMero Battle Royale - Simple English Menu Guide
It's not perfect (I haven't told you the controls) but it's enough to navigate the game perfectly for those who don't speak Japanese... like me. I used a mix of DeepL, Google Searches, and the few Japanese Phrases I recognize from other games. I hope this guide is helpful to anyone who now has no other choice but to play this game
The Weird Arena-Platform Fighter Licensed Game for PS2
Keroro Gunsou : Meromero Battle Royale (2004) and it's expansion pack, Meromero Battle Royale Z (2005)
"Meromero" roughly translates into some sort of onomatopoeia for being love struck or smitten.... so I'm calling this one SGT. FROG SUPER ATTRACTIVE BATTLE ROYALE!!!! (Like Aki) [Google and deepl machine translate it as "Love-Struck" Battle Royale but my titles funnier :(]
Some of the Earliest Keroro Games, the only one not on a handheld (that includes computers). So early infact that the FMV Opening predates the finalized anime model sheets.
IT USES THE MANGA DESIGNS 🌟!!! (Saturated Colors, Black Tamama, Black Giroro Hate, Dark Dororo, ect.)
The game itself looks Ike the anime.
Down to the wacky charm of the way they move. Both in the Power Stone-esque main arena, and the Smash Bros-like 2D Sections. Perfect If you want a PS2 Fighter that Isn't the standard 2D Street Fighter, Tekken, Mortal Kombat fare.
The merging of concepts keeps it a bit unique from Capcom and Nintendo
As well as... THE STORY!!!!
in which i.... cannot discuss. Because I don't speak Japanese and none of this has been translated
Except Saburo's story for some reason. Check it out
Jp Wikipedia says it's partially adapted from the anime but with more influence from the Manga. There's campaigns for KERORO, GIRORO, TAMAMA, KURURU, DORORO, NATSUMI, FUYUKI, MOMOKA, SABURO, & KOYUKI (and unlockables Angol Mois & Aki Hinata), each with 5 Chapters
as for the differences with Z, all documentation remains exclusive to Japanese Wikipedia. Which states...
Removal of the Opening and Story Mode
Menu Screen (Previous Game: Accessed from the Start Screen; menu designed to look like a model kit sprue / This Game: Selected from the Start Screen)
Character Selection Screen (Previous Game: Model kit sprue-style / Gachapon capsule-style or action figure box-style)
Gallery Selection Screen & BGM (Previous Game: Ninja mansion-style BGM identical to the menu / This Game: Main screen features cards, with the rest remaining the same as before; on the right side, every time you scroll down, Keroro looks like he’s about to be sucked in by Nyoro-ro. BGM features school bell melodies for class start and end, along with children’s chatter)
Character Additions and Presets (Aki and Moa, who didn’t appear in the previous game unless you cleared it; Paul, who appeared via Momoka’s move in the previous game; Keroro’s Earthling Suit; and 556)
You can choose character costumes
While there are still two patterns per stage, there is no pattern change feature via Poyon-chan.
Character designs in the previous game were based on the anime’s first season, while this game’s are based on the second season. For some characters, you can switch to first-season-style costumes.
Stage Design Changes
Hyuga Family Home / Nakano’s Low Table (wood grain changed to newspaper), the color of the plastic model paint that prevents jumping (changed from yellow to purple), and the contents of the basket (mandarins replaced with gacha capsules)
Hot Spring / Underground Ruins: The ground pattern (changed from Nazca Lines-style to marble inscribed with ancient characters)
Shrine / Snow-Covered Scene: Set during the day in the previous game, but set at dusk in this game
Others
Basically Graphical Changes, Paul, Kogorp, and removing all the manga influence.
Frankly perfect for any international players who are more into the anime or simply can't read japanese so they'd get nothing from the story. But this released in 2005. The Spanish, Italian, and French Dubs wouldn't air until Late 2006 and the American English Dub in 2009. :(
Please someone make an English Patch... or atleast a Spanish one🙏
TokyoPop's English Sgt. Frog logo has "Keroro Gunso" (the original name) in the bottom right. All in a militarized font
This logo was of course used in the book as well
HOWEVER, Volumes 2-18 mysteriously change this rominization from KERORO GUNSO to KERORO GUNSOU. With a U at the end, as do many translations that try to write the ending O sound to japanese words
Kind of hard to get clear images due to scan quality and me not owning copies of the volumes that include it but it's visible enough.
This is a typo because the Japanese logo has already romanized it without a "U" since the first volume from 1999
It is unknown why this mistake turned up exclusive inside the book in volume 2 (as the color logo on the front never had it) nor why it persisted all the way until volume NINETEEN (2004-2010, MOST of this translation's life)
I kinda wonder of part of why Sgt. Frog stuck around till the very end of TokyoPop's life (besides it not being Kodansha) was from it being translated marginally better than the consistent dog-ass that would come out of their translations.
There's still plenty of errors and weird localization decisions (as I sometimes discuss on this blog) but it's not quite to the level of everything they got wrong in like Cyborg 009 or Devil May Cry.
This isn't to say Keroro is the only translation to approach accuracy. I wouldn't even call it their BEST (well.. maybe their best comedy translation but... fuckin' ghostbusters? Ugh. Well it IMPROVED) But the bar was more like an erratic snake that could sometimes be really helpful, and other times bite you in the tiny dick Dante DMC wished for.
Oh yeah. Here's some early temp covers from various early websites.
It just feels wrong to post something without images
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I'm a little afraid of the movie, not only because the bad reviews I'm seeing, but because the letter saying sorry of the errors of comunication and use of parodys not authorited and I'm afraid of it ending like the first episode of Osomatsu-san being banned because the parody thing...
I guess this is a good opportunity to go into that since I was gonna make a post on it anyway.
🥳 We’re in legal trouble! 🥳
…Nah jk. I think. I mean I believe there will be some edits to the home media/streaming release but it doesn’t seem like they’re actually gonna pull the movie from theaters or anything.
Essentially what happened, as per this article (it might be machine translated but this is what the official Oricon outlet put out in English), is that Bandai Namco Filmworks/Pictures did reach out to all companies whose works are parodied in the movie and got permission since there aren’t really fair use laws in Japan, but in the case of the Attack on Titan parody scene, they didn’t actually get full approval from the rightsholders on the depiction. But BNF failed to communicate this internally to the movie production team for whatever reason and the unapproved scene made it to the final cut. BNF takes full responsibility for the mishap and nobody who actually worked on the movie is at fault because they didn’t know they weren’t supposed to include this version of the scene. Based on the fact that they don’t say anything about the film’s theater release being impacted, my assumption is that they worked something out with AoT’s rightsholders behind the scenes to avoid the film getting yanked. I wouldn’t be surprised if they offered to compensate them in some way, likely by editing/cutting the scene for the home media release. I think that’s what happened in the Osomatsu-san case, though I don’t know much about it as I only just learned of it myself. The public apology really seems to be mostly directed toward business partners because while consumer transparency is nice the audience might’ve been better off being none the wiser tbh.
I’m a little concerned at how this may or may not impact/delay the home media and possibly international releases, but on its own it might not have been the end of the world. However…
Having spent basically the entire last day trying to keep up with all the buzz, I’m not gonna sugarcoat it you guys—if you asked me to imagine a worst-case scenario opening, this would come pretty close. Not every single element of the movie has been universally panned and even many loud complainers have said it picks up in the second half, but you have to remember this is the internet in 2026, where people don’t read beyond the headlines. And right now every review site has it being completely lambasted with 1-2 star reviews. The box office also looks quite poor but don’t take my word for it entirely because I don’t know what their financial goals are, and Friday was a depressed day for theater crowds in general (typhoon, World Cup match). I thought at first it might hit Movie 1’s peak, but now I’m thinking it might come more in the middle of the pack of the old films. I had higher expectations due to the amount of seats they gave it and aggressive marketing, but the early word of mouth and now this surprise apology statement have really dampened the mood, and I know not everyone is terminally online, but it will reduce some turnout.
Regarding the content, I still have the same stance of “you’ll just have to see it yourself.” I’m certainly not gonna try to form any concrete opinions on the whole thing until I watch it in full. But in terms of publicity they really dropped the ball here considering it’s the cornerstone of the anniversary project, and I think Bandai and Kadokawa are going to have to put in extra effort to win back goodwill with the fans as they transition into prepping for the musical and the new TV series. Or maybe they won’t give a shit considering people seem to be buying the theater merch in droves even if they hate the actual movie, idk. So far the only thing resembling a PR response they have done is delete the tweet featuring comments from some of the Gintama guest actors, who were joking about how they didn’t gaf about Keroro and just came because Fukuda told them it’d make money or something. I might get around to translating the guest comments like I have been but it’s low on my priority list.
All this being said, it’s going to be awkward posting all the clips and stuff I missed over the weekend as if nothing happened, but c’est la vie.
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