#musing 2.0

I think the most important thing I wanted to mention is that the way the starfruit is described feels symbolic of what Keroro actually wants deep down

essentially a hybrid of the best of both, coming together into a single unit. all keroro does want is for keron and earth to co-exist in harmony, but his flawed way of imagining that is explored a bit more in 110b.

Any sort of invasion, even a peaceful one, despite being the best possible scenario for him in the situation he's in, still implies changing things about earth in order to achieve it and... as he realized, he doesn't want that!

Having a nightmare about successfully invading... Even with the starfruit representing literally the best possible scenario. It highlights his impossible task, but it also served to make him reflect about the invasion and his feelings on it at all.

In fact this whole episode is huge in this regard because the whole reason he got sick in the first place was stress and failure to adapt (hey! remember those old posts I made about how he doesn't quite feel at home on either planet and even though he loves earth it feels unwelcoming too in many aspects...) and it's easy to see why, normally we can see his stress, but this season won't let us forget (thanks to that beautiful timer device). With this constant reminder of what he has to do, where usually he likes to not think about it at all.

Coming to terms with his feelings towards earth and his own role in regards to it when it comes to invading, realizing you don't want anything to change about it really, in the second half that is.

The entire first half he spends it severely downplaying his negative feelings, which is nothing new, he often does this.

Trudging through his daily tasks sluggishly, doesn't ask for help or complain at all, actually the opposite is true.

Losing strength and physically lighter, like someone who doesn't want to be a weight and can't stand up for what he believes in. Ready to give up.

The kind of lethargy one experiences when under extreme pressure (and already depressed if I'm allowed to add), which is why when he tastes the starfruit (which again, what it represents...) which is one new positive thing he hadn't experienced before (something to keep going for), he literally breaks down in tears. And then attaches way too much importance to it (in a dream yes, but that's still his subconscious so, if anything it counts more).

Normal phrase to say for someone whose feelings are totally stable and not at all experiencing an extreme low. Normal tantrum behavior showing perfectly fine emotional regulation, not dramatic at all.

So anyway in my opinion from what I've observed so far anime keroro really isn't one to explicate his real feelings/needs or even do much self reflection on them at all. Normally, these occur when he's under huge stress. On average he has tantrums or indulges in escapism.

When Aki asks him a simple question on it, he has to stop and think about it, despite literally almost dying from the severity of them. My alexithymia king.

And then and only then, when it feels like he'll actually be listened to (by the way, getting ignored seems to be a big trigger for him! just based on observing his reactions... when people don't pay attention to him or praise something else while he's there... and stuff like that), does he say it in a way that feels so understated.

But to me it's really huge, because I don't think he has ever admitted these two facts so naturally. Or at all?

And as I said the shot with the timer feels especially devious in this context, it's a reminder to us the viewer that anyway how Keroro feels about the invasion doesn't matter, because he really has no agency or choice about it at this point. It's also a visual reminder of the obvious other underlying reason for his stress, that he doesn't outright say, but is shown to us regardless.

I think maybe, in such a context, even praise for a job well done could start mattering less to him, because the outcome is what's unfavorable, the thing he dreads.

That might be why this did nothing for him. Throughout the day so many duties, things he has to do, but not many times that he's asked how he feels about it (which is why he often ends up snapping in extreme ways). Like "what's the point?" of even thinking about it, if the situation is set in stone no matter what?

And I know Aki said may disease and we settled on that, it's the closest thing for sure, it lends a description for the type of disappointment he feels about what he has to do. But I do feel like it's not about "may" for him, it's more long lasting, it's just reaching a boiling point now due to the set timer. And may disease (while not clinically recognized) is best described as a type of minor depression. Keroro doesn't really have responsibilities tied to japan school/work (even if it's representing it), so you also have to see the bigger picture of it here... of why it manifested... He himself says he carries stress and unease every day. So it's not limited to may, it's circumscribed to his situation.

1. Dark keroro in the movie is a keroro clone created by the kiruru system but in the manga dark keroro is straight up just a version of keroro himself but serious that are controlled by something called the emperor system that is already installed in the keron star or on keroro himself,triggered by tororo’s hacking of the keroro robot .

2.The most prevalent theory in the Asian side of the fandom about what shin keroro is that he is an genetically altered keroro clone and that’s why he possesses traits that normal keronians don’t have and are extremely different (almost opposite in some cases)physically. About why he is only one “born”in a hundred years,you might want to consider that the manga originally is meant to be satirical and the keron society is based on Japan itself during different periods; the military is based on wwII Japanese empire and the culture is based on current Japan.Low birth rate and stagnation in society is a huge problem in Japan. Also considering the extremely long life keronians seems to have(10500+yrs old is considered middle age) him being the only born in a hundred years don’t seem too weird.But the timing of the birth is definitely sus because of the time difference between keron and earth is 1 earth year =300 keron years so he is born after the platoon is dispatched to earth.

3. Shin keroro is sent to earth by the supreme command which is an entirely different organization to the military branch the platoon belongs to,keroro’s commander even complained about how the supreme command sent shin keroro without his permission so there is some kind of infighting ongoing between different factions of the military.

I also want to add some to the discussion about keroro’s potential because the manga canon characterization of keroro is quite different from the anime because of the switch from a satirical adult manga to a kid friendly comedy tv series ;

1. Keroro in the manga definitely knows something about the keron star and how to use it but chooses not to use it for some reason and lies about not knowing what the keron star is straight to kururu’s face ( and like in the next episode he left a note to Moa to tell her to take care of the others before transforming into a dragon to fight black star but pretend to transform on accident; also the silhouette that threatened to overwrite dark star ‘s data speaks in a way unique to keroro in Japanese)

2. The keron star seems to take a toll on keroro’s body and kururu knows it.Keroro also seems to have immunity to mind control effects in general on most situations. He also loses consciousness if he give the keron star away willingly for some reason.Keroro still have the mood swings like the anime but in the manga when he is overwhelmed it seems like he just turns off completely and are void of any emotions(the author has stated in the databook that keroro is hard to read and are supposed to be scary when he have an neutral expression) The consensus of the Japanese fandom on keroro’s character is that he is secretly an extremely powerful and capable character but refuses to show his true aspects in any way other than to protect his friends and plays a character to hide it.

3. The first meeting of keroro and giroro in vol 29 is extremely sus for many reasons;firstly the way baby keroro speaks is just not how a normal child speaks in Japanese, kids are not supposed to speak like high rank military officers when they are in kindergarten (for your reference baby giroro who grew up in a family of military personnel does not speak like that).Secondly the whole thing about how keroro was in a hospital for a long period of time when he seems to be generally healthy as a kid.Thirdly, baby keroro seemed extremely intentional about invading earth and finding people to be part of his team and the fact that the keron army has tried to invade earth tens of thousands of times and failed.Also the fact that earth invasion is one of the most coveted missions in the keron army.Lastly ,the fact that Garuru is there to oversee the interaction,garuru is specifically stated to works for the higher ups and carries secret missions,he also oversees kururu when he is still a kid,so the fact that he just happens to be there when keroro leaves the “hospital “doesn’t seem like a coincidence.

4. Keroro has to be ancient .In one of the relatively newer chapters there is a panel that straight up said there is a version of keroro in one of those ancient robots from the hot spring episode; considering the time difference of keron and earth some version of keroro had to exist hundreds of thousands of years ago.Also the fact that Moa is stated to be 2000yrs old on earth time but have meet keroro as a child when keroro is supposed born 35yrs ago in earth time.

Sorry for the word dump but seeing discussions about keroro lore makes me excited lol

OK SO, HI ANON. You're my new idol, seriously. I've been suffering all day at the lesson, with the burning desire to answer this ask. I'm at home now, eating in front of the computer so I could get to it right away, because you made my heart beat.

Of course, despite my undying love for KG and Keroro, and my attempts to keep track of all lore and be accurate, I am but a mere bilingual italian, non-japanese speaking, haven't even finished the anime+manga, humble fan. So to receive this much information from someone like you, I consider an honor, and a chance to learn. I really do feel honored that someone like you chose ME to talk about this stuff because it makes me feel a bit more confident that I'm at least on the right track...

Kissing ass aside (dkfhskgd) I WANTED to answer you in-depth, so here goes.

"Dark keroro in the movie is a keroro clone created by the kiruru system but in the manga dark keroro is straight up just a version of keroro himself but serious that are controlled by something called the emperor system that is already installed in the keron star or on keroro himself,triggered by tororo’s hacking of the keroro robot" I see. Deeply fascinating. I already knew that the manga and anime have such different canons they might as well be separate works, and I read the Dark Keroro story in 2023, but I don't remember it well, and I haven't watched the movie yet, so this is all new information to me. The wording you use is interesting. If something can be installed on Keroro himself, that would imply that, as I suspected (and briefly speculated about), there is the potential for him to be remotely controlled? And likewise, such a thing could be said if it was installed on the Keron Star anyway. If I'm understanding this correctly.

"The most prevalent theory in the Asian side of the fandom about what shin keroro is that he is an genetically altered keroro clone and that’s why he possesses traits that normal keronians don’t have and are extremely different (almost opposite in some cases)physically." Yeah, that checks out. His reaction to humidity being a dead giveaway that he's far from a natural keronian. Then again, I've been suspecting not even Keroro is a natural keronian and has definitely been messed with in some way, so it would be reasonable that the character that's basically "we're trying to make keroro again part 2" would share a similarity there. "About why he is only one “born”in a hundred years,you might want to consider that the manga originally is meant to be satirical and the keron society is based on Japan itself during different periods; the military is based on wwII Japanese empire and the culture is based on current Japan.Low birth rate and stagnation in society is a huge problem in Japan." I'm aware... the general vibe of the work (borh anime n manga from what I've experienced) appears to me like a satirical take on japanese society, with its strictness and some bits that could be improved, Keron is of course a parallel to that to me... I tend to try to ask the questions in a diegetic sense before I go with the meta one, just to make sure I'm properly combing the lore, y'kno. But I had already considered all of this dhgfg "Also considering the extremely long life keronians seems to have(10500+yrs old is considered middle age) him being the only born in a hundred years don’t seem too weird.But the timing of the birth is definitely sus because of the time difference between keron and earth is 1 earth year =300 keron years so he is born after the platoon is dispatched to earth" You're right, it's not too weird in general... it felt a little weird to me in the context of them (Keron) trying to mess with genetics (especially the aging process) and their obsession with wanting Earth in particular (assuming they need the specific resources or something like that, if there is no other motivation for the Pekopon-craze). I feel like I discovered the difference between keron years and earth years somewhere in the anime already (when they were calculating their age in human years for a gag) but again, different canons, and it's super useful to me to have it laid out straight-forwardly like this.

"Shin keroro is sent to earth by the supreme command which is an entirely different organization to the military branch the platoon belongs to, keroro’s commander even complained about how the supreme command sent shin keroro without his permission so there is some kind of infighting ongoing between different factions of the military" Extremely interesting. Didn't know this at all. Duly noted.

"I also want to add some to the discussion about keroro’s potential because the manga canon characterization of keroro is quite different from the anime because of the switch from a satirical adult manga to a kid friendly comedy tv series" Even as someone who is still basically early in the manga, it's definitely a noticeable difference in some places... I tend to "supplement" the anime keroro using the manga keroro for NOW, just because nothing has felt contradicting between the two (some bits even compliment each other, you've probably seen me talk about keroro using screenshots from both... a lot), but of course that may change. I'm still learning...

"Keroro in the manga definitely knows something about the keron star and how to use it but chooses not to use it for some reason and lies about not knowing what the keron star is straight to kururu’s face" MHM. Yeah, I got that general impression (that he knows) and actively resists it. That second bit though I don't recall seeing (him lying to Kururu's face), I implore you to send me the screenshots/vol number of it, because I'm super interested. Well in general if you could give me the most crucial bits where this is proven, it would save me a huge headache with trying to piece them together by myself later. If that makes sense. "(and like in the next episode he left a note to Moa to tell her to take care of the others before transforming into a dragon to fight black star but pretend to transform on accident; also the silhouette that threatened to overwrite dark star ‘s data speaks in a way unique to keroro in Japanese)" Yep. Yep. 100000% yep. Even as a lowly non-japanese speaker I clocked that the silhouette was Keroro right away lol If I'm not mistaken, what you mean is that he uses dearimasu right here (although he also uses watashi), but if you mean something else lmk.

So my humble take away from this is that the equivalent to all the data inside the keron star is basically its own alive entity, and so that would also explain a bunch of other stuff (keroro not remembering anything of when he uses the star, his "fainting" (? i'll get to that), the star actively taking away from him (oh parasite theory my beloved) and stuff like that...).

2. "The keron star seems to take a toll on keroro’s body and kururu knows it." YESSSS THE WAY I'VE BEEN SAYING THIS. Well, I've looked into the vol21 raws dialogue for what you mean about Kururu as well (I have the full RAWs to check whenever I need I'm just... well, inexperienced, I might lose nuances. This is 10000000% correct and I already knew it, but feelsgood to read it said by you. "Keroro also seems to have immunity to mind control effects in general on most situations." I'VE NOTICED THIS... WELL, KIND OF. I noticed that he didn't undergo the effects of the keron star when kitty was using it. I can't recall a lot of instances off the top of my head rn. Examples encouraged to build my own mental library. But vaguely speaking, I got that impression, I guess. "He also loses consciousness if he give the keron star away willingly for some reason." When was this? Genuine question because I don't remember this and I want to see it. Unless you mean vol10, where I kinda got the impression that he just got captured because without (well, even With) the star he's pretty powerless. I feel like I'm missing something here. "Keroro still have the mood swings like the anime but in the manga when he is overwhelmed it seems like he just turns off completely and are void of any emotions" I have some... moments in mind... but please do give me examples (BECAUSE I WANT TO SEE IT!!!). To be fair, the anime kinda does the same? He pretty much turns off in ep64. I guess maybe they're more wishy-washy about it. But I think you mean specifically this, right?

I haven't gotten to this point in the anime yet, so no comment. But we 🤝🤝 about noticing how his mood swings are odd in the first place. Hmm... the way he also needs to receive some sort of blow to the head/lose consciousness to more easily access the powers of the Star... (if I have understood the moments right at least... and also, not always. strong emotions also activate it. but even if he knows this... does he actually have a full control on it?)

"(the author has stated in the databook that keroro is hard to read and are supposed to be scary when he have an neutral expression)" And man, he is. Also, which one is the databook? I have all the encyclopedias (I think?). So I was definitely right on the money anyway that the main point of Keroro's allure and even uneasiness (for us) is just how unreadable he is all the time. I kinda touched upon it here but ik you mean something different (when we can Actually see his face). But they go pretty much hand in hand. Shielding Keroro's expression from us or making it completely neutral makes us feel like we can't have a proper look at what his true thoughts and feelings are. Obviously something you implement in a character when they're hiding a big secret from the reader.

"The consensus of the Japanese fandom on keroro’s character is that he is secretly an extremely powerful and capable character but refuses to show his true aspects in any way other than to protect his friends and plays a character to hide it." I see. Checks out with the type of fancontent (fanarts and videos... anyway check this out it's a banger). I think I skew a bit to the side of this consensus. I don't know how to explain it well. I don't disagree, I just think there's even more going on. Some sort of awareness of something that it doesn't seem like he can change. Obviously like he has more experience than he lets on, like "he has done this before", or like he's so in touch with the contents of the keron star and those... unfortunately have some horrific knowledge for him in particular. I don't know if you're the same anon, but I only recently read vol23 and these + these were my takeaways (Just so we're on the same page on where I am mentally at, if I haven't forgotten about a post i made or something). Though naturally, his "sus journey" didn't start with him acquiring the keron star (as you mentioned), I just always felt like he didn't really "earn it" and it was always destined to him anyway, making his struggles with self esteem and lost potential entirely and ironically moot (on purpose). And that it's also something that he thinks he needs (to achieve a goal we're not aware of) but that is actually taking away from him and somewhat like a scam the whole time. If that makes sense? Here's a bunch of posts I made in the past that sorta paint an idea of what's in my brain about this whole thing 1 2 3 4 (sorry for giving you homework). Like, in my head, obviously there's a Reason he doesn't reveal himself/his potential and just bears this cross alone, you know? And on top of that, there must be a reason (besides earth atmosphere shenanigans) of why he used to be so hellbent on invasion as a child, and now he's constantly having sisyphean existential cryses trying to come up with invasion plans (or reverting to "working on them" when he's low enough or feels there's no way out) when it's clear he DOESN'T want to do it and is obviously just stalling. If he's so powerful as they say, why doesn't he do something about it? That's why I "skew" just a bit left of this general consensus. I hope that's clear and I'm not rambling.

3. "The first meeting of keroro and giroro in vol 29 is extremely sus for many reasons;" I'VE ALWAYS THOUGHT SO. "firstly the way baby keroro speaks is just not how a normal child speaks in Japanese, kids are not supposed to speak like high rank military officers when they are in kindergarten (for your reference baby giroro who grew up in a family of military personnel does not speak like that)." Insanely interesting detail. For obvious reasons, I wasn't aware. I beg you to go into more details with this, I'd like to know the dialogues and like, a full analysis on why they're weird. "Secondly the whole thing about how keroro was in a hospital for a long period of time when he seems to be generally healthy as a kid." Oh I think about that all the time LMAO. Me having a good peaceful day then all of a sudden I think "what the fuck does THAT mean". As I said in the past, if he's saying the truth... why was he? And if he's lying... why WOULD HE? The way he literally just popped up one day and Giroro had never seen him before. SUS. "Thirdly, baby keroro seemed extremely intentional about invading earth and finding people to be part of his team and the fact that the keron army has tried to invade earth tens of thousands of times and failed." Yes one million percent. I agree and I definitely clocked that as well. Which makes me happy... maybe I'm not as clueless as I thought... "Also the fact that earth invasion is one of the most coveted missions in the keron army. Lastly, the fact that Garuru is there to oversee the interaction, Garuru is specifically stated to works for the higher ups and carries secret missions, he also oversees Kururu when he is still a kid, so the fact that he just happens to be there when keroro leaves the “hospital “doesn’t seem like a coincidence." I see... didn't know this about Garuru yet. Noted.

4. "Keroro has to be ancient." I'VE BEEN SAYING THAT. And not since I read vol23, but since 2023 (when I started the show/manga). It literally just makes sense. And there's just a lot of details that point to it, even early on! Glad to see I'm on the right track!! "In one of the relatively newer chapters there is a panel that straight up said there is a version of keroro in one of those ancient robots from the hot spring episode;" Kermit nod... I see... (which chapter? I wanna check it out). Also that's insane that they brought that back (but also makes sense, they were ancient technology that went unaddressed so...). "considering the time difference of keron and earth some version of keroro had to exist hundreds of thousands of years ago. Also the fact that Moa is stated to be 2000yrs old on earth time but have meet keroro as a child when keroro is supposed born 35yrs ago in earth time." Yeah. Honestly, with the sort of insane speculation I've done in my head, I've even thought that Keroro may be an attempt to bring whatever is inside Keron back to life, if the planet was some sort of living entity/perhaps even an egg, considering they look the same as well. But that's just unhinged talk... EITHER WAY. HE IS ANCIENT. I BEEN KNEW YEAH. But if you have more specific insight on this that I might've missed on account of my lowly bilinguism, please feel free to send.

"Sorry for the word dump but seeing discussions about keroro lore makes me excited lol" I hate keroro lore discussions. Never contact me or send me an ask ever again. I'm literally blocking you. ...KIDDING. Obviously, I love them too. Don't tell anyone but I skipped my lunch of re-heated pizza to answer this as quickly as I could, it took me about 2 hours. Now it's just cold pizza...

Well, um, I guess that's all I had to say about that.

EDIT: As it turns out I did have more to say actually. About that whole "situation he can't change" point I was talking about during the General Consensus bit, see my brief posts on Keroro wanting to be in control of the narrative which you find linked here.

Right here.

and a lot of other stuff

I like this... no one listens to him anymore! They've all kind of understood that meetings are just a farce, and they've probably understood it quicker than Keroro himself who's still desperately trying.

i also have to say that im REALLY enjoying s3 so far, and you can tell keroro is acting different, or rather more specifically, that his motivation has changed and become clearer... he's much more open about wanting to just be a part of pekopon, its culture, and really just wanting for his friends (platoon members) to find that joy too

he's never had this much direct pressure to invade, and yet now more than ever he's using this time to do anything but. to indulge in hobbies, to take in pekopon's beauty, to just have fun... and i think it's because he knows deep down that there is no chance they're gonna invade. that timer might as well be counting down the days to their departure from earth, because he knows invasion is not really an option. and so...

well, I'll have more to say once i take screenshots and whatnot, these are just my immediate thoughts on what i watched