Sgt Frog Abridged | |
---|---|
Series logo (Season 3 - present) | |
Creator |
Mugiwara Yoshi (Episode 1 - Episode 18) |
Starring |
TheMidnightFrogs: |
Written By |
ThornBrain |
Run |
02/16/2010 - 11/19/2012; |
Episodes |
25 + 2 specials, 3 retconned |
Side Projects |
|
Links |
Sgt Frog Abridged, usually abbreviated to simply SFA, is a parody series of the comedy anime Keroro Gunsou based on YouTube. SFA was originally created by Mugiwara Yoshi and written by Yoshi with friend ThornBrain and produced with the team TheMidnightFrogs. Yoshi stepped down as writer following Episode 16, giving Thorn creative control of the series.
The series initially concluded in November 2012 with Episode 18 before being revived for a third season, prefaced with Sgt Frog Abridged: Reset. The episodic series concluded in December 2015 with Episode 25, and though there were plans to continue the series with shorts and a movie, the team quietly retired from abridging after 2016. However the movie resumed production in 2019 and is set for release in February 16, 2020 to celebrate the series' 10th anniversary.
The scriptwriting recordings for the series are free to download.
Cast and Crew
- Mugiwara Yoshi - Creator (Seasons 1 and 2), Writer (Seasons 1 and 2), Sergeant Keroro, Lesbo #1, various bit characters
- ThornBrain - Creator (SFA: Reset onward), Writer, Editor, Voice director, Fuyuki Hinata, Narrator, Corporal Giroro, Private Tamama, Lance Corporal Dororo, Lesbo #2, Solid Snake, Black Nebula, Lance Corporal Zoruru, Shurara, Putata, Robobo, various bit characters
- JigglyJacob - Writer (Season 3 onward), HQ, Dokuku, Giruru, Revolver Ocelot
- LillyLivers - Guest writer (SFA6 and SFA24), Natsumi Hinata, Aki Hinata, Chief Medic Pururu, Private Taruru, Gyororo, various bit characters
- BigTUnit1 - Writer, Viper, Paul Moriyama, Raiden, Lieutenant Garuru, Recruit Tororo, Kagege, various bit characters
- Revy Moonshine - Koyuki Azumaya (Seasons 1 and 2), Asami (SFA5), various bit characters
- InfamousGentleman - Guest writer (SFA22), Sergeant Major Kululu
- codeblackhayate - Angol Mois, various speaker systems
- Sawtooth - George Albert Nishizawa, Mekeke, various bit characters
- Dobuchu - Momoka Nishizawa (Seasons 1-3), Alisa Southerncross (SFA13), Poyon (SFA19)
- King Theo - Artwork, Nuii (SFA: Reset - SFA20)
- Spacerkid - Koyuki Azumaya (Season 3-on), Omiyo (SFA21), Nuii (SFA22 - SFA24)
- Omahdon - Yukiki (Season 3)
Characters
Keroro Platoon
- Sergeant Keroro
- Private Tamama
- Corporal Giroro
- Lance Corporal Dororo
- Sergeant Major Kululu
- Angol Mois
Humans
Other Keronians
Minor Characters/Gag Characters
- The Narrator
- Mutsumi Saburo
- The Lesbos
- Solid Snake
- Patty Morgan Sanders
- Raiden
- Viper
- Sumomo
- Reporter Lady
- Todd's Toilets/George Albert the Urinal Guy
- Omiyo
Episode Listing and Timeline
Episode scripts can also be read here
Season 1
Note: Season 1 began February 16, 2010 and concluded May 27, 2011, but the first three episodes were remade shortly afterward. See the retconned episodes below.
- Episode 1 - (June 30, 2011) - An alien frog invader is captured by a Japanese family, just in time for them to learn that he's been marooned by his commanding officer. Introduction of Keroro, the Hinata family and a few minor characters.
- Episode 2 - (July 29, 2011) - Keroro gets his own room, and then his and Fuyuki's respective love interests appear. Introduction of Tamama and Momoka Nishizawa.
- Episode 3 - (July 30, 2011) - Introduction of Giroro, who urges Keroro to take over the Hinata house before handling the mission himself. Kululu is then quickly introduced at the end, having just built the platoon a new base under the house.
- Episode 4 - (October 23, 2010) - Introduction of Dororo, Koyuki Azumaya and Viper. Keroro tells the story of the first day he and Giroro met Dororo (then-named Zeroro), followed by Dororo getting kidnapped by Viper.
- Episode 5 - (December 19, 2010) - Introduction of Angol Mois. Asami, a runaway girl from whom Mois took her appearance, starts causing problems in town, and the team decide to get rid of her.
- A Christmas Special (It's special, alright) - (Christmas Special, 2010) - As part of another ridiculous invasion plan, Keroro's platoon, (plus Natsumi and Fuyuki), sing brief parodies of popular Christmas songs for an album. Keroro narrates for the clips, which are played over a bastardized Jim Nabors commercial.
- Episode 6 - (January 23, 2011) - Keroro's latest invasion plan is to start a radio show.
- Episode 7 - (February 19, 2011) - Keroro takes the platoon into a flashback to when he, Giroro and Zeroro went treasure-hunting.
- Episode 8 - (March 23, 2011) - After Keroro wastes their weapons budget on toys, the platoon attempt to make a cartoon to earn the money back.
- Episode 9 - (April 17, 2011) - After another invasion plan fails, Tamama develops an obsession with dominance, with adverse effects on the whole platoon.
- Episode 10 - (May 27, 2011) - Everyone tries to spend time with their friends, though something always goes wrong. Introduces Future Kululu and permanently changes the story of the series from the original Keroro Gunsou.
Season 2
- Episode 11 - (August 25, 2011) - Introduction of Pururu, during which Keroro tries to figure out his sexuality in light of the events of Episode 10.
- Episode 12 - (September 28, 2011) - Kululu quits the platoon after the events of Episode 11 and joins the Nishizawa Corporation.
- Episode 13 - (October 31, 2011) - Halloween special. Introduction of Alisa and Black Nebula in which they kidnap Fuyuki and the platoon. The episode ends with HQ sending the platoon a counter.
- Episode 14 - (November 19, 2011) - Koyuki flashes back to her life with her old ninja clan, eventually showing her meeting Zeroro, him joining the clan and changing his name to Dororo.
- Episode 15 - (December 24, 2011) - Keroro falls deathly ill on the day of Giroro & Dororo's wedding.
- Episode 16 - (April 17, 2012) - Keroro prematurely activates the counter, causing it to birth a Kiruru, a Keronian-esque bioweapon. Keroro takes a liking to it and renames it Kilili, but HQ arrives to take it back.
- Episode 17 - (May 25, 2012) - The Garuru Platoon arrive to defeat the Keroro Platoon and finish the invasion of Earth. First part of the two-part finale.
- Episode 18 - (November 19, 2012) - Garuru finally infiltrates the home base, and the Hinatas rush to save Keroro. Second part of the two-part finale
Pre-Season 3
- Ask GiroDoro Season 1 - (June 5, 2012 - February 28, 2013) - A Tumblr Q&A blog for Giroro and Dororo. Season 2 continues during SFA Season 3.
- Sgt Frog Abridged: Reset - (March 30, 2013) - Revival special, set after Ask GiroDoro Season 1 and before SFA Season 3.
Season 3
- Ask GiroDoro Season 2 - (June 5, 2013 - May 28, 2014) - Occurs before and in-between the first three episodes of the season.
- Episode 19 - (August 17, 2013) - The platoon attempt to rescue Dororo's mom from a hijacked train. Introduces the Shurara Corps.
- Episode 20 - (March 24, 2014) - Shurara sends the first wave of his corps, Putata and Mekeke to take down the Keroro Platoon.
- Episode 21 - (April 27, 2015) - Shurara sends the unwilling Dokuku to infiltrate the base and kill Keroro. Then Tamama suddenly births her and Keroro's baby, and Keroro must learn to handle fatherhood.
- Episode 22 - (August 31, 2015) - Shurara sends Robobo, who fuses the platoon and humans with various appliances. First in-person appearance of HQ.
- Ask GiroDoro Season 3, Episodes 16 and 17 - (September 15, 2015 - September 27, 2015) - Occurs after SFA22 and alongside the rest of the season.
- Episode 23 - (September 27, 2015) - HQ returns to have a power struggle with Keroro over control of the platoon.
- Episode 24 - (November 29, 2015) - Nuii infiltrates the platoon under the disguise of Natsumi's childhood teddy bear and proceeds to turn everyone into dolls.
- Episode 25 - (December 31, 2015) - The platoon take on the final wave of the Shurara Corps: Yukiki, Kagege, and finally Shurara himself. Concludes the episodic series of SFA.
Post-Series
- Ask GiroDoro Season 3, Episodes 18-20 - (May 23, 2016 - January 5, 2020) - Giroro and Dororo learn about Viper's hidden treasures around the Earth, leading in to the movie.
- The Sgt Frog Abridged Movie - (February 16, 2020) - While searching for Viper's hidden treasure in Macchu Picchu, Keroro accidentally releases a new foe.
Other Videos
Retconned and Remade Episodes
Note: These episodes are no longer part of the series canon. See their remakes above for the canonical versions.
- Episode 1R - The original February 16, 2010 series premiere. Remade June 24, 2011.
- Episode 2R - The original June 10, 2010 version. Remade June 25, 2011.
- Episode 3R - The original July 23, 2010 version. Remade July 30, 2011.
Series History
Read the History section on TheMidnightFrogs article, as SFA's history coincides with the team's history.
Differences from Original Series
Sgt Frog Abridged has little in common with the original series beyond characters and a few of their personalities. The writing/comedy style and underlying plot developed to the point where SFA played more like an original story than a parody of Keroro Gunsou.
Style
After the original first episode, the writers did away with many of the original series' tropes, including resonating and the fixation on the Gundam franchise. The writers also freely skip and shuffle the episode listing to their own means, sometimes even mixing more than one Sgt Frog episode into one SFA episode, E.G.: Episode 6, which mixes Sgt Frog episodes 19 and 117. They also skip/ignore numerous episodes that they find to be pointless filler or that with which they wouldn't have any ideas. The team do this due to them finding Sgt Frog to be largely free of plot to begin with.
The comedic style is also focused less on referential humor and more on constant, fast-paced absurdity and incoherence. No scene goes by without at least one joke, and no minute goes by without several jokes or one-liners. The rare exceptions to this rule include Episode 10, which had an extended ending revealing several plot twists and had a largely dramatic, trippy feel; however, even that scene eventually spun into character-based gags. Episode 7 was the first episode to have a mostly serious ending, due to focusing on character development as opposed to just wrapping up the episode. The two-part Season 2 finale also had a more dramatic feel to emphasize the then-ending of the series and the culmination of its plot.
Plot
Starting with the end of Season 1 and the subsequent episode remakes, SFA developed its own underlying plot separate from that of the original series, based on the idea that many powerful people hate Keroro and want to kill him.
Whereas the original series begins with Fuyuki inadvertently sending an SOS to the Keronian army, SFA begins by having HQ dump the Keroro Platoon off on Earth due to being useless. From that point on, Kululu develops into an antagonist who manipulates the series from the background throughout Season 1. By the Season 1 finale through Episode 16, Keroro's superiors become greater antagonists, staging multiple attempts to kill them for not accomplishing their mission. Episodes 16 through 18 are the culmination of this plot.
The Season 2 finale originally ended the series and its plotline, but the series was brought back with Sgt Frog Abridged: Reset, which undid events in Season 2 that prevented new episodes and new characters from appearing. Season 3 thus continues the overlaying arc of people hating Keroro and wanting him dead, this time the Shurara Corps.
Characters
Few of the characters retain their original personalities. Keroro, Tamama and Kululu in particular have almost nothing in common with their originals and have nearly none of their quirks (Keroro's signature "Gero gero" laugh and obsession with Gundams, Kululu's signature "Kukukuku" laugh, Tamama's bipolar behavior). Natsumi and Momoka are the closest to their original counterparts, with Giroro and Dororo being largely similar while having many more prominent quirks and much fewer combat and military abilities.
Every character is given an ambiguous sexuality, with the writers' official position being that everyone is defaulted to bisexual until specifics are given. Keroro claims to be gay, and he and Tamama were made a gay couple. However, Keroro made no effort to hide his attraction to women before deciding he was actually bi in Episode 11, and the Season 1 finale revealed that Tamama was actually a girl the entire time. Giroro is also a transvestite as revealed in Episode 6; he and Dororo slowly developed a relationship behind the scenes from Episode 7 onward, culminating in Dororo asking Giroro to marry him after Episode 14. The wedding happens the following episode.
Recurring Quotes/Jokes/Themes
- Post-Credits - Closing jokes and brief scenes following the credits sequence. There are always at least two closing clips: one visual and one that is all audio. Either of the scenes can follow-up a joke from earlier in the episode, close a plothole, or be an entirely separate scene.
- The numbers 4 and 9 appear frequently in random places. Specific details can be found in the article.
- Keroro is the Keronian equivalent of a Hispanic; he often speaks in Spanish and sometimes emulates various Hispanic stereotypes. Several characters have also slipped into Spanish, particularly Fuyuki.
- The cast messing with Dororo's name, often changing it with a "Doro" pun (Doorknocker) or something completely unlike "Dororo" (Hangnail). Same for with Dororo's original name, "Zeroro".
- See also: Dorodo
- Dororo's eyes are sometimes played with in editing, due to them being his only visible facial features and only means of facial expression. They were the earliest signs that he was also physically unstable alongside being mentally unstable.
Album Covers
Thorn hides album covers in the background of every episode, starting with 3R. The only non-retconned episode to not include album covers is SFA18, which instead includes pictures of the winners from TheMidnightFrogs' 2011 Sgt Frog abridging contest.
- Episode 3R - three albums with no specific category or order.
- Episode 1 - five albums by artists either changing their style or making a good album after a string of mediocre albums, tying to the episode being a remake of an episode the writers now hate.
- Episode 2 - five of Thorn's favourite albums with a dark or moody undercurrent.
- Episode 3 - Thorn's five then-favourite Krautrock albums, in order from #1 favorite to #5.
- Episode 4 - Thorn's five then-favourite albums by Sparks, in order from #1 favorite to #5.
- Episode 5 - five of Thorn's favourite New Wave albums in no particular order.
- Episode 6 - three of Thorn's favourite "dark" albums, plus the two covers of her then-upcoming album and follow-up EP.
- Episode 7 - six albums about either traveling or life, tying in with the themes of the episode.
- Episode 8 - six various Post-Punk albums that Thorn loves.
- Episode 9 - four albums that could be considered over-the-top, tying in with the chaotic tone of the episode.
- Episode 10 - Thorn's five favourite albums by her number one favourite band, They Might Be Giants, in order from #1 to #5.
- Episode 11 - Thorn's five favourite Synth Pop albums that had not yet appeared in an episode.
- Episode 12 - Thorn's five favourite Chrome albums in chronological order.
- Episode 13 - four albums by The Birthday Party, in order of Thorn's preference from #1 to #4, tying in with the band's music being used in the episode.
- Episode 14 - Thorn's five favourite records by R.E.M., in order from #1 favourite to #5, as a tribute due to the band's then-recent breakup.
- Episode 15 - Thorn's five favourite records by The Fall, from #1 favourite to #5.
- Episode 16 - Thorn's five favourite records by her favorite Punk Rock band, The Damned, from #1 favourite to #5.
- Episode 17 - five lesser-known but acclaimed Punk records in no particular order.
- Sgt Frog Abridged: Reset - Thorn's favourite albums from each of her top 5 favourite artists, in order from #1 favourite artist to #5.
- Episode 19 - Thorn's six favourite records by Pulp and Jarvis Cocker, from #6 favourite to #1.
- Episode 20 - Thorn's five favourite records of 2013, from #5 favourite to #1.
- Episode 21 - Thorn's five favourite records by Primal Scream, from #5 favourite to #1.
- Episode 22 - Thorn's five favourite records by Faith No More and Mr. Bungle from #5 favourite to #1.
- Episode 23 - five Hardcore Punk records in no particular order.
- Episode 24 - ten of Thorn's favourite Metal records, from #10 favourite to #1.
- Episode 25 - Thorn's twenty favourite records of 2015, from #20 favourite to #1.
- The Sgt Frog Abridged Movie - Thorn's thirty favorite albums of the 2010s, from #30 favorite to #1.
Season 1-Specific
These running gags only lasted the first season and were either changed for Season 2 or dropped completely:
- Expressions and Quotes:
- "Fuck this!", primarily spoken by Giroro when he disapproves of a situation though is also spoken by the other characters.
- Characters say "blegh!" to signal when they have passed out.
- Dororo's catch phrase "I'm lonely".
- Natsumi having a secret interest in bondage and/or rape, usually revealed on accident.
- Solid Snake appears from off-camera and references something from the MGS series, usually under the guise of it being advice.
- Refusing to follow-through on saying a meme or other obvious reference, often by saying the meme wrong ("It's over six...") or just not following through on it ("And now you know! ... Yeah. Take that.").
- The girls in Natsumi's school are obsessed with her, including the teachers. The Lesbos take it to a higher level of creepiness.
Season 2-Specific
- The credits for each episode list the late MrFailGame, a YouTube Let's Player and acquaintance of Thorn's, as a person or object that either does not speak or does not even make an appearance. This ultimately leads to him briefly voicing Saburo, the character who never talks, in SFA18.
- Each credits sequence ends on the "[1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc] Lesson of Season 2", with varying degrees of seriousness.
- Raiden appears every-other episode, though he is not so referential to Metal Gear Solid as he is a walking Metrosexual Twitter/Facebook feed.
- "I'm lonely" is instead used by other characters and in random places.
Season 3-Specific
- Revolver Ocelot appears and quotes something bizarre that JigglyJacob said.
- California band The Garden is used as background music, primarily their 2015 album Haha.
Background Music
In-Episode
- Keroro Gunsou OST
- Numerous Legend of Zelda OST's
- Everybody Has a Hit Single! - Sawtooth
- BlackholeWhitespace - ThornBrain
- Nobody Cares Unless You're Pretty or Dying - ThornBrain
- "Knight Errant" - Ren & Stimpy OST
- Scott Walker
- Bomberman Jetters OST
- The Birthday Party
- The Garden (Wyatt and Fletcher Shears)
- Bloodborne OST
Credits
- "KERORU" - Keroro Gunsou OST
- "Escape Velocity 127" - Keroro Gunsou OST (Episode 4)
- "What's Going On" - ThornBrain (Episode 6)
- "Dead Joe (Version 2)" - The Birthday Party - Junkyard (Episode 13)
- "Your Love" - The Outfield (The Sgt Frog Abridged Movie)