Story: A race of alien frogs have been tasked to conquer Earth . . . but somehow find themselves taking up shop in a Japanese household doing chores for allowance money instead. It's basically kind of like Pinky and the Brain; Keroro, the leader of the squad, hatches a scheme to conquer the world, but somehow, it fails by the end of the episode. This is an episodic series, in that while there is continuity, there are no long story arcs; it's just alien frogs and eccentric humans interacting. Really, it feels more like a Warner Bros. cartoon than a Japanese cartoon; not that I'm complaining, since I love Warner Bros. cartoons.
Funimation, when dubbing this, went the same route they did when dubbing Shin-chan; as in they rewrote some of the jokes to make more sense to an American audience. In this form, Sgt. Frog has jokes about American culture, Japanese culture, and even jokes that would only make sense to anime fans from the English-speaking world. I think most of it is clever and well-written. The only downside? Some episodes are better than others. 8/10.
Artwork: Nothing too grand. This obviously isn't a huge budget epic. It's a family friendly comedy series. With that said, it's not bad looking. It's bright and colorful, and there aren't too many animation shortcuts. It does what it needs to. 7/10.
Sound: The background music outside of the OP and ED songs is again nothing grand. The OP and ED songs, on the other hand, are pretty catchy. I don't have much else to say here.
The voice-acting by Funimation is top-notch. Not only does every character appropriate, but they also are well-acted. Keroro sounds better in English than in Japanese, and Chris Sabat is perfect as Giroro, although I do think Dororo and Kululu sound better in Japanese, but that's just me being nit-picky. Overall, it's a fantastic dub, and certainly one of Funimation's better efforts. 8/10.
Characterization: There's a lot of named characters in Sgt. Frog, but most of them are eccentric fun. Keroro is a lazy and selfish Gundam otaku, Tamama is a sycophantic yet obsessive private, Giroro is a violent, serious-minded soldier of war, Kululu is a freak, and Dororo is a nature lover that gets screwed over constantly, and so forth. I guess the only knock I have here is that because the series is episodic, most of the characters don't really develop over time. Other than that, they're great, especially Giroro. 9/10.
Enjoyment: Again, some episodes were better than others, but this is easily one of the funniest anime series I've ever seen. There were countless moments when I had to rewind the video just to catch jokes I missed the first time because I was laughing too much. I even found myself quoting the characters in real life just for fun. This is a series I can come back to. 9/10.
Conclusion: Why is this not airing on tv? It's only rated PG, it's incredibly fun and funny, and even charming at times. (imitates Keroro) THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! PEKOPONIANS THE WORLD OVER MUST LEARN OF THE BODACIOUS AWESOMENESS THAT IS ME! (back to normal voice) You see what I mean by quoting the characters? Yes, the show will grow on you if you give it a chance. 9/10.
