ケロロ軍曹 Episode 48
(Sgt. Frog 48)

SPOILER Summary: Fuyuki is experiencing the spring blues but is cheered from a hug from his mom (Aki-san). Keroro hatches a plan to capture this negative energy and thus be able to take over Earth by making everyone lethargic. After capturing the energy, they test it on Kogoro (556). At first, they don’t find anything different about him. However, Lavie sees that her oniichan is actually lethargic for him, something only she can detect. While the test is a success, the energy, in gas form, overwhelms the platoon. Fuyuki, who’s out with Nishizawa when the pink cloud overtakes them, finds Nishizawa has suddenly grown very tired. Dororo comes along, his special training making him immune to the gas, and the two of them head to the Keron base. With Fuyuki suited up, they head inside and find the others suffering from spring lethargy. However, the energy has become a life until itself and even though it breaks Fuyuki’s helmet to get the gas inside, he manages to shut the system down, thus returning the life form to its case. Once resolved, it is revealed that Fuyuki, who’d been blue earlier, had recovered after his mom’s hug and thus was immune to the gas.

Thoughts: This was mainly a parody of Neon Genesis Evangelion. This was the case in the manga but I was concerned maybe the anime version wouldn’t be able to perform the parody. If anything, the anime was able to do more with the monoliths used for communication, to say nothing of the Rei/Lilith thing. The anime also got to play “Ode to Joy” which was like icing on the cake. So if you’ve seen EVA, I think the episode will be more fun for you than if you haven’t seen it.