ケロロ軍曹 Episode 51
(Sgt. Frog anime, episode 51)

SPOILER Summary: Keroro gets notification that the entire platoon is being recalled to Keron in one day. Realizing he has nothing to show for his year on Earth, he pulls the big invasion manual to do some reading, but Natsumi has other plans for him that will require him to do his chores. After Tamama leaves so that he can sample more Earth snacks in the remaining time, Keroro tries to do a half-arsed job so that he can read in peace, he ends up doing a good job. However, he accidentally vacuums up some critical pages of his book, meaning all is lost. Still, because he did such a good job of cleaning, Natsumi makes a beef stew for him and the family. The following day, the platoon leaves with Keroro tearfully ordering that all evidence of their being on Earth be erased, including the memories of those they stayed with.

Life returns to the way it was, with Nishizawa wishing that she had a way to talk to Fuyuki (calling him “Hinata-kun” instead of “Fuyuki-kun”). Neko hangs around the Hinata home, apparently looking for Giroro but never finding him. Natsumi finds herself nostalgic over sweet potatoes (which she had shared with Giroro). Fuyuki finds himself reading about how some humans who have alien contacts find their memories changed. He has a flash of Sgt. Keroro and races down to the old store room that had been turned into Keroro’s room. It is a store room but he finds a Gundam model inside. He begins working on it when the platoon returns. There is talk of starting things anew but when Keroro gets frustrated at how Fuyuki is building the model, he races forward and is recognized by Fuyuki. Having anticipated this, Kururu restores everyones memories and things as they had been. Thus, the adventure continues.

Thoughts: The story in the manga was pretty simple with the audience left wondering, “What the heck happened to the platoon?” The anime writers deciding to make this more melodramatic and more humorous worked pretty well. I got a kick out of Keroro in that panicked, “Oh crap!” moment when he learned he’d be returning to Keron and he hadn’t done a thing. Reminds me of myself. ^_^;

I liked Koyuki’s farewell to Dororo as well as Kururu’s farewell to Mutsumi.