Keroro Gunsou 76
ケロロ軍曹 Episode 76
Sgt. Frog anime, 76
Keroro Gunsou episode 76

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Natsumi discovers an ad about a moon vacation and naturally, suspicion immediately falls to some scheme on the part of Keroro’s platoon. Natsumi and Fuyuki head down to the base where Keroro tries to play things off but eventually concedes to the sibling’s request to go to the moon for a trip. Using their canon launching technology, Moa fires them all to the moon in three shells. While exploring, Natsumi ends up falling into a narrow canyon and is joined by Giroro, who notices her suit has a small tear, meaning she’s losing air. He repairs the hole, but not before most of her air is gone.

Meanwhile, Fuyuki, Tamama, Keroro, and Kururu are doing their own exploration when they discover a large ship already on the moon. A stern rabbit robot is there to greet them and despite his protests, his master requests they be let in. His master is none other than Kaguya-hime (Princess Kaguya), states that they are trapped on the moon until five elements can be retrieved, which Fuyuki realizes poem from the story Kaguya-hime no Monogatari (The Tale of Princess Kaguya , aka: Taketori Monogatari or Tale of the Bamboo Cutter). She confirms that she’s Kaguya-hime.

They’ve found four of the the five elements needed. One of their rabbit robots had found the fifth element but on his return to the moon, he was attacked by a giant space catfish and contact was lost with his ship. Kaguya-hime is ready to give up despite Fuyuki’s offer of assistance. She reveals that the ship is a colony ship with 8-billion of her people on board, thus they could not settle on Earth. It is then that Giroro, having accidentally found the ship trying to get Natsumi to safety (she being almost out of air) makes contact. Now, Natsumi is saved and Kaguya-hime can take her people to a planet to settle. With those aliens gone, Keroro decides its time to set up his resort, but ends up on the receiving end of Natsumi’s wrath.

Thoughts/Review:

I’m glad I have watched Space Battleship Yamato. I know I have spoken of the parodies, and some are more obvious than others. Today’s parody would be obviousness to those who’ve never watched the show since it dealt with the first time Yamato aligned her main cannons to be fired. Because I knew this parody reference, I was able to laugh and enjoy the moment. I know I would not have been able to do so were I not versed in that series. Its a shame that in the U.S., all we’ll likely ever get is the edited, domesticated version of the series — Star Blazers.

The Japanese also parodied the 1902 silent French film, Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon) with the launch of the platoon to the mood via cannon, complete with the shells smacking into the man on the moon. ^_^ I absolutely love it!

As to the Kaguya-hime tribute, I was only vaguely aware of the story Taketori Monogatari. I want to say it has been referenced in Keroro Gunsou before. I did learn that it is the basis for the Inuyasa movie, The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass.

Because of all the parody tributes, I have to say I enjoyed this episode more than average.