Keroro Gunsou Episode 135
ケロロ軍曹/Sgt. Frog Anime Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Karara and Chiroro arrive at the Hinata residence, pursued by someone. That someone turns out to be Nagomi-san, the Keronian entity in charge of the festival of the same name, similar to Japan’s Shichi-go-san (753) festivals for children. Nagomi-san is angry, so everyone tries to please him, starting with a board game. Lavi and Kogoro (556) show up as well. However, neither the game, eating sukiyaki, or putting on a show changes anything. Nagomi-san continues to get angry. It is then discovered that Karara and Chiroro took Nagomi-san’s ōnusa. Thus when they return it, combined with having a funny accident, Nagomi-san forgives them.

One day after diner, Keroro freaks out when Fuyuki leaves a single grain of rice in his bowl. When asked why he cares now, Keroro recounts visiting Dororo’s home for dinner. Dororo and Koyuki scolded him for leaving a grain of rice in his bowl. When Keroro blows him off, Dororo gets Kururu to use a device so that in Keroro’s dream, he’ll experience life as a grain of rice from planting to harvest.

Thoughts/Review:

Hoo boy! We get two terrible stories in Keroro Gunsou Episode 135. It pains me to say this, since both are heavily based in Japanese culture.

For the first story, we get an unfunny parody of the Shichi-go-san festival, celebrating the lives of children as they reach certain ages. As such, we get a parody version of the game of Life, only with the parody reference to Space Battleship Yamato. Then there’s the consuming of sukiyaki, which is a favorite Japanese food with its own rules about going after the meat. And finally, there’s the Japanese variety show parody. Maybe you have to be a child and Japanese to appreciate it.

For the second story, we get a sermon on not letting even one grain of rice go to waste. Heck, there’s a half-series plea at the end of the episode, hoping the Japanese government will take notice and use this story to teach children. Of course the whole concept is a laugh. Apparently, a grain of rice has seven deities in it. And it should only be consumed by humans. Insects or birds are not welcome to eat rice to survive.

Finally, we see the return of two of the most annoying characters in the franchise — the always apologizing Lavi and her moron of an older brother, Kogoro. The writers attempted to have a story reason for them to be there. In fact, they just needed Kogoro to be a thoughtless moron and eat all the meat of the sukiyaki so that no one else could get any. “Ha. Ha. It is to laugh.” 😑

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, episodes like Keroro Gunsou Episode 135 really make me wonder how this franchise is still going on (in manga form at least) in Japan.