#like kururu clearly has

[kerorowhump]

the duality of kururu is that he could've actually forgotten to tell keroro to mind the height of the door on the aircraft in ep26... but maybe he didn't say it on purpose because he likes to have fun at others' misfortune... but MAYBE it was also that he was trying to stop keroro 🤭 like when he made angol mois fall in his solitary jail ... pulling the strings so that ultimately the GOOD outcome can still happen... pushing fuyuki in the water with a lifesaver? he almost drowned later, he could use the skill of Knowing How To Swim... or... anything in the cavity episode still resulting in the cavities being taken care of... (even if he enjoyed blowing him up from the inside 🫢)... to me he's like a true chaotic neutral, he enjoys teasing others and if that helps achieve a positive goal too that's nice

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ch.219 thoughts

[Big Dick is Back in Town!]

(Contents: immediate reaction - gushing, setting analysis - Clothy, character analysis - Chikara/Ruin)

This chapter is the perfect example of why I don't do numerical ratings. If last week I'd said ch.218 was a 10/10, that would carry the implication that it was the perfect UU chapter, that nothing could top it, and come this week I'd look like a fool! Nor am I willing to give 219 any such rating, because I refuse to believe that we've reached the pinnacle of what Tozuka is planning to show to us. However, my refusal to assign a number to this chapter should not be taken as indicative of my opinion on it, because, as I'm sure you've all guessed by now...

This is the best god damn chapter in the entire series so far!

That entire sequence, that eight-page span, with two of the most exciting and jaw-dropping spreads that Tozuka has produced to date, was an immediate daymaker. Fuuko sticking the five-point landing, the realization that she was back on the bridge where she and Andy first met, Andy's head dropping onto the bridge only for him to revive just like in the anime's interpretation of the same originally more low-key events of the manga, all culminating in Andy sweeping Fuuko off of her feet with the two most lovely and romantic smiles I've ever seen in ink put to page?! Like Andy bursting through Ruin's Bloodclot Ball and allowing the radiance of the sun to shine down on Fuuko, I too felt like my day was instantly brightened

And that's just from Andy coming back! Now that he's here to stay, I can only imagine what moments Tozuka's going to hit us with! Sure, Andy and Fuuko are gonna have the most romantically charged kiss in all of Shonen Jump's history, but that's a given! I can't imagine Tozuka's going to stop there, there's bound to be all kinds of great lines, action setpieces, character developments, and don't even talk to me about the catharsis of it all! Tozuka's always been good at wrapping up storylines in my opinion (not you, Kururu) and this was such an incredible payoff for the Andy is Missing arc that I just know the ending of the main plot is going to render me unconscious

But of course, the latter eight pages aren't the only things that matter here; sure, they're what elevates this to being my current favorite chapter, but don't be fooled into thinking that the rest of the chapter isn't an absolute banger in its own right!

Chikara

First of all, Chikara is, without question, the MVP of the Union. Juiz and Victor going through 456 billion years worth of loops? Nah. Fuuko raising the first complete and upgraded Union? Nope. Andy becoming hands down the single strongest Negator in any loop ever? Forget 'im!

Chikara's not invincible. He doesn't have eons of experience. He can't even use his ability offensively! And yet? Chikara always pulls through. Rip? Killed 'im! Summer? Killed 'im! Creed? Got his eyes crushed and his knees capped, and he still beat 'im, only to limp his way to helping everyone beat Spring too! Then in the fight with God, this kid loses his arm immediately upon the fight starting, but still manages to crawl his way forward to halt his approach from Fuuko!

Fuuko, Juiz, Billy, Shen, etc., they're all monsters, fighting prodigies or ancient entities unlike anything the world has ever produced, and Andy and Victor are so unkillable that nothing they do should be even remotely surprising. But Chikara? He's just a boy. Just yesterday his biggest concern was whether he was going to pass college entrance exams, and now he's getting his eyes chopped in half and not even crying about it! He just decides "this is unacceptable. I will not be a liability just because of something as petty as losing my eyes!" If you don't think that's badass, there's just no helping you

And why shouldn't Chikara be the toughest "normal" character? He was the first Negator that Fuuko ever recruited back in L100. He clearly means a lot to Tozuka and was always intended to be integral to the plot, and he has absolutely stayed true to that vision. I know I've ranked Chikara pretty low when compared to everyone else, but that is not because Chikara's character is lacking in any major way, he's always had one of the most compelling arcs in the story, and every time I think Tozuka is done building on him, I am delighted to be proven wrong

Speaking of characters that continue to surprise me...

Clothy

CLOTHY IS BAAACK!!! No wonder he wasn't around for Tatiana's fashion show, he never left Andy's side! You know what that means?

Clothy survived Ragnarok

Even when every other UMA was erased from existence, Clothy lived on, retaining his memories and his friendships so he wouldn't need to be tamed all over again! I mean, just look at how happy he is to see Fuuko! Poor little guy, I hope Andy changed his criteria for an ideal outfit to include "unconscious when not on Earth," or at least offered to if Clothy wasn't willing to wait the whole 4.6 billion years along with him

I once questioned where Clothy's core was, as he frequently gets completely engulfed and destroyed when Andy gets hurt, say by lava or whathaveyou, but now thanks to this, I finally understand

Because Andy is his wearer and Andy's ideal outfit is one that can regenerate along with him, Andy has essentially overwritten the core as a weakness: Andy has become Clothy's core. So long as Andy survives, so too will Clothy; without meaning to, Andy has already successfully externalized Undead

...Hey, that sounds kinda familiar, doesn't it?

Blood and Shadow

Oh yeah, Ruin also wears his UMA partners and shared his immortality with them! It turns out that I was wrong last week, and that Ruin does still have both Blood and Shadow, and unless I'm mistaken, it...looks like Shadow is his pants??? Or...maybe he's hiding in Ruin's pocket? The position of Shadow's attack and Ruin's leg makes it a little ambiguous, but honestly whether he's in Ruin pants or is Ruin's pants doesn't change the fact that it's a completely undignified position for a villainous entity to be in and it's very very funny to me

Based on the way that Blood seems to flow out of the scar on Ruin's body, I think that Blood has actively become Ruin's own blood and Shadow his...shadow. These are likely extensions of their own Rules, the same way that Clothy has to abide by the wishes of his wearer, but becoming a part of a self-targeting Negator's body would certainly justify coming under his Rule's effects. I also wonder if their presence is related to Ruin's new appearance; Soul calls Blood and Shadow "the powered-up pair," so their increase in strength may be related to Ruin's sizeable scar and loss of hair color, though there are certainly other probable explanations

Ruin's Past

Blood and Shadow's return have shaken the likelihood that this is Ruin 101 and not 100, but the lack of his Regulator status, his new appearance and Billy's read that Unruin doesn't actually allow Ruin to survive Ragnarok all greatly imply that this is, in fact, 101, even if he's somehow able to remember his past iterations

This week's chapter has given us the most insight into his character that we've ever gotten: that Ruin loves the world, but hates people. There are so many ways that this could have come about, but given the flow of the rest of the story, I think I have a pretty good idea

Ruin is already a pretty heavy inversion of the rest of the cast just by virtue of being God's servant, but I don't think that the parallels stop just with his status. Everyone else is God's enemy because the awakening of their Negator abilities were all tragedies that they blame God for, so what would motivate someone to become God's ally instead?

What else could it be but for Ruin's awakening to be a blessing that he thanks God for?

Let's say a child is born in some small, superstitious village. The baby is quickly observed to be harmed by sunlight, and within two years it has grown exceptionally sharp canine teeth. I don't think they'd wait to find out if it's allergic to garlic before tossing that baby out - that thing's a vampire, after all!

Now maybe the baby wasn't cast out into the wilderness. Maybe just a church or a religious orphanage that refuses to believe a child is evil without observing any bad behavior first? So the baby starts to grow up, gets to be a child or maybe even hits adolescence; all the while, the families in town have avoided the vampire, giving him dirty looks when he comes out at night, scrutinizing every little thing he says and does; they all know that one day, he's going to bring the village to ruin. Only the priest or a nun or whoever believes he's human, and assures him that this is all a part of God's plan, that he will do great things someday

Then something happens. Tragedy strikes. And whether the child was involved or not, whether he was anywhere near the scene, it's all his fault. And the townsfolk have had enough

The church is destroyed. The priest is killed. The child can only watch as everything he holds dear is taken from him; his eye or his body wounded and bleeding, his hair rapidly losing color from the trauma, the light of the sun burning his very flesh away, his life lies in ruin

As his consciousness fades, hatred bubbles up inside. With his last breath, he wishes to punish those who ruined what little hope he had in life, those who defied God's plan, those who broke the rules. And then...the pain is gone. The scars remain, but the boy's body is no longer broken. The Blood no longer spills, and a Shadow shields him from the scorching sunlight. Though his past is set in stone, the boy can no longer be brought to ruin; and with this new power he will enact God's will and put right the world that humanity has harmed - it will be Unruined

At least, that's how I'd write it

Ruin's Present

Tozuka probably has different plans for the specifics, but I expect Ruin's backstory will have some elements along those lines, with him feeling like God is his savior and humanity being the ones ruining God's plan for an ideal world

Someone on twitter pointed out that Fuuko once said that the Rules themselves aren't inherently harmful to humanity, that it's usually people who abuse the Rules to do harm. This is likely the same conclusion that Ruin came to, and took that sentiment to its logical extreme - since Negators, who are humans, defy, enslave and kill Rules, humanity are the evil ones, and they must be stopped

Ruin likely believes he's the hero of this story and that the UMA are the victims! That would make sense, as the only characters he's emotionally attached to are UMAs! They're probably his family! While visually Ruin is the anti-Andy, morally he's the anti-Fuuko, fighting to protect as many of the Rules as possible, as they ensure the world keeps turning the way it's supposed to!

No wonder he killed Fuuko right after the Spring fight last time! She triggered Revolution!!! She sent his beloved world hurtling into the sun!!! That is ultimately a good thing from his perspective, as it means that God can come down and wipe the slate clean, but that's only a good thing because so many UMA are already dead! This is God's opportunity to reset the world to how it should be, the way it no longer is because of Fuuko and the Union

But from Fuuko's perspective, Ruin is one of the people who abused the UMAs. He had Blood, Shadow and Ghost rounding up people to use as sacrifices and taking hostages for blackmail. He was serving the misanthropic God that reveled in humanity's suffering. He was the reason she now had to go back to make sure that the world was reset to how it should be, with all of the people she loves in it, the way it no longer is because of Ruin, the Rules and God

Buuut maybe I'm getting ahead of myself again. I certainly don't want this to be another Kururu situation where I write up a whole backstory that we never get to see, and I'll definitely feel foolish if I make Ruin out to be a secretly heroic figure from a certain point of view only for it to turn out that he's just a bloodthirsty killer using faith as an excuse to cause mayhem. But I can't help it!!! Tozuka's characters are all so interesting to me that I can't help but want to look at them more closely and try to puzzle them out myself! It doesn't matter if I'm wrong, I just have so much fun thinking about them!

Conclusion

The mystery is part of what makes it compelling. This has been true since the literal beginning of the series, which I think is part of the reason I've been such a diehard fan since day one. Chapter one made us ask "who is Andy really? Why are there Negators? And how will Fuuko help him die?" Chapter two made us ask "what's a UMA? Who are the Union?" Chapter five made us ask "why AREN'T there any stars??" I've been so engaged with this series from the get because it only gave me what I needed to know in the moment and teased everything else, a tradition that it's clearly kept up 200 chapters later!

It's never been perfect. Sometimes details that should be given aren't, or are given in external material that a lot of fans may not see. It's not a 10/10, because there are certainly "better" manga out there and even they aren't 10/10s

But it is my favorite

Even when it doesn't give me exactly what I want, it always resonates with me. I always feel a deep connection to this series, to this world, to these people, and I want to deepen that connection as much as possible. Even if Tozuka won't tell me everything, what he does tell me makes me want to know everything, to be closer to what I love so dearly. That's how I enjoy life, and I'm grateful that Tozuka has given me such a great avenue to do it

Until next time, let's all enjoy life! Welcome back, Andy!

[roleplayallday]

Hello again froggy fandom! I’m wondering if there’s anyone who would want to roleplay kurumois with me?

I’ve had an idea i’ve been wanting to do for a long time but no one’s responded before so i’m hopefully trying again!

Mois gets turned into a keronian somehow, and Kururu has to find a way to turn her back. But along the way he awkwardly helps her get used to her new body and new life as a keronian, and eventually he finds herself smitten with her. He finds that he doesn’t want to turn her back. Maybe it turns out he isn’t able to - or he’s just being selfish and lies about it - but Mois finds that she also likes herself this way and has developed feelings for Kururu as well. So she clearly doesn’t mind when she finds out she’s permanently like this.

However, they have to keep their relationship a secret since Keroro being her uncle would get pretty pissed about the revelation. Or the fact that Mois is permanently a frog now as well.

If this sounds interesting, dm me here or on discord! My discord is kazikuns

[enderon]

Don't remember if I ever shared anything like this, but this is how I see the romantic relationships in the platoon.

Keroro: Didn't have any hard interest in anyone at the start of the series, though he's had moments of thinking both Giroro and Dororo are attractive through their years of knowing each other. After some time of getting to know him and hanging out, he finds himself strangely drawn to Kururu, eventually turning into a crush.

Tamama: It's just canon that he's in love with Keroro. Like, there's not too much to say there, other than to commend him for being one of the more emotionally intelligent members of the platoon.

Giroro: He's actually atrocious about recognizing and understanding romantic feelings. His 'crush' on Natsumi is actually just great admiration for her abilities, though he doesn't understand this because it seems similar to the way his dad describes his attraction to his mom (she is also a strong, badass woman). There's also an element of 'compulsory heterosexuality' mixed in to, with him being like 'well, I have to like a woman, Natsumi is a woman, I really admire her, clearly this is romance'. Eventually he finally gets over it and realizes that one he's actually in love with is Dororo. Though that mainly takes Dororo himself getting tired of them dancing around one another and kissing him.

Kururu: He is also disaster trash, except unlike Giroro, he is very aware of his feelings but just refuses to acknowledge them as being anything serious. His messing with Giroro really is because he has a crush on him, a form of brutal pigtail pulling. But, he's always been intrigued by Keroro as well, even before the platoon was formed. He purposefully pulled strings to get the platoon together so he could see him in action. No surprise then that once Giroro and Dororo get together and he's trying to act like it doesn't bother him as much as it does, he ends up gravitating towards Keroro even more.

Dororo: He is one of the only ones who is both emotionally aware and willing to actually act on his feelings. When they were kids, he had a crush on Keroro, though he got over that once they became adults. Despite being occasionally annoyed with his aggression and intensity, he can't help but love and be attracted to Giroro's sensitive soul and willingness to go against his own principles to help the people he cares about. Eventually he decides he deserves nice things and just goes for it, kissing Giroro. Best choice he ever made.

[boypussydilf]

talk about that yellow frog with the spiral glasses. i want to know more. pick whichever template fits him best

YOU PICKED WELL. KURURU IS THE BEST CHARACTER MAYBE? dororo is Also really really good as a character all around its hard to say who’s The Best in an objective sense. but only one of them can be americas next top model. last night i read this big analysis post abt kururu and it was so good and i shouldve saved it but i didnt </3

lets get the mine yoshizaki problems out of the way *gets up on a soap box w a microphone and addresses all my followers* sgt frog is a pretty good series. but its biggest flaw is very big it has a major problem with sexualizing teenage girls. and acting like its fine and harmless. unsurprisingly, this is Bad. and it extends to some of the characters and while kururu didnt get fumbled as badly as uhhh *COUGH* CERTAIN OTHER CHARACTERS (giroro) *COUGH* there is somewhat of a recurring problem with mm Writing Him As A Creep. i elect to ignore it whenever the writers do that to a character who is clearly supposed to be Good And Well Intentioned At Heart, bc in that case its essentially an out of character moment <3 But its THERE and its REALLY BAD and i wanted to blatantly telegraph to everyone Hi! Show I am posting about has Issues. Everyone look out for yourselves.

WELL LETS BE DONE WITH THAT! KURURU MY FRIEND KURURU. hes the funniest bitch ever. i think he could do anything he just elects not to most of the time. like. he’s higher ranking in the army than the guy actually in charge of him. even after getting demoted. he makes reality shattering inventions that are advanced even for his Ridiculously Advanced Sci-Fi Alien Society at the drop of a hat. but he mostly just wants to fuck around and watch youtube and play pranks on people so he just does that unless anyone directly asks him to do something, and even when they do ask him to do things half the time he’ll either half-ass or sabotage it for The Lolz. Sergeant Major Kururu could rule the galaxy in 1 day if he chose to but he literally just wants to eat curry and bootleg movies. incredible.

he also gets points for being the type of character who acts like he doesn’t care about other people but he really really does <3 crazy that people think he doesn’t care about his friends. Did you even SEE the part of Keroro RPG where he goes out of his way to help Saburo’s doppelganger, even knowing it’s not the real Saburo and even after acting like he doesn’t give a shit either way? …….No because Keroro RPG is super super obscure? ok…….. sadantbindle.jpg

finally, shout out to the fact that hes the second youngest of the platoon, i sort of knew that before but only recently realized Wow this is basically just like. A guy in his 20s. i would say he left halfway through the keron equivalent of online college to join the army, but 90% of keron colleges are probably military. Also, shout out to the fact that she’s a trans girl! I love it when the space frogs get Gender, and they do that often

[bitchoftruth]

villagers refuse to report this in case it interferes with being listed a heritage site.

keitarou and co dont know about it though, so Kururu becomes an official member of the group.

some odd tension here, honestly, kururu doesnt seem to hit it off with anyone besides keitarou.

honestly, a reasonable thign to be curious about all in all, when you move there.

kihiro and tamaki just say they dont know anything about it but sakiko is more direct

its fine, she follows up with a just kidding.

keitarou asks about polaris life instead

he goes on to ask about inori and whether he could talk to her, but kururu does NOT like that idea

its played off as a joke and the question of inori is successfulyl avoided. they go on to play card games, and inori clearly makes up some rules but keitarou being an idiot, or nice, depending on how you see it accepts it . Kihiro is on to her though but ultimately decides it's fine as long as keitarou is happy. classic fatal gay boy mistake.

of course keitarou loses and has to undergo the "legendary punishment" (wearing some bullshit)

isnt it nice how they grew close together......

hey now, they got free wifi

[certainwill]

Finally got around to reading oniokoshi-hen and i’m actually enjoying it a lot..........

and i might. have to pick up kururu as a muse at some point. listen-

[fragmentwitch]

It's crazy that even though I felt like I got burned with sotsugou, I'm enjoying the new idea of Modern day Higurashi. The stuff about a cult that populates the edges of Hinamizawa, clearly the opposite values of what bonds are (almost like 2 different kinds of the same concept for "found family").

Kururu is clearly connected with Inori, but unlike Inori she has no issue interacting with non Polaris people like Keitaro. She seems more like a Takano expy than a Lambda expy to me with her demeanor and droopy eyes.

So I think I'll actually enjoy Reiwa more than Meguri/Gousotsu

[tamamatango]

Let’s talk about Kururu, again

Apparently the fandom is growing all of a sudden so I feel like talking about Kururu again cuz that’s all I know how to do and it’s been a while

First off disclaimer that fandom is fandom and anybody can interpret any character any way they want and if you like to portray a character a certain way for whatever reason go for it, more power to you (unless you put them in pedo/incest relationships that are displayed as good in which case fuck you). But in my personal Kirbpinion(TM) the Funimation dub was a fucking mistake because so many fan content creators write a way different Kururu than what he is in canon cuz the dub never got to his best episodes and also upped the sadism to ridiculous levels. Listen I know it’s funny to joke that he’s the kind of guy that has 3 medieval torture chambers but hear me out. Kururu is by no means a perfect person, he’s genuinely pretty rude/blunt (though sometimes his straightforwardness is justified :P), has an ego, sometimes acts pretty gross around others and likes extreme and elaborate pranks way way way too much BUT.

Assuming you’ve watched far enough into the series (like 100+ eps) I do not really understand the interpretation that he doesn’t care about anyone and that friendship and love are things he is totally incapable of. He says that yes but if you pay enough attention to his dialogue it becomes pretty apparent that he displays this attitude for multiple reasons. One is that he does genuinely have a hard time expressing the emotions he feels and often has awkward/guarded ways of doing so. But also he says many times over the course of the series that he has a “reputation” to keep up and wants people to call him a jerk; he wants to look cool and rebellious all the time and he thinks a nasty apathetic attitude is what earns him that status (not claiming that’s a healthy mindset, mind you). He wants to have full control over the way people see him and he gets super frustrated and humiliated when he can’t. This is probably why he gets so upset when people talk about how unpopular he is, because he’s spent so much time honing his image to a T and is like why the fuck isn’t this working?! In other words even though sometimes he is just an actual pain in the neck a lot of his asshole antics are part of a carefully manufactured persona, and he will do anything down to labeling his own memories to prevent other people from seeing through his facade and discovering the parts of him that are vulnerable.

And God forbid anyone does figure out that he does care quite a bit for the people around him, or at least if he didn’t at first he does now. Early on in the series he was commonly referred to as “depressing” and while the meta reason is probably just the anime writers just didn’t know how to adapt the character yet (he started out a little differently in the manga), in canon I believe he was just even more inclined to push everybody away from him, and as he began to get used to working in a group he gradually opened up. He commentates on how “soft” he’s gotten since he came to Earth a couple times, and the fact that he’s surprisingly one of the most loyal to Keroro out of the whole team (in many episodes where everyone abandons Keroro for being dumb he leaves last) and goes out of his way to help when he thinks it’s warranted (he asks for money when things aren’t dire yeah but hey labor deserves compensation :V) shows that he is dedicated to his team. There’s even episodes where he doles out some kind of moral lesson to the squad in his own Kururu-y way, especially to Keroro and Tamama. Even the Hinatas he’ll pitch in to protect when he has to, and we all know he’ll pretty much drop everything if Saburo needs him.

Speaking of which. I think the unspoken reason why he’s best friends with Saburo (besides the surface-level stuff like they’re smart and nerdy and seen as enigmas by everybody else) is because Saburo is the only other person in the cast who understands Kururu’s particular struggle of putting on airs as a means of self-defense all the time. He basically has a carefully managed celebrity life (that he has to constantly work to hide in anime canon), a somewhat formal/reserved public life, and the more quirky enthusiastic side of himself he only shows when alone and to the few people he’s close to and god damn that just sounds like the most exhausting juggling act ever. He has an outlet to free himself through his art but he still has to live with nobody quite knowing what he goes through on a daily basis, which is probably why we see him off on his own for most of the series (until he gets to warm up to everybody better...wonder who that sounds like) and occasionally have his bouts of frustration and insecurity like in 229 where he says “fuck it I’m gonna fight the apocalypse alone because I need something to do,” 354(? I think that’s the number) where he talks about just dropping everything and starting over, and I think one of the Christmas eps where Giroro has to like beg him to go to the Hinatas’ party cuz he says he’s “busy” even though he’s just sitting around pretty much (UPDATE: it’s 294 the implication is probably that he has his show or something but cmon that’s only like an hour lol). I am going off on a tangent now but anyway the point is he and Kururu are the most complicated communicators of the cast and they share feelings only they understand which is why they can more or less read each other’s minds and know exactly what to do when the other is in trouble.

Back to Kururu. Keroro, from what I can tell, is the closest to him out of the Platoon; Keroro gets freaked out by Kururu’s pranks sometimes yeah but they have a lot of common interests as the fun-lovers of the group and Kururu’s also kinda been interested in Keroro enough time follow him around for almost his entire life up to this point so there’s that. He also gets along with the other people he‘s around; we know he and Aki get along from the beginning because of how dynamic their personalities are but later on he gets close to Fuyuki to the point where they just hang out for the heck of it sometimes, and even though Natsumi is very justified in generally disliking him (many of Kururu’s more Eugh moments tend to involve her) even she seems to rely on him often, and in the cursed puppy episode she knows all his favorite foods by heart so she must care in some fashion lol. Dororo and he aren’t evidently super close but I think they get each other on some level as the (in-universe) least popular of the platoon and Dororo at least respects his abilities, and has clearly come to figure out his subtleties based on 229. Giroro and Mois...things get complicated. Just putting on record that I’m not a fan of either ship between Kururu and them. I’ve said this before but I think Giroro and Kururu are in a turbulent sibling-adjacent relationship in that they have completely opposing attitudes but they have a begrudging sense of respect for each other and, ultimately, they’re teammates, so they’ll defend each other when someone they don’t know tries to mess with them. I really don’t think the flirty stuff on Kururu’s end goes beyond teasing and I got kinda sick of that running gag if I’m being honest. (You can probably tell which frog I ship Kururu with by now :P) Mois went from something of a rival to Kururu to his lab partner, which is probably why he goes easier on her than he used to and even strikes up something of a friendship because the only other person he knows that might be capable of handling his technology is an Earthling who’s still against the invasion despite his lax attitude so. She helps :V

Now the question is why Kururu acts like he does if his relationships really aren’t all that bad and I think there’s two components to this. I’ve made it clear by now I think he’s autistic but your mileage may vary there. I think personally his childhood did something to the way he processes things as well. In Secret of the Kero Ball, he’s got a bandage on his head which may imply he got hurt somewhere and then he almost drowned which canonically definitely did something to him lol, was mostly seen alone so who knows if he has a family he still talks to, and then he got drafted into the army and placed into a high-ranking position of great responsibility at a very young age; it’s kind of a no-brainer why he rebeled and got demoted eventually. I’ve got plenty of headcanons about what his early days in the Military did to him but that’s for another day because good God this post went on too long.

In short: Kururu is possibly the most complicated character in the show and the F in Flanderization stands for “Funimation.” That’s it I’m never writing another essay about pee-color frog again I will make real content again at some point I promise

[poppun-chan]

Wait, was Tamama originally an adult!?

So, I’ve been thinking about the Keroro series recently and there’s something that’s been pulling at the back of my mind for a while; a few things seem really different compared to the beginning of the series, in terms of the series canon. And I know some things were influenced by the anime and considering how drastically the series changed from the pilot chapter it makes sense that the world building shifted a bit, but it looks like Tamama was originally meant to be a lot older than he is now.

I remember reading that his actress, Etsuko Kozakura said in an interview once that she voiced Tamama as being around 19 years old, and in a retrospective she wrote on her blog she mentioned that she sometimes wonders if she overshot his age a few years. And there was that one episode of the anime where he briefly becomes an adult (and orders cola at a bar) due to the age gun accidentally hitting him. And a lot of people pin him as being even younger after that booklet was released giving their ages (though I take it with a grain of salt since it also lists them all as being the same height when Kururu is slightly taller, even with his poor posture, and Tamama is slightly shorter).

But then in the earlier chapters it looks like he was originally an adult with some form of hypoplasia that kept him from maturing normally. In the New Years chapter from book 4 he’s shown getting drunk with the others and some of the comments he makes imply that he’s not only done it before, but has often enough that he knows how it effects him and have a nickname tied to his tolerance (or maybe he’s just playing up his tolerance by claiming people have called him “the fish”). Or at least in his internal monologue after his confession he realises that he’s not actually drunk yet.

Plus there was the “interview” with Tamama in the first book where he mentions his tail being “full of bad memories”. The interviewer even mentions assuming that it was because Tamama isn’t an adult yet and he replies that he “lets everyone think that” and that he “always knew [he] was special” and that things were rough for him at first because of it. To me it seems like his original backstory would have been that Tamama was originally considered a late bloomer and as time went on and he still hadn’t matured it eventually got looked into and turned out that it either wasn’t going to happen at all, or at least not for a long time and as a result has spent his entire adult life with people either not taking him seriously because he looks like a child, or assuming he’s a girl that likes wearing boy’s hats (I wonder if that’s why in the Kemono Friends event story he doesn’t care about being turned into a girl, people have made the mistake so often that he doesn’t care any more and at least now there’s a legitimate reason to assume he is).

That might also be why we’ve gotten so little of his backstory compared to Keroro, Giroro & Dororo; it still hasn’t been completely decided on, or at least was changed at some point. I’m not sure which option would be better, but it would explain part of why he is the way he is now, and some of the aspects that would make it interesting are still there. Namely how his cute appearance is a double edged sword; on the one hand he seems to take pride in it, or at the very least enjoy being doted on as a result, but on the other hand it damages his credibility. People have a hard time taking you seriously when you look like you haven’t even finished puberty yet. I remember at least one point in the manga where he gets defensive about his appearance, it’s in one of the chapters with Ouka where before he tries to fight her he delivers a monologue about how he’s “been put on a pedestal as the platoon’s feel-good icon, but is actually a tragic hero faced with a dilemma” true some of it was probably to be dramatic, but right before attacking he says “If you dismiss me as something small and cute you’re gonna get burned!”. But at the same time he still doesn’t want anyone else challenging his position as the cute one because if he has to deal with negative aspects without having the positive ones, he just can’t handle it.

Either way it would explain part of his resentment issues, especially towards Taruru; it’s frustrating enough that your several years younger student gets promoted ahead of you, it’d be even worse suspecting it’s because he’s normal and that makes him seem more capable, especially if it was hard for you to get into the field at all (Keronians are already cute and hard to see as a threat, I can imagine it’d be difficult for somebody cuter than average to get into the army). When you add the root of his over attachment issues being hinted at in the kindergarten story as being due to always being the last one to go home because everyone else’s parents picked them up long before his could, if they were even able to take him home at all. Even if it was something as innocuous as his parents both working later, it clearly had enough of an impact that it still affects him years later; it’s no wonder he’s such an incredible mess now.

It could also explain his easy acceptance of his circumstances on Earth without his necessarily being from a rich family or self-entitled; between the issues he had with his family as a young child and his not being taken seriously now, he might see it as things finally going his way. So it could be a matter of “It’s fine that I’m better off than everyone else, they’re happy enough and had a fairly normal life, now it’s my turn”. Even in the anime where he clearly isn’t an adult yet some of this is still applicable where he still had to deal with feelings as a child that none of the other children had to (the kindergarten episode was animated in the flash series) and people still have trouble seeing how capable he is under his cute appearance.

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ch.213 thoughts

[The End of the Beginning of the End]

(Contents: Criticism - pacing, praise - Fuuko's speech)

I'm so tempted to just say that this chapter should have been what I predicted last week, hit post, and never say anything again to anyone ever, but I feel like that would be doing a disservice to everyone involved, most notably myself, so I'm going to try to give this chapter a fair and partial evaluation to the best of my ability

As other readers have said over the course of this week, I feel that this chapter was, in and of itself, fine, it's just mistimed. What the Unchaste Arc (if you can even call it that...) needed was a capstone focusing on Kururu. I won't go over how that would have looked since I went into detail on it last week, but it's extremely evident that that's the missing piece here on the basis that she's still clearly an antagonist in this chapter

Kururu does not have a single line, but she spends the entire chapter picking a fight with Julia and baring her fangs (which I'm glad she still has, to be clear), so Fuuko's entire speech about how all of the Negators used to be enemies but are now friends rings somewhat hollow

Fuuko mentions that Kururu told her Soul was the actual villain for this arc, but a) we didn't see that conversation, and b) that doesn't mean that she's on friendly terms with the team now. And if she is on friendly terms, then why a) weren't we shown that? and b) is she attacking Julia???

It's one thing for background events to be handwaved by omake on twitter or the collected volumes, but in my opinion this is central to not only the themes of the current arc, but the story as a whole. And I know Tozuka knows that. I've said it many times, Tozuka has earned my trust that he knows how to tell this story, all of my expectations for future events come from precedents that he's established, so when something like this happens, I have to wonder what's going on behind the scenes

Shonen Jump just got a new editor-in-chief, so it's possible that someone higher up the chain wasn't happy with the flow of this arc either and just wanted the slate cleaned, but that's entirely speculation. If I'm right though, that could also explain why the Bunny arc got wrapped up in a single panel, as it likely wasn't going to be "action-focused enough" for whoever wasn't vibing with the idol battle

In my opinion, this should have been a three-event chapter, like when Yusai, Isshin XII and Sean were recruited, with a third being about wrapping up Kururu's arc, a third being about Bunny's adoption (a lighthearted bit of cutesy comedy) and finally Fuuko's speech about Remember

Nico crying over Fuuko accepting this new version of himself as the same man was easily the highlight of the chapter, as it drives home what value using Remember has. We already saw from Nico regaining and perfecting Unforgettable that the memories don't overwrite the current self, they integrate and inform a more completed self. I've talked about the Looping mechanic introducing a sort of "reverse character development," but that development is still half-baked without the cast fully understanding the lies that they've overcome

I doubt we'll get a full scene dedicated to every single character reconciling with their memories, but even just a few of them remembering what they've lost rather than just understanding that they were supposed to lose anything will really change the flavor of their interactions going forward. There's a world of difference between Rip hearing that he's killed people and knowing who he killed, and the ability to strive to be something more comes from experience, not hearsay

All of the bonds that Fuuko has now are strong, but Nico knows firsthand just how much there was for those bonds to overcome. He's not simply her friend who doesn't remember her, he's someone who has helped and hurt her more than he could ever atone for, and she still forgave him. The weight of their friendship as it is now is all the more apparent after Nico could recall the actions that put that friendship to the test. For Fuuko to come see him when he was essentially a new man, think to herself "yes, this is the same man who put me through that," and then decide that that man was, after all was said and done, her friend...well, I'd cry too in Nico's position

And I imagine that everyone else will be much the same. For Shen to remember he sacrificed Gina, for Mui to remember she personally killed Shen, for Billy to remember betraying the Union only to be forgiven...everyone has a past that has informed who they are now, they just don't realize how much of an impact that it's had

And that's why it's so important that Fuuko waited until everyone had joined up to use it. Juiz once said that Remember was meant to reunite old allies, but that's not what Fuuko is using it for. If she did, she wouldn't be teaming up with the friends she "doesn't know yet does know," she'd only be teaming up with the friends she knows, invalidating the lives and choices of those she doesn't

If she simply revived their memories right off the bat, they'd pick up exactly where they left off, for better or worse. Billy and Rip may still hold everyone at arm's length, Sean may still resent everyone for being more important than him, Shen may still be motivated by revenge, etc. And worst of all, not everyone would be friends. Everyone was on mostly good terms by the end of L100, but Under was still Under and the Union was still the Union, separate entities for all intents and purposes

Now? It's just the Union. Everyone knows everyone, everyone is friends with everyone, and everyone knows more about themselves than they did before. The selves they know yet don't know are important tools for becoming better than they've ever been, lessons that they wouldn't have been willing to learn the first time around but are now retroactively open to

Fuuko is no longer turning complete strangers back into her friends, she's reminding her friends where they came from, and showing them how important their decision to be her friends truly is

No one is fighting God because of what he did to them anymore. They're fighting God because they believe it's the right thing to do, because they believe in Fuuko's vision of a better world. That's not an opinion they would have if she had used Remember on them, as their past ego would likely subsume their present, like Victor trying to erase Andy to resume control of their shared body, but now Fuuko has allowed them a strong enough sense of self to unify past and present into one complete future

The sentiment behind this chapter really can't be understated, which unfortunately is what makes its timing all the more frustrating. The fact that the Union isn't even all together means that this speech isn't actually hyping up how major it will be when Remember finally does get used, we already got that when Fuuko shared her vision of a 25-seat Roundtable, and instead it feels like it's priming her to fail. Like we're so close to seeing that vision fulfilled, how's it going to go wrong?

And if that's not what happens, then the timing is still wrong for one very simple reason: KURURU'S STILL NOT ONBOARD!!!

Everyone agreed to using Remember all at once, except for Kururu, who was still throwing an oddly silent fit in the background! "The friends I don't know yet do know"??? Kururu doesn't have any god damn clue who any of you are!!! She's the one person here who hasn't had that rapport built up, the one who doesn't have a reason to help Fuuko achieve anything, and the one who's motivations could still end up being overwritten simply because she hasn't developed a firmly established and differentiated ego! Granted, it doesn't seem like this one is too different from the last one anyway, but that's exactly the problem!!! We don't know the difference between the two Kururus because she's the only character who hasn't been given the opportunity to explain herself to the audience!!!

I mean, I guess Bunny hasn't either, but again, she at least has the naivete and optimism of a child who was freshly adopted, so we can at least somewhat justify her lack of characterization

I really, truly, deeply hope that Kururu gets the Feng treatment, that her development is just being put off for a more opportune moment, because if she's just going to be reduced to a background gag, then I will be sorely disappointed

That said, my love for Kururu ironically skyrocketed after this chapter, because now the Kururu I created in my mind, the Kururu I don't know yet do know, has much less chance of being replaced by the "true" Kururu from Tozuka's. While obviously I'd prefer to know authorial intent, Tozuka has inadvertently set Kururu aside and left me the opportunity to say "my character now," which is an oddly powerful way to form an attachment between character and reader

I should know, it's exactly what Oda did with Monet

Anyway, I think that's enough venting for this week. Here's hoping that next week's chapter will leave a better taste in my mouth

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ch.209 thoughts

[I Don't Want to See You Dance, I Want to See You Work!]

(Contents: speculation - deconfirmation/predictions, character analysis - Kaede, thematic analysis - Effort)

...Huh, I guess the color page wasn't just for the aesthetic, Tozuka's actually going with Billy, Tella and Rip. No Shen though? Who knows, we might still get him

I am a bit taken aback at Nico's method for "externalizing Unforgettable," though. We already saw that memories can be shared instantaneously, so if he knows the moves, he should theoretically be able to share them with their souls, right? Or is it that they don't have access to their souls yet so he's just drilling the muscle memory into their bodies...this method is certainly more visually striking and a lot funnier, to say the least, and it plays a lot better with the idea of Effort, so we'll forgive any little inconsistencies that it may pose

Anyway, I think the meat of this chapter is Kaede's characterization. Despite her apparent lack of talent, Kaede was still scouted along with Kururu, and only turned it down because she perceived herself as holding Kururu back. Based on her terrible performance, that perception seems to be correct, but then why would the talent agency not ask Kururu to come without Kaede? I guess it's possible that they did and Kururu insisted, but we only have Kaede's word to go on right now, so we'll take it at face value until further notice

A lot of speculation that I've seen is that either Kaede lost confidence in herself and got worse at singing over time OR that she's a Negator, likely something like Untalented. I'm currently leaning towards the former, as that would more directly facilitate a character arc for her, but the latter would certainly be interesting

Whether or not Kaede is a naturally terrible performer, her lack of popularity as an idol stands in direct contrast to her popularity as a person, as the townsfolk clearly love her, calling out to her and giving her free food just because they're excited to see her. I don't know what she did to garner that kind of affection, but since she seems so similar to Fuuko, it's likely because of her earnest personality and desire to help others. I'd bet that she's done all kinds of good deeds for her community, and while she probably messed up while performing those deeds due to her clumsiness, her glowing personality certainly endeared everyone to her. If not for her Unluck, I imagine Fuuko would have grown up in much the same way

In fact, Fuuko's line about why she's interfering with the timeline even though it might negatively impact the paradox is a strong indicator of that mindset. "I'll never accomplish anything by being passive." You can't just wait for a situation to resolve, you have to solve your own problems; while Kaede did somehow make it to the festival on her own in the previous loop, there's no telling how things will go now that everything is so different

Kaede is growing up at least twenty years later than she was supposed to, with different friends and rivals than she had before. It's completely unreasonable to assume that the future is set in stone, so Fuuko naturally has to pick up the chisel herself. Even Kaede, who doesn't know how things are "supposed" to go, commits to creating the future she wants by accepting Fuuko's proposal to undergo potentially life-threatening training

As Kaede says, "[she] just can't keep up with what luck affords [her]." She was given many opportunities to achieve her dreams; working with Kururu, being scouted with Kururu, being invited to the festival by Kururu, etc., but whether it's because of her nerves or her lack of confidence or her lack of coordination, she always gives up or loses her chances. She doesn't think of herself as unlucky because of all of the circumstances that befall her, she wholeheartedly believes that those things are her fault, and that she's unworthy of her own good fortune and that she's just a failure who squanders every opportunity that comes her way

Ironically, such a strong internal locus of control would usually be seen a good personality trait, but in Kaede's case, it leads to her blaming herself for things that don't necessarily seem to be her fault. However, that's also why she accepts the training; she doesn't blame her circumstances or failures on external factors, she blames herself for not being good enough. So naturally, when the opportunity comes to make herself better so she won't keep letting future opportunities go to waste, she takes it

This is a lesson that I'm always trying to teach myself, that the first step to making a change in my life is actually taking a step at all, so I know how difficult it is to commit to something like that. I don't know what the general consensus on Kaede's character is yet, but I can strongly sympathize with someone who can see that life is always trying to go their way and thinks they aren't capable of following it. I'm not saying that this chapter will successfully inspire me to better myself, but it does feel like a nice nudge in the right direction

Finally, I'd like to note something I noticed that I'm not quite sure if anyone else has. I've seen some discussion that Fuuko's hand always seems to fade when she's nervous, but I realized that that's actually not the case at all: Fuuko's hand never stopped fading

It's subtle, but if you look closely at any given panel where she's not under the effects of Unseen, there's a faint screen tone applied below the bandana tied around her arm, little white dots arranged uniformly from elbow to fingers

And it's spreading

During her conversation with Nico, the dots have crept up to her shoulder, conveying that there's definitely some kind of time limit here rather than certain circumstances causing her to fade out momentarily before she reforms

With that in mind, my guess is that this isn't related to a "time paradox" or even a UMA like some people have suggested. I think this might have something to do with her recent awakening to her soul, like some kind of attuning process. I'm probably way off the mark, but I get the feeling her parents are a red herring and this development is building to something with much broader implications for the setting, though I can't really hazard a guess as to what

I imagine it will be a few more chapters before we really get a clear understanding of it, but whatever happens, I'm willing to bet that the festival will be completed with a happy ending and Fuuko will still be fading away, proving that there was no "paradox" to worry about at all. It may be related to the loop, though, so that may end up prompting Julia to look into her soul and converse with Juiz to find an answer. That would certainly be a great way to further Julia's character

Until then, let's enjoy life!

[boypussydilf]

F, R, O, G for keroro gunso w that ask game pretty please :)

hehe. frog

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom?

in one interrupted span of time? i think sgt frog, super paper mario, and persona 5 are the main things with several consecutive years of activity in my brain. thing that i got into the longest time ago that im still into now? Well this year might actually be the TEN YEAR anniversary of when I FIRST got into sgt frog! maybe. its hard to remember. (SPM has also been a consistent beloved for APPROXIMATELY that long lol) (you could count doctor who as something ive been a fan of for a really long time too but i didnt Really get into it until 2020)

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

my favorite friendship in keroro is. *wild gesturing to my icon* hyou know. you can see. theyre very imporant to me. i also get very emotional over keroro & fuyukis straightforward #bestieship and clearly think a lot about Childhood Friendship Trio. But you can’t beat my 2 favorite characters and my favorite type of dynamic: found family

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

hang on let me literally go shuffle my music and see how i can twist whatever comes up into being about sgt frog. TWISTER?!?!?! it came up w twister from the world ends with you and i considered picking a different one bc the lyrics are kind of nonsense btu actually? This is a kururu song. Idk why it just is. Something they’d like or something idk

G - Have you ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? Who was in it?

The first (and only) ship I remember describing as an OTP was Blumiere & Timpani from Super Paper Mario. I think this still stands. (i think the original sgt frog ship i really deeply cared about was actually koyunatsu :])

[tokiro07]

Ch. 133 thoughts

[The Journey Begins...Again]

So Fuuko DOES have her Union Emblem still, it’s just on her backpack instead. I wonder if it’s technically a part of the Round Table? After all, only those who wear the Emblem are allowed to participate in quests, so that would make sense

The Round Table also remains under Stonehenge between Loops, so I’m guessing that it’s not so much that the Union needs to find it, but the location is a constant for the sake of maintaining a base

How Fuuko befriended Move I don’t know, but it’s cool that she has a method of fast-travel considering that she clearly doesn’t have Juiz’s resources. I’m hoping we’ll get an explanation, but I’m not too worried about it. It’s probably as simple as Move just being nearby and inherently interested in working with the Union for the sake of entertainment (as he said in the Galaxy battle)

The date that Akira became Unknown being different between the current Loop and To You, From Me seems to imply that my suggestion that the timing of Information’s defeat wasn’t consistent, but it also makes me wonder: did...did Fuuko beat Information on her own? She seems to be the only one in the Union currently

Or was it that because it was established in a previous Loop, it’s now preordained?

Fuuko says “G-Liner’s memories,” so it doesn’t seem like it has the vision of the current Loop, but I’m unclear on that. What is clear is that Fuuko explicitly confirms that the third Sacred Spirit Treasure is The Heart, which was one of the two that I suggested previously (sad it’s not the gun, but honestly The Heart felt more natural anyway)

Speaking of things I said previously, I can’t believe I forgot to mention Ichiko last week when I was listing off the Negators that Fuuko could have already met! I mean clearly I was wrong anyway, she hasn’t found ANYONE yet, but I expected that anyway

Looking at the road map, it’s clear that the cast is more or less in chronological order, with Feng, Gina and Nico being the closest to where Fuuko currently is and Phil being much further out and still a baby, suggesting that he got Unfeel almost immediately and before Kururu got Unchaste

Very interesting that Fuuko is including Ruin in her list. Is the plan to recruit him or just to remove him from the equation as a threat? Probably the former considering that everything else in this series has been about making friends out of enemies

Also, it’s been bothering me all day since I read the chapter, but I finally realized who the Negator in the far back just before Juiz is: it’s Lucy! She was so small it was really hard to tell, but that’s definitely her! Can’t wait for Fuuko and Andy to adopt their child with every disease. Weird that no one has added her to the list of Negators on the Wiki yet, but whatever, I’m not going to do it either, so no sense in me complaining about it

I do hope that Fuuko will recruit Unbalance, Unbelievable and Undefinition, plus any others that Tozuka just wants to invent, but I don’t think we really NEED more characters, I’d just like them

I also kind of like that Fuuko doesn’t have access to Remember, since she’ll have to actually, y’know...CONVINCE people to join her cause, but she’ll definitely need to use Remember at some point so that the cast can be considered extensions of their previous selves rather than new versions of them

I’m hoping that Akira finds a way to continue contributing, whether he becomes Unknown again or not, but either way, I’m really excited for this arc. Seeing more of Gina after well over 100 chapters is extremely welcome!

[tamamatango]

Keroro Gunso 30 Day Challenge Day 28: Character Most Like Me

I think I’ve talked about how I find traits of certain characters to be relatable before, but I think Kururu has to take the cake here. I stated at the very beginning of this challenge (and quite a few times before) that I headcanon him as being autistic, and while I’m not the first one to come up with that HC my own experiences certainly were a factor my adopting of it. He’s very knowledgeable in his fields of passion and expertise, and is damn good at figuring things out to the point where he can know what he’s talking about, but he’s also quite inexperienced and uncoordinated in other areas. He also clearly has a hard time adapting to social norms, and displays discomfort in large groups, preferring to be quiet and off to the side until his abilities are needed. He can be talkative and goofy once he finds people he can be comfortable with, but it takes him a while to get to that point. In general, as someone who grew up as “the really smart kid that doesn’t socialize,” these aspects of him are heavily relatable. We share quite a few other traits and mannerisms as well, but that’d be going a little too deep for the purposes of this post. While I don’t think the writers’ intentions with Kururu were to reflect the autism experience(TM), that’s a large part of what I get out of him.

Today’s honorable mentions: Tamama, another rather predictable answer, not only because I’ve used him as a large part of my online presence for the last year or so. Tamama’s constantly teetering on the borderline between maturity and immaturity, which is a spot I find myself in a lot. And, without getting too Personal On Main, I’ve been through some of his emotional struggles as well. I also see a little bit of myself in Keroro, for the sheer anxiety and inattentiveness that overwhelms him at the mere thought of having to do something with himself. He’s a lot more extroverted than I’ll ever be, but that one aspect really gets me in the gut.

The next and penultimate prompt is best gadget. There’s like 500 machines in this show how am I supposed to choose