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As a faithful adaptation of the Keroro Gunso manga meant to stand on its own legs without the viewer having any previous knowledge of the franchise, I would call this a pretty feeble attempt. The character development and plot is slimmed down to bones and overall its dialogue is cut and paste from the manga without much of its proper comedic timing.

But I don't think this is what this version is trying to do, not really anyway. "Keroro" feels like an infomercial for later volumes of the manga. From what I can gather, Keroro and his platoon remain popular characters for children in Japan, so ... they don't really need to be retold the origin story. But some of them might want to see the latest characters fleshed out with sound and color - and that's where this show comes in.

New Keroro, Tomosu, Black Star and Kaneami are the latest additions to the manga (vol. 23 onward) and really are the biggest attraction to this new adaptation like 'em or not. The new cast members play their parts well, I'm especially impressed with Aoi Yuki's performance as New Keroro, who is cute and perky and really makes his equally adorable design really pop. The rest of the returning actors slip right into their roles as if nothing changed either.
Unfortunately, those who are looking to find out more about the original Keroro Platoon will be disappointed as their screen-time is limited.

But here's the thing, I may admit that "Keroro" is not that fantastic of a production, even if only comparing it to other short anime of its breed. But as a long time fan of the franchise with no where else to go for new content, sometimes I need to be reminded of why I love these goofy characters in the first place. I look forward to watching it every week and will be sad when these shorts stop airing.

Also, the manga may not be legally translated in the U.S. anymore, but after this show aired I imported some of the manga and tried my best reading it raw. So if this show was made to inspire viewers to buy the book, then it definitely did its job.