Kerokerokeroppi Abides

Ann and her mother came back from a major big box retailer the other day with a new lunchbox, since she will be carrying one starting in a few weeks. She'd picked a Kerokerokeroppi lunchbox. I always did like that name.

Shortened to Keroppi in this context, the onomatopoetic Kerokerokeroppi's a 1980s-vintage character in the Sanrio stable, and probably jealous of the more popular Hello Kitty. The ever-sunny Sanrio web site, however, says, "Keroppi loves adventure, and his bubbly personality makes him popular around Donut Pond. He has a brother called Koroppi and a sister called Pikki. Keroppi is a fantastic swimmer and singer (but not at the same time!)."

Why not at the same time? Surely anime frogs would be able to pull it off. I didn't know he was popular enough in the United States to appear on kids' lunchboxes, but there's a lot I don't know about pop culture. For all I know, a big-budget, live-action Keroppi movie is in production, with Jim Carrey as the lovable amphibian.

He's already been in regular animated movies. Or at least cartoons; I didn't stick it out long enough to find out. But I'm pretty sure that somewhere around here on a VHS tape that we haven't watched in years, there's a cartoon adaptation of Gulliver's Travels starring Kerokerokeroppi.