A stuffed animal, you say? Or maybe a clone of Pokota from Hime-chan no Ribbon! Wrong, my friend! Kero-chan is Kereberus, the guardian of the Clow Cards. He was created by Clow Reed to make sure that the cards' seal never gets broken. However, he fell asleep for 30 years, and his snoring was what caused Sakura to go down into her father's study on that fateful day when she released the Clow Cards.

We first meet Kero-chan after Sakura calls out the Windy card and releases all of the Clow Cards. Kero-chan emerges from the book, and Sakura jumps back. Then, he pops his head up and says, "Konninichiwaaaaaa!!" in an Osaka accent. Sakura is stunned and after a while of looking at Kero-chan, she grabs him and examines him, "A talking stuffed animal? Where are the batteries? How is it working?" Kero-chan frees himself from her grip and declares that he is anything but a stuffed animal, and he is the great beast of the seal, Kereberus! He explains that it's his duty to protect the Clow Cards from escaping -- then notices that the Clow Cards are all gone. Sakura explains that she called the Windy card and they all flew away.

Kero-chan tells Sakura about the Clow Cards, and manages to do a little sneaky trick to have her make the contract with the sealing wand. After that, they both go on their first adventure to catch the Fly card, much to Sakura's dismay. Kero-chan and Sakura often get into petty fights about little things, such as the Clow Cards, such as when Sakura is scared about catching a Clow Card, etc. Kero-chan is very stubborn, so he hates to lose arguments, and Sakura doesn't give in either. So whenever they have a fight, it's usually a pretty big one. However, they both care about each other a lot, and this shows through whenever they're in tight situations.

Kero-chan is loud-mouthed, vain, and rude. He isn't afraid to tell people exactly what he thinks, and if he ever starts a relationship on the wrong foot with someone, he holds a grudge against them for a long time. Shaolan and Meiling are both good examples. When Shaolan first met Kero-chan, he called him a "stuffed doll" and "idiot" and other various derogatory terms. Afterwards, whenever Shaolan pisses Kero-chan off, Kero bites his finger. Kero-chan is also always teasing Shaolan in every way possible, calling him "brat." The same goes with Meiling, though Kero-chan never really bites her like Shaolan, he always insults her by calling her a "little girl" and pointing out the fact that Meiling doesn't have any magical power. It's better for one to get on Kero-chan's good side when one first meets him. 

Kero-chan's actual appearance is not that of a stuffed animal. His real appearance is supposedly "super cool." The reason he is in that appearance is because his magic is dwindling. Kero-chan is under the Sun sign, so he needs the Fire and the Earthy cards to turn into his complete original form. In episode 35, Sakura catches the Fire card and Kero-chan gets a little bit of his real power back. With the Fire card, he's able to shoot fire out of his hands, and do some other tricks, such as light up the night sky with little sparks for Sakura when she was with Yukito at a carnival.

Kero-chan is not what you would expect from a magical girl stuffed animal type mascot. The felines in Sailormoon are all focused on the mission, Pokota in Hime-chan no Ribbon is really supportive of Hime-chan and is always by her side, and Finn and Access of Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne both are always nagging Marron and Chiaki to do their work. Kero-chan is exactly the opposite of all these other anime mascots. A lot of the time he is left at home while Sakura goes to school, playing video games. If there ever is a time where a Clow Card is discovered at school or when Kero-chan is not around, Sakura and Tomoyo always call him with a little cell phone that he gave them. That's their main method of communication, and as Kero-chan plays his video games all day long, the cell phone is always sitting beside him.

Sometimes it almost seems as if Kero-chan cares more about other petty stuff instead of catching the Clow Cards. For example, when the Time card kept playing the same day over and over again, Kero-chan was devastated because all his data in his video game would be lost (since time went backwards) and he was getting sick of beating the same boss over and over again. Other times, Kero-chan mainly cares about food. He adores food. If Sakura goes somewhere like a carnival or sweets shop, she always buys something for him, because he always gets really mad if she doesn't get him a cake or something. She also takes up pieces of her meals and desserts up to him too, so he doesn't feel left out. Kero-chan actually doesn't need food to survive, but he loves it nonetheless... especially sweet stuff.

Kero-chan is a bit self-absorbed. He has a section at the end of each episode which is called Kero-chan Check! There, he goes through the outfits that were shown in the episode, pointing out the specialties in Sakura's battle outfit. Sometimes he also explains Shaolan and Meiling's battle outfits, or Tomoeda elementary school's uniform or swimming suits. Whenever Kero-chan talks about Shaolan or Meiling's outfits, he always says, "Oh, aren't I such a nice person? I don't like them but I still save some room for them in this section of the show. I'm just so kind, wonderful, and generous." At the end of episode 35, however, Kero-chan Check is no more.

Because of Kero-chan's laziness, Sakura gets more responsibility put on her. Yet she still manages to be a good student and good friend at the same time that she is a card captor. Since Kero-chan is also not with her in some instances where she has to catch a card, Sakura ends up thinking up strategies on her own (she's got brains, unlike many other magical girls). Kero-chan really gives her a lot of independence and responsibility and  doesn't always nag her to do her work like many other mascots do. He doesn't completely ignore her, though. He teaches her a lot of stuff about being a card captor... how to manage her magic, decipher her dreams, read the cards as Tarot Cards, and how to sense the presence of a Clow Card. He also knows all of the characteristics of all the cards, so he knows what their weaknesses and strengths are, what to use against them and what won't work against them.

Kero-chan and Sakura are a perfect team. They are almost the exact opposites. Sakura is kind and never rude, and she never would keep grudges against people. Kero-chan is loud mouthed and very rude, and has a notorious shitlist. Kero-chan is a bit lazy while Sakura is more of a hard worker and a very responsible girl. He's a little bit more childish than her in some ways.

I sometimes wonder what it would be like if Sakura was a completely air-headed, whiny, and childish girl instead of the smart and quick thinking Sakura we all know. Kero-chan would definitely not get along with her if she was like that. They both would be lazy and none of them really would get anything done. That's why I have to say that these two have the best magical girl + mascot relationships in any series I've seen so far. They're funny, they argue, yet they're really good friends and always stick up with each other when the going gets tough. They also care about each other very much, and this also shows when they're in tight situations. Kero-chan never has to nag Sakura to be the Card Captor, and Sakura doesn't really mind him being a bit lazy. She never complains about it, anyways. Maybe it's because she's just such a nice person.

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