Chinpokomon
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"Chinpokomon" is the eleventh-aired and the tenth-produced episode of the third season of the American animated television series ''
South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...
''. It originally aired on
Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
in the United States on November 3, 1999, making it the 42nd episode of the series. In the episode, the kids become fascinated with the latest fad: a fictional
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese
anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
series called ''Chinpokomon'' and its related products, such as video games and collectible toys. ''Chinpokomon'' is a parody of the popular ''
Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...
'' media franchise. "Chinpokomon" was written by ''South Park'' co-creator
Trey Parker Randolph Severn "Trey" Parker III (born October 19, 1969) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, and composer. He is known for co-creating ''South Park'' (since 1997) and '' The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his creative partner Matt Stone. ...
, who also co-directed the episode together with animation director
Eric Stough Eric "Butters" Stough (born July 31, 1972) is an American animator and producer. He is best known as the animation director and a producer on the television series ''South Park''. Born in Evergreen, Colorado, Stough attended the University of Co ...
. The episode was nominated for an
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
in 2000.


Plot

The children of South Park become obsessed with an animated Japanese cartoon, ''Chinpokomon'' (a parody of
Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...
). The cartoon features overt embedded marketing and subliminal messaging to encourage the purchase and consumption of ''Chinpokomon''-related merchandise. Unbeknownst to the parents, ''Chinpokomon'' products all contain
anti-American Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment) is prejudice, fear, or hatred of the United States, its government, its foreign policy, or Americans in general. Political scientist Brendon O'Connor at the United States Studies Centr ...
sentiments with the aim of
converting Converting companies are companies that specialize in modifying or combining raw materials such as polyesters, adhesives, silicone, adhesive tapes, foams, plastics, felts, rubbers, liners and metals, as well as other materials, to create new pro ...
American kids to
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
child
soldiers A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...
.
Kyle Kyle or Kyles may refer to: Places Canada * Kyle, Saskatchewan, Canada Ireland * Kyle, County Laois * Kyle, County Wexford Scotland * Kyle, Ayrshire, area of Scotland which stretched across parts of modern-day East Ayrshire and South Ayrshir ...
is originally oblivious to the fad, and as its popularity increases he reluctantly attempts to keep up-to-date to avoid ridicule from his friends. Unfortunately, the merchandise lineup is so extensive that he is always one step behind. Meanwhile, the boys make plans to attend the official ''Chinpokomon'' camp, which is actually a front for a recruit training boot camp designed by the
Japanese government The Government of Japan consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and is based on popular sovereignty. The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947. It is a unitary state, c ...
to train and brainwash the kids into becoming soldiers for an upcoming attack on
Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...
. As the adults start to become aware of the scheme, the Japanese distract them by telling them that Americans have "huge penises" compared to the Japanese, a tactic that works well against the male characters. The parents start to suspect the nonsensical cartoon is dangerous, as "stupidity can be worse than vulgarity and violence" and compare it to ''
Battle of the Network Stars ''Battle of the Network Stars'' is a series of competitions in which television stars from ABC, CBS and NBC would compete in various sporting events. A total of 19 of these competitions were held between 1976 and 1988, all of which were aired b ...
''. Sheila Broflofski suggests it is just another harmless fad. This is juxtaposed with the truth of the fad's influence, which has turned the children into brainwashed soldiers and left
Kenny Kenny is a surname, a given name, and a diminutive of several different given names. In Ireland, the surname is an Anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish ''Ó Cionnaith'', also spelt ''Ó Cionnaoith'' and ''Ó Cionaodha'', meaning "descendant ...
in trance-like state after an epileptic seizure caused from playing the Chinpokomon video game. Becoming increasingly concerned, the parents attempt to defuse the fad's popularity by trying to manufacture new fads: The "Wild Wacky Action Bike", an abnormal plastic glow-in-the-dark bicycle contraption that cannot be steered, and "
Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
Man", an abusive,
alcoholic Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...
,
redneck ''Redneck'' is a derogatory term chiefly, but not exclusively, applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the Southern United States.Harold Wentworth, and Stuart Berg Flexner, '' ...
action figure that comes with a bowling alley playset and a redneck wife to use as a
punching bag A punching bag (or, British English, punchbag) is a sturdy bag designed to be repeatedly punched. A punching bag is usually cylindrical, and filled with various materials of suitable hardness. History Punching bags have been used in martial ar ...
. The boys, uninterested, call both the bike and action figure "
gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
". As the boys march through the town with
Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...
,
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
will not act against the invasion as he too has fallen for the "incredibly large penis" trick. Finally, the parents hit upon the idea of using
reverse psychology Reverse psychology is a technique involving the assertion of a belief or behavior that is opposite to the one desired, with the expectation that this approach will encourage the subject of the persuasion to do what is actually desired. This techniqu ...
, pretending to be ''Chinpokomon'' fans themselves — figuring that whatever they like their children will immediately dislike. The trick works, and all the children except Kyle instantly lose all interest. Kyle claims that if he stops liking ''Chinpokomon'' now, he will be following the crowd, so he prepares to leave in a fighter jet to bomb Pearl Harbor. A heart-felt and contradictory speech by Stan confuses him into reluctantly getting off the jet. The group decide to avoid fads for a while, and Kenny is discovered to have been dead for some time, as evidenced when his body explodes, unleashing a large number of rats; Cartman is disgusted while Stan and Kyle laugh.


Production

The '' chinpo'' or ''chinpoko'' element in ''Chinpokomon'' is actually a vulgar
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
word for "penis". According to the DVD commentary, the Japanese man who repeats the "incredibly large penis" trick is based on someone the creators met in
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
. South Park animator Junichi Nishimura, who Stone met in college, voices the Emperor in this episode. Saki Miata played the Japanese Woman in Live Action Commercial.


Critical reception

DVD Verdict described it as "perhaps the most devastating parody of the seemingly endless pop culture craziness of forced Japan fads", adding: "Beginning with the title and moving through awkward, amateur anime, video games that cause seizures, and parental confusion over what their kids see in the little crappy toys, the episode smacks of too much truth and contains many moments of ultra-high comedy...This particular episode is why South Park is sometimes begrudgingly called genius, even amongst those who consider it a peek inside the Antichrist's subconscious. It proves that, on occasion, Parker can take the envelope, fill it full of outrageous sentiments and blatant stereotyping, mix in a whole lot of social realities, and filter it through his own sense of tasteless humor and end up with yet another brilliant installment of his show." ElderGeek described the episode as "a very ironic take on children’s trends and how debilitating they can be". Adam Crane of PixelatedPop ranked the episode 23rd in a top 25 greatest episodes list in 2012. ScreenJunkies wrote "The blindness of parents, the zombie-like children following a fad, and the irrational paranoia of Americans who fear the Japanese simply because they make the occasional incomprehensible TV show were all parodied to perfection". IGN said "''Chinpokomon'' was a great rip on the whole Pokemon craze with a lot of crude jokes about Asian male anatomy". The AV Club noted that this episode was the first instance of the South Park ''fad episode'', in which "Characters briefly latch onto something fleetingly popular and often inherently stupid—which is then obsessed about to the detriment of their relationships (or, occasionally, the safety of the entire town)—then, inevitably, they realize that the object of their obsession is dumb and drop it forever."


References


External links


"Chinpokomon"
Full episode at South Park Studios * {{South Park episodes, 3 1999 American television episodes Anime-influenced Western animation Television episodes set in Japan Anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States Stereotypes of East Asian people Ethnic humour Works based on Pokémon South Park (season 3) episodes Television episodes about advertising Japan in non-Japanese culture Cultural depictions of Hirohito Cultural depictions of Bill Clinton