Information about Chinpokomon

“Chinpokomon
South Park episode
Kyle watches the other boys playing the Chinpokomon video game.
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 42
Written by
Production no.	310
Original airdate	November 3, 1999
Season 3 episodes
South Park - Season 3 April 7, 1999 – January 12, 2000
Rainforest Schmainforest Spontaneous Combustion The Succubus Tweek vs. Craig Jakovasaurs Sexual Harassment Panda Cat Orgy Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub Jewbilee Chinpokomon Starvin' Marvin in Space Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery Hooked on Monkey Phonics The Red Badge of Gayness Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics Are You There God? It's Me, Jesus World Wide Recorder Concert
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List of South Park episodes

"Chinpokomon" is episode 42 of Comedy Central's animated series South Park. It originally aired on November 3, 1999. The episode was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2000.^[1] The episode's title is a portmanteau word originating from the words chinpoko and Pokémon. Chinpoko (along with chinpo and pokochin) is a children's euphemism for "penis" in Japanese, much like "wee-wee" in American English. Thus, Chinpokomon can also be interpreted as "penis monster" and Chinpoko Master translates to "penis master." This episode was never aired in Japan, nor released in the Japanese version of South Park's Season 3 boxset.

This episode is one of a handful of South Park episodes to feature live action video. This is both during "Chinpokomon" episodes featuring a live action Japanese woman, and during the scene where the boys are shown commercials for fictional toy products "Wild Wacky Action Bike" and "Alabama Man", also created by Parker & Stone.

Plot

Cartman is at home eating chicken tenders while berating his cat and watching his new favorite TV show from Japan, Chinpokomon, a parody of Pokémon. The show's protagonist dreams of becoming a Royal Crown Chinpoko Master and says that the viewer watching can become one too by purchasing Chinpokomon-related merchandise, which range from plush dolls to video games, and finally by attending a Chinpokomon-themed camp. The Chinpokomon video game also causes Kenny to suffer a seizure.

All of the boys and girls soon become obsessed with Chinpokomon except for Kyle, who is mercilessly teased as a result and finally begins buying Chinpokomon merchandise just so he will be accepted by his friends. Unfortunately, the merchandise lineup is so extensive that he can never manage to get up to date on the latest toys, as a new item is released as soon as he buys the most recent product. His parents, as well, are surprised by how much money he's spending, try to explain that fads are just meaningless, but, feeling sympathetic and, at the same time, making him promise to get one for Ike as well, give him as much money as he needs. Meanwhile, the boys make plans to attend the official Chinpokomon camp, which is in reality the front for a military boot camp designed by the Japanese government to train soldiers for its upcoming attack on Pearl Harbor. Whenever somebody is close to realizing the Japanese are conspiring against America, the Japanese distract them by telling them that Americans have huge penises compared to the Japanese.

Sharon and Randy Marsh, Stan's parents, watch a Chinpokomon video tape of Stan's and are confused and dismayed by the content. An example is the protagonist saying: "Lambtron! you are losing the battle of your life!" and immediately after this sentence, "I am sad now, because Lambtron must be very lonely seeing as there are so few Lambtrons in the world, will he ever find a companion?" Stan's parents start to suspect the Japanese makers are up to something, as their show is portrayed as being generally unintelligent, and as Sharon points out, stupidity often has worse effects then vulgarity and violence. So, they inform the other parents and show them the tape. Sheila suggests it is just another harmless fad that helps her get responsibilities out of Kyle in return for promising to send him to the camp.

The boys' parents eventually discover the truth behind Chinpokomon after the kids start acting strange in class (Mr Garrison keeps getting answers to questions in Japanese and he and Mr Hat are constantly called "Garrison-san" and "Hat-san") and are determined to prevent their sons and daughters from participating in the Japanese bombing campaign by diverting their attention with another fad. Neither the "Wild Wacky Action Bike" (a glow in the dark bike thats main selling point is that it is impossible to ride. In the commercial for it the child can't steer it and slams into a truck), nor "Alabama Man" (an action figure that is portrayed as being a bad role model and is able to bowl, drink beer heavily, beat up his wife and is absolutely certain to psychologically destroy the lives of the two boys who play with him, who have already developed a profane vocabulary) appeal to the boys. No suitable substitute can be found.

The boys later rally through the town with the Japanese leaders. The parents try to sort out the problem and say that the Japanese are conspiring against them, but, once again, they are distracted by the "Americans have such large penises" trick. Then President Bill Clinton tells them what the Japanese plan to do, but that he won't do anything because he has fallen for the "incredibly large penis" trick as well. The parents hurriedly hit upon the idea of pretending to like Chinpokomon themselves and encouraging their children's interest in the show. The boys near-instantly lose all interest in Chinpokomon as a result, except for Kyle, who thinks everyone is still into the fad and becomes the object of ridicule once again when he attempts to discuss Chinpokomon with his friends and leave in his Kamikaze fighter jet to bomb Pearl Harbor. Through some talks with Stan, Kyle realizes he's just too confused, and gets off the plane.

The end scene has the boys at the bus stop discussing the newest fad with Kyle saying that he's no longer into any fads. Cartman attempts to chase away some rats from Kenny's comatose body when Kenny's body bursts open and rats come out, much to the amusement of the kids.

Kenny's death

Kenny has a seizure while playing the new Chinpokomon video game, but doesn't officially die until near the end when rats burst from his body. Kenny's seizure is a reference to an incident where an episode of Pokémon entitled "Electric Soldier Porygon" had to be banned after it caused a large number of Japanese viewers, especially those with epilepsy, to experience seizures and convulsions.

Wild Wacky Action Bike

In the commercials that the children see, one of the items is the Wild Wacky Action Bike. This commercial features a kid trying to use the bike but the bike is almost impossible to steer. The boy finally starts to get it going but he hits a cone. Then he goes downhill and hits a truck and it explodes. Stan, Kyle, Cartman, Kenny, and Butters find this product gay. The words to the commercial are, "Hey kids, do you like Chinpokomon? Well then you're gonna go wild for Wild Wacky Action Bike! Wild Wacky Action Bike! The bike that's hard to ride! Wild Wacky Action Bike is almost impossible to steer, and it glows in the dark! Goin' to try to ride all day long, but I'm goin' to fail cause it's Wild Wacky Action Bike! You can't ride it, you can't ride it! Wild Wacky Action Bike! Wild Wacky Action Bike comes with everything you see here.

Alabama Man

The second commercial features a doll called Alabama Man. This commercial shows Alabama Man being used by two kids, who use his many abilities including bowling, drinking, drinking some more, and busting his wife's lip open. Yet again the kids find this product gay, with Stan calling it totally gay, and Kyle calling it Liberace gay. The words to this commercial are, "Hey kids, do you like Chinpokomon? Then you're gonna love Alabama Man! Alabama Man! He's quick, he's strong, he's happ'nin' You can take Alabama Man to the bowling alley where he drinks heavily and chews tobacco. Wow, he can bowl. He can bowl he can drink he can drink some more, Alabama Man! When his wife asks him where he's been just use the action button and Alabama Man busts her lip open. SHUT UP BITCH! Wow. He beats his wife and picks chicks up, Alabama Man! I wanna be just like Alabama Man. Alabama Man comes with everything you see here. Wife sold separately.

Trivia

• In this episode, one of the Japanese characters is named Hirohito. This was the name of the Emperor Shōwa who was in power in Japan during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
• The ending of Independence Day is referenced near the end of the episode, in the reaction to finding a method to defeat the enemy ("tell them how to bring those sons of bitches down") and that the message was delivered in morse code. This was also done in the episode "Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes."
• This episode aired a week before was released in theaters.
• A reference from how parents didn't know about Pokémon was also in here, the mayor says "we have to put an end to this 'chin-poo-koo-man' fad" is a reference to parents mispronouncing the word "Pokémon".
• The DVD version of this episode is the first episode in Season 3 to use the reformatted disclaimer. On TV, this disclaimer was reformatted and used first in the episode Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery

Additionally, the protagonist of the show strongly resembles Ash Ketchum/Satoshi and the man who attempts to steal Roostor from him resembles James/Kojiro from Team Rocket, and the fact that he steals Roostor parodies Team Rocket's consistent attempts to abduct Ash/Satoshi's Pokémon, Pikachu.

See also

• Good Times with Weapons, an 8th season episode with a parody of martial arts anime.
• South Park Is Gay!, another episode which featured a fad followed by the boys, except Kyle.

References

External links

• South Park: Chinpokomon synopsis on TV.com

Preceded by "Jewbilee"

South Park episodes

Followed by "Starvin' Marvin in Space"