Story

Description

The boys find Japanese martial arts weapons at the local Park County Fair. They buy them and immediately fantasize that they are anime-style ninjas. The ninjas go out looking for trouble. They find it in the form of Butters, who transforms into an imposing anime of Professor Chaos and challenges them to a fight.

An epic battle rages on, with the kids pretending to trade blows -- until Kenny gets carried away and zings a definitely-not-pretend throwing star into Butters' left eye.

The kids panic -- Butters desperately needs medical attention, and even worse, their parents might find out what they did. They don't want to risk discovery by taking Butters to the local hospital, so instead they disguise the bleeding, semi-conscious Butters as a dog and attempt to take him to a veterinarian. But on the way, they're confronted by Craig, Jimmy, Clyde, and Tolkien, who've purchased their own martial arts weapons and are deep into their own anime fantasy. They challenge the boys to a fight.

The "Legendary Battle of Tokugata" ensues. During this mayhem, Butters stumbles off unnoticed. He eventually makes it to the hospital, wanders into the emergency room and collapses. Unfortunately, Dr. Doctor mistakes him for a dog and sends him to the city pound, where he's scheduled to be euthanized. Butters manages to escape just in time.

Finally, the battling boys notice Butters' absence and search for him frantically. To cover their tracks, they go back to the fair to try to return their weapons. But on the way, Craig reports that Butters has been spotted wandering around near an auction that's being held on the fairgrounds.

In an effort to show off another of his ninja abilities (this time his "power of invisibility"), Cartman volunteers to to sneak past the auction crowd and intercept Butters. He removes all of his clothes and slowly inches his way across the auction platform -- totally naked -- in full view of the stunned audience. Moments later, Butters himself stumbles onto the stage and collapses.

An angry town meeting follows, with the citizens all enraged at what they'd just seen. To their relief, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny realize that the adults don't care about what happened to Butters. All that matters to them is that Cartman "flashed his penis" -- which is labeled by the parents as "the worst thing that's ever happened in this town." The boys happily throw Cartman to the wolves and get away unpunished -- still in possession of their weapons.

What I Learned Today

"I guess parents don't give a crap about violence if there's sex things to worry about."

Memorable Quotes

• "We're all in this together, Craig! If Butters tells on us, we're gonna tell on you. That's ninja code!" Cartman
• "Oh, is that jealousy I see in your eyes, Craig? Mmm, yes, drown me in the sweet water of your envy." Cartman
• "Alright, dickhole! Time for you to pay!!" Cartman
• "Go ahead, Kyle. Throw your nunchucks away. If you can. But you know damn well that your Jewish blood won't let you. You can't throw away something you paid $15 for. Go ahead and try." Cartman
• "Here you go, pup. I've got a sweet dose of murder for you." Animal Shelter Guy
• "This is why Jews can't be ninjas! They've got no spine!" Cartman
• "Butters, we are a very select, elite fighting team sent to protect the world from evil, and you can't play with us." Cartman
• "Nobody knows that beneath this sweet, eight year old little boy lies the most evil, most destructive super villain of all time! PROFESSOR CHAOS!!" Butters
• "God damnit Cartman, you can't keep making up powers!" Kyle
• "Hold on guys, I actually have another power. I can see into the future too, but better than Kyle." Cartman
• "I will now use my powers to -- turn Kyle into a chicken!" Cartman
• "Feel my wrath!" Kenny
• "Alright you guys, we need to stay calm and just do the right thing here. We have to kill Butters and bury him in Kyle's backyard." Cartman
• "But fellas if I dress up like a dog with a star in my eye I'm gonna get grounded!" Butters
• "What kind of sick bastards would do this to a dog?" Dr. Doctor
• "My fragile little eight year old mind didn't know how to deal with what I was seeing." Kyle
• "W-w-what's the matter, fellas? Are you n-n-n-injas or p-pussies?" Jimmy

Characters

Stan Marsh

Kyle Broflovski

Eric Cartman

Kenny McCormick

Ninjas of Tokugawa

Butters Stotch

Professor Chaos

Character Returns

Sparky, Stan's gay dog. He was introduced in the 1st season classic "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride" and was last seen briefly in Season 5's "Proper Condom Use." Here, he is shaved in order to obtain the hair for Butters' disguise.

Body Count

Nobody dies, but Butters gets pretty seriously injured and comes precariously close to being put down by animal control.

Locations

Hells Pass Hospital

Park County Community Center

South Park Animal Shelter

Original Songs

The ninja-tastic "Let's Fighting Love" plays over the epic battle royale between the two warring factions of anime-boys. This tune is an homage to classic Japanese pop tunes, which often incorporate sections of nonsensical English.

Behind The Scenes

The animation team only had a week to create convincing anime versions of Stan, Kyle, Kenny, Butters, and Cartman. Even worse, as this episode was being prepared, Matt and Trey began serious production work on Team America: World Police, which was a comedy/action film that used marionettes instead of human actors. Pulling this off turned out to be even more difficult than it sounds.

Where Did The Idea Come From

The concept of turning the boys into ninjas was developed during a writers' retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Drawing the boys as muscular assassins, but having them speak in their normal kids' voices, turned out to be comedy gold.

Pop Culture References

Shout Outs

When the guy at the fair says he can't sell to minors without their parents' permission, the boys burst into tears and tell him their parents are dead. The same plot device was used by the children in the 2004 film Millions. After they do this, Stan says, "God damn, that's like the twelfth time that's worked." In glowing terms, Cartman references Mel Gibson and his feature film The Passion of the Christ, saying to Kyle: "Mel Gibson says you are snakes and you are liars. And if the Road Warrior says it, it must be true." Later in the episode (when challenging Kyle to throw away the nunchucks he paid money for), Cartman references Gibson again, saying: "Go ahead. Prove Mel Gibson wrong." This won't be the last time Cartman mentions The Passion (see the upcoming episode: "The Passion of the Jew").

Pwn'd

Cartman, explaining his nudity at the auction, states that he had a "wardrobe malfunction," just like Janet Jackson during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show.

Bonus Factoids

Pointless Observations

This is the second time we've seen Cartman naked, the first being in "Lil Crime Stoppers" . Even with all the crazy things that have happened in South Park, Kyle's dad says that Cartman flashing his penis was, "the worst thing that's ever happened in this town. The worst thing!" The boys' ninja weapons and anime aliases are pretty deadly: With his Tonfa of Takanawa, Stan is the great and powerful Shadow Hachi. Kyle's powerful nunchucks make him into Bunraku. Harnessing the power of his Sai, Cartman becomes Bulrog, a tough, brute ninja that's dedicated his life to eradicating hippies. And with his Shuriken Star, Kenny becomes the deadly, not-so-creatively-titled Ninja Master Kenny. We also see that Craig is Ginza, with the powerful 'Blade of Kintama,' and Tolkien is Black Chaku, with the killer power of perfect spelling. This episode features the infamous scene where Butters is forcefully dressed up like a dog (with a ninja star in his eye). The scene where he is repeatedly peed on and pooped on by other dogs is perhaps equally as notorious.

Season 8

e1 Good Times With Weapons

e2 AWESOM-O

e3 Up the Down Steroid

e4 The Passion of the Jew

e5 You Got F'd in the A

e6 Goobacks

e7 The Jeffersons

e8 Douche and Turd

e9 Something Wall Mart This Way Comes

e10 Pre-School

e11 Quest for Ratings

e12 Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset

e13 Cartman's Incredible Gift

e14 Woodland Critter Christmas