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ExchangeEpisodeImage
Exchange
Production Number: 225
Season: 2
Executive Producer(s): Bob Schooley
Mark McCorkle
Writer(s): Thomas Hart
Art Director(s): Alan M. Bodner
Dialogue Director(s): Lisa Schaffer
Broadcast Information
US Broadcast Number:
32
Disney Channel US Premiere:
November 7, 2003
Merchandise
DVD Releases:
Kim Possible: The Complete Second Season
iTunes Releases:
Buy here

Ron Stoppable becomes an exchange student at a mysterious school in Yamanouchi, Japan, while Middleton High welcomes an exchange student of its own, much to the delight of its female students.

Characters (in order of appearance)

Plot Summary

Mission

Villains

Monkey Fist and Fukushima.

Evil plot

Steal the Lotus Blade and kill Ron Stoppable, the only other person who possesses the Mystical Monkey Power required to use the weapon.

Personal Storyline

Middleton High welcomes a mysterious wild-haired stranger, named Hirotaka, that practically every girl at school falls head over heels for. To the surprise of the student body, and the delight of Bonnie Rockwaller, Ron is transferred to an equally mysterious secret ninja school in a student exchange. As the new boy makes himself at home, Kim and Monique comment on how easily the other girls at school cling to him and follow him around, despite their own desires to do the same. When Brick Flagg threatens to fight with him over this, Hirotaka defeats him with almost no effort, and Kim and Monique are immediately impressed with him. Later in a conversation with Hirotaka, Kim mentions her familiarity with Mantis Kung Fu, and he tests her abilities, and to her surprise finds that she has become one of the "crushing sheep" of Middleton High as well. From this point on, Kim and Monique get into a steadily intensifying competition to impress the exchange student. Kim even goes so far as to use Wade to try to track him down for a date.

Yori

Upon his arrival in Japan, Ron is greeted by a young girl named Yori, who leads him by foot to Yamanouchi's secret ninja school, and Ron has a crush on her. She is highly skilled in martial arts. Besides hand-to-hand combat, her weapon of choice seems to be two blade-edged fans, which she can wield with impressive cutting force. Yori also has a crush on Ron, which he mistakes for mere friendliness.


Master Sensei, Fukushima, and the Yamanouchi Ninja School

The Yamanouchi school's headmaster is Master Sensei, a traditional "wise old master", who is a marital artist possessing a wide range of abilities, a product of his many years of training and experience, regardless of his advanced years and small stature. He also seems to possess a wide range of spiritual abilities, such as astral projection, and the ability to levitate. But despite these skills, Sensei seems to prefer not involving himself directly in conflicts unless he has to, most likely because he believes such acts are best left to the young, whom he does his best to pass his knowledge on to through the Yamanouchi school.

Besides Yori, another student at Yamanouchi's ninja school is Fukushima. During his training, Sensei reveals to Ron, that the school was founded by an ancient master who built it using the sacred and powerful Lotus Blade. When he tells the tale, Fukushima voiced his protest, resentful of an outsider being allowed to enter the school, but is scolded into submission by Sensei. Afterwards, he is shown hazing Ron and laughing whenever he makes a mistake. However, Yori is unwavering in her support of Ron and has the utmost confidence in his abilities, although Rufus proves to be far more adaptable to the school's regiment. Even during Ron's clumsier moments, her opinion of him is never changed. In fact, while others are put off, Yori actually seems to welcome Ron's clumsy moments, seeing them as a good tension breaker in a stressful situation. She frequently gives him a kiss on the cheek, apparently to give him encouragement, but she also has a crush on him, something that's revealed in the episode when they meet again to save Master Sensei from DNAmy[1]. Meanwhile, Monkey Fist waits outside the school grounds and steals the Lotus Blade in yet another attempt to become the most powerful user of Mystical Monkey powers.

Rescue and Betrayal

Convinced that he is failing both at his ninja training, and absorbing Japanese culture, Ron is about to leave, when Sensei informs him that Yori fought Monkey Fist and his monkey ninjas instead and was captured. Like Yori, Sensei has an unwavering confidence in Ron and his abilities and sees him as a true warrior, and that he was selected as an exchange student because of his exposure to Mystical Monkey Power in Monkey Fist Strikes. Despite his lack of confidence in his abilities, he postpones his return to Middleton in order to rescue her. Fukushima teams up with him for the mission, but upon arrival at Monkey Fist's volcano lair, he ends up betraying Yamanouchi to serve Monkey Fist in his attempt to steal the Lotus Blade by telling him the location of the Lotus Blade, and leading Ron into the simian supervillain's trap.

Both Ron & Yori are placed in a cage to be dipped into a lava pit, along with Rufus, who is in a different cage, but Ron reminds Fukushima that helping a supervillain wouldn't look good on his school record, and would keep him from entering a good ninja college. However, Monkey Fist counters his persuasion by promising to write Fukushima a letter of recommendation, once he'd led an army of monkey ninjas into battle. Realizing that Rufus was also exposed to mystical monkey powers, he immediately sends him to rescue Ron and Yori. Later, after Ron and Yori have escaped, the students of Yamanouchi and Master Sensei arrived to fight Monkey Fist and his ninja monkeys. Fukushima engaged in battle with Ron, who in the few times successfully employs his Mystical Monkey Powers easily, and ironically, defeats him. As he leaves, the school honors him, but insists that he vows never to reveal his activities to the outside world.

At the airport, Hirotaka says goodbye to Kim and Monique before then saying goodbye to Bonnie as "number one girlfriend". Monique and Kim reconcile as Ron and Rufus arrived home. When Kim asked about his experience in Japan, due to his vow is secrecy, Ron simply said it was fine.

Quotes

Transcript

Main article: Exchange/Transcript

Memorable Quotes

“ Now wait, is it a public secret ninja school? ”

— Ron

“ Dude, please. Nothing but love. ”

— Ron

“ You are so funny with your American style jokes, Stoppable-san. ”

— Yori

“ I'm a sheep...a crushing sheep. ”

— Kim

“ Hey! I just realised I have my own personal arch-foe. That's pretty cool. ”

— Ron

“ Oh, Fuji! ”

— Ron

“ "Oh yeah! A-ha! They're bad! You're sad! They're bad! You're sad!" ”

— -Ron

Gallery

Team Possible's Clothes

Kim

Ron

Misc Images From Episode

Supplementary Information

Middleton High School Reader Board

The Middleton High School Reader Board does not feature in this episode.

Team Possible's Transportation

Allusions

Comparison of montage where Ron changes into his ninja uniform to go save Yori, versus the scene that it alludes to from Mulan.

Comparison of montage where Ron changes into his ninja uniform to go save Yori, versus the scene that it alludes to from Mulan.

Trivia

Errors

Behind the Scenes

Cast & Crew

Music

References

  1. ↑ Gorilla Fist
  2. ↑ Oh Boyz

External links

Merchandise

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Episode 31 (S02 E10): "The Fearless Ferret" 		Mission Next:
Episode 33a (S02 E12a): "Rufus vs. Commodore Puddles"