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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:

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 Monique is 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. 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

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[]

  • Kim's transportation: Used to catch up with Hirotaka, but will not have any part of Ron's Mission.
  • Barkin takes Ron to the airport in a mini-van
  • Yori picks Ron up at the airport.
  • A van drives the two near the Yamanouchi Ninja School, and they have to climb to the peak of the mountain themselves.

Allusions[]

ExchangeRonMulanMontage

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

  • The scene where Ron and Rufus prepare to leave the school in search of Monkey Fist mirrors a similar scene from the Disney film Mulan, when the titular heroine prepares to leave for war.
  • Yori is believed to have been modeled after Faye Valentine of Cowboy Bebop fame.

Trivia[]

  • Exchange is the twelfth episode of the second season of Kim Possible.
  • It marks the third appearance of the villain Monkey Fist and is notable in that it introduces Yori and Master Sensei, and because its story line follows on from the of the event "Monkey Fist Strikes"; in which Ron and Rufus are both exposed to mystical monkey magic.
  • Kim says that she scored tickets to the Bravos concert, before the concert starts the song playing in the background is I Want It My Way a song ascribed to the Oh Boyz [2].
  • Whenever Ron has to do the dirty work he is either reminded or reminds himself that "it will be his honor" to do it. This becomes a running gag whenever he is involved with Yori.
  • Ron loses his pants twice in this episode. Actually, he was wearing the clothing of ninjas, both times, and both times, he was reduced to just his boxers.
  • Fukushima is voiced by Dante Basco, star of American Dragon: Jake Long, and Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender.
  • Will Friedle (Ron) would appear on American Dragon: Jake Long as Jake's annoying cousin Greggy in the episode "Feeding Frenzy".
  • Director Steve Loter revealed that this was his favorite episode[citation needed].
  • Yori and Master Sensei return in "Gorilla Fist", "Big Bother" and "Oh No! Yono!".
  • Yamanouchi (山ノ内) and Fukushima (福島) are both locations in Hokkaido, northern Japan, where the story is set. The former means "within the mountains" and the latter means "island of good fortune".
  • This was one of the few times Ron successfully employed his latent skills at Monkey Kung-Fu. This is also one of the few episodes where Kim is not the primary hero.
  • Fukushima is the only villain to date who has not been confronted by Kim.
  • Master Sensei also appears in Graduation, Part 1 and Graduation, Part 2. Both times, he is astral projecting to Ron.

Errors[]

  • When Yori is in the line to get lunch she is wearing a black ninja outfit, but when she is about get her lunch she is in her white training outfit.

Behind the Scenes[]

Cast & Crew[]

  • Executive Producers
  • Story Editor
  • Writers
  • Art Director
  • Line Producer
  • Storyboard Supervisor
  • Voice Talent
    • See Character List Above
  • Dialogue Directors
  • Voice Casting
  • Storyboard
  • Timing Directors
  • Lead Character Design
  • Character Design
  • Character Clean-Up
  • Location Design
  • Prop Design
  • Background Paint
  • Color Stylists
  • Main Title Design By
  • Production Manager
  • Overseas Animation Supervisor
  • Technical Director
  • Storyboard Revisions
  • Continuity Coordinator
  • BG Key Color Correction
  • Animation Production by
  • Film Editor
  • Assistant Film Editor
  • Pre-Production Track Editor
  • Animatic Editor
  • Scanners
  • Track Reading
  • Supervising Sound Editor
  • Sound Editor
  • Foley Mixer
  • Foley Artist
  • Re-Recording Mixers
  • On-line Editor
  • Original Dialogue Recording
  • Assistant Dialogue Engineer
  • Manager of Music Production
  • Post Production Manager
  • Post Production Supervisor
  • Audio Supervisor
  • Post Production Coordinator
  • Production Coordinators
  • Production Associate
  • Production Secretary
  • Production Control
  • Casting Manager
  • Script Coordinator
  • Produced by
    • Walt Disney Television Animation

Music[]

  • Score by
    • Adam Berry
  • "Call Me, Beep Me! The Kim Possible Song"
    • Written and Produced by
      • Cory Lerios
      • George Gabriel
    • Performed by
      • Christina Milian

References[]

External links[]

Merchandise[]

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