"Sweet Tooth" is the ninth episode and is the third episode overall of Sushi Pack. It premired on December 10, 2007 and was paired up with Red Hot Chilli Planet.
Plot[]
After eating massive amounts of Jimmy's candy, Wasabi becomes addicted and overweight. Now the Pack must train Wasabi back into shape.
Summary[]
The episode starts with Maguro walking in the streets with a piece of litter and dropping it in the street. This causes the red alert code 7 alarm to activate with Ikura, Tako and Kani to go out and find an evil doer, but it was all a test and Maguro told them that they've failed because one member is missing.
After thinking, an overweight Wasabi came and starts to become tired leaving the others shocked. Tako says that he needs major downtime. Maguro asks him to go the Green Donut and lay in a bed of lettuce but Wasabi despised this by blowing a raspberry. Ikura asks what's a red alert code 7 alarm, and Maguro said that a Wharf citizen failed to put litter to it's proper place. This made Tako, Ikura and Kani panic.
Meanwhile a boy named Sugar Jimmy is telling the audience to put on their peppermint specs and found a few with some frowns. He tells the audience to eat a Sugar Jimmy Golden Flaubble Baubble Bar. With Wasabi watching while eating the said product. The rest of the pack found litter in the counter with Wasabi falling off.
Wasabi tries to apologize but was distracted by the Sugar Jimmy Sweet Tooth pledge. Tako says that he is out control of the bars but Wasabi says he isn't. After that, Sugar Jimmy's show came to an end
Sweet Tooth, or The Power of Positive Snacking
"Show your face, Red Alert Code Seven Alarm Activator and Evil Doer!"
This episode opens late at night, with a dark figure on the prowl. A periscope from the hole of the Green Donut's sign spies what is obviously Maguro dropping a candy wrapper on the ground. Secret snacking, Maguro? The dropped wrapper sets off an alarm, warning the Pack of a Code Seven, and Kani, Ikura, and Tako leap into action! They arrive on the scene, spout some lines, and then goggle in shock when they find out it was just Maguro testing their reaction to the alarm, and not having a secret snack after all. She berates them for arriving without Wasabi in tow; apparently the others didn't notice, and have to think pretty hard to realize that he's the one missing. Speaking of the little glob, he shows up shortly after, panting and wheezing. The others are shocked, simply shocked, at Wasabi's out of shape condition, and send him back home to bed. Wasabi does not appreciate their concern. While he goes back to the Green Donut, Ikura asks just what a Code Seven is, anyway. A litterbug, according to Maguro, and the others freak out, although whether because litter is really that serious of a problem, or because she wasted their time with that, we don't know.
Or maybe it's because the next scene immediately shifts to some kind of cah-razy cartoon (except live action) starring a redheaded kid with a very toothy grin named Sugar Jimmy. Living in a world populated by animate flowers and clocks, he puts on his peppermint specs to see his viewers, ala Romper Room's magic mirror. Jimmy reveals the worries of a few of his viewers, and reminds them that all their problems disappear with just a bit of his ridiculously named and supposedly nutritious chocolate bar. We cut to Wasabi watching the show and chowing down on the bars, while Jimmy extols their virtues and declares 12 to be the recommended daily dosage. Meanwhile, the other Pack members arrive and Kani, spotting the many wrappers surrounding Wasabi, assumes that the real Code Seven activator has been there. But no, it's just Wasabi, who falls from the counter to the floor, much to the others' surprise. Back on TV, Jimmy leads his viewers in his pledge to eat all the bars they can find, which Wasabi relishes with glee. Tako calls him on his bar addiction, but Wasabi denies it, and Jimmy's show ends.
During the show, Ben pulled out his chemistry kit and analyzed the nutrition content of the bar. ....Oh, Ben. He can do anything the plot requires him to do. Anyway, his analysis shows a nutrition value of less than zero. Wasabi just can't believe his beloved Jimmy (he even has a doll!) would feed him a load of bull, but Kani shows him the evidence in his very own body, and Tako points out his lacking flame powers. With Wasabi essential out of commission, the others huddle up to make their plans: Tako and Maguro will investigate Sugar Jimmy, and Kani and Ikura will slim down Wasabi.
Since it's a commercial break, I want to take a moment to say this: fat Wasabi is the cutest! It may not be the proper sentiment the show wants to convey, but it's true. He's just so plump and squishable! *squee* Seriously, if he stayed like that (and nobody harped on him for it), he might have moved up to three on my Sushi Pack rankings list. Yes, I am that shallow.
The next day, Kani and Ikura wake up Wasabi and tell him about their plans for a Sushi Pack music video: all they need is a theme. Ikura suggests some whole grain cereal and juice while they think it over, and Wasabi doesn't even realize what's going on. Later, they get dressed up in Jazzercize wear (Kani is so cute!) and get down to exercising! Ben mashes play on the boombox and watches, equal parts bemused and concerned while Wasabi benchpresses, jumps rope, and jogs on the toilet paper. After their workout, Kani "just happens to have" some teeny tiny apples and carrots, which Wasabi wolfs down, none the wiser. You know, I think that the bars were less to blame for Wasabi's weight gain than the fact that he'll eat whatever you place in front of him, both figuratively and literally. Ikura reminds him that they still need a theme for the music video, and Wasabi enthusiastically shares his inspiration.
Over at the studio, Tako and Maguro witness the end of Jimmy's latest show. Once the cameras are off, Jimmy becomes an absolute brat, demanding imported bottled water and complaining about how the chocolate in his bars rot his "shiny Jimmy-teeth." He berates his costars and fires his stage manager, who also happens to be his mother. Maguro and Tako have to let Wasabi know about his idol's true nature, and they have the perfect plan...
Later that day, Wasabi is back to his lean self(aww...). Ikura comments, "It's amazing what a little exercise and healthy food can do." Yeah, amazing. You know, considering the Pack's reaction to Wasabi's weight gain earlier, it's likely that he put it all on within a day or two, so it's not surprising that it all came off fairly quickly. What I'm really wondering now is how Wasabi had the stomach for a million human-sized chocolate bars in the first place. I mean, seriously, he's tiny! And why did Ben buy him all those bars in the first place? Regardless of my questions, Kani rewards Wasabi by telling him they're all going to see a taping of Sugar Jimmy's show.
The next next day (I'm assuming), the Pack watches the show from high in the rafters, and Tako slips off, donning a maintenance disguise. He goes to the Grandfather Clock character and gives him a tune-up. "It'll only take a minute," he says, "and you've got plenty of those." Haha. Back on the show, Jimmy uses his specs time to propagandize against those who, like Ben, analyzed his bars on their own time and found them nutritionally lacking. According to Jimmy (dressed as a scientist), his bars are made by leprechauns. Maguro makes a few disparaging remarks, and Tako, showing up again, pretends he heard what she said, but it's obvious he didn't.
The Grandfather Clock announces the end of the show, and Jimmy's mother resumes her stage manager duties. Jimmy is not pleased to see her, but she's the only one who knows where to get his bottled water. Only this time she slipped him water from the janitor's sink. When Jimmy rebuffs her, she rips off his mask, revealing a 22-year-old brunette beneath a nine-year-old's facade revealing himself as James. Wasabi is shocked! James's mother tells him he's through, but James is confident that even without the bars he can merchandise himself to death, until the director reveals that the Grandfather Clock was ten minutes fast, and everything that just transpired was seen by his viewers coast to coast! (Apparently, it's a live show.) Even Wasabi can't hide his contempt for James, and his mother slimes him and announces he's finished. James reacts appropriately (as appropriate as falling down and crying is, anyway).
With a couple of minutes left in both James's show and the episode, the Sushi Pack hijack the cameras to debut their music video, which they probably shot the day before, in between scenes. And it is...not good. A bad rap about eating fruits and veggies, and then the episode is over.
I think it could have been interesting if the end had revealed not an adult "Jimmy", but that he really was this bratty kid who truly believed his bars were good for you. I mean, what if there was some kind of flashback scene that showed James in a meeting with the show's producers and/or head of merchandising, coming up with an idea for his chocolate bars, and James insisted they make them really healthy, but taste good, and be made by leprechauns, and all that. And they told him they would just to shut him up, or something? And then at the end, the truth about the bars would be revealed to James as well as Wasabi, and he would be shocked! And maybe even stop being a brat and start endorsing something really healthy, and everyone could learn a lesson, and there wouldn't be that awful rap video at the end. That's just a thought I had.