Code Lyoko Episode 7 Review

[AeonFrodo]

Code Lyoko Season 1 Episode 7: Image Problem

In today’s episode, after an unusual devirtualization, Yumi is acting really strangely. It’s very suspicious, but the guys can’t seem to catch on fast enough...

For the seventh episode of this show, I have a major gripe with some of the events that have happened. This is mostly to do with how well the group knows Yumi, and her behaviour around them. For the past six episodes, the audience knows that she’s loyal to the group, she talks about her problems to the group, speaks up whenever something strange happens on Earth and Lyoko and has feelings for Ulrich, and that the group know those aspects of Yumi. However, none of the guys, including Jeremie, do anything about it until Jeremie’s computer equipment is destroyed beyond repair. Not only that, but at the end of the episode, Odd even states that ‘she wasn’t that different from the original’. It really begs the question if the guys were paying attention to Yumi’s actions in the group during the past episodes. Even though these episodes don’t have a lot of continuity to them, it doesn’t make sense that Image Problem is the seventh episode in the series. If it was the first or second episode in the series, the guys could be let off of not knowing her, but since this is the seventh episode and there has been a lot of attention to Yumi’s character recently, there’s not a lot of excuses for the guys being dense. Especially Jeremie.

There were plenty of chances for the guys to realise that the Yumi that was with them was not the real Yumi. Funnily enough, the smartest person in the group was exposed to most of those opportunities, yet only acted when the last possible incident came up. Hell, he should’ve been on the fake Yumi’s back the moment that Yumi came out of the scanners. To not have lost a lifepoint and to be devirtualized from Lyoko is extremely suspicious, and for Jeremie to continue thinking that Yumi was shaken by the experience doesn’t show he’s thinking of all the possibilities of what could’ve happened to her. Even though the older viewers of Code Lyoko would’ve picked up that Yumi was a fake one by the time she attacked Dorothy/Yolanda, Jeremie should have seriously considered that Yumi isn’t that Yumi he knows. Especially when she defended Sissi. Speaking of defending Sissi, Ulrich and Odd probably should’ve picked up that wasn’t the real Yumi sitting with them either.

The fake Yumi is actually one of XANA’s monsters, one of the newly introduced ones in this episode. Although, it is not given an official name until Season 2. It is a Polymorphic Spectre, basically, a shapeshifter controlled by XANA that can take any form of a human XANA knows of. There are several instances in the series where XANA uses this monster, and its use in one future episode is extremely intelligent.

One big positive for the episode though that the Lyoko part is going to be located in a new sector of Lyoko. It’s a bit overdue, considering that the show could’ve had shown all the sectors of Lyoko by now. Too bad there was no sliding on the ice as a method of avoiding monster lasers, but fortunately later episodes have the characters voluntary/involuntary use the environment of the Ice Sector.

Another great thing about the episode is due to the suspicious nature of Yumi’s devirtualization, Aelita, of all people, acts on those feelings. Even though she knows Yumi the least, she knows something is wrong from the mysterious devirtualization. She actually investigates the area around the tower to find out what’s really going on, and is the first to discover that the real Yumi is held captive by a new monster introduced in the series, a Guardian. The monster itself doesn’t attack, but is capable of imprisoning a person and giving them no means to escape by themselves. The person held captive also cannot communicate to anybody while inside the Guardian. The only way to defeat it is to create another image of the person that is held captive inside to trick the monster. So it gives Aelita an opportunity to kill a monster. It’s an interesting monster, but it’s a shame that it appears very rarely in the show.

Despite that the animation hasn’t been the best from a cartoon, the fight scene between the two Yumis and Jeremie was really well done. The animators used the background to their advantage, and it appeared fluent enough to be fast paced. The actions were also realistic, which is great to see where other cartoons don’t consider how people move in reality. The fight scene also reveals there’s another basement in the Factory. It probably leads down to someplace important, right?

Sadly, some of the voice acting lets down the show again. This time, it’s on Lyoko, and plenty of the lines sound forced and clichéd. This is extremely evident where the real Yumi finds out there’s a copy of her, and she says ‘it’s a matter between me and myself’ as one of her reasons to fight the polymorphic Yumi. There’s a part of me that hopes these lines can be improved so that the voice actors themselves don’t sound like they hate the line but they have to say it to get paid their salary.

The episode has plenty of flaws, which really lets down a great idea for a XANA attack. But introduces really neat monsters and has a great Earth fighting scene to redeem for some of the flaws.

Score: 5/10

Loose bits: The tower is white instead of blue. Perhaps so that the tower appears visibly deactivated in the Ice Sector, but the colour could mean something else for those people who know...

Mr. Delmas’ moustache keeps on changing colour between a darker grey and a lighter grey where he speaks to Yumi in his office.

Jim once again looks like he’s going to be in a significant part of the episode, but he doesn’t act on his suspicions about Yumi ignoring him.

The last time the fake Yumi demands Jeremie to take her to the scanner room while she’s seducing him seriously sounds like a sexual innuendo. I bet Mirabelle Kirkland had fun with that line.

I find it hard to believe that Jeremie managed to get Ulrich back on his good side so quickly. After seeing the fake Yumi almost kissing Jeremie, Ulrich would want to deck Jeremie over the head for what almost happened.

When the fake Yumi enters Jeremie’s room with his computer equipment destroyed, Ulrich is shown to wear a white singlet during one of the scenes. Lack of colouring in?

Funny how the Krankrelat’s laser manages to deflect off an ice wall before knocking it out. It’s the only instance it happens in the entire series.

Oops! The lines got mixed up! After Odd gets hit by a laser from a Krankrelat, Ulrich wonders how many life points he has left, and Odd responds to him, when it should be the other way around. This proves to be true, when Odd gets hit again, and states that he miscalculated the amount of life points he has left.

Quotes: “Come on, she couldn’t have vanished!” – Jeremie

“Well what do you know, your fanclub.” – Odd

“Like your brain, it deserted you a long time ago.” – Odd

“Hey, do I smell fish or cheap perfume?” – Odd

“Take me to the scanner room.” – Yumi (fake)

“You should go home and take a bath, no, a cold shower. Very cold. Very very very cold, to calm you down.” – Jeremie

Ulrich: You were always a washout in maths.
Odd: But thanks to you I can count to three.

[cya6]

I disagree that they should have suspected it wasn't Yumi. Yes, they should have thought something was wrong. No, they shouldn't have thought she wasn't Yumi. When someone you know is acting strange (even if it's the complete opposite of how they normally act) you wouldn't think "that's not them!" You would think something was wrong, but remember, this is their first encounter with clones. They never had the reason to suspect that Yumi might not be who she says she is.

(They make the same mistake with William's parents. Their son starts acting weird, and they instantly assume that's not their son. I mean, come on.)