# Upin & Ipin

Upin & Ipin (Jawi: اوڤين دان ايڤين‎) is a Malaysian children's animated television series created by Burhanuddin Md Radzi and his wife, Ainon Ariff and is produced by Les' Copaque Production, based in Shah Alam, Selangor. The series made its premiere on TV9 for 11 seasons and on Astro Ceria, Astro Prima and TV2 from season 12 onwards. It also made its premiere in Indonesia on MNCTV (formerly TPI) and Trans TV. The series also released widely for online streaming on both Disney+ and Netflix.
The series follows Upin and Ipin, five-year-old twin brothers who were characterised by their abundance of energy, imagination and curiosity about the world. Both twins, who had lost their parents while they are still a baby, lived with their older sister, Ros and grandmother, whom they called Opah, at the fictional Kampung Durian Runtuh. Overarching themes include the focus on family, growing up, and Malaysian culture.
Originally a side project for the blockbuster animated film Geng: The Adventure Begins (2009), Upin & Ipin was introduced on TV9 on 14 September 2007 as a six episode Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr special, to teach children the significance of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and Shawwal. A second season, also centered on Ramadan, aired in 2008. As of 2024, Upin & Ipin is the longest-running Malaysian animated series, currently in its 17th year of production, and is currently in its 18th season.
Upin & Ipin has received consistently high viewership in Malaysia on both broadcast television and video-on-demand services. It has influenced the development of merchandise, film adaptations and a stage show featuring its characters. The program has been recognised by The Malaysia Book of Records (MBOR) thrice and has won numerous awards, including the 2007 Kuala Lumpur International Film Festival 2007 for Best Animation and the 26th Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian for Most Popular Local Animation Character. It has been praised by television critics for depicting a modern everyday family life.

## Characters

Upin and Ipin, the titular characters, are five-year-old twin brothers who are curious and energetic. They live with their 17-year-old older sister, Ros and their 68-year-old grandmother Uda (whom they call Opah) in a village called Kampung Durian Runtuh in an unspecified location in Malaysia. Their parents died during their infancy. Upin and Ipin studied in the village's kindergarten, Tadika Mesra with a group of classmates, including the adorable and right-thinking Mei Mei, the poetic joker Jarjit Singh, the clumsy and short-tempered Ehsan, the easygoing and sarcastic Fizi, and the entrepreneurial and meticulous Mail.
The headman of Kampung Durian Runtuh is 72-year-old Isnin bin Khamis, better known as Tok Dalang Ranggi, the Wayang Kulit champion. Tok Dalang owns a cluster of rambutan trees for commercial purposes. He has a grandson named Badrol who first appears in Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula, and a rooster named Rembo. Among the village's other notable residents are Muthu, owner of the village's only food stall who lives with his animal whisperer son Rajoo and family pet cattle Sapy; Salleh (Sally), a feminine-apparent who owns a mobile library, a radio announcer, and also an online seller and Ah Tong, a strident-voiced vegetable farmer.
Additionally, new characters were introduced in later seasons: an Indonesian girl named Susanti who moved to Kampung Durian Runtuh with her family in season 3. There are also fainter Ijat, Dzul, Devi, and an unmentioned and rarely appearing girl student named Nurul. The titular characters are voiced by Nur Fathiah Diaz for the first three seasons, and from season 4 onwards, both twins are voiced by Asyiela Putri, while supporting and additional characters are voiced by the series' production staff and are referred by their first names.

## Development
### Conception

   "Upin & Ipin are not empty, instead every story has a moral element embedded in it. It's not just a cartoon, it shapes children's minds to behave well, be responsible, and so on."
Upin & Ipin originally created as a supporting characters for Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula, produced by Shah Alam-based animation studio, Les' Copaque Production, co-founded in 2005 by Burhanuddin Md Radzi and his wife, Ainon Ariff. Prior to Les' Copaque, Burhanuddin spent 20 years in the oil and gas industry. Burhanuddin's wife, Ainon conceived the idea for the show, despite having no professional qualifications in the animation or film industry. When he expressed his idea to produced Upin & Ipin, he recalled some people doubting the idea, saying it would not work. He said: "They told me that the audience would not accept this idea because it was set in a kampung. I was laughed at for my kampung idea". Malaysian TV network, TV9 acquired the series, but in France instead of Malaysia. He then brought the Upin & Ipin video clip to the Cannes Film Festival in 2006. After returned to Malaysia, Burhanuddin and his team conducted a research process and said: "We found that the Asian continent is looking for animation that is adapted to our culture and will benefit children". The creation of Upin & Ipin went through four important processes before being selected for technical reasons.
Series animator, Safwan Karim said: "We started this four-minute animated series to test the local market's acceptance and gauge how the reaction to our storytelling abilities would be". Series director, Nizam Razak said, for the series, aspects of Malaysian culture set in a relaxed village are highlighted to attract the interest of the international market, citing the Japanese animated series, Doraemon, which is a bestseller worldwide despite being set in local culture rather than international culture. In 2009, Nizam, Safwan, and Anas Abdul Aziz leaving Les' Copaque and set up their own animation studio Animonsta Studios, but the production of Upin & Ipin continued with Usamah Zaid Yasin serving as its director until 2013 when the latter left the company to established WAU Animation.
When asked about Upin and Ipin's bald image, Burhanuddin said that the twin brothers were deliberately portrayed with bald image as the hair dyeing process is quite expensive, while the names Upin and Ipin were inspired by U and I, before it was decided to become 'Upin and Ipin'. Initially, the twin's father wanted to be created in the series. However, due to time constraints and dateline, Les' Copaque decided to make Upin and Ipin as an orphans. While telling the story behind the making of Upin & Ipin in a morning chat session held in Cyberjaya on February 24, 2022, Burhanuddin revealed that the characters of Upin and Ipin's parents were not created by coincidence because they had to chase the deadline for the broadcast which pretty very faster at the time. He also admitted that Upin and Ipin were not originally created to be orphans. He said: "However, the situation at that time caused the characters of their parents to not be completed and instead, the next episode began with a scene of visiting the graves of the twins' parents".

### Production

The stories featured in Upin & Ipin depict the twin brothers engaging in imaginative play. Nur Naquyah Burhanuddin, who is the Creative Content Director of Les' Copaque Production and Burhanuddin's daughter, explained that there was no particular reason why the twin brothers were featured in their first animated series. Initially, Les' Copaque only planned to produce a story about a naughty boy in a family and having no friends. However, it was difficult to be certain about whether a boy would communicate on his own and how far a boy could be naughty.
Much like any other animated series in the world with a shorter running time, the duration for each of the series' episode is only seven minutes. From this process, the scriptwriter will determine the story's momentum to create a climax in each episode, which is part of the elements that make the story of Upin & Ipin proved to be successful in addition to ensuring that the storyline has momentum or builds to a climax and resolution. In each episode, it consists of three parts with a duration of 7 minutes for each episode. This is similar to the three-act structure; beginning, middle, end, where each episode has its own beginning, middle and end before reaching the third episode which also has its own three-act structure.
The animation process for Upin & Ipin (and also Geng) using the Autodesk Maya software. In a press conference on the animation software in 2009, Les' Copaque's Chief Designer, Fuad Md. Din, said: "One of the reasons we chose this software was because it was easy. Moreover, we have experience using it before."

### Casting

The titular characters, Upin and Ipin is voiced by Nur Fathiah Diaz for the first three seasons. From season four onwards, Asyiela Putri lent her voice of Upin and Ipin, replacing Nur Fathiah, who left the series to provide her voice for BoBoiBoy. The series' supporting and recurring characters were voiced by Les' Copaque staffs throughout the season and they referred by their first names. Series producer, Burhanuddin provide his voice for Tok Dalang, while his wife, Ainon, as the voice of Opah.
Les' Copaque, according to Burhanuddin, will usually held an audition to find the right voice cast for each character. This is to ensure that they will find voice actors who know how to portray their characters and not just read the script. The series' production team will also prioritise quality. Before the animation production begins, they will conduct a voice recording sessions beforehand.
The series also features special/cameo appearances by well-known Malaysian celebrities in some episodes, like Aziz Sattar, Jamali Shadat and Afdlin Shauki as well as former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and wife, Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, and cartoonist Lat.

### Music

Yuri Wong serves as the composer of Upin & Ipin theme music for 4 seasons and from season 5 onwards, Mohd Azfaren Aznam serves as the theme music composer. On 29 September 2010, Indonesian rock band, Padi performs a new theme song for the show, entitled "Sahabat Selamanya" ("Friends Forever"). Its accompanying music video, which aired on Indonesian television stations in August, shows the band singing their song in Upin and Ipin's yard, as well as selected scenes from the show.
In 2011, Les' Copaque partnered with Nova Muzik to produced an Eid-ul-Fitr album, Seronoknya Raya Bersama Upin & Ipin which features vocals from Asyiela Putri as the voices of Upin and Ipin. A year later, in 2012, Asyiela collaborated with Najwa Latif for the song "Terima Kasih Cikgu" in conjunction with the Teachers' Day Hari Guru and an accompanying episode of the same title.
In September 2016, Upin & Ipin collaborated with few international artists including Katy Perry and Shakira for the worldwide version of "Imagine" by John Lennon, former lead singer of English rock band, The Beatles with its accompanying music video launched by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). As the national ambassador of UNICEF Malaysia, Upin and Ipin provide a little part in the music video by singing "Imagine all the people..." in their Manglish dialect. Also featured in the video were will.i.am, Neymar, Priyanka Chopra, Idris Elba, David Guetta and Adam Lambert as well as Lennon who appeared twice in the video.
In 2020, a new song titled "Goyang Upin & Ipin" was released and uploaded to its official YouTube channel on August 3, breaking records when it was viewed over a million times within 24 hours.

## Episodes

The first season premiered in Malaysia on TV9 on 14 September 2007, with 6 episodes aired during Ramadan and Eid ul-Fitr. The second season, with following 12 episodes began airing on 5 September 2008, also during Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr. From the third season onwards, Upin & Ipin produced as a year-long production seasons, with 42 episodes lasting up to seven minutes.
| Series | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released | Originally released |
| Series | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released | Network |
| 1 | 6 | 6 | 14 September 2007 (2007-9-14) | 13 October 2007 (2007-10-13) | TV9 |
| 2 | 12 | 12 | 5 September 2008 (2008-9-5) | 6 October 2008 (2008-10-6) | TV9 |
| 3 | 42 | 42 | 2 February 2009 (2009-2-2) | 30 December 2009 (2009-12-30) | TV9 |
| 4 | 42 | 42 | 15 March 2010 (2010-3-15) | 29 December 2010 (2010-12-29) | TV9 |
| 5 | 42 | 42 | 12 March 2011 (2011-3-12) | 31 December 2011 (2011-12-31) | TV9 |
| 6 | 42 | 42 | 18 March 2012 (2012-3-18) | 30 December 2012 (2012-12-30) | TV9 |
| 7 | 42 | 42 | 9 March 2013 (2013-3-9) | 28 December 2013 (2013-12-28) | TV9 |
| 8 | 42 | 42 | 30 May 2014 (2014-5-30) | 25 December 2014 (2014-12-25) | TV9 |
| 9 | 42 | 42 | 20 March 2015 (2015-3-20) | 1 January 2016 (2016-1-1) | TV9 |
| 10 | 42 | 42 | 9 April 2016 (2016-4-9) | 31 December 2016 (2016-12-31) | TV9 |
| 11 | 42 | 42 | 25 March 2017 (2017-3-25) | 30 December 2017 (2017-12-30) | TV9 |
| 12 | 42 | 42 | 23 May 2018 (2018-5-23) | 5 January 2019 (2019-1-5) | MNCTV Astro Prima Astro Ceria |
| 13 | 42 | 42 | 20 April 2019 (2019-4-20) | 26 December 2019 (2019-12-26) | MNCTV Astro Prima Astro Ceria |
| 14 | 42 | 42 | 1 May 2020 (2020-5-1) | 15 March 2021 (2021-3-15) | MNCTV Astro Prima Astro Ceria |
| 15 | 42 | 42 | 13 April 2021 (2021-4-13) | 29 March 2022 (2022-3-29) | MNCTV Astro Prima Astro Ceria |
| 16 | 42 | 42 | 3 April 2022 (2022-4-3) | 3 April 2023 (2023-4-3) | MNCTV Astro Prima Astro Ceria |
| 17 | 42 | 42 | 17 April 2023 (2023-4-17) | 15 March 2024 (2024-3-15) | MNCTV Astro Prima Astro Ceria |
| 18 | 42 | 42 | 15 March 2024 (2024-3-15) | 1 January 2025 (2025-1-1) | Astro Prima |

## Reception
### Influence and legacy

Since its debut in 2007, Upin & Ipin has wielded its influence in countries of the Malay archipelago, notably in Malaysia and Indonesia which share linguistic and cultural similarities. Its first season landed its first award, for Best Animation in KLIFF 2007.
In December 2010, the Upin & Ipin franchise had garnered income about RM12 million in 2009 and 2010, mostly the sales of Upin & Ipin series to the international broadcasters.
Facebook announced in Memology study results that the Upin & Ipin page was the most popular fictional character page on Facebook worldwide throughout 2011. In 2012, Upin & Ipin was the most searched keyword by Malaysian Google users in the TV Show category according to Google Zeitgeist. As of 2013, Upin & Ipin's official Facebook page has reached 7 million fans.
In 2013, Upin & Ipin is appointed as the UNICEF Malaysia's National Ambassadors.
The Ultra Series crossover special was received positively on it airing in 2014. As a response, the crossover character in the special, Ultraman Ribut (ウルトラマンリブット, Urutoraman Ributto) was officially recognized as a canon character by Tsuburaya Productions, later making its live-action debut in the web series Ultra Galaxy Fight in 2019.
In India it started to air in Hindi on Hungama in May 2018.

### Viewership

Upin & Ipin has received consistently high viewership on TV9 in Malaysia, becoming the most watched children's program across all channels on broadcast television in 2007 and 2008.
While season two was on air on Ramadan 2008, it was reportedly watched by 1.5 million viewers on TV9, making it the second most-watched animated series on all of Malaysian television, right behind Doraemon (1.6 mil), yet ahead of SpongeBob SquarePants (800,000). The popularity of Upin & Ipin could have attributed to the commercial success of Malaysia's first CGI-animated feature film, Geng: The Adventure Begins (2009), which featured the twin characters Upin and Ipin, propelling it into the RM 6.31 million mark throughout its seven-week run in Malaysian cinemas as one of the highest-grossing Malay-language films in history.
As the third season reaches its conclusion in late 2009, TV9 reports that Upin & Ipin was viewed by 1.6 million, making it the second most-viewed programme on the channel, just behind the free TV premiere of Geng which was watched by 2.45 million (scoring TVR 12.8).

### Popularity in Indonesia

Indonesia has been the most obvious export market for Upin & Ipin. In 2009, MNCTV which airs the series in the country reported a TVR of 10.5. Upin & Ipin has also been praised by the Indonesian press; for instance, Fadil Abidin for Analisa who remarked on the vastness of moral content and Islamic values, such as respect for those of different ethnic or religious backgrounds, in a communal setting consisting not only of Malays, Chinese and Indian Malaysians, but also Indonesians.
In March 2010, as the Balinese Hindu community prepare for Nyepi, images of ogoh-ogoh (demonic effigies used for the famed ngrupuk ritual on the eve of Nyepi) which largely resemble Upin & Ipin were exposed on Indonesian media. The effigy reportedly cost 4 million rupiah.

### Awards and nominations
## Other media
### Merchandise

A collection of merchandise, featuring the Upin & Ipin characters were sold, including clothes and plush toys.

### Stage show

A live stage show based on the series, titled Upin & Ipin the Musical took place from 14 April to 6 May 2012 at the Istana Budaya, Kuala Lumpur. The stage show was starring two pairs of different child actors.
A second stage show, Upin & Ipin – Pin Pin Pom! was first staged at the Plenary Hall, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on 3 and 4 September 2022. It also toured at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 18 and 19 December 2022 and co-organised by Les' Copaque and Biz Trends Media.

### Feature films

Geng: The Adventure Begins, an accompanying film to the Upin & Ipin series, was released on 12 February 2009 to popular success. Following the release of Geng, Les' Copaque announced the subsequent Upin & Ipin films, named Upin & Ipin: Angkasa in mid-2009. But, the film was cancelled and replaced with Laksamana Upin & Ipin, which later abandoned due to unexpected financial and schedule situation which occurred in 2011.
The second Upin & Ipin film, titled Upin & Ipin: Jeng Jeng Jeng! was released on 24 November 2016 and co-produced by Les' Copaque Production and KRU Studios. This was then followed by the third film, Upin & Ipin: The Lone Gibbon Kris, released on 21 March 2019.

### Theme parks

In March 2011, Les' Copaque planned to build a theme park based on the Upin & Ipin series at a cost of RM200 million in Perak. The company also planned to opened the Upin & Ipin theme parks in China. In 2023, the company announced that the construction of Upin & Ipin theme park likely to start by the late 2023 with a RM700 million budget and expected to opened either by 2026 and 2027.

### Comics

Since December 2009, Upin & Ipin have been adapted into a monthly comic magazine series, titled Majalah Komik Upin & Ipin to be circulated all over Malaysia, published by Nyla Sdn Bhd. Targeted at young readers, the magazine features screenshot comics of the Upin & Ipin TV series and the Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula film, voice actor and production crew profiles, and learning and activity sections. An English version of the comic was launched on 1 May 2011 for international markets.

### Video games

A video game based on the series was developed by Les' Copaque Game Development Inc. (LCGDI), an online game development division of Les' Copaque Production. LCGDI have developed two online games for iOS users, namely Pocket Ipin (2010), Pocket Upin (2012), Upin & Ipin Dash (2012) and Upin & Ipin: Pintar Berdoa (2015) for the Android users.
LCGDI in collaboration with Indonesian video game developer, The WALi Games to co-developed Upin & Ipin KipiBlocks. Modelled after Candy Crush Saga, the Upin & Ipin KipiBlocks allows users need to arrange three of the same animated characters by moving only one block, and complete as many as possible in the set time.
A paid console game based on Upin & Ipin is in development and expected to launched in September 2024.

### Other

The series' fan club, known as Kelab Upin & Ipin (Upin & Ipin Club) began active since 2009 and launched at the Hari Kelab Upin & Ipin at Zoo Negara on 12 June 2010. A children's show, also titled Kelab Upin & Ipin premiered on 4 June 2011 on TV9.
A three-day outdoor event, featuring its characters, Karnival Upin & Ipin was held since 2010 to promote the series, with the recent carnival was held at the Melaka International Trade Centre from 15 to 17 December 2023.
A restaurant chain, utilising the series' concept, known as Kedai Makan Upin & Ipin is established with its first branch opened at Section 7, Shah Alam in July 2012 and specializing on Malaysian cuisine. The restaurant is also operated in certain parts of Peninsular Malaysia. In September 2023, Les' Copaque in collaboration with TMG Ventures to launched a family restaurant chain featuring Upin & Ipin characters. Also in September 2023, Les' Copaque also collaborated with Zing Eat to launch the virtual food stall, known as the Upin & Ipin Virtual Dining Experience.
On 26 November 2016, a specialty channel called Upin & Ipin Bersama Kawan-Kawan began broadcasting on Astro First throughout December 2016 in partnership between Astro and Les' Copaque. The channel airs a compilation of Upin & Ipin episodes and other Les' Copaque shows like Pada Zaman Dahulu, DaDuDiDo and Kembara Warisan Detektif Upin & Ipin.
A limited edition gold coin featuring designs of Upin & Ipin were released by Malaysian jewellery company, Habib Jewels in collaboration with Les' Copaque in August 2020. The 0.2 gram gold coin was launched in conjunction with the Habib's Merdeka Exhibition that held on 27 August to 6 September 2020.
A spinoff series, Upin & Ipin Iqra' centered on reciting al-Quran. In the series, Upin and Ipin with their friends learning Quran with their religious teacher, Ustaz Sheikh Abdulkarim Omar al-Makki. It premiered on Astro Ceria in Malaysia and MNCTV in Indonesia starting 4 January 2019. Another spinoff series, Upin & Ipin: The Helping Heroes, began premiered on Les' Copaque YouTube channel on 22 May 2020. The series also premiered on Netflix starting 10 November 2023.