Cybersix S1 E4

First of all, if this episode and my views on it make anyone uncomfortable, I apologize in advance. I'm referring to the character of Yashimoto, who at first glance seems like a huge Japanese stereotype. There's his design, with the buckteeth, squinty eyes, and glasses. He apparently knows kung fu (which is actually a *Chinese* martial art, but whatever), and his leitmotif is done with a Japanese instrument. Despite this, from what I can tell, the character is very popular in Japan. How is this possible? Well, he's a genius detective, and is called that much by José. His voice is anything but stereotypical Asian, with some saying that he could stand in for Batman if he wanted. He also has a grappling hook and cool tech, further drawing comparisons to Batman. He's also a really good biker, and is in good enough shape and agile enough to keep up with *Cyber 6*, who has the genes of an Olympic gymnast. Spoiler alert, but he's smart enough to figure out her identity. It's also speculated that his kung fu was meant to confuse the Fixed Ideas, who aren't very bright. José tries it and falls flat on his face, allowing Yashimoto to escape. Not to mention that buckteeth have been spotted on a few Caucasian characters as well. There's also his little sister, who even wears a kimono. She's adorable though, and stays calm even when she's been kidnapped, which is impressive considering the fact that she's so young. Plus, the storyline and designs were from the original comics, so if anything it's more like repeating a mistake that's already been made. Sins of the father and all, but that's no excuse.

## Plot

Anyways, the actual episode starts off with José going to a private investigator and claiming that Cyber 6 stole a valuable heirloom of his father's. The investigator is obviously Yashimoto, who refuses to take the case, saying that he doesn't believe in it. His little sister Ikiko arrives in his office and asks if she can stay outside to play with her new friend Julian. He says that he should meet Julian first. He goes to take care of some work while she waits. José pretends to leaves with a Fixed Idea. However, they instead kidnap Ikiko to force Yashimoto to take the case. Julian sees them and is able to physically stop José, but he's no match for the Fixed Ideas. They kidnap Julian too, since he's a witness now. Yashimoto goes back to his office. All he finds is a card that Julian gave to Ikiko that he noticed earlier. Then the phone rings. It's José, who says that if he doesn't deliver Cyber 6 to him in three days, he'll never see his little sister again. Julian and Ikiko are held captive in a ship. After finding no information about her on the computer, Yashimoto does it the old fashioned way, by walking around town with a picture and asking people about her. That night, Cyber 6 realizes that she hasn't seen Julian in awhile, and tries to see if he's okay. Yashimoto has set up cameras on rooftops to see if he can spot Cyber 6. She can't find Julian and heads to Lucas's apartment. Yashimoto sees her go in, gets the address, and bikes there at record pace. He uses some equipment to listen to their conversation. They come to the conclusion that Julian is probably okay and is just walking around somewhere. When she leaves, Yashimoto follows her on his bike. He eventually loses her when he almost crashes into a truck. The next day, he picks the lock to Lucas's apartment after he leaves and looks for information. He listens to messages on the answering machine. One is from a woman named Karen about a science article, and one is from Adrian, who says that it's probably better if they discuss the subject tomorrow. After looking in Lucas's address book, Yashimoto sees that Adrian Seidelman's address and phone number aren't written down. He replaces the tape with the messages with a different one. Back on the boat, Ikiko and Julian are crawling through the ventilation. Ikiko admits that she's scared, but Julian tells her that she's doing great so far and is really brave. After all, real courage isn't the absence of fear. It's defying something that scares you in spite of that fear. They push out the grate… and land right on top of José. Yashimoto compares Cyber 6's voice with Adrian's, and it's a match. He can't find Adrian's address, and the phone number is unlisted. He must have to pay a hydro bill though, and Yashimoto finds something. José calls and tells him that the deadline has been shortened. He now has until dawn the next day. José also lets it slip that he's holding Julian captive too. The two kids are back in the same room, this time with a Fixed Idea watching them. Yashimoto breaks into Adrian's apartment and finds her vigilante costume. After spending some time with Lucas talking about Julian and Cyber 6, she arrives in her apartment to find Yashimoto waiting for her. He tells her that he has no choice, because he has to save Ikiko and Julian. We cut to the boat, where José is told by Yashimoto that he captured Cyber 6. José tells him their location and orders him to bring Cyber 6 to a bridge at dawn. It's a classic prisoner exchange deal, made cooler when Yashimoto shows up on a motorcycle. José and two Fixed Ideas walk towards what they believe to be Cyber 6 while Yashimoto walks towards Julian and Ikiko. Julian uses his cards to distract the Idea guarding him and Ikiko and throws the cards in his face. Then he and Ikiko run, with Yashimoto following them. It's revealed that it was all a trick. "Cyber 6" was just a mannequin wearing similar clothes, which Yashimoto had already seen in a store twice before. José reveals a giant squid or octopus creature and orders it to get the kids. Then he sees Cyber 6 on a crane. She deals with the monster while Data 7 saves the kids. José makes the drawbridge retract. Ikiko and Julian fall into the water, but they're saved by Data 7. Yashimoto is able to escape José and some Ideas by using a grappling hook. He saves Cyber 6 from getting thrashed by the squid by throwing his helmet at it, which sprays out some sort of yellow gas. This makes it let go of Cyber 6. She raises the drawbridge even further, then rapidly lowers it. The squid crashes into the other side of the bridge, and they're both violently destroyed. Cyber 6 saves Yashimoto from the debris and they both go into the water. They reunite with Ikiko, Julian, and Data 7, and Yashimoto promises to not tell anyone about Cyber 6's secret identity. Unfortunately, José and his minions survived again.

## Additional Information

As it turns out, this episode never aired in the U.S. because of the physical racial stereotypes, despite the fact that the Japanese animators didn't find it offensive, and the character of Yashimoto isn't offensive, at least in my opinion. I also found out that his first name is Miao. It's an odd first name, because Miao is an ethnic group of South China. From what I can find online, it's a feminine name that means beautiful in Japanese (mi) and blue, green (ao). Other kanji combinations are possible. While I couldn't find Ikiko's name as it's spelt on the wiki, I did find the names Akiko and Keiko. Akiko can mean sparkle, bright, or autumn, and the suffix -ko means child. Keiko can mean blessed or respectful child. Once again, I apologize if I screw up the names. This episode *did* air in Canada and Japan. Admittedly, after watching the episode, Julian did seem more sure that he and Ikiko would come out of this a-okay than she did, and he was more proactive in looking for a way to escape, but still. It's not like she burst into tears or anything. Say what you want about Julian, but the kid's got agency at the very least. This feels kind of embarrassing to admit, but Julian is voiced by a teenage Andrew Francis in the English dub… the same Andrew Francis that went on to have a lot of other roles, like voicing Bobby Drake/Iceman in X-Men: Evolution, Kord and various other characters in *Slugterra*, Max McGrath in *Max Steel*, Shining Armor in *My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic*, and Morro, as well as the master of shadow, Shade, in seasons 4, 5, and 9 of Ninjago. And in the first episode of season 5 when Morro was possessing the security guard, I specifically said that he was voiced by Andrew Francis, who, in my opinion, had a young and "sexy" voice. I think he was either 28 or 29 when he was brought in to record for that part. He also took over the role of a main character, Cole, after the original voice actor passed away. I don't intend to take back what I said, nor do I regret it, but it just feels weird when looking back at these older shows, like seeing a teenage Michelle Tractenberg on *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* when I had grown up watching her and other actresses like Danielle Panabaker in movies from the mid 2000s, when they were adults. Suddenly seeing Panabaker on *The Flash* was a bit of an adjustment at first. Also, apparently Tractenberg was also on *Blue's Clues*, and played Penny Brown in the live action *Inspector Gadget* movie from 1999, and I just didn't recognize her. Sure, it's been years since I've seen either one of them, and Tractenburg obviously aged and matured between projects, but I watched them a lot as a kid. Unfortunately, in the English dub, Yashimoto was voiced by Canadian voice actor Brian Drummond, who is not Japanese. Ikiko was voiced by Chantel Strand. I don't have any photos of them, and I'd rather not dig through Wikipedia, IMDb, or any social media to try and find out their ethnicity, but I'm willing to bet that they're not even of any Asian ethnicity.