Guess who's who...*
Upin & Ipin (known as Upin dan Ipin in their own language) is a Malaysian All-CGI Cartoon. A television series of animated shorts produced by Les' Copaque Production. It follows the life and adventures of the titular twin protagonists, Upin & Ipin. Along with their friends, they learn lessons and the importance of values though it's actually a little more than that if you are familiar with Malaysian customs and culture, the latter which has been almost the main theme that makes the show itself, quite familiar in their home country but a distinct feel to foreigners who are unaware with the traditions thereof.
Starting production in 2007, it has since been continuously renewed and has reached fifteen seasons (as of 2021). Besides being acclaimed in its own country, it has also been acclaimed in other parts of Southeast Asia (notably, Indonesia: a country that shares linguistic and cultural similarities, which the cartoon later features a character from there).
The following tropes include:
- Ageless Birthday Episode: Upin and Ipin's Birthday Episode in season 6 has Upin being cut off when counting how old they are now.
- Always Identical Twins: The titular characters, only externally distinguished by their clothes and Upin's one tuft of hair.
- Art Evolution: Character designs from season 8 onwards are remodeled and improved. It's most noticeable in Tok Dalang and the twins.
- Bait-and-Switch: In "Tersentuh Hati", Ipin fell down some stairs. Then we hear a familiar cry from the house, which turns out to be Upin crying over Ipin's injury.
- Big Eater: Ehsan.
- Big Sister Bully: Kak Ros but only if needed. Should her brothers do something wrong, she won't think twice by disciplining them with her own hands. Toned down in later seasons but still comes off as the big sister her brothers like to play around with and often reacts angrily towards them.
- Big Sister Instinct: She's a great sister who, despite the above trope, cares for their well-being and she makes sure to lead them to the right thing that needs to be done.
- Bookcase Passage: An unused room in Upin and Ipin's house has one. It contains their parents belongings.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Ipin's "betul, betul, betul" gets borrowed often.
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Broken Aesop: "Gelapnya" has two of those. The first one, "Don't waste electricity", is broken since the light turns off because of a storm, not because of Upin and Ipin wasting electricity throughout the episode. Upin and Ipin wasting electricity leads to nothing since Opah somehow managed to pay the expensive bill. The second one, "Do your homework early", is undermined by the fact that Upin and Ipin didn't do their homework early yet still mananged to do it anyway. - Brought to You by the Letter "S": Upin and Ipin has an "u" and an "i" on their respective iconic shirt.
- Camp Gay: Salleh/Sally.
- Catchphrase: Ipin's classic "betul, betul, betul". The English dubbed it as "Yes, yes, yes".
- In the early season's dubbings however, he said "true, true, true".
- Mei Mei has "Saya suka, saya suka" ("I like it, I like it").
- Mail's "Dua singgit" ("Two for one ringgit").
- Jarjit's "Marvelous! Marvelous!"
- Characterization Marches On: Tok Dalang we remember is a Cool Old Guy who is popular with the kids, except in first season where he acts more like a Grumpy Old Man.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Early in "Kembara ke Pulau Harta Karun", Mail tames a gigantic bird of prey that was attacking the pirate ship by feeding it fishes, but the bird fly off after the pirates use it to fly to the treasure island. In the climax, Mail (who has been missing for some time) shows up riding the bird to save the rest of the gang from an erupting volcano.
- Children Are Tender-Hearted: In The Lone Gibbon Keris, Mat Jenin relays the tale of Mother Deruma to Upin and Ipin, of when she turned her disobedient son, Tanggang, into stone. The elderly mother wishes she could take back the curse, but she can only watch Tanggang's frozen body aboard his stone ship from a distance. When the twins try to comfort her and she starts spilling her sentiments and tears, the young boys can't help but tear up themselves.
- Climactic Volcano Backdrop: The climax of "Kembara ke Pulau Harta Karun" takes place inside a volcano.
- Clip Show: "Sahabat Selamanya", where the kids are Caught in the Rain and recall past episodes' events, but the clips are new, showing what happened but wasn't shown in the past episodes.
- Cool Old Guy: The village chief, Tok Dalang. He had done a lot of awesome things in his early years, much to the village children's astonishment.
- Crossover: with the Ultra Series, which also resulted the creation of Ultraman Ribut, one of the official Ultramen.
- Cut a Slice, Take the Rest: During Upin and Ipin's very first iftar, Upin gives Ipin a spoon of rice from the bowl then takes the rest of rice in the bowl. Subverted as he is just joking and takes a proper portion later.
- Darker and Edgier: Geng: The Adventure Begins is a hell of a lot darker than the show it was based on due to a more intense story and the presence of giant monsters.
- Deus ex Machina: In "Kembara ke Pulau Harta Karun", when Jarjit and Ipin is fighting for the treasure map, a gigantic bird of prey arrives and grab away the map, only to spat it out and went berserk onto the ship. Upin wastes no time to speed away from the ruckus and retrieve the map off the shores.
- Edutainment Show: The earlier episodes of the show were made to teach kids about Ramadan.
- Egg-Laying Male: In The Lone Gibbon Kris, after almost getting sucked into a portal through the basement wall with the main cast, Rembo the rooster lays an egg out of fear and flees the scene.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Fizi used to jokingly call his cousin Ehsan "intan payung". In English, it's "sweetie pie".
- The Faceless: The one time we see a photograph of Upin and Ipin's parents, we don't get to see their faces.
- Fourth Wall Psych: The first season at first looked like it was told by Upin to the audience. It's not until the last episode it was revealed that he was talking to his friends.
- Framing Device: The first six episode is told by Upin to his friends during Eid.
- Henshin Hero: With none other than Tsuburaya Productions' approval, a series of episodes in the 2015 season had the show debut their very own Ultra, Ultraman Ribut (Ultraman Storm), making Malaysia the third country outside Japan, after Australia and America, to create an Ultra officially approved by Tsuburaya.
- Hypocritical Humor: In episode "Tarawih", when Ipin speaks to Upin during prayer, Upin tells him that speaking is not allowed during prayer.
- Honest John/Young Entrepreneur: Mail. Almost half the things that run in his mind are money and the instinct to sell something.
- I've Heard of That — What Is It?: In Geng: The Adventure Begins, Ros realizes that the group has got lost. Upin and Ipin happily declares that they're lost before asking Rajoo about what lost means.
- Just One Extra Ticket: The plot of "Kawan Baik Upin & Ipin". Tok Dalang gives Upin and Ipin four tickets to watch a football match they and their friends really want to see: two are for them, two are for their friends. The problem is Upin and Ipin has six friends (Ehsan, Fizi, Mail, Jarjit, Mei Mei and Susanti) who want those tickets.
- Living Prop: Nurul doesn't have much character besides filling a chair in Tadika Mesra.
- Leitmotif: Mail's arrival is usually accompanied by this theme
. - Long-Runners: Has been airing new episodes every year since 2007.
- Mad Libs Catchphrase: Dzul: "Nenek aku kata (my grandmother said), [anything relevant]."
- Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher: Subverted because the kids she teaches ARE actual kindergarteners. But she's still a bit too nice and smiles as much as she can to her pupils.
- The Movie/Prequel: Geng: The Adventure Begins. Yes, the movie premiered at 2009, but it was planned in late 2005. Upin & Ipin were deuteroganists here, rather than starring in the film.
- The Moving Experience: The plot of "Ehsan Pindah?" has Ehsan overhearing his father saying that they will move, making all the kids sad. In the end, Ehsan does move... to a nearby house still in the village.
- Multi-Part Episode: All episodes from season 3 onwards, although each part was 7 minutes long so the full episode usually isn't longer than a regular show episode. Episodes in season 3 and 4 is a mix of 2, 3, 4, and 6 parter. The only exception is Eid al-Fitr special in season 3. All episodes from season 5 onwards is 3-parter.
- Mundane Made Awesome: Whenever the kids play, it's usually presented way cooler than it should be.
- Name and Name: The show is titled this way.
- Nighttime Bathroom Phobia: On his first night at Badrol's village, Lim wants to go to the toilet. But the toilet is located not in the main house but across the backyard, it's really dark outside, and Lim had heard stories about ghosts haunting the village. Lim decides to not face his fear and hold his pee until morning.
- Not Allowed to Grow Up: Upin and Ipin remain 5 years old even though they celebrated Eid Al-Fitr Once a Season, which should have make them over 10 years old.
- Parental Abandonment:
- Missing Mom: It is revealed in the Mother's Day episode that Upin, Ipin and Kak Ros' mother had died. The twins seem to be fully-aware of this and they took it quite easily and they remembered her grave.
- Disappeared Dad: As of now, there hasn't been a mention about their father.
- Pokémon Speak: The Pulu Pulu tribes from "Kembara ke Pulau Harta Karun" only can say "Pulu", although it's an effect of being mind controlled.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Jarjit is a poetry savvy and he would try to make his every statement rhyme as possible. Possibly reflecting his interest in pantun* and poems.
- Rooting for the Empire: In-universe. In "Seronoknya Membaca", Mail roots for the antagonists of the books.
- Scary Librarian: Sally runs the mobile library. In his first appearance, not so much. In his second appearance as a librarian, however, he got angry at Jarjit for forgetting the book he borrowed.Sally: *as his hands appear from the kid's back almost out of nowhere* (creepily) "If you don't [return the book], you'll pay the fine."
- * Scenery Porn
- Slice of Life: Most episodes revolve around Upin and Ipin's life in the village, though some episodes are really fantastic.
- Spoiled Brat / Token Rich Student: Ehsan has a rich father, is usually the one with gadgets and likes to talk about how he got his father to buy them for him.
- Spoiled Sweet: Mei Mei. In school, she is shown to be a very smart and very helpful girl, though some of her male classmates find her insufferable, accusing her of being a class kiss-up (intentional or not, there's a bit of justifying evidence). But she's still very nice to everybody. Her only not-so-worst enemy might be Mail. She also lives in a slightly nicer place than Upin and Ipin's.
- Symbol Swearing: Captain Jarjit attempting to speak "Pulu Pulu" results this in the subtitles, although he doesn't actually know what he's saying.
- The Teapot Pose: Bang Salleh (or Sally, as he calls himself), the resident effeminate male of the village, often has one arm raised and bent, which he gestures with while talking. This is occasionally paired with his other arm propped at the back of his hip.
- Theme Twin Naming: The titular twin Upin and Ipin.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Ipin loves fried chicken so much.
- Trickster Twins: No need to guess who. Usually, they are harmless tricks and the twins are good at heart.
- Unusual Euphemism: When Upin and Ipin ask why Miss Jasmine didn't fast, Ros said that women are "special" (it's because of menstruation). The word gets used several times later.
