BUT IS IT ART?

BUT IS IT ART?
EPISODE 01, SEASON 01
Release date:	November 3, 2007
Production Code:	101A
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But Is It Art? is the first episode of the first season of Sushi Pack, making it the first episode overall.

In the episode, the Sushi Pack investigate the theft of famous works of art – all while dealing with Tako's bruised ego, since his paintings were the only ones not stolen.

PLOT SUMMARY

The episode opens with off-screen narration naming the various paintings soon to be on display at the Wharf City museum the next day – namely, Boo Boy, Whistler’s Goat, The Shrieker and The Groaning Pizza. The camera pans to Sofia Tucker, a reporter who’s explaining the upcoming exhibit for a news broadcast.

Sofia moves on to interview the museum’s director, Mumphrey Pilbeam, who’s thrilled (thrilled!) that Wharf City will have the chance to view esteemed artwork with their own eyes. Not only that, but he goes on to note how thrilled he is that, at the same time, the museum will get to display art created by “promising local artists”. As he speaks, the camera zooms out, allowing us to get a good view of the hallway the characters as the characters walk further into it, every inch of the walls covered in priceless artwork.

As Mumphrey speaks, a distinctive painting comes into view. The camera shifts back to Sofia and Mumphrey right as they stop in front of it, both reacting in shock to the painting that comes into their view. Mumphrey’s enthusiasm comes to a screeching halt as he appends his last statement with an apprehensive “and some, uh… Not so promising.” Said painting is then revealed to be a large, plain off-white canvas, covered in seemingly haphazard splotches of yellow, red, green and blue paint.

The scene suddenly transitions to the Sushi Pack’s headquarters inside the Green Donut. The authorship of the tasteless painting becomes clear as Tako shouts his way into the picture, painting similar art pieces with his own multicolored ink – much to Maguro’s dismay, as she’s not only annoyed by his mess, but also gets covered in red ink twice in a row.

Eventually, as Tako continues to ignore her pleas to calm himself down, Maguro fully snaps, shouting that he’s “making a MESS!!!”. Tako’s resolve is unshaken, however, as he simply corrects her assertion by stating he’s actually making a masterpiece – to which Ikura, popping out from behind a scotch tape dispenser, retorts that it’s more like a disasterpiece.

Seemingly enraged by Ikura’s insult, Tako wields a paintbrush like a spear, shouting as he rushes towards Ikura. Although the salmon is quick to get out of the way, Tako proceeds to simply sign his latest painting, tying up his theatrics by declaring that “[his] work here is done – you may now bask in the glory of [his] genius.”

A significantly calmer Maguro walks back into the scene, holding a toothbrush. She hands it to Tako, telling him, instead, that he may now mop up his mess. The octopus, however, waves her off as he walks away, saying that tidying is beneath a genius such as himself. This enrages Maguro once again, who credits her “inner tuna” for keeping her from doing something she might come to regret.

Later, Kani is humming to herself as she examines one of Tako’s paintings, deep in thought. The octopus, always fishing for compliments, is quick to pop into the scene to ask Kani for her opinion. Surprisingly, Kani tells him she likes it – it make her happy. Still, her deadpan tone and expressionless face cause Ikura to point out she doesn’t look happy, to which she retorts that, as a crab, this is as happy as it gets.

Zooming out from the conversation, the scene shifts to show Maguro and Ikura cleaning Tako’s mess with toothbrushes. As they do so, Ikura asks Maguro how she was able to convince the director to showcase Tako’s paintings at the museum. The tuna smiles, cheerfully telling him they had a “meeting of the minds” – which is revealed in a flashback to mean she used her psychic powers to hypnotize the director into accepting her request.

Back in the present, Tako loudly gloats about the recognition and adoration that is sure to follow the next day’s exhibit. He claims it’ll elevate his reputation as not only a member of the Sushi Pack, but a talented and sensitive artist.

The other four, however, remain unimpressed – notably, it’s Ikura’s turn to lose his cool, shouting at Maguro for “creating a monster” by having Tako’s paintings accepted into the museum. They all watch on as octopus frolics around the room, cheerfully talking himself up and unaware of how his attitude is getting on everyone’s nerves. Maguro sighs and acknowledges her share of the blame, apologizing to the others.

Now aboard the Sushi Craft, the team is on its way to the museum, in front of which a sizable crowd has gathered. While Tako is convinced this is due to a great number of art “a-fish-ionados” having come to meet him, Ikura immediately shuts him down by pointing out the police cars arriving on the scene.

With the museum seemingly off-limits (or perhaps because the crowd is blocking their way), the team enters the building through the ventilation system. The scene inside is a chaotic one – alarms are going off, and the Sushi Pack are nearly trampled by incoming police investigators.

Mumphrey runs into the scene, shrieking in panic to himself that all the great works of art are gone. Upon Maguro’s interjection, he explains that the museum has been robbed, and everything of value has been stolen.

Suddenly worried for the safety of his painting, Tako is quick to look around for them – extremely relieved when he notices they’re unharmed. In a matter-of-fact tone, the director repeats himself – everything of value has been stolen.

With the implication that his art is worthless, the others brace themselves for Tako’s reaction. And they’re right to do so, as he becomes completely lost within his own negative, self deprecating thoughts. Still, unaware of his inner turmoil, Ikura is relieved that this crushing critique will bring his teammate back down to Earth again.

Instead, the opposite happens – an extreme opposite at that, as Tako comically leaps into space while shouting that his “supreme” art should definitely have been stolen. This gag confirms to the others that Tako’s resolve to deny any and all criticism is as unshaken as ever, something they’re less than thrilled about.

While the octopus continues to assert the value of his creations, Kani finds a clue to the culprit’s whereabouts – a small piece of granite, which she assesses to only occur in a very limited range. Armed with this valuable lead, the team heads out to retrieve the stolen artwork, as Tako aggressively asserts that the situation is personal.

Come nightfall, the team lands at their destination: a decrepit, isolated castle, sitting atop a snowy mountain range. Ikura takes the lead by leaping out of the Sushi Craft, stating his intent to “sashimi” the thieves. Tako, however, is quick to block his way, claiming instead that they should first give said thieves lessons in art appreciation.

Ikura questions his reasoning, and Tako explains that he’s been wronged, thus it should be his call. Once again, Ikura loses his temper, shouting at Tako that the whole point of the mission should be to catch the thieves and retrieve stolen art, not settle personal matters.

As tensions rise between the two, Kani chimes in to support Ikura, standing behind his reasoning and telling Tako it’s not just about him. Wasabi, speaking for the first time in the episode, agrees with her.

Maguro, trying to calm the others down, tells them that they’re a team, so they should stick together. She also hands out strategy plans for the mission ahead, which everyone (save for herself and Kani) promptly ignore – Wasabi starts eating his copy; Tako throws his out as he charges into the castle by himself, stating his goal to defend his art; and Ikura does much of the same, following behind Tako while with a series of excited battle cries. The other three are left behind, and a distraught Maguro watches on as the discarded copies of her plan float down around her.

The team then charges together into the castle, shouting in unison as they fling the doors open. Apparently, the others realized it'd be best to just go along with Ikura and Tako’s approach, seeing as there was no reasoning with them.

They all gather in the shadows, coming across the stolen paintings shortly after. Kani and Maguro have a short argument about what to do next, but are interrupted when Wasabi points out that, while they talked, the characters in the paintings (simply referred to as ‘masterpieces’ from this point on) have vanished from their frames.

Indeed, the paintings are now empty sceneries. The scene then shifts back to the Pack, who make the startling revelation that the masterpieces have all come to life, and are now standing right behind them.

Imbued with destructive powers, the masterpieces now attack the Sushi Pack. Boo Boy fires blue laser beams from his eyes, which his and pulverize a stone pillar behind the team. The sushis scatter to get out of the way or find cover – save for Tako, who decides to confront Boo Boy head on and ask why he was stolen when Tako’s art was not.

While Tako dodges Boo Boy’s subsequent attacks, Wasabi gets chased around by The Shrieker, who shoots lightning bolts from his gaping mouth. Maguro is not having much of an easier time, trying to dodge the flying Whistler’s Goat on the air.

She then looks down to notice Tako willingly approaching The Shrieker for answers as to the treatment of his art. When he refuses to listen to her warnings, Maguro swoops in to save him – just in time, too, since The Shrieker launches another of his lightning attacks as she does so.

Ikura, who’d been hiding under a chair, is joined by a cowering Wasabi. The salmon states his plan to ‘paint [the masterpieces] into a corner’. Tako, once again, pops in to object to Ikura’s plans – according to him, these priceless works of art should not be damaged. He respond to Ikura pointing out the masterpieces themselves are trying to damage them by asserting that his status as an artist qualifies him to handle the situation on his own.

Confident in that belief, Tako leaps in front of Maguro and Kani as they’re being surrounded by the four masterpieces, placing himself between the two parties. He attempts to talk reason into the paintings, only for his efforts to be in vain as they all begin to shriek in unison, leaving the heroes contorting in pain and covering their ears.

Suddenly, an array of heat lamps come on atop the trio, effectively trapping them; after all, high temperatures are the Sushi Pack’s only weakness. As he watches his friends succumb to the heat, Tako sees the error of his ways – by only thinking about himself, he failed to notice the entire thing was a trap from the start, and now those he holds most dear are in danger because of his ego.

While the three of them remain trapped under the heat lamps, an unknown voice shouts for the masterpieces to return to their respective paintings. As they do so, a circular panel in the floor opens up to make way for a pipe organ, being played by the mastermind behind the whole ordeal – a posh criminal who calls himself The Collector.

He introduces himself to the trapped sushi in an elegant and self assured manner; truly, he seems to have been expecting them all along. Thinking he’s won, The Collector explains his plan: seeking power, he’s found a way to bring paintings to life, which gives him access to an army of obedient “art zombies” to aid him in stealing all the priceless paintings in the world.

Meanwhile, realizing The Collector has yet to take note of their absence, Ikura silently guides Wasabi into action.

Face to face with the one who’s insulted his art at last, Tako’s reached his emotional breaking point, throwing a tantrum while demanding to know why his paintings weren’t stolen. Distracted by the opportunity to kick his enemies while they’re down, The Collector steps away from his organ to insult Tako directly – he calls the octopus’ art mere “paint smears”, claiming he’s simply a stale piece of food without any artistic talent to speak of.

This slander is not for nothing, however, as it keeps The Collector away from the organ long enough for Ikura and Wasabi to mess with it without being noticed. Ikura presses and arbitrary array of buttons and keys, causing the organ to shoot out powerful sound waves that shatter the heat lamps above and freeing his friends in the process. Wasabi then turns the air conditioning all the way up, reinvigorating his heated teammates with the cold.

Enraged, The Collector regains control of his pipe organ, commanding the masterpieces to attack once more (his actions also reveal that his pipe organ doubles as the control panel to the masterpieces, with the villain being able to switch between either function at will). Even with his regained confidence, Wasabi is quick to pelt the evildoer with mustard projectiles with enough force to shove him off the piano bench.

Meanwhile, the four masterpieces start a relentless attack on the other sushi. Maguro shields them with a force field while Ikura shoots salmon roe at the enemies from behind it (which is ultimately useless). Despite their efforts, the onslaught is too much for either of them, with Maguro shouting that she won’t be able to hold her off much longer and Ikura yelling at Tako for help.

Tako, however, is kneeling down and unresponsive. He once again enters one of his thinking states, where he’s surrounded by personifications of his self deprecating thoughts, ruminating on his mistakes and unable to do anything else. It takes the others shouting in unison for Tako to snap out of his trance and finally come to.

Now genuinely apologetic, Tako asks the others why they even put up with him. Kani tells him, simply, that they have to – he’s part of the team, after all. As her and Ikura smile down at him, Tako regains his confidence and steps back into the leadership role they need him to take.

Tako is quick to assess the situation, leading the others into the final counterattack. He instructs the others to bust the control panel to also bust down The Collector. He destroys the organ’s keys with his signature whirlwind attack while Kani snips the pipes in half with her pincers.

The Collector can do nothing but watch and reach his hand out, screaming a pitiful NO! that goes unheard by the heroes. Meanwhile, Maguro, Wasabi and Ikura all fly into the scene, bombarding the villain with an onslaught of attacks.

Kani and Tako’s efforts result in the organ exploding at last, with the masterpieces going back into their respective frames now that nothing is controlling them. While he Pack watches their retreat, Wasabi whistles to get the others’ attention to The Collector, who’s attempting to get away.

Finally able to take his revenge, Tako shoots The Collector with jets of multicolored ink, stopping him in his tracks. Ikura concedes that this human canvas is Tako’s best work yet, to which the octopus bashfully thanks him and says he couldn’t have done it without each one of his friends.

The episode ends with The Collector, covered head to toe in ink, shaking the bars of his jail cell – not before Tako feigns regaining his inflated ego, however.

CHARACTERS

MAIN

• Sushi Pack
• Tako Maki
• Maguro Maki
• Ikura Maki
• Kani Maki
• Wasabi Pow

ANTAGONISTS

• The Collector
• Masterpieces
  • Boo Boy
  • Whistler’s Goat
  • The Shrieker
  • The Groaning Pizza

SUPPORTING

• Sophia Tucker
• Mumphrey Pilbeam

LOCATIONS

• Wharf City
  • Wharf City Museum
  • The Green Donut
  • Wharf City Jail
• The Collector’s castle

THINKING STATES

• In the museum, after being told his art has no value: overthinking Pilbeam’s evaluations of his paintins, trying to keep himself together while he asks himself if he’s a bad artist.
• In The Collector’s castle, after his art is ruthlessly insulted and he’s forced to confront the results of his egotistical decisions: mulling over his selfish behavior, telling himself his egotistical and self centered decisions put his loved ones in harm’s way.

MORAL

An amalgamation of "don't be selfish" and "don't have a big ego".
"Friends stick together" is also present throughout.

QUOTES

Members of the Sushi Pack have color coded quotes. Any other character's quotes is black and preceded by their respective names.

— “BUT YOU’RE MAKING A MESS!!!”

— “Uh, correction – I’m making a masterpiece!”

— “A disasterpiece is more like it.”

— “My work here is done! You may now bask in the glow of my genius!”

— “And you may now mop up the slop of your sloppiness.”

— “A genius never tidies. It’s beneath him – or her.”

— “If I wasn’t so in tune with my inner tuna, I’d go barracuda on him!!!”

— “Woah, check out the crowd at the museum!”

— “Obviously art 'a-fish-ionados' have come to meet the living legend – moi!”

— “Looks like ‘moi’ has a lot of fans in the police department.”

Pilbeam: “The museum has been robbed! Everything of value has been stolen!”

— “[GASP] NOOO!!!”

— “Phew– hey, look! My paintings are still here!”

Pilbeam: “Like I said – everything of value has been stolen!”

— “Lets pinch ‘em!”

— “And throw off room’s perfect feng shui? What are you THINKING?!?”

— “I’m thinking I’m getting crabby.”

— “Tako, I think this is your best work ever!”

— “Thanks! I couldn’t have done it without each of you.”

GALLERY

TROPES INTRODUCED

Note: this is the first episode, so many tropes are introduced here.

• Maguro’s obsession with feng shui;
• Maguro being “in tune with her inner tuna”;
• Tako’s art being universally panned;
• Tako’s thinking states;
• Kani stating that she’s “getting crabby”;
• The Sushi Pack (sans Wasabi) being weak to heat.

TRIVIA

• There are several references to famous real life paintings in this episode. The most notable ones being the masterpieces themselves, respectively:
  • Boo Boy is a spoof of The Boy In Blue;
  • Whistler’s Goat is a spoof of Whistler’s Mother;
  • The Shrieker is a spoof of The Scream;
  • The Groaning Pizza is a spoof of The Mona Lisa.
  • Moreover, a handful of spoofs make cameos in the background of certain scenes, with American Gothic appearing twice,
    alongside spoofs of The Persistence of Memory and Nighthawks.
• This episode serves as the inspiration for the tie-in game Art Attack!
• Interestingly, Maguro is shown to be able to turn invisible in her introduction. This contradicts a future episode (TO BE REVISED.)
• Kani seems to genuinely enjoy Tako’s art, but acts annoyed throughout the episode regardless (though this is more likely due to his attitude).
• It takes over half an episode for Wasabi to chime in at all, since he only starts to speak after agreeing with Kani while outside the castle.
• Despite taking place at the Green Donut for a while, Ben does not get introduced in this episode.
• The Sushi Craft is introduced in this episode, although Maguro is the one driving it in both instances (typically, Tako is the default pilot).
• Aside from her piercing scream, The Groaning Pizza does not have any unique attacks, and is overall much more of a background presence when compared to the other masterpieces.

CONTINUITY ERRORS