‘The greatest victory is the battle not fought’ - Even though I’m not exactly sure what this means yet, it still was a helpful phrase that was probably used in the series multiple times. Jade even mentioned this at the very end of the series, when Shendu and Drago were about to be banished in the Demon Netherworld.
Certain artifacts - Some of the artifacts in this show are made up, but some of the artifacts are real which surprised me because usually, people on cartoons show don’t take the time do all the research of looking up real things. Even if the other artifacts aren’t real, they fooled me.
Jiangshi - Didn’t know this was a part of Chinese folklore. If you look it up, a Jiangshi actually moves by hopping. There are many other ways to counter a Jiangshi other than taking his left sock, filling it with mushrooms and throwing it in a river. You could beat it with an axe, a broom, the blood of a black dog. The list goes on.
Chinese Zodiac - I never really paid much attention to zodiacs overall before watching this show. I learned about the Chinese, Western and other zodiacs. The Vietnamese zodiac has the water buffalo instead of the ox and the cat instead of the rabbit. The Japanese zodiac has a mouse instead of the rat, wild boar instead of the pig. The Thai Zodiac has a naga instead of a dragon.
Hana Fuda cards - This is actually used as Japanese playing cards. Looked this up because I had a feeling they were real and they were. The name ‘Hanafuda’ translates to flower cards. There’s 12 suits of cards which stand for the months in a year. There are many games to play with the Hanafuda.
Magic - I never realize that there was more than one type of magic. I didn’t know about chi magic or chi. I always thought it was just wands and whatnot.
Oni demons - Just Japanese demons. I learned that Oni demons were usually red or blue and they actually wear tiger loincloths and have big clubs with spikes called Kanabo.
Yin Yang - I didn’t understand how this worked until The Tiger and the Pussycat, where they divided Jackie in 2 bodies. I also thought it was the kind of balance where you couldn’t fall.
Qin Shi Huang - This guy was mentioned in season 1 when someone kept referring to his treasure. Remember the treasure Qin Shi Huang? Yeah. His personal name was Ying Zheng and he was a king who had conquered all of the warring states of Qin and united China in 221 BC. The way they had said it in the show completely threw me off. Shendu said it one way and Valmont said it another way. At first, I thought it was some made-up name because I wasn’t exactly sure who they were talking about. Later on, I was in history class learning about Ancient China when my teacher discussed Qin Shi Huang. I was like ‘Where have a heard that name before?’ Then I remembered this show and everything clicked.
About Jackie Chan, the actor - The name of the earlier episode hinted some of movies the actor Jackie Chan was in, like ‘Shanghai Noon’, ‘Rumble In The Bronx’, ‘Half A Loaf of Kung Fu’,. I don’t think a reference of the ‘Rush Hour’ movies was in a name of an episode.
Martial Arts - I learned that there’s a lot more than one type of martial arts, like Wing Chun, Zui Quan/Drunken Master, Wushu etc.
References (To other things other than Jackie Chan) - I can’t specifically name all of them because that would mean I have to find that scene and that would take a lot of time. But hopefully you all know what I’m talking about.
Random Fact - I learned from somewhere that the opening sequence took almost a year to develop. That would make a lot of sense considering that every season the intro changes. Plus, they probably have so many ideas of what to do in the intro.
Monkey King - This guy totally caught me off-guard. His pranks and magic and all. Now, I went to watch this movie on Netflix called Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons. It was an action/comedy movie about a guy named Tang Sanzang, a monk with hair who travels with a girl, who’s a demon hunter. Together, they fight a fish demon, a pig demon and Sun Wukong, who’s the Monkey King. Originally, he is a monkey born from stone who gets supernatural powers through Taoist practices.
It’s awesome how you can learn a lot of facts from this show, fiction or non-fiction. I have to say this show made me into a more curious person, always doing some kind of research. :/
