That's the way we do it
Let's get to it
Come on, everyone!
From left-to-right...
As implied by the title, it features Disney's lovable blue alien Stitch (and several other alien characters from Lilo & Stitch) in an Affectionate Parody of the hit Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical. It's also the first animated work in the Lilo & Stitch franchise made after the 2006 end of the original Lilo continuity, predating the Stitch! anime by over a year.
Stitch, Gantu, Sparky, Sample, Felix, Reuben, 627, and Angel play a friendly game of basketball in a random high school gym while Jumba and Pleakley watch. First, we see Stitch close to scoring a basket until Sparky shocks him to steal and score for his team. Then, after Stitch scores a basket with the ball in his mouth, he couldn't get it out, so Sample and Felix jump on him so he could spit it out. (It Makes Sense in Context.) However, he spits it out so hard that the ball flies out, bounces onto the overhead scoreboard, and gets stuck. So, Stitch gets an idea to have everyone jump in time to shake the gym in hopes of bringing the ball down, and it quickly turns into a choreographed dance set to the tune of "We're All in This Together".
There are two versions of this under three-minute short; the full version
that was originally broadcast in Japan lasts for 2:50, while a shortened version pares down and speeds up the first part (while also adding "Get'cha Head in the Game") to cut the whole thing down to about 2:15. The High School Musical 2: Deluxe Dance Edition 2-disc DVD, released on September 23, 2008, features a slightly different edit of the shortened version on the second disc as part of the High School Musical Around the World series of music videos.
This anime short provides examples of the following:
- Affectionate Parody: Lilo & Stitch does one towards High School Musical.
- Artistic License – Sports: A couple of blatant examples which only the experiments can get away with; Sparky shocking Stitch (which is an extreme personal foul) then flying from center court all the way to the hoop to dunk it, and Stitch putting the ball in his mouth, climbing on Gantu, then jumping into the hoop with said ball in mouth to score. Seriously, if there was an official in this game, they would be fuming at these actions.
- Eat the Camera: Jumba does this in the full version.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: After Stitch and Angel pratfall, everyone laughs as they all (except the "boojiboos" and Felix) lie on the ground after having fallen from slipping on the overcleaned court.
- Filler: Cute as the short is, it has absolutely no bearing on the franchise's canon, with or without the later spin-offs.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: Gantu and 627 are among those playing basketball with Stitch and join the other aliens in the dance to bring the basketball down from the overhead scoreboard. Since both Gantu and 627 are friendlier towards Stitch and the others here, it can be assumed that one, this takes place after Leroy & Stitch, and two, 627 got re-programmed to be nicer.
- Gratuitous English: Considering that Stitch is voiced by his Japanese voice actor Kōichi Yamadera here instead of his creator Chris Sanders or later anime English dub voice actor Ben Diskin, this trope applies as the only English line he says is "Pass, pass!" to Angel (to get her to pass the ball to him).
- Moonwalk Dance: Felix does this while sweeping at the same time during the dance.
- Mundane Made Awesome:
- It's a basketball game played between adorable superpowerful aliens and one giant alien.
- Everyone dances simply to get a stuck basketball down.
- Neat Freak: Felix spends the dance portion cleaning the court. He overdoes this, causing everyone but him to slip and fall down at the end.
- The Pratfall: Stitch and Angel do this at the end when the basketball finally comes down and bounces off their heads.
- Satiating Sandwich: Reuben holds one during the dance, go figure.
- Shock and Awe: At the beginning, Sparky shocks Stitch to take the ball from him just as he was about to shoot.
- The Smurfette Principle: Angel is the only female character to appear in the short.
