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"STRONG RUSHMORE!"
— Ralph Varlok Jr.

"This is a good series you got going. Now we need to see some titty-mmm-bop-bop-tittays."
— A Newgrounds user review of the 11th session

Xin (pronounced "shin") is an Animesque flash series on Newgrounds spanning two seasons of nine episodes each (or "sessions" as the authors label them).

In a setting vaguely resembling Present Day Japan, discipline at public schools has become such a problem that teachers have basically been allowed to beat the crap out of their students. Even with these new rules in place, mob rule reigns supreme. Public School #1368 is no different — there's an all-out war between two young men, Andre and Ghai, to rule the school.

Enter Xin, a New Transfer Student from another public school. He enrolls at #1368 looking to enforce his own brand of justice. But it won't be easy, especially with Andre and Ghai both unwilling to give up their posts. Also, Legend, the school captain, may have something to say about all this. This action and more basically comprises Season 1.

In Season 2, after mysterious circumstances cause #1368 to close, all of the students find themselves welcomed with open arms into Varron Academy, which claims it will rehabilitate the students into functioning members of society. But the mysterious academy is not what it seems...


Tropes present in this work:

  • Aerith and Bob: Subverted. Virtually everyone in this series has rather strange names like Ghai, Xin, Mil, or Legend except for one of the tritagonists, Andre, and two of the reoccurring antagonists, Ralph, and Sylvia.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: The resident bad boy Ghai is often surrounded by fangirls.
  • Animesque: The whole series feels like a zero-budget shonen anime.
  • Absurdly Powerful Student Council: The antagonists of Season 2.
  • Art Evolution: The quality of the artwork and animation significantly improves between the first and second seasons. That's still not saying much.
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The basis of the Pillar System.
  • Awesomeness by Analysis: Several characters, but Legend and Mr. Dom most notably. Legend sees a move once and understands it, mostly by virtue of fighting so much in his past that he's probably Seen It All anyway. Dom never really gets much use out of this ability combat-wise, but his analysis helps Oton fight on even terms with Xin and almost win. The only real flaw was that Oton underestimated Xin's pseudo-Healing Factor.
  • Badass Boast: Xin goes through different schools saying he wants to make sure that anybody who knows to throw a punch "knows how to take few in return."
    • Mr. Dom has some good ones, even if he loses or draws every fight he's in.
      Dom: (after just getting up from Xin's opening punch) "If that was an attempt to bring me down... I grade it an F". (Xin kicks him in the face in response, only making his head turn slightly) "Looks like you were internally injured by Legend. I hope that's your excuse for being so weak!"
  • The Bad Guy Wins: In Season 1, Xin fails to stop the student rebellion, and the school closes down.
  • Beat Them at Their Own Game: Ghai challenges Extremity Extremist Hanto to a fight with only kicks, with the loser being the first to use his hands. Ghai even starts the fight by using Hanto's Signature Move against him.
  • Berserk Button: Wanna stay out of the hospital? Don't smoke in front of Andre.
  • Designated Girl Fight: Min vs. Sylvia, though the latter quickly concedes when she can't land a single hit.
  • Everyone Must Be Paired: By the ending, most of the main cast have formed couples with each other. Legend also gets some Ship Tease with Jix, the School Nurse/former vice-principal.
  • Glass Cannon: Xin's a strong fighter, but his constitution is rather low: his bones are easily broken in fights.
  • Gray-and-Grey Morality: The first season is like this, with none of the protagonists or villains being particularly pure of motive. The second season is better about this.
  • Hannibal Lecture: Dimir delivers one to Ghai and Xin, saying they're fighting him when he organized a student hierarchy that saved them from having to live on the streets and they should be thanking him instead. Ghai is speechless, but...
    • Shut Up, Hannibal!: Xin counters back that he accomplished this illegally and by propping up one of the most damaging and dangerous aspects of school life and enshrining it in official policy rather than challenging it.
  • Healing Factor: Xin can use his qi to reset his bones after they've been broken.
  • I Know Madden Kombat: Finrak, one of the four leaders of Varron Academy, utilizes his baseball skills in his fighting style.
  • I Was Just Passing Through: Andre saves Xin and Ghai, then immediately tells Ghai to shut up.
  • Let's You and Him Fight: Twice with Legend and Xin. They hate each other.
  • Low Fantasy: As far as martial arts stories go. Aside from many of the fighters having Charles Atlas Superpower, there's very little in the way of supernatural powers. Ralph's "Strong Rushmore" seems to be a Kamehame Hadoken-type attack, and Xin can reset his bones with qi, but that's about it.
  • Made of Iron:
    • The character known as "Goth". Terrible fighter, but holy crap, can he take a beating.
    • Dom takes a lot of punishment before going down, which makes him a challenge for Xin and Legend.
  • MST/Retsufrash: In two parts:
    • Something Awful members Chip Cheezum and General Ironicus did the first 12 sessions starting here. WOOSH!
    • Mr DJB picked up where they left off and finished the series on his DJBPlaythroughs channel here. (Chip and Ironicus guest-commentate for the last two sessions.)
  • Might Makes Right: The teachers try to keep their students in line using force, while the students beat each other up to prove who's on top.
  • New Transfer Student: Xin in Season 1, and most of the Varron Academy student body in Season 2.
  • Older and Wiser: Legend is a Reformed Bully and senior student who tries to settle things peacefully to avoid more trouble, but trouble always finds him.
  • Pet the Dog: Ralph helping Mil and Ceer escape a school riot because he has a "soft spot for couples".
  • Rank Scales with Asskicking: Dimir, the headmaster of Varron Academy, is able to hold his own against the three main characters all at once.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Ghai is Red to both Andre and Xin's Blue. However, Xin is Red to Legend's Blue.
  • Self-Surgery: Xin has the ability to set broken bones in place using qi in order to continue fighting. This is only a temporary measure, however: he still needs to get medical attention after the fight.
  • She-Fu: Present in three of the four main girls. Zumi and Ceer aren't good for much besides acrobatics, and even the more competent Silvia relies on speed rather than brute strength. Min subverts this, however — effortlessly throwing Hanto and Sylvia judo-style. She's outright stated to have been the former leader of the most notorious gang in the city, and may or may not be one of the strongest characters. She prefers to keep a low profile compared to the likes of Xin and Ghai, so the audience doesn't see what she's really capable of.
  • Tennis Boss: Finrak. His duel with Andre consists of the two batting a baseball back and forth until one of them misses.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Dimir delivers one to Xin calling him weak and saying only the strong will have a voice in the world. Xin replies with one of his own, saying Dimir is someone that has to maintain his confidence by test his odds to always make sure they're is his favor, and is simply trying to hold dominance by surprising others. After which he tells him after exposing all the dirt he has on him and other schools saying it will ruin his image. Dimir then suffers a Villainous Breakdown.
  • Unknown Rival: Minor villains Ralph and Oton for Ghai and Xin, respectively.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: Dimir is referred to as "the face of public education", and his policies are generally supported by the public.
  • Villainous Crush: Sylvia develops one on Legend, prompting her High-Heel–Face Turn when she helps him find the evidence needed to take down Dimir.
  • Weak, but Skilled:
    • Xin's bones are easily broken, but he compensates with a technique that allows him to use qi to temporarily hold fractures together.
    • Dimir is (individually) the best fighter in the series, but has less stamina than his younger opponents. Xin and Ghai's tactic is to wear him down until his stamina runs out.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: Dimir seems like a tough customer until Xin notices that he restricts his movements to conserve his low stamina. A righteous asskicking follows in short order.
  • The Worf Effect: Generally how tough someone is established by having them beat up a half-dozen other people, or beating up someone else that did so. Notable case with Dimir in that he's built up with flashbacks that presented him as effortlessly thrashing people off-screen.
  • World of Badass: Xin, Andre, Ghai, and Legend are all pure badass. The bad guys have a few on their side as well, including Dom.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: Dom's fighting style, which includes an Izuna Drop in one fight.

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