Western Animation / Gino il pollo

Dextop: He's lost in the web! He wants to save the world, but he's just a poor chicken.
Gino: Poor, but at least good looking!

Gino il pollo ("Gino the Chicken") is... um... where to begin with this one?

Here we go... it's an Italian series, and it's pretty much as weird as it can get. Don't believe me? Keep reading.

Our story begins where a villain (sort of) named Chief Colby (leader of Chicken Investigation Agency), aided by his assistant Ray Mundo, kidnaps a chicken, and after virtualising it traps the poor animal in the interwebz, in order to cook it.

You're following me so far? Good.

Gino is aided by his fiancée Gina and other guys who, alongside a kid capable of self-virtualising, form a resistance of sorts.

Please note, however, that the article is about a dumbed-down version of a previously existing web series of the same name which contained much smart satire in it. Anyway...

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This Italian animated series provides examples of:

• Action Hero: Dolly, a kung-fu master version of the famous cloned sheep.
• Brick Joke: The vampire episode features a very big one. The episode opens with a disclaimer:
  Gino: This episode will contain extremely graphic violence and other scary stuff. Please stop watching this!

Then the episode continues normally, until, towards the end, Gino gets a chainsaw to fight the vampires, but first he pauses for a bit...

Gino: ...are you still watching this? Are you crazy? The violent part is starting by now! Cover your eyes and ears, change channel, please don't look at this!

...and then most of the battle is censored with censor bars and the Cheercritters covering the screen screaming "TOO SCARY! DON'T WATCH!"

• Catchphrase: Chief Colby is really fond to say (and sing) "I'M CRAZY FOR CHICKEN!" With a music video of him in a chef hat and apron, while eating chicken legs. Yes, really.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Ray Mundo
• Cool Shades: Lampshaded in one of the end-of-the-episode "aesops":
  Gino: An Aesop? Sunglasses make me look cooler.
• Don't Try This at Home: Spoofed, crossing with Space Whale Aesop, in the Poltergeist episode:
  Cyberboy: Remember kids, never toss rotten fruit at your friends, except when they're possessed by evil computer-generated monsters, like now!
• Dumb Blonde: The Cheercritters are a whole species made only of these.
• Goldfish Poop Gang: Three of them: the C.I.A. agents, Ma' and the Webraptors, and Pixel Bill and the Pixelleros.
• G-Rated Drug: Ma' cooperates with Colby only because he gives her strawberries.
• Humongous Mecha: Kalinka
• Hypocritical Humor: The episode "Ginodzilla" begins with Gino getting ready for some fishing. Then he ends up in his own net and, after getting rid of it, says "there's no net able to catch me yet". Um... what was the show's premise again?
• In Name Only: The TV series comes off as this if compared to its originary web format.
• It Runs on Nonsensoleum: A Magical Computer manages to transfer anything from the real world to the virtual one, and the other way around as well. Um, okay. Then the leader of CIA traps a chicken in the net, for... um... what was the reason again? What.
• Lighter and Softer: From high-school level web satire to kindergarten nonsense. Nice move!
• Musical Episode: Almost every episode features a song.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Pixel Bill is basically Bill Gates as Satan.
• Save This Person, Save the World: quoted verbatim, provided you change "this person" to "the chicken".
• Sdrawkcab Alias: Grandpa Ringo's virtual identity is Ognar the Blonde.
• Shock and Awe: Gina haves the "Cock-a-Shock" power.
• Shout-Out:
  • The "Ginodzilla" episode features a missile shot by Colby and aimed at the titular chicken (the fact the former is in the real world and the latter is inside the net doesn't count). Said missile, other than causing Gino to transform into the Godzilla knockoff the title alludes to (in a manner VERY reminiscent of nuclear radiation), heavily resembles a Bullet Bill.
  • When Andrea gets his first Cyberboy costume, he says it sucks. And then Grandpa Ringo says: "The guy who sewed this preferred instead to wear a spider costume".
  • Tiger Ping is clearly a furry version of Cloud Strife, down to the hairdo and the giant sword.
• Spoof Aesop: Every episode ends with Gino giving an Aesop... which actually teaches nothing.
  • In the "Kalinka" episode:
    Gino: Alright! Today's aesop is: Russian robots are great and everything will be fine if you own one of them.
  • Or, in the "Splatter Rock" episode:
    Gino: Well, today's aesop is that I have an awesome voice.
• Take That!: The "Splatter Rock" episode referenced above hints that series creator Andrea Zingoni may not be too fond of heavy metal, given the way they depict it — such as Ma' (leader of a digital Goldfish Poop Gang) suggesting her minions to "play as bad as possible".
• Small Name, Big Ego: Gino haves heavy features of being one.
• That Reminds Me of a Song: The whole "Kalinka" episode is about Chief Colby being unable to say the title robot's name without breaking into singing the popular Russian song he's named after. And hearing it makes Kalinka dance.
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • Chief Colby loves chicken, as he reminds us everytime in his Villain Song.
  • Also Monk the Monkey: "BANANA!"

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