Jim Moralés

File:Jim image.jpg

Jim at Kadic.

Jim "Jimbo" Moralés is a character from the French animated television series Code Lyoko.

Description

Jim is the P.E. teacher, campus supervisor, soccer coach (in one episode only; no other episode has had any official soccer games), and handyman/technician of Kadic Junior High School. His distinguishing characteristics include a seemingly-perpetual five o'clock shadow, knee socks, a red and black jacket, a headband, and a Band-Aid affixed to his face below his left eye. The Band-Aid switches sides, occasionally. At night, he typically wears a white tank top (which sometimes reveals his lower belly), black pants, and bear slippers over his feet. His hair and eyebrows are brown and bushy, and his arms are muscular; however, his belly sticks out. He prefers that his friends call him Jimbo, which he reveals to the group in the episode "False Start" after accepting them as his friends. Their normal student/teacher relationship is, unfortunately, restored by a return trip at the end of the episode, though growing traces of friendship do exist between Jim and the group.

Discussion

Rough around the edges and quite strict on the outside (typically referred to as the tough guy), Jim is often an obstacle for the group when they need to stop Xana, usually because he wants to know what exactly what they're doing. Jim can be quite helpful and kindhearted, however, as shown in various episodes of both the first and second seasons when Jim comforts frightened students and other children. This has been confirmed by the creators of the show as "actually liking his charges", though it hasn't been directly stated by Jim himself or by other characters. The episode "Cold War" is an excellent example of this parent-like affection, since Jim helped some young students who were too cold to move by speaking gently to them and carrying them into the boiler room. Once in the boiler room, he told everyone a story to pass the time, before falling unconscious from the cold. Another example is the episode "Holiday in the Fog", when he comforted Sissi and showed concern for an unconscious Ulrich. It can be assumed from these events that Jim is actually a kind-hearted man, even though he sometimes doesn't act that way. For example, he called Milly "little" in "Teddygozilla", which hurt her feelings. He was scolding both her and Tamiya for going into the tool shed, which is an off-limits area to all students. He angrily grounded both of them after Milly talked back, which was later prevented by a return trip.

Jim found out about the group's secret in the two-part finale of the first season ("Code: Earth" and "False Start") as a result of his paranoid obsession with finding out the secret being hidden by the group since the beginning of the school year (he says so directly himself). He attempted to interrogate them several times during the first part of the finale, each time proving unsuccessful. The principal scolded him for the obsession each time. When Jeremie was forced to sneak into the dorms to retrieve his materialization program for Aelita, Jim chased him down and ended up injuring Jeremie's ankle, after which he was fired by the principal for allowing his paranoia to cause harm to a student. Unable to get to the factory by himself, Jeremie promised Jim to tell the principal everything under the condition that Jim would help him. Jim agreed, and helped Jeremie get to the factory.

In the second part, after Aelita was materialized and the subsequent discovery of her link to the supercomputer, Xana materialized an army of Kankrelats and set them on the school. Jim helped to defend against the attack (first using a metal pipe, then a nail gun) until the tower was deactivated and a return trip took place, at which point time was reset to a point before Jim had started interrogating them. Jim showed up to interrogate them again and was again scolded by the principal. Remembering his earlier promise, Jeremie made up a lie about planning to play a joke on Herve and Nicolas, which the others quickly played along with. The principal believed the lie, which in turn made Jim's suspicions seem valid so the principal would never fire him. After the principal left, Jim thanked them for the lie, and they thanked him for being "a fantastic P.E. teacher" since he no longer remembered what he had done.

Jim saw the factory and/or things relating to Lyoko on three other occasions after that. The first was in the episode "Exploration", when events conspired to bring Jim, the principal, Sissi, and Yumi's parents to the factory. The group found them outside of the elevator, unaware that they were there. The group (minus Jeremie) took off in different directions as a distraction. Jeremie took the elevator back down to the lab, but Jim managed to get in before the door could close. Upon reaching the lab, Jeremie went to interface while Jim looked around in awe. Jeremie mentioned that Jim had been there before, before activating the return trip. Later, in "Final Mix", Jim was possessed and ended up at the factory once more. After the tower was deactivated, Jim was still conscious and once again in awe of his surroundings. Jeremie just told him that he wouldn't remember any of it and activated a return trip. Jim also fought one of Xana's materialized Krabes in "A Bad Turn", though he was knocked out fairly quickly in comparison with his first fight. This, too, was undone by a return trip.

Jim often has strange tales to tell people and has had more than a few other jobs over the years. He had a running gag in the second season, in which he'd mention a past job of his and then refuse to discuss it further ("I'd rather not talk about it."). In order, he has mentioned being a sewer worker, a soldier (this is comically portrayed in several instances in the episode "A Bad Turn"), a "Space Exploration Program Volunteer Test Subject" (though he has talked about this one in the form of a story), a salvage diver, and a worker at a psychiatric hospital (he mentions this after hearing Aelita's story). This is in addition to 20 years at Kadic. The fact that he's had so many jobs suggests that he only worked at each of them for a short time.

Recently, Jim has expressed an interest in Suzanne Hertz, the science teacher at Kadic. In the episode "Saint Valentine's Day", he tried to discuss a matter involving Suzanne with Jeremie, who was vocally masquerading as the principal at the time. In the next episode, "Final Mix", he was trying to think of a way to talk to Suzanne before Xana possessed him. He also expressed an interest in Yolande in the episode "Xana's Kiss", but this is only because Xana's polymorphic clone kissed him while disguised as her. Since she is engaged to be married, she shrugs off the interest. Neither relationship has been followed up on since then, or at least not followed up on directly. It can be assumed from these events that Jim's unmarried.

Jim has, for some reason, ended up on the receiving end of Xana's attacks on more than one occasion, be it by coincidence or otherwise. During the first season, he is attacked by Milly's teddy bear in "Teddygozilla" (it had been taking action against all those who had hurt Milly's feelings), attacked by a possessed suit of samurai armor (the attack is not seen onscreen, but he isn't badly hurt), and ends up in the path of Xana's attacks on the school on numerous other occasions. The same rings true in the second season, and he is even possessed in one episode. Unlike everyone else who is possessed (excluding Sissi), he remains conscious after the possession is lifted.

Trivia

• Jim's nickname, "Jimbo," may have been referencially derived from the Japanese term yojimbo, which means "bodyguard" or "personal protector," both of which Jim has been to the main group and the other students on occasion.
• Jim has worked for 20 years at Kadic Junior High School, during which he would have worked with Franz Hopper, Aelita's father and the creator of Lyoko. This has yet to be shown in the series itself, but the given time period makes it extremely likely.
• In "Teddygozilla", Jim tells the giant teddy bear that he's a black belt, though he may have been lying in an attempt to scare it.
• In the episode "Final Mix", it is revealed that Jim keeps a collection of the paper cranes that Odd makes out of his tests, usually after they've been graded.
• In "Rock Bottom?", Jim acted as the temporary principal and was very hard on Odd, who was accused of stealing one of the school's laptop computers, which Odd had taken the blame for to keep Samantha out of trouble. He also confiscated Odd's cell phone out of anger, but a return trip removed any memory of the incident. We also find out that, in this episode, he has an office of his own.
  • Also in this episode, Jim was working out while listening to Eye of the Tiger on the radio. He is scared off by the breaking glass window, trapped in a closet calling for help.
• Jim is always addressed by his first name at Kadic, even though he's a teacher.
• Originally, Jim was a cold-hearted, stoic, cross and hateful individual who showed little care for his students and for their well-being and protection (being called a "tyrant" in his profile on the second DVD); this was evident by his consistent yelling at the student residents, using paranoia to harm a student, and being cruel to Jeremie and his friends. In the second season, however, this changes for the better; he still uses authority, but he uses it in a much more gentle manner than before, and he shows more sympathy and worry whenever the students are hurt or frightened. This also means that he yells significantly less, is not as suspicious to the group as before, and controls his temper and anger a lot better than before.

Voice actor information

In the English version of Code Lyoko, Jim is voiced by David Gasman. He also provides the voices of several other male characters as well.