Samurai Jack is an amazing show for its time. The show premiered on Cartoon Network in the early 2000s and it has quickly named itself as being one of the greatest shows of all time. The show has won 4 Emmy awards and has been nominated for countless Annies. The show is directed by Gennedy Tartakovsky, creator of Dexter's Laboratory and Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
The show features its protagonist, a nameless samurai who is from feudal Asia. His father used a magic katana to defeat an evil and powerful shapeshifting demon, Aku, and imprisoned it in a stump of wood. The demon escapes however during a solar eclipse and wreaks havoc amongst his home village. During that time, the samurai is young and spends his adolescent years learning combative techniques and martial arts to defeat this powerful demon. When he confronted Aku, the demon tore open a portal in time and flung him into the future with the anticipation that he will face him again in the future. The samurai was given the name, Jack, by three people who used the word as a slang when he arrived in the future.
With the synopsis of the plot mentioned above, I highly recommended that you watch this show. Some of you reading this article might have seen this show in your youth while others might have no idea about it. The 5th and final season premiered back in March 2017 and is currently ongoing. With the premiere of its last episodes, the show it reaching its conclusion. Therefore, it is important to get caught up with the previous 4 seasons. Here are 4 good reasons to watch Samurai Jack
1. The Cinematography.
The Cinematography of Samurai Jack is quite amazing and simple. Much of it contains little to no dialogue in its episodes and has scenic landscapes to display its setting with little to no music. When prompted Genndy Tartakovsky said that Samurai Jack's influence draws from samurai films and manga adaptions from movies like 47 Ronin to combat scenes like 300 as featured in Jack and the Spartans.
2. The References
Samurai Jack features a on of references. In the second episode, there is a desolate city that he travels to that feature Townsville from the Powerpuff Girls. In the episode where Jack returns to his homeland, there is a flashback where he encounters a rogue samurai and his child, alluding to Lone Wolf and Cub, a popular manga in the 1970s about a Ronin and his Son. There are other references to the movie and graphic novel 300 in the episode Jack and the Spartans and Alice in Wonderland where a rabbit steals Jack's clothes. There are even references to a video game Space Ace where
3. The Humor
There are a few recurring gags to this series such as Jack's ineptitude of technology; where he did not know how to use a ballpoint pen and had to think when pressing the 'Up' button to use the elevator. Jack even drove a motorcycle in reverse when he was being chased by a pack of hunters. There are comical elements such as jack tickling a sumo wrestler with his hair when he was being pinned in an arena.
4. Of course... the failures and close calls.
Jack frequently is close to ending his journey and stepping back in time, but before he can do that, something always happens, whether it is Aku materializing out of nowhere to destroy the portal, Jack hesitating to save people in need before the portal collapses, or someone knocking him out before he kills Aku. There are a lot of moments in the show that makes the viewer internally scream, "Aww man that was so close."
Samurai Jack is quite amazing and is definitely worth watching. It evokes a large and diverse range of action, comedy, and tragedy. Perhaps Jack will destroy Aku in the final season.
