Aku spent most of the season depressed off-screen, rather than being his scheming, sadistic self. In the original run of the show, their encounters made for some of the most exciting moments, but none of that was found here, even in their final battle. The two arch-enemies shared precious little screen time, and when they were together, they barely played off one another. Aku, and that proved to be another problem area for the season. Speaking of pay-off, Samurai Jack is a story about Jack vs. There just wasn’t a strong sense of pay-off for things we had been wondering about all season long. The early episodes were absolutely phenomenal with their determined pacing and high-stakes action, but all of that slow build-up seemed to cost the show time, resulting in rushed answers to the big questions later on, especially when it came to the reveals of the Green Warrior and how Jack lost his sword. While the answers themselves made enough sense, their delivery left much to be desired. With several big questions swirling about in the early episodes - what happened to Jack’s sword, who is the Green Warrior, how will Jack defeat Aku’s daughters, is Jack going insane, how will Jack defeat Aku - it left a heavy burden on the later episodes to give satisfying answers. While the execution of the story wasn’t always perfect in this season, the presentation never faltered. Sound has always been its own character in this show and here it continued to work in perfect tandem with the visuals, from the soft sounds of nature to the clashing clangs of battle. ![]() The mastery of tone, composition, and design in every shot was through the roof. Tartakovsky and his animation team improved on what was already a stellar formula, making every single frame a work of art worth hanging in a gallery. The level of artistry and craft on display throughout this final season was beyond imagination. The passing of the legendary Mako Iwamatsu left an Aku-sized hole in our hearts, and while Greg Baldwin’s take on the character was a bit jarring at first, he really came into his own by the time the finale came around. The voice actors brought their A-game to Season 5, with Phil LaMarr doing a lot with his sparse dialogue (most notably the scenes where Jack argues with himself) and Tara Strong giving Ashi both fierce intensity and warm humanity. Evil and deliver sick action scenes while still making you bust a gut. It truly speaks to the appeal of Samurai Jack that it can create an epic story of Good vs. Jack and Ashi’s, ahem, courtship episode also earned some hearty laughs all the way up to its explosive, sticky conclusion. ![]() He also earned the season’s biggest guffaw with his that’s-what-we-were-thinking penis joke. The Sammy Davis Jr.-inspired Scaramouche proved to be a twisted delight with his deadly sonic blade and zany antics. With such a stoic samurai at the show’s center, the world around him made for a nice counter-balance with its quirky characters and strange creatures. Yet despite all this heavy material, Samurai Jack never lost its sense of humor. And the introduction of Ashi gave Jack his first true romance, and for as complicated as it was with her being the daughter-assassin of Aku, their love became the crux of the show’s emotionally devastating finale. Wandering the land, immortal and unable to defeat Aku, Jack suffered intense PTSD that haunted him in the form of his younger self given a demonic makeover. Instead of hacking away at lifeless robots, Jack now spilt the blood of his enemies and suffered nasty, grievous injuries himself. Jack took his first human life in the season’s biggest gut-punch moment, making him confront the morality of killing in battle. ![]() Adult themes were explored in a way that broke new ground for the show. Moving to Adult Swim gave Genndy Tartakovsky and his gifted team the license to take Samurai Jack in a more mature direction, and aging up the content to better align with the tastes of its now-adult audience proved to be a master stroke.
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