Samurai Jack (Revival)

Ohh an even better opinion. I didn't really look too much into the sexism part, I was just glad to see a more positive view of the episode but this- I love this. It makes far more sense.

For Jack, a very respectable and old fashioned person, it makes a good contrast and comedy. I won't lie though, when he commented on her nudity I was thinking "how thick was that soot she was covered in before?" xD

Sadly, outside this videos more positive outlook, others are making even deeper claims to it's message...even though it's just Samurai Jack. Not really some meta commentary.

 

Welp that sure took a turn. lol

 

I gotta say I honestly wasn't expecting it. lol I'm surprised that-

Spoiler: why we spoilin?

Aku can even spawn children. I know he can conjure things but never did I think there's a method for him to make legit human children. Freaky.

A friend of mine had a theory that since Ashi is part Aku that she'll be able to potentially make or reactivate a time portal for Jack. Seems possible.

 

Spoiler: --

I did catch the flashback. What your describing is his essence literally impregnating a woman. His essence spawned a child, Ashi is half Aku because that fragment of himself lead to her birth. It isn't traditional spawning or impregnating but it's a form brought on by Aku magical nature.

There's no other explanation for what your describing. They all had the same mother, we saw her birth all of the sisters early in the season.

The real question to be asked, how will they wrap this up in 30min?

 

I expected a bit of rushing. Gendy only had 10 episodes to finish with. I'm sad but content, I'm happy Jacks story finally got an ending. The only thing I would've changed is;

Spoiler: ---

I would've had Ashi vanish right after Aku died instead of copying Guren Lagann's ending.

 

I'm kinda split on putting spoiler tags on the posts. On the one hand, I completely understand not wanting to be spoiled on the episodes. On the other hand though, wasn't that the point of this thread? To talk about the new episodes? Anyways...

Spoiler

I'll start this off by saying that I did quite enjoy the last episode and I am happy to see Samurai Jack finally conclude after these long years. If there was any one cartoon from my childhood that deserved a conclusion and never got it, it would be Samurai Jack.

That being said though, I feel as though perhaps this last episode didn't quite live up to my expectations. Not necessarily anybody's fault, but it was a thought that lingered after watching. I do wish the final episode was an hour long instead of the usual run time. It would have made it much better. It did feel rushed in all honesty. Truth be told it might have been better if Jack killed Aku in the episode prior (Since they didn't go for an hour long finale) and the last episode deal with clearing up any loose ends. I loved seeing all of the reinforcements come to save Jack and it was great seeing him and the Scotsman interact one last time.

I suppose my concerns come more towards Ashi. Her and Jack's relationship didn't bother me at all like it bothered some. But the whole thing about her suddenly gaining Aku's power seemed like... Well to be frank it seemed a bit of an asspull. I guess I'm also bothered by her being the means to bring Jack back to the past. I think my main source of problems with that is that it is contradictory to past episodes. The episode before the last did kinda show this, at least in a way. I didn't log on to talk about this earlier, but after episode 8 aired I guessed where episode 9 was to take place, which I was right about. As established in the original run of Samurai Jack, Jack was meant to one day defeat the Guardian and use that time portal to travel back to the past. Seeing that Aku had managed to (presumably) kill the Guardian and destroy the time portal didn't mean too much to me since I assumed that the Guardian could return in the final episode and then we see that the time portal (Which was established to be sentient) was able to move on its own and stay safe from Aku. So I feel that it would've made sense for the last episode to have Jack defeat Aku and then the Guardian and the time portal come and allow Jack to travel back to the past since, again, it was established that Jack was meant to use that specific time portal to go back to the past.

Aside from that, there is the end of the episode. While it is sad to see Ashi vanish in front of Jack's eyes (And in a way, Aku's one final way to screw Jack out of happiness again) the issue of it being a time paradox makes it so it shouldn't have happened like that. Ashi said she was vanishing because without Aku alive in the future, she never would have survived. If that were the case, then Jack couldn't have gone back to the past to kill Aku, which means Ashi would still survive, which means Jack goes to the past to kill Aku, and boom paradox. Had she simply said she could not survive because Aku was dead and she had part of him in her, to me there would be no problem with how she vanished. But yeah... Time paradoxes.

 

I don't see the contradiction in the time portal part myself.

Spoiler: ()()()

Sure, the Guardian episode foreshadowed that one day Jack would get to the past, but it never showed him standing over the guardian or anything like that. The portal merely showed the Guardian that Jack wasn't meant to go home yet. In fact, the version of Jack the portal showed was of a older Jack with a crown, we never saw this Jack.
It could be seen as contradiction if you viewed it as a fact but the instant the new season started and it was confirmed Jack can't age, it showed that version of Jack shown was not happening.

Granted that's all speculative conjecture I think. To me, seeing the Guardian as being Jack's last obstacle is a hope that didn't happen rather than a promise. However it's also fair to note that it's been nearly 16yrs, if not more. The creator may have forgot that small detail or perhaps the episode limits forced him to readjust how to get Jack home.

Personally I think I would've preferred if the Guardian had reappeared and Jack got home that way, and I definitely agree that an hour episode would've been better, but I didn't mind the Ashi angle. It doesn't feel like an asspull to me since even a friend of mine made the theory when it was revealed that could be Jacks way home.
Not so much as asspull as a rushed way to get Jack home to me. Aku destroyed all the time portals, we saw the Guardians glasses and the portal destroyed, it was a rushed but still set up conclusion.

The time paradox was a mess I was expecting though. Since they went the grandfather paradox route there was bound to be something.

One thing I would've loved, a scene of the new future showing all of Jacks friends living more peaceful lives. Just to show us they exist in some form still. I assume they do for headcanon but seeing it would've been nice.

 

^ I would've loved another moment of Jack and his "jump good" line. lol Well technically the monkey mans line but still.

Spoiler: ()()

See ^ I can get into that. The Aku cult basically played on Aku's vanity and in a way Ashi is a spawn of his vanity. It's ironic for her to be his undoing. An hour to fill it out would've helped but I liked the intent.

I agree on the ladybug scene. Jack always has hope, that was even a big thing in the early episodes since he lost hope. Jack is always hopeful and it ended on hope in my eyes.

 

Spoiler

Given they showed the Guardian's broken glasses I find it highly unlikely that they forgot. If anything it seems they changed their mind. I could still see them having made accommodations to ensure it still happened as originally planned though. Such as Jack killing Aku in the future, which then causes him to start aging again (And be able to grow at least somewhat older with Ashi) to the point where the future vision was.

To me the Ashi thing was an asspull in the sense of she fights off Aku's control and then all of the sudden she has access to all his powers and there is literally no learning curve for her. She realizes she has his power, uses it to fight him off for a bit, and then opens a time portal. In that way it felt like an asspull to me. Had it not been as rushed, as you pointed out, perhaps it wouldn't seem to be as much of an asspull in my eyes.

I don't think I'm really criticizing the ending. At least the ending after Aku has been properly defeated. Mainly the stuff prior to traveling back in time and how I feel that the paradox could have been handled better. The ladybug scene was great. I saw it as Jack finally being at peace and having come to terms with losing Ashi.

 

Spoiler: ()()()()

I dunno man. That feels like blaming it for something desired to be seen rather than promised. It is possible they changed their minds given the limited time frame. Perhaps I'm just more forgiving, I'm largely just content jacks story finally ended over anything else.

We knew the rushing was necessary, well to an extent. They could've used the 10eps better but it's possible the creator used them to cover points he wanted to flesh out originally but couldn't so instead chose to fit them in anyway he could. I can agree Ashi's control is rushed but I don't find it an asspull. In my mind, for all I know Ashi instantly gained Aku's knowledge the moment he awakened her abilities. Aku is a magical entity, he was seemingly constituted knowing the full scale of his powers, I don't find it a stretch for Ashi to do the same since she was using them instinctively to fight Aku until Jack brings it to her attention.

To be fair, I would've loved to see Jack return and defeat the Guardian as well but I held it as more of a possibility than a promise. I can also see how the rushing at the end would annoy as well but overall I find find anything really that damaging. Out of this entire season, the one thing I would alter if I could is Ashi's death. I'd have had her vanish as soon as Aku died but only because I've already seen the wedding thing pulled on poor Simon and as a result it held less of an impact to see it on Jack.

I dont really find it bad that she died in such a way though. Just less impacting on me personally.

 

I f*cking love this.

 

I can't tell if he got the real VA or is doing a damn good impersonation but either way the video is gold no?

 

True. I'd like to believe its the real thing. The DBZ channel Geekdom gets real VAs from time time after all.