Samurai Jack

Cartoon Network was a flap ship network for Warner Brother which was responsible for a lot of critically and commercially adored cartoons since its creation in 1992. Headed by Betty Cohen, this kids-oriented program had an assortment of shows which helped build a distinct personality for the service, and whilst modern day Cartoon Network (alongside their adult-oriented sub channel, Adult Swim) have created some truly great shows like Craig of the Creek, We Bare Bears, The Amazing World of Gumball, Steven Universe and Adventure Time, its highest peak was arguably between 1995 and 2005, with examples like Dexter’s Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Codename: Kids Next Door, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, all being viewed as cultural favorites for their art styles, characters, creativity, and humor. But even in this lineup, none were ever able to reach the pedestal that the 2001 series, Samurai Jack, stood upon.

In an undisclosed era within feudal Japan, a vicious demon named Aku (voiced by Mako Iwamatsu) has forced the world into a state of havoc and terror, with the only hope being a nameless Japanese samurai (voiced by Phil LaMarr) who has trained over the years with a mystical katana capable of harming the invincible demon. Before the final blow is struck, Aku whisks the samurai into the future, to a point where he reigns supreme as the ruler of an Earth now populated by abnormal creatures and extraterrestrial beings. Naming himself Jack after some residents called him as such, Samurai Jack sets out on his quest to travel back to the past and prevent this future from occurring.

A multi-time Prime Emmy winning show, Samurai Jack is often helmed as one of the greatest cartoons ever conceived. While it’s a little soft on nuanced writing and complicated narratives, the dramatic storytelling, memorable characters, outstanding visual style and actions sequences, and surprisingly well-handled tone, makes it feel worthy of its title.

Originally airing for four seasons between 2001 and 2004, this show was the brainchild of Genndy Tartakovsky, who was currently working on his other show, Dexter’s Laboratory, when he pitched this idea to Cartoon Network, managing to secure its creation by positioning it as being inspired by the 1972 television drama, Kung Fu as well as the Frank Miller comic series, Ronin. With his wonderfully frantic and unique visual style and love for the Japanese culture, it felt like a perfect match that Cartoon Network could take advantage of, and Samurai Jack is wonderfully different from the rest of the channel’s lineup, taking on a much darker and more dramatic atmosphere. This would be a precursor to Genndy’s other more adult-leaning shows like Primal, which still retained his unique style of animation and sense of comedic punchiness but carried a weighty presence amongst its brutal content and aggressive imagery, and Samurai Jack is also home to this presentation. The premise is fantastic, carrying a quick-to-grasp and easily connectable outline, and the way it juggles between being an overarching narrative and an episodic cartoon, is pretty ingenious. The first few seasons have a nice mixture of smaller stories with more cartoonish qualities, a lighter presentation, a desire to avoid the expected, and are usually run by their visuals, atmosphere and emotional conflicts of the characters

The more elevated examples are when the show is at its finest however, as some of the best episodes aren’t held down by traditional cartoon elements, and instead feature rich world building, entrancing often abstract artistry, and an emotion-driven mentality that speaks a lot more than any word of dialogue. One of the downsides is that while the emotions and storytelling feel upgraded, the writing doesn’t follow suit, with a heavier leaning towards wackier slapstick and dialogue, which does feel noticeable given the circumstances. The show’s other directors and writers have been attached to good projects, but they also feel more comfortable in the goofier realms of animation rather than the dramatic, which is evident as even though the show brilliantly uses its modern colloquialisms and the channel’s personality as contrast against the more bleak and oppressive world its created,  it isn’t smart or well-worded enough to bring as much rich content as it arguably could’ve, which is extremely notable during the final stages. The show’s fifth and final season (which was a revival released on Adult Swim in 2017), feels like the perfect execution for this series, with a much harsher and gorier presentation, visuals and action that have only improved with time, and more sophisticated dialogue and storytelling that truly compliments the series, even if it does falter a little by the ending.

The characters have very iconic and memorable designs, but some feel a little out of place, which feels attributed more to the censors placed on the show. The world has human characters who are largely diverse in their age and culture, but is also populated with anthropomorphized animals, beings that are distinctly alien, and even oddly designed people who feel like a product of the time, which clashes with the show’s timeless and heavy narrative. While it acts as a great tool for making Jack feel out-of-place, it doesn’t mesh well with the more grounded human roles or spiritual beings ripped right out of an ancient folktale. The series has a lot of recognizable voice talent like John DiMaggio, Tara Strong, Tom Kenny, Grey DeLisle, Kevin Michael Richardson, Rob Paulsen, and Jeff Bennett, and even some surprise cameos like David Allen Grier, Lauren Tom, Mark Hamill, Tim Curry, Clancy Brown, Billy West, and Kath Soucie, all of whom are used well whether for a comedic or dramatic purpose, but it’s usually the more serious characters that work better. Jack is a perfect lead for this story, with his dutiful, composed and pleasantly humble nature perfectly mirroring the crazed, outlandish and frenzied attitude of the new environment. His actions speak louder than words, his design is effectively iconic, Phil LaMarr is very good as the voice, and despite being a pretty straightforward character, watching his mental state deteriorate from his constant inability to remedy this future to the point of submitting to the mental fatigue is pretty gripping, especially in the final season where that comes to its peak and he hits rock bottom, it’s a role that’s stood the test of time for good reason.

As a counterpoint, Aku is also a perfect villain for this series and stands as one of the best in cartoon history Although not featured as much as you’d expect, his presence is always felt throughout, seeing how his evil infected the various occupants and even the world itself through his origins is pretty interesting, and the character is a great blend between being a funny foil to Jack, while also being fairly creepy when its required (his design is that perfect mixture of both comical and threatening). Mako is able to capture both sides very well, as does his replacement Greg Baldwin (who took over in the final season as Mako had passed away), and it results in an all-around great villain. Some of the supporting characters stand out pretty well. The Scotsman (voiced by John DiMaggio) is a great boisterous figure who complements Jack very well, Grey DeLisle plays the High Priestess for a cult of Aku in a small but memorably brutal antagonistic role, and a character named Ashi (voiced by Tara Strong), who was a member of this cult, is also fairly strong and essentially becomes the second main character in the final season, but it feels like she never reaches her full potential (mainly because she is resorted to being a love interest).

The art style took a lot of similarities from Genndy’s other work on the channel, but this time was presented in a much more serious fashion. While some of his usual tropes are featured like a heavy usage of goofy sound effects, the extremely cartoonishly proportioned characters, and heavy influences from several anime and other cartoons, but the distinct identity is always front and centre, with these references only added more wildness and flavor to the world. His visuals aren’t usually known for extreme detail and there are times (especially during the first season) when a drawing can look a little off, but otherwise it’s fantastically drawn. The backgrounds are absolutely incredible, there are several moments where realism is thrown aside for something more inventively eye-catching, and the action is on a next level. It feels like the show thrives the most when it has no dialogue, as a good chunk of these fight scenes don’t waste time on talking and get straight to the clashing, but thanks to the expressions, the previously provided subtext, or the visual storytelling, it never feels like something is lost.

The soundtrack is also deceptively good, as despite the score created by James L. Venable, Joanne Higginbottom, Dieter Hartmann, Paul Dinletir and Tyler Bates, featuring a very 2000s disco vibe that should be completely out of place in this premise, the way that it’s paired against and even sometimes meshed with more culturally and period appropriate instruments and tunes, results in a unique sound that really forms the show’s identity, it’s much better than you’d expect it to be. Even the sound design is fantastic, containing a lot more bass and intensity than would be expected on a cartoon of the era, whether it be the tinny howling of a chill wind, the sharp swish of a magical blade, and even the very sounds of Aku which feels like a mixture of an erupting flame and an air vacuum (a perfect representation of something that brings fiery destruction, but also hollow lifelessness).

Samurai Jack was up against competition that was already pretty good and still proved to be one of the best that the channel had ever seen. Cartoon Network did have its fair share of story-driven material and later shows like Adventure Time and Steven Universe would perfect this formula and present content that was more thought-provoking and complex, but for the era and for being one of the first to do so in such a distinct manner, it deserves all the praise. Even if it took a long time before it was actually able to conclude, the final results were worth the wait, capping off a very engaging and entertaining series in an upgraded format, but one that still rang true to what came before. The writing may have only been acceptable and its goofier ways can conflict with its premise at times, but its memorable characters, engaging art style and score, thrilling action scenes, and its mostly dramatic storytelling, works as a decent cavoite to those minor faults. A show where its theme song is one of the best descriptions of a show ever (will.I.am can sing it, and it still works out okay), if you haven’t already, hop on back and check this show out.