![]() ![]() The central premise of the show itself implies the extent of Aku’s dominance, being so complete as to be utterly insurmountable, and, hence, only able to be defeated through time travel. The entire universe is in the grip of an Orwellian state, in the service of a God-like dictator. His armies are inexhaustible, only dwarfed in size by the intergalactic mining operation that he employs to sustain them. ![]() His informant network, through which he instantly learns of Jack’s arrival in the future, extends into every nook and cranny of the show’s universe. Aku is more than a demon wizard – he is a malevolent god. Our main antagonist, Aku, is able to see Jack through a magic mirror at all times he can shapeshift endlessly, and is immune to all physical weapons. It is also a prime example of the show’s use of the environment, instead of dialogue, to evoke emotion and convey information about its characters, a technique oft-adopted by the show’s animation director, Genndy Tartakovsky. This terrifying moment, complete with suitably unsettling sound effects, masterfully introduces the show’s main antagonist. The giant moon eclipses the sun, shooting red lightning through the sky as the tree twists and morphs into the demonic Aku. Everything is uncanny: the sun and moon are too large, the landscape is barren and red, and the lone piece of flora in the scene is a twisted black tree. The first scene of the first episode is like something out of a bad psychedelic trip. The tale of Samurai Jack is a reactionary, Luddite Odyssey. He fights to turn the clock back in order to prevent the world around him from ever existing, and to save the world he once knew. ![]() Jack is a man out of time, questing through the future in order to return to the past. This new world is too bright and too loud for Jack it is vulgar, harsh and obnoxious against the tranquil flower-filled meadows, snow-capped mountains and rolling hills he is used to. He holds his hands to his ears, desperate to block out the thumping techno music, as he looks around wild-eyed at a room full of half-clothed dancers and hideous aliens with bionic body parts. Jack then stumbles into a seedy nightclub, which increases his distress considerably. This is a placeless place, devoid of history or culture, and labelled the “hub” of a “sector” in a familiarly modern, soulless, and bureaucratic fashion. When Jack hesitantly asks where he is, he is told by these odd strangers that he is in the “central hub” of “Sector D”. The thunderous roar of the city's traffic disorients and terrifies him.Īfter barely surviving his dramatic entrance, he is greeted by some locals who give him the name “Jack”. When he is cast through a time portal at the end of the first episode, he falls out into a swirling maelstrom of bright lights and fast-moving alien objects, a world of towering black skyscrapers, massive electronic billboard advertisements, and sky-streets jammed with flying motorcars. The world that our titular samurai fights to destroy - a world corrupted at every level by Aku's evil - is unambiguously modern in character. What makes Samurai Jack unique is the moral paradigm that can be drawn from the central premise of its plot, neatly summarised by the tagline of the opening sequence: “Gotta get back, back to the past, Samurai Jack.” The story follows the adventure of an unnamed samurai travelling through a dystopian future governed by the demonic wizard, Aku. Samurai Jack is an American animated TV series that premiered on Cartoon Network in 2001, running for a total of five seasons. ![]()
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