So! I didn't actually watch too much of this series as a kid (though I did watch SOME) but I am probably going to have to marathon it at some point. That said, I've been watching the newest episodes and holy shit. Like. Holy shit. Even ignoring the plot stuff, the atmosphere and art and music and sound design of the show is INCREDIBLE. Like, oh my god. I am trying to words but it is very difficult and involves a lot of adjectives. The art is gorgeous, the atmosphere and pacing are intense as hell, and just the way sound and music are used... Spoiler: latest episode spoilers and the PLOT oh my god. Jack's conversation with his own depression phantom hit REALLY close, and the buildup where he thinks the daughters are robots, and kills one, and CLEARLY is shaken by it - but he can't even begin to process it, right now, because the others are coming - and THEY must be human too, of course... I JUST. I HAVE FEELINGS. AND I WANT HIM TO BE OK AND GET SOME TEA AND A DOG AND ALSO I WANT SOMEONE TO HUG THE DAUGHTERS OF AKU. ....i wonder if we'll find out the name of the katana one. I hope we do.
what why is this thread dead >:U this is one of the most Quality cartoons in existence aaaand a bit of grumping/predictions Spoiler: spoilers for the new season eps up to 5/predictions Finally got to watching the season 5 epsiodes and ngl, I'm a Trifle Salt that the writers looked at Samurai Jack and was like 'yknow what this show's missing? a love interest for Jack'. THE SHOW WAS FINE WITHOUT ONE JESUS CHRIST. Never mind the troperrific way they're handling it- I was already 90% sure of what's going to go down as soon as I saw that one of the Daughters of Aku had a name and a little more focus in the first episode, and so far they've been hit- Ashi is Saved by Jack and supremely ungrateful but has, of course, already shown that she's getting Character Development by sparing him (and will no doubt do so more in the future/eventually team up with him/betray Everything She's Known (and probably fight at least one of the two 'maybe not dead' Daughters) in favor of Jack. And naturally that arc will conclude at the end of the series by her a) dying tragically while exhorting Jack to go back and finally defeat Aku, or if b) she survives, still score tragedy points for Jack because he has to leave her behind and go defeat Aku, thus ensuring she never existed. (Or it's possible I guess, though unlikely, that he might be able to somehow take her with him?) Of course they COULD subvert some of my expectations but there's no way they don't wring some cliche Love Redeems plot out of this nonsense. But, besides my salt at that plot arc, the new eps are still extremely Quality (Scaramouch was fuckin awesome) and I do not regret watching them one bit '3' Can't wait to see what becomes of the spoopy green samurai silhouette- it's framed pretty menacingly, but I'm guessing it's more benevolent than it first appears. Representative of Jack's half-abandoned destiny?
Spoiler I don't think Ashi is meant to be Jack's love interest? I mean she's way younger than him. I was honestly reading that as leading towards a mentorship/parentage role of some kind. Also I'm still reading the silhouette as... basically Jack's own internal monologue. The voice of his PTSD/depression/cynicism basically.
Spoiler Oop, maybe I misspoke? The previous-to-season-5-appearing phantom Jack is yeah, pretty clearly the voice of his depression and whatnot, I was referring to the the spoopy silhouette usually with a green haze around it, that's a samurai mounted on a horse. It (he?) hasn't spoken yet I don't think, it just appears a few times during Jack's seeing/hearing things bits.
Spoiler: Me Yelling Weirdly shoehorned in romance? In my Samurai Jack? It's more likely than you think! Huhu sorry I'm just really annoyed and if they wanted Jack to have second thoughts like them as they are without romance stuff is enough tenks po
Spoiler: Hoo boy its not the fact that jashi happened that bothers me so much but HOW it happened. It just felt...i dunno. Off. Sudden. Im still trying to sort out how i feel about it.
Spoiler for me it's like, not much build up, like Ashi is really cool but I'm not super invested in her but maybe that's a failing on me but the way it happened was really weird tbh Like Jack has never acted that way before nor has Ashi? They've both been super busy with other thoughts, is this a normal change when your thoughts shift? I'm actually not sure And why would Ashi act that way she's been in these caves for her whole life training to defeat the samurai. Like i know she's quite shocked that her beliefs have been proven wrong but in doesn't feel, in character to act this way? Sorry I'm not exactly good with words i mean Jashi could be super cute but it doesn't feel like a proper reward, just like Hey It's Time For That
Spoiler I feel like part of the problem is the amount of episodes they have to work with. Maybe if they had more episodes they'd be able to flesh it out properly AND still have time to focus on the rest of the plot but at this point I'm wondering how they're going to go from here.
Spoiler my friend gave an interesting point and i agree with it and it goes like I'm not sure whether the writers themselves ship Jashi or the network wanted it because Hey This Needs Romance! i think it would be a bit more comforting for me if the creators just wanted it and made this corny decision rather them being forced to put it in for da views by the network but I'm not sure Not exactly very good but eh
