Samurai Jack

Samurai Jack is the quintessence of cartoon storytelling today. there is no two-ways about it.

let me break it down for you: Long ago in a distant land, Aku, the shape-shifting master of darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil, but a samurai warrior wielding a magic sword stepped fourth to oppose him. before the final blow was struck, Aku opened a portal in time, flinging the samurai into the future, where Aku's evil is law. now the samurai seeks to return to the past, and undo the future that is Aku.

the first story involves the samurai landing in the future, he is given a name by some enthusiastic street-urchins (Jack), and finds himself in a rough bar filled with belligerent aliens and talking dogs. these dogs are in desperate peril, and seek jack's help in a very obvious reference to Akira Kurosowa's masterpiece The Seven Samurai.

as the series continues, Jack's quest becomes less a focal point of the story, and more a vehicle for various short stories. great storytelling needs but three things: a setting, a protagonist, and a goal. Jack uses this idea to exploit a formula of diversity. anything the animator/writers throw on the wall, generally sticks. the ambiguity of the show allows for a free-form format that has made shows like Cowboy Bebop and Justice League Unlimited fellow masterpieces of the serial animation format. stories range from horror, science fiction and fantasy, to comedy, Wu shu, drama, noir, giant robo and epic action.

Jack is a child of a lot of inspiration, things like Star Wars and Akira Kurosowa are obvious influences, but the works of Marvel and DC comics, as well as the work of graphic novelist Frank Miller are all very apparent references. (infact Miller's acclaimed graphic novel Ronin is very similar in plot to Samurai Jack, and there is an entire episode based upon the premise of 300, another Miller book which has also become a Hollywood film.)

Jack is, by all means, an action show. in a given show there is maybe 10-15 minutes of action in a 24 minute episode, however in later seasons, the formula of Jack as an action show recedes heavily, and the show becomes more of a sampler-plate of creativeness. the stories are as charming and moving as they are diverse and epic.

Samurai Jack is a brilliant show, it's influences are long-spread and it will undoubtedly be remembered as a staple of artistic television.

One of the things that sets Jack apart from other animated action series is its use of subtlety. Though full of scenes of intense action, there are also long stretches with no dialogue, using imagery to tell the story. The art direction is excellent. Some viewers find the characters have a strange graphic style but it works well in the context of the strange world where Jack finds himself.

I especially like the use of different sizes of wide-screen to aid in the story-telling. A full-frame scene will shift to different ratios of widescreen to emphasize images such as a great distance between two characters or to focus on one's eyes. The series also includes subtle humour (note again, subtlety), such as Jack dressing up as a teenager to infiltrate a rave party or accidentally being transformed into a chicken!

Phil LaMarr is excellent as usual as Jack and Mako is the perfect voice for Aku. Those who dismiss it as an anime rip-off should consider the difference between "rip-off" and "inspired by".

A few years prior to this day, I had yet to take a single glimpse on Samurai Jack. For some time, I heard people raving about its outstanding animation techniques, never seen before fighting sequences and humor. Curiosity and anxiety surrounded my mind, wondering if it really reached or even surpassed the standards set by Dexter's Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls. Incidentally, Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator of this new show, has worked on the previous two before and based on my knowledge, his vision upon the animation industry is pretty unlike anything any other animators have seen before.

Not long after its first run, I managed to witness an episode of Samurai Jack on Cartoon Network in my aunt's house. In fact, in my first viewpoint, the show really seemed a bit simplistic, focused more on battles and at some points, a sense of humor to keep the audience's interest. Yes, it bears similarity to other Genndy's older works. However, I'm just talking to one of the episodes shown on the channel. Initially, the similarity ended when I began to watch the rest of the episodes.

The plot itself is quite simple: Samurai Jack (his original Japanese name remains a mystery) lives in ancient Japan where his homeland is being ravaged by a mightily powerful but weird-looking, sometimes insipid demon named Aku. Jack used his mystical sword to fight him and eventually he defeats him after a few bouts. But before Jack manages to destroy the demon once and for all, Aku casts a spell that sends Jack into the future, a time when Aku reigns supreme. Now, it is up to Jack to find a way to go back into the past by wandering around the futuristic cities, barren wastelands and ancient ruins inhabited by aliens and other bizarre creatures you haven't seen before and most importantly, meeting allies and friends (like the crazed muscular Scotsman) to give our struggling hero spiritual hope and motivation to reach his destiny (the maturity of Jack can be seen throughout the seasons, as he seems to be more confident and has the right to call himself 'The Legendary Samurai'. Something like that). The character designs and the environments are extremely odd in Genndy's favor but perhaps these are the reasons why Samurai Jack is such an appealing show to watch at. Firstly, unlike the typical Saturday cartoons we usually see, it is almost an ambiguous cartoon with really abstract elements (specially when you watch a peculiar episode for the first time ever). You have absolutely no idea what is going on there: the creatures, the aliens, the bizarre skyscrapers, the contraptions. They are all refreshingly cubic and bizarre and yet have a reason for their existence. Despite its subtle and uneven premise, Samurai Jack is simply a straightforward action show with easily identifiable objects (toon experts will know that for sure) and characters (its basic concept is mostly derived from the Star Wars universe, in which Genndy also directs under the name Clone Wars). At one case, some of the elements of Samurai Jack are derived from Akira Kurosawa's movies, anime (both state-of-the-art or cliché) and on another point, famous American icons and world cultures. Some even serve as a precursor to Craig McCracken's Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends with bits and pieces from Dexter's Lab and PPG. Sure, most of the episodes don't capture the scope of full-length movies but the slowness of its nature allows the audience to accept the fact that it almost feels like a movie, in a shorter form at least. If you ask whether the show's appropriate for kids, well, Samurai Jack is a surprisingly violent cartoon (that's beyond the boundary of Dex and PPG) but that otherwise proves that Genndy's skills to handle a particular context has matured.

What really fascinate me are Genndy's abilities to master the essential film-making techniques such as pace, flow, mise-en-scene and mood, smooth animation and most importantly, character appeal such as Samurai Jack himself. Some sequences are even squeezed in to a particular ratio aspect to provide a cinematic point of view as well as to increase the tension of a situation. Creative editing techniques also helps to build anticipation, fasten the pace of the action sequences (mostly beautifully choreographed despite the fact that they are just frames of drawings!) and create decisive matters as Jack faces frequent pandemonium. The artwork of the show is equally impressive albeit a bit kiddy oriented. That essentially leads to one of Genndy's strongest trademarks and principles: simplistic designs tend to have greater impact compared to realistic models (of 2D and 3D) by conveying constant exaggeration, ridiculous laws of physic and common sense and doses of good slapstick humor while maintaining its 'logical sense' without losing direction. The show's crystal clear colors and tones also manage to reflect the overall mood of a particular environment, whether you can feel the serenity of ancient Japan or the unknown danger of the dark and barren wasteland.

If it weren't for Genndy, cartoons cannot evolve into newer forms. If Gene Deitch gave birth to 'limited animation' via Gerald McBoing Boing, we all could say that, in my opinion, Genndy Tartakovsky gave birth to 'cinematic limited cartoons' or simply, 'Cinematic Toons'. I know these terms don't sound right to some people but through Samurai Jack, he has created something that proves to be revolutionary since the era of the Renaissance (Batman, DuckTales and Tiny Toons). Since then, Genndy Tartakovsky is now regarded as one of my most favorite 'heroes' of our time!

Samurai Jack is definitely a classic cartoon, but it has some serious flaws that I think many people are just turning a blind eye to. The first two seasons especially have some very egregious problems, specifically with the animation.

In the first two seasons, the animation is especially choppy and stilted. The animators decided to go style-over-substance in many of these early episodes, using changing frame rates, slow-mo, and other stylistic choices hoping to mask the long portions of reaction-shots, very choppy and non-fluid motion, and almost uncanny movements (or lack thereof) by the characters. That is to say nothing of the character design. I think many are ascribing the geometric body shapes and odd proportions undeserved artistic merit, not to mention the uninspired designs for a myriad of villains and aliens. Not to say that the show is artistically bankrupt, but sometimes it seems obvious that it's not trying as hard as it could.

The episodic structure is a little grating at times, with some continuity ignored. Some of my least favorite episodes are Jack vs. Mad Jack; Jack, the Woolies, and the Critchellites; Jack Learns to Jump Good; and especially Jack vs. the Five Hunters. They all have some problem that I've mentioned here.

So, how could I give all these gripes about a show and still rate it an 8 out of 10? In the third season, the animation gets a significant upgrade, and that also improves the action. I think it was some of those early season 3 episodes where I could really catch the vision of what the creators were trying to do with the show. As I said before, the show is far from artistically bankrupt, and some of the show's best episodes are also from those first two seasons: Jack and the Three Blind Archers; Jack and the Scotsman; Aku's Fairy Tales, among others. The show also had some great comedy. Mako's voice acting (which was probably around 60% of all the voice acting in the show) was tremendous, and the soundtrack was truly superb. I think the show really does hold up as a classic, but there are some errors that are overlooked. Also, season 5 is a beast unto itself, very different from its original run, but inheriting its predecessor's quality.

It seems that Genndy Tartakovsky was only getting warmed up with "Dexter's Laboratory" and "Powerpuff Girls". With those shows he proved he was a comic genius; with "Samurai Jack" he demonstrates that he is a genius, period. Every single aspect of the movie premiere is top-notch. Phil LaMarr is wonderful as Jack. James Venable's score beautifully captures the tone and has just the right mix of traditional Oriental and electronic sounds. I liked the fact that there did not seem to be any unnecessary dialogue (in fact several scenes--most notably the beginning--have almost no dialogue at all). The animation and backgrounds are very stylish and striking, and the filmmakers even allow the art to escape the confines of the square 1.33:1 TV ratio with some split-screen and widescreen shots used to great effect. It is my hope that the series continues to be as good as the premiere is. This will be on you "must-watch" list.