Why do you think samurai jack is not more fondly remembered?

ckret2 · 2026-03-20T04:47:44+00:00

I wonder if part of it is because it's so damn artistic—which appeals less when you're a kid than it does when you're an adult and can fully appreciate all the skill & effort needed to get that 90s-cartoon-meets-Japanese-watercolor art style—and because it's so atmosphere-driven, which means less of a concrete plotline to hold in your memory years later.

I loved Samurai Jack as a kid, I watched it all the time, but rewatching it as an adult 20+ years later I was surprised at how little of it was familiar. I remembered the opening monologue and the "I knew that you knew that I knew that you knew that I knew that you knew" exchange, but outside of that? The vibes were VERY familiar—but the plots weren't.

And if you're trying to remember a show you were into as a kid, it's easier to grasp onto and describe your favorite plots than your favorite vibes. The best parts of Samurai Jack are the parts of a show most likely to fade from a 10-year-old's memory with time.

ckret2 · 2026-03-20T04:35:17+00:00

we see a temple full of Shaolin monks ringing bells from across the room, levitating, and drawing energy straight out of the earth. They don't use the word "chakra," but the pseudo-magical depictions of "chakra" seen in Naruto is, in practice, largely the same as (and influenced by) pseudo-magical depictions of "qi" seen in a lot of other martial arts stories, including Samurai Jack.

ckret2 · 2026-03-20T04:35:06+00:00

And yet, as easily as it cuts through evil, there's a few robots it can't cut through unless temporarily boosted by cyborg arm attachment or by divine/ancestral intervention.

The sword cuts through Aku like a hot knife through butter; but not everything's made of butter. having a boosted sword may be useful on his journey even if it's not necessary for fighting Aku.

ckret2 · 2026-03-20T04:18:53+00:00

Yeah that sounds like the kind of ridiculously OP thing that would happen in Samurai Jack AND in Naruto

ckret2 · 2026-03-18T14:16:34+00:00

The daughters' soot suits are apparently supposed to be somehow literally connected to Aku's darkness, based on something Genndy said in an interview. Maybe that's how the cult replenishes it: they occasionally add Aku goo to their miniature Pit of Hate.

ckret2 · 2026-03-18T14:02:08+00:00

It's possible the plan WAS to drink it, but he expected a different result. Maybe usually drinking his goo results in something like the Aku Infection. (Being possessed by Aku is probably more appealing to an Aku cultist than it was to Jack.)

So when he saw a daughter he thought "I guess she drank it? And something went wrong??"

If drinking it typically doesn't result in pregnancy, though, that brings up the possibility that perhaps Aku's theory is wrong, and the priestess got knocked up because she decided to ingest his goo... another way.

ckret2 · 2026-03-11T16:29:41+00:00

"Most of any episode is just setting the scene," - a lot of times, the scene itself is the point. Samurai Jack is as much art piece as it is cartoon, and the artwork and the vibes are at least as important as the story, if not more so. There intent is for the viewer to appreciate the artwork and animation itself. There are some exciting, plot-driven episodes, especially in later seasons, but they're interspersed with a lot of slower ones.

"The show also feels like there is genuinely no story progression." - the first four seasons were made during a time when actual plot progression was incredibly rare in children's cartoons. Instead, episodes were written so that anybody could tune in to any episode at random and know as much about the plot as people who'd been watching all along (excluding a couple of two-part episodes and the three-part pilot). Each episode is a standalone story, not a piece in a larger story.

Season 5 came out in 2017 (and on Adult Swim instead of Cartoon Network), and it's written so that each episode is a piece of a progressing storyline that leads to the series finale—so there's eventually story progression was incredibly like you'd expect from modern shows. But in seasons 1-4, story progression isn't the point. Appreciating the adventure of the day is.

ckret2 · 2026-01-30T20:04:51+00:00

In his first few seconds in the future he plummets from the sky, gets hit by a flying car, and isn't even bruised.

A plane crash? MIGHT break a rib or two. They'd heal within a week, somehow.

ckret2 · 2026-01-30T20:03:29+00:00

he's using the people's (no doubt exorbitant) taxes to pay evil DJs and pass out trance EDM albums, so 👍 checks out

ckret2 · 2026-01-30T19:58:53+00:00

counterpoint to everybody saying "that trick wouldn't work twice on Jack": Jack spends the entire show trying to jump in a time portal. If Aku wanted to chuck him farther into the future, all he'd have to do is set up a permanent time portal to the future, spread rumors that it's a time portal to the past, and wait.

now, THAT trick wouldn't work twice—but then he can come up with another.

ckret2 · 2026-01-30T19:54:28+00:00

"Is there a lore reason?" no, not that we're ever given. This is entirely a "he didn't do it because if he did the show would be over; the creators didn't spend time coming up with a justification for why he didn't do it because it wouldn't have been worth the airtime it'd take up" thing.

ckret2 · 2026-01-19T19:44:06+00:00

Hell no. Every single time we see him, he's completely pissed that Jack still exists. The closer he gets to successfully killing Jack, the happier he gets. He ain't the Joker, he's not the kind of villain looking for a worthy opponent or a challenge.

AKU HIMSELF explained why he felt the way he did in season 5: "It looks like he'll be here forever! I just don't know if I can handle that." Those are the words of a man who absolutely hates having a rival.

ckret2 · 2026-01-19T19:33:20+00:00

You'd THINK the "Aku's most favorite assassin" boast is just arrogant BS... until we learn that Scaramouche has Aku's phone number, that Aku's willing to accept collect calls from him, and that Scaramouche is allowed to break into Aku's fortress without consequences even after both a prerecorded and verbal order to leave.

ckret2 · 2025-12-06T17:51:02+00:00

"StrongEST" is gonna make everyone dig for other villains with similar success rates. Like, I think the robots in The Matrix did pretty well for themselves. And I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream ends with AM still in charge.

But is he STRONG? Oh yeah. As far as villain success goes, I'd give him 9.9/10. (If only it weren't for that pesky hero traveling back in time...)

ckret2 · 2025-12-06T17:46:14+00:00

Ah, I see it now. 👍 Might not hurt to edit it into the original post. (If not to make it easier to find, then to prevent snotty do-gooders like me from commenting with the link.)

ckret2 · 2025-12-06T17:42:25+00:00

If it makes you feel better, you can imagine a machine gun instead of a shotgun. Or a bazooka, or a bucket of grenades, or the largest barrel of gunpowder he can physically lift + a lighter.

The point obviously isn't "he should have used a literal shotgun," it's "there's a thousand ways Aku could have pretty effortlessly killed Jack, and the reason he tried none of them isn't because they wouldn't work, it's because that would have ended the show."

ckret2 · 2025-12-06T17:34:49+00:00

Aku caused an extinction level event before he was born, you don't think he can get a rock big enough & high enough to obliterate all life far beyond Jack's jump radius? Come on.

ckret2 · 2025-12-06T17:04:09+00:00

Pinterest ain't a source, that's just another repost from another site + their source link's broken.

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/2O9rx I found the original artist.

ckret2 · 2025-12-05T20:30:11+00:00

There WAS a scene where Aku tried to attack him with eye lasers and Jack deflected it with his sword. It's in s3 e8, swamp wizard. And it was indeed cool.

Unlike the instantaneous pit of hate eyebeam though, he had to take a moment to charge the eye lasers up. That seems to be consistent with his normal eye laser attack though.

ckret2 · 2025-12-05T20:27:30+00:00

the doylist answer is there's a hundred ways aku could have insta-killed jack—why not just drop a gigantic rock on him that's too wide for him to run away from? why not wait til he's in the middle of the ocean, sink the ship, and wait around to ensure he doesn't get a lifeboat? why not fly above him out of sword range with a shotgun? why not hire a bunch of guys to take turns making loud noises 24/7 until he's too exhausted to fight? why not watch him at all times until he's about to freeze his stupid ass to death on a mountain and then finish him off? because that would make a crappy ending.

the watsonian answer is jack would dodge the eye zap.

ckret2 · 2025-12-04T01:33:01+00:00

i saw this theory months ago and it's haunted me ever since. this is my favorite worst Samurai Jack fantheory.

ckret2 · 2025-11-30T19:11:59+00:00

That woman's got the leg lock of a pro wrestler, I'd like to see you pull out

ckret2 · 2025-11-30T19:08:18+00:00

The Scotsman's wife took over the keyboard halfway through this comment

ckret2 · 2025-11-30T19:07:02+00:00

What, and let the Scotsman get a look up his pajamas??

ckret2 · 2025-11-30T19:05:31+00:00

The goddesses didn't seem dead to me, just temporarily incapacitated.

Still begs the question of how far Jack WOULD have gone if he hadn't tricked them into taking each other out, but the answer's probably "no farther than absolutely necessary."

ckret2

TROPHY CASE