Jack is Back

Rambler's Thoughts

So, quick confession.  I never watched Samurai Jack when it was on, as I didn't have cable at the time.  And I never really got around to watching the series on the various platforms that it's on.  So I'm coming into this having seen exactly one episode before.

The new season seems to have a large amount of mythology built behind it.  There's Jack, who seems to have lost his katana, roaming the landscape, in search of Aku's (a demon of growing evil who has stranded Jack in a time period that is obviously not his own) henchmen, which seem to be of the robotic variety.  Jack has also been through some trauma, which is affecting him mentally in the form of visions of his father, and presumably others that he's met in the course of his wandering, which is even handicapping his ability to fight his opponents.  If I had to guess, I'd say that the only thing that keeps him from mentally slipping even more is the fact that his opponents are mechanical.

Which is unfortunate, because a cult dedicated to Aku has sprung up, birthing a set of septuplets on his altar, and then raising those seven girls as assassins whose sole purpose seems to be the elimination of Jack.

The artwork is very fluid, dark, and imaginative.  The voice acting is good, funny where it needs to be, serious when it should be.

This series is also obviously not meant for kids.  The themes are very adult, and there's obviously a lot going on under the surface with Jack.  He doesn't speak much, the rest of the characters do most of the exposition, but not in a condescending manner.

I'm very interested in watching how this series wraps up. 

MOUSE’S THOUGHTS    

They went full grit reboot with this. If this reboot was sandpaper the coarser the better. It's clear that Jack's past is catching up to him along with the burden of guilt. The animation is similar to the original series and feels like a continuation of seasons 1-4. Phil Lamar returns to voice the famous samurai again. His voice does sound slightly different than it did before possibly due to aging, but it works.

With the new episode, there are new villains.  The seven daughters of Aku are born assassins. I mean born in the literal sense. I’m not going post a spoiler here, but trust me when I say they were literally born. There’s been an upgrade all around for the show with the music and storyline so far. Now I’m not sure of my overall opinion with the music. Jack’s new look caused a bit of an eye roll. That roll of the eyes wasn’t because of Jack himself, but because of the impractical samurai biker armor. I get the idea of new and edgier, but there is also trying too hard.

         Meh. Could be better. Could be worse.

Now I only have one major worry for the show. Is it too much too soon? The action did draw me in for this episode, but I’ve seen it too many times where all effort is put into the first few episodes that they use filler upon filler just to keep up.

                             

Overall I have hope as the series continues, but I hope it doesn’t bite off more than it can chew.