From a Christian perspective, what we have here is essentially a Satan figure (the word ‘Aku’ just means ‘evil’ in Japanese), an everyman Christ-figure / monomythic hero (Jack) and an epic quest involving good vs. Now the fool seeks to return to the past and undo the future that is Aku.”Ĭould you ask for a more Christological metanarrative? Well, probably, yes, but it is still a very strong one. Before the final blow was struck, I tore open a portal in time and flung him into the future, where my evil is law. “Long ago in the distant past, I, Aku, the shape-shifting master of darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil, but a foolish samurai warrior stepped forth to oppose me. This basic premise is probably best explained in the recurrent prologue to every episode of seasons 1-4 in the voice of its lead antagonist (the voice actor for whom sadly passed away): Some bystanders give him the nickname ‘Jack’, which sticks, and he sets out on a quest somehow to return to the past and undo the future that Aku has created. When the samurai arrives in the future, he discovers that Aku has taken over the entire world. The samurai defeats Aku, but just at the crucial moment, Aku opens a portal in time and throws the samurai into the distant future. A samurai prince, of unknown name, is given a magic sword and takes on Aku. The basic premise of Samurai Jack is that an evil demonic force called Aku appears in feudal Japan. Here’s my explanation (similar to what I’ve done with the cult videogame ‘The Way’ in this blog post, which actually has lots of similarities to Samurai Jack too) and then a list of my favourite episodes. And now my wife has to put up with it too, but so has she! Because that’s the sort of weird person that I am… I’ve forced housemates, friends, family members all to endure my obsession with Samurai Jack, but they have all come around to seeing that it is brilliant. In a similar vein, I once put on a Samurai Jack episode screening night for my friends where we watched a bunch of episodes and then I explained and we discussed possible Biblical links that could be made to aspects of it. The children who came were en-rapt, and even the naughtiest kids from my most difficult school sat enchanted by the show and were then prepared to discuss possible spiritual connections with it afterwards! Including the non-Christians!
#Samurai jack themes series
When I was working as a church outreach worker in primary schools, I once designed a whole series of afterschool clubs based on watching Samurai Jack episodes and discussing possible Christian parallels with them with the kids afterwards. I will struggle to communicate how compelling I find Samurai Jack is and how much its symbolism resonates with me. But when I eventually watched the show for myself later, I was spellbound. I was introduced to Samurai Jack as a teenager, I think by my brother and his fervent recommendations, whom as usual I at first ignored (sorry, Simon!). What’s the big deal about Samurai Jack, then?
#Samurai jack themes tv
Okay, maybe it’s not the best TV show ever made, but I needed a clickbait title, and it’s definitely a contender for the best TV cartoon ever made. It’s about why Samurai Jack is my favourite TV show ever. Since I’ve recently finished the third round of revisions on a Young Adult fantasy novel, this piece of writing and post is a bit more light-hearted. At the time of writing, the final season is currently airing, with one more final ever episode about to drop this Saturday! You cannot imagine my excitement at this. However, last year in 2016 came the news that a fifth, final season was being made. Samurai Jack was a cartoon created by Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter’s Labortory, The Powerpuff Girls) which originally ran for four seasons in 2001- 2004.
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