Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Samurai Jack (season 5)

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Country of origin
  
United States

Original network
  
Adult Swim

No. of episodes
  
10

Original release
  
March 11, 2017 (2017-03-11) – present (present)

The fifth season of Samurai Jack is the final season of the animated series and the reboot to the franchise. The season follows Jack on a journey that will complete his story. It premiered on the Toonami programming block of Adult Swim on March 11, 2017. The announcement of the season came in December 2015, eleven years since the series was originally concluded on Cartoon Network. Genndy Tartakovsky, the series' creator, returned as executive producer for this season. The season received wide acclaim from critics, noting that it's more intense and mature than its preceding seasons.

Contents

Background

Created by Genndy Tartakovsky, Samurai Jack originally aired on Cartoon Network from 2001 to 2004, comprising four seasons. The series follows a young samurai (voiced by Phil LaMarr) who is cast into the future by the evil shape-shifting demon Aku (voiced originally by Mako) mere moments before defeating the demon. He adopts the name Jack and continues his fight in the dystopian future ruled by Aku. Jack seeks to find a portal back to his time but is constantly thwarted by the demon's forces. The series was left open-ended after the conclusion of the fourth season. Tartakovsky previously expressed interest in a film adaptation of the series to provide a genuine conclusion, but the project never materialized.

Production

Starting in 2014, reruns of Samurai Jack were aired on Toonami, an action-oriented programming block on Adult Swim. Within two weeks of Tartakovsky's first communication with executive Mike Lazzo, a deal was reached for 10 more episodes of the series. The network released a short teaser in December 2015 after it green-lit the return of the series with Genndy Tartakovsky as executive producer and Cartoon Network Studios as the season's production company. Artwork used in the teaser derived from the cover of an issue from IDW Publishing's comic book adaptation of the series. The new season received further mention ahead of the network's 2016 upfront press release. The fifth season was announced for the 2016–17 television season. Work-in-progress excerpts were shared at the 2016 Annecy International Animated Film Festival. Tartakovsky estimates six months elapse between finishing an episode's storyboard and airing it on television. According to him, having a small production team allowed for a smaller budget and greater creative freedom for the team, and executive producer Mike Lazzo gave the team a free hand, with minimal intervention in the production. All the original Samurai Jack episodes are designated by Roman numerals, and the original series ended with episode LII. Season 5 opens with episode XCII; the jump in episode numbering signifies the elapsed time from the last episode of season four.

Casting

Phil LaMarr reprises his role as Jack. Jack is significantly different this season from prior appearances, in terms of both his physical appearance and personality. He now has a beard and a suit of armor, drives a motorcycle, and uses firearms and other weapons instead of the magic sword that he carried throughout the first four seasons. Tartakovsky has described Jack as having become lost and trying to find his way, while also adopting some of Aku's traits.

Due to the passing of Mako Iwamatsu in 2006, Tartakovsky at first considered using a completely different voice for Aku. However, considering how Mako's voice was an important element of the character, voice actor Greg Baldwin was brought in to mimic the original voice as he had done with Iroh, another character voiced by Mako from Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.

Story

Fifty years have passed, but I do not age. Time has lost its effect on me...yet the suffering continues. Aku's grasp chokes the past, present, and future. Hope is lost. Got to get back. Back to the past. Samurai Jack.

The new season has more mature elements and forms a cohesive story, which concludes Jack's journey. It takes place fifty years after the end of the original series' story, although Jack himself has not aged, as a side effect of time travel. Every episode will have a "reveal" that further unravels the mystery of the series and takes it in a different direction. The Scotsman, an occasional traveling companion of Jack's (originally voiced by John DiMaggio), will return to the series, aged and sporting a grey beard and a cybernetic eye.

A group of septuplet girls are born into a cult of Aku's followers and subjected to rigorous, often brutal, training from a young age. Once they have grown up and completed the training, they are sent out as the "Daughters of Aku" to find and kill Jack. Aku has grown weary of pursuing Jack and is emotionally dealing with the possibility that Jack will fight him forever because Jack's stopped aging.

Themes

The season explores the hero's journey and the identity of the hero when their journey stagnates. Choice and lack of choice are explored: in Jack's introspections and actions; in the actions of Jack's enemies; in the contrast between humans who choose their actions and machines which are programmed; and in destiny and fate which offer no choice. Of the distinction and parallel between robots and humans, Tartakovsky said: "I wanted to show the human side that’s been treated like a machine. Aku builds robots and all these robots are singularly programmed to kill Jack. What if it’s humans? What if the one purpose in your whole life is to kill this one person and you’re raised from birth that way?”

Broadcast

On January 24, 2017, Adult Swim announced in an interstitial bumper that the show will debut on March 11, 2017. The original four seasons are rated TV-Y7-FV, while the final season is rated TV-14-V. The first three episodes of the season were screened at the Ace Hotel Los Angeles two days before the season's television premiere.

Home release

This season is available in HD and SD for digital purchase on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Video and Microsoft.

Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the season holds an approval rating of 100% based on 10 reviews, with an average rating of 9.08/10, with the critics' consensus reading: "An increasing intensity and maturity are evident in Samurai Jack's beautifully animated, action-packed and overall compelling fifth season". On Metacritic the season has an average score of 94 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

References

Samurai Jack (season 5) Wikipedia