Samurai Jack (season 5)

The fifth season of Samurai Jack is the final season of the animated series. This season follows Jack on a journey that concludes his story. It premiered on the Toonami programming block of Adult Swim on March 11, 2017, and concluded its run on May 20, 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 a director, writer, and storyboarder for this season. The season received universal acclaim from both critics and fans, praising it for its visuals as well as its more dark, intense, and mature tone.

Plot
The story takes place fifty years after Aku cast Jack into the future, although Jack himself hasn't aged at all as a side effect of time travel. Aku has destroyed all time portals, but he is deeply distressed over the prospect of battling Jack forever and has stopped pursuing him directly. Jack's actions have inspired many to oppose Aku's tyranny, among them the elderly Scotsman, who unsuccessfully leads three armies in a battle against Aku. Unknown to Aku, Jack has lost his sword, and he is troubled by hallucinations of his deceased family, his former self, and the victims of Aku, almost to the point of suicide. A set of fraternal septuplet girls, the "Daughters of Aku", are born into a cult of female Aku worshipers and raised as assassins with the sole purpose of killing Jack. They find and overwhelm Jack, but he manages to kill all the Daughters but one, the eldest Ashi, who he eventually spares and even saves her from various dangers as the two attempt to escape the bowels of a gigantic monster that swallowed them whole.

Accompanying Jack on his journey, Ashi comes to see Aku as true evil, and helps Jack through his emotional and spiritual journey, talking him out of committing suicide and helping him reclaim his lost sword. The two eventually become romantically involved. Aku is eventually informed that Jack lost his sword and confronts him, not knowing Jack has recovered it in the interim. Before leaving, Aku senses that Ashi has part of him inside her, and possesses her body to attack Jack. Jack refuses to kill Ashi and lays down his sword in defeat. Aku takes Jack prisoner and prepares to kill him, but the people Jack helped all over the planet rally to his defense. When Jack tells Ashi that he loves her, she regains control of herself. She returns the sword to Jack and uses the demonic powers she gained from Aku to open a time portal to return Jack and herself to the moment Aku sent Jack to the future, whereupon Jack immediately destroys the weakened Aku. With peace restored, Ashi and Jack prepare to marry, but on her way to the altar, she suddenly collapses. Jack rushes to her side, and as she fades away from existence, she tells Jack that "without Aku, I would have never existed". The series ends with a scene of a depressed Jack later smiling when a ladybug lands on his hand, and watches it fly free in a sunlit grove with a sakura tree in bloom.

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.[1] Tartakovsky previously expressed interest in a film adaptation of the series to provide a genuine conclusion, but the project never materialized.[2][3](2:50)

Production
"Technology is different, we're using computers now, instead of hamsters like the old days."

Starting in 2014, reruns of Samurai Jackwere aired on Toonami, an action-oriented programming block on Adult Swim.[5] Within two weeks of Tartakovsky's first communication with executive Mike Lazzo, a deal was reached for 10 more episodes of the series.[6] 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.[7] Artwork used in the teaser derived from the cover of an issue from IDW Publishing's comic book adaptation of the series.[8]The new season received further mention ahead of the network's 2016 upfront press release.[9] The fifth season was announced for the 2016–17 television season.[10] Work-in-progress excerpts were shared at the 2016 Annecy International Animated Film Festival.[11] According to Tartakovsky, having a small production team allowed for a smaller budget, faster schedule, and greater creative freedom for the team,[6] and executive producer Mike Lazzo gave the team a free hand, with minimal intervention in the production. Changes in television animation storytelling since the cartoon's original series allowed the show to shift from episodic storytelling, where each episode is more or less independent from the others, to one cohesive serialized story that will conclude Jack's journey.[12][4] The serialized format allows every episode to have a "reveal" that takes the show in a different direction.[3](4:01) The final episode was storyboarded on October 2016,[13] and Tartakovsky expressed hope it would have a very emotional impact on the audience.[14] All the original Samurai Jackepisodes are designated by Roman numerals,[15] and the original series ended with episode "LII" (52). Season five opens with episode "XCII" (92); the jump in numbering signifies the elapsed time from the last episode of season four.[16]

Casting
Phil LaMarr reprises his role as Jack,[4] and John DiMaggio reprises his role as the Scotsman, a fan-favorite[17] ally of Jack's. Due to the death of Mako, who originally voiced Aku, Tartakovsky at first considered using a completely different voice for the character.[18] However, considering how Mako's voice was an important element of the character,[4] voice actor Greg Baldwin was brought in to mimic the original voice.[19] Tara Strong and Tom Kenny, who guest starred in the previous seasons, respectively voice the season's reoccurring characters Ashi and Scaramouch.

Themes
The season explores the hero's journey and the identity of the hero when their journey stagnates.[20] 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.[21] 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?"[22] Angelica Jade Bastién of New York magazine writes that there is a "distinctive undercurrent of loneliness stretching through the series from start to finish." Jack is often alone, dwarfed by the "grand solemnity of nature." He has lost his home and his relationship with his family, and in the final episode he loses his relationship with the woman he is about to marry.[23]

Cast

 * Phil LaMarr – Samurai Jack, Host, Frog
 * Greg Baldwin – Aku, additional voices
 * Tara Strong – Ashi, Avi, Vision
 * Grey Griffin – High Priestess, Flora, Olivia
 * Sab Shimono – The Emperor
 * Lauren Tom – Mother
 * Tom Kenny – Scaramouche, Chritchellite
 * Kari Wahlgren – Ami, Aki
 * Chris Parnell – Mud Alien, Scientist
 * Keone Young – Bandit, Monk
 * Corey Burton – Crow
 * John DiMaggio – Scotsman
 * Aaron LaPlante – Dominator, The Omen
 * Kevin Michael Richardson – Woolie #1, Demongo
 * Keegan-Michael Key – Da' Samurai
 * Daran Norris – additional voices
 * Billy West – additional voices
 * Rob Paulsen – Sir Rothchild (credited as a Dog)
 * Jeff Glen Bennett – additional voices
 * Mako – Past Aku (via archived recording)

Episodes
See also: List of Samurai Jack episodes

Broadcast
On January 24, 2017, Adult Swim announced in an interstitial bumper that the show would debut on March 11, 2017.[36] The original four seasons are rated TV-Y7-FV, while most episodes in the fifth season are rated TV-14-V, with episodes XCVI, XCIX and CI being rated TV-PG-V.[37] The first three episodes of the season were screened at the Ace Hotel Los Angeles two days before the season's television premiere.[14] An unannounced change in schedule on April Fools' Day supplanted a new Samurai Jack episode with the premiere of the third season of Rick and Morty, which aired repeatedly from 8 PM to midnight.[38][39]

Home media
This season is available in HD and SD for digital purchase[non-primary source needed]on iTunes,[40] Google Play,[41] Amazon Video,[42] Microsoft Store[43] and PlayStation Store.

Full season release
The full season set was released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 17, 2017. In Australia i was released by Madman Entertainment [44]