Samurai Jack

[Nel_Annette]

It was okay. I'm glad we got our big final battle with everyone, but the final bits were too rushed for the emotional impact to really hit me. This episode would have made a great movie. While it's great that Jack actually did manage to get back (Ashi using Aku's powers to screw him over was pretty great), it sucks that all those characters we just saw got wiped from existence. That final shot was beautiful.

Overall, first seven episodes of this season were excellent, the last three were a real fumble to me.

[Daikun]

Okay, I have to ask... How did everyone arrive at Aku's lair so fast? It seemed they were all thousands of miles apart, yet they all got there in what seemed like a minute?

[gunswordfist]

  And it's over.

Spoiler

I'll first say that they did thoroughly, finally make Ashi and Jack's relationship work. I was happy to see them together for the first time in this episode. Also, I thought, "WAIT, DOES THIS MEAN THAT ASHI CAN USE TIME POWERS?!! Right after Ashi was announced that she had all of his powers. And then she did it. Honestly an extremely clever way to get Jack back to the past. The final battles were decent but this season had so much better action before any of this. Also, they still wasted far too much time with Ashi in previous episodes so there nearly wasn't enough character returns. I was the happiest to see the Archers fight and I geeked out when the Spartans showed up! Those are the two main groups I care about but beyond that, we could have saw so much more. I can live with not knowing what'll happen to the future now, including if they were luck enough to be an existing separate timeline like say Trunks' future. I also loved the bittersweet ending. Plus seeing that they also used Mako's voice for Past Aku (or just the old intro, I'm not sure) also helped me get a bit emotional about this. Overall, some things could have been better but I am satisfied.

[close]

It was okay. I'm glad we got our big final battle with everyone, but the final bits were too rushed for the emotional impact to really hit me. This episode would have made a great movie. While it's great that Jack actually did manage to get back (Ashi using Aku's powers to screw him over was pretty great), it sucks that all those characters we just saw got wiped from existence. That final shot was beautiful.

Overall, first seven episodes of this season were excellent, the last three were a real fumble to me.

I'd say the first 3 were excellent with some hits and misses here and there. Episode 8 being the only one I didn't like.

Okay, I have to ask... How did everyone arrive at Aku's lair so fast? It seemed they were all thousands of miles apart, yet they all got there in what seemed like a minute?

That reminds me...Scotsman didn't assemble shit. He was built up as the general of the army and didn't do anything but apparently stay home. Assuming Aku stayed in the same lair, they should have been at his place a long time ago.
...also, where the fuck was Demongo. I could probably go on forever about headscratchers and loose ends in this season/show.

[Avaitor]

I do think that the ending was a little rushed. I don't even recall getting to see Jack's reunion with his family. But I did like how Jack had a bittersweet ending, which for better or worse, makes sense for him.

This might have worked better as a double-length finale, or at least extended a few minutes longer. I think the pacing in the final battle was solid, though.

As for what new content Toonami should do next/after FLCL- I have 2 suggestions.

1- Batman Beyond post "Epilogue"

2- Have a talk with Gaiman about finding a home for Sandman

[gunswordfist]

Yeah, it was a bit rushed.
New Batman Beyond would be great!

[Dr. Insomniac]

Last article.

All of DC's attempts to make a new Batman Beyond comic have really soured my craving for more of that series. Maybe it's just a series that can only work in the cartoon medium, but I'm not sure where you can go from Epilogue.

[Daikun]

...also, where the fuck was Demongo. I could probably go on forever about headscratchers and loose ends in this season/show.

Demongo didn't really matter. He was a villain, not one of Jack's allies, and Aku likely would've killed him again (for real that time), anyway.
Also, he doesn't exist anymore, now that Aku has been erased from history.

They probably could've brought him back if the final episode had gone the extended route, but that didn't happen.

[gunswordfist]

Last article.

All of DC's attempts to make a new Batman Beyond comic have really soured my craving for more of that series. Maybe it's just a series that can only work in the cartoon medium, but I'm not sure where you can go from Epilogue.

I agree that the final big battle was underwhelming but never thought about it being because Aku wasn't used that creatively. Good point. When Aku because a rolling ball against the Scotsmen was pretty much more well thought out.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I felt both underwhelmed and satisfied by the finale. It felt right, but it also felt a little rushed. I would've liked the final battle with Aku to last longer, and I'm sad to think that everyone Jack met in the future now no longer exists. Overall, my opinions on the season align with Dr. Insomniac's. The first three episodes were incredible, the rest were varying degrees of enjoyable, but it never surpassed my expectations and the ending didn't feel as gratifying as it could've been. Still, I'm glad to see a proper ending to Jack's story, that he did get back to the past, undid the evil that was Aku, and now has a bright future to look forward to.

[Avaitor]

So in hindsight, do you think this would have worked better as a movie like Genndy originally planned?

I hope we get this on DVD, since I want to rewatch the entire series and see how I rank this final season on the whole. I was thoroughly impressed with the first few episodes like most, but I wonder if that was just hype or if it really did start off strong. And I wonder if I'll appreciate Ashi more or less if I try it again.

As for Batman Beyond, I will say that I mainly want it if Paul Dini's back on board in some way. Among the DCAU royalty who are still around, he seems to be the only one who still has at least some of the plot going, so I'd like to see his take. I mainly just don't want Timm to make a show on his own.

[Daikun]

I hope we get this on DVD, since I want to rewatch the entire series and see how I rank this final season on the whole. I was thoroughly impressed with the first few episodes like most, but I wonder if that was just hype or if it really did start off strong. And I wonder if I'll appreciate Ashi more or less if I try it again.

Toonami will be marathoning all of season 5 this Saturday.
Seasons 1-4 were released on DVD years ago. The first two seasons are still on Warner Archive, and you can find seasons 3 & 4 on Amazon.

http://www.wbshop.com/search.do?query=samurai+jack
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EGDAFC
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QCU534

[gunswordfist]

No. Like Netflix Marvel shows, this story would be better suited in an episodic format. 3 hours at best would do such a long show no justice since that would be like 7 episodes. I think 99% of S5's problem is what they choose to cover. No one in their right mind thinks that they showed enough of the old characters and people are split at best over episode 8. They could have used that 23 minutes for something relevant. Also, cleaning up things like how useless The Omen (Green Samurai spirit) is and some of the beginning of episode 9. Things being hit and miss at times made perfectly fine, almost excellent episodes like episode 4 or whatever episode had Ashi killing that army seem a bit worse than they actually are. So beyond that, seeing more Gun/PTSD Jack, more onscreen explanations as to why he was that broken and better reasons for Jack to lose his shit other than baby sheep and kid monsters and Jack actually saying goodbye to the people at the first half of episode 10 could have all helped make this a 9 or 10 out of 10 season.
Edit: I also wonder where I'll stack up this season. I strongly suspect Season 4 will be the winner since it has a good number of the series' best.

[Avaitor]

I hope we get this on DVD, since I want to rewatch the entire series and see how I rank this final season on the whole. I was thoroughly impressed with the first few episodes like most, but I wonder if that was just hype or if it really did start off strong. And I wonder if I'll appreciate Ashi more or less if I try it again.

Toonami will be marathoning all of season 5 this Saturday.
Seasons 1-4 were released on DVD years ago. The first two seasons are still on Warner Archive, and you can find seasons 3 & 4 on Amazon.

http://www.wbshop.com/search.do?query=samurai+jack
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EGDAFC
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QCU534

Yep, I have all but season 2 on DVD. I just want a release for season 5 as well.

[gunswordfist]

Any chance we will get a 5 season boxset? Fine by me, either way, I will just get the other seasons sooner and then rewatch my Microsoft Store Season 5 episodes.

[Daikun]

Samurai Jack will start airing for an hour at 8PM on Sundays.