In 2001, Genndy Tartakovsky’s Samurai Jack stunned audiences with ambitious and beautiful visual storytelling, a mostly stoic hero, and perhaps the world’s best (if not most lovable) villain. Samurai Jack ran for four seasons (52 episodes) but was cut down in its prime. This Emmy-winning cartoon, which had a largely episodic structure (save Jack’s building frustration), sadly never got to finish the tale of the samurai. Films were teased and planned, but sadly nothing panned out … until recently. Samurai Jack returns today (March 11, 2017), and we at Oldtaku no Radio could not be more ecstatic. In celebration, we’re taking a break from analyzing Japanese cartoons to analyze an American one … that just so happens to draw inspiration from/references, among other things, Japanese film directors, animation, and culture.

For this episode, which will be published in two parts, special guest Kate (Narutaki) of the Reverse Thieves blog/podcast joins us in squeeing over and wringing the most we possibly can out of a fantastic cartoon from the early aughts. The first installment covers general impressions as well as our favorites and flubs for Seasons 1 & 2, while the second half covers our favorites and flubs of Seasons 3 & 4 as well as thoughts on what Season 5 might bring.

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Runtime: 1 hr, 27 min