Yeah, I don't really care for the romance angle. My fear was that Genndy would rush the hell out of it and essentially render Ashi as being nothing more than waifu fodder. Unfortunately, my fears have been confirmed. I believe a father/daughter relationship would've added several layers of character development to Jack and kind of bring things full circle in regards to his overall journey. Thematically, it would've also been a nice touch. She goes from having Aku for a father to having Jack for a father.
But alas, oh well. May as well enjoy the remainder of the season for what it is. Jack is finally gonna kill Aku!
The biggest reason they shouldn't have gone there:
10 year old kids have more of a sex education then Ashi.
If she didn't even know what a deer was, and never had a normal relationship with anyone before Jack, how can she give meaningful consent?
__________________ What CDTM believes;
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
Still suspiciously niave about the process, going by some recent episodes.
Are those "really" his kids? What did Chi-Chi do, take some skin and have them grown in a lab? (Or some "other" way. Don't be fooled by appearances, maybe he has closer blood relations to Vegeta then we think? )
__________________ What CDTM believes;
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
The problem with trying to make Scaramouche a credible threat with his attempt to inform Aku is its literally the only thing stopping the Shogun of Sorrow from obliterating Jack. Literally, without that sword, Jack is no more likely to defeat Aku than the Scotsman was, and if the story were played straight, the instant Aku knew that Jack was swordless he would not hesitate to finish him.
So if you want a bad end, I guess that works.
__________________ -"My internet is currently so bad I'm time traveling. Don't worry about it."
-"You have the best problems, Scenario. You really do. haermm"
Without Scaramouch, to Aku it seems like Jack just finally decided to shave and kick ass.
With Scaramouch, Aku can find out that if he had quit being cowardly and faced his problems directly("We don't say his name, this is a safe place"), then this could all have been avoided.
Scaramouch being brought back has absolutely nothing to do with creating tension from an external force and everything to do with punishing Aku for not dealing with his problems. It is karma and a contrast with Jack who eventually had to deal with Mad Jack.
Also if they wanted Aku to be a force of tension they would not have brought the Scotsman back immediately afterward. The show is clear in how it portrays Aku: a dangerously powerful ultimate evil that is actually quite a laughable coward in reality.
In other words, this is Aku's story. He'll learn a valuble lesson and after much struggle and change, have a final showdown, completing his heroes journey.
__________________ What CDTM believes;
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
How did Jack just walk there? Didn't he hitch a ride on a bird to the top of a mountain the first time or something?
__________________ What CDTM believes;
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
On the bright side, I'm glad I can finally close this chapter of my childhood. On the negative side, having watched all 10 episodes of season 5, I can say with confidence that Genndy was winging it as he went along and that he never had any idea how he was going to wrap things up even while writing this season. What happened is that his bank account was running low so he decided to cash in on the Samurai Jack cash cow.
It's as if Genndy was writing this episode at the last minute. As if it only occured to him that Ashi would not exist if not for Aku after Genndy wrote the wedding scene and everything. Except at that point, Genndy just says "f*ck it" and rolls with it. I have no problem with a melancholy ending, but this ending has to be one of the laziest and anticlimactic endings I've seen in some time.
What should have happened is Jack kills Aku in the future and then we get a compelling moment where he has to choose between staying in the future with Ashi or leaving her behind in order to undo Aku's evil. The obvious fact that Ashi would cease should've been given some discussion and debate. Or heck, even better, just have Ashi sacrifice herself during the battle with Aku so Jack no longer has to worry about killing her. Or heck, in the alternative, address the fact that Aku is still technically alive as long as Ashi is alive. The twist from 9th episode had sooooo much potential, but Genndy blew it. This episode was pure laziness.
Don't get me wrong. This season had some great moments. The first four episodes were borderline perfect (aside from rushing the hell out of Ashi's character arc at the end of the fourth). The ninth episode, my distaste for Jack/Ashi pairing aside, was also amazing in how it raised the tension and created the setup for a fantastic finale. Every other episode, IMO, was either meh, rushed, anticlimactic, pointless or just plain bad.
Never let anyone else define you. Don't be a jerk just to be a jerk, but if you are expressing your true inner feelings and beliefs, or at least trying to express that inner child, and everyone gets pissed off about it, never NEVER apologize for it. Let them think what they want, let them define you in their narrow little minds while they suppress every last piece of them just to keep a friend that never liked them for themselves in the first place.
KMC Community Forums
May 9th, 2017 05:15 PM
