Ask any 90s kid what their favourite action cartoon on Cartoon Network is, and almost every single one of them will say that it’s Samurai Jack. This show is beyond legendary. It is the holy grail of action animation. Genndy Tartakovsky raised the bar so high that not many cartoons since 2001 have managed to top it. Though his quest has ended, his story and his adventures will remain with us in our hearts forever, and that’s the most beautiful thing about it. It was prematurely cancelled in its original run, totalling 4 seasons, each containing 13 episodes, but due to the immense love the fans and the creator had for it, it was revived on Adult Swim for a final season which comprised of 10 episodes in 2017. Jack was trapped in a future that was not his home for over 50 years, and in the end, he managed to undo the spell that Aku cast on him and return to his own time. Watching all of this unfold, we managed to pick up on several life lessons that can prove invaluable when applied. Here are 3 lessons learned from the show.
1. Never Give up on Your Objectives
This is the most valuable and enduring lesson that the show makes abundantly clear to be the main theme. Jack was trained rigorously since his childhood in order to prepare him for his battle against the world’s most ultimate evil: Aku. Little did all his masters know, this was not going to be a battle, but a war, and it lasted thousands of years. Unfortunately for them, they would be destroyed by Aku while Jack was travelling to the future. They died without knowing that their apprentice, the last hope on Earth, was still alive. They died thinking that all of their preparation was for nothing. Jack, being in the future, had quite a similar problem. It seemed that no matter what he did, no matter how close he came to travelling back in time, it just never happened. Whether it was due to a corrupt power being the key to it, which he would not use due to its nature, or a once in a lifetime chance, or simply just fighting Aku and weakening him, something always happened to stop him from going back in time. We still want to know what happened in the aftermath of that “Jump Good” episode, Genndy! Jack stayed 50 years trapped there, and had all but given up on his quest after losing his sword and all the time portals in the world. He stayed as sane as he could, but survivor guilt and depression crept in, and by the time season 5 started, we see him talking to himself, and considering suicide, which he eventually tries to commit before Ashi stops him and urges him to keep fighting. The show continued and he eventually faced Aku with Ashi and won, travelling back in time and destroying the wizard forever. After all the suffering, after all the despair, the failures, he pushed and in the end, he got what he wanted.
2. Even the Purest of Heroes Can Lose Their Way
To say that Jack has been through the most is an understatement. He has been through so much in his life, since he was a child. Even the day he was born had a lot of tragedy. His birth was a relief from all the death and carnage that occurred just a few minutes prior. His whole life was just violence. He only spent a few years of his childhood with his parents and was then sent across the world for training until he was a full grown adult, leaving his home to be destroyed by the evil wizard Aku. He was then sent thousands of years into the future by Aku and was trapped there. Despite all his effort, despite all his willpower, it eventually got to him, because it was just too much. Not much of what he did made enough of a difference and his way home was seemingly lost forever. This broke him and he couldn’t find peace within himself and considered committing suicide in order to end it all. Was it really a stretch that the ever so hopeful hero could go dark and lose his faith in everything he stood for? He was still saving people, but at that point, he was doing it out of compulsion, not because he thought that he could make a difference. Luckily for the world, Ashi saved him from himself and he found himself once more, even regaining the magic sword which had left him so many years ago.
3. Showing Kindness has its Rewards
Whether it was out of guilt, a sense of responsibility or just a good heart, Jack always made time to rescue those in need. His mission was to destroy Aku, but he always took a detour from his quest if the situations called for it, and he was always there to help. There were many people that he saved throughout his travels, even those who conspired to destroy him, like Estor, who created the adamantium robots in season 2 that Jack could only beat by wearing a special glove. Estor told him what he made the robots for. Jack didn’t hate him for it. He helped him destroy his inventions. A lot of the allies that he made throughout the years who survived the 50-year time skip went to fight for him when Aku captured him in the last season. It was an epic moment that showed us just how beloved Jack was, and helped us realize just how much we loved him too. They gave their lives for him, just as he was willing to give his own for them. It was refreshing to see that what he did, although it took a long time, did have its merits in the end, and serves as a powerful message about how being kind to others will always be a good thing.
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