Samurai Jack Season 5 Review: Episode 8 (XCIX) (SPOILER ALERT)
Jack: It's a little, uh crowded.Ashi: Yes. Oh! Something's poking me.
Jack: Oh! I'm so sorry.
Welcome back again, fellow TopTenners and visitors! This is MSBS here with my review for the eighth episode of the fifth season of Samurai Jack! Phew, it was about time I finally caught up with my reviews of these new episodes! I didn't think I'd ever get to this point considering how busy I've been with school! I'm just relieved those AP exams are finally over and done with. Anyways, I probably shouldn't have to say this, but I'm going to say it anyway. Make sure you are caught up with the previous seven episodes and be aware that this review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS! That said, LET THE MAGIC BEGIN!
The eighth episode of the fifth season begins by taking us to the outer reaches of space, where... Uh... Wait... Is it commercial break on Toonami already? Is that the Absolution or the Vindication? Oh, wait. It's just some rectangular spaceship. Never mind. Moving on, the spaceship is slowly flying through space when it's suddenly caught in the path of incoming asteroids. A few small ones hit the ship first, though they don't do any damage to it. However, then a large asteroid impacts the spaceship, not only knocking it off course and deactivating its thrusters, but also sending it on a collision course set for Earth. Entering the planet's atmosphere while burning up, the spaceship crashes somewhere in the middle of a desert resembling the Sahara during nighttime. The next morning, Jack and Ashi stop at a marketplace in the middle of their journey to confront Aku. Jack then takes Ashi to one of the food vendors, one of which is hosted by an anthropomorphic walrus, who has quite an array of odd-looking foodstuffs. Ashi is disgusted by the food, but Jack samples one of the food, only to have his head temporarily turned into a tropical fish.
With food out of the way, Jack and Ashi then board a giant camel, to which a sexual innuendo happens when Ashi comments that something is "poking" her, where it is revealed that Jack's sword is doing so and Jack apologizes for it. After the camel departs, when Jack and Ashi try to find a place to stand at, they are suddenly crowded by a bunch of anthropomorphic green tigers wearing lettered shirts. Thus, Jack and Ashi are forced to stand very close to each other similar to how people rush to squeeze into a train and are shoved closer together in Japanese romance anime. While doing so, Jack and Ashi then try to grab a pole, but frequently have their hands touch each other accidentally in the process, making the two nervous as they awkwardly begin to develop a mutual attraction with each other, with one such sign being Jack commenting on how the temperature seems to be rising. However, this is interrupted when Jack suddenly spots that some of the tigers have shirts spelling out "Die", "Death", and "Die Samurai Jack". Realizing that they are not alone and that the tigers plan to ambush him, Jack counters a tiger's assault and proceeds to fight off the other tigers along with Ashi. Throughout the entire conflict, as Jack and Ashi take out each tiger, they accidentally make direct contact with each other, providing a good and balanced mix of action and humor as the two grow even more attracted to each other while fighting their way through the tigers. Eventually, they decide that it's best to leave their ride, doing so by breaking through one of the windows of their vehicle compartment and using the leash of the camel to swing to safety away from the tigers.
After a brief moment of Ashi hanging from Jack's body and clinging off of him, Jack and Ashi then proceed to walk on foot for the rest of their journey. Traversing through the vast Sahara desert, the two then stop at an oasis to drink water, with Jack looking even more attracted towards Ashi as he glances at her drinking water like the beauty she is. Following this, Jack then makes straw hats for both him and Ashi to wear, further making their mutual attraction towards each other even closer. However, when the two set off to continue their journey, they are suddenly caught in a sandstorm, which blows their straw hats away and forces them to seek shelter within the confines of the same spaceship that had crashed earlier in the episode. Curious of the spaceship's existence, Jack and Ashi explore it and eventually discover that it is an intergalactic prison, only to realize that all of its prisoners are nowhere to be seen. During this realization, Ashi is suddenly bitten by an alien leech. Jack then kills the leech with one slash of his sword. However, the bite is proven to be venomous as green residue starts to spread across Ashi's body. Acting quickly, Jack sucks the venom out of Ashi and is able to stop it from spreading. With Ashi saved, she and Jack then hear a loud screeching sound. Detecting the creature to be dangerous, the two decide that they must leave now before the creature finds them. Thus, the two attempt to run back to where they first entered the spaceship, only to find that it is not the same place they are looking for. Jack and Ashi then try to climb a ladder and navigate a series of catwalks to find a way out and escape the screeching creature that is now pursuing them, all while being lost within the depths of the spaceship. Eventually, they reach a huge glass prison cell that just so happens to be shattered, revealed to be the imprisonment compartment for the screeching creature that was chasing them earlier. The screeching creature in question is actually a massive horde of leeches that are the same species as the one that had bit Ashi from earlier that have the ability to group together to create monstrous forms. Having confronted Jack and Ashi, the leeches cluster to form a humanoid entity. The creature then proceeds to attack Jack and Ashi by throwing leeches from its body to bite the two. Jack and Ashi counter each of the creature's attacks, but cannot hold him off forever. So Jack cuts a ventilation line, allowing him and Ashi to escape from the creature for the time being amid the steam released from the ventilation line.
Having escaped the creature for now, Jack and Ashi stumble upon a door, which then scans them to see if they're prisoners or not. When it scans them to be the former, the door opens and leads Jack and Ashi to a storage room full of weapons. Jack then finds a computer, which explains that the creature that had attacked him and Ashi is known as Lazarus-92, an intergalactic alien criminal made of leeches that harbors regenerative and duplicative abilities. The computer goes on to show Jack a weapon designed specifically to terminate Lazarus-92. Jack tries to listen to the instructions for how to use the weapon, but when he is about to learn the initiation sequence for it, he is abruptly interrupted when Ashi accidentally sets off a laser rifle, causing him to miss the part about the initiation sequence. In spite of this, Ashi is ready to take on Lazarus-92 again, arming herself with a double-bladed spear and a shield. With no other choice, Jack and Ashi set out to defeat Lazarus-92 once and for all. Soon enough, they encounter it again, but while Ashi tries to fight it off, Jack is unable to determine the initiation sequence for the weapon. Ashi then asks Jack if she can try to figure out the initiation sequence herself, to which Jack passes her the weapon and she attempts to do so, though she doesn't find any success with it as well while Jack protects her from Lazarus-92. Unfortunately, a mass of leeches detach from Lazarus-92's body, allowing them to outflank Jack and attack Ashi. Thankfully, she is able to kill them off, but not before all of her clothes are dissolved...
Jack: Ashi, you're naked!
Don't call me an obsessive fanboy or whatever, but for some reason, a lot of moments in this episode focusing on Jack and Ashi's relationship really reminds me of Kirito and Asuna's relationship from Sword Art Online. Especially when Jack is blushing in embarrassment at Ashi's nudity. Man, that part really cracked me up! And the best part? At first, when Ashi is fighting off Lazarus-92 in the nude, it initially appeared that her private parts were censored the entire time. However, when I replayed clips of it and paused in between each passing second of it, I actually saw Ashi's butt lining! Meaning not everything was censored as I first thought it was! And trust me, that butt was EXTRA THICC! And this episode is supposed to be rated TV-PG-V? Looks more like TV-14-SV to me! Dang, Tartakovsky sure knows how to sneak in some good fanservice! EXTRA THICC FANSERVICE AT THAT!
Anyways, Jack then tries to cover up Ashi's nudity by taking off his gi and putting it over Ashi's body, claiming that she needs it for "protection". Jack and Ashi resume fighting Lazarus-92, but then the creature eventually splits itself and surrounds and circles around them. In a desperate measure, Jack attempts to once again try to find the initiation sequence to the weapon in order to completely kill Lazarus-92, leaving Ashi to cover him. However, she is only able to hold down the fort for so long as the leeches then rapidly barrage Ashi's shield protecting her and Jack. Eventually, Jack is able to successfully figure out the initiation sequence, only for the leeches to then swarm around him and Ashi. Smothered in the venomous leeches, Jack and Ashi scream in pain as they shout each other's name and continue to scream, being positioned in a very suggestive manner that makes them look like they're having sex with each other... This is even further suggested when the weapon finally activates and electrocutes the leeches along with Jack and Ashi, not only killing every single last leech, but making Jack and Ashi look like they're having sex as they scream in pain from the electrocution of the leeches that were latched to them.
Wow, I thought was watching Samurai Jack. Not a sex scene from the Fate/stay night visual novel.
That said, with the leeches finally dead, Jack and Ashi's infections from the venomous bites of the leeches are then neutralized. Subsequently, after Jack and Ashi take a moment to catch their breath, they look at each other. The episode then ends as a smash cut immediately cuts the scene of recuperation to Jack and Ashi kissing each other passionately, complete with hugging each other and making out on the lips as Dean Martin's Everybody Loves Somebody song plays throughout not only the entire kissing scene, but also the end credits as well.
Okay, so before we get to my final thoughts on this episode, I want to express my thoughts on something that has been dividing the Samurai Jack fandom for QUITE a while now. If you don't already know, ever since Jack and Ashi kissed each other and confirmed that their relationship was that of a romantic one rather than a father-daughter one, thoughts on the romance between the two have been polarizing. Basically, you have one side favoring the romantic relationship and being all happy for it, whereas you have the other side against it and in utter anger because of it. The former mainly applies to Jashi fans (Jack x Ashi shippers) while the latter happens to apply to... well, let's just say Tumblr for a simple answer. But if you want a more complex answer, there's actually quite a lot of answers when it comes to Tumblr, such as the regular Samurai Jack fans who just wanted a father-daughter relationship or even people who wanted a homosexual relationship for Ashi by shipping her with Flora, one of the Scotsman's daughters! Trust me, I'm not joking about the last part! There are actually people who ship Ashi with Flora even though she only made one appearance so far in the show! Man, I don't get what's up with Tumblr these days. After all, while Tumblr is primarily supposed to be a social media network where people can communicate with each other, it has been known in recent times to be a pretty hostile place to chat at online. Seriously, it's social media networks like Tumblr that are the reason why I don't even use them at all. Getting back to the topic at hand, you're all probably wondering what are my thoughts on this whole flame war over Jack and Ashi's relationship. Well, to be perfectly honest with you, I was actually pushing for a romantic relationship between Jack and Ashi ever since I first thought of it having the potential to happen. However, it was just that other people thinking that a father-daughter relationship was more likely to happen caused me to abandon my preference of a romance between the two. Eventually, when my friend Cartoonfan202 spoiled the ending to XCIX, I was surprised yet satisfied at the conclusion of the episode. And when I finally watched the entire episode, I still had those same feelings, yet they were slightly tenfold despite the fact that I was spoiled about the episode's major plot details. And in spite of me being skeptical for a short while over the romance when I saw people's reaction to it and being all angry and hateful of the new relationship all over the Internet, I still support the romantic relationship between Jack and Ashi. If you agree or disagree with me on my thoughts regarding Jack and Ashi's newfound romantic relationship, I would be happy to know all of your thoughts in the comments section below. That said, onto my final thoughts for the episode.
So regardless if you like the ending to the eighth episode of the fifth season of Samurai Jack or not, let's be honest here. If we separate all our feelings for the conclusion to this episode away from the actual quality of said episode, then we can see that in actuality, this was still a great episode nonetheless. Not to mention a pretty horny one as well. Kind of like how Teen Titans: The Judas Contract was pretty horny for an animated DC movie from what I heard. Basically, this episode was all good on its own. The art and animation was top-notch as always, the humor and sexual innuendos were pretty clever and hilarious, and the action was just as good as any episode of Samurai Jack. Man, I bet Tartakovsky and his team had a lot of fun producing this episode. Don't get me started again on the fact that this episode was rated TV-PG and not TV-14 despite all the suggestively sexual content! Then again, I can see how the content in this episode is not sexual enough to be considered inappropriate for children. Plus, there was no blood shown in this episode. Anyways, here is my final score for the eighth episode of the fifth season of Samurai Jack:
10.0 out of 10.0 stars
Thanks for reading and be sure to check out episode 9 of the fifth season of Samurai Jack after doing so. Until then, peace!
Everybody loves somebody sometime
Everybody falls in love somehow
Something in your kiss just told me
That sometime is now
Everybody finds somebody someplace
There's no telling where love may appear
Something in my heart keeps saying
My someplace is here
If I had it in my power
I'd arrange for every girl to have you charms
Then every minute, every hour
Everybody would find what I found in your arms
Everybody loves somebody sometime
And though my dreams were overdue
Your love made it all worth waiting
For someone like you
If I had it in my power
I'd arrange for every girl to have you charms
Then every minute, every hour
Everybody would find what I found in your arms
Everybody loves somebody sometime
And though my dreams were overdue
Your love made it all worth waiting
For someone like you
Comments
Man, it's taking nearly forever for my reviews and everyone else's detailed reviews to be approved as high-quality. I hope they get approved as HQ soon. It feels like it's taking forever for these posts to be approved. - visitor
I consider this the best ending to S5. It's like Tartakovsky simply trolled the hell out of his audience which was fantastic and the music made it even better. - visitor
I know, right? Pretty much every Tumblr user got triggered by it while having their tears being laughed at an army of Akus. - visitor