Art of Samurai Jack
/Samurai Jack is an animation series created by Genndy Tartakovsky for Cartoon Network in 2001. Tartakovsky conceived Samurai Jack after finishing his work on his first Cartoon Network original series, Dexter's Laboratory, which premiered in 1996. The series was inspired by Tartakovsky's enjoyment of the Kung Fu televised drama starring David Carradine as well as his fascination with samurai culture. On August 10, 2001, Samurai Jack premiered with a three-part made-for-TV movie called The Premiere Movie. It ran for four seasons consisting of thirteen episodes apiece until September 25, 2004, without concluding the story. A revival was produced twelve years later, resulting in a fifth season that provided a conclusion to the overarching story. The fifth season premiered on Adult Swim's Toonami block on March 11, 2017, and the final episode, which served as the series finale, aired on May 20, 2017. The episodes are directed by Tartakovsky, often in collaboration with others. The series has garnered critical acclaim, and won eight Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Animated Program, as well as six Annie Awards and an OIAF Award. The pictures on this page are a collection of artworks created for this series.
THE STORY
This is the story of a young prince from a feudal Japan kingdom, whose father was given a magical katana from three gods (Ra, Rama, and Odin) that he could and had used to defeat and imprison the supernatural shape-shifting demon Aku. After many years later, Aku escapes, takes over the land and holds the Emperor hostage, but not before the prince is sent away by his father to travel the world and train, so he can return and use the magic sword to defeat Aku. On his return, the prince turned samurai faces and almost defeats Aku, but before he can land a finishing blow, Aku creates a time portal that sends him into the distant future, with anticipation that he would be able to deal with the samurai by that time. The samurai prince arrives in a dystopian retro-futuristic Earth ruled by Aku…
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