Boomstick: So let's pit two of the best of them in a fight to the death!
Wiz: Samurai Jack, the warrior-prince lost in time.
Boomstick: And Afro Samurai, who's one cold-blooded mother-effer.
In the ninth episode of season five, two experts in the way of the sword, wanderers of dystopic futures in search of those who ruined their lives, meet in a new arena. Years of training and hardship will be pit against bloodlust and hate, the honor of a samurai versus the trickery of a ronin, for both combatants have triumphed over many in their travels, but now, Samurai Jack and Afro Samurai find a new challenge in each other as they enter into a death battle.
To kick off the episode, Wiz and Boomstick cover the history behind Samurai Jack, who in the future, would be destined to slay the shapeshifting master of darkness, Aku. Long ago, a formless black mass of evil grew in the void of space, threatening to consume the entire universe; it took the combined efforts of the gods who would become Odin, Ra, and Vishnu to burn the mass out of existence. Unbeknownst to the deities, however, a minuscule fraction of this evil escaped their wrath, eventually crash-landing in the distant land of prehistoric Japan. Millennia would follow as this fragment grew in size and power until it began to unleash an unspeakable evil upon Japan's fledgling monarchy. The emperor of the time led an army to confront the ever-expanding mass and launched an arrow enchanted with a magical poison into the heart of the evil, but his efforts proved to exacerbate the cosmic menace instead. The spreading evil, empowered by the poisoned arrow, transformed into a colossal monster known only as Aku; it would take the return of the three gods to bestow upon the emperor a magic sword capable of slaying Aku entirely. Though the eldritch horror was defeated, it would only be a momentary victory as Aku swore to return and wreak further havoc upon the world. The emperor and his wife sent their son out into the world to train, mastering all manner of martial arts and armed combat; so impressive was the prince's skill, that at the age of eight, he singlehandedly defended a village in which he trained from an invading rival tribe. Almost two decades would pass before the prince returned to confront Aku once more, donning his father's gi and sacred katana. Before the final blow was struck in their ensuing bout, Aku tore open a portal in time and flung the prince into the future, where his evil was law. Adopting the name Jack from the slang used by the denizens of this new land, the samurai warrior ventured across the landscape, seeking to return to the past and undo the future that was made in Aku's likeness.
Fortunately for Jack, his sword would prove to be the centerpiece in undoing Aku's devastation, and perhaps the only weapon capable of such. An ancient supernatural demon such as Aku is invulnerable to conventional weapons; only holy weapons are capable of even scratching him. The combined efforts of three pantheons' chief gods went into the forging of Jack's katana, and as such, it is imbued with a number of blessings; the blade is virtually indestructible and sharp enough to cut through metal, can counteract the effects of evil magic, and is even capable of absorbing and redirecting energy. The katana can only be used by those pure of heart, and in the right hands, can deliver a blow strong enough to slice other swords. As impressive as the sword is, the man who wields it is a specimen of peak physicality himself. Jack can topple stone towers and is durable enough to survive falls from atmospheric re-entry and being body slammed by a 700-ton sumo wrestler. While these feats are remarkable by themselves, the true calling card of Jack's skill is not strength or toughness, but in his mobility. Jack once defeated a team of six bounty hunters in under a second, regularly outruns automatic gunfire, and, by dodging rays of concentrated sunlight, has shown he can react and move at relativistic speeds. As for the samurai's agility, after training with several dozen tons' worth of boulders strapped to his back and limbs, he developed muscles capable of letting him reach over a hundred feet into the air in a single good jump.
Over the course of several decades wandering a world overrun by Aku's machinations, Jack has shown incredible proficiency in a number of situations. Helping those in need and defeating the myriad robot henchmen of Aku is a standard outing for the samurai prince, but even if his kind heart has provided solace to the downtrodden, it has also worked against him. Jack is gullible by nature, falling for Aku's various disguises despite the fact they all share the same color scheme as the overlord himself, and his journey to the past has been prolonged excessively due to his kindness. Several times, a time portal has presented itself to him, but the samurai gives up the opportunity to use it in service of others or for the greater good of the world. It would take fifty years of roaming the world until Jack could finally return to his home time and wipe Aku from existence once and for all; in doing so, he saved his world from ruin and ushered in a new era of peace by taking his place as the newest emperor of Japan; a poetic ending in the tale of a warrior pure of heart defeating the embodiment of pure evil.
Having finished the bio on Jack, the focus shifts over to his competition, Afro Samurai, one of many victims of the violence and bloodshed surrounding the two sacred headbands so slavishly lusted after in his world. The headbands, known as the Number One and Number Two headbands, are believed to be crafted by the gods, bestowing supernatural gifts upon whomever wears them. Further complicating matters is that the owner of the Number One headband is undisputedly considered to be the most powerful person in all the world and can only be challenged for the right to wear it by the individual holding the Number Two headband; the Number Two owner, in turn, can be challenged by anyone who crosses their way. The headbands' appearance would lead Afro down a path marred by tragedy, when at a young age, his father Rokutaro, the then-owner of the Number One headband, was felled in front of him by Justice, the owner of the Number Two headband and a former ally of Rokutaro. Justice abandoned the Number Two headband in favor of the Number One headband and was about to leave, but stopped when he discovered Afro. Seeing the distraught child holding his father's disembodied head, Justice extended to the young Afro an offer to confront him once he became more well-versed in swordplay. Thus, Afro became a hardened warrior who learned the way of the sword under the tutelage of Swordmaster, who, true to his name, was indeed a swordmaster. Afro proved to be an excellent student, but, once he discovered Swordmaster had been holding onto the Number Two headband for several years, turned on his sensei; Swordmaster attempted to talk Afro out of his desire for the headband and the suffering and hatred it fosters upon those seeking it, but his pleas fell on deaf ears and Swordmaster was slain by his pupil. The Number Two headband now his, Afro ventured out into the world, making good on Justice's offer and fully starting his road down the path of vengeance.
Under Swordmaster's guidance, Afro was taught the ways of kenjutsu and kendo; respectively, the art of swordfighting and honing the mind to better utilize kenjutsu. These trainings Afro puts to good use with his father's heirloom, a katana with a blade forty inches in length; of additional note is the fact that the sword has survived through decades of use and is incredibly durable. The few other possessions Afro keeps with him, such as a steel comb and a lit cigarette, can also serve as impromptu weapons to give him an edge in battle. Though Afro was taught bushido, the samurai honor code, his desire to exact revenge on Justice causes him to eschew those teachings, and by extension, he is not above underhanded sneak attacks, such as weaponizing his aforementioned belongings. Accompany Afro in his travels is a strange figure named Ninja Ninja, a foulmouthed jokester who commentates Afro's matches with would-be assailants. Though human in form, the exact nature of Ninja Ninja's being is unknown; the theories range from guardian to whomever wears the Number Two headband to the embodiment of Afro's emotions, forcibly suppressed for the sake of his quest; either way, Afro is one of a select few capable of even seeing Ninja Ninja and the only companion Afro has to his name. Despite his talkative nature, general cowardice, and Afro's disdain for him, Ninja Ninja can supply Afro with information that may be unknown to him and even provide substantial aid on the rare occasions he chooses to do so.
Several figures have fought Afro in their search for the Number Two headband, and he has survived his encounters with the best of them. Afro is a very tough combatant, able to slice other swords in half with nothing but his own and tear apart metallic limbs with tensile strength of over 80000 psi, while he has proven to be durable enough to withstand explosive payloads equivalent to 72 tons of TNT. Like his upcoming foe, Afro is incredibly fast to match his toughness and strength, slicing bullets in half and deflecting lasers fired at light speed from a robot clone of himself. The son of Rokutaro has learned well in the way of swordsmanship, but skill is a point of experience that eludes even him on occasion. Afro may have overcame virtually every contender seeking to take the Number Two headband from him, but he had difficulty in several of those fights. However, Afro's own training and willingness to embrace dirty tricks helps bridge the gap and ensure his dominance. By the time he confronted Justice at Mt. Sumeru to deliver on the challenge he had offered so long ago, Afro narrowly avoided death and sliced Justice to pieces, taking from him the Number One headband. By doing so, Afro had both avenged his father's death, and established his place as the greatest swordsman in the world.
Afro Samurai: Nothing personal... it's just revenge. (walks off as the lead assassin drops dead)
The two combatants have been fully studied, and they are clear to engage. One advertisement for the Blue Apron cooking service later, and now, it's time for a death battle!
The sun beats down on a lone traveler headed towards a rope bridge, the sounds of a rushing waterfall his only companion. Clad in a straw hat, the displaced swordsman, Samurai Jack, eyes the foggy road ahead and ventures forth. The sound of geta sandal clacking against wood becomes more pronounced as Jack sees another figure shrouded in the mist. Jack focuses his vision and finds the other stranger, the vengeful Afro Samurai, coming towards him. Both wandering samurai cross paths, and if only for a fleeting moment, it seems peace reigns supreme on the bridge. Such a hope is dashed when the pair stop in their tracks, Jack noting the scent of blood that stains Afro's katana, a sentiment that Afro notes applies to Jack as well. Afro begins to unsheathe his katana, neither fighter making a move...
FIGHT!
... before they dash towards one another, their blades drawn and locked. The ensuing maelstrom of action sees both samurai effortlessly parrying the other's sword swipes, even when Jack goes on the offensive, unleashing a heated assault that Afro swerves around. Afro backs away from his foe and delivers an overhead slash that Jack leaps out the path of, the ropes sustaining the bridge beginning to fray. The former holder of the Number Two headband charges forward and delivers a second overhead swipe; so intense is the force behind it that even as Jack keeps Afro's katana at bay, his straw hat is perfectly bifurcated, falling into the river below. The would-be emperor pushes Afro away after a moment, but the distance is closed once Rokutaro's son performs a spinning leap through the air, flicking a lit cigarette into Jack's face. Temporarily blinded, Jack falls to his knees, giving Afro the opportunity to end the fight once he lands; the katana is thrust forward, but Jack senses Afro's killing intent, effortlessly sidestepping the blade.
Afro is momentarily nonplussed but soldiers on, swiping at Jack to no avail; the white-clad samurai darts around every one of Afro's moves. Jack soon forces Afro onto the defensive with several rapid strikes that push him backwards. Afro steadies himself as Jack charges forward and unleashes a second volley of swings before the pain in his eyes subsides. Opening them, he sees the ropes holding the bridge nearly undone; his stoic expression shifts to one of horror upon seeing Afro's sword inches away from the rope, recomposing himself just as Afro slashes. Jack screams in despair as the bridge gives way, Afro holding on to the rope that remains taut. The son of Rokutaro hoists himself onto the lopsided bridge, when not a second later, a noted whooshing fills the air; Jack's ability to jump good enabling him to vault onto the rope. For a moment, Afro is taken aback by his foe's skill, but after Jack sheepishly accepts Afro's compliments, the fight picks back up, the prince sidestepping a thrust from Afro's blade. Jack is forced onto the defensive, inching away as he parries Afro's strikes. A strike too quick for Jack to perceive leaves a gash across his torso, and Afro capitalizes on the opportunity by furiously swinging his sword until the impact from blocking sends Jack skidding further down the rope.
An unfathomable rage becomes painted on Jack's face; ripping off the top of his gi, the displaced warrior lunges forward, delivering a wide slash across Afro's chest. The holder of the Number One headband matches Jack's fury with his own, shedding his clothing and charging back towards his foe. With a firm slash, Jack's enchanted katana is knocked out of his grasp, Jack helpless to watch as it tumbles down into the abyss. Afro thrusts forward once again, but Jack ducks under the blow, kicking the slayer of Justice in the chin. Rokutaro's katana is sent hurtling skyward and both men can only stare in dread as the blade cuts down the other rope, taking the bridge down with it. Again does Jack yell as he falls into the misty void below; meanwhile, Afro grabs onto his sword with one hand and holds onto the rope with the other, grinning as he swings to safety. In the lake at the bottom of the waterfall, Jack lies face-down, his enchanted blade behind him. As the bane of Aku comes to his senses, makes out a silhouette in the water, lengthy, with an ovoid shape at the end. His focus becomes clearer as he turns his gaze skyward, seeing Afro falling rapidly, his sword pointed in the air. Jack looks around for his sword, and gripping onto its handle, steadies his nerves. His eyes become closed as he waits for Afro's descent. Jack draws his sword as Afro touches down on the lakebed and the wandering samurai unleash their blades upon one another, a brilliant flash of light beaming from both katana at the point of impact. Silence follows in their wake.
A piercing scream fills the air as Jack's right arm is severed, sliding off his torso. Afro, meanwhile, restrains himself from expressing any reaction; only labored grunts escape him as both his arms, fully cleaved off, rest motionlessly beside his katana. The pain becomes too great for Afro to bear, a far more intense holler as he drops to his knees. Jack uprights himself and faces Afro, his katana pointed straightforward. A blinding series of slashes follows, each motion heralded by an audible swing. For a moment, nothing seems to happen as Jack walks out of the lake and sheathes his sword; but the moment hilt meets sheath, Afro's body bursts into pieces, drenching the lake with blood. The severed head of the Number One samurai floats in the water as Jack leaves the scene, donning the Number One Headband. The match itself has concluded, but as a final send-off, the screen displays a crimson-tinted view of Jack's eyes, marking the end of another stop in his search to return to the past.
K.O.!
In the wake of Afro's demise, the hosts waste no time jumping into the post-match analysis. Afro had impressive displays of skill capable of overwhelming most other swordfighters that would face him; however, Jack is anything but ordinary. Afro may have had several underhanded tricks in wait, but Jack is no stranger to opponents who use cheap tactics, and Jack's physical superiority is a point that helped him tremendously, as even lifting a 39-ton boulder while training with the "jump good" monkeys is a feat of strength that far surpasses anything Afro has been performed. Both have reacted to beams of light, but while Jack could move at 70% the speed of light, Afro's best speed feats, parrying a laser from his robot clone, have clocked in at barely a third that amount. While Afro is tough enough to withstand a souped-up RPG explosion with 72 tons of force, Jack survived atmospheric re-entry after being propelled by an explosion in outer space; factoring in his speed and the additional weight from the space suit he had on at the time, the ensuing impact was a force equivalent to 19 megatons. In addition, Jack's own katana was enchanted by gods, rendering it as far tougher than Afro's own blade. Lastly, the training Jack received from various experts and the experience from five decades of wandering Aku's wasteland lent him advantages that Afro would never have. The two samurai are both formidable warriors, but every category fell into Jack's favor by a wide margin.
Wiz: The winner is Samurai Jack!
Samurai Jack vs. Afro Samurai contains examples of:
- An Arm and a Leg: Neither fighter emerges unscathed from their final exchange of swords, but while Jack only loses one arm, Afro spends his last few seconds without either.
- Ancestral Weapon: The katanas of both combatants were inherited from their fathers.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Jack loses his arm, it's seems like a sign that he's about to lose, or at the very least is going to have a harder time fighting his opponent. Then the camera zooms out to a bloody Afro, who is shown to have come off far worse.
- Combat Compliment: The fight comes to a stop for Afro to briefly praise Jack's ability to jump good.
- Continuity Nod:
- Boomstick ribs Wizard on picking English as his college major, compared to his own degree in poultry science.
- Jack's katana is strong enough to cut through adamantium. Boomstick recalls the name being that of the substance coating Wolverine's skeleton, though Wiz dismisses it as a naming coincidence.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: And by god is it brutal. Afro can withstand an explosive payload worth 72 tons? Jack can survive atmospheric re-entry with an impact force of 19 megatons. Afro's reaction speed is 21 percent the speed of light? Jack's is 70 percent. There is no field in which Afro is even remotely close to Jack.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: As outmatched as Afro is compared to Jack, he doesn't go down without permanently maiming his opponent - Jack leaves the fight sans one arm.
- Death by Origin Story: Upon reaching the point in Afro's rundown where his father was murdered by Justice, this trope gets discussed and called out by Boomstick."Y'know, I always thought parenting was the hardest thing about being a dad, but, at this point, I think it's just actually staying alive if your kid's ever gonna do anything great."
- Delayed Causality: The fight ends on this note once Jack is finished slicing into Afro. It takes a couple of seconds for any reaction to occur, but right after Jack sheathes his blade, Afro falls apart into several pieces while spraying High-Pressure Blood.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: Unlike (almost) every other episode in the series, the battle proper is done in hand-drawn animation. By extension, this also makes it the first non-joke episode to use the style.
- Imaginary Friend: Boomstick has one mentioned in passing: Al Gundy, the talking gun. He tells Boomstick to shoot stuff.
- Ironic Echo: In the original Afro Samurai anime, Afro defeats Justice by cutting off both his arms and then slicing him to pieces. Here, Afro's the victim this time.
- Mad Scientist: As always, a staple of Wiz's character, but we learn he also attended a college exclusive to mad scientists... as well as that he still had to pick a major, and ended up choosing one with a worthless degree.
- Mythology Gag:
- Samurai Jack's rundown in both his preview and the episodes proper quote large portions of the series' original intro. In addition, his bio sheet mentions how "he's gotta get back to the past."
- Likewise, the opening of Afro Samurai's introduction is taken verbatim from the 2009 video game adaptation.
- Jack encounters Afro on a long narrow bridge surrounded by mist and gets into a sword fight with him; hearkening back to the Scotsman's debut episode, where he fought Jack under identical circumstances. Even down to getting his hat split in two in an early clash of blades.
- While creating Samurai Jack, Genndy Tartakovsky chose to have Jack fight non-human enemies so as to display the levels of intensity and violence in a standard Jidaigeki film while still making it family-friendly. Afro's extremely gory death can thus be seen as a callback to the way Aku's robot mooks are regularly dismembered and leak oil before falling apart or exploding.
- Jack chops off both of Afro's arms before slicing him to pieces, the same way that Afro defeats Justice in the original Afro Samurai anime.
- The match ends with the same eyecatch used at the end of every episode of Samurai Jack.
- Mundane Utility: The best idea Boomstick has for Jack's ability to "jump good" is recruiting him on his basketball team."Guy's got hops!"
- Noble Male, Roguish Male: Jack is a noble prince who has frequently given up chances to go back to his original time to help people in need, while Afro is a ruthless drifter who's bloodied his hands many times in order to avenge his father.
- Non-Indicative Name: As Afro Samurai murdered Swordmaster for the Number Two headband, Wiz points out that technically makes him a ronin, or a masterless samurai, rather than an actual samurai.
- No-Sell: Afro tries to blind Jack with a cigarette. Since Jack can fight just as well with his ears as his eyes, it has zero effect on him.
- Oh, Crap!: Jack only realizes he fucked up seconds before Afro's katana, which he kicked from Afro's grasp, slices the rope that's keeping the bridge up.
- Production Foreshadowing: The final blow has Samurai Jack dispose of Afro by chopping him into several chunks. The following episode features a killer who disposes of victims via the same method, and the preview even shows her doing just that.
- Red Herring: Afro's rundown spends a hefty amount of time discussing Ninja Ninja and his relation to Afro, suggesting that he might play a role in the outcome of the match (and since the original anime and game continuities portray him as an extension of Afro's consciousness, he sidesteps the no outside help rule quite handily). He is instead dismissed and his presence forgotten for the remainder of the episode.
- Sarcasm Failure: At the KO screen, Boomstick is briefly at a loss for words before inquiring as to whether Jack will be getting his arm back.
- Shout-Out:
- While describing the myriad of experts Jack received training from in his youth, Boomstick entertains the idea that the Robin Hood that taught Jack archery was the talking fox from the '73 Disney film.
- Wizard, for once, gets in on the reference action, comparing his woes as a mad scientist to those faced by Dexter.
- Boomstick, considering Ninja Ninja to be Afro Samurai's imaginary friend, proudly brags about his own, Al Gundy.
- Single-Stroke Battle: Afro descends upon Jack right as he picks up his own sword, leading to both combatants unleashing one last climactic slash to determine the victor. They are both considerably maimed as a result, with Jack losing an arm, but Afro is the loser, as he loses BOTH his arms, leaving him defenseless as Jack uses his remaining arm to finish him off.
- Slow Laser: Afro's laser-blocking feat is noted to avert this; it bounces off reflective surfaces and cuts through everything upon contact rather than exploding (as well as literally being labeled "laser beam", but that's beside the point).
- Sword Fight: Naturally, since both combatants are Samurai who use their katanas as primary weapons, both of them rely almost entirely on their swordplay (aside from Afro spitting his cigarette into Jack's face to briefly blind him).
- Take It to the Bridge: The fight opens on the two combatants crossing the bridge, up until Afro severs the ropes holding it up.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Boomstick is quite perplexed at the idea that Afro Samurai's name is literally Afro. His patience only wears thinner as he learns the names of the other characters in the series (such as the Sword Master "Sword Master" and the ninja "Ninja Ninja").
