Long ago on a distant web, I AKU the shapeshifting master of thickness UNLEASHED AN UNSPEAKABLE MEME! But a fooooooooolish goombah creator wielding a pixel sword stepped forth to appraise me. Before the final point was made, I tore open a portal in time, and FLUNG HIM INTO THE FUTURE, where Season Five is OVER! Now the fool seeks to return to the past, and reveal the real world origins of Aku...
Lag Incarnate actually if anyone remembers where Aku really came from there is an episode that explains where he is from, he was only a slimmer of black corruption that didn't get destroyed be Horus, Odin and Ishnu ( I hope I didn't butcher that God's name) and this also ties into the astroid hitting earth millions of years past, and when he had hit earth and over the decades he had became a black forest that will swallow anything whole whoever entered it, eventually when it had gotten to the point where it had became a threat to Jack's father ( I don't exactly remember his name because it's been a while since I have seen the series which was about a decade ago) so a monk had prepared a type of poison that was supposed to kill him, but when they entered the forest every single person in Jack's fathers army had been devoured by the forest and the only person who was left was the father, after he had found the center of the forest he launched the poison tipped arrow toward the sun which making it combust into flames and landing into the black tar that devoured everything, and that is where the evil is born
Aku's the only villain I can think of that can tell children fractured fairy tales and yet still retain his credibility as a badass comedic villain--that's not an easy thing to pull off.
After watching this video I can really see the inspiration of the Hannya demon in them especially with obviously Ashi. If it wasn't strongly present in Aku then his daughters do without question.
Yeah i was gonna say he's right up with the villains of mojo jojo (MMMMOOJOJOJO. That is fun to say) era of cartoons where the villian is evil but also innocently mischievous in a way children can find funny and understand.
6:08 no, the origin of Aku was seen already... he is not even from earth and is waaaaaay older than the human race, aku was the thing that killed the dinosaurs.
the hole video? yes. That particular bit of 6:08 ? no, he seriously was theorizing that Aku might have been human, which is, again, confirmed as not true.
Swift Swalow He wasn't seriously theorizing it. It was rhetorical, he was raising the question as it pertains to the mask's origin and the likely in-series reference to it. He quickly brushed it aside as though barely worth considering. And seeing as we're talking about the charcter's design origins and not series canon, yes, its entirely possible Aku was at one point planned as a female character. They could have though a corrupted female demon is a bit much for a show aimed at kids.
Hate to throw a wrench in your theory, but it was established in Season 3 that Aku originated from a formless, almost Shoggothian, mass of pure evil that took the combined forces of Rama, Odin, and Ra to defeat. A part of this mass fell to Earth and created a blight that killed off the dinosaurs. Aku never truly came to be until Jack's father tried to destroy this blight with a poisoned arrow. Given that Aku's weakness is a sword made out of pure willpower, maybe, just maybe, the face and form is representative of all the feelings that went into the creation of the poison due to the destruction the blight caused, just like how the hannya mask represents a wide variety of feelings. But that's just my theory.
I did also remember that video although that blight had no sense of will and even When Aku took his form he even tanted Jacks father "YOu Thank You it was you who set me free! with your Hocus Pocus," and yes the sword is made form the good and will of a rightous man, If the Hanna Demon is a being of Corruption then it makes sense why its one of the fe theings that can harm him. Maybe The Blight was able to feed of The fears of Jack's father, taking on this new form that had more personal agency.
Uh, in-universe, Aku is established as having been a piece of a primordial cloud of evil matter, the rest of which was annihilated by Ra, Odin, and Vishnu. The remaining piece then crashed on Earth, causing the extinction of the dinosaurs, and then became a swamp/forest of evil that affected the world for millennia. Jack's father then shot an arrow imbued with a holy elixir into the heart of this swamp/forest in an attempt to get rid of it, and thus Aku was born. Unless the primordial cloud destroyed by the gods started off as a woman (which would itself make little sense), I think we can safely say that's not where Aku came from.
Yeah, that probably should have been mentioned, but I think this video was more about what inspired Aku's design and character, rather than his actual in-show origin
except he acts like it's the origin of Aku and not you know, making up his own origin based off of cultural references. It just comes off like that is more of the problem.
Might Aku have been undergoing the process related to the mask in reverse? If so, might he have even completed it? Think about it... Chronologically in his own timeline, Aku starts as a blob of evil dark mass that gains sentience. He then fights Jack's father, is sealed away, escapes, fights Jack, and we don't see him again until Jack catches up with him an untold number of years into the future. It is only at this point we begin to see the more relateable aspects of Aku's character. It could very well be he didn't have these emotions and relateable traits in the past, but gained them over the many years between sending Jack away and meeting him again. Then Aku accidentally creates Ashi, a demonic woman who fights for evil until she is redeemed by love and compassion. Ashi winds up going back in time with Jack, and witnessing the death of Aku at Samuria Jack's hand, at which point she says something along the lines of "I can feel Aku's power leaving me". Therefore, in the brief span of time between Aku dying and Ashi ceasing to exist, the only thing left of Aku, once a non-sentient and monstrous blob of dark matter, is a normal human woman. Think about it...
His 70s SNL background showed when he was Aku, in the wittier moments. Funny enough, that actor came from a military background, having served in the Royal Japanese Navy.
Personally, I got the feeling Aku is the combined negative emotions and dark intent of the Gods themselves formed into a black mass with no shape until it lost a piece of itself which became Aku. That episode with the whole story about Chronos got me thinking about the idea, you know?
"Could he at one point been human?" You see, it's lines like that make me doubt if you watched the whole show, no disrespect. We had an Aku origin episode and he was original from a concentrated bed of evil in space, whom the gods had to defeat (with some trouble). Only a small portion of that evil survived and landed on Earth and it lived by devouring all surrounding life until Jack's dad accidentally gave him a form. No one sympathizes with Aku, he's just very entertaining when he goes through everyday life things and how he enjoys being evil in a hammy, cartoon way that while simple is enjoyable.
Kekkersboy That is true, but why throw out the question that could Aku have been human if we already know he isn't. It seems like he threw that in there to make it seem like interesting theory based on the cultural origins, but it's just not. I love what Gaijin does and he can do a lot with Aku's original influence, but that was just out of place.
Maybe he meant in terms of when they were designing him? That's kinda the entire point of the video, he's saying that maybe when they were first designing him he might have been a human with these evil traits instead of what he became.
Aku was indeed one of the more fascinating villains of my adolescent years. But for the longest time I could not tell what exactly he is. At first I thought he was a magical tree, and then I settled for a dragon, but I still wasn't sure if that was close or not.
That moment in the shell when Jack is having a conversation with Aku over directions, Aku even genuinely seeming to want to offer Jack a ride just so he is there for the fight was just so hilarious.
That was amazing! Especially considering the fact that I had to study noh theatre for one of my college classes and getting to hear, once again, about the noh masks and how they can portray different emotions based on lighting and perspective, just made me so proud that I had previously traded the research of one play for a Japanese noh play instead.
Aku is the shape shifting master of *THICCNESS* the shogun of *EXTRA THICCNESS* his nemesis is the foolish samurai warrior who wields a magic sword, his goal is to unto the future where Aku's evil is *E* *X* *T* *R* *A* *T* *H* *I* *C* *C* !!!!!
Huh, I was kinda expecting somewha of an explanation since they do show the process of Aku's creation in the show, the whole trees snapping and the ritual.
Aku's name does work in the episode "Birth of Evil" because that means the title literally means "Birth of Aku". Plus his name being Aku and nobody thinking he is not evil is smarter than in fantastic 4 with the villain being named Victor von Room who would trust someone with that name.
I feel like the Hanyas use in theater plays also lends well to Akus theatrical attitude. Hes loud and in your face, demanding attention and worship, and whenever he shows up he steals the spotlight. He never does things quietly, he always makes a spectacle of his actions, with fire and smoke, roaring sounds or spiraling around the area. It always made me feel like he was an overzealous actor in a theater play, loudly speaking his lines for all to hear, flashily moving around the stage to grab everyones attention. Hell, in the future his face and name are nearly everywhere, on flashing neon signs and giant billboard advertisements.
I feel like there's probably some cultural origins to him being tree-like. His origin episodes has some heavy tree imagery and he's been called a tree ogre by the Scotsman. There's also the fact that he's a small piece of a bigger cosmic mass of pure evil, I'm sure something like that exists in some cultures mythology. He also doesn't have to be strictly tied to Japanese myths either, it's been shown multiple religious deities and mythos actually exist in the Samurai Jack universe.
The mask thing actually makes sense when you consider Ashi... she actually goes through the transformations, albeit unwillingly to an extent... but is redeemed instead of turning full on evil.
Good video, but I find it strange that you didn't mention Aku's origins within the series itself (the primordial evil in space, the evil trees, the way Aku's body cracks and sounds like wood when he moves, ect.) I don't know if there are any cultural references in there or not, but it might have been worth investigating.
So, just like MattPat, especially with regard to the For Honor video? For what it's worth, Goombah hasn't done nearly anything as heinous as the For Honor video debacle and he's still fun to watch. MattPat killed his own credibility in my eyes, Goombah has yet to do so.
@ OniBaba Well, not everyone is an authority on a lot of the things MatPat covers, or has studied those things for that matter. Certainly not I, up until he came out with his For Honor video. I've looked into at least Viking and Knight culture, arms, and armor, as well as comparisons to Japanese arms and armor. Seeing such a blatant and brazen disregard for fact in an area I knew well was what killed his credibility for me. Had I been an authority or half as well-researched as I was on the Knights and Vikings on the other topics, I may have recognized it sooner. I'm guessing a lot more people had quite a bit of access to and knowledge about Vikings, Samurai, and Knights than they did about the other topics he covered, hence the squeak of old compared to the uproar of the For Honor video.
When I heard the "propaganda nursery rhymes" bit, I immediately started jumping up and down. It's one of the Samurai Jack episodes I remember best, and I even brought up Aku's version of Little Red Riding Hood when I was taking a unit on fairytales, and reimagining of the same, in a Writing for Children class in college. My teacher was fascinated by my example to say the least. P.S. When you brought up the Hanya mask, which I remembered from your Genji exposition video, my thoughts immediately jumped to the episode where Aku disguised himself as a woman and was temporary teammate to Samurai Jack. That's one of my favorite episodes, and the one I remember that made little 9 year old me consider that Aku was relatable, despite being evil overlord of Earth and excessive living incarnate.
Samurai Jack is easily one of the most successfully strategized kid's channel cartoon. The original series was one of the best if not the best kid's show back then. BUT, the part I loved the most is when adultswim took over they oriented the series towards the original fans, who've grown up by now, so it could be enjoyed by all. All without changing the story or atmosphere drastically while aknowledging old characters and storylines.
I think part of Aku's design was inspired by not only what you mentioned, but also from H.P. Lovecraft's Nyarlathotep since they're both: -An eldritch horrors spawned from an even BIGGER eldritch horror -Have shapeshifting abilities -Likes to causes destruction, chaos -Laughs manically -Takes a sadistic pleasure in what they do -And they both are hunted down by "divine" like entities For Nyarlothotep it's the Nodens For Aku it's Odin, Vishnu, and Ra
it seems like this connection the hanya mask puts ashi and the daughters of aku into perspective. expecially ashis heal face turn halfway through the season along with the surprise twist in episode 9.
Aku was never human, he was originally the last remaining fragment of a cosmic non sentient big black mass of darkness that Odin, Ra and Rama fought and vanquished but missed a piece of it. The fragment crashes to earth and forms a oozing black tar pit and spreads tree-like spears out of the ground that take over everything in sight. Ages past and the forest and tar pit claim victim after victim as it continues to expand. Finally times settles on Feudal Japan and Jack's father steps forth with a magic elixir and a verbal enchantment from his monks to stop the forest and tar pit. He dips the tip of an arrow in the elixir , chants and casts it to sky to catch the flame of the sun. The arrow hits the tar pit and the pit retracts several tree spears with in it and reemerge as one big spear that shifts into a sentient form - Aku.
maybe the hannya possibly inspiring Aku's design is also what lead the people behind the series to make The Daughters of Aku and Ashi (who had he own redemption arc and whatnot)
A guy in the samurai subreddit made a topic about it. He studied tea ceremonies for a good 3 years and said that the tea ceremony was pretty darn accurate. www.reddit.com/r/samuraijack/comments/68mgw6/genndy_you_nailed_the_tea_ceremony/
@@leociresi4292 I already knew what the purpose of it all was. I was just curious as to whether all of his slow deliberate actions were standard of a tea ceremony.
Aku was an ancient demonic entity that came out of a kind of celestial body of evil when the ancient gods of Earth tried to destroy it in space. It was in the background episodes of Samurai Jack’s dad.
The guy was a blob of pure evil that had a small amount crash land to earth. Then had a poison arrow shot into the pool which gave it new life and become the character we know today.
We see Aku's origin in one episode of the original run, along with the origin of Jack's sword.. There was a bigger, more terrifying evil in space who was being fought against by the gods, and a small chunk of that broke off in a fight landed in Japan near the home of Jack's father. It started growing into spires, spikes and tentacles - basically Aku without a face. Jack's father took his ordinary katana and rode into battle against the monster, but couldn't do much to hurt it - somehow this inadvertently gave it a face, a voice, and a personality. The gods gave Jack's father a new katana, blessed with enchantments to be able to harm Aku, and tasked him with driving Aku away.
@@ArawnsFire That was the shapeshifting darkness of which Aku is made, but it didn't have a personality until after encountering Jack's father and imprinting on humanity. It was _just_ chaos and darkness, formless and undirected.
In the Samurai Jack movie that involved the sword and Aku origins, Aku was a giant primordial cloud of evil and all but a small part of it was destroyed by Odin, Vishne and Ra. Aku may have adopted his current appearance due to living in Japan and seeing some similarities to the lady demon.
I like to believe that aku is a tree demon since he's only a fraction of a dark cloud in space that turned into a small shrub. Plus when you closely listen to his movements sometimes you hear cracking or snapping like a tree or a stick.
Wow, that makes Orochimaru from Naruto a pretty good representation of a hannya demon. I'm not exactly a huge Naruto fan, but this just stuck out when you described the stages of transformation.
Whatup Notification Squad? Thanks for clickin' that bell! I had an absolute BLAST researching this one, and I honestly think there's more that I missed. >_>
This was nice, but I was hoping for a bit more focus on his connection with trees and pillars. His "birth" scene is one I find really interesting. The way he rose out of the pool and the branches shifted to become his horns. His palace and the surrounding area even kept the evil forest he was in, if it was the same place. I think video on how Aku relates to the significance of shrines, pillars, and trees would be really interesting. I have passing knowledge of the subject and I'd like to hear from someone with more experience on how that may have affected Aku's design.
Good job with the video! For a little more about Aku's origin you could check out Frank Miller's comic Ronin. It's pretty old, but Samurai Jack's creators took a LOT of inspiration from samurai comics. Aku in particular is based on a demon in that comic. You might look into what references were drawn upon for that character that Aku was based on.
Aku was never human episode 1 we see how he was born out in space and 3 gods tried to kill him only for a small sliver of him to crash to earth and spent thousands of years as sort of tar pit consuming anything that got to closer until Jack's father used some toxin on it and accedentally gave aku the form we all know now and thats his origin sorry Goomba love your videos but you cant forget such a major point
I thought Aku was based on a real mythological figure when I saw the title. I even figured his name was just the first three letters in the word "akuma"
From a pure animation perspective choosing a mask notorious for it's expressive versatility is a good call when your villain is otherwise an entirely black silhouette.
I loved the audio and visual nuances of Aku’s design too. The way movement sounded like wood breaking, the way es mouth “floated” closed, how easily es design could be used to be silly and horrifying. (For example, the episode where e tries to kill Jack with the sword,) The way e talks in a comfortably strained way, like an old person with an accent. Having antlers instead of horns. Antlers are dope.
Thank you for doing this! This was super interesting and enlightening. I really appreciate the great lengths you go to in order to give us a new angle to view things and a better understanding of the world around us.
I have a late theory. Since Eastern culture is made of Balance. I think Aku was the embodiment of ‘over evil’ or when evil overbalances good. When the sword and Jack came to play, It brought balance once again.
So then, Ashi also went through the first two phases of Hannya demonism: the hardened corrupt human, and the barely salvageable humanoid form after her inner evil was given life.
I have my own mask of the kitsune or kyubi which i simply love and enjoy wearing, its is a full faced white mask with a short red ribbon and two bells and as it is a kitsune mask it has ears, I have always wanted to learn more about the cultural history behind it
its a different genre, but isn't something like the facial position on japanese mecha used to convey the emotions or gravity of the pilot, while only showing the machine; similar to how the demon masks work in the dramas?
I want to thank you GG. After your first Samurai Jack video, I went and got the first season of the show, and it's absolutely fantastic. Thank you for introducing me!
Funny enough, season 5 followed the stages of the Hannya. Ashi was being convinced of Jack's "evil" and threat to Aku, but she was reluctant at first to believe it. When she became an adult, she became the 2nd stage and let her hate and anger control her actions for the first 4 episodes. The transition from the 2nd to the final stage could be represented by her becoming the creature Aku turned her into and her inability to get out of it until Jack (who happened to be trained under Buddhist monks) saved her from it
I always thought he was a rough approximation of nylarthotep, the way he brings technology and madness to the world to destroy it, he shape shifts, he seems to just smite the world for amusement... Of course he never appears as dark Egyptian but a lot just kinda matches.
@@jerm70 aku isn't a tree in universe Also aku made robot servants in the future which is against the whole yaldabaoth flesh God thing, aku himself doesn't have flesh
Though a pretty well made video, how Aku's design was likely inspired by the Hannya mask, it would've been nice to mention, what his true origins was- That he is part of an lovecraftian entity of pure evil. I mean, its whole shape is identical to Lovecraft's Azathoth. Also I'd also mention, how Aku's relation/symbolism with trees is also quite japanese, too. When we first saw him, he was a dark, seemingly dead tree, which turned into a demon, Aku. In Japanese, more specifically shintoism, certain places in natures, lakes, waterfalls and trees, can be seen as sacred or even as gods. Therefore giving Aku also the vibe of a corrupted deity.
Gaijin I love what you do, but this time... I can't help but feel you got to dig deeper on this one. As said before me we have in-universe backstory to Aku. Maybe the masks played a part in Aku but to me it would seem more of a way of helping to round his character, a guide line if you will, to shape him into a villainous villain that could also be sympathized with and thus in a way loved. Growing up with Cartoon Network I always remember loving the way Jack and Aku's characters played off each other. Their's is a relationship that while simply good vs. evil seemed to always transcend such simple bonds. I guess what I'm getting at is. You gave Jack a very very in depth look, hell I wanna call him Ronin Jack from now on, you have to give Aku the same respect. With all the different cultures within the Samurai Jack universe there must be something more cultural tied to who and/or what the "SHAPE-SHIFTING MASTA OF DARKNESS!" is. I feel you're just the guy for the job.... Please don't let us down....
Yeah, no(h). In the two-arter _The Birth of Evil_, it's revealed that Aku was originally a primordial non-intelligent entity literally _made_ of evil, and which was so powerful that the top gods from three separate pantheons had to work together to destroy it. The entity we know as Aku was a small fragment of this entity that fell to Earth and was later accidentally given sapience by Jack's dad.
With the reference to Noh and Kabuki drama, he's officially the coolest person in the theater kid world. Both were the first styles to use women and girls for female roles.
Long ago on a distant web, I AKU the shapeshifting master of thickness UNLEASHED AN UNSPEAKABLE MEME!
But a fooooooooolish goombah creator wielding a pixel sword stepped forth to appraise me.
Before the final point was made, I tore open a portal in time, and FLUNG HIM INTO THE FUTURE, where Season Five is OVER!
Now the fool seeks to return to the past, and reveal the real world origins of Aku...
Lag Incarnate Yes. Where did he come from?
Now the fool searches through japanese perfomances of the past to DECONSTRUCT the character that is AKU!
Lag Incarnate Good job XD!
Lag Incarnate I love you
Lag Incarnate actually if anyone remembers where Aku really came from there is an episode that explains where he is from, he was only a slimmer of black corruption that didn't get destroyed be Horus, Odin and Ishnu ( I hope I didn't butcher that God's name) and this also ties into the astroid hitting earth millions of years past, and when he had hit earth and over the decades he had became a black forest that will swallow anything whole whoever entered it, eventually when it had gotten to the point where it had became a threat to Jack's father ( I don't exactly remember his name because it's been a while since I have seen the series which was about a decade ago) so a monk had prepared a type of poison that was supposed to kill him, but when they entered the forest every single person in Jack's fathers army had been devoured by the forest and the only person who was left was the father, after he had found the center of the forest he launched the poison tipped arrow toward the sun which making it combust into flames and landing into the black tar that devoured everything, and that is where the evil is born
Don't you mean
"A green face with GREAAAAAAAATT FLAMMING EYEBROWSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"
Fake, detachable eyebrows.
Zvi mur ILLIMUNATI CONFIRMED
Don't you mean
"A green 乇乂ㄒ尺卂 ㄒ卄丨匚匚 face with GREAAAAAAAAATT FLAMMING EYEBROWSSSSSSSSSSS!"
Aku's the only villain I can think of that can tell children fractured fairy tales and yet still retain his credibility as a badass comedic villain--that's not an easy thing to pull off.
He’s serious yet not.
Aku was so evil that he knew that propaganda is the most evil weapon in the world.
@@Zurcwind And had no skill in actually using it.
(During season one at least)
His original VA was on SNL in the mid-70s.
They're not massive flaming eyebrows. They're GREAT FLAMING EYEBROWS!
Jinx The Babe Cannon nice profile pic, I love that hentai
[Vi] WILL YOU GET OUT OF HERE ALREADY?! [Caitlyn] Now love. everyone can use the internet. Calm. Down. [Vi] -.-
Jinx The Babe Cannon you couldn't say they're very HOT eyebrows
Dammit, I'm eight months too late to make that joke. :(
And was beloved by all.
This actually explains the Daughters of Aku cult aside from their obvious in show origins
Talon84
Oh mah grub your right
Not really.
Their masks looked humanoid but not quite, one of them was redeemed...Shit you may be right.
After watching this video I can really see the inspiration of the Hannya demon in them especially with obviously Ashi. If it wasn't strongly present in Aku then his daughters do without question.
Mind Blown. The Daughters of Aku were a symbolfor Japanese Demons? Damn Genndy you did your homework
壬乂丁兄刄 丁廾工匸匸
Subtle, I like it...
You win the internet today.
Ucha Nekome Stop using Google translate.
michael hall I don't think you get it.
.
Aku isn't a 90s villain. Samurai Jack is strictly a 2000s cartoon
He meant he's stereotypically like a 90's villain.
Corrin Flakes Yeah, fair enough.
Yeah i was gonna say he's right up with the villains of mojo jojo (MMMMOOJOJOJO. That is fun to say) era of cartoons where the villian is evil but also innocently mischievous in a way children can find funny and understand.
Everybody knows the 90's didn't end until 2004
Zoe TV so am I a 90s kid because I was born in 2003
6:08 no, the origin of Aku was seen already... he is not even from earth and is waaaaaay older than the human race, aku was the thing that killed the dinosaurs.
He was talking about the Aku's creation as a character made by the creators not the shows origin
the hole video? yes.
That particular bit of 6:08 ? no, he seriously was theorizing that Aku might have been human, which is, again, confirmed as not true.
Swift Swalow
He wasn't seriously theorizing it. It was rhetorical, he was raising the question as it pertains to the mask's origin and the likely in-series reference to it. He quickly brushed it aside as though barely worth considering.
And seeing as we're talking about the charcter's design origins and not series canon, yes, its entirely possible Aku was at one point planned as a female character. They could have though a corrupted female demon is a bit much for a show aimed at kids.
I thought ice age kills the dinosaurs
the ice age did not kill the dinosaurs.
But Aku's a tree...
Perhaps a tree that was really, really jealous of other trees..?
A female tree?
maybe? i dunno.
really? I don't know much about plants but that's neat.
So's Exdeath from FFV, so there's that.
Hate to throw a wrench in your theory, but it was established in Season 3 that Aku originated from a formless, almost Shoggothian, mass of pure evil that took the combined forces of Rama, Odin, and Ra to defeat. A part of this mass fell to Earth and created a blight that killed off the dinosaurs. Aku never truly came to be until Jack's father tried to destroy this blight with a poisoned arrow.
Given that Aku's weakness is a sword made out of pure willpower, maybe, just maybe, the face and form is representative of all the feelings that went into the creation of the poison due to the destruction the blight caused, just like how the hannya mask represents a wide variety of feelings. But that's just my theory.
It's not so much of a theory about his in-universe origins than it is his conceptual origins like what was the thought process.
I'm guessing he (Aku)) has that mask because Tartakovsky thought it was japanese-y. Honestly, it's more just general oni-ish to me.
I did also remember that video although that blight had no sense of will and even When Aku took his form he even tanted Jacks father "YOu Thank You it was you who set me free! with your Hocus Pocus," and yes the sword is made form the good and will of a rightous man, If the Hanna Demon is a being of Corruption then it makes sense why its one of the fe theings that can harm him.
Maybe The Blight was able to feed of The fears of Jack's father, taking on this new form that had more personal agency.
Uh, in-universe, Aku is established as having been a piece of a primordial cloud of evil matter, the rest of which was annihilated by Ra, Odin, and Vishnu. The remaining piece then crashed on Earth, causing the extinction of the dinosaurs, and then became a swamp/forest of evil that affected the world for millennia. Jack's father then shot an arrow imbued with a holy elixir into the heart of this swamp/forest in an attempt to get rid of it, and thus Aku was born. Unless the primordial cloud destroyed by the gods started off as a woman (which would itself make little sense), I think we can safely say that's not where Aku came from.
something he didn't even mention....which is a failure on his part.
Yeah, that probably should have been mentioned, but I think this video was more about what inspired Aku's design and character, rather than his actual in-show origin
Dany21251 you're right, people keep forgetting that. These are about cultural origins not in universe/ story ones
Exactly. This is about the inspiration on the creation of the character. Not anything in universe.
except he acts like it's the origin of Aku and not you know, making up his own origin based off of cultural references. It just comes off like that is more of the problem.
Might Aku have been undergoing the process related to the mask in reverse? If so, might he have even completed it? Think about it...
Chronologically in his own timeline, Aku starts as a blob of evil dark mass that gains sentience. He then fights Jack's father, is sealed away, escapes, fights Jack, and we don't see him again until Jack catches up with him an untold number of years into the future. It is only at this point we begin to see the more relateable aspects of Aku's character. It could very well be he didn't have these emotions and relateable traits in the past, but gained them over the many years between sending Jack away and meeting him again.
Then Aku accidentally creates Ashi, a demonic woman who fights for evil until she is redeemed by love and compassion. Ashi winds up going back in time with Jack, and witnessing the death of Aku at Samuria Jack's hand, at which point she says something along the lines of "I can feel Aku's power leaving me". Therefore, in the brief span of time between Aku dying and Ashi ceasing to exist, the only thing left of Aku, once a non-sentient and monstrous blob of dark matter, is a normal human woman. Think about it...
TheWeirdsound
I liked your idea so here's a verbal thumbs-up. Now, to go and contemplate.
TheWeirdsound, dude. It's just a show @.@
Slitherin Salazar Some people like to theorize and go deeper into lore.
Slitherin Salazar Being someone that obviously likes Harry Potter, you should be the first to understand that lol
I don't know if that was at all intentional but it really does add up.
how did I never notice this: Aku's english voice is the same as Uncle Iro from the Last Airbender.
Yup! Mako (rest in peace) voiced both characters, though Iro was his last before his tragic end.
His 70s SNL background showed when he was Aku, in the wittier moments. Funny enough, that actor came from a military background, having served in the Royal Japanese Navy.
Honestly "Evil for the sake of being Evil" is the best motivation. Because that opens up the gates for being fabulous about it.
Personally, I got the feeling Aku is the combined negative emotions and dark intent of the Gods themselves formed into a black mass with no shape until it lost a piece of itself which became Aku.
That episode with the whole story about Chronos got me thinking about the idea, you know?
"Could he at one point been human?"
You see, it's lines like that make me doubt if you watched the whole show, no disrespect.
We had an Aku origin episode and he was original from a concentrated bed of evil in space, whom the gods had to defeat (with some trouble). Only a small portion of that evil survived and landed on Earth and it lived by devouring all surrounding life until Jack's dad accidentally gave him a form. No one sympathizes with Aku, he's just very entertaining when he goes through everyday life things and how he enjoys being evil in a hammy, cartoon way that while simple is enjoyable.
The in universe origins are irrelevant in a discussion about the out of universe reasons for a character looking they way they do.
Kekkersboy
That is true, but why throw out the question that could Aku have been human if we already know he isn't. It seems like he threw that in there to make it seem like interesting theory based on the cultural origins, but it's just not.
I love what Gaijin does and he can do a lot with Aku's original influence, but that was just out of place.
Yes I can see how that would be a bit off putting.
I expect Matpat to fuck up like that, but not Gaijin Goomba
Maybe he meant in terms of when they were designing him? That's kinda the entire point of the video, he's saying that maybe when they were first designing him he might have been a human with these evil traits instead of what he became.
Aku was indeed one of the more fascinating villains of my adolescent years. But for the longest time I could not tell what exactly he is. At first I thought he was a magical tree, and then I settled for a dragon, but I still wasn't sure if that was close or not.
SHINOBI-03 I just say they he's a primordial demon.
Same here. I mean his name is also a short version of Akuma which means demon/devil which fit Aku very well.
I mean, he essentially is a magic tree. A really, really, evil magic tree.
He's a tree. The creaking noises you hear when he stretches and moves are the swaying of a pine tree slowed down and dolled up.
That moment in the shell when Jack is having a conversation with Aku over directions, Aku even genuinely seeming to want to offer Jack a ride just so he is there for the fight was just so hilarious.
That was amazing! Especially considering the fact that I had to study noh theatre for one of my college classes and getting to hear, once again, about the noh masks and how they can portray different emotions based on lighting and perspective, just made me so proud that I had previously traded the research of one play for a Japanese noh play instead.
Aku is the shape shifting master of *THICCNESS* the shogun of *EXTRA THICCNESS*
his nemesis is the foolish samurai warrior who wields a magic sword, his goal is to unto the future where Aku's evil is
*E* *X* *T* *R* *A* *T* *H* *I* *C* *C* !!!!!
Aku vs Tetrimidion. Who would win?
Huh, I was kinda expecting somewha of an explanation since they do show the process of Aku's creation in the show, the whole trees snapping and the ritual.
Aku's name does work in the episode "Birth of Evil" because that means the title literally means "Birth of Aku".
Plus his name being Aku and nobody thinking he is not evil is smarter than in fantastic 4 with the villain being named Victor von Room who would trust someone with that name.
Birth of me?
*Thank you for appreciating me human*
I feel like the Hanyas use in theater plays also lends well to Akus theatrical attitude. Hes loud and in your face, demanding attention and worship, and whenever he shows up he steals the spotlight. He never does things quietly, he always makes a spectacle of his actions, with fire and smoke, roaring sounds or spiraling around the area. It always made me feel like he was an overzealous actor in a theater play, loudly speaking his lines for all to hear, flashily moving around the stage to grab everyones attention. Hell, in the future his face and name are nearly everywhere, on flashing neon signs and giant billboard advertisements.
YOU FOOLISH SAMURAI!
He's more of a ninja guy.
The Scotsman: ACH! Get on with it!
Flora: Dad! He's trying to speak..
Oh, sorry.
I feel like there's probably some cultural origins to him being tree-like. His origin episodes has some heavy tree imagery and he's been called a tree ogre by the Scotsman.
There's also the fact that he's a small piece of a bigger cosmic mass of pure evil, I'm sure something like that exists in some cultures mythology. He also doesn't have to be strictly tied to Japanese myths either, it's been shown multiple religious deities and mythos actually exist in the Samurai Jack universe.
The mask thing actually makes sense when you consider Ashi... she actually goes through the transformations, albeit unwillingly to an extent... but is redeemed instead of turning full on evil.
Similar to the chuunari hannya.
It's kind of hard not to love somebody who enjoys his job as much as Aku does. We are hard coded to love happy people, even when we really shouldn't.
Good video, but I find it strange that you didn't mention Aku's origins within the series itself (the primordial evil in space, the evil trees, the way Aku's body cracks and sounds like wood when he moves, ect.) I don't know if there are any cultural references in there or not, but it might have been worth investigating.
So, just like MattPat, especially with regard to the For Honor video?
For what it's worth, Goombah hasn't done nearly anything as heinous as the For Honor video debacle and he's still fun to watch. MattPat killed his own credibility in my eyes, Goombah has yet to do so.
@ OniBaba
Well, not everyone is an authority on a lot of the things MatPat covers, or has studied those things for that matter. Certainly not I, up until he came out with his For Honor video. I've looked into at least Viking and Knight culture, arms, and armor, as well as comparisons to Japanese arms and armor. Seeing such a blatant and brazen disregard for fact in an area I knew well was what killed his credibility for me. Had I been an authority or half as well-researched as I was on the Knights and Vikings on the other topics, I may have recognized it sooner.
I'm guessing a lot more people had quite a bit of access to and knowledge about Vikings, Samurai, and Knights than they did about the other topics he covered, hence the squeak of old compared to the uproar of the For Honor video.
i left after the whole ness is sans thing
I alweys asumed that black mas was the primorial nothing from before creation like a Darkness from a game by a same name
When I heard the "propaganda nursery rhymes" bit, I immediately started jumping up and down. It's one of the Samurai Jack episodes I remember best, and I even brought up Aku's version of Little Red Riding Hood when I was taking a unit on fairytales, and reimagining of the same, in a Writing for Children class in college. My teacher was fascinated by my example to say the least.
P.S. When you brought up the Hanya mask, which I remembered from your Genji exposition video, my thoughts immediately jumped to the episode where Aku disguised himself as a woman and was temporary teammate to Samurai Jack. That's one of my favorite episodes, and the one I remember that made little 9 year old me consider that Aku was relatable, despite being evil overlord of Earth and excessive living incarnate.
Samurai Jack is easily one of the most successfully strategized kid's channel cartoon. The original series was one of the best if not the best kid's show back then. BUT, the part I loved the most is when adultswim took over they oriented the series towards the original fans, who've grown up by now, so it could be enjoyed by all. All without changing the story or atmosphere drastically while aknowledging old characters and storylines.
I think part of Aku's design was inspired by not only what you mentioned, but also from H.P. Lovecraft's Nyarlathotep since they're both:
-An eldritch horrors spawned from an even BIGGER eldritch horror
-Have shapeshifting abilities
-Likes to causes destruction, chaos
-Laughs manically
-Takes a sadistic pleasure in what they do
-And they both are hunted down by "divine" like entities
For Nyarlothotep it's the Nodens
For Aku it's Odin, Vishnu, and Ra
Just hearing Aku in season 1-4 makes me sad that Mako passed away. He even voiced my favorite character, Iroh from the Last Airbender...
He was able to be witty and serious.
it seems like this connection the hanya mask puts ashi and the daughters of aku into perspective. expecially ashis heal face turn halfway through the season along with the surprise twist in episode 9.
Aku was never human, he was originally the last remaining fragment of a cosmic non sentient big black mass of darkness that Odin, Ra and Rama fought and vanquished but missed a piece of it.
The fragment crashes to earth and forms a oozing black tar pit and spreads tree-like spears out of the ground that take over everything in sight.
Ages past and the forest and tar pit claim victim after victim as it continues to expand.
Finally times settles on Feudal Japan and Jack's father steps forth with a magic elixir and a verbal enchantment from his monks to stop the forest and tar pit.
He dips the tip of an arrow in the elixir , chants and casts it to sky to catch the flame of the sun.
The arrow hits the tar pit and the pit retracts several tree spears with in it and reemerge as one big spear that shifts into a sentient form - Aku.
Samurai Jack is one of the best shows I’ve watched. Truly my childhood favorite.
Anybody think a comedy spinoff starring Aku would be a good idea for a show?
Like before Jack ended up in the future? Yeah I would watch that.
the voice actor for him died so good luck with that
Yes!
i want it so bad omg
@@nefariousrebooted6395 who also did iroh in season 3 of last airbender
maybe the hannya possibly inspiring Aku's design is also what lead the people behind the series to make The Daughters of Aku and Ashi (who had he own redemption arc and whatnot)
I have a question involveing The episode of samurai Jack were he gets his sword back, how accurate was the tea ceremony? And was it a tea ceremony?
A guy in the samurai subreddit made a topic about it. He studied tea ceremonies for a good 3 years and said that the tea ceremony was pretty darn accurate. www.reddit.com/r/samuraijack/comments/68mgw6/genndy_you_nailed_the_tea_ceremony/
abneryumac cool thanks
it gave me flashbacks to the scene in Karate Kid 2.
It was a meditation for Jack to face his own ‘Demon’ of anger
@@leociresi4292 I already knew what the purpose of it all was.
I was just curious as to whether all of his slow deliberate actions were standard of a tea ceremony.
Aku was an ancient demonic entity that came out of a kind of celestial body of evil when the ancient gods of Earth tried to destroy it in space. It was in the background episodes of Samurai Jack’s dad.
3:38 the shows original run was 2001-2004 not the 90s
What he means is that the villain is flat and easy to understand
We all know the cultural 90s didn’t end until 2005
The guy was a blob of pure evil that had a small amount crash land to earth. Then had a poison arrow shot into the pool which gave it new life and become the character we know today.
We see Aku's origin in one episode of the original run, along with the origin of Jack's sword..
There was a bigger, more terrifying evil in space who was being fought against by the gods, and a small chunk of that broke off in a fight landed in Japan near the home of Jack's father. It started growing into spires, spikes and tentacles - basically Aku without a face. Jack's father took his ordinary katana and rode into battle against the monster, but couldn't do much to hurt it - somehow this inadvertently gave it a face, a voice, and a personality.
The gods gave Jack's father a new katana, blessed with enchantments to be able to harm Aku, and tasked him with driving Aku away.
Samurai Jack ; Season 3 Episode 11 The Birth of Evil part one we see Aku being pursued across the cosmos in the beginning of time.
@@ArawnsFire That was the shapeshifting darkness of which Aku is made, but it didn't have a personality until after encountering Jack's father and imprinting on humanity. It was _just_ chaos and darkness, formless and undirected.
In the Samurai Jack movie that involved the sword and Aku origins, Aku was a giant primordial cloud of evil and all but a small part of it was destroyed by Odin, Vishne and Ra. Aku may have adopted his current appearance due to living in Japan and seeing some similarities to the lady demon.
Thumbnail: What is Aku?
Me: *E X T R A T H I C C*
I like to believe that aku is a tree demon since he's only a fraction of a dark cloud in space that turned into a small shrub. Plus when you closely listen to his movements sometimes you hear cracking or snapping like a tree or a stick.
Why didn't you talk about Aku's celestial origins at all?
I wonder how much research he did...
Same reason he kept saying the show was made in the 90s
Because its more Lovecraftian than Japanese.
Wasn’t Aku a Kabuki warrior before? Like, say, Kabuki Jo? (Circa War Gods)?
His origins are that of an cloud of evil matter. He is also a tree. Would have liked to hear more about that stuff if there was anything to cover.
But it was revealed that Aku broke off of an even larger, deadlier cosmic threat that took three gods to kill. Aku's one of it's tails. :/
Tbh i loved the episode where hes like "Oh whats this? The sword that was your father that was made to kill me in my hands?"
Aku is a Tree Ogre, at least according to what the Scotsman says.
I'm pretty sure he meant that as a insult since Aku was a tree and he's ugly as a ogre. It's like me calling someone a rock bird or something.
Wow, that makes Orochimaru from Naruto a pretty good representation of a hannya demon. I'm not exactly a huge Naruto fan, but this just stuck out when you described the stages of transformation.
Whatup Notification Squad? Thanks for clickin' that bell! I had an absolute BLAST researching this one, and I honestly think there's more that I missed. >_>
So umm...Da Ji was released in Smite...Want to talk about her since her lore was skimmed over?
Gaijin Goombah Media Do you think you could make a video about mini ninjas?
and also that kuzenbo that appeared in smite
This was nice, but I was hoping for a bit more focus on his connection with trees and pillars. His "birth" scene is one I find really interesting. The way he rose out of the pool and the branches shifted to become his horns.
His palace and the surrounding area even kept the evil forest he was in, if it was the same place. I think video on how Aku relates to the significance of shrines, pillars, and trees would be really interesting.
I have passing knowledge of the subject and I'd like to hear from someone with more experience on how that may have affected Aku's design.
Good job with the video! For a little more about Aku's origin you could check out Frank Miller's comic Ronin. It's pretty old, but Samurai Jack's creators took a LOT of inspiration from samurai comics. Aku in particular is based on a demon in that comic. You might look into what references were drawn upon for that character that Aku was based on.
I mean we all saw Aku’s origin in Season 3 Episode 11
1:08 MERMAID MAN!!!
*EVIIIL!!!*
6:15 no, in a special for samurai Jack Aku was born when Jack's father shot a magic posion arrow into a pool of darkness intending to destroy it
Aku was never human episode 1 we see how he was born out in space and 3 gods tried to kill him only for a small sliver of him to crash to earth and spent thousands of years as sort of tar pit consuming anything that got to closer until Jack's father used some toxin on it and accedentally gave aku the form we all know now and thats his origin sorry Goomba love your videos but you cant forget such a major point
You're thinking of Season 3 Ep. 11
I thought Aku was based on a real mythological figure when I saw the title. I even figured his name was just the first three letters in the word "akuma"
Aku also means 'I' in Malay.
Zedfinite in wkwkwk language
there is also the peculiar "in human form" thing where aku seems surprised jack would say that as they agree to fight.
He Gaijin I have a Suggestion will you ever be doing a Video where you Analyze the new Overwatch Skins?
Aku is shapeshifting master of darkness.
Wait, is Aku voiced by Uncle Iroh?
Used to until he died in 2006. He has been replaced by a sound alike who also voiced Iroh.
Mako Iwamatsu did it until he passed away. He was on SNL back in the 70s, but he also served in the Royal Japanese Navy.
From a pure animation perspective choosing a mask notorious for it's expressive versatility is a good call when your villain is otherwise an entirely black silhouette.
i loved samurai jack
It must be hard to endure the travails that Jack went through. I don’t think anyone could last 5 minutes in his ‘sandals’.
I loved the audio and visual nuances of Aku’s design too. The way movement sounded like wood breaking, the way es mouth “floated” closed, how easily es design could be used to be silly and horrifying. (For example, the episode where e tries to kill Jack with the sword,) The way e talks in a comfortably strained way, like an old person with an accent.
Having antlers instead of horns.
Antlers are dope.
Aku is female 4chan will have a field day with that.
I never thought to ask about Aku's real world inspiration, but I'm super glad Gaijin Goombah did this video. :D
Did you just assume akus gender?
AnimeWhaleShark AWS
It's not assuming
It's culture
How's anybody suppose to know without asking?!?
@@Gooberwares it's called common sense
I don't think a being of complete evil that existed before time itself would have a dick
Thank you for doing this! This was super interesting and enlightening. I really appreciate the great lengths you go to in order to give us a new angle to view things and a better understanding of the world around us.
E.very
V.illain
I.s
L.emons
League
Of
Super
Evil!
I have a late theory. Since Eastern culture is made of Balance. I think Aku was the embodiment of ‘over evil’ or when evil overbalances good. When the sword and Jack came to play, It brought balance once again.
So then, Ashi also went through the first two phases of Hannya demonism: the hardened corrupt human, and the barely salvageable humanoid form after her inner evil was given life.
I just finished watching season 2 and looked at my supcriptions and saw this... What a coincidence
Well THAT was certainly informative! So much I had yet to learn about Aku!
I have my own mask of the kitsune or kyubi which i simply love and enjoy wearing, its is a full faced white mask with a short red ribbon and two bells and as it is a kitsune mask it has ears, I have always wanted to learn more about the cultural history behind it
its a different genre, but isn't something like the facial position on japanese mecha used to convey the emotions or gravity of the pilot, while only showing the machine; similar to how the demon masks work in the dramas?
I want to thank you GG. After your first Samurai Jack video, I went and got the first season of the show, and it's absolutely fantastic. Thank you for introducing me!
Let's be perfectly honest: Aku wouldn't have been _HALF_ as memorable as he was without Mako voicing him.
Funny enough, season 5 followed the stages of the Hannya. Ashi was being convinced of Jack's "evil" and threat to Aku, but she was reluctant at first to believe it. When she became an adult, she became the 2nd stage and let her hate and anger control her actions for the first 4 episodes. The transition from the 2nd to the final stage could be represented by her becoming the creature Aku turned her into and her inability to get out of it until Jack (who happened to be trained under Buddhist monks) saved her from it
Did these dudes forget that theres been an entire episode dedicated to aku's origins😂
What category in purple planet did you used for the background music it so mystic and breathtaking.
Thanks I was wondering this for a long time
Wow... glad I discovered you! great content!
A new Gaijin Goombah video on my b-day?
Noice!!
Aku was a solestial blob of darkness.
a small part was sent to Earth and because of ritual, a poison arrow, was created.
This was a great episode! I can't wait for some more!!!
I see.... Aku is actually the Shape-shifting Master of Darkness. Got it
Oh my god this was uploaded on my birthday. Arigato gaijin sama
The boy will return. He will learn proper respect for Aku in The Pit of Hate.
love your videos! very thought provoking and entertaining!
I always thought he was a rough approximation of nylarthotep, the way he brings technology and madness to the world to destroy it, he shape shifts, he seems to just smite the world for amusement... Of course he never appears as dark Egyptian but a lot just kinda matches.
Yaldabaoth is a far closer answer. It explains why Aku is a tree. To refer to the Fruit of Acknowledging Evil.
@@jerm70 aku isn't a tree in universe
Also aku made robot servants in the future which is against the whole yaldabaoth flesh God thing, aku himself doesn't have flesh
Though a pretty well made video, how Aku's design was likely inspired by the Hannya mask, it would've been nice to mention, what his true origins was-
That he is part of an lovecraftian entity of pure evil. I mean, its whole shape is identical to Lovecraft's Azathoth. Also I'd also mention, how Aku's relation/symbolism with trees is also quite japanese, too. When we first saw him, he was a dark, seemingly dead tree, which turned into a demon, Aku. In Japanese, more specifically shintoism, certain places in natures, lakes, waterfalls and trees, can be seen as sacred or even as gods. Therefore giving Aku also the vibe of a corrupted deity.
I can see it.
Bravo, GG! You never disappoint! :D
I just finished binging this entire show over the past week and I was really wanting some cultural analysis on it. This makes me happy
This was very well researched, thank you. ☺
Gaijin I love what you do, but this time... I can't help but feel you got to dig deeper on this one. As said before me we have in-universe backstory to Aku. Maybe the masks played a part in Aku but to me it would seem more of a way of helping to round his character, a guide line if you will, to shape him into a villainous villain that could also be sympathized with and thus in a way loved. Growing up with Cartoon Network I always remember loving the way Jack and Aku's characters played off each other. Their's is a relationship that while simply good vs. evil seemed to always transcend such simple bonds. I guess what I'm getting at is. You gave Jack a very very in depth look, hell I wanna call him Ronin Jack from now on, you have to give Aku the same respect. With all the different cultures within the Samurai Jack universe there must be something more cultural tied to who and/or what the "SHAPE-SHIFTING MASTA OF DARKNESS!" is. I feel you're just the guy for the job.... Please don't let us down....
Yeah, no(h). In the two-arter _The Birth of Evil_, it's revealed that Aku was originally a primordial non-intelligent entity literally _made_ of evil, and which was so powerful that the top gods from three separate pantheons had to work together to destroy it. The entity we know as Aku was a small fragment of this entity that fell to Earth and was later accidentally given sapience by Jack's dad.
Somebody: heres your present
Aku: WHAAAT JOY!!!
Kudos to Genndy Tartakovsky. he has done his homework in japanese culture whilst making Samurai Jack.
With the reference to Noh and Kabuki drama, he's officially the coolest person in the theater kid world. Both were the first styles to use women and girls for female roles.