This is a promotional image for the popular animated television series Samurai Jack, which ran from 2001 to 2004 on Cartoon Network. Created by famed TV animator Genndy Tartakovsky, the show is a throwback to old Japanese cinema that centers on a Samurai warrior who confronts and nearly defeats his nemesis the Satanic Aku. But before he can deal the final blow, Aku opens a portal in time and sends the Samurai into a bleak, dystopian future ruled by Aku. After an encounter with some jive-talking locals, the Samurai takes on the name "Jack" as an alias and travels the world while trying to find a way back to his own time to stop Aku. Naturally, Aku tries to stop Jack from accomplishing this task.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this show. It has a number of unique traits that gives it an identity of its own. For starters, it has a distinct animation style that uses no outlines, giving it a resemblance to shadow puppetry. It fits the tone well, paving the way for colorful characters and settings. Although the animation is simple and very stylized, there are also great lighting and shading effects and crisp textures.

As great as the visuals are, they would be nothing if the show's content wasn't worthwhile as well. No problems there. Samurai Jack is an amazingly well-crafted piece of work. Each episode drips with atmosphere and imagination. Although there are many homages to classic Japanese cinema, the show always has something fresh and interesting to stand out on its own. Its most notable characteristics are high-adrenaline action sequences that can take place anywhere from underwater to inside an active volcano, and especially long sequences without dialogue. Many TV cartoons fall into a bad habit of requiring that a character say something every minute, in a heavy-handed attempt to avoid alienating the viewer. Samurai Jack subverts this tired cliche by letting the pictures do most of the talking. Most episodes have only about a few dozen lines of dialogue at most. The action scenes, in particular, are usually almost completely devoid of dialogue. This adds real tension to these sequences when it's easy to see that the characters really are fighting for their lives. Instead of stopping mid-fight to trash-talk each other, characters will communicate with each other subconsciously through subtle facial expressions and changes in their battle technique. Best of all, since these characters and the world they live in are animated, real-world laws of physics fly out the window as the characters perform stunts and feats that would be next to impossible with live actors.

All in all, Samurai Jack is a great show. It presents distinct, beautiful animation, boundless imagination, and clever use of imagery and sound.