User Reviews

Not even the greatest bounty hunters in the world put together can stop Jack! Four multicultural bounty hunters and one mysterious fifth warrior in a robotic suit, all aiming to eliminate the samurai, decide to meet in an isolated cabin and share with each other their own versions of the techniques they plan to use to destroy Jack and why they will be the one to claim the greatest of bounties. The proposed techniques range from devious to elegant, sneaky, and downright moronic in the case of the hilarious Boris. They are all debunked in turn by the armoured figure, who tells them all exactly why they will lose unless they work together to combine each of their strengths and talents into one deadly ambush. The trap is set, it is sprung...and it's all over in less than an instant as Jack turns their attacks back on them and it ends only in death for all but one of the bounty hunters. This is a skillfully executed, downright poetic episode that's practically perfect, the incredible suspense and atmosphere that leads up to the assault on Jack is something quite artful and impressive in how it's set up and plays out. I give it a ten because it's one of those kinds of stories that doesn't just do everything right, what you feel from watching it goes above and beyond that, I see it as one of their best achievements in the series. It's animations like this that stand the test of time. I love how, for how stereotyped most of the bounty hunters are, how much humorous character is put into each of them, and how each of their little spins for how they plan to murder Jack has a different animation style, with Boris' looking like a child's scrawled out drawing. And the music that plays during the scenario of the stealthy cat assassins I and Am is a certain nod to the music of Si and Am from Lady and the Tramp! And I'm pretty sure the armoured warrior turning out to be a beautiful woman underneath the suit is an allusion to Samus Aran of Metroid fame. It sure would have made for one spectacular twist if the mysterious figure had turned out to be Jack himself. That adds a little last minute drama that works brilliantly also, Princess Mira is targeting Jack for a noble cause, because she's trying to free her kingdom from Aku's reign, but Jack doesn't know her story, to him she's just another cutthroat, and so he calmly waits for her to make a move with her dagger with his back to her, but she just falls to her knees, beaten, and he simply moves on into the snowstorm, unknowing... Simply amazing.