Saturday 21 July 2018

Death Battle Predictions: Samurai Jack VS Afro Samurai

(Grand Blazer)
(RocketTrashPanda)
(Strunton)
“By the sword you did your work, and by the sword you die.”
- Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Bushido, or the “way of the blade”, was the code upheld by the samurai, the caste of warrior nobles whose presence dominated Japanese society for many centuries. Under this credo, those who have dedicated themselves to this path are sworn to uphold their duties as peacekeepers by following several key virtues, such as courage, honor, duty, loyalty, righteousness, wisdom and self-control. Many of the greatest samurai in history have all followed these tenets to different extents - even the untraditional ronin who have forsaken most of said tenets - and the same can be said for some of pop culture’s own notable examples, like these two animated adventurers.
Samurai Jack, the displaced hero of a dystopian future. Afro Samurai, the melancholic bearer of the Number One headband. With the fifth season of Death Battle already past its mid-way mark and eight bodies put seven feet under, this next fight is a straight-up sword duel which pits a man out of time seeking to avert the horrible fate that befalls his world against a vengeful soul out to spill the blood of his father’s murderer, regardless of how many lives he must take to do so. Everything from cybernetic assassins to undead nightmares and rival warriors have fallen before them in their own respective quests, and now their blades turn to each other to see who the superior samurai truly is.

Background

Samurai Jack
Long ago in a distant land, there existed Aku, a creature of black mass that bore a great and unspeakable form of evil. This self-proclaimed master of darkness sought to conquer all he saw fit, and his overwhelming power meant that no mundane weapons could possibly hope to defeat him. However, this soon changed; a feudal samurai lord was granted a magic katana with which he was able to seal Aku away with. The lord knew that this measure was temporary at best, and Aku would one day return to cause more chaos. With this in mind, he entrusted his hopes and mission to someone who in time would finish what he could not: his only son.
At the age of eight, the seal holding Aku back was broken, and the lord took up arms once more to defend his people. He sent his son away to travel the world and train with different cultures to gain the skills needed to defeat Aku in the event the worst should happen. The prince did as instructed, and returned home as a young man, armed with the same holy sword his father once wielded. He and the deity did battle, and the prince almost emerged victorious. However, a weakened Aku flung the samurai into the future in a last-ditch attempt to save himself, awaiting the day he himself would grow strong enough to become truly unstoppable.
When he came to, the prince found himself in a bleak future corrupted by Aku’s influence, completely unrecognizable from the world he had left behind. Despite his new surroundings being very hostile and unfamiliar to him, he had a firm goal in mind: to find a way to return back to the past and kill Aku before this horrible fate befalls the world. Now dubbed “Jack” thanks to a group of alien teens, the samurai began a near five-decade adventure to complete his mission, while continuing to helping the innocent and downtrodden, making new allies, learning new tricks and rebuffing Aku’s attempts to prevent him from returning home.

Afro Samurai
In an alternate version of Japan, society is dominated by the presence of the Headbands, which dictate the strongest warriors of the land. The Number One Headband, in particular, is speculated to grant its users godlike strength and immortality, making it an item that many covet. However, there are rules in place; to challenge Number One, an individual must bear the Number Two Headband, and unlike its higher-ranked counterpart, anyone can challenge and kill them. Over countless decades, the conflict over the Headbands resulted in the deaths of thousands who sought the power becoming Number One would grant them.
The bloodshed over the Headbands have impacted the lives of those left behind by those who fall in pursuit of that very power. Such is the case of a young boy named Afro, whose father Rokutaro was once Number One; he fell at the hands of a delusional gunslinger named Justice, who sought to use the Headbands to remake society as a god. Now driven by grief and revenge, Afro joined the school of a local Sword Master to learn how to wield a blade and one day avenge his father and defeat Justice himself. In his teens, he confronted his mentor over the Number Two Headband, which he had secretly possessed, and killed him over it.
As the new Number Two, Afro would spend the most of his adult life advancing to Justice’s location to exact his vengeance. Through his travels, he was forced to contend with other desperate warriors who wanted the Headband for their own ends, such as the mysterious bear-masked assassin Kuma and the assassins known as the Empty Seven Clan. In due time, Afro managed to supplant Justice as Number One and retreated into a life of solitude, knowing full well that all the death he had caused in his quest would come back to haunt him in the never-ending cycle of violence the Headbands had trapped him and countless others in.

Skills & Abilities

Samurai Jack

Weapon Mastery
Part of Jack’s training saw him master multiple hand-to-hand and weapon-based fighting styles beyond the scope of his native Japan, such as spear fighting and mounted combat from Mongol warriors, bojutsu from Shaolin Monks and stick fighting from African elders. That said, given that his main weapon is an enchanted katana, Jack’s primary forte is that of Kenjutsu.
Roughly translating to “the art of the sword”, Kenjutsu is the designated term used to describe schools of Japanese swordsmanship. Its origins date back as early as 10th century-Japanese society, when the role of the samurai had started to become revered. When the Meiji Restoration had lessened the prominence of the samurai as a profession, so did the focus on sword fighting with the rise of conventional weaponry like firearms.


Today, Kenjutsu is primarily used as a competition-based martial art meant to maintain Japanese history. It is not to be confused with Kendo, the “way of the sword”; whereas Kendo is meant to be practiced and is mostly for developing the practitioner’s body and discipline, Kenjutsu is focused more on the practical application on those skills in an actual battle, with the intent to kill or at the very least seriously injure the opposition. A proper analogy would be comparing Kendo with target or skeet shooting, and Kenjutsu with hunting or military operations.
The actual techniques taught can vary depending on the school or instructor. As a general overview, practitioners are taught to aim for vital areas, parry attacks, disarm opponents and use the environment to their advantage by any means necessary. These are usually achieved by practicing different types of kata, or forms.

Unarmed Combat
Should Jack find himself stripped of his katana or anything to use as a weapon, he has no qualms engaging in hand-to-hand combat with his opponents. It could be inferred that he has some knowledge of several martial arts from his homeland, such as Karate and Judo, but for the most part, we are shown that Jack is also extremely proficient in using foreign fighting styles as well.
Such fighting styles include different variants of Kung Fu taught to him by Shaolin monks as a young man. While Kung Fu is more of an umbrella term which refers to Chinese martial arts in general, the one practiced by the Shaolin integrates their Zen Buddhist beliefs into their practices, teaching users to be calm and aware of their surroundings through meditation and training in both unarmed and weapon-based combat. Shaolin Kung Fu is also well-known for the sheer versatility it gives its users with many different styles, like drunken boxing or imitation styles based on animals like the Mantis, Tiger, Monkey and Dragon.
Through his travels to Greece, Jack also learned the use of ancient Greek wrestling, also known as Palé. Primarily used as an Olympic sport in early Greek and Roman society, this early form of wrestling focused on throws and submission holds to force opponents to submit or pass out, and in some cases cause injury by targeting specific limbs.

Ninjutsu
During a fight against a robot ninja, it was revealed by Jack that he was trained by shinobi in the art of ninjutsu. a discipline focused on stealth, camouflage, and sabotage that uses strategies and tactics of unconventional warfare, guerrilla warfare, and espionage.
The biggest trait of Ninjutsu that Jack is skilled at is stealth, using that trait defeat a robot shinobi mastered at it in what is truly the most artistic scene of the show. He used it to hide and escape from the Daughters of Aku in Season 5.

Marksmanship
Jack also received further training in ranged combat from several mentors in his youth. The famous English outlaw Robin Hood was responsible for teaching him how to handle a bow and arrow, while Russian boyars trained him in the art of thrown projectiles like axes, daggers, bolas and hatchets. This is further reflected with his use of firearms following the 50-year time gap in Season 5, showing Jack’s further mastery despite his stance against killing.

Immortality
As a side-effect of the time portal which sent him into the future, Jack’s body has been afflicted with some form of immortality. While he can still die, it can no longer come by aging, as he has remained in youthful peak condition for more than 50 years with no major issues.

Afro Samurai

Swordsmanship
As with his opponent, Afro has also spent his childhood years learning the ways of both kenjutsu and kendo from his mentor, the Sword Master - an old associate of Rokutaro. To quickly recap, both are types of Japanese sword fighting, but the latter is meant to be meant for sport and self-defense while the former is more in line with actual combat scenarios where users can be pushed to kill if needed.
That said, Afro’s mastery of the sword is very unorthodox. By reflexes alone, he can kill normal enemies within mere seconds - even if he does not intend to, and his combat acumen is sharpened to the point where he can create new techniques in the middle of a fight fast enough to confuse enemies who seemingly have studied his moves to a tee.

Ninja Ninja
...trying to explain who this motherfucker is will be tricky, but here goes. First appearing after the death of the Sword Master, Ninja Ninja is a fast-talking ninja who seems to tail Afro wherever he goes, usually acting as an adviser for actions both in and out of a fight.


While this would normally be in violation of Death Battle’s “no outside assistance” rule, Ninja Ninja is highly believed to be a figment of Afro’s imagination, meant to represent whatever remains of his emotions and humanity. In layman’s terms, he’s not real, and the only tangible assistance he gives Afro tends to be in the form of giving advice and talking shit the way only an unrestrained Samuel L. Jackson can.
There are a few unique tidbits about Ninja Ninja that vary depending on his incarnation. The anime and game have doubled down on him being an imaginary being in that he is rarely acknowledged by others save for Afro himself and Justice. Despite not being real, he has also been shown to interact with the real world to very limited extents. In the original doujinshi and the manga it heavily takes after, Ninja Ninja is confirmed to be a real being separate from Afro.

Equipment

Samurai Jack

Katana
Jack’s main weapon is his katana, forged by the gods Odin, Ra, and Rama for the sole purpose of killing Aku and is the only weapon capable of doing so.
Initially given to Jack's father The Emperor, this sword can only be used for good. It is useless in the hands of evil, especially when there are intentions to use it for harm. This was proven when Aku tried to use it to stab Jack, only for the sword’s enchantments to protect the latter. When his father died, Jack was deemed the next person worthy to wield it after his childhood training.
Jack’s katana can cut through any mundane substance with enough force behind it. Unlike conventional weapons, it is capable of killing mystical beings such as sirens, the evil spirit of the Well of King Ozric, Aku’s supernatural minions, and Aku himself.
One glaring weakness about the katana is that it cannot destroy magically-enhanced items and beings with divine origins. Despite that, the sword is impervious to harm. It is unable to shatter upon impact on tougher substances and instead rebounds off of them. Because of this factor, Jack uses his katana to block and deflect any damage without worrying about it being damaged.
In Season 5, Jack had to pass a new test to become worthy of the sword again. As he did so, the three gods made it stronger than before by infusing it with the purity and strength of his own spirit.

White Kimono
Jack's white kimono is a traditional Japanese garment and his only piece of clothing that he had when he was sent to the future by Aku.
Despite being colored bright white, Jack has used it for stealth and is able to hide out in the light thanks to it. It's also worth noting that Jack repurpose the kimono on occasion depending on the situation. Usually in battle, the kimono gets severely damaged and Jack would rip the top half off.

Afro Samurai

Katana
Afro’s sole weapon is a katana once wielded by his father, Rokutaro. Following his death at the hands of Justice, Afro took it with him as a lasting memento, which he then used to learn the way of the sword.
As far as signature weapons go, the katana itself has no special abilities beyond its base use, but it has certainly been shown to be sharp enough to cut through tough substances and defend against any myriad of attacks Afro may face.

Number One Headband
A headband which signifies Afro’s standing as arguably the strongest warrior in his universe. Legend has it that whomsoever wears this gains god-like abilities and becomes immortal; such tales have bolstered its reputation as a sought-after item which many warriors have killed for.
The rules behind the Headbands dictate that someone can become Number One by killing them in combat and taking the Headband for themselves, but in order to do so, they must attain the Number Two Headband, which nearly anyone can challenge for.
Afro obtained the Number One Headband through a victory over Justice, although the specifics of that battle vary depending on the medium. Despite the amazing powers it is said to bestow upon its wearer, neither Afro nor any of his predecessors as Number One have ever been shown to utilize any of them in an actual fight.

Feats

Samurai Jack

Overall

Strength

Speed

Durability

Afro Samurai

Overall

Strength

Speed

Durability

Weaknesses

Samurai Jack
Given Jack’s mission has always been about enforcing justice and destroying evil, it seems rather fitting that his signature weapon’s built-in safety mechanism prevents him from using it to kill people who are pure of heart or otherwise innocent. Violating this rule has cost Jack the ability to use his sword in the interim between the fourth and fifth seasons of his show, and while he has gotten over his personal issues with being considered worthy to wield it, there exists the likelihood of said issues returning if he were to turn it into a tool for mass murder.
Jack also prefers to not take a life if he can. He often shows no restraints against monsters, the undead or inorganic life forms, but the act of killing for the first time rattled him to his very core, although he has learned to make his peace with it. Villains have also been known to use his good-natured personality against him, often by exploiting his desire to save innocent lives whenever he can; in such instances, Jack does not tend to think rationally, and this usually lands him in a trap or an unfavorable situation which places him in a disadvantage.

Afro Samurai
Afro may be his universe’s greatest warrior, but the path he took to actually attaining that spot in the first place took a heavy toll on his mental state. He is by no means actively reckless, but the many lives he’s taken and the losses that he’s had to suffer, like those of his father, Jinno and Otsuru, have seemingly made him suicidal and uncaring in the face of death itself.
The myth of the Headbands’ power seems to be more metaphorical than literal, as they do not seem to offer any sort of feasible increase in power for their users, merely acting as representations of their standing than being an amplifier in their own right. Afro Samurai Resurrection also shows that the rule dictating that only the Number 2 can challenge for the Number One Headband is traditional and can easily be discarded, like how Afro loses his Headband to someone who wasn’t wearing a Headband at all.

Summary

Samurai Jack



Advantages:
  • Has a massive edge in experience due to having fought and defeated more varied opponents while trapped in the future for more than 50 years
  • Smarter through the training he received as a child and in the future
  • Craftier and more likely to formulate strategies to exploit weaknesses in Afro’s fighting style
  • His katana’s blessing to prevent it from being used against innocents will not hinder him from fighting Afro, who has committed more than his fair share of morally questionable actions in the past
  • While he and Afro are roughly equal in speed, Jack has more feats to prove his consistency in that area
  • Has more experience in longer, drawn-out fights than Afro
  • Stronger and tougher
  • Has the range advantage and a larger variety of weaponry, if his expanded arsenal is used
  • Season 5
Disadvantages:
  • Is not as brutal as Afro
  • Season 5 took 13 goddamn years

Afro Samurai
Advantages:
  • SAMUEL. L. MOTHERFUCKING. JACKSON.
  • Roughly as fast as Jack
  • Arguably the more brutal fighter of the two and the most likely to go for the kill first
  • Better in bed
  • Has a better soundtrack. (Fucker got his music made by the RZA.)
Disadvantages:
  • Lacks Jack’s creativity
  • Beaten in terms of fighting experience
  • Loses all three areas of the stat trinity
  • His various misdeeds and the amount of people he has killed mean that he is not protected by the enchantment on Jack’s katana that prevents it from being used to kill innocents or those pure of heart
  • While brutal, his fighting style is straightforward and lacks the nuances and versatility that Jack’s training has given him
  • The actual effect the Number One headband actually gives him is very unclear, which mean that they’re unlikely able to translate into anything feasible that he could use to fight Jack

Verdicts

RocketTrashPanda
Well… congratulations to Street Fighter and Ryu. Are we just going to ignore though that Jin’s body is left in the Vault and free for Cinder to do… something with? Or that there’s this huge ass dojo on top of Haven Academy? Or the fact that Ryu and Jin were busy killing each other when they could be out there do---
...there’s probably someone out there making a Street Fighter/Tekken/RWBY fanfic now doing what I’m trying to describe but better. Probably something about how Ruby’s Silver Eyes is really the Power of Nothingness or how the Grimm are literal manifestations of the Satsui no Hado.
Oh, speaking of RWBY - fun history fact time thing or whatever: Monty Oum worked on the Afro Samurai game in 2008, and that led to meetings with Rooster Teeth and by extension, Red vs. Blue and RWBY being really, really popular way down the line. Thanks, Sam Jackson! Now, go in Death Battle and take your horrible curb-stomping like a man!


If you’re wondering why the sudden influx of RWBY-related stuff on my verdicts, heed this warning: never bet on the World Cup. As an aside, I may disregard that warning eventually because LeBron’s going to the Lakers and that obviously means we’re going to be champs again in our collective imaginations.


We’ve gone 8 years without a ring. Los Angeles needs one. Please give us one.
Anyway, we’ve gone from a few really close fights to this… and boy, this is ugly, so I might as well get this out of the way: Jack is winning. Good-bye and good night.


….oh, right. Explanations.
As I pointed out above, this fight’s a pretty decisive win for Jackie-boy. To give you an idea of just how decisive things are, let’s equalize stats first to show off where Afro is hilariously and hopelessly outgunned.


Jack’s biggest advantages in this fight all boil down to one very simple word: experience. While both he and Afro have been taught to fight since they were kids, and haven’t slacked off on their sword skills as they grew older, Jack has the benefit of having a more complete education, both in his childhood and as an adult. His travelling has given him training under mentors from all over the world, whether it was learning to be a better archer under Robin Hood’s tutelage or becoming a “better jumper” with the apes in the future.


Jack’s mastery of different fighting styles, weapon types and strategic thinking are all to a greater degree than what Afro possesses, as outside of his initial education in the Sword Master’s school, he has little to no record of ever receiving more training from other sources. He’s certainly gifted enough to subconsciously kill people through muscle memory alone, and he’s absolutely more of a killer than Jack is, but the way he fights make him no different than the many other sword users Jack fought and defeated in his past.


Look at it this way: Afro’s shown repeatedly that he can hold his own against large groups of enemies and duels with supernaturally-enhanced foes, but most of them tend to be in very straight sword fights with little to no nuance behind them, beyond an occasional dirty tactic now and then. Jack fights very similarly to him, but the difference is that Jack has more knowledge in dealing with Afro in different ways, like using stealth or hand-to-hand combat. You could argue that Afro’s duel with his droid doppelganger shows his ability to improvise and fight unpredictably, but Jack’s craftiness will also ensure that Afro himself has to watch his movements lest his attacks and strategies get punished.
Afro is also handily defeated in terms of actual combat experience. He might have spent his whole life fighting, but he doesn’t have the 50+ years Jack has, nor have any of his opponents - whether they may be generic goons or big name enemies like Kuma, the Empty Seven and Justice - ever been as varied as Jack’s rogues gallery, like Aku, the Elementals, Demongo, Lazarus-92 and the Servants of Set. Without getting into the issue of scaling, the fact that Jack has defeated a myriad of foes with different powers and strengths than Afro’s gives him the edge here as well.
There’s also the aspect of each character’s arsenals. Afro’s sole katana can’t hold a candle to the holy weapon of destiny that Jack’s own is, since Jack uses it to cut through outright mystical or spiritual entities and nearly indestructible substances - complemented with his own strength, which we’ll get into soon. This is all without considering the possibility that Jack doesn’t get any of the other weapons he’s used through the series, like his guns and polearms, which Afro has little to no shown experience using.
Afro does have the Number One Headband, but by and large, it’s nothing more than a simple strip of cloth on his forehead, and he doesn’t get any of the crazy strong powers or godlike abilities Justice often boasts of. Hell, Jack doesn’t even need to be Number Two to challenge and beat Afro, since other characters disregard this rule in Afro’s home series; hell, part of the plot behind Afro Samurai Resurrection is Afro losing the Number One Headband to someone who didn’t have the Number Two equivalent, so it stands to reason that it isn’t capable of anything special, much less being a counter to Jack’s sword.
You could point to Justice being resurrected in the anime as proof that the Number One Headband’s powers are legit, but most of the advantages Jack still mean that Afro might end up losing a few rematches if it ever came down to it. If stuff regarding fighting styles and experiences don’t sway your mind -- don’t worry, we’ll get to those areas down the line.
Speaking of that sword, Afro might be the hero of his story, but when you look at all of the honestly messed-up things he commits in the name of vengeance in everything he’s been in, there’s no way in hell that Jack’s katana won’t at least be an extra bit more effective against him. At the very least, Jack won’t have to deal with the katana disappearing and declaring him unworthy when his fight with Afro starts.
But what about Ninja Ninja? Ignoring the fact that Ninja Ninja tends to have the habit of disappearing for real the more Afro progressed into his quest to find Justice, he’s mainly just a figment of Afro’s imagination and isn’t likely to give him anything tangible to benefit off from beyond trying to call out Jack’s attacks. Even if he was supposedly real, Jack’s katana has shown the ability to cut through entities on other planes of existence, so overall, Ninja Ninja’s effect on the fight proper is pretty limited.
So just to recap, Jack already has a massive skill and experience advantage. That isn’t going to be much if Afro has the stats to counter them, yeah? In an ideal world, maybe. At the same time though, we would have gotten Mugen vs. Afro instead.


I know it’s been 8 years, but RIP Nujabes. Your legacy lives on in all those lo-fi streams on YouTube and the sleep-deprived millenials who listen to your work.
Back to my point with their stats; if Afro ends up winning the trinity to a great degree, then these advantages Jack holds won’t end up meaning much. Therein lies the issue: he doesn’t. Consider it a problem when you only have two manga volumes, five anime episodes, a movie and a video game which all cover the same story beats with little to no new information while the other guy has 62 episodes full of lots of feats to analyze and prove that he can bury you 10 times over.
Endurance? Jack’s fought with the Scotsman for over a day without rest, and is often pit in more battles which last over longer periods of time than Afro.
Speed? Afro may have dodged plasma blasts from the Afro Droid, but Jack has fought more than his fair share of laser-using enemies, and has even dodged sunlight. At best, you could argue that the Droid feat should put Afro in the same range as Jack, but the latter has more feats to prove his consistency in that area, so he gets the nod here.
Durability and destructive capability? Hilariously one-sided in Jack’s favor. Whether by direct feats (Afro tanking small explosions from RPGs and self-destructing robots vs. Jack surviving atmospheric re-entry) or scaling (Jack benefiting from this a lot more from fighting foes way above the paygrade of Afro’s rogues gallery), Jack’s strength is more than enough to withstand anything Afro can throw at him and retaliate within seconds to net a kill if he so wanted to.
(In VS lingo, that’s a roughly Building-level Afro taking on a minimum City-level Jack - that’s only minimum when Jack isn’t busy fighting really evil peeps, at which point that skyrockets to around Country if you want to be generous.)
Point is that this fight is one of the more straightforward matches that we here have called. Jack has the skills, tools, and stats needed to shut down any possible way Afro could eke out a win, making the question of such an outcome a matter of “when”, not “if.”
Afro may be Number One, but he won’t be able to do jack shit in this fight.

Struntron
Finally. One of my Top 3 most wanted DEATH BATTLEs is finally happening (now I need Madara vs Aizen and Hiei vs Sasuke to happen and my DB life will be complete)...and I hope it exceeds my expectations. Anyway, enough of me fanboying, let’s get to my thoughts on who should win.

Yeah, I’m not gonna beat around the bush here. There’s no way Jack can lose this fight in any way shape, or form. No matter how you slice it, he has all the advantages that matter. Jack’s stronger, more durable, has a better display of speed feats, you name it. But hey, let’s be nice to Afro. Let’s assume stats DO NOT matter in this fight. Let’s assume that either (A.) Jack and Afro are equal in stats or (B.)Afro dodging lasers is the equivalent of Jack dodging sunlight, which means he can keep pace with Jack just fine, and stabbing Jack in the right place with his sword is enough to kill him.

Well, even with this in mind, Jack would still come out on top. Even if they were equal in stats, Jack’s survivability is just much better than anything Afro has ever shown. Afro has taken a good amount of punishment in his series, like surviving explosions, long falls, and getting sliced up, but Jack has taken the same amount of punishment Afro has and then some. Take the time he was stabbed in the side by one of the Daughters of Aku. He suffered from continuous blood loss and didn’t heal it until 2 days later. That alone is a better endurance feat than anything Afro’s done. Not to mention that Jack has been in far more prolonged battles than Afro has, like his fight with the Scotsman or with Aku in the graveyard.
But let’s look at what DEATH BATTLE will most likely consider to be a big factor in this fight; their fighting styles. Now, I do think Afro’s ability to create new moves that not even the Afro Droid was prepared for should make him the more unpredictable fighter by default, but that doesn’t really negate the fact that Jack has a more diverse set of skills to draw upon thanks to having more training than Afro, Jack has far more experience due to being stuck in the future for over 50 years, and it’s not like Jack can’t adapt to change. The whole premise of the series is about how he adapts to the sudden change of being thrown into the future. Not to mention, Jack can use stealth, is far more craftier, strategic, and tactical than Afro, who’s pretty straightforward, and has dealt with a larger variety of opponents than Aro as well, and Jack’s opponents are far more off the wall than Afro’s. Justice and Afro’s dad are cool and all, but they don’t really hold a candle to people like Demongo, the Daughters of Aku, the Guardian, Scaramouche, Minions of Set, and of course, Aku.


And finally, let’s address the elephant in the room. Even if Jack was limited to his holy sword, it’s a much better weapon than Afro’s katana. Jack’s sword can shatter the gauntlets of Chronos, and he can boost it’s cutting power by praying to the ancestors, which allowed him to cut through the very durable adamantium metal that was used to make the Ultra Bots. Afro’s sword is pretty average compared to the Samurai Jack universe, so Jack should have NO issue slicing through Afro’s weapon. And while I won’t go into how Jack’s sword CAN affect good guys as well, it doesn’t matter. The sword is effective towards evil, and while Afro isn’t exactly a diabolical mad scientist who wants the world to suffer and conquer the world while murdering all the puppies and kitties he lays his eyes on, he’s far from being a pure of heart and has quite a lot of sins on his resume. So yeah, Jack’s sword screws him over. Oh, and this is me being generous and assuming Jack and Afro are equal in stats, but that’s not true. Jack holds an overwhelming edge in this field as well.
In the end, this fight is very clear cut. Afro’s ONLY real advantage is that he’s far more brutal than Jack, but that means very little when Jack is stronger, tougher, better trained, more experienced, and a better tactician than Afro overall. In the end, Afro is just another common enemy Jack deals with on a pretty normal basis.

So, to recap. Whether you think this is incredibly close or incredibly one-sided, Jack can’t lose. Afro should resort to another way of swording things out with Jack.




DJTiki

…and y’all said DEATH BATTLE would never have race wars.
Look where we’re at now.
Check it. This genuinely surprised my ass seeing this battle confirmed after watching Jin get the Cell treatment from Ultra Instinct Ryu. That being said, this is a horrible matchup. I’ll get into that in a bit. Much rather Afro VS Mugen, but beggars can’t be choosers. I’m glad to start seeing the mindset DEATH BATTLE has been going in producing episodes with unused series. Season 5, with the exception of how I feel about the verdict for Jin VS Ryu, has been overall a pretty positive experience. I’m just 0-1 with these verdicts. But I’ll take my L. Here’s the issue:
I want Afro to win but he doesn’t.
The crutch that holds Mr. Number 2 Headband back is honestly consistency. Afro Samurai as a series has little to work with as a five-episode series and 2 movies, one of which isn’t even canon. Let’s check the rap sheet, shall we?
Afro Samurai can cut through steel and stone— cool. Put in those speed feats and now he’s finessing bullets, explosions, and fucking plasma rifles (he has a Relativistic feat too). But where he really shines is durability: getting knocked through buildings, walls, and taking fatal wounds. He had survived multiple instances of grenade and RPG explosions. That’s impressive. You also don’t need to stretch that a normal man ain’t walking away from a filet-treatment. It’s not happening.
Now— what does Samurai Jack have. Let’s see…
Dodged refracted sunlight, kicked robotic monsters, sliced not only stone and steel but lava creatures too, and the attacks from a demon that even the Gods are scared of. Okay. That’s really fair.


Chalk that one up for Jack. That’s all DJ has to say. Clear disconnect between feats means a victory for a series that got a rushed ending… oh wait. However, I don’t think that’s how this battle is going to play out at all. The common sense in me wants to just compare megatons and meters per second with each other but that doesn’t matter.
It’s going to whoever is the more skilled.
Listen for a second. Both Jack and Afro have durability feats of tanking fatal wounds from odds way above their league. Both are incredibly crafty in how they handle their foes. Despite their durability feats, the worst shit they’ve been through, they could barely get away alive. You only need to look at Season 5 of Samurai Jack to know that he’s just gonna go fisticuffs. This is a sword fight plain-and-simple. Despite whatever they survived, a slice through the abdomen and spine is ending both of them. I don’t care what you present. Neither has anything supporting the notion they’ll survive a clean cut. They ain’t Deadpool. When you view it from this angle, the battle becomes trickier.
It becomes a battle of skill and speed rather than brute force. Sure, being stronger helps in Jack’s case but it’s not doing him any favors in the long run. It has been confirmed that Jack’s guns and other tools are not being used. Just his trusty Samurai Sword. Likewise, for Afro and his long ass katana. This is where consistency is coming in. Different versions of Afro are about as consistent as the myth of the headbands.
In one incarnation, he can battle a robot built to be better than him in every way just fine. In another incarnation, he’s getting his ass stomped by his father’s clone where he barely pulls out a W. Afro gets killed by Justice… kind of… in the first anime at the end. In Resurrection, Justice is long dead before the events of the series. Gathering all of the headbands can make you a “God” yet the holder of the Number 1 headband could get damaged outside of the Number 2. It’s more along the lines of a namesake… yet Afro jesus’d the world back together? I don’t even know.
Even when you composite it, this leaves very little up to what Afro is actually capable of and how he’s fairing against an opponent that has seen proper feats and an ending that everyone can sorta get behind as the canon. Afro is a mess is what I’m trying to say. I love you, man, but get your shit together. Afro didn’t exactly conclude his training with Sword Master to be the best he possibly could before murdering him.
On the other hand, Jack spent his early days traveling the world, gathering all the knowledge of the arts in his grasp for the express purpose to even be worthy to wield his blade. By Season 5, Jack had over 70 years of experience under his belt assuming he is at least 20 in the beginning of his journey through the future. Afro is still a traumatized child at heart. He lashes out at people whom he deem unnecessary. He seldomly takes time to learn. He’s a no-nonsense type of man. Jack’s training allowed him more time to think creatively on the fly when shit gets too hairy. Blessings from the gods don’t hurt either when your sword is literal magic.
Afro might get the jump by tenacity alone, but as Goku VS Superman puts it, tenacity only prolongs the inevitable. And you can forget about Afro getting the jump on Jack by playing possum. He’s dealt with Aku trying to sneak attack his ass plenty of times. The moment he does it’s lights out. Afro got it hard being a black man from Michigan who lost his dad, man. I can relate. Jack wins.
All in all…
I leaked the animation. You’re welcome.
...shoulda been Afro VS Mugen...

Tsubori


Alright, three cheers for Street Fighter being off that losing streak! Largest in DB history, and likely will never be surpassed, unless you count all the power rangers together. Anyway, Samurai Jack vs Afro Samurai. Do I really need to go into this? Look at the stat breakdown. Afro has at most, one single stat, and not enough for much of a sizeable advantage. Jack just holds so many other advantages that it’s pretty well impossible for Jack to lose.


Even if we gave Afro speed, it’s just… Cool. You can hit him. Certainly doesn’t mean you can hurt him. A great example is the fight against the Minions of Set. Jack can endure hits that cleave through massive stone pillars vastly larger than anything Afro went through. So already, we have Jack getting slashed by hits stronger than anything Afro could hope to cut through, and Jack has shown massive cutting feats to prove he needs all of a single hit to go through Afro’s sword… Then Afro.


This is simply a fight Afro can’t win. I’ll give him this much though, he does a bit better than I thought, he at least has the speed to tangle with Jack for a little bit. That’s really all I can say for him though. Other than that, it’s exactly as people are saying above. I can’t really add anything that hasn’t been said already. So there’s really no point beating the dead horse that is Afro. We can only imagine how much more stompy this would be if they added all of Jack’s extra tools and equipment. I’m still mad he’s not getting the Scaramouche knife. That thing was so cool!


…..
Oh, right. A pun. It may rub some people Ra, but Rama put my money on Jack, even if it isn’t b-Odin well for Afro.

VampyreNVRmore
Long ago in a distant land, Aku, the shape-shifting Master of Darkness, unleashed an unspeakable evil! But a foolish samurai warrior wielding a magic sword stepped forth to oppose him. Sounds of sword clashing Before the final blow was struck, Aku tore open a portal in time and flung him into the future, where his evil is law! Now that fool seeks to return to the past and undo the future that is Aku!
Well, that fool has finally killed Aku and is ready to kill another motherfucker. While there is no doubt that it’s a major stomp for Jack, it’s for certain that this Death Battle is gonna be…


In all seriousness, Jack does indeed take this fight for a variety of reasons. Mainly, Jack is stronger, tougher, and faster than Afro while also possessing more experience for him. While researching Jack’s feats, I became more and more confident that Afro will die to his blade.
First, let's talk about Jack’s strength. With enough force, his sword can cut through virtually anything as long as it's not a magically enchanted item or a being of divine origin. Other than that, anything’s fair game. And Jack has used it to cut apart metal objects such as flying cars, armor, and giant robots and mech suits, up to multiple at once. Not only that, he is shown strong enough to cut through supernatural monsters such as a lava monster and a hydra and other mystical beings.
As for Jack himself, he has shown to have an impressive amount of strength. He's capable of ripping off chunks of stone and metal doors, wrestle robotic sea monsters, and easily throw men and robots larger than him. Not only that, he's also able push aside large stone pillars and carry up to 4 large spider robots with a spear and heavy boulders and rocks tied to his body with ease. Some big feats were delivering a hard kick to a giant monster towards a cliff with enough force to crack it as well as throwing a spear with enough force to completely drill through the largest spider drone he has ever faced until it exploded. Alongside those, Jack can break free from blades grappling him and deflecting hits from Ashi in her infected Aku form (who can easily bust through stone walls).
While Jack’s sword can't harm anyone with a pure heart, Afro is anything but a person with a pure heart. After all, he killed his teacher for the Number 2 Headband and committed other morally questioned actions. Not only that, Afro’s own sword isn't magically enhanced and he himself isn't from divine origin. And if he needs to, which I highly doubt, Jack can call upon the spirits of his ancestors to bless his sword and make him stronger.
When it comes to speed, Jack is indeed faster. While both combatants can dodge/deflect bullets, arrows and sword strikes, Jack has been able to do more. He has caught dodged multiple projectiles such as arrows and spears from all around, predict and dodge attacks from behind, and move faster than the eye can see. He's even fast enough at running on a cliff upwards while dodging a giant laser cannon. And speaking of lasers, Jack has dodged and deflect laser blasts. You can thank his cartoon’s rating for that.
However, Jack has two greatest feats that secures his edge in speed. One is that he possesses a feat of dodging actual sunlight. Another is his famous fight against the bounty hunters, defeating them before a drop of water could hit the ground. Here's the thing, those bounty hunters had prep time. They individually planned ahead of how they were going to capture Jack before deciding to work together on a more coordinated, detailed plan. They were ready, but the samurai was still able to beat them in a fight that started with a water drop falling and ended before it could touch the ground. That's how fast Jack can take down multiple, readied opponents. And that wasn't the only time as Jack also took down 6 other opponents in a blink of an eye.
In general, Jack has shown how fast he can truly be in terms of combat and reaction. I wouldn't expect Afro to land a killing blow, let alone an actual sword strike, on Jack.
Now when it comes to durability, Jack once again takes the cake. Here's the thing, when Jack mostly fights a villain in an episode, he would always, and I mean always, receive a beating before eventually winning. (The only exception is the Guardian). He gains a lot of punishment, ranging from giant robots and mech suits to the Minions of Set to the Daughters of Aku to Aku himself. He receives all this pain yet still has the will to get back up. Now let's talk about his actual durability feats.
Jack has fell from great heights in the sky multiple times, hitting four flying cars in one occasion and hitting the ground with enough force to crack. In those occasions, he immediately gets back up uninjured. In those separate occasions, a human would get lots of broken bones or could possibly die. He has survived tanking 6 missiles and eye lasers, being crushed by giant robots, and point-blank explosions. Jack’s punishment continues has he has been repeatedly punched through a wall, had his scraped down a cliff face, and given a hit with enough force to demolish a building underneath him to rubble. Despite all that punishment, Jack shook them off and continued fight. Heck, he was electrocuted yet was still able to defeat his opponent. During a battle with the Minions of Set, they momentarily gave them a beating with their fists and blades. This was a feat as they were strong enough to cut down stone pillars with ease. Jack took all that yet was able to run and fight.
If that isn't enough, Jack has two major durability feats. One was his fight against Sumoto, a giant sumo wrestler who weighs 700 tons, in a battle dome. Jack didn't want to fight him, so he stayed where he was. Sumoto, on the other hand, jump high enough to reach the ceiling (keep in mind that battle dome was ridiculously tall) and landed directly on Jack with a belly flop. However, Jack came out fine and uninjured other than cuts he received earlier. Let me repeat, a 700 ton man jumped very high and landed on Jack yet the samurai wasn't even injured or bothered by it. That's insane. The other major feat was when Jack was in space and tanked an explosion that hurled him back to Earth. Doing so had him go into an atmospheric re-entry and crash land on the planet. Despite his spacesuit destroyed and his kimono damage, Jack got up and walked out of site like he was fine. Let me repeat that as well, Jack fell to the Earth literally from space after tanking an explosion. And after all that, he just gets up and leave like nothing happened.
Because of these two insane feats along with the other durability feats, there's no doubt in my mind that Samurai Jack also has the edge in this category.
Want more reasons to why Jack will win? Alright. Jack has the advantage in experience. Ever since he was a young boy, Jack traveled all over the world and trained under different masters. Why? Because he was preparing to fight Aku, a shape-shifting demon born from a cosmic black mass of darkness. Not some guy with a headband. And after he was flung into the future by Aku, Jack stopped aging and survived for 50 years. And because his show takes place in a Sci-Fi/Mystical/Fantasy setting, Jack has to deal with robot mercenaries, bounty hunters, and supernatural and mystical chasing after him with intent to kill. He's basically a more quality version of Guts. (Also, I've been told that Jack stomps Guts as well). Overall, Jack has face a wider variety of foes than Afro has with superpowers and technological abilities.
And while Afro is more brutal, that's not gonna do shit on Jack. As I said before, he lived in the future for 50 years fighting off foes trying to kill him. And not only that, he has fought brutal opponents as well. The Guardian and Minions of Set are good examples. Hell, the Daughters of Aku are the biggest example as they've been trained since birth to specifically kill Jack. And he beat them (in a rematch). Brutality isn't going to help you against someone who's stronger, faster, and tougher than you along with having far more training and combat experience.
It just goes to show you, Afro doesn't know Jack.
P.S., expect me to come back when fans of Broly start requesting the character more than ever this upcoming December.

Js250476

https://youtu.be/6d4ktHTW9eo (pretty hype taste of what’s to come)

So yeah Afro Samurai vs Samurai Jack a hype,long requested fight between two master Samurai Swordsman as they say “there can be only one” and unfortunate for Afro, Jack just absolutely destroys him in almost every relevant area.


Starting off with the stat trinity Jack holds a big AP/durability advantage being strong enough to to lift massive boulders,kick away large bear people,Smash apart and break free of all kinds of robots,monsters,alien,survived a castle collapsing on him Ect. But for the real juicy stuff you have him destroying a town alongside The Scotsman ( and surviving said explosion in the process), clash with Mad Jack so hard it leveled the forest around them,surviving atmospheric renter and the resulting explosion and surviving hits from the Ultrabots and ultimately defeated them (albeit with an armored gauntlet and calling upon the power of his ancestors) who previously destroyed an entire city with there attacks and depending on what you accept Jack could potentially be Island Level via Relativistic KE via his sunlight dodge feat (which I’ll cover soon) but regardless Jack takes ⅔ of the stat trinity by a pretty big margin.
Moving on to speed this one is surprisingly a lot closer than any of us thought, Jack is solidly Relativistic+ thanks to several feats like dodging several beams of sunlight (calced at 80% the speed of light), tagging a ship that was said to move at sub-light speeds,deflected a beam that was going to hit said ship and keeps up with Aku (who even in his weakest state could fly past Jupiter to Earth extremely quickly calced at 43% of lightspeed) however Afro actually has a feat where he deflected a legit laser from a robot which ironically came out to higher then Jack’s feats ( 96% the speed of light) so Afro takes speed but not by a a lot and Jack is still fast enough to keep up.
Now with that out of the way onto skill/experience Jack also takes this hands down even ignoring he’s got 50 years of living in the future over Afro,he’s fought a far more Versatile and powerful threats (including,a demonic would collector with all the souls of the greats warriors in history,a Lava monster,aliens,bounty hunters,advanced robots of all shapes and sizes,an embodiment of his own hatred that was equal to him in every way,and of course the shapeshifting master of darkness himself Aku Ect) there’s no comparison really. And adding on to his skill he’s trained in all kinds of combat from masters from all over the world ever since he was a child,defeated several of the greatest bounty hunters in the world before a drop of water could hit the ground,battled and out snuck a robot Shinobi by blending in sunlight basically making him a reverse ninja,could fight effectively even when turned into a chicken,matched the Scotsman for a whole day and is a master at adapting to his opponent and thinking of on the fly strategies even when at a disadvantage).
To quote Protodude “if Afro was in Samurai Jack he probably would be a petty thug that Jack comically knocks out in a single punch after trying to stir up trouble. If Jack was in Afro Samurai,he would take the #1 headband from Justice without putting Fourth any effort and remain the undisputed #1 for his entire life,casually defeating anybody with the #2 headband who dares to challenge him.” So yeah needless to say Jack definitely lives up to his name.
Now one last major thing I wanted to cover very quickly is a misconception about Jack’s sword was it could only harm evil and nothing else ( which most people get from Jack and the zombies) however Jack’s exact words were “in the hands of evil it could never harm an innocent” meaning this only applies when the sword is welded by someone who is evil which Jack certainly isn’t, this has been proven in the actual series itself,like when Jack’s sword could kill The Lava Monster ( who was actually an honorable warrior imprisoned by Aku in the mountain a long time ago) who actually wanted to die so he could meet a warrior’s end and join his comrades in Valhalla. Or The Aku Infection where Jack (corrupted by Aku’s essence) was capable of harming sacred monks from the mountains so yeah even if Afro was pure of heart Jack’s sword should have no trouble cutting him down.
So all in all Jack basically trumps Afro in nearly relevant area of a fight and thus should definitely win this DB if he doesn’t well https://youtu.be/E-gD9PYqSps. But in the end Afro ain’t got jack on the foolish Samurai Warrior.

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