It's even funnier when you notice the background behind the small dude changes - indicating he has been sipping this cup of tea for at least a few hours
@@Connor_Kirkpatrick It was actually just a different scene. After he starts drinking the tea, it cuts to a battle scene. Then it cuts back to him drinking the tea again. But, multiple hours HAVE passed. You'll notice behind him the sun has gone down.
Oh yeah you're right - there's a shadow that wasn't there when he was first served the tea to suggest the sun has moved quite a bit. I hadn't noticed that.
The ceremony was originally invented so a host would prove that they weren't trying to poison the guest, and you can see it in the procedure, every instrument is displayed and cleaned in front of the guest to show that there wasn't any hidden poison.
@@checkoutmyplaylistsforente8054Samurai, especially high-ranking samurai who actually had to worry about this, often traveled in retinues. I mean, it's possible, but it could easily go wrong for a dozen of different reasons. The boiling water destroyed the poison. The poison noticably changed the color of the water. The poison gives off an odor that's carried by the steam. Etc. Adding more people complicates it into a giant mess where a simple targeted assassination becomes a "Russian stealth" scenario where you may as well just go in knives out.
The same reason why the 'polite' way of sitting for the Japanese is to sit on your knees until your legs get cramped, apparently its because back in the Shogunate era it would be harder to stand up and assassinate the Shogun or the local regional Lord when you're meeting them
@@chaosomega623 That can't be right. Having sat in that position for a long time, I can state that standing up from that position is much easier and faster than from most other. In fact, if you have a weapon at your side, you can do a iaido move to instantly cut anything in front of you. So it's more the opposite. From that position you have an easier time protecting yourself from assassins.
Jonsku 666 I mean that mostly comes down to the quality of the tea leaves. No matter the pageantry surrounding it if you don’t have a good product it won’t taste good.
@@andrescrespo2514 similarly, good tea that is prepared poorly will taste just as bad, from the temperature of the water, the whisking of the tea, warming the bowl, etc
I know this is years late but.... Telling the tea master directly that the tea is terrible is actually peak rudeness during the ceremony. A lot of emphasis is placed on curtesy. There are actually specific phrases to tell someone *politely* that they screwed up.
Something I really appreciate about this scene is the little things. The way Jack looks less calm and more utterly tired. He isn’t tranquil, he’s desperately trying to pretend to be tranquil. You can feel it, something’s off the entire time. He’s doing it all perfectly, but you can feel his tension, impatience, and just barely restrained rage screaming at him to just get this stupid thing over with. You can see the cracks in the facade just from how hard he tries to be effortless. Naturally, the result is nothing more than hot leaf juice.
I've been invited to a tea ceremony before. In order to make good matcha tea, you really have to whisk it, like really put your wrist into the action until it looks foamy. Jack here did not put his whole effort into that action.
How did the class react when he said “this is terrible”? I found it hilarious cause it was so surprising from such an otherwise peaceful and tranquil scene.
An explanation in case any of you fans are confused on what's going here. Tea ceremonies are a representation of harmony, respect, purity and tranquility that we must embrace, to achieve the main purpose of a tea ceremony. First the tools of the trade: The Chakin is a small retagnular linen or hemp cloth, used mainly for wiping the tea bowl.The Tea Bowl, Chawan, are used for the tea. Depending on the seasons though, the type of bowl differs. Shallow bowls are used in the Summer, deep bowls in the winter. According to the clip here, the bowl could be a shallow, since it's sometime between Spring and Summer. The Tea Caddy, Natsume-Chaire, is a small lidded container that contains the Matcha tea. Or Japanese Green Tea in English. Tea Scoop, Chashaku, is used for scooping the Matcha into the tea bowl and are sometimes made of bamboo. And Tea Whisk, Chasen, also made from bamboo at times and used to whisk the hot water and Matcha together. According to the Wikipedia article on the Tea Ceremony, "Every action in sadō - how a kettle is used, how a teacup is examined, how tea is scooped into a cup - is performed in a very specific way, and may be thought of as a procedure or technique. The procedures performed in sadō are called, collectively, temae. The act of performing these procedures during a chaji is called "doing temae"." What Jack displayed here is a perfect example of such procedures! Let's look at the type of Temae in this scene. There are four types of Temae though: Chabako Temae (Called that because the equipment is removed from and then replaced in a special box. This Temae is used for tea ceremonies outside.) Hakobi Temae (Everything is carried into the room, except the hot water kettle) Obon Temae (A simple procedure for making Usucha, thin tea, the equipment are placed on a tray and the water is prepared in a kettle known as the Tetsubin (Heated on a brazier), and this is the first Temae learned.) Ryurei, where the host and guests sit at tables and an assistant is there. Again, this is where the scene in here comes in. From the looks of it, it looks like the type of Temae is an Obon or a Hakobi. The procedures Jack does is as according to the Wikipedia article: "The host then enters, ritually cleanses each utensil-including the tea bowl, whisk, and tea scoop-in the presence of the guests in a precise order and using prescribed motions, and places them in an exact arrangement according to the particular temae procedure being performed. When the preparation of the utensils is complete, the host prepares thick tea." There's more to the procedures, but I don't think there was time, and tea ceremonies usually take minutes to hours, depending on the type of ceremony. Plus, it was just Jack and the monk. I apologize if this was long, but I figured this would lessen the confusion on the process. Here's the link to the Wikipedia article on Tea Ceremony: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_tea_ceremony Also, you can look up videos on Tea Ceremonies on RU-vid. I highly suggest an episode from Japanology, which has a better explanation on the subject.
You said that this represents purity, respect and harmony, so the fact that the tea Jack made was terrible means that he is unbalanced given his inner demon, right? That's good writing.
50 years of total chaos, survival, fighting for your life, and losing your sanity. Yet jack remembers how to perform a perfectly flawless tea ceremony with 0 mistakes.
But his loss of sanity is why the tea tastes terrible. The ceremony promotes inner-peace, discipline, and calmness. If any one detail is missing, the tea will be a failure.
Thats how I felt after making yakisoba for my coworkers at the company potluck and no one ate what i made. 😢 oh well. I just will buy chips next time, and they can't complain. 😂
@@52flyingbicycles Ehm... I believe those weren't robots. Unlike previous seasons of Samurai Jack, the last season was made for Adult Swim, so they were able to give us some "real" bloody fights, with "living" people bleeding and dying in fights. Like Ashi's sisters.
Tartakovsky's always been just as good with slow, quiet scenes as he is with high-octane action. The original seasons of Samurai Jack were often opened by long, slow moments of scenery or travelling or some such.
@@52flyingbicyclesnah the old Jack had robots because he wasn’t allowed to carve up living beings because of the network… they didn’t have that problem in the final season
Like, I was thinking the whole time, this is just the art of animation. The silence of the scene allowing the scene itself to portray something simple and beautiful it it's own right. But then the monk spoke, and I realized this is comedy gold as well. The slow, silent tea ceremony was a long build up for a simple, yet brilliant punchline. Bravo to everyone who made this show what it is.
Genndy Tartakovksy is your man. He's a genius. Recently started a new show too, by the name or Primal. Should give it a peep if you enjoy Samurai Jack.
Genndy is a MASTER at scenes like this. No dialogue or virtually no dialogue needed for the scene to possess its weight and significance. Just let the scene play itself out and show off what words cannot
I just noticed the way he places the utensils on the floor; none of it is symmetrical with the lines on the floor underneath. He lacks balance from the beginning. That's an amazing detail I always overlooked until now; what amazing writing this show had!
The rest of the tools seemed symmetrical, but the ladle wasn't. And if he used too many scoops of tea and not mixed properly, the tea wasn't gonna be as good, even if he had the right ingredients.
The reason why is because the Tea Ceremony he performed lacked a very crucial ingredient, which is inner piece. It may have been satisfying for US to watch, but it was ruined from the start because of Jack's inner turmoil.
If you don’t mind my asking, why did he pour that first cup of water before making the tea? Was he rinsing the cup? And is that part of the ceremony? This scene is amazing, and I’m curious.
I think the key thing to watch here from a character standpoint is jacks face and expression during all this. He’s doing all the moves correctly, perfectly. But his expression and posture shows that’s all it is: robotic actions. He has forgotten why the ceremony is important and is too angry, tired and frustrated to find the balance to enjoy it. Thus, terrible
In all honesty, they never did explain what kind of Match/Green Tea it was, but I think it was one of those powdered Green Teas, specifically made for Tea Ceremonies.
Maybe it is matcha, but the way they animate it made it look like tea leaves. After all, if it's tea leaves then this step (1:37) is completely unnecessary, since the point of whisking the tea is to blend the powder and water evenly. If it's tea leaves you just let it sit in the hot water for a while
It’s so amazing how much detail and respect went into the traditional Japanese aspects of Jack. It would have been easy to make a stereotypical samurai who has a funny voice and an impossibly sharp sword, but instead we have a character who feels like a real Japanese person, dealing with extraordinary circumstances through the lense of a traditional Japanese samurai, not a caricature of what Americans think samurai are like.
Would had been better if they had cast an actual Japanese voice actor to play Jack. (The series did start in the 2000's, and nobody really gave a crap about that back then the way they do now. And yes, Phil Lamarr's voice work is pretty iconic, and we did get one actual Japanese actor giving one of his best performances; RIP Mako. (But I'm still a LITTLE salty.))
@@youraftermyrobotbee Or, perhaps the person who did the best job gets the role of an animated character, and not because of the arbitrary reason of matching the ethnicity.
It just clicked that the tea ceremony has been virtually unchanged since Jack learned it as a child. Talk about perseverance for tradition. Traditions tend to fall out of practice, be it holidays tied to religions no longer worshipped or festivals deemed unfit with the current era, but for this to stick around after so long is a bit heartwarming.
@@ChaldeaWarmastergiven some of the things they were doing were foreign even to Jack, things did change somewhat, although for the most part yes, pretty much unchanged.
Tartakovsky is the absolute master at creating scenes with no audio, yet are packed with so much character and emotion. I'm not a huge fan of how this season ended, but scenes like this still made it a masterpiece.
It's not no audio, it's the dialog that he removed. Many scenes in Samurai Jack would lose something if they didn't have the wonderful audio design. The Blind Archers episode especially
@@denmark1226 Yes, crap, that's what I meant. No audio would be weird. The gentle stirring of the water, the tap of the ladle on the pot, it all adds to the scene.
He knows what to do, but there's no passion, no soul behind it. He's going through the motions like a machine, ironically making him similar to Aku's minions. Outwardly he's calm and collected, but internally he's being torn apart by self-loathing, rage and dispair.
Some might find this all boring. But be assured, the Tea Ceremony (otherwise known as the Cha-no-yu or The Way of Tea) is as important for Samurai to learn as using a blade. It helps teach them discipline, focus and peace of mind; as shown when the monk said the tea lacked balance
sadlobster1 and he was unbalanced and therefore unworthy to wield his blade yet because Mad Jack had essentially made his head sweat and his fingers tremble.
For a person who will dedicate a big portion of his life to hack and slash and cover his body and face in the blood of his enemies, being able to slow down and do such a slow-paced ceremony to make tea... Yeah I can see how this kind of discipline is important.
The interesting part is the scene is not meant to be relaxing at all, you can see Jack is tense. He is not as he needs to be to do this right. That's why there was no balance.
@@AdmiralStoicRum it’s more by this point Jack has lost his spirit, fighting all that time without aging. He’s tried. You can see him just going through the motions without appreciating the meaning behind them
@@doomedbringer agreed, which is the entire point of the scene. Tartakovsky's works have always been phenomenal for their quiet portrayals of events, letting the scene tell the story
This is surprisingly accurate they took out a few things but it’s understandable since they have a limited amount of time to actually show the ceremony
@@pugasaurusrex8253 Yeah no....I have tasted Peruvian coffee and I can say without any doubt so far It has been very disappointing. so far the best coffees i have drank in peru have been Columbian....i am not columbian...I also tastes the most popular brand of coffee peru has to offer and is meh.
To give you an idea of how brilliant this scene is: From the moment Jack sits down and starts to make the tea everything, and I mean every single thing he does is either crooked, off center, or not balanced/aligned properly. You might not have seen it, but your brain did.
@@jamilgonzaga7081 then I think you've misunderstood the scene. The while point in the episode is that he's messed up on the inside and dealing with inner Desmond throwing off his balance.
@@jamilgonzaga7081Him bowing down so suddenly that it even sounds like hitting something, just as fast as he's drooping the tools shows how it becaneva meabsvto an end (the sword) nkt about the ceremony itself.
I love this scene. How tranquil and peaceful it is. How much detail went into the traditional tea ceremony. And I can't help but laugh every time the monk goes "This is terrible"
They really did put a lot of thought into this traditional Japanese ceremony, from the movements to the order of the rituals, they did a great job trying to show another culture traditions and arts.
@@Lugo428 Generally speaking, when you drink from the tea bowl, you avoid drinking it from it's front. It seems to be one of the trickiest things in tea ceremonies as some bowls may have no design at all and you wouldn't even know which side to drink.
holy crap the attention to detail here is amazing, he got every step down perfectly, from the way he snapped the towel to clean the bowl with hot water first.
It's amazing. You get the feeling that this is important. No words are said but it's the feeling one gets knowing that this is a special ceremoney and it has a lot of messages.
He did all that just to be insulted lol But it was to help Jack realize what was wrong with him and regains who he was before he started doubting himself
Comedy aside, the level of detail devoted to the ceremony -- down to the order in which the utensils are laid out and the the formal wiping of the chashaku and chawan -- is lovely.
Something that someone pointed out to me recently, is that the Monk never actually says the TEA is terrible. In fact, it's more likely he is referring to Jack's current state. Jack lost the sword, had to forgo his code against the killing of other living creatures, and most importantly, lost his Bushido (Literally 'Path of the Warrior', a set of rules that focus on honor, loyalty, and justice). He became ruled over by Mad Jack, and was, well, unbalanced spiritually. Since the start of the season, he's been essentially running from his problems, refusing to deal with them while he searches for something to magically fix all of them. He still retains his morals and noble heart, the pieces are still all there for him to be his true self, but they remain scattered due to Jack's fear. However, we, like Jack, assume he is talking about the tea and disrespecting him. But the Monk never actually insults Jack. From a contextual viewpoint, he points out Jack is a mess, and that is why he is unable to find the path to reclaiming the sword. He cannot tell Jack where to go or what to do, because only Jack knows his own path forwards. And to find that path, Jack obviously has to earn it. He cannot passively wander aimlessly and just hope to find it. He has to seek it out himself. Jack finds his Bushido again by getting rid of Mad Jack, the embodiment of his trauma and darkness that had clouded his path and led him astray, and that is what allows him to meet the gods and earn the sword.
So I have been learning tea ceremony in college, I will say the process of what he is doing is.. Technically correct, however his form, hand placement, technique, not to mention his dress code is in fact.. Quite Terrible. All things considered I think they did an ok job of showcasing the tea utensils at least. BUT! The red Cloth he uses (fukusa) is the wrong color. Red is for women, men use a purple one. Edit: I read the Wikipedia page and noticed they failed to mention the Fukusa (red or purple cloth) and the practice of Fukusa Sabaki (folding and purification with that cloth). They did name the other napkin Chakin (white cloth) used for the wiping and purification and is always damp with water. But the red Fukusa (depicted in the video) is used for symbolic purification and is not supposed to be wet. It is the first thing practicing students will learn how to do. The Wikipedia page is pretty much accurate about the basics and is a pretty good source to check out for the names of most utensils.
@@Brutalyte616 unfortunately that should not be a factor during a tea ceremony. Both host and guest are supposed to bring it with them upon invitation (proof they have tea training). Without the right tools he wouldnt be allowed to perform. Even during just our practice or training we aren't allowed to participate without having the proper tools.
@@dannyboygregory-mccormick9157 ...You understand that Jack is astrally projecting himself to meet with this monk, and he's a half-naked, penniless wanderer, therefore it would somewhat outrageous to expect him to have everything he needs to perform the ceremony. Either the ceremony is, as MysteriousStrangerVA put it, representative entirely of his own psyche, or Jack simply used what the monk had available for him to use. I mean I'm pretty sure all this stuff belongs to the monk anyways and he is the host, not Jack, so...
