Jack vs. the Ninja
Episode numeral: XL
Original air date: 6/14/03
Aku creates a shinobi robot that's able to blend in with the shadows to destroy Jack. After going unnoticed by Jack during his travels to a seaside village, the assassin takes a child hostage to lure Jack to an old tower. Deciding to fight fire with fire, Jack uses his training of blending in with light to face the ninja in an epic duel of light and dark.
Tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch: At the beginning of the episode, Jack is seen praying in front of a statue while the shinobi is sneaking up on him, before eventually assassinating him before the samurai could react. Then it's revealed that this Jack was actually a robot used as a final test of the shinobi's training, with Aku satisfied enough to send it after the real Jack.
- Battle Against the Sunset: The battle between Jack and the ninja culminates in a sunset duel as the latter tries to use the gradually darkening sky to disappear in the dark and kill the white-clad Jack. However, Jack uses the last rays of sunlight to spot his opponent and kill him just as the sun sets.
- Beat Them at Their Own Game: Jack becomes a ninja to fight a ninja.
- Deliberately Monochrome: Half of the fight between Jack and the ninja takes place entirely in black and white, to emphasize their respective color palettes and as a way for them to blend into both light and shadow. Despite the lack of color, it still makes for one of the most visually striking fights in the series.
- Ninja: Aku sends a robot ninja to assassinate Jack. Jack later reveals that he knows ninjutsu himself, and is able to fight on even footing with the ninja after modifying his gi to look more ninja-like. There is some Truth in Television here, as historically, many ninjas were trained as samurai and vice-versa.
- Samurai in Ninja Town: The episode plays up the contrast between ninjas and samurai by having either Jack hiding in the light or the ninja hiding in the shadows at all times, making for one of the more visually spectacular fight scenes on the show.
- Samurai Shinobi: Jack's ninja-style stealth techniques are shown in the duel between him and the ninja, both of them fighting with ninja gear and moves.
- Step into the Blinding Fight: Jack matches the ninja's mastery of the dark by using identical tactics, only wearing stark white and hidden in the glare of sunlight. Since they're fighting immediately before sunset, the fight quickly becomes a race up the tower they're using as a battleground so Jack can keep up with the shrinking areas of sunlight.
