Samurai Jack: Aku (ENTP)

Ne:

“Aw, put that thing away, Samurai. We all know what’s going to happen. You’ll swing your sword. I’ll fly away and probably say something, like, ‘I’ll be back, Samurai! And then, I’ll flutter off over the horizon, and we won’t see each other for about a week. And then we’ll do the same thing all over again.”

“You know, after all these years, I’m not really sure how I want to do it.”

Aku appears to be a dominant Ne user. During his first encounter with Jack, Aku finds himself losing the battle, and sends Jack into the future as a last resort. Once Jack arrives in the future, Aku seems surprised, as if he’d forgotten about Jack entirely. That alone is a strong indication that Aku is a dominant extraverted perceiver, due to his failure to prepare for Jack in advance.

Aku has a chaotic and random nature. When it comes time to finally execute Jack, Aku starts forming various weapons, one after another. After so many years of hunting Jack, Aku has no idea how actually wants to kill him, so he stands there playing around with possibilities for a bit until he finally settles on something. Throughout his time hunting Jack, he also approaches him in varied ways, some of which catch Jack off guard. For instance, he pretends to be a woman and works with Jack for a while.

Aku often defaults to discussion before resorting to action. If given the option, he even seems to prefer to weaponize words. For instance, when he sees a bunch of children mocking him and lifting Jack up as a hero, Aku decides to gather them all together, so he can tell them stories to the contrary. He shares a variety of tales which make him out to be a hero, and Jack the enemy. Similarly, he often monologues at the beginning of his encounters with Jack. In one particular example, Aku explains up front how the battle will go up through when their next encounter will be. (See quote at the top of this section.)

Ti:

“Tales of the Samurai’s heroics have spread through the world like a virus. But I will cure the world of this plague of hope.”

Aku has no clear values that he lives by, and no perceivable agenda or purpose. He takes over the universe, but doesn’t establish any clear sense of order beyond him being at the top of the food chain. There are signs of some general methods that he’s using to spread his evil. For instance, evil people are shown requesting territory, and then being given occupied land to conquer. All of this seems to indicate Ti use: a basic system in place, but little concern for order or absolute control.

Similarly, when telling the children false tales of his heroics, Aku allows them to question him and argue with him. He essentially tries to convince them with reason and rationale. When they initially fail to respond the way he expects, he assumes that his story was too complex for them to understand, which is a common reaction for Ti users when their thought process isn’t validated.

Aku often uses underhanded tactics, which he’ll rationalize away when questioned. Jack accuses him of cheating and breaking their agreement during a duel, but Aku denies it, essentially using a technicality to excuse his action.

Fe:

“Insolent brats! Their elders still fear and respect the all mighty Aku. But this new generation…the seed of rebellion has been planted in them by these tales of heroism. Well, if they respond to stories, I have a tale or two that will turn Aku into the hero of their young hearts.”

Aku’s tertiary Fe manifests in two primary ways throughout the series. Near the beginning of the series, he runs an elaborate con where he pretends to be a woman and teams up with Jack. He helps him, pretends to be his friend, and then betrays him at the very end. Afterwards, he mocks Jack for being gullible and falling for his fake sob story. This seemed like a good example of tertiary Fe manipulation and trolling.

When Aku notices children idolizing Jack and mocking him, he expresses a desire to be seen as a hero. He doesn’t just show up and crush the children in a show of power (which would have indicated Te). Instead, he gathers them all into one place and attempts to manipulate their perception of him, so that they’ll view him as a hero.

Si:

“But this next story is true to its uttermost detail.”

Aku often fails to account for the long term implications of his action, which indicates inferior introverted perceiving (Si or Ni). There are times when he could have outright killed Jack, but fooled around and lost his opportunity. Similarly, he fails to prepare for Jack’s arrival in the future. However, his inferior Si specifically can be clearly seen during the episode where he tells a bunch of stories to children.

Aku takes elements from many common stories and alters the details to fit his agenda. Unfortunately, he struggles to keep track of all the details or keep them consistent. Every time he’s called into question, Aku quickly switches to a new story, hoping the children will move on and that he’ll get it right in his next attempt. The longer he goes, the more convoluted and unfocused his stories become, to the point that they eventually degrade into random chaos.