#jack has hollywood ptsd but aku has like ptsd personality disorder

[teacupballerina]

What about Aku specifically do you find so interesting?

Thought about giving a short answer, meme or even a link to an old FAQ post but if I'm not writing a big ass Aku essay then I'm dead.

The first thing we see about Aku is that he wants revenge for his past, and that, if fired upon with arrows, he will return them. Hateful, menacing, terrifying, towering over the tallest mountains. The castle he wants to burn to the ground is like a pile of blocks. Everyone who slights him will suffer.

We see why he is angry in his special origin episodes. I, too, would be angry if hunted by gods, attacked by my creator and left to rot with hatred while my brother has a nice childhood. To be silent and powerless for so long, and suddenly gain voice and strength only to have it torn away, must have been frustrating.

Then in the far future, we see a different side of Aku who, despite his evil deeds, is goofy, petulant and almost childlike in his ignorance of common sense. A derpy despot. A weird little troll! He has won, but he can't have the things he seems to actually want; He is literally incapable of getting them because he is so prone to self-sabotage. He doesn't hurt kids. He bargains with people. He apparently reads books and collects treasures out of genuine intrigue. He's even the first to extend his hand in his endless battle with Jack, offering a potential solution--a very far cry from the destructive tantrums he was introduced to us with.

The immortal Aku clearly changed with time, and one wonders if he was always so affable, if that side lay hidden beneath painful fresh wounds.

Did Aku feel the sting of the sword and remember being hunted? Jack is hated because he wields the sword, he is blessed by the gods that nearly killed Aku. It isn't even the sword that Aku truly hates, it's what the sword represents: trauma, pain, the threat of death. It's the divine bounty on his head, declaring that as long as he lives, he will live in fear of death.

Is Aku not what we are?

Are we not all wounded children in a body capable of killing one person with our hands, two more with bullets and millions with the push of a button? We aspire to be like Jack, but really, most of us are like Aku. We are lazy, complacent, probably a little too rude and wrapped up in our ego. We plaster our faces everywhere and want people to love it, to love us for our faces and the things that we do, even when most of those things are self-serving. And in the end, despite our best efforts, we will die, most likely small and afraid. Aku knows he lives on borrowed time, and he still doesn't change. He doesn't think he needs to, and no one else expects him to. But we know he's capable of it.

Aku is the futility of the human condition, personified. The worst of us...and some of the good, too.

There's an esoteric element of his appearance echoed across ancient civilizations, but a cuteness in its eyes-to-nose ratio that's expressive and endearing. There's the whole thing with the crossover element that adds a new layer onto his character. He steals every scene he's in. Perfectly casted with a once-in-a-generation legend. All while having one of the most perfectly engineered character designs by Tartakovsky and Rudish.

He's fun to write. Fun to draw. Fun to think about.

Sir, that's my emotional support treedog.