I think my brains just exploded…
I knew that this series would spiral out of control. Just not in this way. In one episode, the creators YET AGAIN completely changed the genre of the entire series, along with the feel, mood, themes and everything. At this point the only similarity between episode 1 and 11 is the way in which Samurai Flamenco appears in it. Even the mood-swings of Guilty Crown and Code Geass weren’t this big!
Seriously, from out of nowhere Jouji Kaname reveals that he has been preparing to fight the invasion by aliens for over a decade and to do that he created unbeknownst to anyone an incredibly stereotypical power rangers base, complete with power rangers, basically revealing that the first seven episodes were pretty much one really big lie and that they weren’t set in modern-day Tokyo in the slightest. What follows is a really weird discussion on who should be the leader, followed by a staged death scene, and a freaking giant robot! I mean, is this really real?
I have to say: this show is unique. It’s currently trying to do something that no other show has. Whether it’ll work is an entirely different matter though, and I do believe that it’s too early for that, so for now I’ll withhold judgement on the big picture. However, I will say this: I hated Code Geass and Guilty Crown because it really felt like it they were written as the creators went along. Especially in Guilty Crown’s case. In Samurai Flamenco though, this isn’t the case. It’s got a lot of Deus ex Machina, however the creators very clearly had the intention right from the beginning to escalate things into the ridiculous proportions that we saw in this episode. It’s episode 11, and only now we’ve been introduced to everyone on the promo art. Sure, it could have been less sloppy, but right from the start it wanted to transition from the ordinary to the absurd.
Now let me stress Robotics;Notes here. A series that wasn’t as extreme as this one, but still is one that this series needs to learn from: you can have a really good build-up, but that isn’t worth anything if the second half is crap, like what happened with that series. Writers, you need to stay and don’t you dare to just get lazy next year.
Also, it’s nearly the end of the year. 2-cour Noitamina-series always have a few weeks of hiatus. I assume that the next episode will air in a few weeks, though no concrete date seems to be known yet.
Actually the air date has been told already… It’s coming back when Gin no Saji Season 2 airs, which is on January 9, 2014…
I went away at the beginning of the episode to make a bowl of cereal and came back wondering what kind of fresh hell/4th dimension was playing on my screen. I have to say, I haven’t been this entertained in a while. I burst into hysterical laughter every minute.
I’m speechless, truly.
“It’s episode 11, and only now we’ve been introduced to everyone on the promo art.”
With the exception of Red Axe, those are just Hazama’s inspirations, not actual characters in the series. I DO agree the transition was always planned, though.
Anyway, with all this Toku homages now I just have to wonder if Samurai Flamenco will go full Ultraman at some point. It’s just a shame that this series has such a pathetic budget.
“I have to say: this show is unique. It’s currently trying to do something that no other show has.”
Yep, if you are not counting power rangers, kamen Rider or any other tokusatsu show in existence. Sure it’s doing something no other anime has…doesn’t necessarily give it any Kudos though. Because there might be a good reason nobodies tried this before.
Kamen Rider started in a very realistic setting, only to escalate things completely and turn incredibly over the top, to the point where everything about the genre and atmosphere is different? Okay, I didn’t know that.
Don’t play coy with me dear fellow. You know what I mean. Even if the first half was kickass and the second half power rangers that doesn’t make unique. It’s just two previously done incomparable stories put side by side. Basically a double feature at a cinema.
Of course I know what you mean, but the same also goes for me: you know what I mean as well. I referred to how it transitioned here. Not to the actual content. Were there any double features that transitioned into each other in the way this series did?
I am sure there are examples. Really bad shows which switched gears in a second half. But I am hard pressed to think of one.
While not exactly realistic, the first Kamen Rider had an much more realistic and darker beggining than its end, the monsters did not explode, the hero was not capable of saving everyone and they bring to attention the fact that for all his efforts, one guy stopping monsters in Japan is so ineffective against an global evil organization that the only reason why they do not send one more than one monster is because at the end of the day, one hero alone is not capable of doing much damage to an evil organization.
Of course, around the middle of the first series, they had to kiddify the show because parents were complaining that the show was not appropriate for kids and they changed many things in the setting to the point that it seemed like it was an whole other show, one of the things for example was that monsters started exploding when dying.
But yeah, while not exactly changing genre, the first Kamen Rider had an complete change of atmosphere from cynical and dark at the beggining to light and optimistic in the ending.
He’s got you there, Aidan 😀
This kinda feels like Gurren Lagann. Things keep escalating. In a bad way…
@Aidan: Your comment reminds me of how up in arms people were over highschool of the dead because “no other anime/manga had done zombies before” which is completely untrue as there are at least three other zombie survival manga.
As for this show itself I’m not bothered with it anymore at least for now. The realism at the start was starting to get dull, then they followed an impactful plot twist with bland villains (not counting king torture himself) and bumped off King torture to soon in an awkwardly put together rushed episode then going into territory that has become too corny, cringeworthy for me to enjoy. I also feel that everytime I get a handle on this show it changes its tune and I don’t know where its going.
For me the series went from good – to really bad – to stupidly hilarious bad. NOW it has finally achieved that 90’s anime OAVs level of ‘so bad it is funny’. Actually starting to enjoy it a bit again.
LOL, power rangers….mixing american with japanese when the anime is Japanese its a shout out to Samurai Sentai Shinkenger
http://www.tumblr.com/reblog/70535197821/GUpwRJoa
Let us be real, psgels hated GC and Code Geass because they were popular, that is how he is 99.9999% of the time. And the writing wasn’t made up on the spot in either.
Also the comparison of Flamenco to either is ridiculous, as even if Flamenco does end up a wtf show with tons of facepalm moments, the characters themselves won’t allow the show to become anything like the other 2 you mentioned. Those shows were littered with annoying teen characters from the start, Flamenco still mostly focuses on actual adults
I love how you say that you’re being real, while making completely biased opinions about how someone is thinking.
I wish I could have that level of confidence about this show armpit, but while I agree the characters being adults will ground it still somewhere in maturity and be beneficial..I’m not so forgiving of the other issues I’ve got with the show.
I also want to throw in that the animation was acceptable for the first arc but if its going in this direction then its a shame its not got a bigger budget.
Goto is the only main character that barely resembles an actual adult, though.
Yeah, adults? Where? They only look like adults, the all act like children.
With the exception of Goto, everyone could be a teenager and the writing would still have worked.
Wow, I started out just liking this show, then it had a twist that could go either way of which led into a couple bad episodes, and now THIS?
Honestly, even if this episode was almost insulting when thinking about the realism and “somewhat” unique story of the first 7 episodes, I was VERY entertained. Now that the series has not only jumped the shark, but now the moon, I may be able to turn off my brain and enjoy it more now based on pure entertaining stupidity…maybe.
Did they just animated Voltes V and Bioman in this episode?
It seems to be a trend.
A series starts with superb production values and then the story goes south about half of the season.
When I started watching animes I was admirative of artistic values, but now I realize how much the narration is important, and I like how some 80’s animes with primitive drawing had such a solid story and a coherent universe.
By the way, there is Over The top as in “we master nonsense comedy” and Over The Top as in “we dropped the ball and this no longer a story”.
I’ll never truly understand psgels’ dislike for Code Geass even if I can sympathize with his hatred of Guilty Crown. But whatever, that’s all old news.
That said, I’m currently fine with the way things are changing here, provided the entertainment keeps up and story remains interesting even with such twists and turns.
The characters aren’t bad or anything, but I don’t really find them unique either.
I liked this better when it was basically Kick Ass