Samurai Flamenco: you are awesome! This episode was glorious on all levels! If you haven’t seen the episode yet: close this browser at once and get to it! This is one episode you do not want to be spoiled on!
I had seen pretty much everyone freaking out about this particular episode, so when I sat down to watch it, I already had the mindset of “well this twist has to be pretty damn major here”. It was. At first I thought that it was about Masayoshi finding out that his parents had been mugged instead of died from an illness like what he thought. That already was amazing to watch, due to how it was revealed.
I especially liked how Masayoshi was in conflict about himself: his parents died when he was two years old. It’s normal for him to not feel bothered by tracking down those criminals (finally lhe’s doing something normal!). It conflicted with his desire to be a hero, though his version of being a hero focused on the part of protecting justice, not the parts of heroes that focused on tragic backstories and personal revenge. Also: small touches like the title of this series coming from Masayoshi’s grandmother who used to be a flamenco dancer. I love how these series explain their own titles and have them make total sense.
But yeah. The twist. I applaud this series for doing this. For being completely realistic without any supernatural powers whatsoever aside perhaps from a few far-fetched ideas for gadgets. And then going completely berserk with this episode when THAT happened. It worked so well: everything that happened there was of such a completely different scale than what we’ve been used to. It’s a brilliant twist that just would not have worked without all that build-up. That was a wonderful example of how you escalate a story!
Rating: 7/8 (Fantastic)
Fantastic, unbelievable plot twist! Surely everyone has just seen worst scenes in an anime but the impact, as strong as a punch in the stomach, is due to the sudden and unexpected change. So much that for almost the entire scene of THAT I have done nothing but to think: “in a little ‘director will CUT and it turns out that this is a spot.” But Hell: NO. Everything has really happened! The blood was real, his head rolled for real, the thud on the roof of the car … it was really terrible. The world has changed in a moment.Just as the title says. WOW. I can’t wait for the next episode.
Haha, at the end it was so damn violent! I FREAKING LOVE THIS SERIES
Most glorious genre-shift ever.
Dafuq did I just watch!!! Guillotine Gorilla – if that name doesn’t scream GAR, I don’t know what it is!
Awesome episode!
MASAYOSHI IS USING DRUGS
I’M NOT SERIOUS BUT WHAT IF THE SERIES IS
A massive troll?
i just hope that not one of those fake plot twist were it’s all in the charaters minds or a dream. we will see next week
I might be in the minority, but I always expected it. The opening shows him in power armor fighting a giant robot, so I took that literally and always expected this switch. In some ways, I wish they had more than one opening, made the reveal, then changed the opening.
Still pretty awesome in any event, as with the realistic lead up they will hopefully continue to focus on the realistic development of a hero from a normal “freak” human to an actual hero, which they have set up quite well so far. Anyone else think Mari is being set up in her somewhat comedic scene at her meeting for a slightly darker path, if only temporary, when a real villain shows up?
I really, really like the potential switch from very light-hearted to a bit more serious, but it leaves me wondering which way it will ultimately go.
OH MY GOD. I was curious about the hype, so I decided to marathon the entire thing, and bejeezus was it worth it.
Sorry but i HATED this twist. I just hope it was someones dream as to me they have completely destroyed the whole premise of the show.
I agree, it feels strange now, like a different show.
I also really enjoyed the realism that Samurai Flamenco has (or had?), so I’m kind of hoping that it might be a hallucination or a metaphor or a dream or something. But if it were, I’d feel like I got cheated in a sense (and the effect of that cliffhanger would be all of naught). Really unsure about how I feel about the twist.
Well,that twist is so absolutely incorrect,so full of bad manners… it felt like drinking a shot of kerosene after seven weeks of sweet light orange juice…
Awesome.
I love how they prepared for this moment: Masayoshi’s habit of daydreaming plus the previous announcement of another participation in a TV series… it really had you thinking it was just another trick… but no, no this time.
I also liked the complete futility of SF’s punch device… somehow that came to reinforce what Goto said before: Masayoshi is actually no hero, he’s just a freak… pretty powerless against real villains…
What if this is all a dream and he has really been in a coma since the first episode?
I read the start of psgels review, then went to watch the episode, I thought the twist was the murder too, and I was impressed about how they’d built up to it, and, as psgels says, the little touches like his grandmother loving flamenco, were great. And then that end scene came along, and what the hell man, I had to laugh, and kept wondering if it was a hallucination and that they’re all high on drugs or something.
I’m still not sure it’s actually happening Guillotine Gorilla!
This is one CRAZY plot twist
I really enjoyed Samurai Flamenco for being realistic (for the most part) but damn that giant gorilla says otherwise. While I kind of prefer it to stay away from super-natural elements, I find it difficult for them to have material to stretch it to being 2-cour without some crazy twists.
That is true, and episode 7 is maybe too late to introduce a new genre to the series. Those ho carried on watching the series, liked it for what it was.
*Who*
While I did enjoy the twist and am now very curious as to where the show is going to go now…7/8? Seriously? I guess I just don’t see the appeal you do. I’m watching 18 animes this season and for me Samurai Flaminco is dancing on the line separating the top and bottom halves.
That said, this twist and what it may bring to this anime in the future could push it to the top half.
shouldn’t really be surprised here since psgels hasn’t exactly made a secret out of liking this show
Also, finding 10 or so titles that are better? How’ did you do it?
Lies
I understand my top 10 this season may or may not be “better” in some or all the technical review aspects, but as for entertainment value, there are plenty I have more fun watching every week than this show. Some may very well be guilty pleasures.
I can see when a show is good and not so even if I don’t find a show as fun I can still tell when it is technically “good” or not and Samurai is a good show. Just comparing it to some of the past great Noitamina series, its not even close. As one example, Tatami Galaxy is miles ahead of this one imo. I think Psycho Pass and Silver Spoon were better as well. I could keep going, but I think you get my point.
I’m not sure about the plot twist. I’m not sure where the story is headed and the whole gorilla business seems illogical to the reality of the whole series so far.