Oh, Samurai Flamenco… what are you doing? I used to praise this show for being so well put together. Obviously I can’t say that anymore, but still it’s quite a ride to see how crazy the show can get next time. This episode was this really weird combination between the first half of the show and episode 11. The Flamengers were all kinds of cheese, while Goto… he actually stayed normal.
Having said that though, the fight in this episode sucked. I’m not sure whether that was intentional or not, but the thing rather fell apart when that army of Miyamoto Musashis appeared from out of nowhere and were like “Oooh, let me slightly wave my sword at you! That will teach you!” – That completely defeats the purpose of having large numbers in the first place! I get that the budget isn’t that big for tis series, but there’s a difference between cutting corners and simply not trying.
But then again, it can also be a very deliberate jab at the super sentai genre. I mean, one gets large and they defeat that one with the Flamenbot, but the rest… magically disappears? Also those new weapons were completely ridiculous.
Also. The Flamencar. Really?
I didn’t care for this episode, but I’m not gonna lie I loved it when they got the drill. That made the episode for me. I hope this show doesn’t try to appeal only to nostalgia like Gurren Lagann did, but actually trys to be something different. Granted, I loved Gurren Lagann, but this show just can’t pull it off, it doesn’t have the budget is the atmosphere to do it. Either way, one bad episode won’t make stop watching a show that has given me a lot of enjoyment, and I’ll most likely watch this till the end. Hopefully by that time they do something with the Flamengers because as of now they suck.
Can you really say they are taking jabs at the super sentai genre? I mean they seem to be directly copying it more that poke fun at it. It’s more or else Homage.
I don’t even know what it’s supposed to be any more. It could be a parody, an homage, a deconstruction or whatever, but it doesn’t work particularly well as either of those.
I kind of enjoyed the first few episodes after the “twist” because of some of the meta elements, but the last few episodes are played way too straight.
Goto is the only reason I’m still watching this.
This feels a little too tongue-in-cheek:
Awesome, Samurai Flamenger!!! They did Beat bad guys up!!!
http://i.imgur.com/0mewvgm.png
Basically, Hazama is living the dream right now and if there actually is a method to all this madness, I would like to see him getting a reality check around episode 17 or 18.
Basically only watching to find out who Goto’s Girlfriend is at this point. The moment they reveal that, I’m checking out.
Final Boss!!
I’m holding out for everything to come crashing down. The writing for the first few episodes of the series was too good for this not to be some elaborate scheme to fool the viewers. I KNOW there has to be something more here. Anyway, the only thing besides the obvious that bothered me was Mari living with Goto. I was less bothered by the fact that she was there than I was by how little explanation was given.
At the beginning Masayoshi was a basically a sentai nerd blessed with good looks, where the bad guys littered in the park and our superhero got beat up by middle-school kids.
Then he got special training and learned to fight in like a week? Realism starting to crumble. Next, he gets Flamenco Girl for a sidekick, who also happens to be some kind of martial arts genius? Then he gets some special weapons/gadgets from a sympathetic scientist. We’re moving further and further away from reality.
Then episode seven happens: Masayoshi gets a backstory fitting of a superhero, and after some “monkey trouble” we’re well on our way into the surreal.
In episode 11, suddenly Jouji has the massive secret organization Samurai Base and the Flamengers that have been training for ten years to become a sentai team–but Masayoshi as Samurai Flamenco has only been around for a year at most, so where did they get the name? How could Masayoshi possibly be a match for the other team members when just a short while ago he was a useless wimp? Even the antagonists, From Beyond, have their own in-universe TV commercials.
In this episode, Masayoshi’s actions are actually part of a (very unenthusiastically, heh) narrated in-universe TV show (where was the camera crew when they fought MMM34?) that another in-show character (Goto) is watching.
The way I see it, the show has been taking deliberate steps on its way from realism to the surreal. All of it is centered around Masayoshi, and it feels like the show is following Masayoshi’s downward spiral into delusion and madness as reality twists and turns to conform to Masayoshi’s super-hero fantasies.
Maybe in the last episode we’ll find Masayoshi in a padded white room, wearing a straitjacket and mumbling to himself while Goto visits him and laments the ruined life of the idealistic kid who got his head bashed in by some middle-schoolers.
respect if that is the ending.
I’ve watched up to 10/11 I really don’t know if I should continue on with it. who reckons it’ll be worth it?
What happens if Goto’s girlfriend is Masayoshi’s manager? That would be funny
wow such clever, very deconstruction, much super sentai, raider kick , wow
I feel like I wasted my time watching it. The quality is horribly low IMO. Besides, there are much better anime this season.
R.I.P. Manglobe
Just watched episode 13. They’ve just gone even more surreal. I didn’t think it was possible, but they have.
It’s really getting insane. Not sure what to think of this yet.