[DreamSword]

Episode 3: Flamenco vs Fake Flamenco!

This episode was a pretty entertaining meta spin on the "Evil Clone" plot that many a superhero show has.

Samurai Flamenco becoming a trending topic lands Masayoshi in some pretty hot water. There's now a bounty out for his identity, people who suspect that he's Flamenco begin hounding him about the topic, and worst of all, a Fake Flamenco, played by an in-universe TV star that used to play the hero known as Red Axe arrives to take all the credit and profit off of the heroics.

Fame and attention being suddenly being thrust onto someone in ways they didn't expect is an interesting enough topic on its own, and going along with that is the episode highlighting how alot of bigwigs in the industry really don't care who gets hurt by all of media coverage as long as they profit off of it.

But all of that was secondary to me, because there are rather strong character moments in this episode.

Ishihara is probably the biggest standout. She's Masayoshi's' manager, and while certainly a scary woman in the eyes of Masa, it's clear that she puts up with alot of crap on a day-to-day basis, and really, in the end, only has Masa's' best interests at heart; Especially his career as a model and potential actor. More subtly than that though, despite her constantly calling superheroics nonsense, I think it's rather telling that she keeps the miniature axe figure that she accidentally got from Masayoshi's' apartment around as a sort of trinket.

Likewise, Goto shows some nice development here too in regards to his friendship with Masayoshi. When Masayoshi suffers a bit of self-confidence issues and is seriously letting the Fake Flamenco take over, Goto tells him flat out that Masa needs to do whatever will make him happy. Goto might not like all the commotion that Flamenco has been causing lately, but he hates seeing his friend be down on himself even more. It's pretty touching.

And how it all ends, well, sure, it's a bit frustrating, with Goto's' facepalm capturing the moment rather well, but I can't exactly say that it's out of character for anyone involved. And Goto being able to help Masayoshi keep his secret identity was rather sweet too.