[DreamSword]

Episode 10: Final Battle at the Enemy Base!

This episode was fantastic!

Continuing with the postmodern themes of the show, this episode is outright framed like the final episode of your average Toku, while simultaneously using that as a way to examine and comment on the endings of superhero shows and movies as a whole.

King Torture really is the central star here, getting more development and characterization here than I've seen some characters get within an entire show's' run. And given his own explanation of what forms the core of his beliefs, that is very much intentional on part of the writers. Mirroring Samurai Flamenco, he is entirely sincere in his beliefs; He just sees the world much differently.

I think the big standout scene for most is going to be when he tortures Flamenco Diamond and Sapphire. The physical torment is brutal, but yet again, it's his words that sting and leave scars far worse. He despises Diamond not because she's a hero who opposes him, but rather because she's not at all sincere in what she claims to stand for. Sapphire, meanwhile, is a genuinely kind and caring person, and so he lets her go. Twisted guy or not, King Torture has his own code of honor, and he for sure follows it.

And while that's certainly all very satisfying, especially for someone like me who doesn't like Mari at all, the biggest moment for me was the direct confrontation between King Torture and Samurai Flamenco.

Turns out that Torture also grew up a big Toku fan, but the lesson he ultimately learned from those shows was that heroics were ultimately futile.

See, while a common speech made by heroes is that good will always rise up to fight evil, the opposite is also true: There will always be evil forces to impose their will on the world. Torture didn't even have the motivation to begin his plans until Flamenco showed up to be a symbol for peace and justice! And unlike heroes, whose efforts are often forgotten or wasted come next season, evil only has to win once in order to create the kind of world they seek.

Flamenco's' counter, while not an exact response to what Torture was getting at, is still an admirable one. Masayoshi claims that, when it comes down to it, in real life, the real stars of the show aren't the superheroes or the big bads, but rather those who do what they can to help others. Superheroes would not only be totally toast more often than not if not for outside help, but they're the ones who actually help society while the "heroes" focus on fighting the villains. Without them, the superhero would have nothing to even fight for. And in all of this, King Torture holds nothing but respect for his adversary.

Cap that off with an ending paying homage to Iron Man and I had a great time with this episode. Again, this really is all done in the style of a final episode, to the point that we even get a unique credits sequence that almost makes me respect Mari a little(almost). Who knows where things are gonna go from here?