[DreamSword]

Episode 14: The Destruction of Japan!

I mean, if Red Axe is real then logically, right?

It's all of From Beyond vs all of Japan in an all our war for the nation. And outside of just how cool that is, I dunno what else I can exactly say about this one?

Don't get me wrong, I like the episode, and it certainly have stuff going on, but alot of it really just natural extensions of stuff that the show has already talked about: Most notably that superheros inspire us for a reason, ya know?

There's also some little bits of character stuff going on, such as Goto reuniting MMM, Red Axe bringing every Japanese superhero into the fray, and Masayoshi managing to inspire most of the nation to stand together against the oncoming alien menace.

But... yeah. It's nice, but it is mostly just one giant battle for the fate of Japan and that's about it. So with that out of the way, let's highlight the second ending theme of Samurai Flamenco!

It's such a shame that just as I was getting used to and liking the first ed more, it's replaced by a much less catchy song in my opinion. Oh well, it's not bad though. Just not as fun as the first. As such, have a much better cover done by some guy on YouTube, and totally not just because the original song got nuked off of the website!

...Oh, and it turns out that the final member of From Beyond is Masayoshi's' twin brother. You didn't think that this show had fully forgotten its toku storytelling roots, did you?

[Name]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

...Oh, and it turns out that the final member of From Beyond is Masayoshi's' twin brother. You didn't think that this show had fully forgotten its toku storytelling roots, did you?

This is also quite nice. Not a lot of covers for Flamenco.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Name

This is also quite nice. Not a lot of covers for Flamenco.

Yeah, that totally fits as a theme for the guy.

[DreamSword]

Episode 15: Imitation Justice!

Beyond Flamenco only shows up for less than five minutes total, but man does he make his time incredibly valuable.

He's a dark mirror to Masayoshi in so many ways. He used to be a hero too, but unfortunately, the dark ugliness of real world politics and people in general wore his spirit down, to the point that he merely became a tool to be used by others.

Similar to King Torture, he calls out superheroics as being ultimately pointless, but like Torture, he calls out supervillainy as being this as well. Practically speaking, there's no way one group could control millions of people around a planet, right? In the end, villains who want to take over the world are fighting for as much of a pipe dream as the heroes who fight for everlasting peace do.

But in the end, Masayoshi's' genuine words manage to reach the broken down man that is Beyond Flamenco, and From Beyond is stopped in its entirety. The day is saved, the mission is over, and all of the Flamengers go their separate ways to lead normal lives once again.

...Or so it seems.

There's still a subgenre of superhero stories that Samurai Flamenco has yet to tackle, and that's Superheroes vs the Government.

Oh yeah, enter a superhero from America known as Mister Justice, a very obvious parody of both Captain America and Superman. He informs Masayoshi that this entire fiasco with From Beyond was a setup by the Japanese Prime Minister to advance the PM's' political career. Now, said Minister is cracking down on superheroes, and blaming them for everything that happened with From Beyond, even using the conversation between the two Flamenco's as "evidence" of such a thing.

Because see, in the real world, some superheroes are very much created to serve as mouth pieces for certain ideas, or to distract from the grimness of the real world. Captain America was created as a way to get people to embrace the idea of World War II, afterall. And it's something we continue to see even unto today, whether one embraces the idea or not. The power of mass media is huge, and alot of people are quick to believe it.

Masayoshi is now on the run from everyone in Japan yet again, but this time, there are no superheroes to save him.

[DreamSword]

Episode 16: Wandering Hero!

Do I need to even say anything? That was so satisfying!

But yeah most of the first half of this episode is about MMM reuniting, and all you need to know is that Mizuki decks Mari, and it's so good.

The majority of the second half deals with Masayoshi, who's still on the run from the government. In a really nice follow-up from early on in the show, he's actually saved from starving to death by a homless man he'd helped.

The blind old man imparts some important wisdom onto Masayoshi, and as much of a cliche as it is, it never fails to be true: The power of friendship. Masayoshi is scared to ask Goto for help, as Masa feels responsible for all of the craziness that's been going on lately.

But, it's precisely because Masayoshi considers him such an important friend that he should try to go to Goto in his time of need. Good people are out there, you just need to find them. And sure enough, despite Masayoshi knocking on the door at the crack of dawn, Goto says the exact thing a good friend should in a situation like this: "Took you long enough, stupid."

So yeah, very simple and straightforward episode, but very nice all the same. I think it's such a good testament to Samurai Flamenco's' style that even when there are all this bigger than life superhero plots going on, it never fails to find time to keep it roots of being down to Earth and furthering the character development and human element of the cast. It's one element that I'll always for sure appreciate about this show.

(By the way, quick side note since I keep forgetting to mention it, but all of the Flamengers' real names sans Masayoshi are actually parodies of their voice actor's' names. Pretty neat.)

[DreamSword]

Episode 17: Ultimate Prime Minister!

There's so much going on in this episode!

To be as concise as I can on it though, this episode is literally Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. And I would not doubt if that were the inspiration.

So uh, let's start unpacking this step by step. Firstly, all of Masayoshi's' friends have stayed in contact, and have been preparing for the day that he returns. Harazuka in particular arrives with a brand new set of gadgets and a new suit for Masa to wear.

As such, Samurai Flamenco is reborn, and with the help of his friends and Mister Justice(and the Flamenco Girls), the former Flamenger plans to speak with the Prime Minister directly before he can fully pass his anti-vigilante bill. Although the Samurai only plans to talk, the PM has other ideas...

Turns out that the reason the Prime Minister was able to take out Flamen Blue a couple episodes ago(yeah that happened) was because he has his own power suit that increases his power the higher his approval rating is. He plans to use the live feed of his fight with Flamenco(with the audio cut) to raise his rating to 100% and thus achieve ultimate power and control over the country.

He doesn't care by what means he gets such power either, even all the while talking about how the masses are stupid and need his hand to guide them. Classic supervillain stuff while alot making jokes about government officials. Nice. But the power of friendship eventually prevails, as soon enough his approval rating begins to drop, and he is defeated. Oh, and there's one other important detail too: His middle name is Flamenco.

But things don't quite end there, as it turns out that Mister Justice was actually an alien all along. A rogue alien by the name of Alien Flamenco, who's managed to infiltrate governments all around the world and replace their leaders with other aliens. The Prime Minister wanted ultimate power in order to drive back the secret invasion that'd been plaguing the world all along. Alien Flamenco tells Samurai Flamenco to surrender, but of course our hero doesn't, and as such a full scale invasion of Japan is about to begin...

Okay, so uh, to even try and begin to unpack all of this, while this is certainly another episode full of crazy like how 7 and 11 were, I actually think all of this is really brilliant? First off though, while I get that the show is trying to portray the Minister as an utterly desperate man given the worldwide situation, his plan in general just kinda makes no sense. Why wouldn't he want the help of every hero ever to fight the aliens off? And even then, his wanting to save the world from Alien Flamenco doesn't change that he still wanted to essentially enslave the populace. He's a scumbag; Whether or not he wanted to be a hero.

But that in turn also works to the show's' favor, as it continues the recurring theme of Samurai Flamenco being one of the few genuine heroic types among all of the new heroes that have been popping up since the show began. As well, the word Flamenco growing ever more popular, to the point that it even reaches out to space, works really well with the show's' commentary about the power of popular and heroic figures, as well as how media can shape our reality. Heck, when you think about it, many of our heroes will outlive us.

This is all such a wonderful continuation of the stuff that Samurai Flamenco as a show has been gunning at ontop of setting up for more exploration not just of those ideas, but also bringing in new ones. Many a superhero comic has had setups similar to the scenario presented by the end of the episode, afterall. And in terms of world building, it does in turn establish just what the rest of the world thinks not only of all the stuff that's been going on in Japan, but just where the heck they've even been this entire time. Their heroes, Mister Justice included, all failed in their efforts to drive by the alien hoard. And now, the fate of not just the country, but the world, rests on Samurai Flamenco, just like so many hero shows.

Needless to say, the writers of this show really know what they're doing with this stuff, and I'm here for it.

[Name]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Episode 15: Imitation Justice!

He's a dark mirror to Masayoshi in so many ways. He used to be a hero too, but unfortunately, the dark ugliness of real world politics and people in general wore his spirit down, to the point that he merely became a tool to be used by others.

And if the blueray commentary is to be believed, he's just Masayoshi from a world where he never met our resident grumpy cop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Episode 16: Wandering Hero!

But yeah most of the first half of this episode is about MMM reuniting, and all you need to know is that Mizuki decks Mari, and it's so good.

And yet Moe still steals the show! Mostly in part due to Mari being a horrible human being to contrast her.



At her core, Mari is a fundamentally selfish monster who can't understand human compassion. She resents Moe for being a better person than her, claiming she was doing it solely to look good, and demanding she never show her face in front of her again. So Moe shows up again with a paper bag over her head to beg her to go back to living her life instead of living in the closet of a cop who wants nothing to do with her. There's more to these scenes than I'm noting, but I really don't need frustration like this on a work night.

oh and then it ends with all three in a lesbian kiss pile. no i don't get it either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Episode 17: Ultimate Prime Minister!

To be as concise as I can on it though, this episode is literally Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. And I would not doubt if that were the inspiration.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance in JAPAN.



Releases were only a year a part, but it really is so close it's hilarious.



So uh... Yeah. You can actually take this statement at face value since at 72% approval rating he cratered Flamenco Blue in 3 seconds. Strap in folks it's gonna get wilder.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Name

And if the blueray commentary is to be believed, he's just Masayoshi from a world where he never met our resident grumpy cop.

Makes sense. Masayoshi's' career in heroics most certainly wouldn't work out near as well without Goto's' support.

Quote:

And yet Moe still steals the show! Mostly in part due to Mari being a horrible human being to contrast her.

No, no. In this instance I choose violence.

[DreamSword]

Episode 18: Flamenco in Space!

That's literally all I can show you out of this episode without spoilers.

If you felt like I was being pretentious when I called Samurai Flamenco "postmodern" then this episode should be all that's needed to prove it.

It's also the kind of episode where, had you not been following everything that the show has been doing up to this point, it spends the last few minutes of it outright spelling it out for the audience.

If you want the short version of everything that goes on in this episode, then all you really "need" to know is that, whereas the previous episode was Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, this one is straight up The End of Evangelion. And no I am not friggen kidding.

But if you want more details and my own personal analysis, then continue on. So, as it turns out, Alien Flamenco was actually responsible for nearly every enemy group in the entire show so far. They're the one who gave King Torture his alien heart, the one who took over most of the world, thus causing the Japanese government to create From Beyond, and well, you know the rest.

Alien Flamenco's' plan is to soar throughout the universe; Assimilating everyone and everything into one collective consciousness and thereby eliminate all evil from the universe. They even invite Masayoshi to join them. To evolve and become as one with the collective. In the most hilarious counterargument to the proposition ever though, Masayoshi denies the prospect of forced evolution. Because while Alien Flamenco's' words make sense, Masa does not.

It's then that the fight goes full Ultraman with both Flamenco growing giant-size, and Alien Flamenco uppercutting Samurai Flamenco into the moon. But, through both luck and perseverance, Masayoshi manages to win via uppercutting Alien Flamenco into the far reaches of space at mach 2. I'm sure that eventually their mind will stop. Just as Masayoshi begins to lose consciousness due to the lack of oxygen on the moon as well as the injuries that sustained from the fight.

And then Masayoshi literally meets the writer of the anime. No I'm not joking.

Okay, so, Masa wakes up in a paradise full of things that he loves; Action figures, DVDs, the merch of any Toku fan, and strangely enough, they all reflect the various people he's met throughout this entire show.

God is there(no joke), and as the Universe's Will, it proceeds to lay out everything to Masayoshi.

See, the reason that everything has gone so crazy over the last twelve episodes is because of Masayoshi's' own subconscious desires. He wished to live the sort of life lead by the various superhero stories that he loved, and his wishes actually came true.

In the world of Flamenco, anyone with especially strong personalities and ideals can literally reach out and mold the world to their desires. And because Masayoshi's' wishes were granted, God literally pulled in enemy forces from parallel worlds for Samurai Flamenco to fight. Beyond Flamenco, Prime Minister Flamenco, and Alien Flamenco? All of them were alternate universe versions of Masayoshi, all with their own way of seeking out justice.

The reason it came to an end and Masayoshi is now meeting his creator is because, simply put, Masayoshi ran out of wishes in terms of superheroics. God does tell him though that if Masayoshi really wants, he can easily open up the fabric of reality again and create new foes for Samurai Flamenco to face. His story doesn't have to end here. Heck, the alternative is rather boring.

It's during this conversation that so many things are laid to the forefront. When you get right down to it, aren't all of the stories we read, watch, whatever, the life stories of the characters we indulge in? And in that, writers, creators, they are in turn the Gods of their own invented universes. And it's all in the name of entertainment or attention seeking at the end of the day. Masayoshi literally shakes the foundation of everyone's' lives, because he IS the main character. And in the end, he himself realizes it's not right to keep stringing everyone along.

There's something else made apparent here too. Something every big bad up to now has had in common is the seeking of a collective consciousness. Groupthink, mob mentality; it's all very dangerous stuff, and even if you heavily disagree or even dislike what someone else thinks or has to say, individuality is far more precious and mentally stimulating than everyone simple expositing the same things over and over. Masayoshi manages to stand out because, even if many of his beliefs aren't exactly unique, he's genuine, whether people agree with his stance on life or not.

In the end, Masayoshi declares that whether God decides that Samurai Flamenco's' story is over or not, Masa will never quit trying to be a hero, as it's what he truly loves and believes in. And with that, the universe is set back on its proper course, and Masayoshi returns home; Goto having waited for him this entire time.

Fun fact by the way, the Universe Will's' true form is shown to be a tesseract, which for those not in the know is a shape that we as humans can't actually fully comprehend due to it existing in the 4th dimension. That's actually pretty smart!

But hey, despite coming off like a series finale, we still have a few more episodes left to go! And I'm sure there's still plenty more avenues of this story and these characters left to explore.

[Name]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Episode 18: Flamenco in Space!

That's literally all I can show you out of this episode without spoilers.

Masayoshi is one of the rare examples where the dumb, hot blooded hero spouting nonsense actually works in context. It's 100% his gut feeling, but he can't think of any way to put it into words, so he's left just kind of sputtering this and posing. Only after being uppercutted into the moon does he finally find a way to tell Alien Flamenco off.

As for the rest... Well, this may not be my favorite episode of Flamenco, but it's absolutely one of the most memorable. So much so that someone had the decency to compile all of the engrish from this episode into a bite sized video!

SPACE FINAL FLAMENCO!

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