Flamenco. Shot.
What They Say:
Masayoshi Hazama: a man who has become a superhero “by himself” with no superhuman powers or any sort of high-tech conversions, NONE!! Hidenori Goto: a cop who found out the true identity of “the superhero” by a strange twist of fate and thus constantly gets in trouble thanks to Hazama, the superhero. This is the story of the birth of a true hero featuring these two young men with a touch of comedy and serious drama, while they come face to face with hardships as they search for the true meaning of becoming a hero of justice in this world!
The Review: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
A true hero will fight on, he says. Your enthusiasm alone is not enough, the other man says. The other man is from a research and development company that wants to provide Samurai Flamenco with weapons. I’m hoping for something that calls a Megazord.
Goto, meanwhile…poor Goto. He’s stuck in the middle of these weirdos, both of which want to dress up and fight crime. Masayoshi hardly has the skills—rather, hardly HAD the skills—to fight crime. Mari is trying to seduce him too. But he’s got a mysterious girlfriend who has some weird dreams. And feminine wiles don’t work on cops, according to Goto.
The next time Sam Flam goes out, he’s geared up with armor and a utility belt and he’s cornered by thugs, yet again. And he keeps spouting that he’s not a suspicious character to people when he, if not an internet phenomenon, is clearly a suspicious character. And, of course, the reward to capturing Samurai Flamenco is now 10 million yen and it’s their LAST CHANCE. It calls back to stuff like Summer Wars and Gatchaman Crowds (as well as tons more that aren’t coming to mind) with the use of social media. Everyone is using something, perhaps the comment thread of the article or Twitter, to collaborate to catch Samurai Flamenco.
It’s all a lead up to his new weapons, which include an eraser, a pen, and a stapler. The men he’s facing boldly declare that there’s no need to be afraid of office supplies. But he staples people to the ground and to each other. And he even shoots an eraser at a dude. Flamen Shot. The brilliant part is what the R&D guy says, “They’re considered stationary, so it’s not technically illegal to use them.” It’s basically the entire show in a sentence, except replace stationary with…I guess Samurai Flamenco.
Best part of the episode is FLAMENCO GIRLS. Flamenco Girl teaches Ruby and Sapphire (is that a Pokemon reference?) how to…well…kick people in the nuts. You have to push in and then twist like a whirlpool. Thinking about it hurts my area.
Second best part is when Samurai Flamenco gets saved, as he always does. Goto, of all people, show up and flips the two bad guys over his shoulder. The Flamenco Girls are just a little too late to save the hero, but on time to see the boys love action.
In Summary:
Despite my lengthy review, the episode was actually light on plot/character development. Really, it just started to show what Sam Flam and the Flamenco Girls will be like on their own. The hope is that Mari won’t overpower the other two and become bad people, but who knows. Meanwhile, Goto’s got a constant lock on Masayoshi to make sure he’ll be alright. Plus, Masayoshi’s got his own sense of justice that won’t turn him bad as Flamenco Girl did a few episodes ago. I hope this episode will set up more for the future instead of just become episode fodder for toys and figures.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Equipment: Radeon 7850, 24 in. Vizio 1080p HDTV, Creative GigaWorks T20 Series II