Samurai Flamenco

Samurai Flamenco is a strange animal. Despite its conventional appearance, it is full of twists and turns. Overall, Samumenco addresses its core themes very effectively, primarily the theme of heroism. It has likeable and developed characters with distinct personality traits. It also comments on general character/plot tropes, mainly involving heroes and villains, as well as the sentai/tokusatsu genres. (And doesn’t always take itself too seriously while doing so.)

It’s hard to find a show like this where you truly don’t know what to expect. It may be for this very reason that this show received such widespread negative reception: it's a bit quirky, but it ... isn't initially apparent whether or not it's trying to be. Many would say that Samumenco isn't quite sure what it wants to be. But now that it’s over, I can say that I’m very glad I stuck with it and that the writers had a clear objective in mind, even though the execution of that vision wasn’t always apparent.


Details:

Story: 8
It starts out as a slice-of-life about an eccentric wannabe superhero, and proceeds to go through two major tone/plot shifts. The plot is paced somewhat erratically, and many might find the plot twists jarring. However, both of these shifts contribute to the overall themes of the story.

Art: 6
At its best, Samumenco’s art and animation is solid. At its worst, the animation was pretty awkward. Unfortunately there were often moments where poor animation detracted from the experience as a whole. While this can be forgiven for background characters, there were some important moments that would have had more impact if not for the distraction of poor animation. I think it would have been interesting if Samumenco had a style of animation that mirrored its eccentricity, but for the most part, things are pretty conventional.

Sound: 7
The OST itself wasn’t especially memorable. The BGM fit the mood well, but there were no standouts. The OPs are enjoyable and fit the tone. (Personally, I really liked them both and they got me excited for each episode.)

Characters: 8
The characters range in development, but overall they were all believable and likeable. The eccentric main character, Masayoshi, is an upstanding young man with a strong vision of heroism. What he lacks in ability, he makes up for in spirit, which is pretty darn endearing. Another major standout was Maya Mari. The story starts out from the POV of the other male lead, Gotou, the "average joe" who gets fleshed out gradually, if not as thoroughly as some other main characters. Some of the characters had very distinct and often conflicting personalities, which made their interactions very entertaining to watch. (A good example being Masayoshi and Mari’s contrasting senses of justice.)

Enjoyment: 9
Although there are a lot of fields that Samumenco could have improved in, I still enjoyed it thoroughly. There are both serious and humorous quoteable moments. I found myself crying and then laughing at some points. The humor varies from a little tongue-in-cheek to downright hammy and ridiculous.
I really loved the initial concept of the show, and was a little sad to see the plot veer from the slice-of-life superheroes plot of the first segment. For a period of time I wasn’t sure what to feel, as the rapid plot and tone shifts made it seem as though the show was going through a rebellious teenage phase. However, after a certain point everything fell together (albeit somewhat messily), and I would recommend that anyone who is interested should give it a chance and stick with it.

Some shows jump the shark, while others perform a Samurai Flamenco.

Deconstructions are some of the most demanding and intricate kinds of stories to pull off. It requires the creator to have proper knowledge of the formula they're trying to deviate from by understanding how the tropes and trappings of said formula should be incorporated, in order for it to feel natural. With the right pedigree of writing and proper usage of the commonalities associated with the given formula needed, the creator is expected to build the illusion to the viewer that they're simply following the setup they've already experienced countless of times before. And during ... this stint of limbo, where the viewer is caught up in the illusion, the creator then proceeds to dismantle and "deconstruct" the formula that the viewer had grown accustomed to. While it may seem like a relatively simple process, all it takes are a few missteps for it to implode on itself. And more often than not, if the writing for the show is shoddy at best, the end result can be more of a trainwreck than anything noteworthy (School Days can attest to that).

But perhaps the biggest reason that causes most deconstructions to fall flat on its face can often be something as simple as neglecting the fundamental building blocks of proper storytelling, more specifically, in this case, foreshadowing. Without it, things can come across as manipulated or just "ass-pulled" into the narrative. Proper foreshadowing is what allow the transition from following a formula to subverting it to feel natural. And when foreshadowing is non-existent, well..., we get things like episode 7 of Samurai Flamenco.

Samurai Flamenco is a weird anime title, to say the very least. It's a satire, homage, parody, reconstruction, and deconstruction of the super sentai/superhero genre, all wrapped up in one. And if the idea of that sounds insanely convoluted to you, well, that's because it is. While the intentions it had was genuine, the presentation and overall direction it took to see its vision through fell short of the mark. And of course, many will simply single out the tonal/genre shift of the infamous 7th episode as their point of contention, but that was just one of many blunders the title made during its 22-episode run. At the end of the day, Flamenco just bit off more than it could chew.

Brief history lesson: the Super Sentai phenomena have been something that has grown synonymous with Japanese culture with both live-action shows (Ultraman) and animated ones (Hurricane Polymar), for over 30 years. For the most part, it illustrates the fight between good and evil forces, and during its heyday, was a primary tool used to teach kids that "justice always prevail." Usually portraying a team of color-coded heroes, with the help of high-tech gadgets, they fight off evil forces that threaten the stability of mankind. Due to its kid-friendly programming, it didn't take long for it to gain success overseas, which eventually brought it stateside, most prominently with the cobbled together The Power Rangers franchise. The Super Sentai series are basically more kid-friendly versions of superhero shows (4Kids level if you will). As such, the super sentai genre has become a part of many people's childhood. And that's where a title like Samurai Flamenco comes in.

Now with that out of the way, Flamenco can be split into two parts: the first being along the lines of a traditional coming of age story told through the setup of a superhero origin tale and the latter half being a super sentai show along the veins of Power Rangers. Following our protagonist Masayoshi Hazama, we see his journey from a petty enforcer of the law, tackling trivial matters like recycling and obeying traffic signs, to him being caught up in higher stakes that escalate as the story moves forward. Similar to movies like 2010's Kick-Ass and Super, the 1st half of the show is more of a satirical parody of what the traditional superhero story is generally comprised of. While possessing no real superpower or qualities of a superhero, to begin with, most of the charm of the 1st half is seeing an average Joe attempt to live up to the role of the TV-show superhero icon of his youth. The fact that his "heroics" was no different than what anyone else can do themselves went a long way in grounding the show in reality. He was simply a vigilantly running around in spandex and as such, we see the real-life repercussions of those actions. In real life, a guy running around a city with his underwear worn over his bodysuit "defending justice" would be viewed more like a lunatic and nuisance than an actual "hero," and the show knows that. In a way, it exposes the childish ideals that those super sentai/superhero shows were trying to feed kids growing up by treating situation realistically. It's an externalized reflection of the mentality of us as we grow past such juvenile ideas and "face the music" of what life is truly is. And to be honest, if the show had continued to take this approach, that would have been enough to make it a solid satirical parody, but that just wasn't the case.

Now where the controversy comes into play is the show's 2nd half. It transitions from what was, to that point, a down-to-earth parody of a superhero story, to a show that turns into a full-fledged supernatural super sentai deconstruction. This shift from a grounded account to an "out of this world" supernatural one was done with no foreshadowing or build-up whatsoever, and as a result, caused a whiplash of adverse reactions among viewers that didn't see it coming. The negative backlash the show received was harsh and rightfully so. It isn't the viewers' fault, but rather the show for not handling the transition better. It didn't have to give away too much, but if it had simply dropped a few foretelling signs and hints throughout the narrative, its tonal shift would have been better received. Instead, it felt more like an out-of-place plot twist that had no business being there. While this was partially explained to those that finished the show, by that time, the damage was already done. This poorly handled decision was perhaps this show's biggest blunder.

Not only was the tonal shift not handled well but the 2nd misstep was that the show crossed the line from being a parody to becoming the subject matter it was making fun of, to begin with. It would be like if someone were promoting equality but then turned around to proclaim themselves as a racist. It's contrived and defeats the purpose of the first action performed. While it still did an excellent job paying tribute to the super sentai genre, it did so with subtext that didn't match up with what was established in the show's 1st half. Tying back to what I was saying about this show taking on more than it can chew, the attempts at a deconstruction clashed with the narrative because of the already firm satirical stance the show had taken early on.
Both the 1st half and the 2nd could have worked respectfully on their own, but when combined, they didn't have proper cohesion, and as a result, felt forcefully tact onto each other. It's like going from watching Neon Genesis Evangelion to the 2nd arc turning into Pokemon. Just because both titles have proxy battles, doesn't mean they should be bundled together as a single viewing experience. That's essentially what Flamenco did in a nutshell.

This mismatched exhibition wasn't limited to just the narrative either.

Like the show, the cast also ranged from down-to-earth to wacky. Some characters feel somewhat believable to what you'll find in the real world, like Hidenori Gotou, the show's person of reason and friend to our protagonist. But then, on the other side of the spectrum, the antagonists can range from street-level thugs to batshit crazy megalomaniacs akin to a Saturday morning cartoon. The further the show goes down the spiral of nonsense, the more ludicrous the characters involve becomes. Even our person of reason is shown to have a rather disturbing backstory revealed towards the latter half of the show, almost as if the writers wanted to take him down to coo-coo land with the rest of the nut jobs introduced.
The lead protagonist, Masayoshi Hazama, was nothing more than a man-child, being an adult with the mindset of an adolescent. As such, most of his actions are done to counteract the rational mindset of Gotou in the show's beginning. This, of course, changes as the title progresses forward, but I'll leave that tidbit for you to discover yourself. There is also a handful of supporting characters that get caught up in the fray, but for the most part, Gotou and Hazama are the characters that take up most of the limelight and relevance in the story.

The art and animation for Flamenco were a cut above average but nothing overly impressive. While the choreography of some of the action scenes was stiff at times, they still were serviceable enough to get a pass. The color palette of the 1st half is somewhat subdued and tamed, which fit quite well with the realistic tone it was aiming to serve. Later on, that was swapped out for a more schizophrenic display of color and elasticity, which helped in ramping things up a notch, matching the new up-tempo tone that the show took on.

The sound department, for the most part, was an appropriate mix of rock, funk, latino and other superhero-esque flavoring used to add a nice punch to any given scene. It also doubled up as a means to establish atmosphere while also adding life where the animation couldn't perform on its own. The voice acting was also a cut above average with everyone involved delivering a satisfactory performance. Special mention for Juurouta Kosugi, who did a great job bringing the character of Jouji Kaname to life by providing a particular type of machismo hamminess to the way he talked.

Now, with the general rundown out of the way, the best thing to take away from Flamenco is to understand what it was trying to do, rather than how its efforts panned out. The more you comprehend its intent, the more you could grow to appreciate it. The problems, however, stems deeper than that, and depending on how demanding of a viewer you are, might determine just how much you're able to tolerate from Flamenco to get those ideas tucked away inside it.

While the show failed to deconstruct the super sentai genre accurately, it still did so in an entertaining and spectacular fiasco. It was so "out there" that I couldn't help but be entertained by its nonsense. It was certainly a unique experience that will stick with me, and despite not holding up as well as I was hoping it would, it was still something I was happy I watched.

Samurai Flamenco is what happens when writers forget the importance of foreshadowing. It made a complete 180 in tone and genre without letting it gradually build up to that point, which in turn led to the notorious viewer backlash that's usually associated with those that hear of it. It was an interesting idea on paper but what we got instead was a failed attempt at a deconstruction that became the joke it was making fun of. Despite that, I suggest giving it a try, as it is an experience within itself that you can't honestly find anywhere else.

Firstly, it's important to note that Samurai Flamenco is not exactly your typical anime. There are a few genre shifts and plot twists that can seem to come out of nowhere, and for that reason a lot of people dropped this anime after the first shift or the second and gave it a low rating. Even I was apprehensive at first at the sudden genre shifts. However, I stuck the anime out until the end to give it a 'fair try' and I am very glad that I did. The final arc wrapped up the story very nicely and the last episode left me coming ... away from the whole thing feeling generally satisfied.

However, this review is also a review spurred about by my third watch of the show, so I've had more time to fully grasp the story and come to love it for what it is.

First of all, the most important thing and what really tied this anime together for me and made it so worthwhile -

Characters - 10/10.
Honestly, this show's story did sort of fall flat in a lot of ways. However, the characters were very genuine and fleshed out, and they felt real - some of the best characters I've seen in a recent anime. Masayoshi, Goto and Moe in particular will probably remain in my heart for a long time, as they just felt so genuine and really breathed a lot of life and enjoyment into the show that might not have been there otherwise.

Story - 7/10
It's not bad, but it's definitely not the best story out there either. There are four arcs to Samurai Flamenco - and some of these arcs were better than others. Particularly I found the 1st and 4th arcs good, but this does not mean that the others were necessarily bad - they just felt out of place or oddly-paced at times. It was easy to forget what I was even 'supposed' to be watching, as the plot kept shifting so suddenly.

Art - 7/10
Again, not bad, but not the best either. It's definitely not anything extraordinarily beautiful. However, it's well-animated and the art isn't glaringly bad or anything. Just your typical standard anime fare. The art style was particularly refreshing, however, in my personal opinion, as it seemed to look a little more 'realistic' than your usual anime (the proportions weren't as completely skewed as you usually see; it was more akin to FMA: Brotherhood in anatomy.)

Sound - 9/10
The OST is very good and I find myself listening to it every now and then, especially the Flamengers theme and the opening "Just One Life." All in all nice though there were a few songs that stuck out as seeming a little out of place (Usankusai comes to mind, though it wasn't necessarily bad, just... out of place.)

Enjoyment - 9/10
Keep in mind this is a rating upon rewatching the series and seeing it all really come together now that I understood what was happening. Depending on how well you can understand what's going on this may be lower.

Overall - 8/10

The point with Samurai Flamenco is to go into it with a truly open mind. If you go in expecting a certain type of show, you are very likely to end up disappointed - as the genre shifts a few times. Overall, however, the characters really make the whole thing worthwhile, and this will probably remain one of my favorite anime for a very long time.

The word ‘hero’ often tends to be stereotyped. When we see or hear the word ‘hero’, we tend to think of a guy in a flashy outfit, with extravagant poses, and dynamic entrance. To add on to this faction, they also make it a mission to protect the people and save the world. Why? Simply because it’s the right thing to do. Samurai Flamenco qualifies the title of being a sensation with this trend. What started out as a promising series later turned into a nightmare, one that I had hoped was just a dream. Unfortunately, it wasn’t and the horror plagued this series in ... ways that is unimaginably absurd.

Samurai Flamenco is an original series produced by Manglobe. The TV network Noitamina handles this anime that follows a trend of producing unique series as done in previous years. Samurai Flamenco is unique at first sense with its pattern. The concept of a hero trying to save people despite not having superpowers should be seen as an inspiration. Now, if only that was the trend with its initial set up. The first few episodes offers promise but that doesn’t last…

For starters, this series is about heroes saving people. Naturally, you’ll expect to see action in the form of battles around the world. It isn’t a new trend in the anime industry since series such as Tiger & Bunny, Zetman, and the recently Gatchaman Crowds adapted similar themes. The major difference initially is that Samurai Flamenco’s characters (superheroes) possesses no supernatural powers. Despite this, they still strive to help their city and ensure the safety of its people. Initially, Samurai Flamenco is a symbol for a classic superhero theme series. The characters are there to do the job and the story moves smoothly with a slice of life like style. Furthermore, the characters can even been seen as relatable with the way they handle tasks whether it’s be helping retrieve an umbrella or stopping a bank robbery. It’s what normal people do to help others and characters such as Masayoshi Hazama does a realistic job at it. Not only that but as his hero adventure goes deeper and deeper, he finds himself in more trouble. Luckily, he also gets unlikely help in the form of his Samurai Flamenco girls made of idols. It defies the classic ‘female crying for damsels’ trope as they let out battle cries rather than fear. Everything seems like a strong promise for this series but the show decides to kill its logic..

The easiest way to describe this is the way Samurai Flamenco goes as a path that is literally unbelievable. By that, I don’t mean it just as surprise but also sets up a route of destruction to this show’s original premise. It obliterates realism in ways that is unimaginable, defiles logic that is overwhelming, and kills its set up in ways that not even a time machine will be able to take back; as if time was ever on the characters’ side in the first place. It doesn’t just challenge itself anymore with this execution but makes it seem like derailment is a natural word to present a new side of the story. Don’t get me wrong though. Stories with a huge shift such as time skip or travel can redeem and set itself back together again with everything back in normalcy. What Samurai Flamenco screwed up is more than just the story. It becomes the anti-establishment of what it has originally had so much to offer. It gets more and more ridiculous to a point where full on Sentai takes control and characters transform into Power Rangers formula with the whole get-up. (even with the damn robot)

One positive characteristic about the show might be its characters. Most of them are adults so there’s no childish gags or take place in a generic school life setting. Unfortunately, most of them lacks depth in personalities and some of them come as shallow as it can be. Hazama is the typical young man with a big dream in a big city. There’s nothing new about that since young people often aims for high. It just so happens that he aims to be a superhero until he bites off more than he can chew. On the other hand is Goto, a more cynical man that lacks a sense of justice. If we put the two together, they come off as an incomparable pair. Even with the closeness between the duo, they seem so far apart. If we talk about unity however, then there are the Samurai Flamenco girls made up of Maya, Misawa, and Morita. Naturally, with a show like this, they also takes on a secret identity and trying to save the world before bedtime. Unfortunately, none of them really defines themselves in a unique way whether it’s Maya’s cop fetish or Morita’s yuri attractions towards her co-worker. Other characters also later join the ranks of the so called “Flamengers” that becomes abominable to watch. It’s not just change but rather a synergy of characters mixed in an unrealistic execution.

If you were also expecting the unexpected, then action shouldn’t be one of those factors. There’s plenty of action whether you view them as a counter factor to what it initially presented. Perhaps it’s different but it is there. At the same time, Sentai vibes is reflexively presented with all the new gags. Villains comes as stereotyped as it can get with their ideologies. In particular, the big bad announces his intention to taking over the world with a grand master plan. Sound familiar? It doesn’t stop there with the cliches. Hazama goes through dramatically changes. Initially, he fails at a lot of his tasks but becomes more experienced later on. This was originally presented as a credible way for his character for development. We want to see Hazama succeed because of what he does. But as the show progresses, Hazama finds it more component to not only help others and literally annihilate the villains. He becomes hypocritical in more ways than one with his newfound powers. Again, the urge to discredit the change becomes unbearable. And the show itself takes on a more mature route with stomach-aching torture scenes and psychological despairs. Although it strives to communicate its message to the viewers, it becomes detrimental with its original premise.

Artwork wise, Mangalobe handles its production and the style matches somewhat with its themes. Characters looks normal on most parts when they aren’t fighting the bad guys. But when they do put up that gear, then it’s where everything becomes surreal and generic. The outfits the characters dress up are flamboyant. But really, they look like a rip-off of power rangers and Kamen Rider. It’s not only has that but it also even come with robots, a gag that has been used for generations. Villains and monsters look like they are on steroids with their self-proclaimed ideologies. Some of them are mindless and no more presented than as action figures. On a more positive note, the female characters’ designs looks flashy and offers some credibility when they aren’t around town fighting. Overall, the artwork seems like a slow progressing tape running on an old machine.

The soundtrack almost makes sense if it followed its original slice of life style. On most parts, we get to witness action packed tones because the show itself offers action. It delivers almost in consistency if it had its vision going. Most movements of the series has that Sentai rhythm so naturally, the music would have to match along with the style. The OP and ED songs matches on most terms with some touches of surrealism. Surprisingly enough, most of the characters’ voice mannerism does stand out. In particular, Hazama’s character (as Samurai Flamenco) can be seen as silly but credible when he makes his point. Reactions coming from the characters often voices their thought out that will reach to you with their delivery.

Samurai Flamenco isn’t a total piece of trash to be tossed away into the garbage. However, it is a perfect example of a derailment of what it originally had to offer. You’ll be caught off guard more than ways than one.. It serves as a perfection for juxtaposition and the show writes off itself as a deconstruction of realism. Characters who we originally felt attached to become annihilated by their change while villains offer little more than stereotypes. On another note, there’s also hardly anything more unique by its later executions. Prior to what I had envisioned as a super promise becomes a soiled story. It’s unbecoming. But if you must, do give this show a try for some crazy fun.

Deconstruction is a word that has become as frequent as genre tags since Madoka finished airing. And with it has come miscommunication and ultimately disassociation. Deconstruction is to recreate cliches in meaningful and innovative ways, as opposed to be aware of one's own genre. The latter is usually what people mistake deconstruction for nowadays, and with Samurai Flamenco this couldn't be proven more rightly so.

Samurai Flamenco is a failure on all fronts. It is not a parody but is aware of it's own genre. With it comes this misunderstanding by it's audience. Simply because a work is self-aware does not mean it is a ... deconstruction. To be a deconstruction Samurai Flamenco would have had to do something new. Something that would innovate the many genres it was all too often burdened with.

Between it's goal to create a serious and inspiring vigilante-filled universe and it's majorly flawed execution, the most mediocre result is achieved. We have neither an entertaining superhero series nor a psychological exploration of vigilantism. Was Samurai Flamenco a buddy-cop series in the light of Tiger & Bunny? Was it an action-thriller like Darker Than Black? What was it and what is it? It's an unique work, but unique only because of how poorly the tone of the series shifts throughout. There's a difference between uniqueness and quality that Samurai Flamenco can't seem to separate.

Samurai Flamenco is illogical. It creates and sets characters for a few episodes at a time to later remove all traits from them in a jolt of narrative-based absurdity. Full of "plot-twists" that are not properly foreshadowed or explained and then quickly disposed of, Samurai Flamenco comes across as extremely disingenuous. The series wants you to be shocked at how many curveballs it can throw you before landing on a classical Hollywood ending every time. Yes, Samurai Flamenco, "Hero will never give up, never hide, never be defeated" but sometimes it just doesn't make sense for him not to. When the writing collapses on top of it's flimsy groundwork the most unremarkable deus ex machinas occur ad nauseum. The characters are used merely as avatars to deliver uninspiring tripe about justice and mankind. The level of depth found in Samurai Flamenco's exploration rivals that of children's programming. All characters succumb to this boring dialogue and really just begs the question "what could have been?"

Do not watch Samurai Flamenco. Despite it's offbeat premise and charmingly realistic character designs, Samurai Flamenco is an overindulgent children's series bereft of plot-development and bereft of a good idea.

Complete Review Mark II: The Revenge: Special Edition Part 2 Final Version

There's a certain subset of anime fans who savor bad experiences. Those who pick up what sensible watchers drop just to see how bad things can get. Those who seek out “classics” like Skelter Heaven and M.D. Geist to deepen their knowledge of bad shows. Those who came back to Galilei Donna week after week to see if it could sink any lower. For these people, Samurai Flamenco is a godsend. Samumenco isn't just bad, it's transcendentally bad. It's beyond mere words like “horrible” and “awful.” It's a special, painful kind of bad, like ... if someone kidnapped your family and sent you pictures of their torture every week.

Samumenco's badness comes as a result of intensive study into why shows fail. Thousands of man hours were spent dissecting specimens like Mars of Destruction to find out why they are so bad, to extract their badness essence. Along the way, Manglobe's mad scientists discovered that there was a key element missing in even the worst of the worst, something that could propel mankind into new depths of disappointment. See, there have been shows that started off good before betraying the audience. Guilty Crown disguised itself as a shounen action series before melting into a boring mess. Valvrave seemed like a classic mecha before dropping every single cliché known to man. Shows like these all have an interesting premise as the bait, and once you're hooked, they drag you lower and lower until the final episode sets you free. They leave you bitter and jaded, thinking that you'll never fall for that trick again. Then you fire up Blazblue, and the cycle starts again. Samumenco's greatest accomplishment is that they manage to compress this cycle of excitement and despair into one show, filling you with years of disappointment in only a few months. The key ingredient that made this advancement possible? Hope.

With the average bad show, once it starts going downhill, that's it. It's jumped the shark, passed the point of no return, all you can do is hang on and watch things burn. But Samumenco is not the average bad show. Samumenco offers you a tiny sliver of hope, it promises that things can get better, things can be good again, you just have to believe that the bad times will pass. Then it smashes those hopes into dust and snorts them right in front of you, laughing maniacally the whole time, before giving you another grain of hope, seriously for real this time guys cross-my-heart-hope-to-die. And like a whipped dog you come crawling back time after time, praying that the pain will end, praying that you can have fun again. But you can't. You can never go back. The Kick-Ass style anime you fell in love with is dead, and you're being pummeled with its corpse. Things have gone far beyond what anyone ever thought possible, far beyond anyone's ability to control it. Samumenco deconstructs ideas, then parodies them, then becomes them, then parodies itself. Is it a realistic view of superheroes? Or a critical stab at the superhero genre? Or an homage to a simpler time? Or even a political parody? Is it all just one big joke? The answer is no, to all of those. It doesn't just jump the shark, it turns around to jump the whole aquarium.

It's impossible to truly describe the feelings you'll experience from Samumenco. The ending brings no solace, only pain and bitterness, mocking you for being dumb enough to watch all 22 episodes. So heed this warning, bad anime pilgrim. It's all fun and games until you Flamenco.

Samurai flamenco is a very special show, it's got a low animation budget, and no sales, but it's one of the most entertaining shows I've ever seen. If you're a fan of Sentai shows, or just like great character interaction and twists, this show is for you. However, don't go into this show expecting something profound or deep, it simply isn't there. It's a parody series through and through, so just sit back and enjoy it.

The good:
The character interaction in this show is very solid, you'll get entire scenes of characters just talking and you won't feel bored, and the dialogue flows very well. ... Easily one of my favorite things about it.

When you do get action, there's usually great build up to it and I found myself excited quite often as I watched the main character grow.

The music feels very fitting and uplifting at times.


The BAD:

The "QUALITY ANIMATION" and I use that sarcasm harshly, prepare for some frames where the characters don't even look like themselves, or some very shoddy animation here and there.

This show doesn't seem to have much of a budget, so I can give it some slack, but the character models being off frame just feels lazy at times.

The genre tone shift might be too much for sum.

Hype can sure be a weird thing,especially in anime.

For many series it works completely to their advantage broadening their audience outside of Japan and overall (positive) universal acclaim :Cowboy Bebop,Death Note,Fullmetal Alchemist...
These are the series that are just objectively good ,no matter of your own taste or preferences you just cant deny them of their merits either by the ideas/twists/original story that they brought to the anime genre.

Secondly there are series that receive mixed reception either because they weren't all that groundbreaking or generally good and also because maybe they didn't air at the right time in order to receive the full attention and recognition ... they properly deserved.Many series fall into this category.

And lastly the series that for some reason or another get excessively praised just on the basis of the initial premise or first promising episodes and are instantly regarded as groundbreaking/original and all that jazz. Just so that when the series ends people finally notice notice how deeply flawed and filled with cliches/tropes the series has been and for better or for worse the backlash begins.Notable examples:Code Geass,Sword Art Online,Attack on Titan...



Samurai Flamenco fits perfectly in the last category.What started out as a realistic and modern perspective to the idea of heroes ,from the perspective of Japanese people as depicted in their TV and other anime series, ended up as a complete train-wreck.
While i know this word is used extensively there is no other way to describe Samurai Flamenco better,you stand there watching it and just cant take your eyes off it,its a glorious and yet twisted sight that needs to seen to believe it can happen.

To put it into perspective imagine a combination between KickAss ,Power Rangers and Se7en (without the actual killing).All competently different in tone/genre and all waiting their turn to appear making the viewer completely confused as to what he/she is watching.
That's Samurai Flamenco in a nutshell.


Character progression? Story? Proper pacing? Ha-Ha! ,these are things that Samurai Flamenco considers unnecessary to even bother with so it just makes its own rules one episode just so that it can be completely discarded the other.Plot points appear and disappear on a constant basis.
The only constant thing throughout the series is the main character ,well to be precise his one note motivation to be the hero,to fight against evil no matter what,even if he puts other people in danger (and he does this on multiple occasions).

I could go on and on about how stupid the characters are ,especially Mari whose sole characteristics are that she wants to kick bad guys in the balls and that she loves police uniforms.Oh and that she kisses her band member ,who is also a female, for no apparent reason except for obvious fan service.That's it ,i honestly wish i was joking.

Or how the villains are laughably bad in both design and (complete lack of) motivation to the point where you are wondering if: "is all of this on purpose?" Like is this supposed to be a parody or something ? Even though its played completely straight ,the overall tone of Samurai Flamenco is surprisingly serious ,even when it went full on Power Rangers with very few jokes spread throughout the series.Is this some sort of a parody of a parody?
Its hard to say if that's the case or not,because it all comes down to being extremely incoherent and very inconsistent.

On paper or at the very least as a small idea by the people behind this series,it might have sounded decent or even good and could have actually been good with the wright attitude, writing and such.
But in practice like i said earlier its just a complete mess with ideas borrowed from all over the place pilled together into a giant pile of rubbish.It likes to constantly trow curve balls at the viewer and have the nerve to expect a genuine praiseworthy reaction.

For example without giving to much away ,the final episodes (or i guess arc ) of the anime actually had me laughing out loud ,for all the wrong reasons of course,like "oh so now all of a sudden its going this way ,after all that has happened just 1 episode ago?" Yup and it expects the viewer to take it completely seriously as well, and even to go as far as wanting to create sympathy and emotion , but all it achieves is that if fails so hard on its own pretentious ass that it in a very weird way it almost makes up for putting the effort to sit trough this loathsome series.Almost.



Do i recommend it,no absolutely not.
Unless you really love the over the top nature and clumsy action scenes of Power Rangers or have a thing for bad series ,the same way many people like "so bad its good " movies like The Room,Troll 2,Birdemic, and enjoy to see how completely incompetent some people are while making their own "project" ,then just stay away from it.

Samurai Flamenco follows the eponymous hero's growth from small time folk hero to world saving, costume clad icon. The show presents itself as part love letter, part parody, and part attempted deconstruction of the Saturday morning superhero cartoon and fumbles past the finish line, but finishes none the less.

The story's strength shines most brightly when it is paying tribute to shows like the Power Rangers and Kamen Rider with wacky monsters, team dynamics, and world shattering threats. However, this is where I found the story to drag because it was too much like the monster-of-the-week shows of my childhood, lacking any real substance and I ... have since outgrown their appeal.
The parody-ing of superheroes was mixed in with all elements of the story, though I thought it was most prominent in the first few episodes. I found it provided me a good chuckle, was relatively harmless, and felt natural to the tone of the story... in most scenes.
The proverbial dark cloud looming over this anime is when it tries its hand at deconstruction. By the most technical definition it is not deconstruction, it goes to dark places with the theme of obsessive fandom, but in my opinion the show does not let these plot threads play to their logical end. Furthermore, the deconstruction seems to be less focused on superhero tropes, and more on fans and obsession.
As a result of the whiplash tonal shift, the story feels disjointed and flows poorly. The combination of several different set pieces for Samurai Flamenco to fight doesn't help; adding a cluttered and rushed feeling to the disjointedness. I like that the story tried some new things, but I think it failed to execute all of them (5/10).

I found both art and sound to be average and enjoyable. There was some small use of CGI which felt a little out of place, but it was not overly egregious. The fight scenes weren't bad either, the use of speed lines in certain places felt appropriate given the shows inspiration.
Voice acting was good as far as I'm concerned, the stand out voice actress portrayed a pop idol who can emote selfish rage at ear splitting decibels, and I though she did an admirable job of getting me to dislike her character. There are plenty of cheesy "Stop Right There Criminal Scum" lines delivered with the appropriate amount of love and irony which I believe was intended for this anime.
All in all, there was nothing mind blowing about the audio or visual talent, but it looks and sounds competent, and in no way detracts from the overall product (7/10).

Overall I rated Samurai Flamenco a 6 out of 10. I am a fan of superheroes both North American and Japanese and I thought there were moments in the story which really provided me with a comment or critique I had not considered. However, the over ambition and loss of focus in the story really damages its final result. If you are a fan of superheroes I suggest giving it a try, but if you are looking for either a fun, colourful action series or a more thought provoking story or if you don't like superheroes, I suggest you pass on this dance.

Discussion of this show really has to be spoilery because of the nature of its problems. It starts off very well, kind of like a more low-key version of Kick-Ass, only to throw everything they've built away in a sudden burst of insanity. There is a lot of talk about genre shift in the reviews but it's not always clear what that phrase means. It seems like a fairly innocent expression, and usually it is. But here what it means is that the show works hard to set up its themes of a superpowerless superhero trying to exist in the real world where such a ... figure doesn't necessarily have the easiest time fitting in. He spends his time yelling at people for minor law violations and hunting down stolen umbrellas and generally living an ambiguous career as a vigilante. Then after seven episodes of painstaking and intriguing character development it throws it all away by having monsters suddenly appear. The appearance of superpowered villains need not have been lethal if it had been handled carefully in a way that preserved the style of the show, but that instantly vanishes as well and instead of the realistic meditation on what use superheroes are in the modern world we have the most extreme example of superheroes battling Power Rangers-level villains and unironically hitting all the cliches it had previously been questioning. This change happens instantaneously and without any setup, and suddenly a promising show has been replaced with exactly the show they had been playfully mocking only an episode ago. While fascinating to watch, this train wreck only gets worse and worse never rising above the tired cliches until the end, when it suddenly tries to switch back. Definitely one to avoid.

Samurai Flamenco is a Frankenstein's monster of an anime. It can neatly be chopped into 4 arcs (1-7, 8-14, 15-18, 19-22) and these arcs all feel incredibly different in tone, message, point and quality.
Story:
The major problem with the story is that when watching the show I really hoped they would pull a: “IT WAS AN ILLUSION/DREAM/SHOW ALL ALONG” type of stupid twist, because if they didn’t the show would be utter nonsense. The show is a writing disaster, it feels like the writers threw a lot of ideas and hoped the audience would accept them or that some of the ideas would stick. In the ... end only what happens in the first and last arc matters to the plot. This leaves episodes 8-18 or half of the series as a pointless waste of time plot wise, I guess the cast develops somewhat, but compared to the first and last arcs it’s not a lot.
On the positive sides there are some flashes of brilliance in the series, the show is clever at the beginning at how they poke fun at the super hero formula and how it shakes it. It’s mostly a more lighthearted Kick-Ass with a hero who fights with stationary (so it’s not illegal weaponry).
The story gets a rating of 3. It goes in too many places too quickly and barely develops anything long enough, but the first 7 and the last 3 episodes are actually pretty good.
Art:
Not much too say, the animation is bad if you care about that, although the characters do have their tics and move somewhat interesting. Humans look OK, although nothing stands out. The monsters look silly, but charmingly silly. Backgrounds are bland as hell, Offices, back alleys, the city and dingy places are were most of the action takes place.
Art gets a 4 it works and is functional. Although this is bad for the type of super hero show the show is for most of the runtime.
Sound
To be honest I don’t remember any of the soundtrack of the show. The OPs were OK but the endings were too jarring, since they were cheesy J-POP maybe it was intentional but I’m not sure.
Voice acting wise the cast is pretty good, no real stand outs but no one letting the show down. Characters sound like they’re supposed to and all the engrish is actually pretty funny and appropriate.
Sound gets a 5 the voice acting is great and funny, but everything else is a blank for me.
Character
The characters of the show are actually above average. Our main character Hazama Masayoshi is a super hero Otaku and is so dumb he can only work as a model because of his pretty face. He believes in justice, truth and the Japanese way. He decides to become a super hero (Samurai Flamenco) because it was his dream. Following closely is Gotou, a straight man cop who has to rein in Masayoshi and soon enough they develop a close (somewhat homoerotic) friendship. Mari is a member of a band of idols who also becomes a super hero for shits and giggles. The other characters mostly works, Samurai Flamenco’s mentor, the guy who makes weapon. Masayoshi’s manager who is trying to find out if he’s Samurai Flamenco. Moe and Mizuki, who are Mari’s friends and also become super heroes. There’s also Akira, a shady guy who runs a newspaper.
With this the cast would be perfect, but the writers managed to screw up, there is only 1 good antagonist who appears in the last 4 episodes. Worse yet are the Flamengers, a group of one dimensional characters (they have a gimmick they repeat each time they appear), who steal the spotlight from Gotou and Mari for various episodes and stick around until the end (albeit with a reduced role). When they first appeared, I honestly thought they were parodies of badly written characters, so I guess they weren’t since the plot took them seriously.
So characters get a 5 most of them work but the Flamengers and antagonists bring the show down immensely.
Enjoyment
Samurai Flamenco is enjoyable for all the wrong reasons. At first it is genuinely enjoyable, then after episode 7 it becomes a train wreck until episode 19. The last episodes are less terrible, but not as engaging as the first ones, although it is the most tight and structured plot the series has and the conclusion is as hilarious and baffling as only this show could offer.
The enjoyment factor gets a 6, sometimes for the right reasons and sometimes not, you certainly won’t be bored.
Overall
Samurai Flamenco is a well-intentioned anime and has glimpses, but it falls flat on its face when it comes to executing the actual plot. The show tried to do lots of things but in the end didn’t do a damn thing.
Samurai Flamenco gets overall a 4 out of 10.

I thought Id seen it all when it came to anime but boy oh boy was I completely wrong.

I started watching Samurai Flamenco because I thought that a cute vigilante hero story would be fun and entertaining. What I got was a whole lot of holy sh*t what the hell is happening?????

This anime is one wild ride, jumping from plot twist to plot twist at the speed of a Double Flamenco Kick. Its just one surprise after another, and frankly, it just gets more and more ridiculous as it goes on. More than once I found myself in absolute hysterics due to the sheer insanity ... that I was watching. There were a few parts I had to go back and watch over because I was laughing so hard I had missed what had happened.

Samurai Flamenco is seriously one of the best animes I've ever seen. its fun, its ridiculous, its absolutely outrageous and its amazingly gleeful. There is a wide variety of characters, and an innumerable number of story arcs to keep you entertained.

I very strongly recommend this anime to anyone and everyone! Enjoy!

I'm actually surprised Samurai Flamenco only received approx. rating of 7 here in MAL. But I guess that's it, one has to reach episode 7 to appreciate this anime to the most of what it has to offer.



Story = 8
A lot of great, superb, epic anime are boring from their starting eps: Gurren Lagann's start is boring; Kill la Kill's early episodes are boring; Shingeki no Kyojin at its beginning episodes are also boring; Psycho Pass, AnoHana,the list goes on. Samurai Flamenco is of no exception. It started with a slice-of-life-esque opening, focusing on the main lead Hasama Masayoshi, who is a model, and has ... aspirations to become a super sentai or heroes that goes "henshin!". His ideals go tested for the first six episodes before moving to the seventh, accompanied by Gotou Hidenori, a cop whom he stumbled and got on into his superhero escapades.


Art = 6
Art is okay.


Sound = 6
Not the ideal music score for a henshin hero, and not as catchy as the other tracks of other anime that went down in history. However, they're able to pace up the mood for the show.


Character = 7
Dynamic and complex characters are what I always admire, those who begin as flailing and sometimes hate-able, and begin to crawl their way through what the plot offered them, and they change with it for the better. Don't get me wrong, I've watched Kamen Riders and Ultraman shows myself, so I'm familiar with the typecast characters that henshin shows produce, but Samurai Flamenco was able to put the blend of their main characters to get you riled up--unless you're the kind of anime-fan who just enjoys mainstream shows like Naruto and One Piece and expect each character to be all-mighty and winning (and being Gary-stus/Mary-sues) and all that, then you may not be able to wind what dynamic personas our heroes have. The main characters here are what I'd say the right blend of transforming the mindset of henshin-heroes in live action, putting them in the stead of the anime realm.


Enjoyment = 8
You have to go through past episode 7 here to understand why I rated this as 8.


Overall = 8
Samurai Flamenco doesn't come often. Anime productions are too focused on either moe-ness, shounen, shows that needs shipping, and those of the kind of ecchi-bunch of shows that only gets the score of anime-fans because they showed boobs and too much skin. Samurai Flamenco is for the plot, story, and enjoying a take from henshin-concepts brought into anime. Of course, this show is not for everyone, but for those kind of anime-fans who watches anime for the story [and a tinge of henshin-ness as well as the feel that there is a hero out there], and not for the pantsus and fillers, then this is for you.

I would not be too surprised if not a lot of viewers continued Samurai Flamenco, or even give it a chance. I really enjoyed the series, and gave me a bit of a laugh in the process.


Story: 8

Samurai Flamenco really took me by storm after the 1st arc ( 4 arcs= 1-6 7-14 15-18 20-22). The story does take place in 4 different times, but each arc fits right into the next. The story was not as unique, but it is like your typical sentai show. Even though I enjoyed the show overall, the 1st arc of the story could have been much shorter, ... but it does introduces some really big characters that will become important in the upcoming arcs. But for me the 2nd arc was possibly my favorite. The arc really gave Samurai Flamenco the sentai feel to it, eve though it was corny. If you look at the episodes in each arc I left out episode 19. The reason was because it was a filler episode, and didn't contribute to the final arc as much. Speaking of the final arc, the ending was perfect. The ending filled in some holes, and was the perfect way to end the series with more of a " personal" villain to it. Overall Samurai Flamenco had a good story


Art: 7

The art style fits perfectly with the series. Some of the characters are definitely going to be memorable. It did have the flaw of the animation looking awkward a few times. The art style fits well with not only the series, but especially the action scenes. The look of each character was perfect, especially the sentai suits. It did have a flaw though, two characters did look familiar, but the clothes made the two different. Overall the art was great, and the look of the characters will be remembered very well.


Sound: 8

The OST was very memorable to me. The BGM was great, and made the action scenes look even better. I particularly didn't like the ED that much, considering that I didn't change at all during the series.


Character: 7

The character development was quite good, and every character was believable. The main character Masayoshi is a model, but takes an interest in following the footsteps of his heroes. Masayoshi lacks technique, but makes that up for his spirit which helps him to continue to become a hero. The other main character Gotou is an average cop, who finds Masayoshi and befriends him. Although thinking Masayoshi is crazy, he still befriends him knowing that he will need his help on the way. Overall the characters were great, and I can relate to many of them


Enjoyment: 9

I really enjoyed Samurai Flamenco because it brought back memories watching Power Rangers as a child. Even though it isn't as re-watchable it makes up for its story, and comedy. If you dropped this series just watch episode 7, and I bet you will want to continue this series. I would definitely would recommend Samurai Flamenco to people who want to watch a piece of their childhood, but with a touch of comedy to it.

People say this show went downhill after a little "Gorilla" twist that happened in the series. But I say that this is a series that has a lot of unexpected twists that slowly grow on you.

I think after binge watching this Sentai....I mean Anime show, I can safely say that I thoroughly enjoyed the shit out of this show. I'll start by saying that the twists that this anime takes is a matter of taste. You can either hate it or really love it. For me I was on both ends of the argument but still loved the show.

This show has a way of ... continuously drawing the viewer in by throwing these twists after the end of each arc. After the initial 6 episodes of the series I felt like the twist was something that this series needed. The story is all over the place and has some of wackiest things that I've ever seen but it somehow manages to keep me intrigued but not confused on where the overall plot or story is trying to get to. Now what I meant when I said that I was on both ends of whether the twists were a love or hate, sometimes the twists take at least an episode or two for you to actually understand what is happening and when the initial twist happens you might not want to watch the next episode and that's where the hate part comes in but after making through the initial twist I feel as though the story will grow on you.

This leads me into talking about how well the show unfolded its story and how well this show was paced. There was never a dull moment in this show for me, ever. Almost all of the characters are likable with the exception of one character. The main character Masayoshi was one of the funniest and well developed characters alongside Gotou who had amazing chemistry with Masayoshi. The only character I felt was a little lackluster was Maya because although she played an important role in developing Masayoshi, I felt as though she was the characater that had the least character development and I was a bit disappointed with the the development that she had gotten. Other than that I enjoyed all the characters thoroughly.

Overall the series like I said is a matter of taste after the first couple episodes and whether you choose to drop it or keep watching is up to you, but I highly recommend you continue because the twists are interesting, the characters are well developed, and fun. Combine these things with two highly catchy opening songs and a soundtrack that is both somber, and intense I feel as though this anime was one of the best shows I've seen in a while, enough so that it has now become one of my favorite anime that I will continue to go back and watch.

Well, I picked up this anime because I had to translate the subs to Persian, so it wasn't really a choice anyway. Still, I'm glad I got to do it.

It was mostly a mix, and I have to confess that it was unbearable starting episode 8 to episode 13, but past that point was less painful on the brain and the eyes. I'm giving it a 7 because in the last 5 episodes, they saved the show and somehow managed to wrap it up and excuse those infernal episodes.
I guess we agree that Samurai Flamenco must be divided in three stages: 1.Before Episode ... 8
2.The craphole from ep 8 to 14
3.The rest which was cool

The story was fine. They ideas of heroism were conveyed very well although they should have done something with that horrible shift at the end of episode 7. Would have been all easier if we just were to see masa waking up in a mental hospital or something.

Sound was good, the music was catchy. not much to develop here.

Art was... Bad. I mean, the art itself and the style wasn't bad but many times, especially in the second half, you would see failures in the drawings or over simplistic art which kinda hinted that the show was rushed.

Character development was good in the beginning until episode 7 minute 18, then it was crap for 6 episodes, and then it was fantastic.

Overall I gave it a 7. They managed a lot without a big budget. Still, there were many fails too. I'm only giving it a 7 because of the last episodes.

Samurai Flamenco had a nice flow.

For several episodes it kept me hooked to it's laid back style, interesting characters and enjoyable "semi slice of life" genre. This show was trying to take on a realistic view of "Superheroes". A lot like Batman, but it wasn't about stopping the world from getting destroyed or anything. It was just stopping everyday crimes such as littering or stealing purses.

SUDDENLY, something so fucked up happened. This was above M. Night Shyamalan level. It was so whack. It's like opening a Snickers bar and getting a retarded Mars bar instead.

I ask why, why do you do something like this? What ... went through this director's mind when he made episode 7? What the fuck happened in those last 5 minutes of that episode and why did it happen?

I have never seen an anime take this huge of a turn in such a small amount of time. Honestly, this show cannot be reviewed.

"Fuck you" - Samurai Flamenco Episode 7, 18:00, Omori Takahiro

it's shit 10/10

(TLDR Review at the bottom, as usual, thanks for reading)

"Hero will never give up,
never hide, never be defeated,
never accept evil."

Superhero.

That word, a word which millions of people across the globe have come across before. A superhero, defined as:
>a benevolent fictional character with superhuman powers, such as Superman.
Has taken the hearts of many, in a wide range of different interactions ranging from media consumption, merchandise, or just plain inspiration. The idea has been a thing for a very long time now, with the origins of best selling comics of such heroes dating back as far as the 1930s. The superhero, however, despite its waves ... of resonance into our subconscious, is of no limits to the idea of deconstruction. Deconstruction is usually considered to be up there with kino, zenith, chef-d'oeuvre type storytelling. So when the concept of superheroes and the idea of deconstructing such come together, I had no real idea what to expect, considering how this is also under "Parody". The result of such, more so, the result of Samurai Flamenco, was probably one of the most unique and well-written stories I have seen in a long while. It's like Goku (DBZ), as he keeps achieving higher levels of Super Saiyan and transformations, just when you think the bar is as high as it gets, he pushes it even higher. That's what Samurai Flamenco is in this tidy mess of an anime it has made for itself.

The narrative of Samurai Flamenco is simple, it starts with a superhero-obsessed fan, Hazama Masayoshi, wanting to become the very thing he looked up to, that is the Superhero. Luckily for him, he could, taking up the role of the new hero in town "Samurai Flamenco". From here on out, the story is on a linear path, consistently going through the different petty crimes the Samurai Flamenco has to fix for the neighbourhood. In this time of life, he is just your friendly odd hero guy doing whatever it takes to make the small things in life just that better for people. This part of the story, however, is just a bigger connection to the ascendance that is the greater chaos waiting to erupt from this deconstruction.

When you get to episode 7, you know something is not right, something has changed, and that it will never revert back to its prior state. The anime is full of rising action and climaxes that knows no end. It comes up with new ideas that should be apparent, yet combust devoid of notice as if it was already there. What this anime does is it takes popular tropes ranging from martial arts movies, dark age of comics, tokusatsu and others, and slimes them all together to make this magnificent wtf. It's strange, and to some extent, completely stupid. However it is a unique idea I don't see quite a lot in the medium. In fact, such an ambitious task is already self-aware of how dumb these things are and uses them for the purpose of enhancing the story at hand. I'm sure many of us understood shows like Power Rangers was completely amplified in everything, I mean, it wasn't hard for me to decipher such at a young age, continuously pointing out irregularities in acting skills that could never have been real. The same thing applies here, when this anime seems dumb when it seems that there is no hope for what it gives, you need to remember that there was never hope to begin with. Looking for real-world logic simply does not exist here, and the reaction in being self-aware to such is simply amazing. It doesn't even stop there with mixing superhero pop culture, it mixed cliches like every arc out of the book, I won't go into it due to spoilers, but I'm sure what you think up would be most likely true. From what I understand, everything based on the narrative/writing of the anime seems to be based on poking fun at what currently exists in the entertainment media. It makes for something quite fun, something to look at with the knowledge that you are entering a new elaborate adventure that seemingly knows how to continuously overwrite any absurdity with something you wouldn't have thought it would come to. Great creativity made here.

The characters are in a similar situation, though they are usually under the command of the story. However, they themselves have real attributes accumulating their whole personalities to them, when one character looks baseline, they may surprise you with a new quirk or backstory you didn't think would apply to them. Sure, it may not be true for all, but the anime does compensate with some interesting quality for as many characters in the story as it can. Some may have more detailed backgrounds in comparison to others, others may just be an over-exaggerated idea with nothing else to their name, but entirely, the anime does a good job at pushing characters to be of some substantial quality.

Going on about the main characters, Hazama comes across as basically the centre of the anime and everything that happens to it. At first, that may seem obvious, however, it is called for in a skilful way. At one point, when he is just some hentai (not the sexual kind) running around trying to help people, at the next, he is this red ranger getting all the fame and glory as you would expect him to. Sure, this would be expected in an anime of its kind, however, you could argue that it being such and not focusing on others, like Goto, for example, would indeed be a good way to show how Hazama has developed as an individual. It makes sense that he would grow as a hero, as all heroes do. In some sense, Hazama is a very fitting character. Though it should be noted, he is still the same individual that he was, with him still maintaining human personality so much so that his character isn't completely distorted. He's an interesting character to see how he moves from start to finish in the entire anime, I suppose everything just plays out and sails smoothly with the guy. Goto is an interesting one too, you don't see his true identity until later on. He may seem a little boring, and honestly, I can't go on about a lot about the dude since there is nothing to go on about that wouldn't otherwise lead to spoilers. Though from what I understand, he seems to be that perfect fit for Hazama, being the dude Hazama can depend on when he is in need of help, he sure gets along with others too, which makes him a more loveable character putting up with the antics of the eccentric characters in this anime. Overall, fine characters.

I could go on a lot about the characters a lot more than I have already done so, but it may become unnecessary saturation that isn't needed to actually appreciate Samurai Flamenco. Sure, it can be a little cryptic with it hinting at future ideas non-stop through objects, and characters, but the entire foundation can be understood without relative overthought, which people can stumble into whenever something of "thought-provoking" anime comes to play.

The thing that gets me the most with Samurai Flamenco is its low-quality animation, I am giving it the benefit of the doubt relative to when it was released, and to be fair, it had its moments of shining. However, sometimes it was clunky with its motion, borderline visually unappetising. It comes across as one of those products of its time which is why it isn't as bad as it seems compared to others around itself. Though given Manglobe's other works, I am not too sure as to what is needed to be said here, because better has existed. The audio is pretty good, I can't praise the voicing, because nothing of importance is to be noted there. The OST was amazing though, and it was placed right every time, I didn't think something this skilled could come to be but it is shown here and I've heard it for myself to confirm such. It comes across as that main theme you heard yourself thinking about 10 years down the line from when you originally first heard it, it is that main theme that clicks with nostalgia, being easy to remember and catchy to get a hold of. Same with the 1st OP, not so much the 2nd. Both endings weren't even all that anyways and feel kind of misplaced to some extent, though, it is fitting for the Samumenco Girls and what they have going for them. Otherwise, on the whole, very good audio, animation lacked.

You are one of two people with this anime. You feel betrayed, or you feel enlightened. As of this review, Samurai Flamenco has a score of 6.89 which will tell most avid watchers that something hasn't gone quite right. Which is both true and not. As mentioned, this anime is pretty much anything but serious, it does go over the serious stuff in a serious fashion, but the entire point revolves around the absurdity of the superhero climate. So I would imagine most who don't mind their expectations getting subverted into something wackier would enjoy this more than others, or if you are just a superhero fan in general, you may enjoy this a lot as well. Universally, this is pretty much on its way there with the polarisation you've never seen the likes of from other than School Days, or Redo of Healer if you want a more recent example. But in the large scope of things, in what Samurai Flamenco tries to present, it is a master at such, leaving me with no reason to hate on anything the anime has going for itself. It's stupid, it's nonsensical, but most importantly, a fun superhero story deconstructing the ridiculous nature of what we have made.
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TLDR Review:
Story - 10: Self-aware story about the stupidity that exists within the superhero realm of fiction, going on a path of nothing but absurdity, as the plot slowly progresses.
Visuals - 6.5: Lackluster, though it is good when it needs to be, that just doesn't happen a lot. Kinda the style of animation you'd expect from its time.
Audio - 8: Well placed and very memorable OST, memorable OP and ED (only the 1st ones), nothing to report on seiyuus.
Characters - 9: Great characters, everyone has something to their name, whether it be big or small. Good ideas embedded in characters as well rather than them being soulless representations. Unique and intriguing.
Enjoyment - 9: It's a very polarising anime, so I wouldn't imagine everyone would like it as much as I do. But its ludicrous activities are one to praise in what it is trying to sell.
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So, I've held this review on hold for a while. I do that a lot. But I managed to overcome these youkai flying above my head with a proper review I haven't made since July. Anyways, I'd recommend this anime to most people who've I've noted and also those with an open mind. I'm not entirely sure where the dislike for this anime ensues but I can only recall people not liking the switch up, but I never really understood "I don't like it = bad anime - on an absolute level". Out of the many superhero anime out there like MHA, OPM or Tiger & Bunny, this has to be the most underrated one for sure.

Anyhow, I leave off with nothing more than some Flamenco review. Since everything is Flamenco.


Overall - 8.92 (9)

I'm gonna go off of what the other people writing reviews have said, and agree that you have to watch the whole show to get the complete enjoyment. There are a lot of weird twists that don't make a whole lot of sense until the very end, but it really is worth it to get to the explanation. Even I had to force myself to watch some of the episodes because they made virtually no sense whatsoever, but I'm extremely glad I did.

Story: 8/10
It didn't take much to draw me into the story, but honestly, the pacing was terribly shaky in the beginning. It didn't ... make a whole lot of sense to me what was going on half the time, but it was still enjoyable. I actually really enjoyed learning about each character and seeing Mari, Moe, and Mizuki's relationships --as well as Goto and Masayoshi's -- progress throughout the show. A lot of things seemed bizarre and completely random, but everything falls into place as the show goes on, so it's definitely worth it. The ending is what really made the story for me, though.

Art: 8/10
I actually really liked the art style. I was hesitant at first because of it, but it actually grew on me quite a lot. There aren't really any intricate character designs, but I think that helps humble them and make them more relatable.

Sound: 7/10
The voice acting in the show was spot on. It felt like everyone's voices fit them, and the soundtrack was really good as well. Sometimes it felt a little out of place, but it usually worked out pretty well. I also enjoyed the openings, and the endings were really cute.

Character: 9/10
I loved the characters in this show. It's true, sometimes I didn't understand the reasons for the things they did, but for the most part, they were amazing. They were extremely relatable, and about 97% of the time likable. Towards the end they start to hit home more, especially the story with Goto, and the development of him and Masayoshi skyrockets.

Enjoyment: 8/10
I found this anime to be undeniably peculiar and difficult to finish, yet I still loved it. It was funny, heartwarming, heartbreaking, and just a fun show in general. It was as random as it was depressing, which I guess gave it a good balance. While it's true I absolutely couldn't stand the Flamengers Arc, the rest of it is amazing.

Overall: 9/10
I'm giving this a 9 because I felt the ending truly sold it. During the period of watching the show, the lowest rating I gave it was a 5, so even I'm surprised I gave it a 9. I even debated dropping it until I saw the other reviews saying watch until the end, which I'm extremely glad I did. The ending was the satisfaction I was looking for after all the bullshit in the episodes prior. All in all, it's a good watch and I recommend it highly as long as you can stick through the rough patches.

"Plot twists are good, so the more we put in our story, the better it is, right?" - M. Night Shamalayan, who was apparently the director of Samurai Flamenco

Viewer expectations are an interesting thing to mess around with, you've got your Dokuro-Chans, which mess around with them and utilise them for comedic purposes, and you've got your Evangelions, which utilise them to enhance an emotionally impactful story, in what is called a deconstruction, a word I really do not like and so I hope I won't have to say it again. Samurai Flamenco clearly intended to do something, but it didn't really manage to ... do so, it betrayed my expectations as a viewer, but failed to utilise them, in any manner. It's like a joke without a punchline. We've been told that 2 men walked into a bar, or that a chicken crossed the road, and that's the end of it.

SF starts off reasonably decent, we've got some (male) model who is obsessed with superheroes to an unhealthy extent, and has created one by the name of Samurai Flamenco, costume and all, and has taken it upon himself to go about at night and stop people from all wrongdoing, starting small, and usually creating misunderstandings, one such understanding brings him to police officer Goto, who spends the next few episodes basically trying his best to keep our protagonist, whose name is Masayoshi for the record, out of trouble. If the show was funny, I'd say that Goto plays the straight man, and Masayoshi the funny man, but I'll talk more about humour later on.

After a video of SF embarrassing himself goes viral, he finds himself having to keep his secret identity just that, while simultaneously trying to keep a lid on the whole affair, despite others seemingly intending to do the opposite, and in most cases, I’d use the phrase “it all takes off from there”, but herein it really doesn’t, it all descends from there. From Episode 7 in particular it goes from a bit unengaging to what I can only imagine was the writer having 25 minutes of time to make 25 minutes worth of content, which resulted in some awful storytelling, not the absolute worst, but certainly bad enough that it is highly deserving of the title “shitload of fuck”. Once the evil aliens who want to enslave humanity for no reason other than that they enjoy enslavement come along, there was a definitive drop in quality in storytelling, one it never recovered from. And this is where Samurai Flamenco biggest shortcoming is – its tone. It has none. It seems to have wanted to make it about philosophical ideas about justice a little bit, a little bit a standard superhero (and later super sentai) type, but doesn’t really do either, it’s got poorly orchestrated action, uninteresting and shallow attempts to be “deep”, and to return to humour, it’s got some things that seem like they could very well be humorous, yet were not. Consider, for instance, a politician whose mecha suit’s power is directly linked to how much support he has. Or an evil alien brandishing a “Destruction of Japan Device”, or, more generally, just a story about a man with no superpowers at all, trying to be a superhero, it all seems like it could very well make for some perfectly good comedy, they just rather strangely chose not to do so.

Now, on to plot twists, I’m not going to go too in depth on this, but I do believe it would be agreeable to say that the most effective plot twists are ones that the viewer does not expect, and ones that greatly alter the course of the story. Samurai Flamenco has foregone both of these, as at around the halfway point, they decided to implement a plot twist every single episode, after about 3 of them, they lost their charm, and after about 5, they were stupid, bungled, meaningless, and predictable, in other words, the complete opposite of what a plot twist is meant to achieve. Imagine if you had a surprise birthday party every year. After a few years, you know once your birthday’s arrived, you’re going to get someone trying to surprise you, but there is no surprise at all, you know it’s coming, and that’s just what SF’s plot twists were. You knew they were coming, and you know they were going to be an omnishambles, utterly reprehensible, every last one of them. So, to conclude, Samurai Flamenco’s unbelievably poor writing, coupled with the boring and uninspired and genuinely impossible not to predict plot twists forced in, resulting in some extremely boring writing, and despite all the faux philosophy they tried to put in, it is utterly irredeemable, I’ve seen better stories written in shit on the walls of a public toilet.