Samurai Flamenco Episode 13 Discussion

Apology said:
That episode was boring.

This scene:
http://i44.tinypic.com/2iut56v.jpg

vilmarbf said:
I think hazama's manager is goto's girlfriend

ibreaker9736 said:
I wish they show his girlfriend already, it's been too long. I better see a blood bath next episode.

JulietTalyor said:
Goto's girlfriend may be dead and maybe the sister or someone close to the girlfriend is pretending to be her. After the girlfriend gave him the octopus,she died in an accident and when she gave his the octopus,she said that she is going overseas for a few years thus making him think that she is still alive.Or after she dies,Goto when into psycho mode and killed hazama's parents and the girlfriends sister or someone close to her pretended to be her in order for him to forget the pain.That someone sent the first message and made Goto go out of psycho mode and made him forget that his girlfriend died.But he realized that he killed someone,he confessed but the police felt that it was not his fault and made him become a police.The flower scene in the opening may be for Hazama's parents and not his girlfriend.

fishergirl16 said:
Is it just me, or is anyone else disappointed with the turn this show has taken? It surfaced so quickly into a typical, superhero action anime. I feel like I'm waiting for the "real world" to come back. All this From Beyond stuff sounds so contrived and silly.

Also, as with everyone else, can't wait for Goto's girlfriend. It'll be interesting; and it's adorable how devoted he is. Lol, the theory above would be interesting XD

Eudaimonia said:
▶ That's a big step-up from last week. The overall tone felt very reminiscent of the earlier days of SamuMenco which is probably also partly due to the fact that it contained the first longer conversation between Hazam and Gotou and his manager respectively in a long time and that things finally got treatet in a more grounded manner.

▶ It slowly becomes clear that the becoming steadily more complicated issues won't be able to get solved by the simple tactics Hazama's team has used until now. It doesn't suffice anymore to put on a rubber suit and hop into a mecha once a day to save the world, the convenient monster-of-the-week pattern has reached its limit, just like in the real world problems don't get solved by punching the baddie in the face from time to time.

▶ Trying to compromise with the government, being constantly stressed out, having to deal with the media and weighing up public vs. secret information all the time, I'm sure you thought playing hero would be much more fun, right, Hazama-kun? The circumstances have been very kind to him until now, he got offered special gadgets by top scientists, received a personal master to train him, an intimidating antagonist to achieve his first grand victory, even fellow power-rangers as companions.

However, the obstacles are piling up: the excruciating pressure he experiences from everywhere, having to abandon his sense of justice by putting the government's reputation in front of the international eyes before the lifes of the citicens he vowed to protect, being abandoned by his master once more, now as a leader he is finally forced to take on real responsiblity and to re-evalute what he wants to achieve. There's no doubt this is the greatest challenge Hazama had to face in his short super-hero career and a much needed opportunity for him to mature and grow as a character.

▶ What I found especially interesting was the prime minister prostrating himself before the Flamengers. He is not portrayed as an overly irresponsible man who acts out of pride or is too arrogant to take their advice as one would expect at first but rather treats the whole issue just as much seriousness as they do, just in a different way with other factors being included and taking the possible public reception of the devastating news into account. From a story-telling point of view it would have been easy to paint a black-and-white situation but with both sides bringing up reasonable arguments makes the whole situation more complex and more difficult to solve for the protagonist which I approve of and makes me hopeful that the creatures have some tricks up their sleeves for the upcoming episodes.

▶ Also, I can't help but draw parallels between the antagonists in this series and actual cases of terrorism in the real world. In both cases there are groups who commit (from our perspective) detestable crimes but who possess just as much resolve and determination (remember what King Torture's minions said to Hazama) as the "heroes". Despite eliminating one antagonistic individual after another the number of people belonging to these "evil" groups seems to continue growing, exponentially even, and to make matters worse they are spreading over the world and operate on a global level now . Using blunt force doesn't seem to have worked in either case. I surely wouldn't put it beyond this show to draw analogies in regard to that topic seeing how it took jabs at the entertainment industry before.

Eudaimonia said:
▶ That's a big step-up from last week. The overall tone felt very reminiscent of the earlier days of SamuMenco which is probably also partly due to the fact that it contained the first longer conversation between Hazam and Gotou and his manager respectively in a long time and that things finally got treatet in a more grounded manner.

▶ It slowly becomes clear that the becoming steadily more complicated issues won't be able to get solved by the simple tactics Hazama's team has used until now. It doesn't suffice anymore to put on a rubber suit and hop into a mecha once a day to save the world, the convenient monster-of-the-week pattern has reached its limit, just like in the real world problems don't get solved by punching the baddie in the face from time to time.

▶ Trying to compromise with the government, being constantly stressed out, having to deal with the media and weighing up public vs. secret information all the time, I'm sure you thought playing hero would be much more fun, right, Hazama-kun? The circumstances have been very kind to him until now, he got offered special gadgets by top scientists, received a personal master to train him, an intimidating antagonist to achieve his first grand victory, even fellow power-rangers as companions.

However, the obstacles are piling up: the excruciating pressure he experiences from everywhere, having to abandon his sense of justice by putting the government's reputation in front of the international eyes before the lifes of the citicens he vowed to protect, being abandoned by his master once more, now as a leader he is finally forced to take on real responsiblity and to re-evalute what he wants to achieve. There's no doubt this is the greatest challenge Hazama had to face in his short super-hero career and a much needed opportunity for him to mature and grow as a character.

▶ What I found especially interesting was the prime minister prostrating himself before the Flamengers. He is not portrayed as an overly irresponsible man who acts out of pride or is too arrogant to take their advice as one would expect at first but rather treats the whole issue just as much seriousness as they do, just in a different way with other factors being included and taking the possible public reception of the devastating news into account. From a story-telling point of view it would have been easy to paint a black-and-white situation but with both sides bringing up reasonable arguments makes the whole situation more complex and more difficult to solve for the protagonist which I approve of and makes me hopeful that the creatures have some tricks up their sleeves for the upcoming episodes.

▶ Also, I can't help but draw parallels between the antagonists in this series and actual cases of terrorism in the real world. In both cases there are groups who commit (from our perspective) detestable crimes but who possess just as much resolve and determination (remember what King Torture's minions said to Hazama) as the "heroes". Despite eliminating one antagonistic individual after another the number of people belonging to these "evil" groups seems to continue growing, exponentially even, and to make matters worse they are spreading over the world and operate on a global level now . Using blunt force doesn't seem to have worked in either case. I surely wouldn't put it beyond this show to draw analogies in regard to that topic seeing how it took jabs at the entertainment industry before.

Doaj said:


QFT

Great episode. Best one in quite a while.

Silent_Scream said:


I'm guessing the girlfriend's already dead.

Uhh... 65,536.. lol

dragonshade said:
I am amazed how some people can watch 13 episodes without realizing so far the theme of the show has been a discussion on what hero and justice really are in reality. Stop hating the show for what it is

a_new_challenger said:
I'm pretty sure the message might just be something along these lines: no matter how much Masayoshi wants to believe that silly, super hero tactics would work in real life, the reality is that things are far more complicated and repercussions are far more serious than they appear on those corny TV shows.

Every time he gets comfortable with the cliche's; real life comes crashing back in to teach him a lesson. Maybe he's running from adulthood by way of his obsession with the made-for-TV heroes and ideals that he grew up with.

Reality is about facing the issues.

Perhaps Masayoshi would be truly happy fighting simple crime with Gotou again.