First Impressions / Samurai Flamenco

「宇宙でフラメンコ」 (Uchuu de Furamenko)
“Flamenco in Space”

I’m trying to enjoy this show… I really am. And the way I see things, there are only 3 impressions that I get from this episode.

“This show is ridiculous! What is going on?!”

This is probably the first and most dominant reaction that I get after watching this week’s episode. If anything, it feels like the writers left us with such a curve ball that they needed a one week hiatus, just to think about what the hell they’re going to write about next. I see no flow and no logical explanation for this one… but then, “the act of God” kicks in. Some deus ex machina that suddenly explains that Masayoshi’s will power controls the entire universe and all that inhabits it. Yes, the reason that everything has happened, is because he wished for it. He “willed it” to happen and because the God of willpower is on his side, everything that has happened, can technically be blamed on him. I don’t swallow this explanation well at all. It makes me crazy when things happen “just because” and there’s just nothing about this show that I can take seriously. It’s like, I can’t believe this show actually exists (woops, too harsh?). There are still aspects of the show which I can enjoy – the relationships between characters for one, but is it enough to carry the show now? Well I just hope having Masayoshi back on Earth will return some of the show’s earlier antiques and fun. Maybe they can show a comparison of how much Samurai Flamenco has changed since then.

“Ooooh! It all makes sense now!

Well… kind of. The explanation from Alien Flamenco (who’s voiced by the same Mr. Justice seiyuu – Yasumoto Hiroki) makes sense to a certain extent. He shows Masayoshi the source of all the “magical powers” that people have obtained and he even attempts to recruit Masayoshi to help him “save the world”. I put all these in quotations because well… saving the world is up to interpretation and clearly Masayoshi thought it was the wrong way to do things. Another way to look at it was that Masayoshi didn’t trust Alien Flamenco and they battled it out on the moon. Luckily this doesn’t end with Masayoshi stranded on the moon, because further to Alien Flamenco’s explanations, “Willpower” (which I would imagine to be God in a physical form) comes to put Masayoshi at the centre of the world. I can buy that there are different alternate dimensions and I think this isn’t a bad way to resolve the issues of having five million “Flamencos” existing in the universe. I even can appreciate how they brought back King Torture in not one but two different ways. It shows that perhaps there has been quite a bit of thought placed in the creation of this original story and it’s not just stuff happening of the sake of it. However, this leaves the audience wondering that if Masayoshi holds the power to make such important decisions, what does he desire next and how will it impact the people around him?

“Wow… this show is just…”

Hilarious? A parody? Full of non-sensical fun? I would assume that there are a lot of people out there too that are watching the show without putting any serious thought as to why or how. Personally I think that’s a part of the intentions of the creators of this show – to make Samurai Flamenco a unique and fun show that tests the boundaries of what anime can showcase. That doesn’t mean that they’ve done it the right or wrong way, but the writers had something in mind and this is how they’ve chosen to tell it. If there are people out there that take the show at face value and continue to look forward to it, then I would say that that’s the best way to watch it because you are neither disappointed by the series of events or have expectations of it. If there’s any part of this week’s episode that I thoroughly enjoyed was probably the action between Alien Flamenco and Masayoshi himself. It was pretty obvious that he would win from the start, but it’s fun to see it happen anyway.

So those are the tree buckets of reactions that I get from this week’s episode. I would like to know what other people are thinking about this point at all. Is Samurai Flamenco headed in the direction that you thought?

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: #Samumenco is truly something special. Only they would blame “hopeful wishing” as a explanation for aliens and monsters. #youbetterbelieveit

40 Comments

  1. I didn’t even bother to watch it, so can someone explain WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING EXACTLY AS OF THIS POINT!!!!!!??? Like was it all a dream since Masayoshi’s god!!? Did he like transcend to the moon for heavenly aspects or something!!!??!? I just…….stjdhgndkvsguafohdkgufcuf

    Kentarou
    Reply

    1. From what I gathered, there are parallel universes and in each universe there’s someone with enough ‘will’ to catch the attention of God. If God feels like it, he’ll grant their wishes as a reward in exchange for saying a word to trigger it. That word was ‘Flamwenco” and Masayoshi had enough will for it to catch God’s attention. Masayoshi became “Flamenco” and God was like “Eh, screw it, close enough.”

      So as Masayoshi became more and more fixated on being a real superhero, God decided to make that come true by creating monsters for him to fight and bringing over parallel Masayoshis (like Beyond Flamenco) so they could clash wills, why villains kept on popping up like cockroaches.

      Eventually Masayoshi was given the choice to continue using his well or for God to stop doing it and bring his life back to normal. He chose the latter.

      I admit I might not be completely correct (I was kinda drunk when I watched this which makes the show all the more amazing) but I believe that’s the gist of it.

      EmD
      Reply

  3. I love it. He’s a Haruhi (maybe you’re not a fan of that either? I’m not)

    It really makes me sad that you don’t like this. I don’t fault you for it, but this is the first time I’ve followed an RC blogger who is not enjoying the show as much as I am and it’s kinda bumming me out lol

    but I’m in it to the end.

    I love this show. I do. I’ll instantly purchase it when it comes stateside.

    EmD
    Reply

    2. Indeed, similar.

      Speaking of Haruhi, has the story arrive at some truth?
      All I know is that they introduced the Sasaki group.
      Has things surpassed whats documented in the wikia?

      iron2000
      Reply

  4. I’m still calling shenanigans, everything is flamenco just because it is flamenco. Flamenception is law!

    I just noticed that Golden Time was dropped. Or maybe it’s just not shown on the current series thing anymore? I hope it wasn’t dropped, it’s getting better, at least imo it is ;p.

    magoiichi
    Reply

  5. So the god of the universe allowed Masayoshi to change the world to his liking because he used the word “Flamenco” which has a .000002 % chance of granting a wish. Yep that’s a retarded Deus ex if i ever saw one.

    Of course the explanation isn’t nearly as rational as the episode so desperately tries to make it which i found amusing.

    Maybe the next few episodes will be normal again? That would be a troll move for sure but i wouldn’t be against it since i might be able to actually enjoy the show again.

    leatherhead333
    Reply

  8. I never saw the series heading in this direction and even though its random most of the time and the story is kind of all over the place, I never wanted to drop it lol. I think Samurai Flamenco is a unique series in its own right so Im definitely gonna be glad when its all over 🙁

    VsAllGaming
    Reply

  9. That was one glorious and spectacular trainwreck. I’m thoroughly convinced the writer(s) thought, perhaps under the influence of some kind of substance, “Screw this, I don’t know how we’re tying this together. We’ll just throw in an english speaking robot alien, completely rip off TTGL, and call it good.”

    Every week we were left asking “what the heck is going on.” Manglobe/ Anipelex with the trolling of the century.

    J_the_Man
    Reply

  13. Oh dear. I literally facepalmed watching this episode. I mean, I knew this show was gleefully flying off the rails for a while now, but now the train’s sprouted wings and claims it’s a dragon. What the flying f…

    So, what? The show’s going all Haruhi on us now? So after growing huge and beating the stuffing out of mister ‘SIT DOWN’, Space Cube God shows up and says that the universe revolves around Samumenco now. All because Flamenco is a super special magical word that has a low chance of causing a miracle. So much for getting a rational explanation for all this stuff. And besides, all this superhero stuff happened because Masayoshi wished for it? Including gorilla’s lopping off the heads of policemen and people getting tortured? Space Cube God is a dick.

    Putting besides all that…while I can appreciate the creators’ wishes for wanting to go their own way with this show, that still doesn’t make it good. As a parody it often kind of fails and neither is it very funny. I mean, just look at Tiger & Bunny to see how you do an affectionate parody of superheroes. Samumenco pales in comparison. The show’s world also comes over as kind of schizofrenic, and the whole meta and multiple layers to the story aspect isn’t as deep as the writer probably thinks it is. I…don’t think this show is very good.

    The only aspect where it succeeds are some of its characters, really, the only aspect of it that still interests me. Makes me kind of wonder what they’re going to do with this final arc. Maybe it’ll go back to normalness again…only for it to turn out that Goto’s girlfriend is actually a vampire robot lizard-demon from another dimension that turns out to be the final boss!

    No, no, too predictable…

    Dvalinn
    Reply

  14. I try to do my best to not hold any expectations for any show – that way I can’t really be disappointed (most of the the time) and instead can enjoy a show for what it’s worth. I think I’d like to see a show explore the path that this one did in the beginning episodes – stopping an umbrella theft, for instance – but once Samurai Flamenco obviously choose a different path I just had to come to terms with it. At face value it’s a lot of fun, though there are a plethora of other shows out there this season that I’m enjoying more. Still, I think it has been a fun ride and will finish it off.

    In about 50 years when I hit the retirement home I think I’ll rewatch it with all my other half-crazy old folk buddies. XD

    Atalla Wanderer
    Reply

  16. My feeling on the episode can best be summed up as, “What, this show isn’t over already?” It basically feels like the show is done. I don’t see what else they need to do from this point on. But I suppose we’ll find out.

    Pickle
    Reply

  17. ” If anything, it feels like the writers left us with such a curve ball that they needed a one week hiatus, just to think about what the hell they’re going to write about next”

    To me it does not feel like this at all. It feels like a complete story from Flamenco playing a Hero to becoming a hero. And what made Flamenco the real Flamenco? Enemies! Random, over the top enemies that appeared out of nowhere, targeted directly him and only him.

    What I also like is that the author did not decide to limit the anime to a simple parody or a simple hero anime. He just imagines what a world would become when a hero worshiper’s imagination is shaping it directly. Of course it’s over the top, Bizarre, full of twists and turns and escalating super enemies.

    randomness
    Reply

  18. I think it is easy to take this show the wrong way considering where it’s come from, where it led to; and where it has ended up so far. An anime blogger said something I thoroughly agree with, this is more-so Gurren Lagann v2 than Kill la Kill is. If you look at it from the broader perspective, the protagonist starts off just your average guy; add some delusions and an heightened sense of justice and you have yourself a vigilante. Add a good amount of story and somehow you have him in a gigantic god-like battle in space. Admittedly, I found the Flamengers arc to be incredibly boring; and if it weren’t for that I would definitely say this show was stellar throughout. While I am not a fan of sentai, and haven’t been in the sentai scene since I was like 5 or so dressed as the White Ranger for halloween if that counts.
    I still think this show is amusing, almost every character brings something to the table; and if you look at it from beginning to end, it’s about on par with Gurren Lagann as far as “People living in mole-village, end up at the end of the universe doing god battles with giant robot.” I’d say this is like Gurren Lagann for Sentai fans instead of mech fans, that’s really what I’d attribute it to. The only reason GL even comes out of my mouth is because of all the blowjobbing people seem to do for Kill la Kill, which is a pretty good anime; yet while a spiritual successor, is only similar to GL in extremely superficial ways. It’s not spectacular, and by preference; someone could easily say it sucks, and I wouldn’t blame them at all for it; it’s a good anime though, just not worth all the squee-ing it gets.

    I’ll also admit that I am not a huge fan of Samurai Flamenco either, it’s a pretty good anime; it’s not spectacular, but it is definitely not deserving of the bashing it got for this episode. At the very least it was interesting, and it wasn’t the awful Flamengers arc. Pretty much everything besides that arc has been passable in my opinion.

    Bloodshotdaze
    Reply

  19. What Samurai Flamenco is trying to do is talk about the creation and influence of our stories (in particular, superhero stories). It’s about finding those stories that set an example which become the stories that we read about in our world. It’s essentially using modal realism to encapsulate the perpetuation of the ideal. “God” said it himself. Samurai Flamenco would not have been chosen had he chosen differently. He chose, as “heroes” do, to return to his world and have his story become an example.

    Honestly, this series is a great idea. It’s the execution (and lackluster animation, tbh) that trips it up. To pull it off, you have to find a way to make the bullet-fast pacing tolerable, preferably by making sure that there’s enough interesting to balance out the camp. By the end of the Alien Flamenco arc, they lost the interesting and went all-out camp.

    There’s also the question of whether or not they couldn’t have simply stuck with the original atmosphere for the show and conveyed the theme that way. And they probably could have, which makes you wonder if it was even worth taking this risky approach to begin with.

    Nyangoro
    Reply

    1. Oh, and regarding the whole “enemies” thing, it’s to call to the fact that the only worthwhile hero is the one who has to face opposition. The scale of conflict rose exponentially over the series to reflect that. In order to deliver on the themes with this narrative, such a device is necessary.

      Nyangoro
      Reply

  20. Yup, really got an Ultraman-ish episode 😛
    And thats the form in the 1st opening.
    Things just get bigger and bigger without feeling epic.

    Somehow I thought the “God” would take the form of Morgan Freeman, lol!

    So Flamenco sounds like Flamwenco and in coincidence Masayoshi’s grandpa used that name and in a minute chance of 0.000002% Masayoshi got lucky and was granted miracles.

    From the viewpoint of Log Horizon its like Masayoshi had activated 3 World Fractions 😛

    iron2000
    Reply

    1. But it does seem like the different Flamencos also hit the 0.000002% thus granting their wishes.

      The minister somehow got that armor, possibly a product of his own justice?
      Protect Japan from the alien.

      The Alien Flamenco was granted eternal peace by becoming one?

      Just my opinion.
      Anyone wants to name their future child Flamenco? 😛

      iron2000
      Reply

  21. This show can be synthesized in that dialogue between alien and human Flamenco.

    Human: What you’re doing is wrong
    Alien: How come
    Human:…I don’t know! But it is wrong!

    What, and why in the hell I’m still watching it? I don’t know, I simply do!

    Guren
    Reply

  22. And then

    Everything

    Clicked together.

    People have been calling Masayoshi’s reality-altering shenanigans since around King Torture arc and the gradually weakening enemies, and guess what, it’s true. Let’s be honest, there aren’t that many ways to justify this (are there any?), so I’m fine with the explanation we were given. Basically, Masayoshi willed himself to be the protagonist of his life, and thus, formed around himself the story known as Samurai Flamenco. I’m a bit of a fatalist, so the whole idea of the world acting exactly as a person expects it to strikes a note with me. And of course, this explanation also ties up all the loose ends we were left with after each arc, so it’s far from being “random”: the writers were setting it up from the beginning, it’s just that some viewers were too busy whining about Power Rangers and trying to get off the wild ride.

    And get off we did: we still got four episodes left, and the next episode is supposed to be a quiet slice of life about Gotou going on a date (!!!) and Masayoshi and Mari tailing him. Is it going to be an “epilogue arc”, the arc that we rarely see in such shows? Are we being set up for one final twist (concerning the murder of Masayoshi’s parents, perhaps)? Whatever the case, I have enough faith in the writers to pull it off with style.

    “The border between justice and stupidity is paper-thin!” That phrase might be the most perfect description for the show, and I love that it comes from the show itself. Gotta have at least some self-awareness for that, right?

    SingerOfW
    Reply

  23. It just seems like you literally don’t understand the show. The existence of ‘God’ is a metanarrative. The show’s script is done, and the issue is what to do from here: Whether to continue producing seasons for the show and creating more plotlines just for the sake of keeping it going, or whether to let it end here and fade into obscurity.

    Much of the show has been rational and predictable if you recognize the premise, of ‘a universe that runs as if it was a Tokusatsu show’. The notion that this show is just throwing plot twists at the wall to see what sticks is fundamentally mistaken.

    Sceptile
    Reply

  25. I skipped most of the scene on this episode… don’t know why >.> lol

    I’m really wondering whats gonna happen in the last 4? episode of samumenco
    They fought a simple criminal, villains wanna-be, group of aliens, politician and alien god

    Still gonna watch it though… since the end is almost there ;c
    too bad cuz goto’s GF disappeared completely after the 1st arc

    ricz
    Reply

  26. “The difference between stupidity and justice is paper-thin!” Awesome quote :3

    “The you’re still using the device!” Best retort I’ve heard in awhile.

    “I c-can’t get back!” Derp

    Oh so that’s how we get our myths, legends, fiction, and entertainment; jk lolz 😛

    The reason why everything is named Flamenco is so troll XD

    I’m glad he put the flag back up, but I feel sorry for the poor rocket pod.

    I wonder what the last episodes will be about? Anyways I hope we get the chance to meet Goto’s girlfriend.

    Aggron
    Reply

  28. ” #Samumenco is truly something special. Only they would blame “hopeful wishing” as a explanation for aliens and monsters. #youbetterbelieveit”

    To be fair, that anime, “the melancholy of haruhi suzumiya” felt a little bit similar. That angle worked much better in that show though.

    Rick Anime
    Reply

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