First Impressions / Samurai Flamenco

「チェンジ・ザ・ワールド」 (Chienji za Waarudo)
“Changing the World”

Sh*t just got unreal.

Let’s just step aside and talk about the pink elephant in the room right now because everyone’s probably thinking the same thing… Whattt?? Where? Why? HOW?! That whole stretch in the final 10 mins of the episode had me waiting for it… waiting for the moment that Masayoshi wakes up and finds out it’s all a dream. But it never happens. It’s not a dream. This sh*t is for real. There is a giant guillotine gorilla standing in the room and it’s murdering people left, right and center. Not to mention that a person grew into that thing and he suddenly disappears into a poof of smoke – declaring Samurai Flamenco his enemy number one. There is no way that this doesn’t spark all kind of questions and if this is for real, there has got to be a good explanation for it. Usually when something like this goes down that seems so out of place, I give it the benefit of the doubt and prays that it all ties together later. This is not a show about actual superheroes so where is all this “magic” coming from? I need answers now!

Aside from the blatantly obvious gorilla in the room, the ending also opens up a whole new set of questions about the direction of the show. Is this supposed to be a supernatural or science fiction anime? Or could it involve super advanced weaponry and technology? After episode 2, I never imagined that Samurai Flamenco would actually be about people with real superpowers. It just doesn’t seem to fit with where the show is headed and I’m afraid that it’ll go down a path that leads to more “what the….?” questions. On the other hand, it’s also the first cliffhanger the show has had all season so I’m expecting it to go down a less episodic feel and more towards a centralized story.

So before all this gorilla nonsense, the rest of the episode actually had a decent story. It gave more TIGER&BUNNY vibes, but the reaction from Masayoshi was quite the opposite of what I was expecting. Like Masayoshi says, everyone always expects the superhero to have this tragic past that defines who he is. The superhero’s past is what makes him hate evil or motivated to stop it and Masayoshi… he doesn’t feel that way. I feel terrible for saying so, but I was surprised in a good way that Masayoshi would actually admit to not having any strong feelings towards his parents’ murder. Although it’s a shame that he doesn’t, I can see why he would feel troubled by not feeling more emotionally connected to his parents. I would imagine that Masayoshi feels much more connected to his grandfather who raised him and gave him something to pursue. The shock factor was probably that his grandfather lied to him more so than his parents’ murder. Anyway, regardless of the guilt he was feeling, it’s nice to know that Masayoshi has people to rely on. I think Hidenori will always be type casted as “that guy” that helps his friend come back to reality and that’s just precisely what makes him such a loveable character too.

TL;DR – @RCCherrie: What the… I have no word to describe that ending. #idonteven #wasthatadream #samumenco #mindfuck

Full-length images: 08, 10, 13, 25.

55 Comments

  1. If someone told me before this episode that a gorilla with a guillotine in his abdomen will appear and behead someone, I would have laughed and said “You are out of your damn mind.”

    mrdaftpunk
    Reply

  2. I am pretty sure it IS a dream sequence, or at least Masayoshi re-imagining real events into a superhero story (like he did earlier in the ep, most prominetn when he imagined himself argue with his grandfather). Will probably go on for a few eps and then revert back 😉

    Nayrael
    Reply

    2. I never thought about that actually… but the Gorilla also fell out of the building and I’m sure everyone outside saw it too? Also doesn’t explain the cop’s head being chopped off =X That was more extreme than I was prepared for.

      Cherrie
      Reply

      1. I must admit after marathoning eps 1-3 that it’s actually a good show. Plus it deviates from reality, seeing as no one in this world is insane enough to run around at night in spandex pretending to be a masked hero, doing good things.

        I hope that the Gorilla stays true though.

        TheMoondoggie
        Reply

  8. People need to realize that this is an anime only production. So I don’t know why they’re saying this show is only supposed to be this way (aka its only supposed to be slice-of-life) when everything is all being kept under wraps. I mean 1, it could be all a dream (though it would be a kick in the face if we kept on having this stuff show up for the rest of the 19 episodes). Or 2, this show could actually take this turn (which I wouldn’t mind). I mean we weren’t given that much information before the premier to what this show was about so who knows, this might actually be the plot? Just like how in Chunnbiyo Syndrome the information we had before was totally misleading towards the actual plot (though this would be the opposite case in which a slice of life is really action). So I guess we’ll reserve judgement until later…and plus, I mean there is a reason why this show is being placed with Galilei Donna in the time slot Psycho-Pass was…they’re for more mature audiences (and now we know why).

    SDFGS
    Reply

      2. maybe to show how twisted it was? I mean the gorilla didn’t really look like he cared much about killing people. Makes you think, if these are the antagonist, are we going to get more morphed people fused with torture devices?

        SDFGS
        Reply

      3. What’s interesting is that I didn’t really pay much attention to the confetti aftermath until someone here pointed it. It almost seems like a subtle yet direct way the writers are telling us that… they’re messing with us.

        rxion058
        Reply

  10. Maybe it will be a in anime movie scene/tv episode like others have said, like maybe they would tell everyone, but him to make it an awesome movie. If it’s real though I bet they will do a Tiger and Bunny type of thing with Samurai Flamenco and the Flamenco girls. Either way I’m like 99% sure that the guy who kept calling Masayoshi’s agent is behind it or will be reporting/filming every minute of it since he was getting bored.

    Aggron
    Reply

  11. Things I took away from this game changing episode is the writers put Samumenco in a make a break position in my opinion. But great gain cannot be achieved without great risk. I personally am routing for real action with slice of life as weird as it sounds it’s original and I can see many possibilities with that since all leading characters have been established and also established Samumeco is good for society. I like the cast and writing so I look forward the rest of the season with very high hope.

    Quick after notes haven’t been this shocked by direction change almost ever(good thing). And the fact Masayoshi was still doing is Samumeco routine in front of a giant talking gorilla that just murdered three police officers for some reason makes me love him that much more.

    Angrywagon
    Reply

  16. While the dream idea sounds legit, one thing bothers me. The brutal killing of the other policemen. It doesn’t strike me as something that Masayoshi would dream about it was too dark for someone with his naivete (Although I do admit that after his tragic past revelation, he might go for such imagine spots in order to supplement his own emotional turmoil – or lack of)

    ShiranaiHito
    Reply

  17. I was starting to think perhaps the Flamenco girls would turn evil due to boredom but I did not expect a pill-popping-Cigar-Cutter-Head-chopping-blood-splattering-suicide-bombing Gorilla and a Giant Masked Ghost Cactus. Well done writers, you left me completely befuddled.

    Spike
    Reply

  18. that was…surprising. even with OP as a clue, I didn’t see that coming.
    if there is way to describe this week crazy thursday I would say: GT being itself wild, NnA was great, valvrave being valvrave, and samumenco being “WTF” XD

    2 major events occurred this ep. but before, come on, how lovely was it to watch the all 4 flamencoes waiting for their chance, but in the end, one intimidating man ended up being so lovely! that’s our samumenco (:

    now for the two major events:
    1. Hazame discovery about his parents. I must say it didn’t surprise me that much. at least it wasn’t that lame (and of course not that surprising)..it was…I guess some cliché that every superhero series is needed. but I did like the implications over Masayoshi. it was intriguing. it’s something I did expect SF to do well, and it came out good. but I guess it’s not the end of the story (later on this comment :P)

    2. the bizarre(?) ending. the main thing was obvious – we have a villain. no, arch-villain. and it’s something that samumenco is indeed desired for.
    but first thing first – it was hasty. it was in the last 3-4 minutes of the ep, and something went off a bit. and a lot happened -fighting, cops ended up dead, the mega-change to Gorilla, the “torturer” and so on. they should have make that scene for about 10 minutes, not 3-4, and still keep it intense. at least IMHO.

    now let’s get into details.
    first – the gorilla – I don’t much like it coming all of sudden. it is the big tremendous change of this ep. and it’s a bit too far. I am OKAY having an enemy, archenemy or whatever (see next section), but why break so much, not the physics, but the essence of the world(aka biology). engineering people into Gorilla with some mutations and all of it..and all of a sudden?let’s keep it in the comics/manga section for the complicated worlds (like X-men or SSY with the mutations or whatever fits here).
    samumenco world is suppose to be as possible a reflect to our world. and it’s better to leave it that way. now you can say – what about those Gadgets of samumenco?for me it’s still OK, but the gorilla?too far IMHO.

    second – the orgnization of the “king torture” – you want an arch-villain?yes, I want too. but again, why taking a huge step?they can simply make an arch-villian in the character of some crime-family or Mafia cartel and make it complicated enough. examples?something like bad guys of breaking bad, the sopranos and so. it doesn’t have to be the exact same thing, but the point is having a really bad one which keep making troubles in a way similar to the world we know. it would serve a lot better for samumenco world, which is so far reflected our world.

    third – cops are dead. definitely not something I was expected in samumenco. but I guess it’s the risk in being a cop. I wonder how will it affect on Masayoshi, especially since he was in charge for the whole operation.
    as spiderman(actually uncle Ben) said – with great power comes great responsibility.
    and it’s true not only for physical power. but being in charge is to be in a position of power.
    Masayoshi reaction was in delay, it took him too much time to react to the tremendous change. why?I don’t know..but I am sure the fact was Masayoshi was on in the operation, we’ll see implications on him.

    well, after this ep, I would not be surprised if Masayoshi parents’ death was not a simple robbery. what if his grandpa was really mad-scientist and his parents were somehow involved with samumenco and the bad guys (aka organization king torture)…

    finally, well it was a big big surprise. not the kind of thing I was thinking. it was a shock (I think Mari is at fault here :P).
    why is that?because we’ve been through third of the series in one way, and now, this is a huge, huge change. it’s not like a timeskip when everything keep on-going the same way, it’s a change of the series itself, different from what we saw so far.
    I open to changes, because now it’ll be very intriguing to see which way samumenco is heading to:
    (1) goes all-out the way of good vs evil like hardcore superhero stuff. which means something like super-sentai or kamen rider.
    (2) samumenco will keep it’s uniqueness so far by reflecting to our world without over-powers.

    if you ask me? I guess they’ll try to maintain balance with reflection to our world and the superhero stuff. this also seen from the OP (which BTW was a hint for the “elephant” inside the room).
    but I wouldn’t be surprised if this goes all-out for the heroes path. I mean..I think it’ll be hard to keep the hero stuff under control with our crazy characters. we have what it takes for creating a group of superheroes – 3 flamenco girls, 1 samumenco, 1 red-axe, 1 mad-scientist and Hindenori.
    (random thought: if they were to create a group..what would be its name?who will be the leader?LOL).

    speaking of Hidenori, once again he demonstrate why he is very interesting and lovely character.
    he isn’t revealing his motive about being a cop, yet he says Masayoshi is a freak (LOL). I didn’t forget how he said back there in ep 2 or 3 “it feels great in that suit”.
    I am sure we will see him in one 😛

    p.s
    there is still a chance we’ll be laughing out loud next week if this is just a dream or delusion by Masayoshi and Hidenori. maybe they are still in hangover XD
    but IMHO, if it’s a dream..that would be lame. they can make the change be OK if under control.

    thedarktower
    Reply

  19. Just you wait until it’s revealed that all those trips Jouji-san took were to eliminate the villains all over the world. What, you thought that bull skull belonged to a regular bull?

    SingerOfW
    Reply

  20. Regardless whether that last part was real or not, shit did become real for Masayoshi when he found out THAT HE WAS ACTUALLY FUCKING BATMAN. Well, almost, except that he became a vigilante before finding out the truth about his parents being killed by some thug. At that point, the show became so much more interesting for me other than seeing the Flamencos just doing stuff every week.

    As with most hero shows, this is the point where the hero questions his REAL reasons for fighting. Will Masayoshi keep on going for small potatoes or the big fish?

    sadakups
    Reply

  25. Remember what Kiritsugu said to Emiya Shirou? Someone that wants to be a hero is actually perverse, because he desires a great calamity so he can shine!

    Samumenco desired to be a hero so much that the world made an enemy just for him! EPIC

    Airas
    Reply

  26. The scientist guy and the internet guy must be working together to keep things up for Samurai Flamenco his super hero deads. The internet guy wants to make money out of it and what would be better then real life super heroes fighting real life enemies?
    Then there is the scientist who is till now the only person able to create such things as the gorilla who was obviously robotic and not made out of flesh, I mean if you looked at its hands when it got thrown out of the window you could see it was robotic.

    santino
    Reply

  28. Yeah… I agree totally. Moreover, yeah, I thought shit was going to get real on the complete opposite way – get a reason, be more like an actual hero, etc. Now we have a wimp fighting a guillotine gorilla. I’m not sure what to expect. I love Mazayoshi, and Samumenco, but… just, what. In 15 minutes my head began to spin and idk what to expect from this show anymore. Maybe this is a positive thing.

    Chell
    Reply

    1. Yeah, I always thought noitaminA mostly are sci-fi(recently). So I was very excited at first when I heard Samurai Flamenco is based on toku show(I love toku: my generation literally fed on Shaider, Masked Man, Turbo Rangers, Bio Man, Kamen Rider, Power Rangers, Ultraman).

      But then it went SoL on me on the first episode I dropped it like it was a hot pie.

      So I’m really happy at this development. Gorilla robots that has guillotines for bodies are screaming “Kaijin”.

      If ever that the scene was a fake and it was just an act, I’d drop this show again.

      TheMoondoggie
      Reply

  32. I think it helps to understand that Samurai Flamenco takes far more influence from Japanese Toku hero shows than it does from western heroes. The traditional villains for Tokustatsu shows, like Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, aren’t generally like supervillains from American comic books.

    They’re not villains who use their intellect like Luthor, or psychopaths like the Joker, or even really have superpowers. They’re Kaijin, people who turn into monsters or are monsters to begin with. The whole ending sequence with Gorilla Guillotine was almost straight out of a classic Kamen Rider show.

    There’s probably going to be some explanation as to how normal people are transforming into crazy monsters if the show is really going where I think its going.

    Dark
    Reply

  34. The fact that this was some kind of “japanese KickAss” show, with no magic supernatural bullshit make this one of the weirdeist and WTF endings i have ever seen on an anime… i would pay to watch the face i made when the guy transformed on a freaking Gorilla with a guillotine on his belly and later when he decapitaded the cop LOL

    maybe next episode it was a dream? drug effects?… idk xd..

    VIVA TORTUREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

    defc
    Reply

  36. I had to re-check what I was watching when I saw all that gore. Good thing the Flamenco Girls were not there to see that…
    And don’t mind me for saying that I got quite a “Batman” feel for this episode. Things got really crazy.

    random viewer
    Reply

  37. Well I was thinking it was for that show he was asked to come back on…Ensemble?
    For the guy that directed Red axe and so back then… Even so interesting twist I wouldn’t mind watching it from the view of the public(that is how a public views the final draft of a movie and hollywoods magic) for a couple episodes.

    Sphynxe
    Reply

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