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「抗えぬノルマ」 (Koenu Norima)
“Predetermined Quota”
King Torture is as evil as his name implies. He truly likes to torture his victims and even manipulates them to get what he wants. Just when I thought the show couldn’t get any more ridiculous, it suddenly got very real when King Torture captured main characters. Not only that, but the contraptions and devices that he used – they’re legit torturing devices that were used in the medival ages. I’m scared; I’m very scared.
If there’s one thing that I give Samurai Flamenco credit for, it’s definitely the element of surprise. There hasn’t been a show that I’ve watched in recent years that has left me so confused, yet amused. It wasn’t so weird when Masayoshi just wanted to be a guy running around in tight suits, but now monsters, actual monsters are appearing randomly on the streets and people walk by like it’s nothing. Even Jun pointed out that these “monsters” are appearing so frequently with no consequences that people just don’t care anymore. I said this in last week’s post because it felt so odd that there wouldn’t be more panic or alarm in the world! Jun makes a good point though – that perhaps people are just so accustomed to it now and unless King Torture massacred a lot of people, everyone would just continue to ignore him and Samurai Flamenco. It’s a little sad that it’s come to the point that even the Flamenco Girls don’t care about protecting civilians anymore (or maybe they never did?).
Speaking of which, Mari is starting to rub me the wrong way from being too extreme. By extreme I mean, she’s almost the polar opposite of myself and probably a ton of other people. She doesn’t seem to care for the well-being of others, to the point that she doesn’t even want to play superhero anymore because it’s “getting boring”. And what really ticks me off is the fact that she only wants attention. More attention than she already has as an idol! Honestly, why? She must have some insecurity issues or she really likes attention because she doesn’t get enough of it elsewhere. She got what she deserved for challenging King Torture and not taking him seriously. On top of that, she’s hit with reality because she’s not as special or as strong as she thinks she is. I hate to admit it, but I just don’t feel sorry for her at the end and that actually makes me feel bad (for not feeling bad).
Anyway, now that the situation has become more dire, it’ll be interesting to see how Masayoshi deals with King Torture. I think that somewhere along the lines, he’ll begin to question his own philosophy of what it means to be a hero… it seems like people don’t truly appreciate his acts anymore and to some degree, I think you need that acknowledgment to continue what you’re doing. King Torture on the other hand, doesn’t really reveal too much about his identity or his purpose yet. I’m sure he has a better motive than “being bad for the sake of being bad” though. Jun’s investigations on King Torture’s monsters also bring about new revelations. I was surprised to hear that they’re not made of anything “known to humans”, so does that mean they’re aliens? Do they travel across space and time? Or perhaps King Torture’s just very secretive about his methods… either way, I think this aspect of the show interests me more than the fights. I love a good mystery and seeing it unraveled piece by piece is too good.
TL;DR – @RCCherrie: King Torture lives up to his name. Quite extreme and not for the lighthearted… Now things are getting interesting 😉 #samumenco
Please note: Thanks Divine for uploading my images this week! Full-lengths will be added later. Photoshop is currently not cooperating with me and if anyone knows how to fix it from crashing, I will love you long time =) It’s caused numerous issues with my laptop to the point that I’m writing this post on my tablet… I hope you’ll be patient with me for the time being. Thanks!
First and HOW DARE THEY DO THAT TO MY MARI-CHAN!
My favorite part was when King Torture called strung-up Mari a “sidekick” and you see her twitch. For a guy with a crappy name, he’s got his psychological moves on.
Mari is not going to get killed off, is she?
Probably.
I wonder about her friends though: they’ll probably die too.
Ah, just thinking about dead side characters makes me tingly.
thanks for the coverage as always even though I don’t comment that much haha…
I feel like the direction of the story kinda parallel to what actually happened in the story… the early episodes were kinda normal, then just as we get used to them, king torture and his “twisted” minions start to showing up to mind blowing us… similarly, all the monsters made the fight normal and people stop caring about them, then king torture himself shows up and in a quite extreme fashion to capture people’s attention again… maybe I am just reading too much into it, but maybe the story is really going for that roller coaster effect
Great to hear from you again jrj!
I’m not sure what effect they’re going for, but if it’s to shock and awe, then it has my attention. The beginning was definitely for build up and for the audience to get familiar with the characters… but now, I have no idea where it’s headed… =S
Thing that surprised me a lot this episode is that one of those torture boys could talk while all the others only can say “torture”
Also I got it at the wrong end with the internet guy being king torture, only person I can think of now is Masayoshi’s teacher who happens to be away every time a monster of king torture attacks.
I have to say that I really like that scientist guy.
I was more shocked he could talk with a ball gag on.
I have this weird feeling that King Torture might be Jouji because the voices him and King Torture sound similar, and he always seems to be out of the country when King Torture attacks.
On an another note the interaction between Goto and Mizuki is raising my suspicions again that she could be his gf… like they’re keeping their relationship a secret from everyone. For the minimal screen time they have together Goto seemed very comfortable talking to Mizuki, and when he’s looking at magazines Goto is always shown looking at a Mari’s idol group Mineral Miracle Muse. Again it’s just a thought.
Also Masayoshi kinda pissed me off this episode for taking advantage of Goto’s good nature, and I’m glad Goto finally had it with him. Masayoshi must realize how much Goto covers and supports him in his battles.
Nakata… Jouji…
I really need to make time to watch this show,at least when the 1-cour shows that I’m following end.I didn’t pick it up because I was never really into Tiger & Bunny(or superheroes for that matter),which I heard this being compared to…initially.Lately,I’ve been reading that it’s one of those shows with the “WTF?” factor which often pique my interest.
This show doesn’t have a “WTF” factor, especially in the past 3 weeks. Initially (and even a little bit now), there are some comparisons against Tiger&Bunny but the direction that SF has taken is SO different. Personally I loved T&B! After putting it off for 2 years, I finally watched it this year and it’s really worth the hype. There is a superhero aspect to it, but there’s also good mystery and conspiracy theories thrown around. Also, it’s not episodic later on and there is an overarching story ^^
Just marathoned this show up to this ep – not really that exciting. It’s just a sentai parody and not a good one at that. It tries to be the sentai version Puella Magi Madoka Magica – but it just falls flat on it’s face pathetically. I might change my idea on the show if the chick gets gruesomely murder in the next ep, but I highly doubt that’ll happen – this is nothing more than a kid friendly “Kick Ass” anime, without all the goodies that made it fun to read/watch.
Yes, because if something initially lighthearted turns grimdark, it just HAS to be compared to madoka.
To be honest, I’m getting vibes from Mawaru Penguindrum, rather than madoka.
When it tries to take itself more seriously than it should, yes it does.
Being Tomato-kun is suffering.
I look at King Torture’s mask and head wear. It instantly reminds of Death 13 from JJBA Part 3. Really liking this show so far and expecting good plot twists.
it was a bit weird this time. a bit less energetic, more full of conversation.
well, when samumenco isn’t weird?
it might feel like samumenco back to ep 1. instead of issues like umbrellas or garbage, we have Torture and his minions. Masayoshi is left as the last man standing against them, as was the first eps when he had to deal with problems no one care about. yet, now we have more development in plot and characters, but it’s still keeps some of “old” samumenco’s nature.
Goto and Masayoshi continue not to see eye to eye. it leads to rift between the two, which started an ep ago.
last time, with the ending of ep #08, I was saying that it seemed like Masayoshi’s image as the optimal superhero was eroded. but maybe it’s the other way around.
Goto and Mari are busy over bullshit, the former care about some paperwork rather than the actual problems, and Mari is just bored. I am not surprised about Mari, she was always like that – “extreme”?more like “bipolar” but fine.
however, Goto is presented here as the “regular cop”. when approaching the “regular cop”, the first thing they do is “OK, let’s fill up reports and forms”, instead of taking care of real problem. but, knowing Goto’s character, there must be a point behind that.
I don’t know where this is heading to, but for sure, those guys(who are the main force of the “good guys”) will have to achieve balance between them and cooperate.
I guess Masayoshi is the key, but don’t think he is always right and perfect. his POV is more optimal, but sometimes he is a bit too much enthused as we know.
it’ll be interesting to see where further interactions will lead to.
poor Konno. he isn’t the torture, but for sure he is being tortured 😛
I wonder why King.T chose him for his next plot.
maybe Konno tried approaching him in order to make things more interesting (after he watched Diamond flamenco’s video saying it’s boring..it’s possible, they also talked about entertaining and stuff).
what with “handing that girl over to him?” was he talking about Diamond Flamenco or Masayoshi’s manager?
it looked like King.T tried to recruit him…not to mention the possibility that King T and his fellows are..are…aliens?!?!?!WOW samumenco really knows to surprise.
I was saying SF is weird.
but I don’t really care if it’s “weird”. not only rules don’t apply here, but more importantly, samumenco feel free to do whatever it wants – Gorilla, aliens, tortures, deaths of cops and whatever may cross your mind (so don’t be surprised if we’ll have ghosts, time travel or whatever XD). ridiculous as it may be, samumenco tries to enjoy the freedom of creation. everything is accessible. and hell why not? as long as it’s funny, fun to watch, intriguing, and we even see samumenco’s nature of the first eps from time to time.
if you ask me now, “hey, what samumenco is about?” I am not sure I can provide a good definite answer, but most likely, a common element I’d say that “it’s fun to watch”.
and that’s what it is. it’s fun to watch. even if I am not really sure what exactly it’s objective or where it’s heading to, it’s still mostly fun to watch. even if this ep wasn’t the best of all samumenco’s eps, I am still quite intrigued and having fun (:
Masayoshi was a jerk this episode, but he does have a point that he is doing all the fighting and risking his life when that should technically be the police’s job. It’s not even his job to fill out paper work. That said, he got exactly what he wanted. He gets to fight monsters, and now he’s upset because he’s not getting attention. If Goto were Kotetsu, he wouldn’t have abandoned Masayoshi, but I do think he would have slapped him at the “Zuruidesu”. Unfortunately, Goto isn’t at a point in his relationship with Masayoshi where he feels like he can’t abandon him. Finally, Goto himself was a little immature when he told his girlfriend that he’d quit if they didn’t let him switch from superhero detail. Does being a cop really mean so little to him that he’d quit just because of that?
I found the reaction (or lack thereof) of the townsfolk, while a kaijin was going around town blowing shit up fighting a masked hero, really funny… as if they’ve seen a lot of tokusatsu through the years that they grew tired of that shit.
Am I the only one imagining Mari to be gang raped and tortured. I know, I’m sick but this is my impression of that particular scene.
TQ
I’m still not convinced. This is all just some big dream sequence of Yoshi’s after reading his grandpa’s book ;p.
Serves you right Mari, next time you’ll learn when to shut up.
I have this weird feeling that King Torture and his minions are alien actors and all they’re doing is a part of a TV show shown in outer space to be watched by other aliens who love Sentai series like Nyaruko of Haiyore! Nyaruko-san.
Man, that walrus sure looked dangerous, good thing Samurai Flamenco saved the day once again!
oh wow shit just got really real for real….and someone please save Mari!
Aliens?
SF goes sci-fi 😛
Anime, aliens, tokusatsu.
Reminds me of Haiyore! Nyaruko-san.
Ok thats been mentioned.
SF got me thinking of Akibarangers too.
King Torture is he an alien?
Or is he a sub-boss controlled by another true alien mastermind?
Ok, 22 episode and episode 10 is a so called “final battle”.
So whats after the Torture arc?
Another evil organization?
An upper level organization from Torture?
Ok another anime comes to mind, Heroman.
But that has a more traditional alien invasion.
What is Torture’s goal?
Torture is a form of communication?
Through that communication Konno similar to him and seems to offer to turn him to a monster?
Predetermined quota?
Is King Torture another tokusatsu otaku?
Or does it have a different meaning?
Or perhaps the alter ego of King Torture is inspired by SF and used his powers (scientist, engineer, alien etc) to go against SF?
By episode 22 will SF get to that suit in the OP?
A dream?
And Gotou’s mysterious girlfriend.
Gotou don’t look that good in the OP.
Kill la Kill is nice but SF got me wanting to continue to the latest episode.
Haven’t touch sequels like Valvrave and Little Busters Refrain.
I like a good mystery too 😛
fushigi mystery!!~
Ok, theres some new character designs in the official twitter:
https://twitter.com/samumenco
4 new characters for probably the next arc:
– Momoi Sakura
– Kuroki Anji
– Midorikawa Hekiro
– Aoishima Souichi
So we have Blue, Green, Black, Pink.
Samurai Flamenco is Red.
So next arc we will have a full Flamenco sentai!?
Mari, are you all kinds of stupid? Have you never understood how you don’t challenge the Big Bad like that when you’re one girl who uses a spiked-taser baton? Yeesh. I have to agree, Cherrie. I felt bad about not feeling bad for what’s happening to her, but holy crap was she asking for it.
Also that was some high-level mind screwing right there with King Torture. 0 ____ 0