Friday 28 March 2014

Samurai Flamenco

There will be spoilers cause i can't talk about the show without spoiling something so.... yeah

Short Version: This is a good show with a few pacing problems but overall i enjoyed it. If you like the idea of Civilians as superheroes btu felt Kickass was a bit too crass and not funny enough you will probably like this show. Also if you like 'sentai' style teams theres a lot of jokes and humor just for you.

Okay.

As i mentioned before this is a show about a civilian super hero who fights crime... simple stuff like littering or bullying but still Samurai flamenco feels he is doing his job in keeping the peace.
Too bad everyone things he's just some costumed freak.

One day Goto, a cop, hears a noise in an alleyway. He checks it out to find a naked Masayoshi who is claiming not to be suspicious. He just happened to be fighting evil when his suit got torn and thats why he was naked in the alleyway.He's actually a model and this super hero buisness is on the side and totally secret so he asks goto not to tell anyone.... not that they would believe him anyways. They develop a friendship even though Goto doens't get why masayoshi can't just become a cop.

SO... In my first impressions I said this:
now normally i don't like superhero stories... but this one is kinda.. .charming... and to tell the truth i was expecting to hate it cause the preview was downright terrible... but, at least in the start, it seems to be more about the type of person who walks around the street in a superhero getup that i assume will eventually transform into fighting real monsters... or maybe it'll just stick to the way it is... i don't know.
either way it was kinda cute, well animated with decent music.
 So i bolded the one line cause as the show went on an it continued just to be petty crimes i thought maybe i was wrong, maybe this will really just stick to costumed people... that could be interesting...

But then Episode 8 happened.... and at first i didn't believe it... I was completely stunned and by the time i recovered the first thing out of my mouth was. "I didn't see that coming" and then i paused. "Okay i did see it coming, i even said it after the first episode but i didn't see it happening now"

and that wasn't the only time the show did something surprising... it was just easily one of the more effective times. The introduction of monsters really did change how the story was told.

But it also caused the problems with pacing i mentioned.

so... epsiodes 1-8 he's just a normal guy.
Episode 8 you get a threat introduced, and i believe by ep 12 or 13 that threat is neutralized (kinda)
this works cause it's enough time to both types of stories... the revelation could have been as early as 6 but it works fine at 8.
then when the intro song changes we are introduced to a new concept which was another interesting spin on the formular... which onlys lasts a few episodes before we get into a new spin on the story.
and then there is a new twist
and then another
and then the best twist
and then a new twist
and then it ends.

.... needless to say thats a lot happening in a very short time.
I get that what they are actually doing is going through the different type of comic book/sentai stories that were popular. (monster of the week, big bad, vigilante, ect.) but because the show is only 22 episodes long some of the villans feel rushed. and other feel dragged out.

This show has the opposite problem Golden time had.
It knows exactly who it's main character is.... but it made almost every other character WAY more interesting. Goto especially.
The best episodes are when Goto and Masayoshi are together in stressful situations and showing the difference between a cop and a costumed hero.
the other good episodes are when they two just can't see eye to eye since one has to follow a set of rules and restrictions while the other will go after even the smallest crime.
So the large chunk of episodes where Goto is barely mentioned cause we now have a large cast of Flamenco girls and/or Flamengers (i am not kidding)... it just lost some of what made it interesting and that pretty much killed the pacing.

Like i said there is another Great twist in the story right near the end that i wish was revealed a little earlier. It has to do with Goto and it really helped flush him out as a more developed character... but he's not the main focus so it's not really dealt with as much as it could have been.

The show is good, for the most part well animated (it's gunna be a show that looks better on bluray cause they will probably fix some of the derpy face moments)
The music is really good and i especial like the second animation to the second intro song.
The story is good overall but getting there can be a bit of a drag, the final villain should have been hinted to a little sooner and the ending is a bit ridiculous... i don't see why he needed to do what he did other then to throw people off.

But the best part is Goto.
Partially (okay mostly) cause of his voice.

SO... Goto is voiced by Sugita Tomokazu.... who also does the voice for Kyon in the melancholy of haruhi suzumiya.
So... i thought to myself. "what if this is kyon but older, the girl friend he talks to on his phone could easily be haruhi" and then i got thinking more.
After finishing highschool and becoming a cop Kyon enjoys his dull days away from espers, aliens and time travellers... he also likes that he's gotten away from the stupid nickname. Still it's a little dull.
Then he meets a self proclaimed super hero which is stupid but the kid is into it... he's only fighting petty crimes but no one is getting hurt.
Still what if there were real monsters? how would he be then?
Bam, suddenly (while Goto is there no less) there are monsters.
when the threat is dealt with and things go back to normal he is a bit sad that things just go back to the way they were but then a new threat appears... every time one threat is knocked out a new one comes and stops everyone from living an ordinary life.

therefor my random headcanon is that Goto is Kyon.
and the more i thougth about it the more i could work it in especially considering what happens near the end.
still of course this isn't the intent it's just a fun way (for me) to look at it.

Do i like the show? yes, despite the pacing problems the show got quite a few laughs out of me and i was having a good time. If you are curious about it you can watch it over on crunchyroll. I would say watch the first episode to see if you like the overall feel of the show and if you can at least make it to episode 8 before you decide if you stick with it or not.

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