Samurai Flamenco

Title | Título

サムライフラメンコ Samurai Flamenco

Writer | Escritor

Seiko Takagi

Directed by | Dirigido por

Takahiro Omori

Studio | Estudio

Manglobe

Genre | Género

Action, adventure, comedy-drama, superhero

Episodes | Episodios

A model becomes the superhero Samurai Flamenco to fight crime without superpowers or technological weapons. Despite the name our hero is not related to flamenco dancing nor is he a samurai. He is a young superhero fan who decides to become a night watchman to defeat Tokyo's crime.

Un modelo se convierte en el superhéroe Samurai Flamenco para luchar contra el crimen sin superpoderes ni tecnologicas armas. A pesar del nombre nuestro héroe no esta relacionado con el baile flamenco ni tampoco es un samurai. Se trata de un joven aficcionado de los superheroes que decide convertirse en un vigilante nocturno para derrotar el crimen de Tokio.

Being a superhero of yesteryear is the dream of our protagonist Hazama Masayoshi. Having as his conviction to fight evil with a great justice and a will of steel, the problems will begin for our young hero. The anime begins showing the story of Masayoshi and his course to become a superhero, thanks to the advice and counsel of his policeman friend Gotou, who many times tried to make him see reason to leave the dangerous crusade of fighting evil. This is the story of a true hero, a story with funny and dramatic touches. With this curious and striking premise, the events of 22 chapters unfold that will lead to turn Samurai Flamenco into a great superhero admired by all.

Ser un superhéroe de los antaño es el sueño de nuestro protagonista Hazama Masayoshi. Teniendo como conviccion combatir el mal con una gran justicia y una voluntad de acero, así empezarán los problemas para nuestro joven héroe. El anime comienza mostrando la historia de Masayoshi y de su transcurso para ser un superhéroe, gracias a los consejos y asesoramientos de su amigo policia Gotou, quien muchas veces intentó hacerlo entrar en razón para que dejara la peligrosa cruzada de combatir el mal. Esta es la historia de un héroe verdadero, una historia con toques divertidos y dramaticos. Con está premisa curiosa y llamativa se desarrollan los eventos de 22 capitulos que llevarán a convertir a Samurai Flamenco en un gran superhéroe admirado por todos.

The nature of the plot is so convoluted and full of plot twists that on more than one occasion it will leave you with a "What the fuck is going on here?" expression. The proposal is almost certain to entertain all audiences with scenes of pure humor, nostalgic situations that give a certain air to the classic Power Rangers and totally unexpected endings with jumps that will almost certainly leave you confused. Despite not being one of the best anime, it manages to charm and keep you entertained enough to get attached to it and not abandon it halfway through the season.

La naturaleza de la trama es tan enredada y llena de giros argumentales que en más de una ocasión te dejara con expresion de "Que mierda está pasando aqui?. La propuesta es casi segura que llegue a entretener a todo el publico con escenas de humor puro, nostalgicas situaciones que dan cierto aire a los clasicos Power Rangers y finales totalmente inesperados con saltos que te dejarán casi seguramente confundido. A pesar de no ser de los mejores animes logran encantar y mantenerte entretenido lo suficiente para cogerle cariño y no abandonarlo a mitad de temporada.

The animation is neither the best nor the worst, it is somewhat modest, it shows that tight budgets are no excuse to design decent and approvable graphics for the public. The designs of the superheroes are very well designed and are almost iconic. On the other hand, the villains are so diverse and absurd that you won't miss seeing them on stage. The opening and ending are not particularly memorable, but they are still good nonetheless.

La animación no es de las mejores ni de las peores, es algo modesta, da a demostrar que los presupuestos ajustados no son excusas para diseñar apartados graficos decentes y aprobables por el publico. Los diseños de los superhéroes estan muy bien diseñados y son casi iconicos. Por otro lado los villanos son tan diversos y absurdos que no pasarán de alto las verlos en escena. Tampoco se puede mencionar mucho del soundtrack, son ajustados a la escenas y a la trama. el opening y el ending no son especialmente memorables pero no dejan de ser buenos.

In conclusion, Samurai Flamenco is an anime for all those who want to be entertained with funny and somewhat absurd scenes, with a plot that will keep you wanting more and more each time, turning the screws. Good characters, laughs and action that never gets boring.

En conclusión, Samurai Flamenco es un anime para todos aquellos que desean entretenerse con escenas comicas y algo absurdas, con un trama que te mantendra queriendo más y más cada vez, dandole vueltas a las tuercas. Buenos personajes, risas y acción que nunca aburre.

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NOT WHAT IT SEEMS TO BE

The biggest mistake one will do when beginning to watch this show, is not being prepared about what it actually is all about. The premise is misleading, and the initial episodes are not representing the mood of the show. If you have no idea what the twist is going to be like later on, chances are you will hate it. I make it sound like in order to enjoy it, you need to be spoiled about things that are not supposed to be spoiled, but trust me, it will spare you the rage and disappointment so many felt while it was still airing. Not getting what you expect out of a show works positively only when you get more than what you expected. In the case of this anime, you get less. So get ready, here comes the spoiler, it’s for your own good. Samurai Flamenco is not a subversion of superhero stories. It is a light comedy that makes it seem it is a subversion, before eventually embracing the dumb idealism of the superhero formula and heads for some really silly shenanigans. It doesn’t sound like a big thing, but it is.

REALISTIC BEGINNING

When the anime begins, you are made to think it will be one of those stories where the protagonist wants to be hero, starts from the bottom, and gradually moves to bigger challenges. The setting is like our own world, there are no superpowers, no monsters, no giant robots. The gadgets he uses are created out of simple things you can find in your home. The enemies he faces are mundane criminals. And since he is not even that strong, or an expert in martial arts, he makes lots of mistakes. A typical street thug can kick his ass. Tv channels are all after him so they can make a spectacle out of the whole thing. The police treat him as an embarrassing, troublemaking clown. Everything feels exactly how it would be like if an average guy wears a mask and spandex and runs in the streets pretending to be a defender of justice, and preaching to people how to behave properly. It will look stupid, not cool, and will have lots of real life repercussions you don’t see in comic books. If the anime remained like this throughout its run, it would not be exciting but it would definitely be special.

SUPERNATURAL FOLLOW UP

But since I spoiled it for you earlier, you know that this did not happen. Eventually Samurai Flamenco jumps genres, adds supernatural elements, and gradually becomes a typical superhero flick suffering from jarring tone shifts and overbearing power creep. And the reason all these supernatural things appeared out of nowhere in a setting that did not have them up until then is (get ready for this, it will blow your mind) because God said so. That’s the big revelation which explains everything! It doesn’t sound like a big thing, but it is.

IN DENIAL

The anime doesn’t prepare you for this, it honestly wants to make you think it will remain basic and pragmatic all the way. Here we are enjoying mundane situations and accepting the show for what it is and suddenly BOOM a talking gorilla with a guillotine in its belly appears, followed by an evil organization of monsters who want to take over the world. Most viewers couldn’t believe this was happening for real. There is no way these Power Ranger shenanigans can happen in such a show. It has to be an elaborate prank with special effects; or a dream, any moment now the protagonist will wake up and everything will be normal again. And since I already spoiled it, you know that this never happened. It became ridiculous and many dropped it after a few episodes because it wasn’t what the show promised them to be. It betrayed them!

CANCEROUS THEMES

Not everyone dropped it though; many still accepted what it had become and kept watching it… only to encounter some very cancerous themes. At first they tried to excuse it as if the show HAD to turn supernatural, because it was already losing steam from all its simplicity. It tried to spice things up somehow and the best thing it could think of was a literal deus ex machina. I already mentioned how God made stuff happen but I didn’t tell you yet why his almightiness did that in the first place. Well, it’s because the protagonist wanted it! He was fulfilling his wish to have adventures as the ones in the silly comic books he loved so much, and him becoming a superhero who saves the world. It sounds innocent on paper until you realize that because of this wish, countless people suffered for it. I mean, really, so many died or were injured because of all the crazy stuff that kept happening. The source of all this evil was not some demon or alien. It was God and the protagonist who brought them into existence out of a childish whim! That’s just mean and horrible.

NOT EXCITING

Not to mention unexciting since God can do anything he likes and thus all conflicts no longer feel threatening. Yeah, you are not supposed to know that until the end of the series but remember that I am sparing you the rage and disappointment by telling you about it right away. You know the protagonist will win no matter what happens. Which ironically makes an alien invasion less exciting than a single street thug, back when there was nothing supernatural in the setting and plot armor was not an option.

THE REST

As for presentation, it looks ok in terms of animation and coloring, although none of the character designs are standing out. The males have a feminine feel to them, as expected from Noitamina series, and have very basic personalities. I can’t say I like any of them; I can forgive the generic protagonist for his naïve ideals, but not the pop idol girls who out of nowhere wanted to be superheroes too just for the heck of it. I mean, come on, they are just frail little girls, why do they beat up so many muscular men with simple tasers? And did we really need the yuri stuff? It was still supposed to be a normal series up until then. You also know your cast is forgettable when most of the audience was concerned with who was the secret girlfriend of one of the guys. Yeah, talk about being afraid of monsters that are trashing cities if you are wondering about those sorts of things.

IN CONCLUSION

I would have given Samurai Flamenco and average score if it remained a plain anime about a normal guy pretending to be Superman. It could also have ended as a 1 cour mediocre parody of power rangers most would remember as a nice filler anime between better things. But nope, the show decided to head for 2 cour and the only way it could think of for not becoming boring, was to keep throwing in more and more absurd things, as means to keep the audience guessing what could possibly be causing all those supernatural stuff in a typical world. And turns out it was God. There you go, have another Gorillatine. Now go play Batman with those lesbian pop idols.

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