Samurai Flamenco

[MFauli]

im now convinced that it is all a dream. maybe real hazama is in a coma or whatever.

what convinced me was how all the people didnt care one bit when Flamenco was fighting the poison monster. Either this anime got reeeeeally bad ... or it is a dream. Then everything makes sense. This is the world that Hazama wished for. It´s a super clichee super hero plot progression.

Looking back at how great this show started, Im sure this is intentional. The last episode will be about Hazama regaining his consciousness and experiencing some sort of awakening moment. Like "You dont need monsters to be a hero. If there´s other people, there´s help that´s needed". or whatever.

[shinta|hikari]

If you actually think a dream ending is a good plot twist, then well, okay.

[MFauli]

im not saying a dream ending is the ideal ending. im saying its better than the alternative.

[shinta|hikari]

No, not really.

Even characters in anime ridicule dream endings, which says a lot about its quality.

[MFauli]

the alternative is that this anime truly turned into a shallow, bland anime-version of the Power Rangers. I consider that worse than a dream.

also, they could use that dream as a foundation for future progress. though i dont know if this is a long running series, not following the manga.

[shinta|hikari]

A dream ending is one of the most stupid deus ex machina plot developments possible, but if you honestly think it is better than what we might get in this show, okay.

That is not the ending that will happen though.

Also, this is not as bad as you seem to think. Even with the sudden evil organization development, it still does not change the main theme of the story. It still shows how modern society reacts to the existence of "superheroes." A good example would be how people so easily forgot or got used to there being super villains popping up in the latest episode, just because people were not dying. It also displays police affairs in a critical manner.

This show is still about crazy people who want to be heroes doing crazy shit, and how society somehow allows it. If anything, it parodies Power Rangers, making almost every cliche in hero stories look stupid or comedic. The fact that these idols actually perform better in their real job when they are out at night fighting criminals is a hilarious reverse take on the usual double life struggles the usual superheroes experience.

[MFauli]

I think you´re totally wrong about everything here. No, this anime does not show anything about modern society or politcs or whatever, because it is TOO shallow to achieve any of that. Such commentary would be possible, but it´s ineffective when done in such shallow, bland ways.

Simple question: Have you really been enjoying the last 2 episodes?

Of course, a dream revelation would be lame. But I´d choose lame over bad. And again, there´s a lot that could be done following up such a conclusion. I hope you didn´t actually spoiler me when you said "That is not the ending that will happen though". Not knowing anything, I could imagine that once the dream is over, we could see how Hazama goes on about making his dream of becoming a super heroe come true within the boundaries of reality. Because right now, nothing feels real. Neither the enemies, nor the people´s non-reaction to them, nor how quickly Hazama become a skilled fighter.
If it was a dream, we could watch real-Hazama how he starts proper training, gets himself cool gadgets and fights real criminals. And that would be okay.

Infinitely better than "hey, suddenly a fantasy-gorilla-machine hybrid appears, kills half a dozen people in front of me, but Im not shocked, instead im now a capable fighter. More monsters appear but nobody pays them any attention, because real fantasy-monsters obviously got boring after 2-3 months. It´s reasonable that people went back to watching movies and playing games, who cares about real monsters. And the guys im fighting are dressed like power rangers enemies for surely-logical reasons that we dont know about. Whatever, Im now an egotistical asshole who cares more about my hero status than the idea that started it."

btw. do those silly fodder enemies also explode? we never saw what happened to them after a fight. Why werent the taken into custody by the police for interrogation? Or do they automatically teleport back, like renegades in Saber Riders?

[shinta|hikari]

You're the one not getting it. The fact that you find it shallow and silly IS the point of the parody. Hero shows are like that.

I am actually fine with the super villain development simply because I don't take this show too seriously, and see it as satire. The freaking title screams it.

I didn't spoil you by the way. I just don't find the chances of a dream deus ex machina too promising.

[MFauli]

ok, apparently this wasnt the last episode. still, this anime turned out worse than what i expected when i began watching it. wasted potential. still fun enough, though.

[David75]

Same feeling here.
Somehow the introduction with a late teenager becoming a pseudo-second rate here was nice. Even his relation with an average cop and all was fine.
Also, there was no fantasy or superpowers, but messages were delivered and it managed to be a nice watch.
Then, the annoying Maya came and I started to gripe a little.
They totally ruined it with the KT arc. Somehow, it's like they decided to throw away the core values of the show and made it something quite appalling.

[MFauli]

if it isnt a dream: worst anime ever and biggest disappointment of the season.

biggest wtf-moment in this newest episode: the new villain introducing themselves by showing a professionally made trailer, logo and all. :|

[shinta|hikari]

Here we go again with the Worst Ever and Biggest Disappointment comments. Yawn.

[Buffalobiian]

HS - Episode 08, 09, 10, 11

I'm just laughing at this. It's pretty funny, really. I'm not sure if it's stupid, gloriously stupid.. or smart parody under a guise of stupidity.

Joji coming off at the start as a troll/attention whore, only to be a real ranking protector of the peace.. but is still an attention whore - nice.

Now that Hazama doesn't have to hide his identity anymore and has the full backing of the government, I'm left wondering what Gotou's role is. If it's a common observer, then there are plenty of people to take his place. Flamenco Girls have also disappeared from the stage, and I fear that a full-time ranger would mean less screen time for Ishihara.

[neflight86]

Against my better judgment I watched through 11. I'm struggling to describe this as anything other than a slow train-wreck with no explosions to distract the audience from the humanity of it all.

You can be stupid; You can jump Fonzie jumping a shark; You can roll down the rabbit hole; but you can't be boring. And that's what SF has become since the shock of the change and the slow realization that there was/will be no 'reset' to the scale of the show prior. Not that that direction had any better of an entertainment prospect aside from being coherent.

It's not like this is the first time an anime has done this, but it is the first time I've experienced it in a while at this magnitude. I would be very interested in watching a dramatization of the design, deliberation, and creative work processes that produced such a mess as Samurai Flamenco, just to put that out there.

[MFauli]

worst shit crap I´ve ever seen in terms of anime. it´s now so bad that I can´t stop watching this trainwreck.

EVery second of this new episode felt like it was part of some parody, of something trying to make a point. But ... YOU DONT MAKE LIKE 10 EPISODES ABOUT IT. You end it after, say, 2-3 episodes max..

Seriously, the thought that there are people enjoying all these rushed, shallow scenes is making me angry.

[shinta|hikari]

Yeah, they are kind of pushing it even if it is parody. Comedy does not excuse poor choice of material and pacing. I know all the wtf moments are intentional, but this episode was nothing but that.

[Buffalobiian]

HS - Episode 12


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Bring it, 64 war gods!


I don't know about you guys, I'm still watching it for the lulz. I think I had a much lower expectation than you guys considering I started partway though and all.

At the very least Gotou is still around and Red still goes back to his roots.

[MFauli]

it makes me angry that there might be people watching this anime and legitly enjoying it for the "excitement" or "tragicness" or whatever.

I swear, it´ll be so bad if this anime tries to do some huge twist at the end, trying to be all "you thought this shit was to be taken seriously? lol". This is worse than the Endless Eight, even though it doesnt repeat itself over and over. This feels like when Kishimoto gave up on Naruto - once a truly exciting shounen series, and then a complete joke ever since he let Sasuke win against Deidara.

[David75]

I officially stoped watching that. I don't remember ever doing that mid-show.

[MFauli]

wow, why was this shit given the budget to be turned into an anime? Is the manga really that popular? Why?!

I may be repeating myself, but this show deserves to get shit upon week after week again. The super cheap vehicle designs, the scene when Flamen Pink blows water onto Flamen Red´s ship, and the *shocking* revelation at the end. Wow. It´s like every bad element put together in one story.

Why is this being made, but we´re still not getting a proper BERSERK-anime series? Goddamit, this shit makes me angry. Fuck moe and fuck random shit like this. Fuck.