Samurai Flamenco – 05

Mari enlisting her bandmates to form a new pseudo-Precure unit was probably the most interesting thing to happen this week as the majority of the episode was build up and introspection.

All three central characters go through a period of disillusionment before moving forward with renewed determination.  For Mari it was deciding to go out alone when Masayoshi was busy with work, and basically running riot without his stabilising influence.  Once again I was struck by how violent Mari’s Flamenco Girl is – she’s absolutely ruthless and I’d be genuinely frightened of her if I ever encountered her mid-brawl, even with the flouncy outfit and magical girl poses.  Speaking of her flouncy outfit I had to laugh at the contrast between Mari’s preparations and Masayoshi’s.  Mari has an entire wardrobe of Flamenco Girl outfits all made to a high spec, whereas Masayoshi only has the one home-made outfit that he takes excellent care of.

For Masayoshi it was the challenge to his idealistic view of superheroes received on two fronts – both reality and fiction.  Working on a superhero show and meeting a jaded veteran director of the genre (plus meeting Joji in all his self-obsessed glory) really upset Masayoshi’s rose-tinted view of how these shows that he so loves come to be.  The sad fact is that these series aren’t made with any grand goal or message in mind, they are simply a means to make money and garner fame for those involved – and this comes as a real blow to Masayoshi.  The very fact that his own attempt at being a superhero is ridiculed and the way that Mari easily outstrips his attempted heroics further disillusions Masayoshi.

It was obvious that this was going to happen at some stage, but I’m glad the show didn’t have him stew in self-pity for an extensive period of time.  Rather Masayoshi rediscovers his passion thanks to a package from his deceased grandfather filled with tales of Samurai Flamenco.  I thought this was both kinda touching and a touch hilarious – Masayoshi’s grandfather seemed to be every bit as delusional as Masayoshi!  Still it is nice that Masayoshi has his zeal back, especially since Mari has decided to break off their partnership given their very different opinions on justice.

Even Gotou goes through a bit of rut this week.  With Mari’s rampage getting worse the police are forced to create a special task force to deal with the complaints – the Vigilante Counselling Unit, and of course Gotou is drafted into it.  The further reduction in his free time puts more strain on his relationship with his girlfriend, who again expresses discontent that Gotou seems to spend more time with Masayoshi than her.  I’m beginning to think she’s never going to make an appearance in person, which is unfortunate.

Gotou’s reaction is somewhat surprising, seems Masayoshi’s enthusiasm is rubbing off on him, as Gotou decided to be all pro-active and proposes that the Vigilante Counselling Unit joins forces with Samurai Flamenco to tackle crime.  This would help keep Masayoshi under control and out of trouble as well as have the police be more active on the streets alleviating the boredom Gotou sometimes seems to feel in his work.  I’m interested to see how this new partnership works out, especially with Mari throwing a spanner in the works with her new Flamenco Girls unit.

A solid if somewhat subdued episode.  I especially enjoyed the use of the Pink Panther music during Gotou’s Vigilante Counselling Unit scenes – as with Kyousogiga, Samurai Flamenco makes great use of music.  Looking forward to seeing how the other members of MMM react to Mari’s super violent antics and how Gotou and Masayoshi run damage control!