Friday 1 November 2013

Samurai Flamenco - Episode 4

From his humble beginnings, it seems that Samurai Flamenco is moving up in the world as he starts dealing with purse-snatchers and "proper" crimes instead of harassing people for putting out the trash too early.

With his training at the hands of Joji Kaname, Hazama certainly seems to be getting the hang of the whole hero thing, leading him to go on patrol in a particularly seedy and dangerous part of town.  When he isn't being chased aorund by adoring fans, it quickly becomes clear that Hazama is out of his depth here, and before he knows it he's been captured by a group of ne'er-do-wells.  Luckily, it seems that Samurai Flamenco has a new partner in crime-fighting - enter Flamenco Girl, who sports a Humvee, a magical girl outfit, a staff that doubles as a Taser and a decidedly "memorable" signature move.


Unsurprisingly, this new heroine turns out to be idol Mari Maya, but any thoughts of a crime-fighting duo with Samurai Flamenco and Flamenco Girl on equal footing are soon dashed.  In short, Maya is rather irrirtated that Hazama has beaten her to the punch as she'd planned to become a hero herself anyway, and thus she demands that he work as her fall guy so that she can do all the real work of beating up bad guys for herself.  Needless to say, this new heroine is an instant overnight sensation, but her more flamboyant style of crime-fighting quickly ensures that she also builds up a reputation with the police...

Although my concerns about the series' ultimate direction continues, I'm not going to deny that Samurai Flamenco remains a lot of fun at this point - its sense of entertainment, comedy and character interaction is simple and effortless in its execution, but undeniably rewarding, and the introduction of Maya has freshened up the show at exactly the right time where its core premise was otherwise threatening to look a little stale.  Where things go from here I couldn't even begin to imagine, but as long as I'm enjoying the journey at this point (which I most certainly am) I'm happy to come along for the ride.

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