Samurai Flamenco - Episode 10

It's time for Samurai Flamenco to face his final battle... well, his final battle for the time being, seeing as we aren't even quite at the half-way mark of the series yet.

As our leading man makes his way to King Torture's mountainous hideout, the villain himself makes sport out of his hostages Mari and Moe - in particular, Mari is the subject of Torture's vitriolic abuse as he lays bare the fact that she is no hero but merely a self-centred and self-promoting wannabe that doesn't even value the life of her friend over her own when push comes to shove.  It's a revelation that leaves Mari broken and laid bare, making Samurai Flamenco's appearance a rather timely one.

Of course, this leads us in to that final battle, as the true nature of King Torture is revealed - a boy just like Hazama, albeit one who grew up loving the villains rather than the heroes of super sentai shows, and as such spent his life researching and preparing for life as a baddie on account of finding them more entertaining.  However, rather than King Torture and his henchmen who were all willing to sacrifice their lives at the drop of a hat, Samurai Flamenco has associates made of sterner stuff, and it's left to Goto to do the real work when it comes to aiding Hazama and ultimately saving the city from King Torture's masterplan.  Justice has prevailed one again, but in the light of the insanity which has unfolded it might just be time for all of the heroes involved to reveal the faces beneath their masks.

So ends another thoroughly enjoyable episode of Samurai Flamenco, which somehow has managed to turn its descent into madness a few short weeks ago into a slither of genius, culminating in an episode that managed to play all of the super sentai tropes with its tongue in its cheek while also making some genuine points about the true nature of heroism and a few other things besides.  It also managed to be surprisingly effecting in a number of ways - the threat of torture early in the episode was hugely uncomfortable to watch (and more than a little reminiscent of a certain scene in Grand Theft Auto V), seeing Mari broken and faced with the her true nature was moving right the way through to her incredible tearful performance over the closing credits, and in the midst of all this was a sense of good, old-fashioned fun with a heart of gold as Samurai Flamenco did his thing and unsung hero (of course) saved the day.  Where this series goes from here I have no idea, but having pondered and fretted over this question quite a bit over the course of this show so far I now feel happy to sit back and let it run its course, as it certainly seems to be in safe hands.