Samurai Flamenco - Episode 13

The Four Kings have become the Sixty-Four War Gods... but just how deep does the From Beyond rabbit hole go?

Well, how about over 65,000 potential enemies for the Flamen Rangers to face?  As if the thought of taking on this many enemies one by one isn't bad enough, suspicions begin to grow that From Beyond is, in fact, planning to launch an all-out attack using all of their forces - an attack that even our group of heroes would have no hope of preventing.

As this possibility becomes a distinct reality, the news is delivered to the Prime Minister, who demands that nothing is done and no public announcement is made until the government, their families and other important persons are evacuated to safety.  In return, each of the Flamen Rangers are allowed to choose five people to be prioritized for the evacuation - a simple requirement for some, but not for Hazama, whose sense of justice means that he can't simply pick and choose who to save.  As the situation gets ever more dire, can this very same sense of justice really follow the demands of the Prime Minister and keep the impending invasion quiet from the populace at large?

Aside from a couple of moments of comedy (that I assume were intentional in the kind of goofy way in which this show seems to revel) things have certainly taken a serious turn in this week's Samurai Flamenco, and I'm not sure it's a tone that suits the series at this point - whatever it's trying to say about self-serving politicians barely needs to be said, and Hazama's moping and worries don't really cohere into a particularly compelling piece of the narrative.  Perhaps the fallout of his actions at the end of the episode will give the current storyline the injection it needs, but taken in isolation this feels like the weakest instalment of the series so far, as it threatens to lose sight of the knowing, self-referential comedy that has made things so entertaining up to this point.