Dropped

Yeah, this happened.



I meant to do a batch review for 10 and 11, because, in all honesty, 10 wasn't that bad. Even the animation showed signs of improving. While it was inevitable that I would have to drop it due to its length alone (the new season starts next week!), in the end, Samurai Flamenco just simply isn't the show I fell in love with at the start of the anime season. It's honestly reached the point where watching the episodes is almost as big a chore as reviewing them.


It saddens me a lot - the initial premise, although familiar, was really promising.While there have been about the series sudden similarity to Madoka Magica once the superhero games became reality, it truly lost its uniqueness at that point. We already have anime about superheroes fighting monsters that have terrible consequences to humanity - wasnt that what it was lampooning to begin with? Instead, it never really did anything new with itself once it changed directions and seemed to slowly be morphing into a poor man's Tiger & Bunny - which was a far better written superhero anime for 'adults', with much stronger characters. (Not to mention less stupid villains, but that's more a personal gripe.)

Speaking of characters, epsiode 11 abandons the core cast save Masayoshi and introduces us to the Samurai Squad Flamengers - a mildly interesting bunch to be sure (the glasses guy literally attacks by throwing out law books as a shield, which is the kind of goofy idiocy I do love but it still wasnt quite enough to renew my love of the show itself) but it's definitely odd to switch to them after giving us half a series to like Gotou and the Flamenco Girls. Also, spoilers, they now have vehicles that combine to form a giant robot. Alright.

In the right hands Samurai Flamenco still could have been an entertaining show regardless of its questionable writing choices and direction, but everything seems so sloppily thrown together, the animation is truly abysmal, and the personality of Masayoshi himself just seems so thin lately.Instead, its more become an exhibit A of how much a series can change from First Impressions alone - and its something thats really making me wonder exactly how many anime I slammed in First Impression reviews did the exact opposite and became good.

I'm not entirely sure what happened to the bright and dynamic guy I liked so much in episode one but at least his superhero dreams are real now.
Full Post