Samurai Flamenco is STILL Slice of Life, Dude

Updatedude and I are tag-teaming Samurai Flamenco again. This time, I’m dealing with how the show’s tone hasn’t really changed all that much, and Update’s talking about the old school Kamen Rider influences.

 

 

Landon’s Spiel

Based on observing the opinions of the Otaku Hive Mind, here’s what I believe is the commonly accepted definition of “slice of life anime”:

Any sort of anime that spends more time focusing on what someone does when they aren’t blowing up shit, talking about blowing up shit, commenting on another character blowing up shit offscreen, or vaguely hinting at a conspiracy where something might blow up if the Globulos of Solomon is shoved up the Ass of Gilgamesh while a Blood Blue Moon rises over an Aztec ruin in Kyoto, Japan than the actual blowing up of stuff. 

By this definition, Samurai Flamenco was a slice of life anime BGG– Before Guillotine Gorilla. We spent more time focusing on the personal lives of Flamenco Dude and Flamenco Girl and the entire Flamenco Family than we did on the beating up of purse snatchers and delinquent middle schoolers. Peeps like this. They like seeing the mundane made charming.

By this definition, Samurai Flamenco is a slice of life anime AGG — After Guillotine Gorilla.

Yes, we’re spending more time on the action bits. Episode 8 was all about monsters attacking and the Flamenco Family stopping their nefarious deeds. The catch here is that these events are presented as mundane life.

Yeah, that scene with Guillotine Gorilla was pretty shocking. He chopped off dudes heads. He blew up. Lives were mourned. Everything was all serious and sad and there was some brooding and crying. The government was concerned and started holding meetings to deal with this crisis. THE WORLD HAD CHANGED. Supposedly.

Then the next monster appeared. The Flamenco Family dealt with it. A few people got roughed up, but there were no fatalities. Then another monster appeared. No one got hurt, save for the exploding monster. This happened again. And again. And again.

Monster attacks are now a part of normal life in the Samurai Flamenco world. They’re expected. The government isn’t taking it as seriously as it did initially. “Viva Torture” may as well just be another obnoxious meme.

The world hasn’t really changed after all. Live goes on. People still have their personal issues. We’ve simply established a new norm here, where a horse monster poisoning the city’s water supply is no more fantastical than a pretty boy going to a photo shoot or a police officer going on patrol.

By making tokusatsu antics a part of everyday life, all Samurai Flamenco has done is add a new wrinkle to its supposedly slice of life formula. The tone hasn’t changed one bit. The series has shown that just because the thing getting punched is now some weird costumed monster doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.

Samurai Flamenco is still that slice of life thing everyone loved, and anyone freaking out is worried over a stylistic change rather than an actual change in direction, tone, or theme.

Updatedude’s Spiel

Samumenco 8 kitaa! Toh!

Well, after last week’s Shocker, it seems things have settled down into a strange normality for Samumenco & co. I dig the constant mood whiplash in this episode, like Idol Girl bitching about her lack of main character status and then jumping onto the fact that a bunch of cops lost their lives in the line of duty.

But of course, the main thing we gotta talk about is that Samumenco seems to be caught in a conspiracy orchestrated by his supposedly dead granddad. From the looks of it, he’s being shoved into a fantasy setting, all to satisfy his granddad’s delusions. Hell, are Samumenco’s parents even really dead? Or rather, were they really murdered in a random robbery? I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the villains end up being revealed as the killer. Or if King Torture is his granddad.

But speaking of plot revelations and stuff, the evil villain plots we’re getting seem to be throwbacks to classic Kamen Rider stuff. Which had silly schemes far worse than any 80s cartoons like Transformers or whatever, BUT, are juxtaposed with potentially gory violence. For instance, this following .gif from the “silly” and “innocent” original Kamen Rider.

It’s kinda refreshing that we’re getting an homage to Kamen Rider actually. Heck, their S&Minions are even outright called Combatants. Usually, it’s Super Sentai/Power Rangers that get all the loving mockery, such as with Sunred or Akibarangers. But you know what? If this is truly gonna be a “proper” Kamen Rider homage, then I’m calling it right now… Idol Girl is sooooo gonna die. It’s a long running joke/reality that any female hero WILL die in Kamen Rider. If Samumenco is gonna keep with tradition, she’s a dead woman walking.

All that being said, we’re still in the first 3rd of the series, but it looks like they’re not gonna spend too much longer on the whole Showa Era Rider love thing. So who knows what direction the second half of the series will take?

It feels like forever since we’ve had a show that we can conjecture like this about. I for one, approve.