History Anime / SamuraiFlamenco

Walking home one night, off-duty policeman Hidenori Goto confronts [[NotWhatItLooksLike an apparent pervert]] stripping in an alleyway. Introducing himself as male model Masayoshi Hazama, the man explains that he was actually changing out of his costume, as he is an up-and-coming superhero dubbed "Samurai Flamenco." Escorting Hazama home, Goto discovers how deep the model's fixation on both superheroes and justice runs despite his total lacking of superpowers.

Despite starting out with wacky hijinks, such as starting easier by [[LawfulStupid obsessively enforcing anti-smoking laws and umbrella thefts]], Hazama soon finds fame after a series of videos of his antics go viral. Joined shortly thereafter by a woman calling herself [[MagicalGirl Flamenco Girl]], Hazama soon finds himself tackling the recent crime wave sweeping Tokyo with a network of allies. [[SeventhEpisodeTwist And then the first arc ends by raising the bar]] ''[[GainaxEnding significantly.]]''

* Wham Episode: There are quite a few, starting in episode 7 when a drug addict transforms into a giant gorilla with a guillotine in its stomach and kills several police officers. Then again in episode 11, episode 18, and episode 19.

* AttemptedRape: In episode 22 Masayoshi strips naked, tries to physically overpower a child (Sawada) who is saying he doesn't want it, and is ranting about loving Sawada. Somehow Masayoshi's confusion about love has led him to believe this is for justice and not an extremely criminal act. Masayoshi's intention to rape Sawada is never exactly clear despite the implications, but it is a sexual assault and would have seemed like attempted rape to Sawada. Masayoshi only stops once Goto pulls a gun on them both. While not directly played for laughs, it is somewhat an example of {{BlackComedyRape}}, certainly not in spite of it being a strange direction for Masayoshi to go in given his lofty ideals.

The show is mostly a slice of life comedy, and an emotionally realistic, light-hearted {{Reconstruction}} of super hero tropes in general. Outside of that, the show can be considered an AffectionateParody of both the Western {{Superhero}} and Eastern {{Sentai}} genres, including blatant nods to series like Franchise/KamenRider, Franchise/TheAvengers, and Franchise/SuperSentai[=/=]Franchise/PowerRangers.

Walking home one night, off-duty policeman Hidenori Goto confronts [[NotWhatItLooksLike an apparent pervert]] stripping in an alleyway. Introducing himself as male model Masayoshi Hazama, the man explains that he was actually changing out of his costume, as he is an up-and-coming superhero dubbed "Samurai Flamenco." Escorting Hazama home, Goto soon discovers how deep his fixation on both superheroes and justice runs despite his total lacking of superpowers.

The show is mostly a slice of life comedy, and an emotionally realistic, light-hearted {{Reconstruction}} of super hero tropes in general. Outside of that, the show can be considered an AffectionateParody of both the Western {{Superhero}} and Eastern {{Sentai}} genres, including blatant nods to series like Franchise/TheAvengers and Franchise/SuperSentai.

* ColorCodedCharacters: The Flamenco Girls:
** Flamenco Diamond: Yellow
** Flamenco Sapphire: Purple
** Flamenco Ruby: Pink
*** And then we get the Flamengers, a Super Sentai-esque team with Masayoshi as the red ranger. They even get a working giant robot.

* GratuitousEnglish:

** Happens quite a bit in episode 18, especially with Alien Flamenco.

The story revolves around police officer Hidenori Goto and Masayoshi Hazama, a male model who is determined to become a hero of justice despite having no superpowers at all. At first Hazama goes through wacky hijinks while trying to clean up minor crimes, and eventually becomes famous after a video of his antics go viral. Another vigilante fancying herself a MagicalGirl shows up, calling herself Flamenco Girl.

The show is mostly a slice of life comedy, and an emotionally realistic, light-hearted {{Reconstruction}} of super hero tropes in general.

The anime series has been licensed by Creator/AniplexUSA in North America.

Has a [[Characters/SamuraiFlamenco character sheet]] that NeedsWikiMagicLove.

Compare ''Film/{{Zebraman}}'', a film with similar themes.

* BadAss: Masayoshi once he gets some judo training from an experienced Toku actor who did his own stunts. Goto was already experienced in the martial arts and a great marksman. Special mention goes to Akira for holding out against King Torture's literal torture of him.

* RoguesGallery: Since this is a series that serves as a light-hearted Reconstruction of superhero tropes, Samurai Flamenco naturallygets one of these, though the enemies he faces are mostly arc villains. They include King Torture, Beyond Flamenco, Ultimate Prime Minister, Alien Flamenco, and Haiji Sawada.

* ProperlyParanoid: Goto tries to convince Mari that it wasn't a good idea to directly challenge King Torture. Then at the end of the episode she's been captured, badly beaten, and is being used as bait to lure Samurai Flamenco to King Torture.

Samurai Flamenco is a Japanese anime television series by Creator/{{Manglobe}}. Directed by Takahiro Omori, it began airing October 10th, 2013 under Fuji TV's {{noitaminA}} timeslot.

** Averted initially. Masayoshi likes to think the world runs on {{tokusatsu}} logic, and so he's constantly looking for some great evil to fight... which doesn't exist. At least, until King Torture shows up...
*** BiggerBad: And after King Torture's defeat, the From Beyond organization takes his place.

* BreakThemByTalking: When ColdBloodedTorture fails to turn Akira to the dark side, King Torture instead resorts to psychological warfare--and it works.

* FiveManBand:
** The Leader: Masayoshi/Samurai Flamenco/Flamen Red
** The Lancer: Goto, Aoshima/Flamen Blue
** The Big Guy: Mari/Flamenco Diamond, Kuroki/Flamen Black
** The Smart Guy: Mizuki/Flamenco Ruby, Midorikawa/Flamen Green
** The Chick: Moe/Flamenco Sapphire, Sakura/Flamen Pink
** The Mentor: Joji/Red Axe

* HannibalLecture: King Torture delivers one to Flamenco Diamond about how she just plays a hero for fun and was never prepared to risk her life, and how she would truly rather have Flamenco Sapphire sacrifice herself than die despite saying the opposite.

The anime was well-received in the West, but unfortunately, it was a financial disaster in Japan, which along with ''Manga/{{Gangsta}}'', led to the closure of Manglobe.

* CerebusRollercoaster: At the end of episode seven the first MonsterOfTheWeek appears, a cyborg gorilla with a guillotine for a stomach, and it's treated with the utmost seriousness. It even manages to kill several police officers. However, after that, King Torture's monsters don't manage to kill or hurt anyone for several weeks, and they're seemingly getting progressively weaker. It's the same way for the first half of episode nine, until we see that King Torture [[ColdBloodedTorture can and will live up to his name]] and also starts becoming DangerouslyGenreSavvy. It goes back down after Torture's defeat, becoming a Sentai show through and through, until around [[WhamEpisode Episode 19]].

** Later on when more monsters show up they get increasingly more over-the-top and are near indistinguishable from the monsters of some of the hammier toku shows, lacking the menace the first monster had. This makes the public more apathetic towards the situation, similarly to many superhero shows when dealing with the subject. This gets turn on its head however when it turns out that the MonsterOfTheWeek was [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy deliberately played up so that it would become a routine to the point of people being desensitized by it.]]

* CerebusRollercoaster: At the end of episode seven the first MonsterOfTheWeek appears, a cyborg gorilla with a guillotine for a stomach, and it's treated with the utmost seriousness. It even manages to kill several police officers. However, after that, King Torture's monsters don't manage to kill or hurt anyone for several weeks, and they're seemingly getting progressively weaker. It's the same way for the first half of episode nine, until we see that King Torture [[ColdBloodedTorture can and will live up to his name and also starts becoming DangerouslyGenreSavvy. It goes back down after Torture's defeat, becoming a Sentai show through and through, until around [[WhamEpisode Episode 19]].

* ArcVillain: King Torture for the first half of the show, the From Beyond organization for the second season's first half, and Sawada Haiji from episode 19 onward.

* BrokenMasquerade: Everyone's secret identities are revealed in episode ten... This is less than halfway through the show.

* CerebusRollercoaster: At the end of episode seven the first MonsterOfTheWeek appears, a cyborg gorilla with a guillotine for a stomach, and it's treated with the utmost seriousness. It even manages to kill several police officers. However, after that, King Torture's monsters don't manage to kill or hurt anyone for several weeks, and they're seemingly getting progressively weaker. It's the same way for the first half of episode nine, until we see that King Torture [[ColdBloodedTorture can and will live up to his name and also starts becoming DangerouslyGenreSavvy.]] It goes back down after Torture's defeat, becoming a Sentai show through and through, until around [[WhamEpisode Episode 19]].

* GenreShift: [[UpToEleven THREE TIMES.]] It only seems to be a slice of life comedy for the first six episodes. At the end of episode seven, we get actual monsters and actual supervillains. Ones that actually ''kill'' people. But despite the vague SciFi villains we still deal with a hero that is clearly using nothing but his powers as a human to triumph. This all changes in episode 11, when the series becomes full-out Super Sentai.And then, after things settle down with From Beyond and the Prime Minister, the tone shifts ''again'' in episode 19 when the show starts picking apart what kind of person Masayoshi is, [[DarkAndTroubledPast how Goto became a cop in the first place]], and the psychological scars that they have.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Originally, Masayoshi abhorred hurting the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters of the Week, and especially felt bad about them possibly being brainwashed. By the end of Episode 8, however, he has become eerily complacent with the deaths of the monsters, and even seems to enjoy himself.]]

* {{Hypocrite}}: Interestingly, King Torture does one to Mari/Flamenco Girl. In episode 10 he's captured both her and Moe and Mari says she's risking her life out there. He then plays her interview from episode 9 back to her, where she treats her superhero alter ego like a game. After Moe says some things to King Torture, he squeezes her pinky with a pair of pliers to the point it bleeds, then offers her a choice. She can take Mari's place and allow him to crush her entire body like he did with finger, or she can free herself. Mari tells Moe to flee, but Moe says wholeheartedly that she would gladly take Mari's place. He then calls Mari out on her hypocrisy, and frees Moe because of her readiness to lay down her life for her friend, while revealing Mari secretly wanted to save herself at the expense of Moe's life. This revelation stings Mari pretty harshly.

* LikeRealityUnlessNoted: As per it's deconstructive, slice-of-life style, akin to ComicBook/KickAss. This is why the introduction of a drug-dealer who transforms into a NighInvulnerable robot-gorilla with a guillotine in his stomach, his phantasm of a boss, and their decimation of a police squad after six full episodes of realism is so...surreal.

* MoodWhiplash: Episode 7. About halfway through the episode, Masayoshi does some soul searching after finding out a little more about his past, where his parents were murdered, although he was too young to remember any of it, and Goto giving him a semi-cheering up message regarding what he's done so far for the city. Then when the police go to raid a drug house, one of the drug dealers turns into a giant gorilla with a guillotine in his mid-section, and violently decapitates at least one of the officers, and nearly kills Goto and Masayoshi in the process.
* MoreDeadlyThanTheMale: Flamenco Girl aka Mari uses weapons, excessive violence, and likes to [[GroinAttack repeatedly hit guys down there]] for no reason after beating them.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Truns out that Prime Minister was trying to fight [[AlienInvasion something much bigger.]]

** The opening sequence makes it look like this anime will be a traditional action Toku series, simply animated. However, the first episode reveals a much more ''slice of life'' style anime with enough [[ShipTease ship teasing]] and [[HoYay unintentional homoerotic subtext]] to convince some viewers that it was going swerve right into the yaoi genre.

** Played it straight when episode 7 rolls in where the MonstersOfTheWeek appears and beheads people which caught the viewers off guard.

* PetTheDog: The man chasing after Masayohsi in episode 6 has a moment of this when he deliberately misleads a group of people trying to capture the former after he saved the latter's life from a fall.

** Later on when more monsters show up they get increasingly more over-the-top and are near indistinguishable from the monsters of some of the hammier toku shows, lacking the menace the first monster had. This makes the public more apathetic towards the situation, similarly to many superhero shows when dealing with the subject. This gets turn on it's head however when it turns out that the MonsterOfTheWeek was [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy deliberately played up so that it would become a routine to the point of people being desensitized by it.]]
*** The {{mooks}} reveal that they fully understand their status as disposable fodder, yet don't care about it because they are just as fanatical about Torture's goal as the monsters and the leader himself.

** Now joined by Flamenco Girl.

** in episode 6, he ups it by ten.

** Kaname Joji is essentially an exaggerated Creator/HiroshiFujioka in cel form, complete with doing stunts himself and samurai status (Joji being called "a modern samurai", while Fujioka is a self-proclaimed samurai with a dojo and all). There are also hints of KenjiOhba and Creator/HiroshiMiyauchi sprinkled around

* ImaginaryLoveTriangle: Goto's girlfriend is quite literally imaginary. He tells people she is real--Mari and Masayoshi think she is real, complicating their relationships with him--but in the end she only exists in Goto's mind.

** In episode 5, Goto tries to set up a date with his girlfriend, but she is angry with him and jealous of how much time he's spending with Masayoshi:

** Then we find out that Goto's "girlfriend" is a delusion, and the he is sending himself the messages. By imagining his girlfriend as jealous, Goto is implying that he has feelings for Masayoshi.