I know I know it has been quite awhile since I have been posting but I have been very busy catching up on a ton of series I’ve missed, picking up new ones, along with real life obligations. My goal is to catch up on all the Noitamina series by the end of the year. I believe I only have 3 left to watch. Hakaba Kitaro which is impossible to find, Jyu-oh-sei, and Honey and Clover second season.

Samurai Flamenco, at first when this series aired in October I really wasn’t sure how this second half would turn out after the first 7 episodes aired. I initially believed it to be a slice-of-life about a young man who wanted to achieve his childhood dreams of becoming a superhero. I have said this before in earlier posts and I will say it again, “Is being a hero all that it is cracked up to be?” and is this really what Hazama wants? After seeing episodes 19 and 20 I can clearly see that more than meets the eye with these two questions. Episode 7 had a sudden drift in direction that left myself and I am sure all of you viewing this Noitamina production as confused. Now things are finally getting answered in the final 4 episodes it seems. Hidenori Goto’s girlfriend whom we have learned nothing about until Episode 19 is finally background we needed in understanding Goto’s emotions and the actions that have led him this far. Also, after seeing Episodes 19 and 20, he might be more misguided in the mind than Hazama is to his superhero obsession. This has been a wonderful transition! Straying away from the surreal back towards the beginning of the series of real life. This was indicated by Sawada’s return. I had a strong feeling that the kid from Episode 1, that was seen later on I believe it was twice throughout this show, was going to have a much bigger role. I was right, but I had no idea he would turn out to be some psychotic middle school terrorist. This was a well executed move on the part of the creators! When the first episode of this series aired, I watched it a few times and wondered why is that kid just standing there, with no movement, and he get’s dragged by his friends to leave. Something is seriously up with this kid and his confusion or admiration for Samurai Flamenco. That is what I initially thought. Looks like I was right in one regard that it could be some kind of admiration for Hazama’s superhero persona. I do wonder if him repeating Flamenco numerous times, which we learn in Episode 18. This is with Hazama’s encounter with the Will of the Universe; when Hazama says Flamenco he may mispronounce it saying “Flawenco” granting him the possibility 000000.02% of a wish coming true.  The same effect that Hazama had on his evil doers of this series, and that is why Sawada may have been able to pull of what he did in Episode 20.

Moving backward a little bit let me talk about Goto. This character is probably my favorite in the series, because he has his head on his shoulders or so we thought. His relationship with his girlfriend was a big crux in the development of strength for him. A strength that Hazama hasn’t had and found a beautiful friendship in. Goto gave Hazama logical reasoning on his actions as Samurai Flamenco. This resulted in the quick witted banter between the two that blossomed their friendship stronger throughout the show. For us the viewers it gave a wonderful comedic tone to childhood dream story. Goto’s girlfriend became his courage only to be shattered by the truth from Mari. The saying goes don’t throw salt on old wounds, well she did and it has hurt him immensely. The only catch is he knew from the very beginning that in the words of Joji “It was a beautiful lie”.  After learning of Goto’s high school girlfriend story, Hazama felt he needed to do something but what? Mari confronted Goto out of love for him, which was a great way to see normalcy in Mari’s character. Mari, I thought didn’t really care about anything of true importance but this truth of Goto’s really enhanced her character greatly.

Overall I believe Joji’s tagline “It was a beautiful lie” is an integral part of this series. One, Goto hiding the fact that his girlfriend has been missing since high school. There is no trace of her, and he has been sending himself texts messages acting in the part of how she might have responded. Two, in Episode 20 we learn that no one has seen Sawada but only Hazama. This is on the basis that he died a year ago from an illness according to classmates. Is this all in Hazama’s head? These two crucial segments in the series will drive the characters further into understanding themselves.

“It was a beautiful lie”.  Makes me go back to my original idea that this series really is just a TV series with an anime. Hazama and possibly Goto are in the TRUMAN show. Now with only 2 episodes left, what will Hazama as he feels this conflicted with himself?