Anime / Samurai Flamenco

This page contains unmarked spoilers. You Have Been Warned!

"A hero will never give up, never hide, never be defeated, never accept evil."

Samurai Flamenco is a Japanese anime television series by Manglobe. Directed by Takahiro Omori with Character Designs by Chinatsu Kurahana (of Uta No Prince Sama fame), it began airing October 10th, 2013 under Fuji TV's noitaminA timeslot.

Walking home one night, off-duty policeman Hidenori Goto confronts 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 a would-be superhero called "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 his initial focus on fighting neighborhood misdemeanors such as unlawful smoking and umbrella theft, Hazama attracts publicity after a series of videos of his antics go viral. Joined shortly thereafter by a woman calling herself Flamenco Girl, Hazama soon finds himself tackling the recent crime wave sweeping Tokyo with a network of allies. And then the first arc ends by raising the bar significantly.

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 Affectionate Parody of both the Western Superhero and Eastern Toku genres, including blatant nods to series like Kamen Rider, The Avengers, and Super Sentai/Power Rangers.

The anime series was licensed by Aniplex USA in North America, though low interest has kept it from getting a physical home release. It was later available for streaming on Crunchyroll, but the license expired in 2021. Compare Zebraman, a film with similar themes.

Please move any character tropes to the Samurai Flamenco character page.

---

Samurai Flamenco provides examples of:

A-F

• Accidental Pervert: Poor Masayoshi is so tired from a night fighting crime, he winds up falling asleep next to a dumpster... where he rolls out into the street and winds up looking up a woman's skirt. She isn't happy.
• Act of True Love: Moe Morita proves willing to die in ignoble suffering for the sake of Maya. This act of grace on her part prompts a heartfelt apology from the villain, who in turn delivers a scathing Breaking Speech to Maya for not being sincere in returning the favour.
• Alien Invasion: Aliens have taken control of governments all over the globe, and Japan was the last stand until the Prime Minister was defeated.
• All According to Plan: Flamenco's continued victories against his monsters and the lack of casualties they cause is all apparently part of King Torture's plans. How this is, we're not sure of, but we are sure that he has it in for Flamenco—enough to have countless dummies of him that he can torture.
  • And then in episode 10, we find out what the plan is: King Torture's monsters all had specialized cells in them that, on command, would turn into giant monsters, which in turn would merge with him to become Giant King Torture.
  • On a meta level, as of episode 14, every Checkov's gun from the seemingly misleading promotional artworks have been fired
• All Just a Dream: The last arc of the manga.
• All Myths Are True: In episode 14, Kaname reveals to the Flamen Rangers that all of the heroes on the superhero shows broadcast are real bonafide heroes, and that the shows they put on was really a lesson on teaching good vs evil. They do inspire regular citizens to stand up to From Beyond and fight back.
• All Love Is Unrequited: Mari has a crush on Goto. The moment Goto realized she likes him she shoots her down and reveals he has a girlfriend. Moe's crush on Mari also seems one-sided.
  • As of Episode 16, Moe's crush isn't hopeless anymore.
• Always Identical Twins: Masayoshi and Beyond Flamenco.
  • Subverted, as it's revealed later that Beyond Flamenco is Masayoshi's Alternate Self.
• Ambiguously Bi: Mari offhandedly kisses Moe and develops a crush on Goto.
  • In episode 5, Goto tries to set up a date with his girlfriend, but she is jealous of how much time he's spending with Masayoshi:
  Goto: Why can't we meet right now? It's hard for me to get time off.
  Girlfriend: Because you're no fun anymore!! You canceled our date at the last second, and you'd rather talk about Yoshi."
  • Then we find out that Goto's "girlfriend" is a delusion, and he is sending himself the messages. By imagining that his girlfriend would be jealous, Goto may be expressing unacknowledged feelings for Masayoshi.
  • Masayoshi and Goto get married in the mobile card game. It's not ambiguous anymore.
• Ambiguously Gay: In the following episode, Moe is shown eagerly awaiting another kiss, and becomes visibly disappointed when it doesn't happen. In later episodes she states she doesn't mind being used by Mari, and even tries to convince Mari to let her sleep in the same bed as her.
• An Arm and a Leg: In episode 10, King Torture saws off his arm in episode 10 to attach a chainsaw to it. He later loses said attachment in an attack from Samurai Flamenco.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: King Torture offers Samurai Flamenco a chance to join him and become evil in episode 10. Sticking to his ideals, the latter refuses, even if it meant costing him his life.
• Anti-Hero: Sawada plans to turn Masayoshi into one, with the intention of getting killed by Goto. Unfortunately for him, Masayoshi decides to Take a Third Option and doesn't fight him as Samurai Flamenco, but rather himself in the nude.
• Arc Villain: King Torture for the first half of the show, the From Beyond organization and the Prime Minister for the first season's second half, and Sawada Haiji from episode 19 onward.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
  • The first four monsters from King Torture conduct such heinous crimes as manufacturing drugs, hijacking a bus, poisoning the water supply, and buying all the apples so no one else can have any.
  • In episode 20, Sawada Haiji makes good on his threat to harm Masayoshi's friends. Some of them do suffer fairly serious injuries, such as Kaname getting hit by a truck, and Jun getting pushed down some stairs. However some of the others don't get it badly, such as Sakura getting a little bit of her hair chopped off, although she treats it as if she got attacked as badly as the previous two examples.
• Ascended Fanboy: Masayoshi is a tokusatsu fan and starts his breakout as a vigilante.
  • He later comes across an aspiring inventor who tells him outright that he'll get killed unless he has the right tools, and provides him with some custom made gadgetry. While more primitive than something you'd expect Batman to use, we're still treated to said inventor looking at the footage of Samurai Flamenco and his new weapons and becoming giddy at the thought of his tools actually being used to fight crime.
  • A darker example in King Torture, who also loved Toku but eventually started to sympathize with the villains.
• Assimilation Plot: King Torture's ultimate plan, but Goto and Masayoshi stop it in the very same episode we find out about it.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Happens in episode 18. Masayoshi uses the alien's power to grow as tall as Alien Flamenco and defeat it.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Played straight initially with Flamenco Girl. She doesn't get hit very much, and when she does, it doesn't mess her up too badly. Then averted in episodes 9 and 10, where she has been beaten badly with bruises showing, and tied up by King Torture. Even after she's rescued and goes to the concert to sing, you can tell she's been broken due to how she can barely stand and her voice breaks up, as if fighting back some painful emotions.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: The old man who offers food and water to Masayoshi in episode 16 relates a story of how he ended up homeless. He was ready to give up on life when he was being viciously attacked by a mugger, only to then be saved by a complete stranger, Samurai Flamenco. After this, he changed his ways, and began to help others, which in turn inspired them to do the same. Masayoshi then realizes that his work wasn't for nothing.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Konno and Isihara for sure.
• Benevolent Alien Invasion: Alien Flamenco tries to sell his invasion of Earth as this to Masayoshi. However, he doesn't buy it, reasoning that the aliens invading Earth are still using force to place their beliefs on humanity, and if they had true peaceful intentions, he would've taken the power offered to him willingly.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: Each time Masayoshi defeats one of King Torture's animal minions they blow themselves up rather than surrender. This turns out to be necessary for King Torture's evil plan to work.
• Big Bad:
  • 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.
  • After King Torture's defeat, the From Beyond organization takes his place, revealing they had provided King Torture with his technology. Then when From Beyond is defeated, it turns out the prime minister of Japan had been pulling the strings all along for nefarious purposes... or so it seems, until the prime minister is defeated, and it turns out his now-thwarted scheme was intended to protect Japan from an even greater threat...
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Several characters do this, usually Samurai Flamenco. But the Flamenco girls get their moments as well, and Goto saves Masayoshi in episode 6 after tracking him down using the GPS in the latter's phone.
  • The heroes from various shows respond to Red Axe's call for help to fight From Beyond's massive Zerg Rush attack in episode 14. Their arrival helps inspire regular citizens to start fighting back From Beyond as well.
• Blood Knight: Flamenco Girl AKA Flamenco Diamond doesn't fight because she hates evil, she does it because bad guys are the most fun to beat up. Obviously, this does not sit well with Masayoshi.
• Body Double: Near the end of episode 3, Goto has to stand-in as Samurai Flamenco during the news feature as Masayoshi goes back to Ishihara in order to fool her that he and Samurai Flamenco are not the same person. Amusingly, Goto seems to enjoy it though Mari noticed the difference.
• Bondage Is Bad: King Torture's entire shtick.
• Book Ends: Both the first and last episodes feature stark naked Masayoshi, and Goto yelling "What are you doing?!" at him.
• Brainless Beauty: Masayoshi is not terribly bright, and admits that his practical skill-set consists entirely of looking pretty in front of the camera.
  • Later subverted as he becomes more experienced in crime-fighting.
• Break Them by Talking:
  • When Cold-Blooded Torture fails to turn Akira to the dark side, King Torture instead resorts to psychological warfare—and it works.
  • 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.
• Broken Masquerade: Everyone's secret identities are revealed in episode 10, Keep in mind, this is less than halfway through the show.
• Broken Ace: Defied. Mari, after being subjected to King Torture's sadistic techniques, is more or less broken, physically and mentally. She still insists on performing at her own concert, while still in the shredded Flamenco Diamond costume.
• Broken Pedestal: When Joji-san claims to be Samurai Flamenco, it looks like it's heading in this direction for Masayoshi. Then it turns out Joji did it for Masayoshi (though Goto seems to think Joji's just claiming that to save face), and Joji becomes his new Secret-Keeper.
  • Played straight when Masayoshi meets a famous tokusatsu director who turns out to not have the same love for the material that Masayoshi does.
    • Atypically, the same director is stated to have liked Masayoshi's enthusiasm in a later scene.
• Brutal Honesty: Goto gives one to Masayoshi in episode 7. While he's a bit harsh, calling him a freak, he also compliments the latter regarding the slow change for the better that he's been bringing to the city since Samurai Flamenco showed up.
• Calling Your Attacks: Both Samurai Flamenco and Flamenco Girl do this.
• Cannon Fodder: The mooks of King Torture reveal that they fully understand their status as disposable fodder, yet they don't care about it because they are just as fanatical about Torture's goal as the monsters and the leader himself.
• Cerebus Rollercoaster: At the end of episode seven the first Monster of the Week 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 can and will live up to his name. It goes back down after Torture's defeat, becoming a Sentai show through and through, until around Episode 19.
• Chainsaw Good: In episode 10, King Torture saws off his left arm to attach a chainsaw to fight Samurai Flamenco with.
• Chekhov's Gun: In episode 2, Ishihara accidentally picks up the plastic axe from one of Masayoshi's toys. It happens to fall out of her folder right after she watches the internet video someone took of Masayoshi retrieving Goto's stolen umbrella...
• Chekhov's Gunman/Character Witness: The homeless man Masayoshi saves in Episode 7 makes a comeback in Episode 16, just in time to save him from getting arrested. However, he doesn't recognize Masayoshi because he's partially blind.
  • Sawada is name-dropped near the end of episode 1, when his friends pull him away to run from beating Masayoshi up. He makes a rather explosive return at the end of episode 19.
• Chuunibyou: Masayoshi, as well good part of the characters, is considered in the Evil Eye-type of this Japanese-named syndrome, having the delusions of being a Sentai hero and starting to act like one in the Real Life.
• Cleavage Window: Flamenco Girl's attire sports one.
• Clark Kenting: Averted, big time. The moment the video of Samurai Flamenco goes viral, people start to suspect Masayoshi. It doesn't help that he'd recently been in a video with the idol group MMM, either.
  • Played straight with Mari as Flamenco Girl or Flamenco Diamond, as she's later called. She's a mega-popular idol, far more popular and well known than Masayoshi, and the only thing hiding her face is a small mask, slightly larger than a pair of glasses, yet no one recognizes her. Even Masayoshi, sitting right next to her, doesn't realize it's her until she takes off the small mask, and he has seen her close up before, and spoke to her. The orang-ish wig she wears might help with this.
• Cliffhanger: Episode 21 ends on one, with Goto subdued and tied up by Sawada Haiji. He asks the latter if he's going to kill him as Haiji points Goto's own gun at him. Sawada gives a vague answer, then Goto closes his eyes, and a gunshot is heard as the credits begin rolling.
• Closet Otaku: Masayoshi and Mari. Also King Torture.
• Clothing Damage: Masayoshi confronts a drunk but gets a one-sided beating that ends up with his suit being ruined. Then it's set on fire by Goto.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Masayoshi seems to believe he can actually adopt a tokusatsu persona and fight evil organizations in real life. Also counts as Determinator as he's aware of how unrealistic it is, yet still tries to become a superhero.
  • Let us not forget flighty, delusional Joji. He seems to be stuck in his Red Axe days.
• Cloud Cuckoolanders Minder: Ishihara. Goto also helps with getting Masayoshi to come back down to earth.
• Code Name: Masayoshi's code name is Samurai Flamenco. It's even printed on his costume which got accidentally burned by Goto.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: After an episode and a half of King Torture being completely harmless, we see that he's captured and brutally tortured Akira in order to force him to lure Masayoshi's manager into a trap. We don't see the actual torture, but we do see his severe injuries and the bloodied implements they used to make him more cooperative.
• Color-Coded Characters:
  • The Flamenco Girls: Flamenco Diamond (Yellow), Flamenco Sapphire (Purple), and Flamenco Ruby (Pink).
  • The Flamengers: Flamen Red, Flamen Blue, Flamen Green, Flamen Pink and Flamen Black.
• Combat Pragmatist: Flamenco Girl AKA Flamenco Diamond with her "magic" wand.
  • To be specific: Although styled in appearance after traditional magical girl wands, Flamenco Girl's "wand" is essentially just a mace with a built-in gas dispenser, stun gun and retractable spikes.
• The Comically Serious: Masayoshi proclaims he's a hero of justice even though he's stark naked and was just beaten up by a drunk salary man.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: Each time Samurai Flamenco deals with new enemies, they always belong to a much bigger group. And it seems like the more members it has, the easier they are to defeat.
• Cool Car: Flamenco Girl makes her entrance in a solid pink hummer, which manages to crash through a wall without even a scratch.
• Costume Copycat: Masayoshi is quite surprised when he meets someone claiming to be Samurai Flamenco.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Masayoshi gets beaten by a drunk man and a pack of kids after starting fights with both.
• Damsel in Distress: Flamenco Diamond is captured by King Torture to draw out Masayoshi.
• Dancing Theme: The MMM girls have one using hand puppets in the second ending.
• Darkest Hour: Episode 16. The Flamen Rangers have been disbanded and branded traitors corrupting Japan, along with all the other superheroes, Masayoshi is an at large criminal with nowhere to run and no one to turn to, and Mari still hasn't come to peace with herself after her humiliating capture and defeat by King Torture.
• Date Peepers: Mari and Masayoshi do this to Goto in episode 19. The latter doesn't necessarily want to go, but considering how the former may act if she goes into Flamenco Girl mode, he tags along.
• Deconstructive Parody: Subverted and Inverted.
• Decoy Damsel: An attractive woman fakes being mugged so that she can unmask Samurai Flamenco and claim the reward for his identity. Flamenco Girl shows up just in time, leaving the woman Bound and Gagged for her troubles. The fake muggers don't fare quite as well.
• Defeat Equals Explosion: Flamenco Girl starts employing stage pyrotechnics to mark her victories. Presumably this is to keep with the magical girl theme.
  • Also how King Torture's monsters end up killing themselves.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Samurai Flamenco has his final battle with King Torture and manages to defeat him and stop his master plan at the same time with Goto's help in Episode 10. However, the beginning of Episode 11 reveals that King Torture and his organization was merely supported by a much larger organization in From Beyond.
• Distaff Counterpart: Flamenco Girl, to Samurai Flamenco. Subverted in that Flamenco Girl actually planned the superhero identity before Samurai Flamenco did.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: King Torture's minions are all themed in various torture devices, but many of them are also commonly used for BDSM. The mooks even have shibari ropes and mouthpieces resembling ball gags.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The show's ending theme, "Date TIME", is sung by Haruka Tomatsu, Erii Yamazaki, and M.A.O. in-character as Mari, Moe, and Mizuki. The second ending theme, "Flight 23:00", continues this trend.
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: This is how King Torture demands Japan's unconditional surrender, complete with giant, unexplained holograms over the city.
• Dull Surprise: Hilariously, Konno in Episode 16 following the Flying Saucer reveal.
  Konno: No wonder my connection was cut.
• The Ending Changes Everything/Rewatch Bonus: The final arc twist involving Goto's backstory throws the majority of the character into question. Since the texts from Goto's girlfriend are all his projections and a coping mechanism for her almost-certain death, a large part of the character is cast in a different light on rewatch; since her messages are revealed to be vocalizations of his subconscious thoughts, a lot of his motives and actions can be better interpreted a second time around.
• Epic Fail: Masayoshi's attempts at fighting crime tend to fail spectacularly, with him often getting injured in the process.
  • As the series goes on, he manages to become much more competent, being able to stop a purse snatcher in the fourth episode, and essentially taking on the entire town successfully two episodes later.
• The Everyman: Goto is meant to ground the audience in reality while Masayoshi preaches on about his tokusatsu-inspired morality.
• Everyone Chasing You: Basically the entire plot of Episode 6. Samurai Flamenco gets a massive bounty placed on his head for his true identity, which leads to Masayoshi getting chased around the entire city by mobs of people.
  • And again in Episode 16, But this time, Masayoshi is chased by the law, along with every other hero, after being falsely accused of staging From Beyond's attacks.
• Evil Counterpart: King Torture was a fellow Toku nerd until he went nuts and came up with an Assimilation Plot.
• Evil Is Hammy: Almost all of the villains Samurai Flamenco and his companions fight after episode 7 seem to act this way. Even King Torture seems a bit hammy in his dialogue.
• Evolving Credits: In the second ending, the dancing that the MMM girls do changes a little bit every episode.
• Expy: Harakiri Sunshine seems to be one of Kamen Rider. Driving this home, the first episode has Goto make an explicit Shout-Out to Kamen Rider.
  • The Brass Rangers and Money Rangers are obvious Expies of the Super Sentai and Power Rangers franchises.
  • Kaname Joji is essentially an exaggerated Hiroshi Fujioka 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 Kenji Ohba and Hiroshi Miyauchi sprinkled around.
  • According to creator interviews, the members of MMM were based on Perfume.
  • For comic book readers, this anime seems to be inspired by Kick-Ass.
• Face Death with Dignity: Akira learns the hard way that King Torture can and will live up to his name, but calmly asks to be granted a cool death when he proves useless to him.
• Fair Cop: Goto is a young attractive cop and is not dumb in the least. Mari also thinks Goto looks great in a police uniform.
• Fearless Fool: Masayoshi doesn't really tackle very dangerous crimes in his early days, but he still manages to get in way over his head.
• Felony Misdemeanor: Jaywalking is a nefarious crime.
  Masayoshi: He was jaywalking! And smoking on the street! I was confronting an evil villain threatening our city's safety!
  • Masayoshi refuses to use an umbrella, because one time in the first grade he stole a classmate's umbrella, and that classmate wound up getting sick from having to walk home in the rain.
• Final Boss Preview: The sudden appearance of a villain called King Torture in episode 7, signalling a definite shift in the genre and tone of the series.
• Fighter-Launching Sequence: The Flamengers get their first one in Episode 11 when piloting their zords for the first time, complete with their own Insert Song.
• Flying Saucer: A gigantic one appears at the end of Episode 16.
• Foreshadowing: Goto, standing on the cliff while watching the sunset and throwing a bouquet of roses in the 1st opening? He's mourning for his girlfriend who went missing since high school.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: The second alien form Masayoshi encounters in episode 18 after defeating Alien Flamenco. When he asks about it, the alien tells him that he'd be more comfortable with a figure that he's familiar with, although the alien changes form several times during the conversation.
• Full-Frontal Assault: Masayoshi strips naked to fight Sawada instead of donning his Samurai Flamenco outfit as the latter wanted him to in episode 22.

G-L

• Genre Savvy: Joji, a former tokusatsu actor, tells Masayoshi not to get cocky, as he has no idea what the final episode could dish out.
• Genre Shift: 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 Sci-Fi 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, how Goto became a cop in the first place, and the psychological scars that they have.
• Genre-Busting
• Go Through Me: Masayoshi puts himself in front of Sawada after Goto frees himself and picks up his gun in episode 22.
• Gratuitous English/Gratuitous Foreign Language:
  • Most prominent with the Flamengers, especially so as their names are a portmanteau of Flamenco and Avengers. This even extends to their codenames being English colors (e.g. Flamen Red), their vehicles being English nouns (e.g. Flamen Bird) and their mecha Transformation Name Announcement being "Change Flamen Robo! Let's Flamenco!"
  • Moe is fond of using English phrases ("Ouch!", "Oh my God!") when surprised. Word of God is that she's a native English-speaker.
  • Happens quite a bit in episode 18, with Alien Flamenco very frequently dipping into English for no real reason.
• Groin Attack: Flamenco Girl's Signature Move. Flamenco Ruby and Sapphire also do it, but don't enjoy it like Flamenco Girl does.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat: Masayoshi engages in this with Goto in episode 22. While ridiculous, he manages to calm his friend down.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Originally, Masayoshi abhorred hurting the 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.]]
  • Zigzagged. His confrontation with King Torture snaps him out of his complacency.
  • Then in episode 15, the Japanese Prime Minister uses this against them, by making it seem like the Flamen Rangers were in cahoots with From Beyond to try and overthrow the government using their popularity.
• Here We Go Again!: At the end of episode 22, Goto and Masayoshi are having an argument about Goto's girlfriend texting him while traveling abroad. However, a van passes by and litters by throwing a can out his window. Masayoshi immediately pulls out his Samurai Flamenco outfit as the scene ends.
• Heroes "R" Us: The Government Agency of Fiction that funds and supplies the Flamenrangers.
• Heroic BSoD: Played for laughs when one of Masayoshi's idols tries to take credit for being Flamenco. He just lays around the floor of his apartment being depressed. He gets over it once he finds out that said idol had reasons for doing so.
  • Later played horribly straight with Mari, after King Torture was done breaking her. Doesn't stop her from performing at her own concert after being rescued, destroyed costume and all.
  • Masayoshi suffers another one in episodes 15 and 16, after the Japanese government turns on him, along with the other superheroes. With nowhere left to go, and no one to turn to, he lies on a park bench, ready to accept whatever happens to him. Fortunately a homeless man brings him to his tiny tent and offers him food, water, and support which helps snap him out of it.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Masayoshi is hit with this in episode 15 and 16, when the Japanese government turns on the super heroes who just stopped From Beyond. An American hero tries to warn Masayoshi that From Beyond was actually working for the government, and the Flamen Rangers were a threat to the government because they were too popular. As a result, they may not listen to the government and the Prime Minister cooked up a lie to make it seem like they were actually trying to take over the world.
• Hollywood Cyborg: King Torture has apparently made some extensive modifications to his own body, along with all of his monsters.
• Humongous Mecha: The Flamengers get a flipping megazord.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: Goto, winds up playing this role to Masayoshi whenever he gets dragged into Masayoshi's "heroics."
  • Flamenco Girl is far better prepared, and far better equipped, for the vigilante business than Samurai Flamenco (though her thrill-seeking mentality doesn't do wonders for Samurai Flamenco's otherwise successful attempts to actually help people). However, she's angry about being considered Masayoshi's sidekick just because he happened to get noticed first.
• 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 her 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.
• Idol Singer: The group MMM. Also counts as Fun with Acronyms.
  • Mari Maya, AKA Flamenco Girl.
  • Mizuki Misawa. AKA Flamenco Ruby
  • Moe Morita. AKA Flamenco Sapphire
• Imaginary Love Triangle: 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—she appears to be jealous of Masayoshi's relationship with Goto—but in the end, she is only in Goto's mind.
• Immune to Bullets: The gorilla monster that shows up in episode 7. The police fire several shots at him, but all of them deflect off the gorilla.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: King Torture in episode 10.
• Implausible Fencing Powers: Red Axe can cut Honshu Island in half!
• Improbable Weapon User: Thanks to Jun Haruzuka, an R&D scientist working for a leading stationary company, Samurai Flamenco serves as a field tester for office supplies which he can use as nonlethal weapons, be it an ink erase launched from retractable pen, a nun-chuck stapler used to staple his foes clothes, or a tape measure which he can use to swing from a building.
• In the Name of the Moon: Both Samurai Flamenco and Flamenco Girl are fond of this. Especially Flamenco Girl.
• Instant Web Hit: The video of Masayoshi tracking down the man who stole Goto's umbrella^note Umbrella theft being a minor yet apparently endemic crime in a country where umbrellas are typically stored in public containers outside offices and stores reaches 900,000 views in a week.
• Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life: Umbrella snatching is a very common occurrence in Japan, especially during rainy weather, and is often brushed aside. However, Masayoshi never even uses umbrellas anymore because the one time he did had caused a classmate of his to become really sick (today, he considers this to be his greatest fault]].
• Just in Time: When Masayoshi is injured and can no longer defend himself in episode 6 Goto shows up and saves him.
• Keet: Masayoshi is a very excitable Adult Child, though interestingly he tends to be far more serious in costume.
• Lampshade Hanging: By Episode 17, even the characters are pointing out the insanity they are going through.
  Mizuki: So we have aliens here now.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: Kaname Joji, an aging tokusatsu actor, still looks the part of a stereotypical hero, thanks to this and his Heroic Build.
• Legion of Doom: The climax of Episode 5 has Flamenco Girl ambushed by a group of previously-unrelated criminals, each of whom had been defeated by her in the past.
• Like Reality, Unless Noted: As per its deconstructive, slice-of-life style, akin to Kick-Ass. This is why the introduction of a drug-dealer who transforms into a Nigh-Invulnerable 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.
• Long-Distance Relationship: Goto's girlfriend lives far away so the two keep in touch via their cell phones.
  • Though considering that they apparently go out on dates, Goto's girlfriend may just be The Ghost separated by an incompatible work schedule.
  • Sadly, it turns out that Goto's girlfriend disappeared without a trace since high school and he had been self-texting himself to cope with the loss.
• Loony Fan: Sawada Haiji for sure. His obsession with turning Masayoshi back into the old Samurai Flamenco endangered himself and many of his loved ones.
• Love Epiphany: "Oh, I get it, this is love."

M-R

• Made of Iron: You can hear her voice cracking as she tries not to cry, but Mari still insists on performing at her concert a mere few hours after escaping from King Torture's clutches.
• Magical Girl: Flamenco Girl's outfit is modeled after shows of this genre.
  • As are the outfits of the other Flamenco Girls, Flamenco Sapphire and Flamenco Ruby, once they join up.
• The Man Is Sticking It to the Man: Masayoshi's self righteousness is fueled by his distaste for the police, who he considers to be too lax on "lesser" crimes. Nevermind that he's a Teen Idol whose existence is funded by his modelling agency, or that he gets most of his best advice from a beat cop.
• Meaningful Name: Masayoshi's name read literally translates to "justice", while Goto's first name Hidenori can be read as "heroic virtue", referring to his job as a defender of the people.
• Mid-Battle Tea Break: In one episode, the monster actually lets Samurai Flamenco take time to check a text message Flamenco Diamond sent him telling him she can't come help with the fight.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: Masayoshi receives an unusual cache of office supplies to help him do battle against evil. They work surprisingly well, such as the stapler nunchuks or the tape measure grappling hook.
• Mind Screw: Episode 20, in spades.
• Mistaken for Gay: The moment Goto tells Mari he's not interested in her during episode 6, she asks if he's into Masayoshi. Then she states that he is at the end when she sees him putting Masayoshi in a headlock.
  • Was he really "mistaken" for gay though? Considering.
• Monster of the Week: In-universe. When King Torture appears, his minions show up and start wreaking havoc once a week.
• Mood Whiplash: 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. Unsurprisingly, the audience was confused.
• More Deadly Than the Male: Flamenco Girl/Mari uses weapons, excessive violence, and likes to repeatedly hit guys down there for no reason after beating them.
• Mundane Made Awesome: Masayoshi practically lives on this trope, as his "heroic" acts tend to revolve around such things as stopping jaywalkers and retrieving stolen umbrellas. His gadgets end up being (heavily customized prototype) office supplies.
• Naked First Impression: Masayoshi was butt-naked when he first meets Goto in an alley.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: King Torture.
• Never Found the Body: Goto's girlfriend just up and vanished.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Turns out that Prime Minister was trying to fight something much bigger.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Happens in episode 15 and 16 to the Flamen Rangers and the other superheroes. The Japanese government turns on them, and paints them in a bad light in the media in an attempt to make them look like they were the villains, despite having given them full support just a short while ago against From Beyond.
• No Stunt Double: In-universe: It's mentioned that Kaname Joji always does his own stunts. At first, it sounds like it might be an exaggeration, until we see him jump off a moving motorcycle and land on his feet.
  • He also manages to teach Masayoshi to be a competent fighter between episodes.
• "Not So Different" Remark: King Torture tries to pull this on Masayoshi by showing him his collection of tokusatsu figurines and memorabilia. Apparently, King Torture was just as much a fan as Masayoshi... except he went in entirely the other direction.
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Wait, so there's a real life tokusatsu villain? And he's sending a mutant gorilla with a guillotine in its chest after Masayoshi? I thought this was a Slice of Life show!
• Openings Always Lie:
  • 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 ship teasing and unintentional homoerotic subtext to convince some viewers that it was going swerve right into the yaoi genre. From episode 7 onward, the opening is more than fitting for the tone the series goes in.
  • The ending animation goes the opposite direction; it's cutesy and somewhat Fanservice-y compared to the show itself, and showcases the girls from MMM.
• Off with His Head!: The gorilla that shows up in episode 7 does this to at least one cop, and nearly does it to Masayoshi as well, before Goto saves him.
• Oh, Crap!: The stinger at episode 11 where Masayoshi receives a lot of missed calls and texts from his manager and then, he realized that she's very mad after he reveals his secret identity to the public.
  • The end of #15, when the Prime Minister of Japan himself declares Samurai Flamenco to be an enemy of the state.
• Opposite Day: Everyone in Masayoshi's Edo period dream are opposite versions of people he knows. Goto is a thief, Mari is a Shrinking Violet, Moe has a strong temper, etc.
• Parental Abandonment: Masayoshi's parents died when he was two years old. His grandfather's notes revealed that they were mugged and killed while vacationing abroad. However, unlike a certain superhero, Masayoshi doesn't feel any desire for revenge since he never knew his parents very well.
• Pet the Dog: The man chasing after Masayoshi in episode 6 has a moment like this when he deliberately misleads a group of people trying to capture the former after he saved the latter's life from a fall.
• Police Are Useless: Subverted. They're not actually useless, it's just that they tend to overlook many smaller crimes (like jaywalking and smoking in public) because it takes time from dealing with more serious crimes.
  • This is the reason Masayoshi has taken up the Samurai Flamenco costume- he can deal with the criminals or minor crimes that the police can't, or won't, deal with themselves.
• Properly Paranoid: 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.
• Punched Across the Room:
  • Extremely exaggerated version in episode 18, after Masayoshi uses Alien Flamenco's MacGuffin to grow as tall as the latter, he gets punched rather hard. So hard that he gets hurled towards the surface of the moon.
  • Used on Sawada by Mari in episode 22 as payback for him poisoning Moe and Mizuki in the previous episode.
• Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh...: Happens to Masayoshi in Episode 7 when he finds his power-up punch has no effect against an actual monster gorilla.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: King Torture gives a brilliant one towards Mari in episode 10. He tells Moe she can either run away and leave Mari to her fate, or stay behind to be tortured in place of Mari who would then be freed. Mari pleads with Moe to run, but the latter decides she'd rather die than live in a world without Mari in it, and tells King Torture wholeheartedly that she'll take her friend's place instead. Torture then frees Moe, and promises never to hurt her again. Then he tells Mari that he knew she secretly hoped Moe would sacrifice herself, and that she was a very selfish person because of it. Mari seems much more hurt by his comments than by the physical beating she endured, and she suffers a Heroic BSoD for the next few episodes as a result.
• The Reliable One: Ishihara, Masayoshi's manager, is the person responsible for making sure he gets up in the morning and gets to his appointments on time.
• The Reveal:
  • It turns out tokusatsu villains are real.
  • Another big one happens in episode 19 when Goto's mother tells Masayoshi and Mari about Goto's girlfriend. She went missing in high school, they never found her, and he ended up sending messages to himself as if it were from his girlfriend as a coping mechanism to help him overcome his Heroic BSoD.
• Rogues Gallery: Since this is a series that serves as a light-hearted Reconstruction of superhero tropes, Samurai Flamenco naturally gets 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.

S-Z

• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: In Episode 13, Masayoshi is torn between evacuating those he cares about and telling the world that From Beyond is about to launch a full attack against Japan. While on a variety show, he ultimately makes the choice to announce the imminent attack to the entire country.
• Secret-Keeper: So far, Goto is the only person who knows about Masayoshi's vigilantism and superhero obsession. Masayoshi points out that if his manager finds out about this, she would be very angry.
  • After episode three, Kaname Joji is another Secret Keeper.
  • After episode four, it becomes zig-zagged with Flamenco Girl.
  • And then in episode ten, the secret comes out.
• Secret Test of Character: In episode 3, Joji Kaname comes out and publicly proclaims to be Samurai Flamenco. This obviously doesn't sit too well with Masayoshi despite being a fan of his earlier works, and he sends a challenge to the former. Joji goes out to meet him, and both declare they're the real Samurai Flamenco. Joji beats up Masayoshi slightly, and knowing he's physically outmatched, he does the only thing he knows to do, to try and get others to follow the rules and live righteously. He tells Joji that the latter is really Red Axe, and should stop pretending to be Samurai Flamenco. Joji tears up, and says that his masquerade was simply to bring out Samurai Flamenco's true potential. While Goto doesn't seem to buy it too much, it seems Joji wants to train him to live up to his name and increasing reputation. And after the credits roll, Joji is eating curry with them, and then mentions sparring with Masayoshi.
• Seinfeldian Conversation: Goto starts off the show by pointing out Kamen Rider's in violation of traffic laws.
  Goto: Would you say Kamen Rider operates a motorcycle without a helmet? Does the mask count as a helmet in this case? If it doesn't, he's a law-breaking superhero.
  • When Masayoshi tries to talk down the Torture Boys, he explains that King Torture wants Flamenco to come to him anyway, and asks why they would bother trying to fight him if he's going what their leader wants? One of the Torture Boys explains that they're aware of how they're the Redshirt Army, but that they don't care because they're fighting for something they're passionate about (evil) and will do everything in their power to promote it as possible.
• Serial Escalation: An odd, relatively mundane variant. First it was just Masayoshi berating jaywalkers. Then he was taking down muggers. Then he built up to drug dealers. And then it escalated damn fast with the introduction of King Torture and From Beyond.
  • Finally explained after the defeat of Alien Flamenco, when Masayoshi meets the "will of the universe." As Samurai Flamenco grew more active, reality gradually bent itself to accommodate more and more toku-inspired situations so that Masayoshi would always have a new challenge to face.
• 7th Episode Twist: The climax of episode 7 has a gorilla beheading people and the villain appearing to challenge to Samurai Flamenco. And no one saw that coming.
• Share the Male Pain: Observers of Flamenco Girl's preferred method of violence tend to wince, male and female alike.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Mari assumes Masayoshi and Goto are a couple. Twice. Goto forcefully denies it.
• Shout-Out:
  "Brass Rangers, Ensemble!"
  • Masayoshi's Imagine Spot while reading his grandfather's letter is an homage to the end credits of Kamen Rider BLACK.
  • This image from the show's official Japanese/North American website is a shoutout to the long running Japanese detective show G'Men '75.
  • The villain MMM34, whose name is pronounced 'Miyamoto Musashi'.
    • The members of the group are full of visual jokes as well; there's one wearing a hockey mask, another with mouse ears, and one with the same hairstyle as Hatsune Miku.
  • By the same token, there's Flamen Green's real name - Hekiru Midorikawa.
  • From Episode 14: "Nice to meet you, Brother". He's wearing a longcoat.
• Sneeze Cut: At the end of episode 6, Konno says that while they didn't capture Samurai Flamenco, they at least got a lot of publicity out of this event. He then wonders who he'll take out to dinner. Ishihara then sneezes and looks around, only to find herself working alone in her cubicle.
• Sociopathic Hero: Flamenco Girl, unlike Masayoshi, has zero problem with hurting criminals while hunting them down. If anything, she seems to enjoy it a little too much...
  • By episode 7, Flamenco Girl (or Flamenco Diamond, as she's now called) is ready to give up the job because it's gotten to be too boring and predictable. Even the emergence of King Torture doesn't manage to hold her interest for very long.
• Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Brutally implemented starting in Episode 7, when Masayoshi suddenly graduates from catching drug dealers to fighting a giant ape with a guillotine in its stomach. This was the initial reveal of King Torture and the more traditionally tokusatsu elements of the series.
  • Then, the defeat of King Torture merely gave way to the reveal of From Beyond, who gave King Torture his bizarrely futuristic technology.
  • In-Universe, From Beyond is assumed by the heroes to function this way, leading to a brief panic at the number of years (an amount greater than the combined lifespan of the entire cast) it would take to defeat all of them at their current pace. As it turns out, From Beyond is actually a conglomerate organization rather than one with a strictly linear hierarchy.
  • And even From Beyond was just an elaborate plot to help the Prime Minister, who quickly turns on the heroes after they defeat the evil organization.
  • Oddly enough, after Alien Flamenco the threat dwindles down to a more personal level in the form of Haiji Sawada who only attacks Samurai Flamenco's friends and allies.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: Episode 7 still ends with the cutesy ED by the MMM. It can be very jarring after the gruesome events that took place in the last 5 minutes of the episode.
• Spanner in the Works: Sawada tries to turn Masayoshi into an Anti-Hero by having Goto kill him and give the latter the Dark and Troubled Past he needs to become one. Unfortunately for him, Masayoshi decides to Take a Third Option and fights him not as Samurai Flamenco, but as Hazama Masayoshi instead.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Flamenco girl in her debut. She ends up rescuing Samurai Flamenco a few times, some being genuine rescues, while others are staged. In any event, the bounty for her identity becomes two million yen, twice as much as his identity. Her brutality also doesn't sit too well with him.
• Squee: When Masayoshi meets Kaname Joji, the actor who played Red Axe, one of the inspirations for Samurai Flamenco, he nerds out hard.
  • It helps that Joji was wearing a Samurai Flamenco costume at the time.
• Stating the Simple Solution: Goto is quick to ask why Masayoshi doesn't just get an actual job in law enforcement, like as a cop or prosecuting attorney. Masayoshi claims that it's just not the same.
• Straight Man: Goto, who can't quite get Masayoshi to accept that This Is Reality.
• Super Registration Act: Subverted. The Prime Minister's intention was to ban all superheroes and have them arrested due to the suspicion that they're supporting From Beyond. However, it's just his ploy to get a 100% public rating for enhancing his suit.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • There's no job-market for superheroes, and the only reason Masayoshi didn't get arrested by Goto for "defending" society from drunk jaywalkers is because he never got a punch in. However, things have yet to take a particularly tragic turn. The events of episode seven may mean a change to this.
  • After Masayoshi and Samurai Flamenco start appearing on TV, a lot of people instantly suspect that the former is the latter's true identity, though part of that is from Masayoshi outing himself as a Samurai Flamenco fan before Samurai Flamenco was particularly popular.
  • Flamenco Girl's fighting style, which would be cute and colorful in most Magical Girl narratives, is instead depicted in a realistic and brutal manner. During her debut, one of the thugs she attacks is visibly terrified of her after seeing her violently dispatch his comrades.
  • When the first Toku-style Monster of the Week shows up, the show takes on a completely different area of realism. The monster murders several police officers effortlessly, and it doesn't wait for Masayoshi to finish his introduction before tossing him aside and nearly killing him, reminding people that often the monsters in superhero shows, when left unchecked by similarly superpowered heroes, are nigh unstoppable killing machines.
  • 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 Monster of the Week was deliberately played up so that it would become a routine to the point of people being desensitized by it.
  • When Mari directly challenges King Torture, he stops using ineffectual villains and actually manages to capture her, and he doesn't treat her the way you'd expect your typical dainty Damsel in Distress to be treated either.
  • The final villain of the series is not the most grandiose, but he comes off as extremely frightening because he focuses on attempting to harm or even murder Samurai Flamenco's allies, and doing so in a very pragmatic fashion — like throwing them down a flight of stairs or pushing them into traffic.
• Taking You with Me: The gorilla monster in episode 7, who blows himself up rather than get arrested.
• Talking Is a Free Action: Averted. Masayoshi will start to give little speeches about justice while dressed as Samurai Flamenco, only to have the person he is trying to stop interrupt him. The only time this doesn't happen is in the first episode when he gives a speech to a group of teens. They wait until after he's done to beat him up. When he gives them another speech after beating him up a bit they wait until after he's done with that one to continue beating him up.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: Sawada does this to the MMM girls in episode 21. Only Mari escapes because she didn't get a chance to drink her coffee before their act began. But Moe and Mizuki collapse onstage and begin frothing at the mouth. This is also why she follows Masayoshi and delivers a well deserved Groin Attack on Sawada in episode 22.
• Teen Idol: How Masayoshi pays the bills.
  • Can also be seen as a Take That! to the tokusatsu industry's practice of auditioning models and drama actors for new shows, as compared to the action hero types from the 70s to the 90s.
  • In addition, he meets MMM, a group of Idol Singers, during the second episode. Mari notices him singing the Red Axe theme to himself, and reacts quite surprisingly.
• Teens Are Monsters: Masayoshi spots a bunch of teenagers bumming around at night, and tries to appeal to their better natures so they'll go home and stop making trouble. It doesn't work.
• Tempting Fate:
  • At the beginning of episode 7, Masayoshi notes that crimes are becoming lesser as if it's the final episode. Then, a weird gorilla beheads a bunch of policemen.
  • Flamenco Girl in episode 9. She foolishly goes on camera taunting King Torture, and saying that he's essentially a wuss due to how easily defeated his minions were. Then at the end of the episode, she's captured by him.
• Time Travel: In the last chapters of the manga, Masayoshi has an accident and wakes up in Edo Japan. He's thrilled about it.
• Took a Level in Badass: Despite his distinctly unglamorous start, after getting training from Red Axe's actor (who is also an exceptional stuntman) Masayoshi becomes a competent fighter. He's able to take on most muggers and minor criminals and becomes somewhat respected by the general population for making significant strides in fighting crime. By the sixth episode, he's able to easily outrun or outfight the dozens upon dozens of criminals and civilians who assault him over the course of several hours, while at the same time making sure he doesn't cause any significant harm to any of them.
• To Win Without Fighting: Masayoshi attempts this in episode 22, not knowing any other way to fight Sawada. Surprisingly it works, as him doing this throws a Spanner in the Works with the latter's plans. He also uses this on Goto to try and quell his friend's anger at Sawada for erasing his girlfriend's final message to him.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Masayoshi loves curry rice especially the instant kind with superheroes on the box.
• True Companions: Masayoshi learns the meaning of this several times, first from Red Axe, and later, Goto in episode 16, when he tells Masayoshi it took him long enough to seek his help.
• Umbrella of Togetherness: Masayoshi and Goto share an umbrella in episode 2.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: By the beginning of episode 9, people don't even bother to look up from their cellphones when they see Samurai Flamenco fighting the latest Monster of the Week in the middle of the street.
• Vigilante Man: Samurai Flamenco, of course. Unfortunately, it takes him a long time before he can actually apprehend criminals without getting his butt kicked...
  • By the end of the first season, he's joined by the Flamenco Girls.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Mari pukes inside King Torture's lair when she revisits it in episode 16. For some reason it also glows.
• Wacky Marriage Proposal: Goto gets one from Masayoshi in episode 22.
• "Wanted!" Poster: When Samurai Flamenco's video goes viral, Akira offers 1,000,000 yen (~$10,000 U.S.) for his identity.
  • In episode 6, he ups it by ten.
  • Then in episode 16, he's wanted by the government.
• Weirdness Magnet: Goto wonders why weird people flock to him.
• Wham Episode:
  • After six episodes of lighthearted hijinks and minor criminals, the climax of episode 7 introduces the first genuine Monster of the Week, who proceeds to violently decapitate a group of police officers.
  • Then, episode 11 brings us to the introduction of the Flamengers with Kaname as the chief. Oh and this includes a transforming mecha.
  • Episode 14 shows that Kaname actually asked help from other superheroes such as Harakiri Sunshine, The Brass Rangers etc. to fight against From Beyond. But the biggest surprise of all is that the leader of From Beyond, Beyond Flamenco, is actually Masayoshi's twin brother.
  • Episode 15: Beyond Flamenco commits suicide, and a superhero from America named Mister Justice appears to warn Masayoshi that he was framed. He then tells him the Japanese government was behind From Beyond and has lied to the public as they arrest the Flamengers and everyone involved in the fight. Masayoshi is now on the Most Wanted list.
  • Episode 17: Masayoshi and Goto confront the Prime Minister, only to reveal his Iron Man-esque superpowers. After defeating him with much difficulty, Mister Justice reappears, takes off his mask... revealing he was actually an alien all along, every other country has been taken by his species, and the Prime Minister was just gathering power to stand a chance against them.
  • Episode 19: Goto's girlfriend had been missing since high school and the only way Goto recovered from that loss has been text messaging himself all the time while pretending it's from his girlfriend.
• Wham Line: Episode 10.
  • "I am Samurai Flamenco."
  • Episode 13: "Everyone, please escape. From Beyond is going to launch an all-out attack."
  • Episode 15: "Samurai Flamenco, you are now an enemy of the state!"
  • Episode 17: "I am Alien Flamenco."
  • Episode 22: "Goto! Let's get married!"
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: The entire point of Episode 21. Masayoshi thinks he's got it down by episode 22, but Goto would beg to differ on it.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Masayoshi forces Flamenco Girl to apologize to Goto, after she attacks him.
  • Flamenco Girl manages to get a few of these, by being scarier than the criminals she's supposed to be fighting.
  • Mari does this to Goto in episode 19 after finding out the truth about Goto's girlfriend. She is not happy about it.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Averted. Sawada purposely presses Goto's Berserk Button in an attempt to have the latter kill the former in front of Samurai Flamenco. He likely would have done it were it not for Masayoshi managing to calm him down.
• We Can Rule Together: When King Torture has Masayoshi on the ropes in episode ten, he offers him the chance to also become a cyborg and join the side of evil. Masayoshi refuses.
• Whole-Plot Reference: It's Don Quixote, but with superheroes instead of knight errants. True to form, it ends with the Quixote giving up on his fantasies and his Sancho inheriting a bit of his mania if it wasn't all ready there at the start.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Masayoshi.
• Wish-Fulfillment: In episode 18, Masayoshi wonders about this. He asks the second alien about all the things he's fought, and the alien replies that it's largely because he wished to fight evil in the name of justice. Hence why King Torture showed up, followed by From Beyond, then the Japanese Prime Minister doing a Face–Heel Turn, and finally fighting off an Alien Invasion.
• Wisdom from the Gutter: In episode 16, Masayoshi is saved from starvation by a kind homeless man who offers him some bread and water. He tells Masayoshi of his life, and how it was turned upside down, forcing him to become homeless. He grew bitter and was ready to give up when attacked by a mugger, until a random stranger calling himself Samurai Flamenco saved him. Seeing that there was still good in the world, he changed his outlook and started doing good things, which in turn caused others to do the same. Masayoshi then realizes that he too should continue fighting.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit:
  • In episode 5, a woman seems to be in trouble, and calls for help. Samurai Flamenco arrives as usual to stop it, only to then be attacked from behind by said lady, who was in on it with the two men to claim the one million yen bounty on revealing his true identity. Flamenco girl ends up rescuing him, but not before the crooks show more interest in the two million yen bounty on her identity.
  • And in episode 6, a guy does a poor job of pretending to be hurt, but Masayoshi goes over to check him out anyway. Like the previous example, he was interested in the bounty on Samurai Flamenco, but doesn't get a hold of him for very long.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
  • Moe tells Mari this in episode 16, despite the harsh speech she gave to the latter and Mizuki.
  • Although it wasn't intentionally directed towards him, the story the homeless man tells Masayoshi of being saved by Samurai Flamenco showed him that all of his good deeds haven't gone to waste.
• You Are Not Alone: Masayoshi does this to Sawada in episode 22. It throws him off since the former isn't sticking to the latter's plans to let himself get killed by Goto.
  • Masayoshi also does this to Goto shortly after. Goto believes that he is truly alone after Sawada deletes the last real text from his girlfriend; Masayoshi proposes marriage so that Goto will never have to be alone again.
• You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: Masayoshi is way more terrified of his manager than the criminals he fights, purely based on how she looks and talks when she's angry.

---