Recap: Things are quieting down as Samurai Flamenco’s influence starts to affect the town. In the calm, Hazama finds out a troubling secret about his family. Then something completely stupid happens.

Just… Just wow Samurai Flamenco. I’m still in shock from what the fuck just happened, forgive me if I seem surly here before talking about the beginning. I actually heard some of the clamor on Twitter regarding this episode before I had the opportunity to watch it. Thankfully nothing was spoiled, but I knew something big was going to happen. I actually liked the beginning. Hazama’s wish was a simple one: try and change the culture of his town so that crimes would stop happening. I imagine his escapades haven’t stopped every crack dealer in Tokyo, but it was nice to see that he was having a small but positive effect over the entire town.

Mari, drunk on the power she has as a superhero, isn’t as thrilled. We know this girl has a few screws loose, but her whole scene with the flower petals is starting to make me think she is legitimately psychotic. With the way this ending went, I could actually see her becoming a villain with time. If she really doesn’t care about justice, what if she just starts beating up people for the hell of it?

Now, it’s after all this that I was faked out by my own expectations. I thought this Batman-esque backstory to be the reason people were so abuzz. It did seem like the response was severe for a mere origin story, but it made enough sense to me. I thought this was a great few scenes. We got to see more of Hazama’s internal struggle over what kind of hero he really is. Should he really change just because of what he found out about his parent’s death? He didn’t have the childhood of happiness with them that Bruce Wayne did, so should he really even be angry to begin with? It’s these kinds of moments where we see Hazama struggling internally that I fell in love with the show for.

I don’t think I’ve been as disappointed at the possible direction of a show since Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate. This is not what I wanted out of this show, and if we come back next week and find out it really is what happened I don’t know what will keep me watching this show outside obligation to the blog. I will at least give the show points for having an absolutely brutal scene. I suppose I’ve heard death isn’t a stranger to some Toku shows, but one dude got his neck snapped by a punch and another got fucking decapitated.There’s one clue that might lend credence to the idea that it actually was a dream. Samurai Flamenco busts out an ability we haven’t seen yet, and one that doesn’t use stationary at all. It’s the one hope left that this absolutely mindboggling scene will not be part of the actual story.