Hello everyone! Welcome to Part 2 of a super serious Samurai Flamenco study. I was joined by the wonderful Irina from DrunkenAnimeBlog for this brilliant discussion. Please follow her if you haven’t taken the chance to do so yet. You can find part one of our discussion on her blog right here: Link
In this post, Irina will be pink and in bold represented by I. I will be orange and in normal text represented by S. Thanks for reading. This time, we will be talking about the technology and biology behind Samurai Flamenco.
S: Oh my god, I now can’t even get that imagine of Justin Bieber out in the streets fighting crime out of my head. In some good and bad ways at the same time. Thanks, Irina. Now that I think about it though, that is kind of like what Hazama was like in his starting out days. I guess everyone has to start heroism somewhere. Why not as a costume in the streets.
I: I also love the idea that tv heroes are actual heroes. It was a very clever idea that Red Axe brought up. Who would expect that? Also, it’s very good for tv budgets as well. Who needs to pay for special effects when you can just create them yourselves. Tokusatsu series must be making a killing with all the cheaper production costs. The turn of “this is special effects” to the reveal of them being real heroes is fascinating.
I: I don’t think we can really look back on the Flamenco incident without at least touching on your area of expertise, Scott, all the amazing technology on display. Japan really is ahead of its time. It did bring up a question for me. More out of curiosity than anything else. If all the armaments and vehicles that were made public because of the events that took place during the Samurai Flamenco years were possible at the time, are there some of the other classic mechas that we have thought of as fiction throughout the years, in fact based on real world technology?
I: Obviously, these would be secret government projects, most likely with military implications so I will understand if you are not at liberty to discuss the subject with our readers. But we will be happy with anything you can tell us!
S: *Receives a note from off screen*
S: So I have just received a note that I can talk about some things without going into too much detail about the very specifics of the technology themselves. Mecha are real by the way. Everyone should know that fact by now. I have spent tons of time proving this.
S: All of this technology has been available for government use since at least the 1960’s, but the public has the habit for completely forgetting about it for one reason or another. If we look at the historical documentary called Concrete Revolutio, people still remember a lot of the events behind that documentary, but they forget anything that goes beyond their level of understanding. I think there is a reality sensor that people forget about the supernatural and strange for some reason. That is why people think of these things as fictional rather than real.
S: Samurai Flamenco is a look at that level of technology appearing once again and we haven’t forgotten the changes yet. Yes, everything is government funded or at least funded by some greater organizations like Concrete Revolutio has shown as well. That level of technology has just improved over time to the point where multiple robots can now combine into one to form one giant robot with tons of power. It is only natural that it has happened considering the growing threats from who knows where. Some of this technology has slowly made into public as well with the gundam statues in Japan that are actually working statues. The moving Gundam statue in Yokoyama is just an example of this fact becoming normalized for everyday audiences.
S: *Receives another note*
S: That is all that I allowed to say at this moment.
I: Well that was certainly enlightening. Thank you, Scott. Our tax dollars at work, am I right?!
I: This said, I’m certainly happy that governments are taking care of this stuff. These large-scale projects with huge material products can get out of hand very quickly. Can you imagine if some random people were just building giant mechas in their garages? We could have another Flamenco disaster on our hands. And to think Japan got this close to be wiped from the planet.
I: The thing about technology is that it doesn’t really limit itself to one field. Throughout history, traditional firepower has almost always been supplemented by some form of chemical or even biological weapons and it was no different this time.
I: I know the official cover story is that extraterrestrial forces were behind the more outrageous tragedies that took place during the Samurai Flamenco incident, but several sources remain highly skeptical. Myself included. It’s not that difficult to doctor the footage these days, after all.
I: No doubt about that. Thanks to the growth of technology that you mentioned, it’s pretty crazy that normal people have the budgets to play with visual effects these days, right? Especially when filming a series, though I don’t know how tv shows can do anything crazy with visual effects when they have to have a large number of episodes. I have a feeling that all of these facts have to go somewhere.
S: Since you brought up extraterrestrials and you are more up-to-date on that info then me, what data have we received about the doctor-ing of footage or there being extraterrestrials recently from our sources? Can you see something like From Beyond being something created by humans for some reason? We discussed how the technology is real, but why couldn’t aliens be there? Hmmm.
S: The fact is extraterrestrial life was discovered decades ago and we have been monitoring it ever since. It’s a surprisingly boring process so there’s nothing to go on the news about and most people don’t even know or really care what’s going on. Much less evolved life forms tend to not make headlines.
I: This said you can hardly call From Beyond bacteria or anything like that. It was a clearly evolved species. My own security clearing would not give me access to the information behind the Flamenco event documentary and when we reached out to sources familiar with the production, we got no comment so at this point I can neither confirm nor deny the exact flow of events.
I: On the one hand, it is possible that things played out exactly as were depicted. There is a basis for it and there have been a lot of events both before and since that were written off as hoaxes or fictional but could in fact have been other instances of contact. However, none of the people directly involved with the incident have given us any more details about this new species and I find that somewhat suspicious.
S: That is most suspicious, Irina. You would think that they would at least give us a hint on what is going on. We were at least given a hint on the technology, so that doesn’t seem like a far stretch for them at all. That is something to be considered later on I suppose. Onto our next topic, what about cost…
Outside: A siren starts blaring.
Loud Speaker: FROM BEYOND has appeared. Please evacuate to your local emergency shelter immediately.
S: It seems that our discussion is over for today. Thank you all for showing up and hope you all stay safe. Irina, it has been wonderful working with you once again.
Drinking Game
Every time Samurai Flamenco has to correct someone on his name – take a sip
Every time Gotou mentions his girlfriend – hold on
Every time we see the Flamenco symbol (cot in the eyecatch) – take a sip
Every time a new type of enemy appears – be sacred
Every time red axe tells a lie – take a sip
Every time we see a super hero figure – take a sip
Every time anyone says “baka” – hey!
Every time Samurai Flamenco has to correct someone on his name – take a sip
Every time Gotou mentions his girlfriend – hold on
Every time we see the Flamenco symbol (cot in the eyecatch) – take a sip
Every time a new type of enemy appears – be sacred
Every time red axe tells a lie – take a sip
Every time we see a super hero figure – take a sip
Every time anyone says “baka” – hey!
Mechanical Anime Reviews 