Flashman Episode 10

Fujii's second outing. And this one has some nice shots, some kick-ass action, another great Izubuchi monster design, but it's not offering much in terms of story. Fujii's also repeating himself; this episode is eerily similar to an episode of Changeman he did (also number 10), but doesn't have nearly as much going for it, not the same stakes. But it's a perfectly decent episode. I get the feeling that someone was like "Hey, let's take a break from the crazy concepts and quirkiness and just do something straightforward."

The plot is thus: Dai meets and falls for a girl who works in a flower shop. The latest Beast Soldier is based on a rose. Neferu poses as the flower shop girl to trap Dai. And that's about it. What's more straightforward than that?

Compare it to the Changeman where Hayate, the cool ladies' man, rescues a woman who works at a flower shop. Surprise! The woman is Shiima, and it's all a ruse to lead Hayate back to the shop, where the latest monster imprisons and holds him -- and, eventually, the rest of the Changeman team -- in a dark void.

The best thing about Flashman's version of the scenario is that Dai knows something is off when Neferu's impersonating the flower shop girl -- she carelessly steps on a dandelion, when Dai knows that's her favorite flower type -- and he goes along with it, faking his death so he can take advantage when the villains inevitably get too cocky thinking they've successfully killed one of 'em. Dai also fights with brass knuckles in this episode, which is pretty damn cool, but the only time he does this.

I get why they'd want to take an opportunity to do a romance, though, and Uemura plays it with a surprising amount of gentleness, and actress Masami Hosoi is totally sweet and likable, so you understand why Dai's immediately head over heels. The episode has some fun moments in which Magu misdiagnoses what's wrong with Dai, which concerns the others, when it's just plain old infatuation, but they don't get the mileage out of that quirkiness that they could have. This episode focuses on the action.

The actress playing Sayuri, the flower shop girl, popped up quite a few times in toku of the time, playing Kenta's artist love interest in Maskman's seventh episode and the cop that Gai hits on in Jetman's third episode being two examples. I always wondered why she never got a more substantial role, I think she would have made a good heroine.

Neferu Disguise Watch: She full-on ninjas by creating a false face and completely transforming into Sayuri.