Samurai Flamenco

Samurai Flamenco was produced by Studio Manglobe and first broadcast in Japan in 2013. The series was conceived as an original project directed by Takahiro Omori, departing from the studio's usual reliance on established source material. It was designed as a subversion of the tokusatsu and magical girl genres, beginning as a grounded story about a young man obsessed with becoming a hero, before evolving into an increasingly surreal exploration of justice and the nature of pop culture fandom.

The character designs were handled by Chinatsu Kurahana, whose work aimed to balance the aesthetic of classic sentai suits with a modern, metropolitan sensibility. Upon release, the series garnered a polarized reception; while some critics praised its bold tonal shifts and willingness to deconstruct its own premise, others found its narrative transitions jarring. Over time, it has developed a niche reputation as a daring, meta-commentary on the medium of animation itself.