The early part of the episode focuses on the Japanese authorities spending time questioning Masayoshi’s various acquaintances, but not really getting any answers that will help them find Masayoshi. Later, when the prime minister finds out his approval is at 81 percent and that Masayoshi still hasn’t been apprehended, he orders to have more money and more people put on the case in order to apprehend Masayoshi.

Through a discussion that Joji’s wife has with him while she’s visiting him, we get to find out how most of the Flamengers are holding up while in police custody. The only one we don’t hear about is Momoi, because Joji’s wife doesn’t acknowledge her as a Flamenger due to Momoi’s interest in her husband.

Then, the episode shifts its focus to Mari. Through a flashback, we get to see what happened at Hidenori’s place when Mizuki and Moe arrived to get her. We saw a brief bit of this in Episode 15, but this flashback shows the entirety of what transpired. Mari yells at the other two, and blames Moe for humiliating her during the King Torture incident by saying she would die in Mari’s place. Mari’s pride has her hurling several insults, and it escalates to the point where Mizuki and Mari exchange physical blows. Mari suddenly storms off, and we see her wandering the streets. Mari has a bad reaction after having flashbacks of King Torture, and she is found by Moe and Mizuki. By the end of the scene, the three women have reconciled.

The remainder of the episode sees Masayoshi on the run, and pondering that maybe he shouldn’t have become a superhero after all. After falling asleep on a park bench, Masayoshi is taken in by an older gentleman who is partially blind. After talking with the gentleman and hearing something that he needs to hear, Masayoshi figures out what he needs to do.

Over the course of this episode, the prime minister makes it clear that he’s setting his sights on Masayoshi in order to boost his approval rating. He seems to believe that he’s captured all of the heroes except for Masayoshi. He seems to have forgotten about the Flamenco Girls, and now that they’ve reconciled, I’m thinking they’re going to end up playing an important role in the story to somehow help Masayoshi out of the predicament that he finds himself in.

I have to admit that during the conversation between Masayoshi and the partially blind older man, I had basically predicted what it is that the man would be saying, and that it would ultimately spur Masayoshi into action. It appears his next move is somehow going to involve Hidenori, and now I’m curious to see how Hidenori will balance being a police officer with helping his friend.

Even with some of the off-model animation I saw in Episode 16, I still enjoyed watching it. I’m curious to see how Masayoshi’s predicament will be resolved and whether or not it will end up employing the unexpected plot twists that Samurai Flamenco has become known for.

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