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Avataro Sentai Donbrothers Episode 15- "Welcome Back, Taro!" Discussion
The newcomer Jiro unlocks his true powers.
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Man, how many times is Donbrothers going to get me choking up by the time it's over? We aren't even halfway through yet and it keeps landing these emotional moments with expert precision and finesse enough to make any show jealous. It was a really specific thing that did it this time. In the middle, when Haruka was imagining what Tarou would say if he could see her in that wheelchair, I couldn't help but poke fun at that a bit in my head. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but the sheer conviction with which Haruka was longing to get back a leader who was at least as liable to beat his team up as he was to provide encouragement... it was kind of adorable how much she was glorifying their dynamic? It was a moment that came off a little silly -- and was all the more sweet for that -- but it still came off a little silly to me all the same. I mean, it was definitely way too optimistic of Haruka to assume those were the words Tarou would say in that scenario, right? And then Tarou says those very words to Haruka at the end, *exactly* as she said them to Shinichi, and suddenly I realized I might've been exaggerating how their relationship worked too. He doesn't only say those words, of course, because there's no stopping Tarou from being himself, but ironically enough, seeing the show go for a beat so obvious was exactly why it caught me off-guard. I kind of figured there would be more of an emphasis on some kind of semi-gag ending where everyone is quickly reminded of all the bad parts that come with hanging around Tarou, and the genuine happiness of seeing him back would be kind of subtly portrayed under all the bickering. Instead it was completely the other way around, and in hindsight, I suppose this all goes back to what I said about episode 10, and how Inoue is maybe not afraid to write something corny and trite if he knows it'll work. And it really did work here! That's the whole reason I shared that anecdote about that scene in the middle coming off as goofy. Everything about the lighting and the dialogue and the music and the performances there was trying so hard and so blatantly to be emotionally affecting, and part of me wanted to feel like I was "above" that, unable to be fooled by such cheap theatrics... and then the ending comes along, utterly and completely silencing whatever foolish notions I was holding that a story isn't allowed to be that straightforward. Not that an episode of Donbrothers ever *is* straightforward, of course. Man, I haven't even talked about more than two scenes yet, have I? It was a really beautiful final scene, okay! You'll have to forgive me for being overly focused on my two favorite characters in the whole show, because as usual, there's plenty of stuff going on with everyone else too. This episode is pretty insane, when you stop and think about it. There's no robot action whatsoever, for one thing, which is always worth noting. But if that's unusual for a Sentai episode, then it's surely even more unusual that the monster of the week is also one of the heroes, right? And then our exciting new hero is only getting even weirder now that he has his powers, with hints that he may be a little on the egotistical side thanks to that inner voice of his. And if we're talking about hints, then man, how big is it what we see about the Nouto cutting people down this week? Pretty big game-changer as far as the rules of the show goes! But wait, why would I want to focus on the lore when the more interesting thing to me is obviously that Sonoi leaked that information to the Donbrothers because he was unable to accept the way he defeated Don Momotaro? You see why I struggle with these things, right? It's no wonder I barely ever talk about the actual tokusatsu parts of this tokusatsu show. It's hard to fit it all in! (Just like the people making the show can't fit in the Gokai Change gimmick anymore?) But as ever, the sheer amount of things to unpack in every episode is a huge part of what makes me enjoy Donbrothers to the massive degree I do every week. |
I feel... weirdly torn. On one hand, its nice to see that this otherwise absurd and goofy show played the emotions in this episode so straight and sincerely. But on the other, it's also kinda borders on feeling out-of-character for everyone involved? At least, everyone's acting weird compared to what I'm used to, but it doesn't feel like the show is deliberately spinning it in a way where I'm supposed to think that they're being ridiculous (anymore than usual anyway).
Like it's sweet that Haruka and Shinichi clearly care about Tarou, but the way they talk about him in this episode had me going "Who??". I was shocked when that whole scene about them going "What would Tarou say now" wasn't a lead-up to a joke. This is the guy who nearly died while trying to come up with something good to say about his teammates! While it's on my mind, maybe the most egregious case of monster running off screen I've ever seen. Hitosuki just starts jogging in the other direction, and Don Doragoku does not even take one step before saying "Ah, he escaped." You literally let him go! Speaking of Don Doragoku, Jirou is maybe just insane?! I knew not to get attached to the idea of him being this 'underdog trying to be a hero' that last episode seemed to set him up as since I knew he was going to be transforming in this episode, but he just casually talks about executing his teammates because they're not up to stuff like it's nothing? Then again, I guess they're all insane because Haruku and Shinichi barely reacted to that statement (Shinichi even fully offering his life because he can't recite haiku! I was laughing at that scene but I have no idea if I should have been!) His 'introduction' does seem to be continuing into the next (few?!) episodes though, so I look forward to learning even more bonkers aspects of him. |
I feel like Jirou is just mentally unstable like as soon he got his ranger power he just resort to Violancr Exection to anyone that not agree with him its like giving a toy to a child damn kinda scary NGL especially the preview
Kinda Mix that Noto not actually kill the victims but its ok the victims is getting mind crushed and on Limbo anyway so might as well as death Anyway still great episode... Haruka-Tarou moment is really wholesome at the end and the Jirou-Momoi Finisher? Thats beautiful |
I don't think I've ever seen a Sentai so adverse to its own merch and toy selling commercial aesthetic. No robot fight (especially when Don Onitaijin is peak in the hands of kids right now), no role call, and like Fish mentioned, absolutely dropping the form change gimmick, not to mention the disappearance of Don Momotaro Alter and DonZenkaiOh.
It feels like Toei is giving Inoue the space to tell the story, and that's plenty of a response to "Sentai doesn't try new things". Also I'm a big fan of polearm combat and it's incorporated well here. As much as I'm not sold on DonDragoku yet, I find his fighting style to be entertaining. This episodes funniest moment for me was Jiro asking Kaito why he has a wheelchair. |
Admittedly, here they couldn't exactly have Don Onitaijin.
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Actually, because of the transformation, they could have. Pheasant only forms shoulder pads, wings, and swords. Portions that aren't necessary for Onitaijin. They could've pulled an Abaranger and have a weaker combination that didn't make use of one of the pieces.
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Ah yes, reminding me of that episode (I watched the Dino Thunder version, so I don't know why it happened in Abaranger)
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taro is back in action.
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I liked this episode beyond the running gag of Haruka abuse, having a wheelchair bound person get their shit kicked in just rubs me the wrong way. I'm very pleased for Jiro to be just as fucking insane, if not more than his fellow rangers to the point I'm excited at the preview having them fight. Though I swear, the theme that played during the first Don Dragoku fight sounded a lot like Makafushigi Adventure from OG Dragon Ball to me. |
Don Dragokuu has red Photon Streams! :D The suit looks very cool in action and I'm impressed by the little details like the golden dragon scale pattern on his chest armor. He's missing the peach motif and the D-pad and buttons from the limbs, which emphasizes his status as an outsider to the core Donbrothers. He doesn't get much action here though, as he mostly helps with the rescue of Don Momotarou. But he does get a pretty cool insert theme, which I'd like to hear more. Looking forward to seeing Don Torabolt soon!
The futility of Jirou trying to replace Tarou as the Donbrothers' leader might be symbolized by his golden dragon form's namesake Son Gokuu, who was one of Sanzou's companions in Journey to the West. You have to suck to be a worse leader than the guy who occasionally beats up his teammates, but Jirou considering executing Saruhara and Kitou is pretty terrible. There are other ways that Tarou and Jirou are different as well. Tarou can incapacitate someone by flicking a peanut, while Jirou can't hit the enemy with a giant boulder. I imagine Tarou no-selling the delinquents' attacks for half an hour would've been an awesome sight, so it makes sense that Jirou would idolize him so much. But he takes those traits too far, to the point of not caring about his teammates' welfare, without even realizing the fault in his way of thinking until he's already said it. Looks like my previous theory about the two Dons being literal biological brothers was probably wrong, since they were both born in the same year. It's humorous how Inuzuka thinks even for a second that a goofy filtered booth picture of himself and Natsumi is sufficient for Kijino to identify her. Everybody in this show is a little insane! I feel like Inoue has become self-aware of his own cliches and now he's laughing along with the audience. The reveal that all the destroyed Hitotsuki are actually still alive in cube prisons was surprising. And a little misleading, considering the usual imagery of Kaitoki's and Machineki's cubes breaking, despite that not being the case here. While imprisoning humans against their will is still wrong, it does give the Noto, as well as Kijino, more capacity for redemption, as it means those humans could potentially be rescued like Tarou was. Quote:
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I made it! I caught up! Now I can watch DonBrothers with everyone else.
DonDragoku is a fun character in how he's a wannabe hero, but actually (most certainly) is one, given how he came from a peach like Tarou, it's a neat way to introduce an extra hero, especially when he's the newbie hero. I don't know why I found it funny how Monster Kiji was running around, but it reminded me of an evil Vroon, which filled me with joy. Really love how DonBrothers has been turning out, and now I can keep up with this along with Revice. (Though I have to say I'm enjoying this way more than Revice at the moment.) |
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