So, that bit where OniSister and SaruBrother call each other a gorilla and rabbit is totally a reference to Go-Busters right? Or am I just too obsessed with my first Sentai?

On a more serious note I am loving this show, but I still haven't gotten used to the cgi for InuBrother and KijiBrother. Maybe one day it'll stop bothering me...

Expect one in a blue moon like stacy mecha summoning spamrangers clones shadow whatever you call it. Kaito probably film his scenes in bulk in cafe set in a toei studio. Most toku actors grad in to mainstream tv movies music etc. after they gain fame. He's probably busy. Like tiga and kuuga actors in early day their manager distance them from toku. However, in recent years toei trues establish some form continuity via versus crossover taisen spinoff. Kaito might do one big thing and disappear until mid to late season or the summer movie / next year vs.

The toqger bit is like zemkai gear tribute from last year. More eloborate and pointless aside from using gear from last week. This week gear will be used next. Kaito feellike secret commander since he gain a gear the resr will. There is an argument to be made if momoi currently knows about his adopted dad and zenkai black mecha summon. Kaito would make a move after all 5 rangers get close and prett much hang under one roof in his cafe with their own mecha. Curious is inoue creativity change or will he go down a path of bad ending aside from kiva. Very inoue to distance 5 rangers of all different background. It is a surprise yellow learn about red id already. Usually he would pull stretch it out for a whole quarter in riders like faiz and kiva.

We're on Episode 3, I think this time is best spent fleshing out the new characters rather than focusing on older ones. And considering it's Inoue we're talking about.....we might not get anything about him or what his deal is for a long time. It's best to be patient, yknow?

(Oh and I think I talked about it last week but while he hasn't done much, this Kaito is already interesting due to how he contrasts our Kaito and is a foil to Haruka.)

Tarou got real lucky, cause he could've ended up with a higher bodycount than the Noto if he screwed up.

And yeah, even disregarding my bias against ToQGer, the way the Avatar Changes are used so far doesn't have the same situational usefulness that Zenkaiger had, where Secchan would use tactics to determine what Gear they should use. The Donbrothers just seem to Avatar Change whenever they feel like it and that's not so great. Even the Ryusoulger Avatar Change only shows off the swordsmanship, when it would have been cooler to see them try out some Ryusouls.

Understandable.

That's - kind of awesome actually. I didn?t get this angle yet, but it makes a lot of sense, I did wonder why Don Momotaro was acting the way he does when Tarou himself doesn't act wild like this at all.

Same. It's probably the strongest start for a Sentai show that I personally have seen yet.

I mean, I could certainly be reading too much into Shirakura's commentary, but I think I'm picking up what they're laying down. :lol

It's kind of weird. I definitely think this is one of the strongest sets of opening Sentai episodes I've seen (and that is... a lot).

But it's also so different from most Sentai that it almost seems unfair to judge it the way I would something like, I dunno, Flashman or Gokaiger. Those are shows with very strong starts, but they operate in a more "this is classic Sentai" kind of way.

Donbrothers is doing something new and far more character-driven (and dare I say, a bit more Kamen Rider-y) than what Sentai usually attempts. That novelty is definitely contributing to my appreciation for these eps, but I dunno... aside from the aesthetics, it almost feels like a new team-based super hero show.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining at all... I straight up think these may be the best written and directed first-three episodes of Sentai ever, and I think they capture the spirit of Sentai if not the form. It's just hard to compare them to other Sentai openers when they're not really playing in the same sandbox as the last 45 series. Know what I mean?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/sen.../donbros3a.png

Late to the thread this week, and it sort of sucks to show up and say this one wasn't my favorite?

It's sort of the peril of leaning into the hang-out vibe this show does so well, where I get to the end of the episode and go That Was Nice. Not thrilling or shocking or thought-provoking, but: Nice. We get to spend an episode with Tarou and Haruka running a mismatched buddy cop plot as delivery people, and it's good fun, but it feels almost too weightless to remember. The shift to an action-y tokusatsu story at the end feels almost grudging, with the Weird Train Kids Avatar Change lasting about four seconds and being abandoned between shots. The resolution is nicely dark, but it feels sort of disconnected from the episode at large.

(Like... the point is that New Villain Lady just executed a dude, and that's shocking, but it also makes a lot of the preceding story feel sort of unfinished? We have Saru Brother's take on what the Black Bear Thief was driven by, but we never really get a sense of his... anything. I don't know. Felt like half an idea to me?)

The cast is still great, though, so I get why the show is fine with two or three of them being weird for 20-odd minutes. Haruka is delightfully bratty, Tarou is an unpredictable leader, and Saru Brother (my subs have him as "Professor", and I'm not sure he's given another name) is an island of tranquility in a sea of insanity. The chemistry that any couple of them have could power an entire series, so getting three in one brief plot feels like it should be enough for an episode.

It wasn't for me, though? I don't mind it, really. It's okay to take the story down a couple notches in intensity. What's here is still poignant -- the ways the invisible parts of our society long to be seen, and the benefit to remembering we're all people. I just... I don't know. It left me unfulfilled, which is maybe too thematically appropriate to get upset about.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/sen.../donbros3b.png