Avataro Sentai DonBrothers Episode 1- "AVATARO!" Discussion
 

Twenty-one years ago, a mysterious peach shaped capsule fell to Earth and opened to reveal a baby.

Today, his story begins...

Love the little homage to They Live.

The fact the poll doesn’t have an “Inoue FOREVER” option is a crime. You had ample warning that Die would show up, Paladin.

Anyway, as for my thoughts. It’s pretty much a mix of what I was expecting (a high school girl having her life ruined by circumstances beyond her control) and some things I wasn’t (monsters made from humans being permanent-killed?). But it was still good (I like the take that our usual MC is demoted to a comedy scene and a brief “bumps into someone looking for them who doesn’t know who they’re looking for scene”. He doesn’t even get a transformation sequence. And the VR elements come off surprisingly well.

It is not the best first episode, but this episode is really good.

It looks interesting when the first episode are more focused on Oni Sister character. Maybe in the next episode, Don Momtaro have some focus to him.

Looks like the Blue and Black Rangers are being saved for later. Sound familiar? It's unusual though, since the tale of Momotarou has the pheasant come last in the group of animal friends, but here Kijibrother precedes the other two.

This premiere kind of reminds me of Faiz's, since both are focused on the female lead, with the main hero making his big entrance later. And for me, anything that compares to Faiz is virtually always good! I appreciate how this episode wastes no time on exposition and just throws all the crazy virtual world stuff at us. I always think exposition is best left for a second episode, so the weirdness of the first can be enjoyed for what it is. It also makes Kito more of a viewer perspective, as we get to share her confusion.

There seems to be problems occurring in the real world as well, with Kito being accused of plagiarizing manga and now all her classmates feel contempt for her. If this has something do with the Noto or the Oni, then I guess that's going to be her motivation for fighting them.

I enjoyed the joke at the end where every other random stranger Kito meets is named Tarou, cause it's just that common of a name!

Turns out I was closer to explaining Juran Tyranno's appearance here with my original theory. It's just a summon used by Zenkaizer Black and it seems that Don Momotarou was already expecting this to happen. Makes me curious what Tarou's and Kaito's relationship is going to be.

An awesome premiere that does what I expect a premiere to do, but I'm reserving the rest of my excitement for when the team are fully assembled. I'm definitely relieved to see that there is in fact an ending theme though, since I was worried by its absence from the press conference.

https://i.imgur.com/dcTWjtc.png

I don't know what's going on, but I know I love it!

...is about the sum of my opinion of this episode. Like, I watched this thing once, and realized I couldn't even begin to process my feelings well enough to write about them, so what else was I to do besides just watch it a second time right then and there? It's not often I give a toku show an immediate encore like this!

It's not even because it was confusing. The thing is, the broad strokes of this episode are incredibly easy to follow. There's a really densely packed script that's also supported by fantastic direction, so clarity isn't actually an issue at all. All the things I don't understand yet are the things I'm not supposed to understand just yet, because this show expects me back the next week, and I will gladly be there. You've got Shinichirou Shirakura, Toshiki Inoue, and Ryuuta Tasaki all cooking up what looks to be another amazing series together, for the first time in a very long while, and there's no way I'm missing out on this ride.

Tasaki's direction helps a lot, first of all. I really don't think that can be overstated. He's always been great at subtly guiding the viewer through the story with how he sets up the visuals, and it lends a lot of flow to keep the chaos from feeling more out of control that it's meant to be. And he always puts care into the tiniest little places, too. I love how the very first shot of the series has the sunglasses the timestamp is written on actually show the, uh, "Nouto Layer", is apparently what it's called? (Is that even how we're romanizing the bad guys' name? I don't know any of this stuff for sure yet.) At any rate, that whole hidden world idea is obviously at the core of the series, so seeing it slyly established right at the earliest possible point is just cool. It honestly becomes sort of frustrating how good Tasaki is at what he does, when I'm trying to break it down, because I could seriously sit here taking random shots and explaining how nicely they're conveying whatever they're going for, but you know, a picture is worth a thousand words. His stuff is both stylish and functional, and it's a huge boon to Donbrothers to have him as the main director.

Plus, of course, the whole visual identity of this show is also rather neat in ways that are the exact opposite of subtle. The whole episode is extraordinarily colorful even by the standards of a franchise defined by color, and the virtual aesthetic works to push things in ways you wouldn't see in any other show. I really think it worked out great. I know there are going to be tons of complaints about Kiji Brother (and Inu Brother soon enough), but honestly, even though he is decidedly the weak link here, I don't even mind him. The show has already won me over enough where I can look at that as a fun experiment continuing on from Zenryoku Zenkai-Oh, and unlike in Zenkaiger, this gimmick is baked into Donbrothers from the start. Plus, on the subject of CG mecha, the Don Zenkai-Oh fight genuinely looked quite nice throughout, which was surprising to me.

And then there's the reason a lot of us are either excited for or maybe dreading Donbrothers, which is the matter of who's writing the scripts. But man, I gotta say, I love the energy Inoue is bringing to this show already. Plenty of Sentai focus on a single character in the premiere to keep things focused, but I mean, for starters, it's not even the Red who's put in the spotlight here. No, instead the episode dedicates almost its entirety to following Haruka along, and making sure we as the viewers get who she is, and can identify with her as we're all drawn into this insane world together, and it helps immensely in setting the tone. I think it's notable how little she's actually told here about why she's now a superhero. The only exposition she gets is "go find the Red guy", which she does her best at, comically throwing herself at every lead except the correct one, but she's given space to kind of determine for herself why she's involved in everything. Having Haruka quickly assume one of the bad guys is actually a hero was a particularly brilliant touch. I can only sort of define why, but like, to narrow it down to two things, it 1)plays nicely off what seems to be the Nouto's gimmick of looking oddly gallant and clearly believing themselves to be righteous, and 2)it's just a neat, compact arc for Haruka to have in the premiere, realizing how mistaken she was. That little bit of her noticing that paddle still on the ground at the end and being sad, that adds so so much to the story. I like the idea that the loss of a single person is set up as a motivation for her fighting, instead of somebody telling her the whole world is in danger or whatever. It's a nicely small moment for a show that's otherwise going big in every way it can.

I don't know. My brain is still a little fried, so I'm probably getting very disjointed and rambly, but I adored how everything plays out here. There's a strong backbone to the plot, but also these completely insignificant minor things Inoue makes to room to establish and then pay off, such as Haruka's mama's boy boyfriend. I dig how much there is to dig into, even from bit characters. Shows like that end up being loads of fun in the long-run, and great for rewatching. (Maybe helps explain why I'm already getting a headstart on that!)

Oh, and speaking of characters getting established, Don Momotaro is owning every moment he's on-screen, transformed or not. From the previews and stuff, I ended up getting extremely excited about his character when I realized he's basically going to be the usual "fireball Red" as only Inoue could write one, and he's living up to that so far. I mean, he delivers happiness. You've gotta love that kind of confidence! Plus, his suit actor is Kousuke Asai, who I maintain is second only to Seiji Takaiwa when it comes to being expressive. So again, in and out of suit, Tarou is a delight already. It's impressive how much character Inoue managed to convey from him already despite giving him relatively little screentime. The whole "can't tell a lie" description also seems thematically relevant to the hidden world shtick, so it'll be neat seeing how that plays out. Really looking forward to seeing more of this dude.

And I'm looking forward to seeing more of this show, clearly! I was hoping for something that felt totally new and fresh, and I'm getting that so far. I'll be as direct as possible here: I was more hyped for Donbrothers prior to it airing than I have been for at least the last few Sentai, including Zenkaiger. A lot of the announcements were rather enticing, and I was pretty much sold for good the first time I heard that catchy theme song. Something tells me this is one bond* I'm going to be glad I made.

*I don't know if this is how people are going to be translating Tarou's use of 縁 yet either, but hopefully this joke is still clear enough!

I have no idea what just happened.
Are the monsters going to be themed after previous Sentai? If so, neat.
Otherwise, yeah. I can certainly say that something happened. If asked to describe it, I'd probably elect not to solely because I seriously had no idea :lol

They're apparently making the manga seen in the episode available to read via TTFC!

http://ukiyaseed.weebly.com/ukiyasee...lable-via-ttfc

I think what also makes Don Momotaro feel different from the other "fireball Reds" is how he's being framed. Most of the time, the Reds are our initially viewpoint character, the character we initially latch on to, and thus their actions get viewed in a more personal manner. Here though, Don Momotaro is being viewed from a distance, his antics being viewed from the perspectives of other characters. As a result, the character has this kind of larger than life feel. Given the design inspirations too, it makes him narratively and aesthetically feel almost like a folktale hero of sorts.

It's been a few years since I've enjoyed the first episode of a Sentai this much.

I also liked that they focused the first episode on the female ranger.

My only complain so far is that after the Opening there were some jumps and strangely edited cuts to different scenes, I don't know if the director's choice or if they sort of ran out of time since they packed A LOT in this episode. Well, that and that the CG was horrendous, but I guess that's something I'll have to get used to...

That being said, I hope this series remains as enjoyable as the first episode.

That felt like something special. I really enjoyed this first episode. Some of the CGI definitely looked bad but other special effects were actually very impressive like the ZanglaSword sword finisher and even just the scene with the ping pong player in the cafeteria. Very dynamic scene!

The reality is, these graphics are as good as Shinkalion, which is the show doing big numbers with Japanese kids right now.

I really like the fighting style and mannerisms of Don Momotaro- sitting down after a fight for a quick breather and generally acting very "cool guy" rather than overexcited child.

Having our main POV character for this intro being Oni Sister is great and it makes me hopeful our Red isn't another fish out of water. But I'm left wondering, is she actually a plagiarist or did that happen because of the glasses or something?

Tarou seems more like a peach out of water. :p

According to Inubrother's bio, he's also been accused of a crime. So I'm guessing their similar problems are the result of the strange situation they're in and I'm confident that Kito is innocent.

It's time! A year-long festival has begun with the arrival of Donbrothers EP 1!

What an interesting first episode! We're as out of the loop as much as Haruka, so it's a dizzying experience on the first watch. Now that I've watched it about 3 times, I think I have this down?

-Haruka and Tsuyoshi, I love them. Haruka's already won me over in a single episode! She's seemingly our POV character for the season, which I love a lot? It's hard *not* to root for her, with her world's been flipped upside down by forces outside her control in an instant, with little to go off of how to fixing it. We only got brief moments for Tsuyoshi, but I like him as well! I was worried he'd be the cowardly type, glad to be proven wrong! Just a bit awkward, that's all! The CG for his suit....It leaves a lot to be desired, but at least they're shoving that physical upper suit everywhere they can. It seems like the two will be playing straight man for their more....lively comrades, and I'm wishing them the best of luck on that front.

-Taro! A bit odd, but he's a kind young man! The scene with the depressed lawyer-to-be, it's the perfect introductory scene for a guy like him. That being said, I can't help but feel the same scene hints toward an otherwordly nature, yknow? He's alot more mellow than you'd expect? But we need energy, we can find that in spades elsewhere....with Don Momotaro! A larger-than-life guy, befitting a character based off an old tale. He's just here for a good time, and I honestly love that for him? I gotta hand it to his suit actor, Kosuke Asai, he's got an fun fighting style and a real presence! The guy obviously is Taro, but I wonder what's the deal with the shift in personality?

-Sonoi! I think it's really interesting that he's introduced as Haruka's "hero", only to kill one of her classmates in an instant. A lot of Sonoi's dialogue that hints at what's actually going on with the monsters, but I'll talk about that another time. For now, it seems both the Donbrothers and Sonoi's team are after the MOTWs, except Sonoi thinks humans to become monsters deserve nothing except eradication.(Ngl, I wonder if this time was an exception, or there's constantly going to be people the Donbros won't be able to save in time?) It's an interesting set-up to the show's fights with 3 parties at play! Or is it 4....

-Do you guys know the way Gaon in Zenkaiger always says Kaito's name in this sing-song, super affectionate voice? Because that was me every time he showed up in this episode! AR Kaito (as I'll be calling him) had very brief appearances both in and out of suit, but they were important scenes nonetheless. Definitely seems like he knows the most about what's going on, as well as having an agenda of his own (collecting Gears.) Far too early too call on what he's doing here, but for now I'm willing to trust this guy as an ally of the Donbrothers!

And that's it really! Super fun and wild episode that established a lot of questions, characters, and stakes! I am (cautiously) looking forward to seeing what Inoue cooks up every week for this year!

Ahh that makes sense. And is a compelling plot point. Kinda like Banjou from Build. I wish the show made that more clear, or perhaps I missed some dialogue or details.

Well that was surprisingly fun. Lots of cool elements in this first episode, especially the focus on the Yellow Ranger and the fake-out "hero", now I want to see more.

I think that's where I'm at, too? I mean, there's obviously a clear narrative to the episode structured around Haruka gaining her powers, having her personal life fall apart, and searching for her leader, but the whole thing still has this almost dreamlike randomness in how events connect to each other. I'm hesitantly optimistic that we'll get more context on a lot of the stuff that's going on here (maybe; I've seen Inoue shows), but I almost don't want to. I'm kind of loving the sheer balls-to-the-wall insanity of stuff like "and now here's the red ranger being carried in on a litter and preceded by a parade of dancing girls, like one does." Very little of it makes sense, but it does so in a way that's extremely captivating.

Yellow is getting a lot of screeen time. Will she be as relevant as time pink or ninja white.

AVATARO SENTAI DONBROTHERS EPISODE 1: AVATARO!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/sen.../donbros1a.png

I was watching Kamen Rider Decade a little while ago, and it gave me the opportunity to talk with other Decade fans. A surprisingly high number of them had started watching Kamen Rider with Decade; with an anniversary season.

That seemed insane to me. I specifically watched Decade so I’d understand Zi-O (starting this Thursday!), and I watched Kuuga through Kiva so I’d understand Decade. The idea of starting without context, without grasping the references that acted like a central theme of the series? No way could that possibly be a good way to start a franchise, despite the multitude of engaged fans who had an anniversary show as their origin.

This is my first-ever Sentai premiere, and it's the sequel to an anniversary season. Naturally.

It’s all because of Inoue, one of my favorite TV writers full-stop. I loved his Agito and Faiz series for Kamen Rider, and found his Kiva series to be an intensely-watchable mixed bag. I wasn’t really looking for a Sentai to watch (plate’s… plate’s real full!), but when the announcement was made that he’d be writing the 46th Sentai show, I knew I had to watch it.

“Inoue Forever.” It’s a thing I say a lot. His work – love it or hate it – is always a passionate expression of his interests, and it really sparks something in me. There’s nothing about his work that ever feels compromised, or tentative. What you get from an Inoue show is exactly what he wants to say, for better or worse. (Like, frequently worse! He can just as easily create something Fully Terrible as he can Fully Awesome. Energy can be misapplied! I love Inoue, but I don’t always love Inoue’s execution, to be clear. I don’t want me and you to get off on a misunderstanding? It would be weird, in the afterglow of an Inoue premiere.) I love the unfiltered, frequently ill-advised approach of his.

Mostly because he seems to want to talk about stuff I find really interesting to explore via superhero fiction: the value of art; the necessity of self-expression; the ways systems crush heroes and villains alike; owning your shortcomings; occasionally falling into rivers and getting narratively-convenient amnesia.

And a lot of that was on display in this first episode, thankfully.

It’s exactly what I’d hoped for in an Inoue-written sequel to an anniversary Sentai: a story that could not care less about celebrating anniversaries or acting as a sequel to a Sentai. I don’t get the references here (I recognize Zenkaiger and Grayscale Zenkaiger, but that’s it) and I honestly don’t care to, and this show was more than willing to accommodate me. It’s more concerned with telling a thrilling story about a world revealed as monstrous, and a girl who becomes a hero, than it was about anything else.

I really love the gimmick for the show – They Live, For Kids – and I think it’s executed with a gorgeously disorienting visual style. (Also, hey, The World Is A System Run By Hidden Monsters, hello thematic obsession.) Everything, when seen through the Magic Glasses, is both more wonderful and more menacing. Colors radiate off of objects. Geometric shapes dot the skyline. And every stranger could be an inhuman threat.

And yet… god, it’s just a fun show? Peril aplenty, but this thing never for a second feels like it’s oppressive, or even tense. The tone is relentlessly exciting, with an opening credits dance number that feels positively restrained, when compared to the sugar-rush of the show itself. Things keep happening, no matter what, and it’s a smart decision. Exposition is for later episodes, man. For now, give me gags I can laugh at, action that sears my retinas, and characters I can believe in.

Which: HARUKA! Yes! I believe in Haruka! She’s the ideal way to introduce someone to the world of DonBrothers (and the world of Sentai), thanks to her genre-savvy and limitless pluck. Nothing that happens to her makes any sense, but the actor is so deft at balancing her astonished glee (this is just like a manga!) and stark terror (just the funniest screams, if that isn’t weird to say) that her reactions provide a logic to the episode. The performance is so grounded and watchable that it almost feels gaudy to have additional superheroes on this show. I’m so in her headspace, that it mostly didn’t occur to me to wonder about what weird thing was currently happening to her, or speculate as to what secret it might be hiding. I don’t need to know what’s going on, because she doesn’t know what’s going on, and I believe in her character enough to go on this bizarre journey with her.

What the journey is… god, I couldn’t even fathom a guess. A lot of weird stuff befalls our heroine (and, like, she is my heroine) without a hundred percent feeling like it’s giving us any context for what we’re seeing yet. There’s Haruka’s life getting detonated in an afternoon, assuming the villains have somehow found a way to make her look like a plagiarist. There’s her run-in with a poetic swordsman who is so righteous and romantic that, since this is an Inoue show, it immediately becomes a horror show of callous executions and minor shoving. And there’s her chance meeting with Cube Dad, the dad who lives in a cube, and his cryptic directions to find Momoi Tarou and pledge fealty to him.

Speaking of our Red! MOMOI TAROU! I love him? He’s incredibly weird, with cheekbones that are more unnerving and unreal than all of the CG on this show put together (which: it’s real bad! I also couldn’t care less!), and we really only spend a couple scenes with him. They’re both so good, though, that it got me totally locked-in on this show.

They’re about connections, which is nice. The idea that there’s no such thing as a chance encounter, and that even accidents can become lifelines? I like that. It’s wonderful to see the Big Lead Character as a person first, and a Sentai second. The first scene he has, the delivery scene, paints a really evocative picture of a character. He’s sort of pushy, and aggressive… but he’s also ready to help, and he hates seeing people give up on themselves. He’s almost frustratingly chipper, but it works? He cleans an entire apartment in a moment, just to give a guy a fighting chance at his bar exam, and it’s so hilariously over-the-top (he makes a little You Can Do It hat!) that, like, you want that guy fighting for you. You want some weirdo to care enough to do that.

The second scene is still that, but turned up to Sentai. Don Momotaro arrives on a litter, showered with flower petals, ready to turn a life-or-death struggle into a party. It’s the constant refrain of this episode, that this stuff should be FUN. Life is all about having a positive attitude, and not letting new experiences pass you by. Whether that’s involving yourself in the emotional turmoil of a guy who can’t study well, or teaming up with other superheroes to protect a city from a rampaging Ego Monster, it’s all the same thing: The world's a party, if you let it be.

I can't believe I'm watching a Sentai show, and I can't believe I had this much fun watching it. I'm ready to go on this journey with these characters. I'm going to open myself up to it, to all of you new friends, and just enjoy the party.

Inoue Forever!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/sen.../donbros1b.png

Yeah, absolutely. It took me a bit of thinking to catch on to how big it is that we see two different people (including Haruka) explicitly get weirded out by the overly dramatic way Tarou talks. I'd be willing to take a personality that quirky at face value for a Sentai leader, so it's neat that the show highlights how big the gap between him and your average person actually is... especially because making him seem crazier also makes him seem cooler.

I think I'd be actively upset if that was one of the things that gets an explanation! He's Don Momotaro! It's a festival! What more do you seriously want to know???

...And now you and Super Sentai finally have a bond! An occasion that calls for celebration, if ever there was one!

But really, I think the celebration is just how good this episode was? Having watched it a third time now, and seeing everyone else in the thread gelling with this show's mad style, I'm gonna go ahead and call it right now -- you picked a good one, Die. Speaking from experience, when your favorite toku writer helms a Sentai with cool sunglasses following an anniversary series, it's a wonderful thing!

Donbrothers was fun enough already, but if I get to read your thoughts on it every week too, it's even more of a party.

Just think how exciting things will be when their train finally gets here!

They-- they do have a train, don't they? I have certain expectations about Sentai! I saw the Gears, that's covered, but I need there to be a train.

This was great, though. It's jubilant; constantly, unerringly. It's like falling down a rabbit hole, so that an old man and a dog with the same name as our Cheekbones You Could Cleave A Peach With crimson hero feels like a normal way to end a story.

And yet.

It's still plenty dark, if you want to dig into it. The villains seem to weaponize self-definition, which is a very Inoue thing. The victims in this one were athletes who wrapped up their self-worth in their achievments, becoming monsters who only cared about greater successes. The guy who Tarou helped out saw his failure to become a lawyer as the end of his identity. Haruka loses the thing she was born to do in the very first episode. There's plenty around the edges to point to a terror lurking under the show's boisterous facade, just like the hidden world of monsters that created a prison for our heroes.

I don't know, I don't want to be a bummer! But as much as I loved this first episode (SO MUCH), I'm really looking forward to the existential dread and obliterated egos that are just up Inoue's sleeve.

Also!

I really liked how Tarou's whole Connections Are Always Valuable thing exists as a recurring theme through the story, because he's explicitly not saying that connections are always good. His point seems to be that it's important not to shy away from new experiences, new people... but also to be able to recognize when new people are bad for you -slash- become a giant monster in a neon-outlined parallel dimension. It goes hand-in-hand with Haruka's story, where anyone she meets could be a monster, or it could be her savior, so she just has to keep looking.

It's such a fun theme, Putting Yourself Out There, you know? That even if shit goes sideways and people let you down, you learned something, and you took the chance. You were the brave person, no matter the outcome. The value is in the risk, not the reward.

I really dig that.

Happy to see you trying out Sentai Die! I've unfortunately had to miss most of your Rider threads to avoid spoilers on things I haven't seen, but I've always loved seeing your takes on things.

I loved the first episode. Haruka continues the streak of yellows always being my favorite. Knowing Inoue, I do worry about how her character will be treated as time goes on, but for now she's fantastic. Tarou and Kijibrother were fun too, can't wait to learn more about them.

Of course the CGI is the big thing to talk about. I had a mixed reaction. Pink looked horrible, and I desperately hope at some point on the season they decide to make him a regular suit character. The mecha looked surprisingly good though. Probably helped that it was against a cyber world background instead of in the real world

Haruka is going to be fine and happy always and everyone's going to apologize to her and she's going to get a double-award next episode WHY ARE YOU STRESSING ME OUT

And, yeah, Kiji! I loved his introduction! He's very upset with Haruka for not immediately getting with a program that she has only recently fallen into! Like, god, use the magic gun you found with magic glasses to turn into a superhero through the power of a magic gear! It's really obvious! Git gud!

Now that I think about, for a Sentai that wants to be a fresh new step for the franchise or whatever Producer Shirakura keeps talking about, connections is such a perfect theme to go for?

I've only seen a handful of Sentai ofc, but the distinctive feature (other than colorful spandex and giant robots) is that they're a team. We're throwing a bunch of folks together, and for a year we'll see them laugh together, cry together, fight together, and eventually come out the other end as inseparable comrades.

That's fun and all, but look around. There's superhero teams falling out of every nook and cranny nowadays. Being a team can't really be considered a distinctive trait, so if you wanna move innovate while keeping your core identity, you gotta start asking questions! What is it about the bonds being formed here that makes something feel uniquely Sentai? Why are such bonds even important in the first place? So I feel like Donbrothers being about the Value of Connections feels like an exciting avenue to answer those questions.

That being said, I'm so excited to see what becomes of our ragtag group of weirdos and their future interactions with each other. (Haruka's few interactions with Taro this episode were golden!) The seemingly involuntary aspect of being a Donbrother (Haruka can't get rid of her new magic sunglasses, Tsuyoshi gets teleported from work aganist his will to go fight again, etc) seems like a really interesting foundation to build a team upon, yknow?

(This is such an odd place to add this tidbit, but that one shot from the OP, where Taro is dancing in front of a screen displaying the other team members dancing-I know that's gonna bug the hell out of me until the show's over, that can't just be a stylistic choice, right?)

I think this was a great touch, because it makes all the obligatory Team aspects feel more incremental. Like, two-thirds of the team as shown in this episode don't really have a clue what they're doing? Or that they're even a team? And that's a really killer hook for a newbie like me: The Sentai That Don't Know They're A Team.

Having them each view their superheroic identities with different emotions -- enthusiasm, trepidation, borderline-exhaustion -- creates a space to redefine (or, for this one cubist-monstrosity who is new to the franchise, define) what the Team is for, and how/if it could be a benefit.

Like, I don't want to say this with Episode 1, but: Faiz. Faiz was a show that was intensely skeptical of basic heroic concepts about tokusatsu, and then it spent an entire year creating the circumstances for a withdrawn, surly, wishes-strangers-would-get-kicked-in-the-head-by-a-horse of a guy to become a world-saving, idealistic hero. It did that by interrogating every preconceived notion, every inherited bit of philosophy. It made the characters in it work for everything (except power-ups), and it was the better story for it.

All of that is to say: YES, make these weirdos work for every bit of camaraderie, THANK YOU.

Yeah, that shot! Real weird! Probably super on purpose!

(I could theorize that it's to indicate that Tarou's whole Hero's Journey thing risks rendering the people caught up in it as something less than their full selves -- if all connections are equally valuable, does it flatten out true friendships? -- but there's not nearly enough to go on. But I like thinking about it! Thanks!)

Yeah, I mean, we've already had wanted criminal Rangers with Gokaiger, Kyuranger and Lupinranger, but those guys were all seen as cool vigilantes by the public. It would be different if the Donbrothers had a bad reputation in universe due to being framed for crimes like plagiarism or arson or whatever, which can't be sugarcoated the same way. Onisister is even based on the same thing they're fighting, while Sonoi and the Noto are all posing as old Toei superheroes from the Showa Era.

They do. I recall it's called the ToQ Alter, based on the Red Ressha. It has a Gattai (since you're new to this franchise, that means "combination") with Don Momotarou Alter, which looks like something I can't even describe. I doubt it's going to make the show more exciting.

Welcome to Super Sentai, BTW.

Maybe it's related symbolically to that video game motif they have. In an MMO, everybody is the player character. Ore Koso Only One. Even if they're fighting the same enemy, they're not necessarily fighting together and I'm interested to see how that concept of teamwork expands, where they're not immediately a tight unit and it's something they have to work on.

Whoa, slow down, bud. Two members of the team of five haven't even been introduced yet! Let the chickens hatch first.

I've seen his statement recently and considering how many people joked about Saber being a Sentai show, myself included, I'm partially inclined to agree. The big selling point of Sentai, literally the big selling point, is all the giant mecha and now even that has become minimalist this year, so far anyway. Probably why the ratings and merchandise sales haven't been so good is that the kids are already getting everything they need from KR, so I think it's necessary for Sentai to try and change up the format to stay relevant. Even changing two of the Rangers to a tall bird and small dog isn't that crazy, after seeing a bike Rider and a sword Rider. Anything can be a Ranger or Rider these days!

A train is such an intrinsic part of Sentai to me, someone who knows nothing about Sentai, that I can't imagine watching a Sentai series without one. It'd be like a Sentai without a Red, or a modern Kamen Rider series where they ride their bikes more than once. It would feel like a betrayal of the franchise's principles, you know?

And thanks! I'm going to hopefully not be a nuisance for long-time Sentai fans! Or just other human beings in general!

Interesting point! I love shows about cooperation as an alternative to friendship (Ex-Aid!), so I'd be into a phase of this show that allows every character their own arc and cast, with the Sentai Team part of it all feeling like a raid in a video game, where they're all dumped into a fight and then split apart afterwards.

Kind of like how dinosaurs are also an intrinsic part of Sentai, right? Then maybe you'd enjoy Kyouretsu Oh, which is Trains And Dinosaurs!

https://64.media.tumblr.com/cb5169cf...uxaeo1_500.png

Exactly. It seems like their personal lives are all being individually destroyed by this conflict, so their incentive to work together is mostly for self-gain. But I could definitely see how a genuine friendship could start to develop between them, to the point where their personal and superhero lives gradually become one.

dinosaurs are a kamen rider thing, actually

you are thinking of revice

Dragons seem to be more of KR's ballpark, for whatever reason. (God I wish Revice stuck with the dino theme, maybe then we wouldn't have such terrible looking forms this year lmao)

Sentai mech fights.....I'll be honest, I try my best to stay focused during them bc sometimes important dialogue or something is happening, but most of the time my eyes glaze over or I start checking emails during them. They're not all bad ofc(Zenkaiger's are often far too funny to look away, and Kiramager's were solid) but there's only so many different ways a big robot can hit something until it starts feeling reptitive yknow?

This one tho? Lovely, a fantastic upgrade to how ugly-looking and clunky those few CG mech fights in Zenkaiger were. Surprised that it was a mix of practical cuts and CG, but it makes sense that we cant do 100% CG. Really surprised at how lithe its movements are, (for a giant robot, at least) It makes it feel more like a proper fight than say, something that looks like action figures smacking into each other, ig. There's only two Alter toys announced atm, but they look really wild and I hope the mech fights continue to be engaging.

Lol i have no idea what i watch but i like it...

I really have no idea to comment either but its interesting that it seems the Oni sister kinda in MC shoes even at end Credit for next episode.. not sure it will be like that a whole series but its interesting...

All i know it seems Rider and Sentai alike have Very good Year.. both show are interesting in own way

i see.

Finally watched it, and boy do I not like the CGI rangers at all. I would have rather them stick with suits. In fact, there does seem to be a suit for the pink one. I really don't know why they went this route.

The neon cpu city battleground is an interesting change. I at least respect it being different.

The rest is fun and interesting otherwise. Not sure if I'm a fan of sticking with other team based forms and powerups outside of the anniversary season. It annoyed me when Ultraman kept doing it, so that part I don't like. But there's some very interesting choice otherwise and the premise of this hidden world the most people can't see if very interesting.

I look forward to seeing where this takes us, in spite of its flaws.

I mean, there's definitely a physical torso and head, but I don't think there's a physical lower half. Only enough parts for a close-up.

I'm sort of okay with the CG for two reasons. 1) I basically don't care about CG quality, 'cause it pretty much always looks like garbage and that's at least a little charming. 2) I love how unreal it makes the world? Everything about the first episode is meant to unmoor Haruka, and the viewer. Stuff getting thrown at you way too fast, hidden realities, Cube Dads, a mysterious Red who turns a life-or-death struggle into a party... and I think Kiji is along the same lines? He's like a cartoon character, and that's incredibly weird. He makes it difficult to understand if what's happening is dangerous or goofy or both, and I think that's the right tone for this episode, at a minimum.

Like, him looking out of place and unconvincing... I wouldn't go so far as to say it's the point, but I definitely think there's a narrative strength to him looking so cheap.

nice.

Got around to it, and wanted to give remarks without basing them on someone else's:

- This episode has no friggin clue what it wants to be! It has too many disparate elements that only mesh at the most tangential level! The whole thing felt like a "Momotaro-Meets-Jungle Fury-Meets-They Live-Meets-OG Gridman-Meets-Anime Gridman" hodgepodge!

- Sonoi seems to have a love-hate relationship with the various humans who give rise to Oni, given how he could care less for Benitsuki and Shisotsuki, but he has no problem giving rise to Kishiryuki!

- So is this another Sentai where people can actually die on-screen, or is it like LuPat in that there is more to it and there will survivals toward the end?

- I didn't follow the enlargement sequence into KishiryuKing. I didn't understand the text effects, but it was almost like a "Stop! Monsters Don't Die Until They're Blown Up As Giants!" process that happens almost automatically.

- The sudden appearance of Zyuran isn't really a shock, but there isn't personality, so it's apparently just the basic form summoned for the sake of a power-up...and yet NOBODY QUESTIONS IT!!! Kind of implies that this happened after the appearance in Zenkaiger, regardless of the space-time rules regarding a multiverse.

- Not sold on a CGI Ranger yet, but you have to accept it regardless.

- Lot of zany fun, no logic. Spock wouldn't approve.

I'm not much of a Sentai guy--really just Rider--but this show is kind of wack... the CG is terrible, though that is to be expected and I have to say it's pretty disappointing having it "borrow" so much from Zenkaiger... I get they're trying to make their own "shared universe" ala what Power Rangers has done traditionally since the beginning, but it's definitely thrown way too much of its chips in that basket.

I would've much preferred this be it's own thing (with all suit-based Sentai), and maybe had Zenkaizer & friends show up a handful of times throughout the show. Also kind of lame how the blasters/gears are just barely different from the Zenkaiger stuff. Ah well... at least Revice is great :D

I took a three month Tokusatsu break from watching since I was feeling some burnout. Came back, binged the rest of Zenkaiger. Then I watched the first DonBrothers episode last night.

Mental overload is what I felt when I was done. It's cluttered to the point that I can't keep track, and even a second watch made me ask myself if I had accidentally eaten a bowl of sugar. I get the fundamentals, which is:
Good guy leader: Has/brings good luck to anyone he finds, creates bonds through interactions, is possibly Mork from Ork.
Bad guys: creates monsters through greedy desires (uses gears like the Greed), is already integrated into the world but hidden from all through a digital web, is willing to destroy greedy humans to power the final boss.

But everything else is such a cluttered mess, the only thing that did hold it together was the directing. I know most are into episode 4, and I'll get there, but I'm literally feeling like it was oversensory noise, like watching a Bay movie. I'm not a fan of the DonBlaster either, just seems lazy to an extent. Again, I understand the why. Just trying to put my impressions into words.