[Fish Sandwich]

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.