[cosmicrescend0]

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!