[Fish Sandwich]

Haruka isn't even the character I most want to talk about this week, and it'd probably be nice to have more variety in my choice of screencaps than either Oni Sister, the last shot of the episode, or both at once, but darn it, she's just too good. I couldn't make it anything else! I already praised Kousuke Asai for being an exceptionally expressive suit actor this show is lucky to have, but I've also learned from paying excessive amounts of attention to her in Zenkaiger that Ayumi Shimozono is also really freakin' good at what she does, and Donbrothers has only cemented that even further. Haruka has been a great character so far because of how human and relatable she feels, and as Oni Sister, all of that vulnerability comes across in a way that's also so delightfully comical, on top of everything. Her sheer exasperation and confusion at all the madness she gets caught up in has consistently been a joy to watch. I kind of hope people never stop kicking Haruka around, as rude as that is to say! There's just something so charming about a tokusatsu hero who doesn't really behave anything like a tokusatsu hero, and hey, if that's what I think, then Donbrothers is definitely a show for me, huh?

And of course, I don't want to downplay how good I feel Haruka's writing still is, either. Everything with her here was fantastic, and I especially loved how you can tell seeing another person get erased is what motivates her to put aside her natural distaste for Tarou and bow down to him. Her refusal to acknowledge the obvious truth for most of the runtime is classic Inoue, especially because complaining about things like her cutting Tarou off before he says his name misses how all of those things are properly grounded in character.

Oh, and speaking of Tarou! He's the one I actually thought I'd be talking about right away! Inoue is building a character here who truly feels one of a kind. For one thing, I just wanna say how much I love that his day-job is specifically as a deliveryman? You don't come to Tarou; Tarou comes to you. Like, it's the simplest thing, but that's what makes it such a perfect choice for his character. It's exactly the kind of occupation Tarou would take, as someone who wants to put himself out there and proactively make connections with as many people as possible. Without the show even elaborating on it much, it's already easy to imagine how much his line of work means to him, and why.

So to have the show elaborate on that anyway, and to do it by giving him a one-off rival character who abuses that same noble profession for evil? Man, I was so down for this plot! You know Sononi is evil because she denied us the chance for a potential series-long conflict between those two! ...Okay, obviously you probably couldn't squeeze *that* much out of this idea, but between the fun concept for a central conflict, and Haruka shadowing Tarou throughout a day in his life, this episode did a fantastic job giving us in a window into Tarou's mysterious worldview. And it really is mysterious! Tarou is a weird guy, and the very end, with him basically going nuts, definitely reflects that. There's so much about how he thinks that seems inherently unknowable, but it's hard not to trust the guy at the same time, because he's so clearly got strong values. There's no sense of affectation to his upstanding attitude. When he's talking about how he doesn't hit people, or how he has to drive careful because of the fragile goods in the back of the car, or whatever else, he always says it all in a downplayed manner that makes for a huge contrast with his bravado as Don Momotaro. It's not about making excuses, or impressing people, or whatever else; these are just the facts of how he lives, and Tarou would never tell a lie.

Donbrothers is just a really interesting show, basically! Haven't even mentioned Shinichi yet, but rest assured, he also leaves an impact too. Everybody in Donbrothers does. These are all wonderful characters I'm excited to follow for a year, and that year has only barely started.