|
Community Links |
Members List |
Search Forums |
Advanced Search |
Go to Page... |
|
Thread Tools |
08-06-2022, 03:15 PM | #1 |
Have Zord, Will Travel
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: MI
Posts: 5,714
|
Tsubasa becomes trapped in his InuBrother form.
Watch SuperHeroTime Via Livestream!!
Check out episodes as they air on Saturday by heading over to Taima TV. They play other miscellaneous programs up until the live broadcast starts. Live Streams of the Superhero Time block now start at 8PM EST on Saturdays! |
08-06-2022, 10:25 PM | #2 |
New Member
Join Date: Mar 2022
Posts: 89
|
After writing my thoughts on Zero-One in Kamen Rider Die's thread, I thought 'why not do the same for Donbrothers?' so here I am now, and what an episode to start on. This episode is insane, it starts off normal as usual, but then we get a rather early scene of our Hitotsuki of the week, this was most likely so that the main story of this episode could be told without too many cutaways.
I knew that this would be an Inuzuka focused episode, but I didn't expect how little we'd see of the rest of the cast (aside from Jirou), though it makes sense with how estranged Inu is from the rest of the team, which makes me wonder if we're actually going to go half the season without the rest of the team knowing his true identity, though if what I've heard of Inoue (haven't gotten to any of his other shows yet), I'm not too hopeful. Anyways, the concept for this episode is quite strange, Inubrother being trapped in his transformed state? That wasn't something I ever predicted happening, but here we are, another thing I noticed immediately, we got so many shots of the Inubrother puppet suit, I know that this is mainly to cut down on the cost of CGI, but I still appreciate getting to see so much of it. Speaking of things that were nice to see again, Momotaro has his introduction sorta thing again, it feels like it's been a while since we've seen that, so it was a pleasant sight to see once again. We then see Jirou talking to his past friends, though with how they treat him, that might not be the right descriptor, he tells them about how he can transform into Don Dragoku, even using the promotional picture of Don Dragoku, but his (kind of) friends don't believe him, though I don't know if that's because they don't believe people can transform and get superpowers, or if they know of the Dragonfires and don't believe he's one of them, either way they doubt him on that. But, Jirou decides to show his crush/girlfriend/whatever that he can transform, and I won't lie, I've always loved in toku when the heroes don't care about keeping their identity secret, it's just something about it that I really like. We cut back to Inubrother, who sees Natsumi and tries to talk to her, only for him to end up barking instead of talking, Natsumi decides to hug Inubrother though, but I'm not sure why, I guess she thinks he's a normal dog, but you'd think it would be pretty easy to tell the difference. The two are then interrupted by Jukenki, our Hitotsuki, after fighting him off, Inu detects the way Natsumi ran by following her scent, something that makes sense technically, but just sounds asinine even considering the rest of the stuff in this episode and the show. Inu starts getting affected by the curse even more and decides to seek out the rest of the team (not that he knows they're also part of the Donbrothers), but he just barely misses getting to see them, he then runs into Kenji, the guy possessed by the Juuto, which keeps up the streak of bad luck that Inu's had on this day, Natsumi also possessed by the Juuto fights off Kenji, and it honestly looks really cool. We then learn that after falling and hitting his head (or maybe it was the curse? I don't know), Inu has lost his memory and then finally succumbs to the curse and turns into an actual dog, and we're only 2/3rds the way through the episode and we already have so much chaos happening it's crazy. We then see the rest of the team engaging Jukenki, including an avatar change to Dairanger, but then Jirou shows up to help, but suddenly his dark side, aka Don Torabolt leaves Jirou's body and they both transform, but rather than fight, Torabolt actually sort of teams up with Dragoku to beat the Hitotsuki, they then transform into their Robotaro forms, which look really cool in all honesty, though a shame that they're CGI but they still look great. The Hitotsuki then decides to (I don't know what the word for this is) grow big, causing both Torabolt and Dragoku to combine into their mecha, I really like the combining, with Dragoku caging Torabolt in, also we're in a new arena than the usual one. And then, we have one of the coolest mecha fights I've ever seen in a toku, I couldn't do justice to describing it, just please watch it for yourself, we see the conclusion to Inu's story, I don't really get what happens since I don't have any translation for it, but he turns back to a human, so I guess that's resolved, though we don't know if his memory is back to normal. This was an amazing episode, my favorite so far in Donbrothers, and that's a big compliment, this is what I'd consider a 10/10 episode, but that's just my opinion of course. |
Nokination |
View Public Profile |
Find More Posts by Nokination |
08-07-2022, 08:43 AM | #3 |
Standing By
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: USA
Posts: 2,078
|
Rumi was in this episode. Just saying, in case you didn't recognize her without the blue popsicle.
Obayashi Masaru joins the show as the suit actor for Onisister's male Avatar Changes! You might remember him for his previous roles as Patren 2 and Libra Gold. Lots of niki-niki Gekiranger references here! Jyukenki's SCRTC sneakers. Inuzuka getting cursed to become a canine. Don Robogokuu being a golden dragon. Don Robobolt being a purple tiger. It was only missing the play-by-play commentary on Tora Dragon Jin's debut. It's refreshing how Inuzuka's problem is caused by something totally unrelated to the MOTW. After Minako, this is only the second ghost in the show, a nameless dog whose choice of haunting is to curse Inubrother for inadvertently disturbing (getting yeeted in to by Jyukenki, the cat and dog rivalry continues) their shrine. The solution was simply to fix the shrine, but unfortunately Inubrother doesn't know this and spends the whole episode slowly losing his humanity until Miho breaks the curse. Miho actually saved him twice, using her Jyuto powers to protect him from Sayama, who was ironically the only person who realized he wasn't just an anthropomorphic dog. If only he had the Dragon Fires' publicity, he might've had an easier time explaining his strange situation. Inuzuka's luck is crazy! Jirou's split personality seems to be magical, as Danger Jirou physically splits from Jirou to give us a Dragokuu and Torabolt team-up fight. I guess this is due to Jirou increasing his strength of will to not let his failures define him, forcing Danger Jirou out. It proves to the others that Jirou isn't actually to blame for attacking them and that he was being controlled, so hopefully they'll reward his heroism by treating him better from now on. I've really enjoyed Jirou's arc so far and how much he's grown already, I feel like he's been here since the start and I'm looking forward to where he goes from here. I wish Murase a swift recovery and all, but like, I've barely even noticed Don Murasame's absence, considering how little presence that character has. This show already has so much happening!
__________________
心 と 刃 |
08-07-2022, 02:15 PM | #4 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
|
When the episode ended with Tsubasa digging his face right back into that bowl of dog food, I thought it was a brilliant note to leave the episode on. When it ended with that little girl going right back to petting his head, I genuinely started clapping. I mean, it's only the last 30 seconds or so of the episode, and it's such a perfectly executed scene, on so many levels, that I could probably talk about only that, and still have plenty to dig into, if only I felt like I understood this show's brilliance/madness well enough to explain it in that level of detail. But like, broadly speaking, you know, it's funny, first of all. It's the kind of humiliating scenario that suits Tsubasa almost as much as the way he just rolls with that misfortune, and I guess the cherry on top -- why that very last bit made me applaud the episode -- is that, *because* this kind of nonsense is always happening to the poor guy, I appreciated that little girl throwing the dog a bone (figuratively speaking!) instead of just running away screaming or whatever. I'm sure they mostly did it that way because it's more unexpected and thus more hilarious, but the result is also way less cynical and way more sweet, and I thought it was nice, I guess. Plus, you know, we're half a year in and Don't Boo! Donbrothers still makes the ending of any episode infinitely better. Oh man, I really did have a lot to say about just the last scene, huh? I'm kinda working backwards here, but needless to say, I rather enjoyed the material with Tsubasa in this episode. It's sort of the standard routine for the guy at this point -- he suffers a whole ton, and the viewers get to learn some stuff while he continues to learn nothing -- but I don't know, it's always so human and engaging that I don't care how repetitive it might be. Plus, these episodes don't actually come around that often. And like, it might not be repetitive, too! Obviously the broad strokes stay the same, but there's always some unique hook or another. This time around, that hook might be less in any of the plotting, and more in the way the episode challenged itself visually, with the decision to require constant screentime for Inu Brother. As unimpressive as the CG always is, I've always been impressed by how Donbrothers commits to having him and Kiji Brother in the show as regular characters to begin with. Because it really can't be as easy as just having a guy in a suit, right? You might argue the results are underwhelming, but I appreciate the work that must go into having this silly cartoon dog appear the same way any other hero does each week. So naturally, I think a lot of the fun this week is just in seeing how they had to work around those limitations in any given shot, with a lot more creative and frequent use of the actual physical versions of the character than usual. I recall making this defense super early on, too, but my opinion hasn't changed a bit since: verisimilitude is totally irrelevant here. Inu Brother is fun, and I care about that way more than how "believable" he looks. And hey, if you still haven't totally gotten used to the effects, then just think of it as one more constant misfortune for Tsubasa to endure! The other big visual challenge this week is ToraDoraGonJin, which I don't think needs any reframing on my part to seem impressive. Again, pretty daring to have a big CG Robotaro showcase in an episode that already has so much extra Inu Brother, but man, all that stuff ended up looking fantastic. The actual big robot fight is an amazing wrestling match, with hecka dynamic lighting, solid wirework, and a sense of agility that cannot have been easy to do wearing a boxy robot suit. Easily some top tier mecha action from Donbrothers. As I was watching it, I kind of took this mental note in my head, like if I ever need to explain to someone what a cool Sentai robot fight looks like, this will be a perfect example to point to. Really, the fact that I'm mentioning a fight scene at all kinda says everything, because I basically never remember to actually talk about these things in the Donbrothers threads. Mostly because I'd usually be busy talking about things like Jirou's continuing journey on the path to becoming a true hero. Still working backwards this time! I found myself really getting into how Jirou was portrayed here. Bringing him back to his... humble(?) roots out in the country kinda refocused his character for me, I think. You really get reminded here there's a genuine sweetness to this doofy guy chasing his childish dream, and put in that context especially, I'm loving this whole idea of Jirou's big issue right now essentially being that he doesn't know how to make friends. It's a pretty genius move by Inoue. Your typical sixth Ranger type, nowadays, they almost always do just become another part of the group, oftentimes even feeling like the dynamic was incomplete without them, but Jirou exists kind of sideways from all the other heroes on this show, and literally making that his storyline in-universe feels very natural. What's way less natural is how completely randomly Jirou splits into his two selves for the sake of the toy-shilling, but if you think that something I didn't like about the episode, you guessed wrong! That's *exactly* the sort of craziness I love seeing happen. Again, it's impressive enough we set up the idea of Jirou wanting a Robotaro form to begin with, so the abruptness of him having this weird Kamen Rider Revice moment of accepting his own inner demon (or whatever Torabolt even is!) just feels like the price being paid for that. As long as you can just roll with what's happening, it's a nice scene, and again, it leads to some truly spectacular action. (Oh, and speaking of the halfway-there attempts to push the merch more traditionally, gotta love how we're seeing a renewed emphasis on the Avatar Change gimmick... with the older teams that share generic noises in the Don Blaster, instead of the post-Gokaiger ones that were supposed to be the kinda "main" feature. This isn't a complaint either, though! Donbrothers just wouldn't be Donbrothers if it were doing these things the "normal" way!)
__________________
|
08-08-2022, 06:19 AM | #5 |
New Member
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 40
|
Quote:
(Oh, and speaking of the halfway-there attempts to push the merch more traditionally, gotta love how we're seeing a renewed emphasis on the Avatar Change gimmick... with the older teams that share generic noises in the Don Blaster, instead of the post-Gokaiger ones that were supposed to be the kinda "main" feature. This isn't a complaint either, though! Donbrothers just wouldn't be Donbrothers if it were doing these things the "normal" way!)
|
08-08-2022, 07:06 AM | #6 |
take me to space
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 1,406
|
This episode made me insane. I love this show. |
08-08-2022, 08:30 AM | #7 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2020
Posts: 146
|
Quote:
No that's not a halfway attempt to push merch. That's a reference to Jirou himself. Remember Jirou's design is based upon Journey to the West which is a Chinese novel. They Avatar Change into Dairanger which is also based upon Chinese mythology. Its a surprisingly clever reference.
|
08-08-2022, 08:30 PM | #8 |
Stronger Than You
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: nyet
Posts: 25,326
|
I dig that the tiger is literally caged for Dragoku's mech. Very cute touch.
Gekiranger references has me giddy, because Gekiranger makes me niki-niki! The Inuzuka plot was definitely something, alright. The final scene of him eating from the bowl, just to transform back into a human...And just resume eating, all while the girl just goes along with it? Hilarious. Also, I swear Miho is gonna be the final villain of this show.
__________________
|
08-10-2022, 04:42 AM | #9 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 1,301
|
Feel like it’s going to be stock robot transformation footage where we hardly going to see gold and “silver” in the same episode more than a handful of time like weird dubbing of main mecha combining.
|
08-16-2022, 01:13 AM | #10 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,403
|
Just got around to watching this and I have to say that
"I wanted to play soccer." "I wanted to be a politician." "I wanted to be invisible." was an amazing joke and I loved it almost as much as the brilliant ending gag. |
|
TokuNation News & Rumors |
What's going on with CSM? |
Ultraman Arc Trailer |
2024 Kamen Rider after Gotchard Rumor |
King-Ohger VS Dekaranger |
Shodo SUPER JAKQ |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:18 AM.
|