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03-07-2022, 11:15 AM | #11 |
Suprise Gamma Future
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: USA
Posts: 2,852
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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?
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03-07-2022, 11:32 AM | #12 |
Standing By
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: USA
Posts: 2,092
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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.
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03-07-2022, 11:39 AM | #13 |
Precure enthusiast
Join Date: Dec 2021
Location: Amongst the Cosmos
Posts: 304
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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! |
03-07-2022, 01:28 PM | #14 |
Suprise Gamma Future
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: USA
Posts: 2,852
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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.
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03-07-2022, 02:32 PM | #15 |
Dai Shogun
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Germany
Posts: 7,527
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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.
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03-07-2022, 06:17 PM | #16 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,411
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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.
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03-07-2022, 07:34 PM | #17 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 1,301
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Yellow is getting a lot of screeen time. Will she be as relevant as time pink or ninja white.
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03-07-2022, 09:39 PM | #18 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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AVATARO SENTAI DONBROTHERS EPISODE 1: AVATARO!
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!
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03-07-2022, 09:57 PM | #19 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Quote:
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.
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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.
...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.
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03-07-2022, 10:12 PM | #20 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Quote:
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.
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