DonBrothers 20 discussion thread

[takenoko]

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Last week's ratings: 4.27 of 5 stars (11 votes)

Where is Jirou living? That TV is like 50 years old.

How is Jirou remembering Rumi-chan's thoughts in his flashback???

Jirou knows about Inu Brother but makes no effort to recruit him

Tsubasa you himbo, the monster was obviously lying to you

Jirou, you're in no position to call someone else old fashioned

Oh, randomly shirtless guys fighting

Has Kaito always had a lightsaber?

What a twist. Tarou was helping them this whole time

Love that even with Jirou fighting the monster, he's still getting in the DonBrother's way

What happened? Did they break the robo with the talking mouths? Non-moving Kiji shoulder looks particularly cheap

ooh, new dual blade finisher

So are we not going to get an explanation for those noses?

Pretty fun episode, but given the manic nature of this storytelling, it's kind of hard to tell what's going to be a joke and what's a thing that'll be relevant later. I just saw the new Thor recently, and like a lot of jokes is fine with the right storytelling. But too many jokes can sometime clash with a tone and undermine the drama/story that's being told

I'm having fun with Inoue and his chaotic stories. Sure, in this world, being snooty literally gives you a big nose. But sometimes I ask myself "What are the stakes here?" and maybe that's the wrong question to ask for this season. Maybe it's okay to just enjoy this ride until a drama point happens. It's fun and it's entertaining and for a kid's show, that's got to be king


Sonoza again being the most unhinged character

[Connie_Edogawa]

I don't think Jirou's remembering her memories so much as making shit up? like, I still need to see the subs, but was his flashback to them as kids real, and implying he's done that whole scene at least once before he actually left and did it again, or is he remembering a scene from just a month or two ago as them being kids because in his head he realizes it's a bit embarrassing to be acting that way as a grown adult?

the lightsaber move was a thing from Zekai Red in that one Zenkaiger OVA, and then Kaito used it once in Donbros before.

were the moving mouth bits not always CGI? they look bad now because we're seeing the actual costume close up. this episode probably cut down a bit on the CG budget, same reason we saw Momo Alter moving around as just the toy like the two little twokaiser bros last season, and probably because of the movie, since we got a bit of tie-in for that with the Nouto.

the nose thing might get expanded upon next week, if I had to guess. the preview showed Kaito and that magazine with him on the cover from the end of the episode, meaning it's not just an episode ending gag that he usurped their fame, and might be plot relevant. I remember before Donbros came out and they were saying stuff like "Donbros will be a direct sequel to Zenkaiger, Power Rangers style, and Kaito and Zyuran will be around as characters for like half the year." Zyuran was never so much a character as "Momo can just summon a seemingly non-sentient copy of him to make a mech for a bit until we get to the actual team mech for the season." and Kaito possibly isn't even the Kaito we knew, so who knows how much of those early rumors were true/got reworked? maybe Kaito IS only gonna be around for half the show, and this is leading into how he leaves it. maybe it's another tie-in to the movie. maybe it's just another weird world building thing we'll get to slowly flesh out how all the unusual stuff that keeps happening works, like the dango points, or the weird cyber overlay the world secretly has.

once again, this show manages to do its best to keep multiple plates spinning without a total catastrophe of porcelain, and I'm looking forward to what we learn as we move on.

[takenoko]

I don't think Jirou's remembering her memories so much as making shit up? like, I still need to see the subs, but was his flashback to them as kids real, and implying he's done that whole scene at least once before he actually left and did it again, or is he remembering a scene from just a month or two ago as them being kids because in his head he realizes it's a bit embarrassing to be acting that way as a grown adult?

The weird thing is that the dialogue is exactly the same from Jirou's origin episode, but he wasn't present for Rumi's thoughts for that scene either?

[resop2]

As for Jorou being able to remember Rumi-chan thoughts in flashback, I view this as "cinematic" flashbacks rather than physical flashbacks where the audience can be shown things the narrator does not know.

So, Jirou now has a Rider Clock Sentai Gear? Will Kamen Rider Zen-O have to kick his butt for it? And, we do get some further development for Kaito's evil demon king of the multiverse character: like Zio, he has always believed that he is and will be a hero, but (unlike Sougo) he doesn't casually advertise it, and even though he knows right from wrong, he is not above doing what is wrong for ego gratification.

In this show there seems to be a pattern: Someone asks a question, gets a complete non-answer, and is satisfied by it since pressing further would upset the timeline of the plot.

An in show movie for Haruka's manga staring the Nouto? I guess their bishounen/bishoujo power is so great that they get chosen at random to star in a movie (or, because Sonoi is so fashionable). It will be really funny if the manga was self-insertion with Haruka as the main character and Sononi does all of her weird faces. It will be even funnier if Sonozo gets a make over for the movie and decides that it suits him. Maybe a subplot for the show is that Haruka is mortified that the movie changed the plot of her manga and there is some plot device where she has to use her visors to break into the movie to change the plot of the movie to save the day in the show.

So, Sword-guy is a criminal Nouto Knight? My guess is that there will be a plot device where the host club defeats Sword guy and to live he has to merge with some random guy, who will turn out to be Haruka's clingy ex-boyfriend (because this is a shoujo manga).

Is Jirou going to turn back from being evil? Will Haruka have to slap him twice?

Rumi-chan is REALLY REALLY not that into Jirou if she blows off meeting him and does not even send a text telling him that she's not coming.

For someone who is on the run all the time you would expect Tsubasa to be in better shape!

Will they do the nose gag in future episodes if the Nouto let being in a movie go to their heads?

[HowlingSnail]

An in show movie for Haruka's manga staring the Nouto? I guess their bishounen/bishoujo power is so great that they get chosen at random to star in a movie (or, because Sonoi is so fashionable). It will be really funny if the manga was self-insertion with Haruka as the main character and Sononi does all of her weird faces. It will be even funnier if Sonozo gets a make over for the movie and decides that it suits him. Maybe a subplot for the show is that Haruka is mortified that the movie changed the plot of her manga and there is some plot device where she has to use her visors to break into the movie to change the plot of the movie to save the day in the show.

It's a tie-in to the summer movie, like when Den-O directly linked the show and the movie. Incidentally, I hope Haruka's getting paid for her manga getting adapted.

Kaito seemed all too keen to take the glory, and it seems like it's gonna factor in next week too. It makes me even more sure this is actually Zenkai God and not actually Kaito.

Don Torabolt is yet another thing that just gets pulled out of nowhere as if they've already had it. It's funny because he's been part of Don Doragoku's marketing since the start.

On the topic of next week...

Spoiler

Next week we're seeing a previous Saru Brother. When Haruka wished her powers away that one time, I speculated it had happened before. That someone else had wished their powers away with their Kibi Points, but unlike Haruka, they didn't get guilty about lumbering someone with their misfortune. Guess Saruhara was the unlucky winner.

[Thenosa Yechette]

One bizarre episode that left me speechless and clueless after watching it. But since I enjoyed it, I can't complain?

I'm surprised to to that Jirou has a house in Tokyo. Even though it's not in a good condition... Why does he have rocks in a bucket? Does he still needs rocks to fight after becoming a Ranger?
And where does he get the money to live? As far as we've seen, he doesn't have a job, right? Does he do odd jobs like Tsubasa?

Why did Rumi even date this guy? Did he force her into a relationship? She clearly was never interested in him.

Wow, even though the Donbrothers are asking the most obvious questions, I am really enjoying this conversation.

Just because they're childhood friends, doesn't mean they were on and off girlfriend-boyfriend since they were 9, right?
Also, I have to mention that the child actress for Rumi resembles the adult Rumi quite a lot. I wonder where they found someone with such a similar face.

Is that Jirou's flashback or is that how it actually played out when they were young? And why is child Rumi calling Jirou a child? He IS a child, and so IS SHE!

I get that they get back together all the time after breaking up, but how can they not have broken up despite him moving miles away from her? And if we consider her disinterested attitude towards him, I highly doubt they were ever dating in the first place.

Jirou becoming the leader came pretty easy for him, huh...

Haruka has a point. They should have at least waited till Rumi arrived in Tokyo.

Aba-'Jirou' Sentai... He changed the first part too?!

You're not feeling the love, Jirou... Did you EVER feel the love they had towards you? Which is non-existent, btw...

Gotta love Haruka's annoyed expressions...

Tarou was indifferent towards training?! Lol, it's sad that he wasn't here the first few episodes. Or he could've seen how strict Tarou was towards training his teammates. So much so that he launched surprise attacks at them all the time. Why did he stop that, though? Was it because they brought him back to life?

I don't know where to report this but I think the Anon subber's subbed episode is missing an 'were' after "If you" in the line at timestamp 5:44.


I can't believe Tsubasa trusted a monster and lost a year of his life being a fugitive for the girlfriend who may never be together with him again (even though she is right under his nose). Poor Inuzuka...

Wow, Tsubasa sure is acting cocky... And if they don't know anything, why doesn't he just tell them that he's also a ranger?

And he runs away using his status as a fugitive as an excuse... Lol. Never expected him to slack off like that...

Why is Jirou getting emergency alerts?

Jirou is the kind of leader who makes his companions do all the hard work... Nice. And he's still stealing the credit...

Why is Zenkaizer Black observing them like that from the sidelines?

So did Jirou become a hero because he wants to be popular?

Prepare for old age? Haruka sure is getting ahead of herself...

It took me till after it was defeated to figure out which season this Hitotsuki is based off of- Dairanger. Although, if I thought about it, the answer was fairly simple. I was thinking Gekiranger at first but that would not be very accurate...

Should the Donbrothers' suits protect them from fire damage? At least that's what (I think) happened when Tarou was rescuing people from fire...

That news report is hilarious! "Nobodies named Dragon Fires?!" Lol! Is that what they intended to be called when they introduced themselves like that?

Why is Haruka fixing her face and costume? No one can see her face through her helmet and her costume is neither wrinkled nor stained.

Sononi just said Murasame is an artificial lifeform... If it's a lifeform, it will naturally mean it has a will of its own and sentience, right? Then why is she asking this question?

Why is Sonoza acting like a monkey while reading Haruka's manga?

So a producer's car pulls up at an empty harbor and she randomly goes and asks the Nouto if they wanna appear in her movie? The offer couldn't have been given under weirder circumstances. And I'm also surprised to see that the Nouto understand the appeal of appearing in a movie.

And now all the Dragon Fire members are enjoying being led by Jirou. Isn't that fun.

Too bad no one is listening to the "wiser than he appears to be" Zenkaizer Black. What is he, their guardian angel?

Why is Zenkaizer Black repeating Jirou's lines? That just makes things more confusing.

If he quit being their leader, why is Tarou still calling them his companions?

They're all wearing such extravagant clothes. Why is Haruka dressed like a princess?!

Dang, the long noses...

Why does Rumi ALWAYS have a popsicle in her hand?! Even when hugging Jirou?!

Such hypocritical heroes who refuse to fight when it's really time for them to fight.

Wow, Tarou actually cares for his teammates. He's finally becoming more human. This almost makes me cry...

So the long noses just... fell off? Were they real, at least in-universe or was is not real even in their world? Was it all a joke?

Poor Haruka, running in her awfully puffy dress...

So Jirou's crazy side comes out only when Tarou insults/discredits/or steals the spotlight from Jirou?

And Jirou's Dragon Hero's getup becomes even weirder...

Inubrother is lying on his face when the new form debuts... And Kijibrother is trying to bring his attention towards the new form instead of helping him out. Hilarious!

Whoa! Don Murasame was the senate's weapon? It must've been kept under weak security if it escaped like that...

Wow, I can't believe Sononi would be so focused on filming the movie that she would abandon her actual mission as a Nouto for it...

Don Torabolt's attacks as expected look nicer to me than Don Doragoku's attacks.

They cut off right after the Don Onitaijin combined to show us the Cabinet Minesterial Award Ceremony? This is one weird Sentai season whose priorities are totally whacky...

Wait, why is Zenkaizer Black receiving the award? He was never a team member to begin with...

The first time we see him out of his café uniform, he is also wearing an extravagant outfit.

New finisher attack for the robo. It's better than the big peach attack.

So they didn't restore Jirou back to normal this time? Is that safe?

Of course Rumi never went to Tokyo... All that effort only for the Donbrothers to learn a lesson.

Zenkaizer Black- the Dragon Fires' commander? Whaaaaaaaaat?! And now he has a long nose... I am now officially clueless and speechless... What is the deal with Zenkaizer Black? Dang it! And now he has a photo book...

Jirou knows about Inu Brother but makes no effort to recruit him

Because as far as he is concerned, Inu Brother is an actual dog. So what's the point in recruiting a dog in his team full of humans.

[ViRGE]

I have to say, I'm starting to miss more strongly episodic Sentai episodes. With Inoue's draw-out plots, it's making it very hard for me to nitpick things to death!

This is another good-but-not-great episode. It's a much-needed Jirou focus episode - a character who has darn near been a background character since his introduction. But at the same time, like so many DonBro episodes, it's kind of incomplete on its own. Clearly, things are getting setup to address Crazy Jirou, but that doesn't happen here. So it's difficult to say anything meaningful about that aspect of the episode since there's no resolution.

In lieu of that we do have new forms/toys to introduce. The sixth rangers are often fun in this respect, since more often than not they get some kind of second mode that involves them fighting in a radically different style. In this case, Jirou's axe-wielding tiger form is fun to watch; it's very up-close and ferocious, making it both visually and mechanically distinct from his fire/dragon form. I just hope this isn't a form that's limited to Crazy Jirou.

At 20 episodes in, I also feel like it's time for the dude to finally get his robo. But alas, that doesn't seem to be in the cards. And given how light on robo fights this series is, I can only assume that's intentional. Toei has given up the chance to sell another robo (for now at least) in order to avoid having to film the necessary promotional material fights.

On that note, I do like Don O's new finisher. It's not actually all that flashy - or for that matter much different from its standard finisher in terms of mechanics - but it's much, much faster. That damn peach finisher was a real time sink for how visually unimpressive it was. The double sword finisher at least gets the same job done in a fraction of the time (and with fewer peaches!).

Getting back to Jirou, I do feel bad for the dude being stood-up at the end. It's been clear since the start that his friendship is one-sided. But given how important all of this is to him and what he's legitimately accomplished on his own, that was very, very cold. I hope there are some repercussions for that, but more likely it will remain a gag.

Meanwhile, we find out just an itty bitty tiny amount more about Murasame - it's the Nouto Senate's sentient sword. Which looks like the DonBros for reasons? Frankly, I still don't understand why this character has been introduced at this point; there's nothing of substance happening with the character right now. This week was another 10 second fight that added nothing to either the main story, but I will give the stunt crew credit for that quick fight at 90 degrees - even if it was pointless, it looked neat and they did a good job transitioning from greenscreen to physical.

And as I seem to be a bit out of the loop, what's going on with the movie? That seemed to have come out of nowhere.

Finally, while I generally have nothing nice to say about the Alter forms, I have to admit this week they managed to use one in an amusing fashion. I like that they just attached the toy to a guy's foot and unabashedly ran with it. It's so low-tech and corny, but it works in a very small dose.

Tsubasa you himbo, the monster was obviously lying to you

But why would a monster lie?

Oh, randomly shirtless guys fighting

Random shirtless ripped guys. Like, surprisingly ripped. There wasn't an ounce of visible body fat on those dudes.

What a twist. Tarou was helping them this whole time

I figured it was Kaito, for obvious reasons. That it was Tarou legitimately caught me by surprise.

were the moving mouth bits not always CGI? they look bad now because we're seeing the actual costume close up.

They've been a mix of practical and CGI so far. At times you get a CGI mouth moving, and at other times you get a suit actor shaking their leg (particularly for yellow). A lot of times their talking was overlaid with attacks, so Toei could skip showing their mouths moving.

None the less, this is really the first time where they've shot with visible heads delivering dialog and opted to show the physical suit rather than using CGI to add mouth animation. So it does stand out.

For someone who is on the run all the time you would expect Tsubasa to be in better shape!

That was a pretty good gag, though.
"Oh, I can do this! I'm awesome"
"Okay, this is more work than I expected. I don't have to be doing this, so I'm just going to make an excuse about cops and bail"

[takenoko]

>I'm surprised to to that Jirou has a house in Tokyo.

I mean is it a house? It looks like that one room is all there is?

>Why did Rumi even date this guy?

I don't think she did? Like everyone else in Jirou's village, they were just putting up with his one-sided delusions. Like patronizingly telling a kid "good job"

>I don't know where to report this but I think the Anon subber's subbed episode is missing an 'were' after "If you" in the line at timestamp 5:44.

Yeah, that probably would sound better

>Why does Rumi ALWAYS have a popsicle in her hand?! Even when hugging Jirou?!

Female characterization?

>But at the same time, like so many DonBro episodes, it's kind of incomplete on its own. Clearly, things are getting setup to address Crazy Jirou, but that doesn't happen here. So it's difficult to say anything meaningful about that aspect of the episode since there's no resolution.

It's the long con, baby!

>At 20 episodes in, I also feel like it's time for the dude to finally get his robo. But alas, that doesn't seem to be in the cards.

Awww, I was looking forward to seeing a mecha tht could transform between a dragon and a tiger. Just smush that DragonCaesar and WonTiger into one

>Getting back to Jirou, I do feel bad for the dude being stood-up at the end. It's been clear since the start that his friendship is one-sided. But given how important all of this is to him and what he's legitimately accomplished on his own, that was very, very cold. I hope there are some repercussions for that, but more likely it will remain a gag.

Oh yeah, that is pretty sad when you stop and think about it

>Meanwhile, we find out just an itty bitty tiny amount more about Murasame - it's the Nouto Senate's sentient sword.

The literal weapon of the political forces lol. Wondering if the Nouto Senate will end up being the big bad at the end, since they're probably the ones who wiped out the royal don family

>Frankly, I still don't understand why this character has been introduced at this point; there's nothing of substance happening with the character right now.

But hey, at least it does a cool flip?

>And as I seem to be a bit out of the loop, what's going on with the movie? That seemed to have come out of nowhere.

Time to promote the summer movie

Tsubasa you himbo, the monster was obviously lying to you

But why would a monster lie?

So that no one stops the aliens invading our planet

Oh, randomly shirtless guys fighting

Random shirtless ripped guys. Like, surprisingly ripped. There wasn't an ounce of visible body fat on those dudes.

The possessed guy is KirameiRed/Tsuukaizer's suit actor. Maybe he turned into a monster out of jealousy from being left out this season? I didn't see a credit for the guy he beats up, but that's probably a suit actor whose face I don't know. If anyone figures it out, I'd love to add the credit for the wiki

[Yaiba]

According to https://www.toei.co.jp/tv/donbrothers/s ... _3246.html, the kickboxer king is 住友泰星

[takenoko]

According to https://www.toei.co.jp/tv/donbrothers/s ... _3246.html, the kickboxer king is 住友泰星

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPkKoc6jFPP/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CKP8b47jMuK/

Toei: Someone make sure he takes his shirt off at some point

[Arigomi]

I have to say, I'm starting to miss more strongly episodic Sentai episodes. With Inoue's draw-out plots, it's making it very hard for me to nitpick things to death!

I wouldn't mind the serialized storytelling if they were written with story arcs in mind. Instead, the various plot threads keep cycling in and out like a dressing room montage where the protagonist is trying on different outfits. You get more variety per episode at the expense of emotional investment.

Inoue wants us to keep track of so many spinning plates, but I'm not a fan of watching all of these plates spin at the exact same speed. It implies that the plan is to have everything converge in a chaotic event. This works in movies and plays because the time investment isn't too burdensome. It is different with a TV show. The destination becomes less appealing after a journey of 40+ episodes of build up.

Shinichi is such a freak. He isn't interested in money or prestige, but couldn't live a life without the ability to compose haiku.

Jirou is wrong. Tarou isn't slacking on the training. He just pivoted towards teaching them life lessons rather than physical conditioning.

Tsubasa is now getting concerned about Natsumi? We questioned his nonchalant behavior during his conversation with Sononi last week. The change in attitude draws more attention to this.

[takenoko]

>Shinichi is such a freak. He isn't interested in money or prestige, but couldn't live a life without the ability to compose haiku.

Shinichi is set up to be such an obvious hypocrite. You see from day 1 that this guy is less a man of conviction and more a grifter. If he does believe the stuff he says, then he's deluding himself

[SVNBob]

>Why did Rumi even date this guy?

I don't think she did? Like everyone else in Jirou's village, they were just putting up with his one-sided delusions. Like patronizingly telling a kid "good job"

Either that, or Jirou was the only age-appropriate male not related to her in the village.

We know there were other boys in the village, as we saw them see Jirou off at the bus stop in his debut episode. But for all we know, they're Rumi's brothers or something.

So Jirou might have been the only hetero option for a romantic partner Rumi had. And given he's always been like he is...that probably got real old real fast.