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CREDITS
Avataro Sentai Donbrothers 32 Duel Part 2 – October 9, 2022
Writer: Toshiki Inoue
Director: Kyohei Yamaguchi
Writer Tracker
Toshiki Inoue (31; 1-25, 27-32)
Saburo Yatsude (1; 26)
Director Tracker
Ryuta Tasaki (6; 1-2, 9-10, 27-28)
Shojiro Nakazawa (2; 3-4)
Katsuya Watanabe (7; 5-6, 13-15; 22-23)
Hiroyuki Kato (6; 7-8, 16-17, 24-25)
Kyohei Yamaguchi (6; 11-12; 20-21; 31-32)
Satoshi Morota (4; 18-19; 29-30)
Kazuyuki Chatani (1; 26)
SYNOPSIS
When Sononi challenges Taro to a duel, he accepts alone. In preparation for the duel, Sononi and Sonoza train with Murasame. Jiro hears this and asks Taro to fight with him. Finally, on the day of the duel, the situation is the same as before with Taro not showing up, and an unnecessary intruder. From out of nowhere, Sonoi, who was defeated by Taro, shows up.
DOWNS
-The Donbros companions only exist to tell the story of Don Momotaro
-The Cerebran companions only exist to tell the story of Don Sonoi
-Where did those components for Black Onitaijin come from? That doesn’t make sense.
-Is death the only path to upgrades in this story?
UPS
-This show is so artistic. The symmetry, the repetition and the creation of motifs within itself in such a relatively short amount of time is impressive and inspiring.
-Sononi and Sonoza effectively defeating Tarou was cool
-I love how happy Tarou was to see Sonoi alive. It is weird, but I like it.
WHATS
-Could Tarou have had two hims within him if things were different, like Jirou?
-Is Sonoi “the other” Tarou?
-Where does the palanquin crew come from are they Anoni? Are they supposed to be real people?
SCORE
Episode 32: 8/10
This show doesn’t make sense. Against my better judgement, I love it. The pacing is slow until it ramps up to nigh-unbearable speed, the weird callbacks and reused gags can miss big time, like this vengeful ninja coming back again. The weird relationship between Tarou and Sonoi steals so much attention that the rest of the cast are almost extras. Death means nothing and I am unsure what is really at stake. All that aside, it looks beautiful, it feels like it has meaning and it keeps me wanting more. Donbros is art.
LESSONS LEARNED
Vision and passion will burn through the medium and touch your audience. There are folks who make somewhat compelling arguments that there is a major homoerotic subplot that defines two primary characters in Donbrothers. I don’t know if Inoue is doing that intentionally or if this is a situation like how people make something out of the love between Johnathan and David in the Bible. I have nothing to say on the matter. There is a powerful dynamic between these characters and people love it. I think their interactions are beautifully filled with honor and warrior ethos and I don’t care that this has taken such a position of prominence over so much else in the show that could use the attention. It is immensely enjoyable to watch. My point is, whatever Inoue is trying to do or say, it’s making an impact. I assume he cares about it, either that or he is using T Taylor’s “universal fantasy butter” to make this pair thrilling to watch.
INFO
Avataro Sentai Donbrothers is a Japanese television series. It is the 46th in Toei’s Super Sentai series. Its Momotarō-themed Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger The show succeeded Kamen Rider Revice line-up Super Hero Time to Avataro Sentai Donbrothers in premiered March 6, 2022, on TV Asahi.
The series theme is based on the legend of Momotarō and Virtual Reality. Because of this, many of the show’s graphics are styled to resemble traditional Japanese watercolor brush paintings, and the series makes more extensive uses of CGI than past productions.
SOURCES
MJ Muñoz 