My Thoughts On "Donbrothers" In 24 Episodes

It's no secret that I can be very critical (or even NEGATIVE) about newer Super Sentai while I still have good vibes with most newer Kamen Rider. Puzzling? Not really if one can have multiple preferences. It's like how I can enjoy K-Drama even if I dislike most K-Pop music like tea with cream cheese. Now, I've been checking out and Toshiki Inoue has been writing episodes of Avatar Sentai Donbrothers STRAIGHT without assistance. I can't exactly determine how it'd work out since burnouts are a very bad thing. 

I guess Kikou Sentai Zenkaiger had some backlash last year. I felt Bokkowaus was a waste of the great Joji Nakata's voice talent too. Personally, I found it very disheartening and I think Junko Komura sucks as an anniversary writer. I even felt Super Sentai was going to die with Doubotsu Sentai Zyuohger due to the low ratings. I even felt that the Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger crossover was nothing more than a bailout or fanservice. Though, it's probably not as bad as how Kamen Rider Decade became a friend in need of a boost. I felt Zenkaiger had that same backlash. I did enjoy the unorthodox team concept. However, I felt most of the mecha designs were bad and the characters weren't that good. I think Kaito himself isn't too interestingly written either. I guess that's why (if ever)--the Kaito of Donbrothers should be an entirely different Kaito. 

The heroes' rather unusual gathering 

The show begins with unique storytelling. The rangers take longer than usual to know each other. It even took some time before the first Megazord combination. That's the longest that Super Sentai ever took with the Megazord combination. I felt that Inoue and Shinichiro Shirakura are now experimenting at different paces. Though, I feel Inoue and Shirakura are held back from writing anything too serious these days. I kind of miss when Shirakura was involved with blood spills and the like. I wonder did Shirakura also come up with the idea of Gai Yuki's death in Chojin Sentai Jetman and not just Toshihide Wakamatsu? 

Every attempt to create an unorthodox team is something. I felt Inoue had to check out how Zenkaiger was and correct it. I still think there's much to learn from failed seasons, right? Just think of how Kamen Rider Kuuga corrected nearly everything wrong about Kamen Rider BLACK RX in regards to multiple forms and made his allies involved even in the beginning. I felt that Ichijou was a better-done ally than Joe of the Wind in BLACK RX. I felt Kuuga's multiple forms were better implemented than how BLACK RX managed to learn them too fast. 

I wonder why though that we have a human cast yet again. Personally, I did like the four others who were non-humans who donned cool mecha-like forms. Was it a budget or what? What's interesting is how some of the ranger forms are CGI-operated such as how Tyuyoshi grows long legs and how Tsubasa shrinks in size. I guess the backlash came with Zenkaiger's overly unorthodox idea. Though, I'd rather blame the lack of direction for Zenkaiger not being that well. Innovation happens but one must make sure it delivers results. Sometimes, new concepts fail not for being new but for being carried out wrong. 

The Donbrothers can be a weird bunch. For instance, I think Tsubasa as the first MALE pink can be a shoutout to the pink ranger stuntmen. Motokuni Nakagawa was termed as Mr. Pink when he serves as the body double for the pink rangers. Also, Tsubasa is married BEFORE the series began. Tsubasa is then mixed with the wrongly-accused Tyuyoshi. Taro's appearance is also rather weird. Taro doesn't accept help from others. Shinichi is the genius bruiser since most bruisers in Super Sentai are hardly geniuses. For example, Raita in Jetman was an extremely gullible guy who had poor eyesight. 

I think the most interesting character (if ever) is Donbrothers!Haruka. I must admit she's probably a big reason why it's hard (for me) not to think of Power Rangers Beast Morphers while watching this show. She practically lost her normality after she picked up some lens. Like Zoey from Beast Morphers - she could've lived a normal life if it wasn't for some weird random incident. Though, I felt Haruka is a combination of Yoko and Zoey. She does the narration of the prologue most of the time. She does expositions. I think she's revealed more flaws and developments than most of the cast. I feel she's even more developed than Taro himself. Like Zoey, she's probably the show's saving grace one way or another. The yellow ranger shows that menial workers can be daily heroes. Zoey works as a laundrywoman. Donbrothers!Haruka works in a cafe. Both make me feel ashamed I used to look down at menial work. 

Right now, I'm NOT watching Dragon Ball Super and I felt like the franchise should've ended years ago. Then again, Dragon Bal GT has been considered non-canon for a long time. The reference to Son Goku or Sun Wukong is obvious in Jiro as Don DraGOKU. I think this is where Inoue's rather weird sense of humor kicks in. Kiva has all its moments of weird humor. Until now, I still feel Nago in Kiva can be a rollercoaster of emotions. I think Jiro is probably Inoue wanting to do douchebag characters all over again. Though, Jiro's nowhere near a douche as previous characters like Hojo Toru in Kamen Rider Agito nor is he a Kusaka from Kamen Rider Faiz. It's interesting to see Jiro has a split personality - something that should be explored into detail. 

The Noto Layer or Brain Person Layer

The Noto Layer may not be so evil but are still evil to a certain extent. Is Inoue trying to recycle some old ideas like how the Lords in Agito are actually anti-villains instead of real villains? Right now, their role as villains might be to try and keep the balance of the world. There are times they're involved with the creation of the Hitotsuki. The monsters of the week are humans who become monsters based on negative inner desires. Sometimes, these guys are involved in forcibly transforming humans. 

It seems the Brain Person Layer's members are involved in a game. After all, the defeat of a Hitotsuki at the hands of a member of the Brain Person Layer - the host gets imprisoned in an enclosed space in between their worlds and the World of Donbrothers. 

The members of the trio have different interests. Sonoza (the one who kidnapped Haruka so he can read more Manga) is a mentally unstable man. Sonoi is the one interested in art. Sonoi also aids the transformation of greedy humans into monsters so he can caputre them. Sonini is a woman interested in human emotions. The three of them answer to a mysterious Council. 

The Council is still to be revealed. There's also the mysterious Mother who's only heard. Don Murasame was released by Mother against the Council's wishes. I wonder how Don Murasame's character will affect him since he's practically a renegade. Mother is yet to be revealed too. Hopefully, all these will start to unravel. 

I'm still hit by pressing concerns regarding Inoue's return as a head writer? 

As mentioned earlier, writer's burnouts are a bad thing. Who can remember how Hirohisa Soda exited as a head writer for Super Sentai with a show that NEARLY killed the franchise? Who can remember how Yasuko Kobayashi burned out during Ressha Sentai ToQGer? An award on railroad day can't change the fact Kobayashi probably needed more assistance. Maybe, one can think of how Inoue got weaker during Kamen Rider Faiz and eventually Kamen Rider Kiva. I may be a fan of Kiva but I can't consider it a masterpiece either. Both Kiva and ToQGer are enjoyable but I'd never label them as masterpieces either. 

I even think about this statement by Shogo B'Stard about Inoue himself:

Toshiki Inoue: before he became public enemy numero uno with toku fans for lackluster -- and sometimes just plain bad -- writings, there's no denying that he was once a great talent to the genre. (He's the toku version of Frank Miller -- for what good he did for the genre, he got so bad that he practically undid it.) His goal was to keep the often fanciful shows grounded and character focused, and he added in some identifiable (although highly soap-ish) drama, and tried to take seriously a genre often dismissed as "kids stuff," giving a defiant "piss off" to those detractors. He's the brain behind three of my favorite shows, and some of the genre's biggest shows -- Jetman, Changerion (cult hit it may be) and Kamen Rider Agito. Prior to Jetman, he turned in a decent amount of scripts as a secondary writer for shows like Flashman and Maskman. After three well-regarded shows, especially a crossover hit like Agito, he got cocky. Then Toei put him too much to work. Then he turned in junk like Faiz. But even when he was at the top of his game, Inoue had a huge weakness -- how to wrap up a series or write a proper series finale. (And I'm only covering his henshin hero stuff, because I haven't watched Cutie Honey the Live or Mikazuki).

I felt that Toei Ltd. might be the one with the bigger blame. Right now, I can blame Toei Ltd. as much as Saban Entertainment as to why Power Rangers got that popular for some time. Toei Ltd. is the main reason why Saban Entertainment got the rights. That's why no matter how much I dislike Power Rangers - I refuse to call it bootleg. Heck, I guess that's why Toei and Saban have had a working relationship for years then they had it with Disney, Saban (again), and then Hasbro. Toei Animation did help provide animation for Hasbro during the 1980s after all. I think about how Inoue himself can be a pressing concern. But no, not just him since I also started to feel Yasuko Kobayashi would really fall in ToQGer like how Soda fell in Fiveman. I don't care about the feelings of BLINDED ToQGer fans - I'm going to say the show is enjoyable but it's no top masterpiece, the crossover of ToQGer with Kamen Rider Gaim still sucks IMHO (and no, that's NOT A FACT so like it if you like it), and I exercise my right to share my views and state facts. Just stop being an onion about disagreements! Stop begging people to stop blogging because your opinions and/or feelings are HURT by differing views! 

I'd agree that everything after Agito just started to fall down in some way. Though, I think it's more of a burnout. I think what happened in Faiz is comparable to what happened to Kobayashi in Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters. Go-Busters IMHO had great potential but I felt executive meddling plus Kobayashi was slowly running out of charge. Hmmm... that's an incident I love to compare to Judd Lynn in Power Rangers Dino Charge followed by the extremely terrible Power Rangers Ninja Steel. After Kiva, I felt that his episodes in Decade are somewhat decent as well as the Shinkenger arc. I feel that Inoue's attempt at humor can be that bad. This is coming from someone (like myself) who likes to write bad humor a lot thinking it's that funny. I felt Inoue's Timeranger episode involving Yuuri was a weird one. Worst episode? I think the cooking battle in Kamen Rider Blade is freaking stupid. Though, I wouldn't mind if that episode were in Shinkenger instead. 

I feel this can be a very worrisome thing at times. I'm just wondering how Donbrothers will be especially with Inoue's return. Will I end up plugging out especially since there's a lot of better stuff to watch in the digital age? I can't really tell right now how I feel since I'm also enjoying it in part.