Recap: Avataro Sentai Donbrothers, Episode 27 – Duel for Real

“If you weren’t a Noto, we could’ve been…”

Tarou, Haruka, Tsuyoshi and Shinichi are having fun at the pool on a hot summer day. But when Tarou dives in, he is surprised to see Sonoi waiting for him in the water.

Sonoi says it’s time they settle things with a duel. Tarou agrees.

Tarou tells the others who offer to back him up. But Tarou tells them to stay out of this since it will be an honorable one-on-one face off. Tarou is sure Sonoi will fight fairly this time.

They’ve set the duel to take place in three days. During that time, Sononi and Sonoza help Sonoi train. While the two henshin, Sonoi remains unhenshined and notes to himself that this will mimic the disparate speed of his and Tarou’s attacks.

Meanwhile, Haruka, Tsuyoshi and Shinichi find Tarou working like normal. They want to help him train, especially since Sonoi has already beaten Tarou once before. Tarou says whatever will be will be. Training to get stronger would simplify things, but it won’t help him because his strength is painful strength.

Shinichi says they really are unable to understand Tarou.

Sononi and Sonoza continue training with Sonoi with only one day left until the duel. But the two realize what Sonoi is planning when he seems to specifically time his attacks. They ask if Sonoi is sure about doing it this way and he says since this is his battle, he will decide how to fight.

“You better come back to us Sonoi!” Sonoza says.

Haruka, Tsuyoshi and Shinichi gather at Donbura as noon approaches on the day of the duel. Sonoi is already at the quarry, waiting for Tarou.

The Donbura crew are worried and think after an hour and a half, either the duel is still ongoing or Tarou must have been defeated.

Tarou, however, walks in with a delivery for the café. He’s been working this whole time and hasn’t gone to the duel site yet. Sonoi finds him and asks what the hell he is doing. Tarou says he has to fill in for a co-worker and that his work takes priority over a personal matter like a duel.

To hurry things up, Sonoi decides to ride along and help deliver the packages.

One of the customers for today is Ms. Fusako who tries to be a Karen to Tarou. Sonoi decides to charm her so she can lay off Tarou and they can be on their way. A kiss on the hand does the trick.

Tarou remembers when Sonoi didn’t know what oden was. He says Ms. Fusako was eating oden just now so Sonoi hurries back to see what it looks like.

The two of them head to the quarry to finally begin their decisive duel.

“If you weren’t a Noto, we could’ve been…”

Tarou and Sonoi henshin. Tarou quickly realizes Sonoi is on a suicide mission. But Sonoi says his life is a small price to pay if it means defeating someone of Tarou’s caliber. Tarou says his life is not his alone and he cannot let Sonoi have it.

Tarou wonders if he can really defeat someone who is ready to die.

Both Master Kaito and Sononi/Sonoza all feel the duel has begun. But Jirou suddenly pops up and says it is far too early for Sonoi to think he can match up against Tarou. So Jirou offers himself to be his opponent first.

Murasame comes flying in and Mother tells him to fight Tarou as he is an enemy of the Noto. Just then, Ono Minoru who thought himself to be a ninja has now gained magician power and turns into a new Hitotsuki. The other Donbros are teleported to the scene and they join in the battle.

Suddenly, Jutos come running in to join the melee as well and they appear invincible to any of the Donbros’ attacks.

Sononi and Sonza arrive too and they tell Sonoi and Tarou to take care of their duel and leave this mayhem to the rest of them. The Donbros agree.

Tarou and Sonoi get to a safe place and bandage each other up.

The two of them agree to leave everything on the table and not have any regrets. Sonoi says it’s like throwing out the remains of a fruit that you’ve eaten. Tarou points out though that a new fruit could grow from the seeds of that old fruit. Sonoi changes the comparison to throwing out old, worn out shoes. But he tells himself that he preferred the former.

Before they resume their battle, Sonoi tells Tarou all about the Juto. They are artificial lifeforms created by the Don Clan. Noto need human brainwaves in order to survive. So humans are a valuable resource for them. The Don Clan, wanting to find a more sustainable resource, created the Juto. But the experiment was a failure. The Don Clan sealed the Juto away.

“But Murasame is most likely…”

Back to the quarry, abunaiJirou takes over and goes Torabolt to finish off the magic Hitotsuki. That drives Murasame and the Juto away. Sononi and Sonoza leave as well.

The Jirous form Toradragonjin and Tarou comes back for a moment so the Donbros can form Don Onitaijin. Together, they finish off the Hitotsuking.

Tarou hurries back to face Sonoi on the bridge. Immediately after henshin, Tarou slashes at Sonoi who falls to the ground. Tarou walks away and Murasame arrives to carry the lifeless Sonoi away.

Episode Thoughts

Lol What is happening? Are we killing off villains too early again? Lol

This is one of those episodes that show how Donbrothers can be all over the place, yet still be enjoyable and fun. Somehow the Donbros are able to distract you from things that could be worthy of criticism. And before you know it, you’ve reached the preview for next week having thoroughly enjoyed the last half hour.

(I will say though that the longer they keep Tsubasa away from the rest of the Donbros, the less tolerant I will be lol We’re getting into the 30s now, I think they need to get moving on that part of the story.)

I feel like this episode is as close to the midseason climax as we’ll get, since we’re already at Episode 27 and they even brought back the Hitotsukis of the Week. But I guess with the way the season has played out with its slowburn progression style, we may not get the big explosive shocker of an episode at the midpoint like we usually do.

(I dunno, maybe I’m just trying to be defensive of Donbrothers. lol)

I get the need for the duel. Sonoi has made it clear the Don Clan are enemies of the Noto. The Don Clan are threats to the Noto’s very existence and with Tarou being the sole surviving member, he needs to be eliminated. The relationship Tarou and Sonoi have developed added that extra layer of course. That whole “We could have been friends (or more! 😳) in another life” or something like that added the tragic feels for their duel and Sonoi’s eventual suicidal defeat. (Their last convo with the bandaging each other up was very romantic lol)

I think another aspect of their story furthers this idea that Tarou is special. He (positively) affects people around him once they get to know him. Or once they’ve truly formed a bond with him. That’s true of the Donbros. And I guess that’s true of Sonoi as well.

I certainly hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Sonoi. Who knows what Murasame is going to do with his lifeless body. But I hope we at least get to see Sononi and Sonoza reacting to Sonoi’s “death” in the next episode. Though I think they kind of came to terms with it when they realized what Sonoi was aiming for during their training.

The free for all at the end of the episode was fun. It merely got everyone else involved in the episode. And perhaps it was a passing of the torch, sort of, to the Juto becoming the Donbros’ main antagonists for the near future while the Sonoi-less Noto either take a backseat or shift toward a more friendly relationship with the Donbros. Which we of course have already seen with Tarou and Sonoi, Sonoza and Haruka and Sononi and Tsubasa.

I sometimes judge an episode by the feelings and emotions it brings about in me. If it makes me cry, I’ll probably love it. lol

But while they put in all the necessary pieces at the end of the episode, Tarou and Sonoi’s theme song, that heat haze and the audio cutting out with the decisive slash, I felt more “wow” than “WOWOWOW,” you know? Lol

Anyway, it was a good episode. I enjoyed it. I had fun. We’ll see where things go from here.

Non-CGI Donbro of the Week