Film / Avataro Sentai Donbrothers VS Zenkaiger

All spoilers for Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger VS Kiramager VS Senpaiger and Avataro Sentai Donbrothers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

The annual crossover movie between Avataro Sentai Donbrothers and Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger.

The Zenkaigers have returned from their latest journey, only to learn Kashiwamochi Wald is back and Zocks is now promoting himself as the world's new king. Just what has gotten into him?!

Meanwhile, in the time since Taro vanished, the team have mostly gone their separate ways. However, their time apart is cut short when Taro returns along with a new foe in the form of Kikai-ki!

These two stories eventually collide into one colossal team up, all leading up to the answer for one single question: just who is Master Kaito?

Tropes

• 10-Minute Retirement: At Cafe Donbura, the team eventually decides to retire from being Donbrothers and go their separate ways, their morale sapped by Jiro's Control Freak nature. After Taro dies saving them from Kikai-Ki, Master Kaito gives their glasses back so they can avenge him.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Tsuyoshi and Tsubasa ended the show with a broken friendship after the latter's inability to empathize with the former's loss of Miho. By the time of the film they've repaired their friendship; Tsubasa withholding all of his store's sweets for Tsuyoshi specifically and the latter calling the former "his friend" when Natsumi drags him away.
• Bad Boss: Jiro's debut in the film involves him trying to de-motivate Taro from re-joining the team and yelling at a maid for not imitating Rumi's hairstyle. As the film goes on, it's revealed Jiro was this bad from day one of his leadership and has been such a Control Freak that the Donbrothers would rather step down than deal with it anymore.
• Bait-and-Switch: Minoru's mother, hospitalized for an unknown reason, apparently wishes her son her Final Words of wanting him to achieve his dreams before passing out, which motivates Minoru to become Kikai-Ki to finally achieve what he believes is his ultimate dream of finally defeating the Donbrothers. Turns out his mother did not die at all, but merely fell asleep.
• Belated Happy Ending: Surprisingly this happens to Jiro, at the end of Donbrothers, he learned that his whole village including his friends and girlfriend are all illusions created by his father, the Penguin Juto, which is part of what drives his behavior during the crossover movie. His last scene in the movie is him hospitalized after a fight with Sonoi, but there he meets a nurse named Hikari Asada who looks exactly like his illusionary girlfriend with the implication that he might hit it off with her.
• Blackmail Backfire: Near the end of the Donbrothers portion, Taro encourages the team to fight the way they want to instead of living under Jiro's constraints. Jiro doesn't take kindly to this and goes as far as to threaten to stop funding the jobs and lives he helped them achieve. They react with universal disgust and only flock to Taro harder, disregarding the perks Jiro gave them to be a team again.
• Breaking Old Trends: Unlike pasts Super Sentai crossovers, this is the first VS movie that featured a separate storyline for each respective teams before it culminates to a proper crossover in the final act of the movie.
• Breaking the Fellowship: Invoked. The team is so thoroughly de-moralized by Jiro's smothering leadership that when Taro comes back, they bring him to Cafe Donbura just to discuss going their separate ways. Sonoza's not having it and after Taro's (temporary) death at the hands of Kikai-Ki, re-unites everyone with a Rousing Speech. After Taro's revived by Sonoi, everyone sans Jiro is quick to form the gang again.
• Call-Back: The Zenkaiger Part of the Movie makes several to the previous Zenkaiger Team-Up Movie.
  • Kashiwamochi Wald was revealed to be brought back by the previous Big Bad, Dr. Iokaru.
  • Potdeus is shown working as a butler in Kikaitopia under Stacy.
  • Donbrothers-wise, Taro interviews each of the Donbrothers the same way he does in the show's finale to catch up on what's he's missed.
  • Ohsama-Ki is one of the Hitotsu-Ki the team is seen fighting in a flashback sequence.
  • Due to Taro's original Early-Bird Cameo, Kaito remembers him as the "wahaha guy".
  • Jiro's wealth is from the sponsorship of Kentaro Goda, the former host of Denji-Ki.
• Character Check: Invoked. Jiro's portrayal in the Cinema is more on-point with elements of his initial portrayal of "Well-meaning but a bit ruthless," albeit amplified to the Nth degree by the competitive aggression of the Dangerous personality. The Jiro of the film is basically the worst result of both halves' Split-Personality Merge, with cartoonishly-few positives and no Heel Realization.
• Control Freak: Jiro's style of leadership in contrast to Taro. Jiro insists the team go through pre-determined formations and stick to their places; reacting violently to any dissent on the matter. While tactically sound, it also takes away the team's camaraderie and by the time of the film, has them all seriously considering stepping down. Taro acknowledges this change of operations as the source of the team's problems - their free-spiritedness is what gave them their strength.
  Oni Sister: Forget about formations! We just gotta fight like who we are!
  Don Momotaro: Correct. That is the strength of the Donbrothers.
• Covers Always Lie: The Mirrored Confrontation Shot of Don Momotaro and Zenkaiser on the film poster is misleading: The teams never fight one another and actually get along great during their short time together. Zenkaiser even remembers Taro as the "wahaha guy" and is ecstatic to see him. The only members with any hostility at all is Jiro, who Sonoi shoves him out of commission pretty quickly, and Zox to a far lesser degree, with only a verbal squabble with Jiro before the aforementioned events occur.
• The Dog Bites Back: Sonoi clashes with Jiro over his tyrannical leadership of the Donbrothers and loses, being exiled from the team. When the two Sentai teams unite later, Sonoi intercepts an attempt by Jiro to attack Taro from behind during the final battle, hospitalizing him.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: The populace of Zenkaitopia is enshackled to the thrall of Kashiwamochi, with the Goldtsuikers using their newfound addictions to keep the people in line and the mochi flowing. The Zenkaigers interfere by starting an illicit Kashiwamochi trade cooked from neighboring worlds, slowly undoing his hold on everyone and eventually the Wald's hold over the Goldtsuikers.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: In contrast to Taro (who only really demands loyalty), Jiro is a iron-fisted leader that demands the team fight in specific formations and follows his strategic commands unquestioningly. This leads to a tussle between him and Sonoi when the latter gets fed up with it, getting him kicked off the team.
• Food End: The Zenkaiger cast's end has them having a sushi feast.
• Happy Ending Override: At the end of Avataro Sentai Donbrothers, the Donbrothers had all grown as people and become a true team capable of working together, with Taro having designated Jiro as the team's new leader and, (though he had to lose his memories and leave the team) starting a new life without fighting. By the time of Donbrothers VS Zenkaiger, the team have regressed from their newfound leases on life to outright apathy thanks to Jiro's terrible leadership; forcing Master Kaito to drag Taro out of retirement to lead the team again, which in turn reverts Jiro to his old homicidally-insecure self.
• Hero Antagonist: Jiro has used his wealth to help the other Donbrothers with their stations in life, but is quick to blackmail them into taking it all away to get the group to repel Taro from the group dynamic when he returns and has overall devolved into a Drill Sergeant Nasty between the finale and now, making fighting under him an inflexible chore. Sonoi grows tired of it and eventually scuffles with Jiro, getting kicked off the team for it. Taro eventually re-takes control by the end of the film, which everyone other than Jiro is more than comfortable with. Jiro attempts to attack Taro during the final battle, but is intercepted by Sonoi, who ends up putting him in the hospital.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Implied. Sonoi expels the essence taken from Taro to revive him during the show into the man's coffin to return the favor. During the credits, Sonoza finds him unresponsive in his oden stand, his fate unclear.
• Hijacked by Ganon: Kashiwamochi Wald came to Zenkaitopia in the hopes of conquering it, only for Zocks to have been controlled so thoroughly that he ended up taking the place for him.
• How We Got Here: Taro, much like in the show's finale, interviews each member of the team individually to catch up on what he's missed. When he gets to Sonoi, he learns what a living nightmare serving under Jiro is.
• Identical Stranger: While hospitalized, Jiro encounters a nurse named Hikari Asada who looks exactly like Rumi.
• Ignored Aesop: Jiro's Split Personality prevented him from learning the lesson of not letting power go to one's head last time - Jiro uses the wealth he gained from a sponsor to essentially buy the Donbrothers' friendship, funding their various pastimes and jobs. But, his regimented leadership and Lack of Empathy has tanked team morale by the time of Taro's return. When Taro flags this as the source of the team's issues and re-takes commmand, Jiro tries to blackmail everyone by threatening to withdraw his funding instead of understanding that his Control Freak nature was harming everyone else.
• Just Eat Gilligan: The Zenkaigers waste no time trying to kill Kashiwamochi Wald the moment they learn he's the one behind the weird behavior they find back on their world. Unfortunately, Zocks interferes by setting the populace after them, and later keeps the Wald on their ship, forcing the team to think of a plan to reach him.
• Last Disrespects: While everyone else is huddled in mourning over Taro's coffin saying how he protected them, Jiro is nonchalant about his passing, claiming he must have "lost his edge too."
• Losing the Team Spirit: Jiro's Control Freak leadership has sapped so much of the team's morale that by the time of the film, they're tired of the Donbrothers and are toying around with the idea of stepping down to live their lives. After talking with Taro, they do... until he dies fighting a new Hitotsu-Ki and they return to the fold to avenge him.
• Mood Whiplash: Just after Sonoi apparently dies, it cuts to the main Donbrothers.
• Never Recycle Your Schemes: Parodied. Kashiwa Mochi Wald insists his plan and motif are totally original, even as Magine and Juran point out that Tozitend already tries the exact same plan.
• Never Trust a Trailer:
  • One of the major elements of the trailer was delivering on a year-long Running Gag and finally revealing the identity of Master Kaito. They don't reveal it here either, much less even try to explain why there are two Kaitos. He only calls himself "an eternal hero".
  • The trailer frames the Donbrothers portion of the Cinema as though Taro is being shunned by the rest of the team for unknown reasons, then dying at the hands of a new enemy. The scene depicting this is actually him protecting the de-powered team (who briefly retire from the strain of Jiro's leadership) from Kikai-Ki. Jiro is the only one actually trying to shove Taro out of the group dynamic and he ultimately fails after Sonoi revives Taro a third time.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Sonoi prevents Jiro from launching a sneak attack on Don Momotaro during the final battle, declaring him his opponent. We only see the fight's outcome: Jiro sulking in the hospital.
• Poor Communication Kills: Ichiko Ohno's passing out combined with what appeared to be her Final Words to Minoru ends up sending him into such a flying rage to defeat the Donbrothers in her honor, he manages to outright kill Taro for it. But as it turns out, she only fell asleep and wasn't in any danger of death.
• Previously on…: Both Secchan and Haruka give recaps before their respective segmenrs.
• The Reveal:
  • Minoru's mother is named Ichiko.
  • Subverted for one of the biggest-teased reveals of the film. When the two Kaitos meet and Master Kaito was asked for an explanation of why there are two of him, he simply states he is just an eternal hero.
• Rousing Speech: At Taro's funeral, Sonoza admonishes the Donbrothers for having retired to live their lives despite Taro having protected them this whole time. The team's not okay with it and take their glasses back from Kaito to engage Kikai-Ki.
  Sonoza: Are you fine with all this now?! Taro protected you all this time and he died doing it! Are you just going to selfishly live your lives? Are you fine with that?!
• Running Gag:
  • This is the fifth time Minoru Ohno has become a Hitotsu-ki. In-universe however, he has been a recurring enemy as Ohsama-Ki for so long the team had lost track of the amount of encounters they had with him, and had only recently gained his Kikai-Ki powers after what seemed to be his mother's death.
  • Sononi's cutesy reactions to Tsubasa saying cool things comes back, believing he's saying them for her. In this case, he is saying them for her.
  • Once again, absolutely no explanation is given for the identity of Master Kaito.
• Same Plot Sequel: The Donbrothers portion of the V-Cinema once more explores the notion of Jiro taking control of the team and it all going downhill, the difference being that the former was the result of ignorance whereas Jiro's actions (and the effect they're having on everyone else) are portrayed more maliciously here.
• Status Quo Is God: Invoked. Despite all the vantages in life Jiro had provided them through his newfound wealth, the Donbrothers decide to completely return to their old lives of being part of the team. This is especially explicit with Tsubasa, who despite being provided a stable career as a patisserie chef decides to give it all up just to frame himself and Sononi as criminals once more, simply because he feels he is at his happiest being on the run. The team then takes on Taro's Training from Hell after affirming their decision to stay on as Donbrothers.
• Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: The Donbrothers side of the V-Cinema is driven by Jiro having become such a horrible Control Freak between the finale and now that everyone's Losing the Team Spirit. Jiro spends the entire act trying to oppose, de-motivate and downplay Taro when he regains his memories and returns; barely stopped by Sonoi from outright murdering him in the climax.
• Take a Third Option: When the two teams transform, they rush through each of their role calls simultaneously. Kikai-Ki and Kashiwamochi Wald call them out for being inaudible. The teams just settle for their group names instead and move things along.
• This Page Will Self-Destruct: Master Kaito contacts Taro through a recorded message in a bowl of ramen, which informs him the Donbrothers needs his help. He then declares the ramen will now self-destruct, which just culminates in the noodles simply warping out of existence within the bowl.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Played for Drama. Jiro's leadership of the Donbrothers is turbulent, to put it gently. Jiro has become a Drill Sergeant Nasty that dangles his newfound wealth over everyone's heads; having kicked Sonoi off the team for criticizing his Control Freak leadership, threatening to un-do the favors he's done for everyone to cling to his leadership position when Taro re-takes command and even trying to attack Taro during the final battle instead of learning his lesson, only stopped by Sonoi's intervention.
• Uncertain Doom: It is not made clear whether Sonoi died at the end of the film from returning Taro the essence that had revived him, or simply passed out from the exhaustion of this event combined with fighting in the climax afterwards.
• Villain Team-Up: Kikai-Ki and Kashiwamochi Wald decide to team up when everyone meets up in the third act, even swapping arsenals as an act of unity.
• Will They or Won't They?: The movie delivers on the implication in the Donbrothers finale that Tsuyoshi and Natsumi would continue "the dream" he and Miho started, establishing them as together.
• The Worf Effect: Sonoi has battled Taro at his peak on multiple occasions (even getting an upgrade specifically to do so), yet Jiro was able to take him down single-handedly in a Flashback. At the film's climax, the inverse happens: A De-powered Sonoi stops Jiro from back-attacking Taro during the final battle and hospitalizes him off-screen.