The Rainbow the Oni Saw
Summary
Power of the Ancestors, but more oni! Don't tell Jayden.
Haruka: Don Momotaro is already strong enough.
But now that he can turn into Don Robotaro, he's grown even more powerful.
And it turns out, the owner of Café Donbura is able to change into a warrior as well.
But now that he can turn into Don Robotaro, he's grown even more powerful.
And it turns out, the owner of Café Donbura is able to change into a warrior as well.
Ever since she was framed for plagiarism, former photographer Marina Maeda has devoted herself to Taro Momoi's cause and fights alongside the Donbrothers as Oni Sister. This time, she must fight off against a Hitotsu-ki targeting mangakas, and soon finds herself protecting a strange ordinary high school mangaka named Haruka Kito.
...
Hold on, something's not right here...
Tropes
- 10-Minute Retirement: Haruka quits the Donbrothers, resulting in Marina taking her place as Oni Sister. Haruka ends up taking the role back when she realizes that her replacement can't handle the Dark and Troubled Past aspect.
- Aside Glance: Haruka breaks the fourth wall when she realizes that the man who rescued her from Marina is none other than Kaizoku-Ki himself.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Once again, a risky wish is made through Kibi-Points. Haruka's wish to leave the Donbrothers gets granted, but not only does she realise she is now dissatisfied with her old life and misses the Donbrothers, her role gets thrown to someone else incapable of handling the trauma, making her feel serious guilt over ruining someone else's life just to regain her own.
- Close-Enough Timeline: Haruka choosing to quit the Donbrothers creates an Alternate Timeline which is as little changed as possible, with the new Oni Sister, Marina, being a photographer who gets accused of plagiarism instead.
- Contrived Coincidence: The very next monster the Donbrothers face after Haruka quits exclusively targets Manga creators, meaning not only does Haruka not have the ability to defend herself but she's immediately thrust back into their world and sees the fallout of her actions. This isn't a result of her wish either, as after the original reality is restored, they're still fighting the same monster who was still targeting manga authors. Haruka was presumably spared being targeted because in this reality she is an unpopular "plagiarist" who didn't attract his attention.
- Faking Amnesia: Kaito pretends not to know Haruka when she arrives at the cafe. When she angrily grabs him and demands that he undo the change, he sheepishly admits that he remembers her and does as Haruka asks.
- Foreshadowing: A hint that Marina took the plagiarism accusation worse than Haruka is that the former's reaction upon seeing her rival's photograph is stabbing it with a knife, unlike Haruka who in the previous episode read the manga she supposedly plagiarized and actually admitted that it was actually decent.
- A few episodes prior when prompted to imagine herself doing what she loved during Shinichi's bit teaching the class Haruka attempted to imagine herself writing a manga and winning the award again only for her thoughts to unexpectedly turn to fighting as Oni Sister instead much to her confusion. This episode would show that as much as Haruka thought being a famous manga writer was what she truly wanted, she quickly started missing being a Donbrother and found the manga life not quite as satisfying as she expected.
- Fun T-Shirt: Haruka wears a shirt with the phrase "you gotta be kidding me" throughout the episode, which pretty much illustrates her own reaction to the episode's events.
- The Heart: Marina is this to the alternate Don Brothers and seemingly through her they were able to form a much closer bond than they had in the original timeline. Once it's undone they're back to their usual dynamic, although seeing what they could be inspires Haruka to attempt to play a similar role in her own way.
- It's a Wonderful Plot: The main plot of the episode illustrates to Haruka what a world where she never became a Donbrother would look like.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Upon realizing Marina's fear of cameras severely affects her ability to fight, Haruka realizes that she shouldn't have given up her position as not only was her Trauma Conga Line passed on, her replacement didn't have the mental fortitude to cope with the PTSD and ended up becoming a worse substitute as a result.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Kaito becomes rather startled at Haruka twice in the episode.
- The first time is when Haruka told him that she wanted to go back to her old life. His face notably falls at her exuberance.
- The second time is when Haruka tells him that she wants to go back to being a Donbrother, forcibly grabbing him in the process. He responds in a sheepish manner - a far cry from his usual stoic confidence.
- Rewriting Reality: Quitting the Donbrothers is revealed to work this way — the original member would still retain their memories, but an Alternate Timeline is created where they are replaced by a Suspiciously Similar Substitute who has been working with the team all along from the start, with the team having no recollection of having met the original member. Undoing this doesn't rewind the clock either, the timeline is simply switched back to how things would have originally played out if the member hadn't quit, with them not actually knowing what happened in the that period because they didn't experience it. From Haruka's perspective she suddenly jumps from talking to Kaito to the middle of the fight as if she'd always been there.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Kaito is revealed to have this when Haruka forces him to confess that he actually remembers her.
- Seeking the Missing, Finding the Dead: Or rather, finding a monster. A ramen chef serves Kenji Sayama some food, only to realise the latter was reported as one of the missing victims from the bus crash that happened the previous episode. "Kenji" then reveals he has Glowing Eyes and Fangs Are Evil before starting to wolf down all the meat in the restaurant and attacking the chef for trying to restrain him.
- Shipper on Deck: Haruka thinks Shinichi and Marina are in a relationship and seems supportive of the idea.A hot twist! Love blooms in a Sentai!
- Spanner in the Works: Marina would have informed Haruka of the last two Donbrothers' identities, had she not spotted the very photograph that ruined her career at the restaurant they were eating at.
- Superpowers For A Day: Marina becomes the new Oni Sister after Haruka spends all her Kibi-Points to quit, but it doesn't last long as the former's fear of cameras leads to her being unable to aim a gun properly, forcing Haruka to reclaim her position as Oni Sister to save the day.
- Superior Successor: Haruka initially believes Marina to be this, having gotten along with Taro and Shinichi much better than she did, and being able flawlessly swear loyalty to Don Momotaro without being kicked away. Averted when it turns out that for all her competence and people skills that Haruka lacks, Marina doesn't have the mental fortitude to handle her plagiarism scandal like Haruka could, giving her PTSD that causes her to freeze up in battle when anything reminds her of her previous job. Like say, aiming the Donblaster reminding her of aiming a camera...
- The Reveal: Sonoi reveals that the 41 people on the bus last episode are alive, but are currently taken by the Juto for their purposes.
- Trauma Button: Marina seems like the perfect replacement for Haruka, but she has one major problem: she’s too traumatized after being accused of plagiarism to the point she can’t even aim her weapon since it reminds her of aiming a camera.
- Wham Shot: Kenji Sayama, who was thought to be one of the victims of the bus crash the previous episode, is revealed to be alive, only that he now has Glowing Eyes and Fangs Are Evil while showing a very beastlike behavior. And then he proceeds to fold an origami...
- What You Are in the Dark: Haruka could have quit being Oni Sister with only Kaito knowing about it, but upon seeing that her Trauma Conga Line passed on to someone who didn't have the mental fortitude to cope with it, she immediately runs back and undoes her wish.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: What Haruka's Fun T-Shirt says, which pretty much sums up the episode.
