Hellish Path of Manga
Summary
Haruka: One of our enemies has kidnapped me.
Not because I'm one of the Donbrothers, but because he was greatly moved by my manga!
Not because I'm one of the Donbrothers, but because he was greatly moved by my manga!
Ever since being kidnapped by Sonoza, who is moved by her work First Love Hero, Haruka is driven to continue creating manga again. This time, her new work is about a female high school transfer student, however it isn't enough to satisfy Sonoza. Falling into a slump, Haruka decides to meet with the author who had accused her of plagiarism. Meanwhile, Taro makes a delivery to a man named Goda who lives in a mansion. Having everything he wants yet is still bored with life, Goda evolves into Denji-Ki.
Tropes
- Ambiguous Situation: Downplayed Trope. We don't know who actually won the manga duel between Haruka and Naoki as we never got to see Sonoza's opinion on Naoki's plagiarised version of Haruka's manuscript, but Naoki managing to provide a more complete art as well as ending it off in a The Tape Knew You Would Say That panel of her reading the manuscript itself has her admit defeat to them this round, while swearing to outdo them one day.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Naoki Shiina, the author who accused Haruka of plagiarism, comes across as this. Despite being The Voiceless and hiding their identity in a bunny mascot costume, they run away immediately upon Haruka coming up to confront them. During their manga duel to impress Sonoza later on, they instead copied Haruka's signature dish, beef stroganoff, as an attempt to use Food as Bribe to please him, and when Haruka returns from her Donbrother work they had already left, leaving behind a manuscript which was yet another Plagiarism in Fiction of her proposed work to Sonoza that ends in an accurately depicted panel of Haruka reading said manuscript itself, just to piss her off.
- Foreshadowing: Jiro, who has been left behind as the Donbrothers fight Denji-King as Don Onitaijin, decides that he wants the power of Robotaro as well.
- Hand Wave: The episode brings up both the effects Jiro's Split Personality has on team morale and the shared usage of "Don" in his and Taro's names. Taro continues the trend of ignoring everyone else's concerns and downplays these as minor nuisances: citing Torabolt as "keeping everyone on their toes" and ignoring the idea of being Jiro's big brother completely.
- High School AU: In-Universe example. Haruka decides to set her new manga in a high school, with the cast being full of New Transfer Students based on the Donbrothers and the Noto.
- Ignored Epiphany: Played for Laughs. Jiro and Taro both discuss the potential that they may be related to each other through the Don Clan. After ten seconds of Chirping Crickets, Taro disregards the notion on-the-spot.
- Imagine Spot: Haruka has several of these after realizing she has fallen into a slump, imagining herself as one of Don Momotaro's Summon Backup Dancers as she laments over having Writer's Block. There's also the live portrayals of her High School AU.
- Internal Reveal: Jiro is finally told about his outbursts and turning on the team when his other personality takes over. Jiro doesn't remember when Torabolt is in control, but he does believe them. When Taro again upsets him later in the episode by telling him the other Donbrothers don't need his assistance Jiro manages to keep his anger in check this time and instead channels his effort to holding off Sonoi.
- Magical Girl: Haruka imagines herself and Sononi as this in two separate ideas she pitches to Sonoza, the first one of which is a Homage to Bishoujo Kamen Poitrine.
- Out of Focus: The first episode since Don Murasame's debut to not feature him in any capacity.
- Plagiarism in Fiction: We get to see the full extent of Naoki Shiina's mysterious ability to plagiarise Haruka here, as not only were they also able to recreate Haruka's signature beef stroganoff dish down to the taste (something that is really personal to her and not public knowledge), in the short span of time Haruka was sent by the Call to Adventure to fight Denji-Ki they were also able to plagiarise her proposed manuscript to Sonoza, First Love Hero: New Term, and rename it True First Love Hero: New Term, while ending it in a The Tape Knew You Would Say That panel of her actual response to reading it.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The episode's title is derived from the autobiography Manga Michi (γΎγγι, "Way of the Manga") by Fujiko Fujio.
- Selective Obliviousness: Taro ignores all dissent from the others concerning Jiro's Split Personality (which to reiterate has attempted to kill him twice now), even calling it a good tool to "keep them on their toes."
- Smelly Feet Gag: Haruka's High School AU equivalent manages to catch Taro's slipper mid-toss when he throws it at her. She calls it "stanky" and recoils.
- Stop Copying Me: Naoki is even able to copy the taste of Haruka's Beef Stroganoff, which only incenses her further.
- This Means War!: At the end, Haruka vows to one day outdo Naoki Shiina.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Once again, Taro's Brutal Honesty causes another person to turn into a Hitotsu-Ki, with Goda turning into Denji-Ki after realizing his desire for an exciting story.
- Writer's Block: Haruka struggles with creating new ideas for her new manga, often amounting to contrived plotlines with bland characterization in Sonoza's eyes.
