Avataro
Summary
"I... have arrived!"Original Japanese line
21 years ago, Jin Momoi picked up a mysterious peach-shaped capsule that had drifted in from somewhere. In it, to his surprise, was a baby.
In the present day, Ordinary High-School Student and manga artist Haruka Kito was meant to receive the manga award of her dreams, but a series of bizarre events causes her to lose everything. She finds an odd pair of sunglasses and gets transported to a mysterious virtual realm. Jin appears before the bewildered Haruka, informing her she had been chosen as a warrior, and tasks her to "Seek out Taro Momoi, and you may be able to reclaim what you lost." Meanwhile, a group of mysterious beings called the Noto have started making their move.
Tropes
- 20 Minutes into the Past: The Cold Opening takes place 21 years ago, with Jin suddenly witnessing Taro descend onto Earth in a mechanical peach capsule.
- Bait-and-Switch: After Haruka's encounter with Taro, we get a cut of his nametag where it's clearly shown that his name is Taro Momoi. Haruka then proclaims she had figured out who "Taro Momoi" is, leading viewers to assume she saw his nametag, only to reveal that she was thinking about Sonoi instead.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Haruka, in sheer bewilderment, turns to the camera and asks the audience that there's no way that Don Momotaro is Taro because of his Large Ham personality.
- The Cameo: Ayumi Shimozono, Oni Sister's suit actor, and her dogs make an appearance near the end of the episode as Haruka is trying to find Taro.
- Can't Refuse the Call Anymore: Haruka is forced to fight as Oni Sister no matter how much she hates it, as she literally can't get rid of the glasses and DonBlaster. While she's reluctant to be a hero, she decides to find Taro and her other teammates at the end.
- Defictionalisation: Haruka's manga, First Love Hero, is real and can be downloaded from the Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club.
- Dramatic Irony: Haruka's Breaking the Fourth Wall moment. Sure honey, Don Momotaro is definitely not Taro Momoi.
- Electric Slide: Haruka gets on her knees and slides towards people she thinks is "Taro Momoi", having literally taken Jin's words to assume she must physically kneel before them and swear fealty.
- Failed a Spot Check: Oh that delivery guy with the name tag that reads Taro Momoi is definitely not the same person I gotta look for. How silly would it be!
- Fair-Weather Friend: Haruka’s classmates go from congratulating her on her award to wanting her to go to prison for plagiarism once it appears she cheated.
- Mistaken Identity: Occurs twice, in the same scene nonetheless.
- The first time, she mistakes Sonoi for being Taro as he saved her last night, only to be proven wrong when he transforms a civilian into a Hitotsu-Ki.
- The second time, she mistakes Tsuyoshi for being Taro because of his pink/"peach-colored" sunglasses, only for him to unfavourably tell her she picked a wrong time to do this and transforms into Kiji Brother instead.
- Out of Focus: As the episode focuses mostly on Haruka, Taro and Tsuyoshi only get a couple of scenes each.
- Poor Communication Kills: Haruka's search for Taro is complicated by her only having a name to go on, and being so turned off by Taro's personality that she doesn't even consider the possibility that he's the one.
- Selective Obliviousness: Despite his Big Entrance and display of his Experienced Protagonist status, Haruka refuses to even consider that Don Momotaro would likely be the heroic "Taro Momoi" she was looking for because of his Large Ham personality. Not even seeing his nametag is enough to make her connect the dots.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Haruka is told to seek out Taro Momoi, but due to both Taro and Momoi being relatively common names in Japan (though Momoi less so) and Momotaro in general being such a popular Public Domain Character, her search is left only slightly easier than if she had no leads at all.
- Trauma Conga Line: Haruka's seemingly perfect life falls into chaos after becoming Oni Sister - her manga is suddenly cancelled due to an accusation of Plagiarism, her classmates and boyfriend all lose their respect for her, and she's forced to transform and fight wherever there's trouble brewing, even witnessing a classmate become a Hitotsu-Ki and Sonoi erase him from existence right before her eyes.
