My Son, the Puppet
Summary
I think you're haiku-ing a little too hard there, Taro...
Taro: Jiro Momotani has two different personalities.
And when the two of them combine, they become Toradragonjin.
And when the two of them combine, they become Toradragonjin.
Taro is mistaken for the long-lost son of one of his delivery recipients, Tomoko. According to Shinichi, Tomoko fell into a major depression because her only son, Koichiro, ran away from home and never returned. Shinichi asks Taro to cheer Tomoko up by pretending to be Koichiro, but Taro is hesitant, stymied by his inability to lie. Shinichi thus comes up with a plan to resolve this.
Tropes
- Bait-and-Switch: When Shinichi and Tsuyoshi decide to quit speaking for Taro, Haruka then says that it's up to her to save the day. Rather than going to the mic and speaking for Taro, however, she decides to warp to where he is, and announce herself as "Koichiro"'s wife, much to Taro's and Tomoko's surprise.
- Brick Joke: Earlier in the episode Tomoko requests "Koichiro" to play the piano for her, however Taro doesn't know how to play the piano. Kaito later shows them a piano in a back room of Donbura and plays a piece, which Taro claims he has instantly learnt it via Awesomeness by Analysis. Haruka claims in an Aside Glance that it's impossible. The end of the episode has Taro perfectly recite Chopin's Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 in E-flat major on the piano, proving his Instant Expert skills.
- Call-Back:
- The equipment the team used to puppet Taro are all acquired from Goda Digital Holdings, the company that belonged to Goda/Denji-Ki from episode 22.
- While Kaito plays the piano, the scene cuts to the mini-booth he set up to sell his photobook, which notes that it's all sold out.
- Cover Identity Anomaly: Averted. The Donbrothers went as far as recruiting Koichiro's old high school friends specifically to avoid this.
- Desperately Seeking A Purpose In Life: Ninja-Ki's motivation. It's implied he ran away from home after cracking from the constant pressure his mother put on him.
- The Infiltration: The episode revolves around Taro pretending to be a forlorn mother's missing son despite his inability to lie.
- Instant Expert: Somewhat played with as while Taro is naturally amazing at everything (as the audience well knows by now), he does seem to require someone to actually show him the gist of how to do something before he can instantly master it. When asked to play the piano, Taro has no idea what to do, but after seeing Kaito demonstrate it once, he's able to play an expert level piece.
- Loophole Abuse: Since the Donbrothers planned for Taro to "act" as Tomoko's son, knowing full well that he Cannot Tell a Lie, they decide to get around this by having Shinichi speak for Taro through a hidden speaker while they follow him around with a hidden camera and mic.
- Parents as People: Discussed. Tomoko espouses constantly how much she loves her son. However she also reveals herself as hyper-critical and quick to temper, which explains why Koichiro left home in the first place. As Taro's infiltration unravels, she starts to notice these traits in herself and becomes apologetic. At the end of the episode, Koichiro finally comes home.
- People Puppets: Shinichi's solution to get Taro to "act" as Tomoko's son is for him to become one of these, with the team watching and controlling him from behind the scenes through a hidden camera and mic on Taro while speaking for him through a speaker.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Upon Tomoko dissing his haiku-ing through Taro, Shinichi walks out on the operation in anger despite being the one who masterminded it. Tsyuyoshi takes over, but promptly does the same thing when he can't help but mention his wife through Taro, which Tomoko disapproves of.
- Surrounded by Idiots: Kaito is impressed when he notices the others actually recruited Koichiro's friends to help Taro's imitation of him. However, Shinichi and Tsuyoshi inject their own personal issues into the Koichiro character and lose their heads to Tomoko's derision, abandoning the operation. Kaito's face can only be described as "shoot me now."
- Weirdness Censor: Instead of running scared, Tomoko actively attacks the armed ninja monster with her purse when she thinks it's going to attack Taro (whom she thinks is her son).
