Pupper Unmasked
Summary
Ah, great! Now he's gonna get that wet dog smell!
Tsubasa: I've only ever interacted with my teammates during battle, with neither of us aware of our true identities.
Do I even want to know? Or am I better off not knowing?
Honestly, I'm not even sure myself...
Do I even want to know? Or am I better off not knowing?
Honestly, I'm not even sure myself...
Jiro theorizes that Inu Brother is Tsubasa, based on his scent. However, having interacted with him the most, Tsuyoshi denies the possibility of it. Taro and the other Donbrothers decide to take this opportunity to investigate the true identity of Inu Brother. In the midst of all this, Tensou-Ki appears. After the battle, Taro invites Inu Brother to come to Donbura.
Tropes
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: Ryuji lets becoming Inu Brother get to his head, slicking back his hair and spouting edgy catch phrases in an effort to look cool.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- Taro invites Tsubasa to Donbura so he can finally reveal his identity. As the Donbrothers wait for Inu Brother to arrive, a couple of women walking their dogs enter the cafe instead while Tsubasa ghosts them, leading Taro to take more drastic measures in their next encounter.
- While the others are marveling at Ryuji's "edgy" persona, Tsuyoshi encounters Tsubasa outside the cafe's entrance, setting up an Internal Reveal...which is instead a segway into the latter inquiring more about Miho to determine if she's Natsumi or not.
- Broken Pedestal: Downplayed. Tsuyoshi marvels at Ryuji as Inu Brother, admiring how cool he is... and then he later gets into a fight with him after the latter mistakes Miho for his ex-girlfriend Shoko.
- Cassandra Truth: Jiro correctly guesses that Inu Brother is Tsubasa Inuzuka, however none of the other Donbrothers believe him.
- Chubby Chaser: The first Tensou-Ki loses his distorted desires when the waitress at the restaurant he eats at shows appreciation for his big appetite. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean that the Hitotsu-Ki itself is defeated.
- Contrived Coincidence: Tsubasa crashes into Ryuji Inui, a guy who happens to share a lot of qualities with him such as his penchant for wearing black, pining over a woman who supposedly happens to look like Miho, and a dog-themed namenote , after getting thrown into the air by Tensou-Ki's attack.
- Cringe Comedy: The Donbrothers spend this entire episode in such utter confidence that they finally have Inu Brother's identity revealed, their casual interactions with the confused Ryuji may be painful to watch with the knowledge that they're having the wrong guy all along.
- Foil: Ryuji to Tsubasa, weirdly enough. Both are seeking their girlfriends after incidents split them apart and both of them stumbled into the power of Inu Brother by accident. Tsubasa is slightly-unscrupulous yet ultimately well-meaning, trying to remain anonymous lest he endanger someone. He doesn't impulsively confront Tsuyoshi about the Mistaken Identity of Miho as Natsumi and instead discretely inquires about her to learn more first. Ryuji by contrast is ambitious and is actively seeking validation. When he accepts the moniker of Inu Brother, the power quickly goes to his head and when he mistakes Miho for his girlfriend (similarly to Tsubasa), he gets aggressive and almost starts a fight with Tsuyoshi, eventually becoming Tensou-Ki. Ryuji is essentially Tsubasa if he had less restraint and acted as "edgy" as Tsubasa only pretends to.
- Foreshadowing: Ryuji's falling-out with Tsuyoshi over Miho's Mistaken Identity parallels the confrontation the salaryman and Tsubasa will have over the exact same thing three episodes later.
- Gonk: Shoko appears before Ryuji at the end of the episode. She looks nothing like Miho, possessing a rigid Jojo-esque face.
- Grand Romantic Gesture: Exploited. Miho goes as far as to clean Tsuyoshi's ears right in front of Ryuji, in a public place, to make very clear that her heart is Tsuyoshi's and Tsuyoshi's alone.
- Internal Reveal: Averted. Due to a whole string of Cassandra Truths, Mistaken Identities and misunderstandings intentional or otherwise, the Donbrothers and Inu Brother are still left unaware of each others' identities.
- Mistaken Identity:
- Due to Tsubasa crashing into street musician Ryuji Inui and accidentally leaving his sunglasses behind, the Donbrothers make a Wrong Assumption that Ryuji is Inu Brother. While Tsubasa lets Ryuji carry on being Inu Brother due to feeling the latter suits the job more than he does, only when Ryuji ends up becoming the second Tensou-Ki do the Donbrothers realize they have gotten the wrong person.
- Ryuji mistakes Miho as his ex-girlfriend Shoko and gets into a fight with Tsuyoshi over this. Subverted in the end however, as it turns out the actual Shoko looks nothing like Miho.
- Mundane Made Awesome: Miho demonstrates her devotion to her husband after learning he's dueling Ryuji for her sake by cleaning Tsuyoshi's ears right in front of Ryuji.
- Plot Parallel: Ryuji's falling-out with Tsuyoshi over Miho resembling his girlfriend Shoko is essentially Tsubasa's entire character arc in miniature. In true Donbrothers Bait-and-Switch fashion, Ryuji makes all of the predictable mistakes that lead to blows while Tsubasa calmly and discretely inquires about Miho to navigate the same situation on his own terms.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The Next time trailer and promo images made it seem like Tsuyoshi and Tsubasa would come to blows over the previous episode’s ending. Instead, the “Inu” Tsuyoshi fights is a Guest-Star Party Member, while Tsubasa instead talks it out calmly and rationally.
- Poor Communication Kills: The Episode (which is saying a lot given the season's writer). The premise for the episode is a misunderstanding that causes the Donbrothers to misidentify Ryuji as Inu Brother. The actual Inu Brother then exploits the misunderstanding to throw the team's scent away from him by encouraging Ryuji to take up the mantle - This bloats the musician with Acquired Situational Narcissism and causes a falling-out between him and Tsuyoshi when the former mistakes Miho for his girlfriend Shoko and ruffles feathers. This gets the newcomer transformed into a Hitotsu-Ki by sheer coincidence and outs him as a fake...while leaving Tsubasa anonymous as intended.
- Status Quo Is God: By the end of the episode, Tsubasa's identity as Inu Brother is secured. His fears of getting captured by the rest of the Donbrothers is also put to rest with them giving up their search for him and showing how little they care about his bounty.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Tsubasa being a fugitive with a bounty means that he doesn't want to divulge his identity to the rest of the team, even going as far as to let them assume that Inu Brother is a different person entirely.
- Tsubasa also does not immediately gang up on Tsuyoshi or Miho concerning her resemblance to Natsumi as one may expect, instead inquiring more about Miho to piece the issue together himself.
- The Reveal: Following up on the implications laid out from #28, a Hitotsu-Ki host can not only resist but unconsciously exorcise their monstrous side if their immense desire is met or quelled (The first Tensou-Ki's desire to lose weight fulfilled by a Chubby Chaser giving him confidence about his weight). This does not however defeat said monster, whose spirit will simply seek someone out until its defeated in actual combat.
- Thought They Knew Already: The reason why Jiro didn't tell the others his suspicion that Tsubasa is Inu Brother is due to him thinking they also had the same suspicions.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: At the start of the episode, Shinichi actually throws a minor compliment Jiro's way.Shinichi: As hard as I've been on Momotani Jiro, he isn't all that bad.
- Trailers Always Lie: The preview for this episode gives off the impression that Tsubasa and Tsuyoshi would confront each other over Miho/Natsumi and that it would come to blows; leading to Tsubasa leaving the team and someone else becoming Inu Brother. Someone else does become Inu Brother...as per a ploy by Tsubasa to preserve his own Secret Identity. He doesn't confront Tsuyoshi either and instead gently asks for Miho's backstory. It's the newcomer who angers Tsuyoshi due to a separate case of Mistaken Identity and their duel is stopped by Miho before it starts. By episode's end, Tsubasa is Inu Brother once again and has succeeded in his scheme (in-part thanks to Contrived Coincidence turning his patsy into a second Tensou-Ki) to stay anonymous.
