A Lucky Push of a Button
Summary
Kaito: Murasame has occasional bouts of madness.
However, against the might of the Donbrothers, he proves to be no threat.
However, against the might of the Donbrothers, he proves to be no threat.
The Donbrothers are left in charge of Café Donbura while Kaito is away. While in the middle of cleaning up, they stumble across a safe containing a brightly-colored button; their curiosity getting the better of them prompts Jiro to press it. This results in an android identical to Taro in appearance named "Don Killer" descending from the sky. According to Kaito, Don Killer was created for a certain purpose. Are the Donbrothers in danger of annihilation?!
Tropes
- Achievements in Ignorance: Shinichi, Haruka and Tsuyoshi manage to crack a safe containing the control-device of a failsafe doomsday weapon simply by entering their birthdays as passwords for laughs.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: The end of the episode points toward Jiro's kind side being a Penguin Juto.
- Barehanded Blade Block: Exaggerated. Don Killer manages to block a slash from Don Momotaro's Zanglassword with his fingers. Later on, he does so with his teeth.
- Big Purple Button: Jiro sees a button saying "do not press." He does. Everyone nearly dies.
- Brick Joke: Taro thinks the Don Killer's resemblance to him is "for aesthetics." When Tsuyoshi questions the Don Killer Killer's resemblance to Shinichi later, the professor also figures it's for "aesthetics."
- Contrived Coincidence:
- Despite being confined in the same hospital ward as Shinichi and Tsuyoshi, Tsubasa's identity as Inu Brother is left unknown to them because he went to get a glass of water right as the Donblasters call them to fight.
- Jiro's adoptive father just so happens to have the Don Killer Killer's control device stashed in his home, it was later revealed this wasn't a coincidence.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Don Killer delivers these to hero and villain alike the entire episode, hospitalizing a good chunk of the team and browning the pants of everyone else. Only an android just as bad as itself can keep up with it.
- Crazy-Prepared: Because the Donbrothers losing their powers if they pursue personal gain apparently isn't enough, Don Killer was also created to take out the Donbrothers in the event they went rogue. Turns out the same people who made it decided to make a second robot to act as a failsafe if Don Killer went rogue. So they made a failsafe for the failsafe.
- Deus ex Machina:
- Jiro, who is completely unaware of Don Killer, unintentionally summons Don Killer Killer after finding a similar button in his adoptive father's place.
- When being summoned by the Don Blaster for the climax of the episode, Shinichi worries about how they would be able to fight in their heavily injured state, but Tsuyoshi proclaims that being superheroes means they can heal through willpower alone. Sure enough, transforming into their Donbrother forms instantly healed their extremely shattered bones, the same likely happening for Tsubasa as well.
- Don't Call Me "Sir": Jin formally addresses Kaito as "True Hero." Kaito makes his discomfort clear, to which Jin responds by calling him "Forever Hero" instead.
- Do Not Go Gentle: Each Donbrother the Killer individually corners ultimately decides to fight it out rather than simply be destroyed. Rather than die, most of them end up in the hospital instead.
- Face Death with Dignity: Played for Laughs. After Taro tells the team that they're doomed, they all decide to make the most of their lives... then Don Killer comes in and beats them up silly anyway.
- Failsafe Failure: Premise of the episode. The Don Killer was meant to be an artificial counter to the team going rogue. However, the team's Achievements in Ignorance boot it up needlessly and cause it to rampage trying to achieve its directive. The team only survives thanks to the failsafe's own failsafe.
- Forever War: Due to being equal in fighting strength, Don Killer and Don Killer Killer take off and took their fight into space, where they will continue fighting each other for the rest of eternity.
- Godzilla Threshold: The team only makes it through the episode alive thanks to Jiro inadvertently booting up another killer android to topple (and eternally distract) the current one.
- Homage: The scenes of Don Killer subjecting the team to Metronomic Man Mashing bring the Hulk slamming Loki around to mind.
- Hope Spot: When Saru Brother faces off against Don Killer, he actually manages to briefly fight the killer robot to a standstill... then he gets subjected to some Metronomic Man Mashing anyway.
- Informed Flaw: The opening blurb implies Don Murasame has "bouts of madness," yet only other people that have gripped the Ninjark Sword have shown insanity.
- In Medias Res: The episode begins with Don Killer manhandling the Donbrothers, with Kaito's voice over explaining How We Got Here.
- It's a Long Story: A variant. Upon running into each other at hospital, both Tsubasa and Tsuyoshi just vaguely describe to each other how they got their injuries as just having "fallen down some stairs".
- Loophole Abuse: Defied. The Noto generals assault the Don Killer themselves in the hopes that it won't target them. Cue a Curb-Stomp Battle and the generals running for the hills.
- Metronomic Man Mashing: Tsubasa, Tsuyoshi and Shinichi all suffer grievous injuries from the Don Killer tenderizing the ground with them.
- Mood Whiplash: The Don Killer and the Don Killer Killer's showdown is treated mostly as an upbeat spectacle Played for Laughs, followed by a quick mech-battle to end on a triumphant note. The very next scene has Jiro ominously singing "Kagome, Kagome" in an isolated room filled with construction paper and a Penguin-shaped origami.
- Not Quite the Right Thing: Kaito laces Don Killer's parfait with mustard sauce, which causes it to malfunction right as Sonoi and friends attempt to take it down for the Donbrothers relying on the fact that it's programmed not to attack them to destroy it with impunity. Unfortunately, the malfunction causes Don Killer to be unable to recognize them and they abandon the plan when it starts fighting back. Then, Don Killer clears the sauce from its system meaning it was all for nothing.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Don Killer is so powerful that even the normally unflappable Taro and Kaito are forced to admit they can't face the killer robot head on.
- Outside-Context Problem: Beyond a killer robot designed to destroy them being nothing the Donbrothers would ever logically expect to be a problem in general, Don Killer's powers are portrayed as highly realistic and destructive compared to the usual Tokusatsu style that the show goes with which causes massive property damage and actually causes the heroes serious injury that requires them to be hospitalized. It's to the point where the Donbrothers are simply incapable of fighting it and need another solution.
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": Played with. Upon finding the safe containing the button to summon Don Killer, Haruka, Shinichi and Tsuyoshi decide to enter their birth dates as a joke... and accidentally managed to open it. Kaito later then reveals he didn't expect the gang to be able to easily break through the 12-digit combination, suggesting he didn't actually know the code coincided with their birth dates combined.
- Schmuck Bait: The buttons that summon Don Killer and Don Killer Killer have "Do not press"note written on them. Jiro presses them without any hesitation.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The Noto attempt to deal with the Don Killer themselves in the hopes that their non-affiliation won't get them labelled as targets, only to promptly turn tail when it demolishes them wholesale.
- Summon Bigger Fish: How do they manage to deal with Don Killer? By getting help from Don Killer Killer.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Despite its goofy nature, the Don Killer is every bit the destructive murder-machine Kaito hypes it as - causing property damage well beyond that of most tokusatsu monsters and effortlessly crushing the Donbrothers and the Noto with ease.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Shinichi, Haruka, Tsuyoshi and Jiro all inadvertently awaken a powerful doomsday weapon by playing around with Kaito's safe.
- Wham Shot: We see in the end that Jiro is singing merrily to himself at his adoptive father's place. Though, suspiciously surrounded by colorful paper. When he notices his father come over, he runs off and we see what he was toiling over: a Penguin Origami.
