Avataro Sentai Donbrothers VS Avataro Sentai Donburies
- Original Airdate: November 5, 2023 (TTFC)
Written by: Ayumi Shimo
Directed by: Hirofumi Fukuzawa
Summary
On an otherwise uneventful night, Taro and Jiro go to an oden stand, only to find out Sonoi is manning it - complete with his own menu. Taro and Jiro try his "Oden Don," instilling within Taro the ambition to transform every dish in the world into Donburi. The next day, Sonoshi summons an Identical Stranger resembling Sonoi from the Noto Layer: Mr. A La Carte, who loathes the notion of Donburi and wants nothing more than to purge it from people's pallets; winning Jiro to his side! A battle of the foods ensues as the Donbrothers stage a cooking contest to convince their adversaries of the power of the Donburi dish! Meanwhile, Haruka stumbles onto a love letter - could one of the Donbrothers have fallen for her!?
Tropes
- The Bus Came Back: Played With in both cases, as Donburis takes place before the show's finale.
- Dangerous Jiro returns for the first time since Episode 46.
- This is Sonoshi's latest appearance since the show finale.
- Call-Back:
- Sonoshi mentions that they've hated Sonoi since their middle school elections - a reference to a deleted scene from Don #37 that would've had the Noto Trio bring up their school days. Ironically, Sonoshi lost the election in-canon, but was the trio's Council President in the deleted take.
- Sonoshi flicks away their gold-laden earwax like they did in their debut episode.
- Kaito's photobook from Don #20 gets more than just another mention. It gets its own Parody Commercial!
- Call-Forward:
- Sonoi is running the oden stand he would be seen manning later on in VS Zenkaiger.
- After the destruction of Mr. A La Carte, Sonoshi laments that they'll have to call in "two imbeciles" to help them against the Donbrothers.
- Canon Welding:
- Sonoshi references having to bring in "two imbeciles" to help fight the Donbrothers. Their colleagues Sonogo and Sonoroku debut in Don #45, linking Donburis to the main show.
- Sonoi has just started running the oden stand that he would be linked to in the crossover with Zenkaiger.
- Casting Gag:
- The entire special was made to poke fun at the Accidental Misnaming during a fake short played at the season's press conference.
- The True Rival is played by Ryo Sekoguchi, who portrayed The Rival of Kaito's previous self Stacey.
- Covers Always Lie: "Logos" in this case. The Donbrothers don't fight the Donburis, since they are the Donburis.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Donburis trash the Anoni in their Donburi-powered forms and lay waste to A La Carte and Sonoshi as the Donbrothers.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Mr. A La Carte hates Donburi dishes so much that his response to the Ultimate Donburi is to attack the Donbrothers over it.
- Dramatic Irony:
- Tsuyoshi tries to play off the accusation of the dishes being served a-la-carte by telling Jiro to be honest; his one good trait. Donburis came out after the VS Zenkaiger film, in which a post-Split-Personality Merge Jiro shows blatant dishonesty throughout the Donbrothers segment.
- This is not the first time that Tsubasa makes no attempt to hide his identity as Inu Brother during a spin-off. The non-canon This is the Donbrothers Roll Call special has him publicly participate in a version of the team that functions like a typical Sentai.
- Edible Ammunition: As the Donburis, the heroes fire Donburi ingredients at the Anoni they fight.
- Evil Costume Switch: Parodied. Jiro changes clothes twice throughout the special: The first time, he wears a professional suit while serving as Mr. A La Carte's co-judge. During the failed taste-test, he actively changes into Dangerous Jiro's clothes just to defy Tsuyoshi's claims of being honest.
- Foreshadowing: When Jiro accuses the team of making an a-la-carte dish, he's speaking with Dangerous Jiro's inflections. He then promptly changes into the appropriate attire.
- Funny Background Event: Subverted. At the end of the Donburis' role call, Jiro is just casually digging into the Ultimate Donburi without a care in the world. The camera then zooms in on him eating during the explosion.
- Honesty Is the Best Policy: When Jiro accuses the team of serving Donburi dishes a-la-carte, Tsuyoshi tells Jiro to just be honest; his honesty being his one good trait.
- Identical Stranger: Mr. A La Carte is a spitting image for Sonoi; confusing Sonoshi upon his arrival. When the real McCoy reveals himself in the restaurant, Saruhara actually calls him out for looking the same. Funnily enough, Sonoi never actually meets his counterpart whatsoever.Saruhara: (Irritated) This is confusing. Why do you two have the same face!?
- In the Name of the Moon: The Donbrothers, sorry, Donburis get their own role call after their "transformation." Jiro is too busy eating the Ultimate Donburi to actually join in himself.Taro: Deliciously red inside. Tekkadon Red!
Saruhara: Reach for the heavens...Tendon Blue.
Haruka: Soft and runny egg~...Katsudon Yellow!
Tsubasa: Scatter the Nori. Kaisendon B-B-B-Black!
Tsuyoshi: Red Pickled Ginger's my specialty! Gyudon Pink...Pink...Pink!
Taro, then everyone at once: AVATARO SENTAI...DONBURIS! - Logo Joke:
- The logo for the special contrasts the standard Donbrothers logo with a red-skinned variant; complete with rice-bowl decor next to it.
- During the Eye Catch, the fake commercial promoting Kaito's photobook caps off with a logo for "Joke-dansha."
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Exaggerated and Discussed. Not only do the Donbrothers' gears transform them into the "Donburis" for the first part of the ending fight, but the Ultimate Donburi is so good that it gives Don Doragoku his own GolDon form. Kaito theorizes that Haruka adding her feelings for Jiro into the dish gave him power. Except she didn't actually have feelings for him. She even lets him down gently after mistakenly assuming he wrote the letter she found.
- No Plot? No Problem!: Donburis is mostly separate from the main plot; being a bottled parody about the group trying to satisfy the picky palette of Mr. A La Carte by goofing off with various food-props. Characterizations are rather lax and there's little in the way of tension.
- Mind Control: Jiro tries Mr. A La Carte's dish, which controls him into thinking like A La Carte and despising Donburi dishes; making him a secondary judge during the taste-test later. The Ultimate Donburi the heroes make afterward has the opposite effect and returns him to normal.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Donbrothers' each make Donburi dishes to present to A La Carte and Jiro. However, they separated them individually. IE: a-la-carte. The team ends up having to make the whole thing a second time, but as a proper dish and with the addition of Ultra Miracle Dashi Bomber Sauce.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Haruka confronts Kaito about the love letter, only to stumble onto him and the Rival injured from an off-camera battle they had.
- Out of Focus: Enforced and Parodied. Sononi and Sonoza only pop in to participate in the Donburi cooking montage and are otherwise absent, while Sonoi is seen at the start of the episode and the montage. Just about everyone is confused by the fact that Sonoi and A La Carte have the same face.
- Parody Commercial: One plays during the Eye Catch for Commander Kaito's photobook from Don #20. Above it is a disclaimer saying "This CM is fictional."
- Poor Communication Kills: Per the Donbrothers standard. Haruka mistakes the envelope she stumbled onto during Taro's lecture as a love letter aimed at her; sizing up each member of the team (and eventually Kaito) as potential matches. Turns out it wasn't any of them: The True Rival wrote it for Kaito in honor of their reunion and accidently dropped it nearby her.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Jiro accuses the Donbrothers twice of making a Donburi dish a-la-carte. He explains himself a second time and drops the accusation again, with prejudice.Jiro: Those donburi are a-la-carte!
Taro: Eh?
Jiro: You're serving those donburi individually, correct? If so, then they are donburi...a-la-carte. - Running Gag:
- Everyone is annoyed by Sonoi and Mr. A La Carte having the exact same face.
- Kaito's mysterious "Hero" past crops up again in the form of the True Rival, who's just as word-less and cryptic as him. Amusingly, the True Rival is an Alternate Self of his previous self's rival Stacey.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Played for Laughs. Mr. A La Carte and Jiro actually spend time waiting in the quarry while the Donbrothers rush off to re-make their Donburi. By the time the team comes back, the two are being buffeted by wind; huddling together to stave off the cold.Jiro: How long are they going to make us wait?
A La Carte: There's really nothing here at all, huh?
Taro: (off-screen) Kept you waiting huh?
Jiro and A La Carte: (In unison) YOU'RE LATE!
