 This article is about an episode in Avataro Sentai Donbrothers.
|
Don 21: The Extreme Ramen Path (ごくラーメンどう Goku Rāmen Dō) is the twenty-first episode of Avataro Sentai Donbrothers. It features the only appearance of Shirai, the previous Saru Brother, and the final appearance of Don Murasame Alter.
Synopsis[]
Shinichi is attacked by thugs who witness him transform into Saru Brother. They mistake him for a man named "Shirai". Shinichi gets captured and is rescued by Shirai, who is said to be the previous Saru Brother. Shirai will confront the "Matsui-gumi", the gang that captured Shinichi, with him serving as a witness. While this is all happening, Haruka is kidnapped by Sonoza.
Plot[]
The episode opens on a scene from an old 1970s Japanese film called The Ultimate Chef Path of Tetsu, about a chef named Tetsu who cannot cook anymore because he has stained his hands with blood. He vows never to return again and leaves his distraught lover to parts unknown as the end credit appears.
Shinichi is at home using his powers of imagination to meditate, coming up with a haiku about a cat and a puppy enjoying the summer beach season. He later observes some children playing soccer and changes into Saru Brother to kick their ball back to them from the ocean via an invisible door when it is hurtling away to the water. This is witnessed by two thugs and a man in a blue Hawaiian shirt. Before Shinichi can recite another haiku after detransforming, the thugs grab him and use a chloroform rag to knock him out.
Shinichi wakes up in a warehouse tied to a chair, with the thugs mistaking him as someone named Shirai because he can “turn into a monkey” and to return something if he wants to live. Their boss arrives, who berates his men for getting the wrong guy. A white van bursts into the warehouse, with the man in the Hawaiian shirt opening the door and urging Shinichi to get in. Strangely, Shinichi breaks his bonds rather easily, with the ropes revealed to be made with woven ramen noodles, which he is perplexed by. He hops in the van as the boss identifies the driver as Shirai, who demands him to stop. Shirai does a quick turn and speeds away from the warehouse. The two men then talk, Shirai reveals that Shinichi was mistaken for him because he was the previous Saru Brother and did something to upset the Matsui Family.
Later at Cafe Donbura, Shinichi reveals this to the team offscreen and Kaito, who is setting up a booth in the restaurant for selling his photo book, explains that 5,000 people before the current team had the potential to become Donbrothers. He never met any of them because the powers would deem the candidates unworthy and their ability to become Donbrothers would fade away. To officially become a Donbrother, one must defeat the Hitotsuki and fight for justice. Shirai must have used his powers incorrectly and immediately lost them. The five of them are the only ones who passed the trial, Taro had no idea that many people were given the power and praises his companions for being so impressive. Shinichi, Haruka and Tsuyoshi are happy and humbled to be given praise from Taro again.
Elsewhere in the city, a salaryman worker on the phone with a client is attacked by the Detective Sayama disguised Juto, feeding on his life energy. The salaryman is in fact an Anoni, who screams in pain as his essence is drained. Don Murasame arrives, with Mother ordering him to save the Anoni. Don Murasame asks what he was made for, but Mother coldly responds that his question serves no purpose and urges him to fight. Just as Murasame is about to attack the Juto, Jiro, still in his Dangerous personality, challenges Don Murasame to a fight to find out who Murasame is. The Anoni is completely devoured by the Juto, who leaves satisfied with his meal.
Don Torabolt’s aggressive style proves problematic for Don Murasame when he is put in a headlock and Don Torabolt tries to bash his head in with his axe, which is blocked by the Ninjarksword. Mother urges Murasame to Avatar Change, transforming into AbareKiller. Don Torabolt uses his new KibaRanger Gear and the two use their Avatar’s special weapon abilities. Don Murasame uses the Wing Pentact to draw a barrage of missiles, which Don Torabolt counters with Byakkoshinken’s Howling New Star Chaos Echo attack to destroy the missiles. Don Murasame uses the explosion’s smoke as cover to retreat. Jiro demorphs and wonders how he sensed sadness coming from Don Murasame.
At Cafe Donbura, Haruka opens one of Kaito’s photo books to read, when Sonoza suddenly appears and abducts her.
At a restaurant, Shirai is enjoying lunch and figured out the secret ingredient in the ramen just by tasting it. The master is impressed but Shirai modestly says he isn’t an expert on ramen. Shinichi arrives and orders soy ramen with extra bamboo shoots, the master gives him an empty bowl and he “eats” his imaginary ramen. Shirai is confused about what he is doing, to which Shinichi says he has no money so he uses his imagination to sustain himself. Shirai asks if that’s even possible, but Shinichi says that is the awesome power of imagination. Shirai thinks Shinichi is a very interesting person upon his response.
On a rainy rooftop, Shirai talks to Shinichi about his past, he used to be Saru Brother but did use the power for selfish reasons. He did not see a reason for having power, only to just risk his life and endanger his safety fighting monsters using it. It made more sense to Shirai to enjoy what was given to him for his own use. Shinichi thinks that does make sense and when asked why he fights with no expectation of rewards in return for doing so, he says it just comes naturally to him. Shirai thinks Shinichi really is interesting and wants to take action on dealing with the Matsui Family.
A dazed Haruka wakes up in a chair in a strange room with Sonoza staring at her. She at first panics upon knowing immediately she is now a hostage, but sees a stack of volumes of her manga First Love Hero. Sonoza read her manga and says it gave him “strange new feelings” and moves in a bizarre manner while trying to describe the emotions. Haruka remembers he doesn’t know she is Oni Sister. Sonoza wants to understand what emotions he is feeling, so he kidnapped Haruka to force her to continue her manga, having already obtained art supplies for her on a desk.
Haruka tries to explain she quit making manga after the fallout with her publisher from the plagiarism scandal, but Sonoza doesn’t care and orders her to get to work. Haruka loses sight of the fact that she is in danger as her ego sets in. She thinks it is amazing that her creative genius can move even the heart of a Noto. She agrees to make another volume of First Love Hero and Sonoza seems ecstatic upon hearing this.
Shirai and Shinichi arrive at a ramen restaurant owned by the Matsui Family. The boss upon seeing the two of them barks that they go in the back room and wait since they are still serving customers. Shinichi didn’t expect that the Matsui Family were a “ramen family”. Later, the boss explains that Shirai used to work for him almost like a right hand man, but when he could “turn into a monkey”, he slacked off.
Shirai explains that he used his abilities to pick up women and take them to various locations on dates with the invisible doors, win sports competitions such as track marathons and skip lines at events such as meeting idols for a handshake using the doors. Shinichi finds Shirai’s abuse of power disgusting. The boss says he fired Shirai after his antics, but something he treasures was stolen from him by the monkey, which he demands returned to him. Shirai puts a gift bag on the table and slides it to the boss. He unwraps the contents and it is revealed to be an autograph from Tetsu, the actor from The Ultimate Chef Path of Tetsu. The boss considers it a treasure because the actor visited his establishment and loved his ramen so much that Tetsu did something he never had before for any fan: sign an autograph, as Tetsu normally hated and refused to give them to anyone.
In exchange for the autograph, Shirai asks for what the boss promised him, a large pot of the restaurant’s secret ramen sauce. Later, Shirai admires his prize, which he plans on using for his own ramen business. Shinichi wonders why doesn’t he just make his own sauce instead, with Shirai not wanting to work that hard to get successful. He tastes the sauce, only to find its flavor is all wrong, the boss tricked him as the sauce is a fake. The boss bursts in, outraged that the autograph he received from Shirai was a forgery since the structure of one of the characters in the Tetsu’s full name is incorrect. Shirai admits he sold the real autograph for cash when he was getting low on funds. Both argue and demand the authentic version of what they want, but Shinichi tries to deescalate this through telling them to put aside their avarice and use their imagination to set aside their differences. He visualizes a burning desert that is drying up their throats and it begins to affect them.
Haruka presents her finished work to Sonoza, who feels nothing and frustratingly says her premise is contrived and her characters are one dimensional in personality. Haruka gets a little angrier and narrates how this Noto wants to be her editor.
Shirai and the boss can’t take much more of the imaginary desert heat, Shinichi says a single bottle of water is on the ground but only one person can drink it. The boss pleads Shirai for the water, promising to forget about the autograph if he does. He is pulled back into the real world, snags the water and runs outside to drink it.
Shirai is impressed with Shinichi, admitting he had doubts, but if he was more of a hero like him his life could have been different.
Shirai wants to know what makes Shinichi so special and why he fights monsters, feeling compelled to fight him. This desire turns Shirai into Samuraiki and Shinichi accepts his challenge.
Haruka can’t find inspiration to draw and is stressed out about this and being a hostage, but her DonBlaster lets her escape her captor temporarily to go fight Samuraiki. Sonoza doesn’t notice as he is immersed in reading more manga.
Shinichi battles Samuraiki, and while the others do try to help, some of them get burned by the Hitotsuki using Shinken Red’s fire techniques to unleash a flurry of blazing sword slashes. After knocking Samuraiki off balance with his Robotaro form, Shinichi combines with the rest of the Donbrothers to form Don Onitaijin. They engage Samuraiki at human size and blow him into the air with a cyclone created by Don Onitaijin’s fan, flying up and sending him plummeting back down after a Heaven Monkey Barrage attack.
The fight ends with a clash of swords, though Don Onitaijin proves the superior sword warrior as it defeats Samuraiki with a furious rapid onslaught of dual Robotaro Slashes.
Some time later, Shinichi goes to a new ramen cart that recently opened up and orders imaginary ramen from Shirai, who has now decided to live earnestly and work hard to achieve his dreams. Shinichi thanks him for the meal, saying his soy ramen with extra bamboo is delicious as the episode ends.
Cast[]
- Taro Momoi (桃井 タロウ Momoi Tarō): Kouhei Higuchi (樋口 幸平 Higuchi Kōhei)
- Shinichi Saruhara (猿原 真一 Saruhara Shin'ichi): Yuuki Beppu (別府 由来 Beppu Yūki)
- Haruka Kitou (鬼頭 はるか Kitō Haruka): Kohaku Shida (志田 こはく Shida Kohaku)
- Tsubasa Inuzuka (犬塚 翼 Inudzuka Tsubasa, Voice): Totaro (柊太朗 Tōtarou)
- Tsuyoshi Kijino (雉野 つよし Kijino Tsuyoshi): Hirofumi Suzuki (鈴木 浩文 Suzuki Hirofumi)
- Jiro Momotani (桃谷 ジロウ Momotani Jirō): Raizou Ishikawa (石川 雷蔵 Ishikawa Raizō)
- Kaito Goshikida (五色田 介人 Goshikida Kaito): Kiita Komagine (駒木根 葵汰 Komagine Kiita)
- Sonoza (ソノザ): Shinnosuke Takahashi (タカハシ シンノスケ Takahashi Shin'nosuke)
- Don Murasame (ドンムラサメ DonMurasame, Voice): Ayumu Murase (村瀬 歩 Murase Ayumu)
- Mother (マザー Mazā, Voice): Mamiko Noto (能登 麻美子 Noto Mamiko)
Guest Cast[]
- Shirai (白井)/Samuraiki (侍鬼 Samuraiki): Yuta Yamazaki (山崎 裕太 Yamazaki Yūta)
- Kenji Sayama (狭山 健児 Sayama Kenji): Ryoji Sugimoto (杉本 凌士 Sugimoto Ryōji)
- Matsui (松井 Matsui): Gôta Tate (殺陣剛太 Tate Gōta)
- Tetsu Uchinomiya (宇都宮 テツ Uchinomiya Tetsu): Seikô Senô (妹尾 青洸 Senō Seikō)
- Princess: Kaho Okamoto (岡本 夏穂 Okamoto Kaho)
- Thugs: Shô Somegawa (染川 翔 Somegawa Shô), Satoshi Ogasawara (小笠原 覚 Ogasawara Satoshi)
- Ramen Shop Owner: Pretty Nozomi (プリティ 望)
- Woman: Sumire Maki (真木 すみれ Maki Sumire)
- Kora-chan (コーラちゃん Kōrachyan): Akane Mitani (三谷 あかね Mitani Akane)
Suit Actors[]
- Don Momotaro: Kosuke Asai (浅井 宏輔 Asai Kōsuke)
- Saru Brother: Yasuhiro Takeuchi (竹内 康博 Takeuchi Yasuhiro)
- Oni Sister: Ayumi Shimozono (下園 愛弓 Shimozono Ayumi)
- Inu Brother: Kazuya Okada (岡田 和也 Okada Kazuya)
- Kiji Brother: Masashi Takada (高田 将司 Takada Masashi)
- Don Torabolt: Shigeki Ito (伊藤 茂騎 Itō Shigeki)
- Don Murasame: Takahiro Yoneoka (米岡 孝弘 Yoneoka Takahiro)
- Dai Gattai Don Onitaijin: Yohei Fujita (藤田 洋平 Fujita Yōhei)
- Samuraiki: Naoya Iguchi (井口 尚哉 Iguchi Naoya)
Form Changes and Collectibles Used[]
Avataro Gears[]
- Don Momotaro - Don Robotaro, Don Robotaro (Dai Gattai)
- Saru Brother - Saru Brother Robotaro
- Oni Sister - Oni Sister Robotaro
- Inu Brother - Inu Brother Robotaro
- Kiji Brother - Kiji Brother Robotaro
- Don Torabolt - KibaRanger
Avatar Changes[]
- Don Momotaro - Don Robotaro
- Saru Brother - Saru Brother Robotaro
- Oni Sister - Oni Sister Robotaro
- Inu Brother - Inu Brother Robotaro
- Kiji Brother - Kiji Brother Robotaro
- Don Torabolt - KibaRanger
- Don Murasame - AbareKiller
Errors[]
- The costume used for Don Murasame's Avatar Change into AbareKiller has a white neck piece instead of black like it normally should.
Notes[]
- Viewership: 4.8%
- As part of Super Hero Time, this episode aired alongside Kamen Rider Revice
episode 45, Never-Ending Nightmare, Protectors and the Protected. - Donbrothers sunglasses featured in title card: Blue
- Count at episode end
- Gears in the Donbrothers' possession: Zenkaiger, Ryusoulger, ToQger, Lupinranger, Ohranger, Patranger, Zyuohger, Fiveman, Kiramager, Go-Busters, Gokaiger, Ninninger, Kyuranger, Kyoryuger, Turboranger, Carranger, Zyuranger, Jetman, Go-Onger, Dairanger, Hurricaneger, Shinkenger
- Kaito mentioned that prior to the current team, there were approximately 5000 people who became members of the Donbrothers and quit.[1]
- This episode features the first appearance of the Anoni since their last appearance in Episode 12.
- The date shown on the calendar in Café Donbura when Shinichi tells the Donbrothers about Shirai is Sunday, July 24, the same as the episode's airdate.
- This episode features the first time that Jiro Momotani does not appear as Don Doragoku.
- Tsubasa does not appear untransformed in this episode.
- The idol Cola-chan from Episode 12 reappears in Shirai’s flashback when he recollects abusing his powers to skip lines for events.
- This is the only time that Dangerous Jiro/Don Torabolt and Don Murasame perform an Avatar Change into a past Ranger.
episode 45, DVD/Blu-ray Releases[]
Avataro Sentai Donbrothers Volume 6 features episodes 21-24: Don 21: The Extreme Ramen Path, Don 22: Hellish Road of Manga, Don 23: Dog Becomes a Dog, and Don 24: Son, Trench Coat for Two.
External Links[]
- TV Asahi's official preview for ごくラーメンどう
- Toei TV's official episode guide for ごくラーメンどう
- JAE's official episode guide for ごくラーメンどう
References[]
Footnotes[]