 This article is about an episode in Avataro Sentai Donbrothers.
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Don 4: Onigiri Oni (おにぎりのおに Onigiri no Oni) is the fourth episode of Avataro Sentai Donbrothers. It features the debut of the Ohranger Avataro Gear and the final appearance of the ToQger Avataro Gear Alter, ToQger Alter, and Don ToQ Momotaro Alter
Synopsis[]
Haruka Kitou, who finally found out who Taro Momoi is, visits the courier shop he is working to ask what is he thinking. Later, Taro decided to have a part-time job at the consulting company where Tsuyoshi Kijino/Kiji Brother works. The two team up to help an onigiri specialty store that continues to be in the red. The onigiri that the owner makes is not good, and the staff are not motivated. Taro decides to give the staff specialty training.
Plot[]
Picking up immediately where the previous episode ended, Don Momotaro attacks his teammates and they teleport away one by one, though Saru Brother gets hit a few times before escaping back to the real world. Don Momotaro then sets his sights on Oni Sister, with Haruka pleading him to stop as he charges at her, proclaiming he wants a contest duel. She gets thrown and reverts from her transformed state upon falling through a door and landing in a decorative pool near a shopping center.
Angry, Haruka changes out of her wet Shirokuma uniform and into regular clothes. She wonders what is wrong with Taro after going to all the trouble of searching for him and decides to investigate.
However, upon arrival at Shirokuma Express, a note on the sealed gate states that the delivery service is closed due to the Black Bear Thief stealing all of their electrical lighting and waiting for the police to conclude their investigation. Haruka yells at the building that is a dumb reason to close up, especially since it is daytime. Haruka decides while in the park to just talk to Jin directly about what happened. She equips her sunglasses and calls out to Jin, saying she just wants to talk with him. A floating door appears and then slowly opens.
With his workplace temporarily closed, Taro decides to go to Pheasant Consultant, Tsuyoshi’s employer, to do temporary office work until Shirokuma Express reopens. A manager introduces the staff to Taro and Tsuyoshi recognizes him from earlier as the delivery man who fixed his arm. Upon seeing him again, Taro thinks that they really must have a bond. Tsuyoshi’s manager asks if they know each other, Tsuyoshi tries timidly to respond they don’t know each other that well but is ignored. His manager thinks that is perfect and assigns the two to work together on a consultation, much to Tsuyoshi’s shock.
Pheasant Consultant has been hired to help a failing onigiri shop, Rolling Onigiri, become profitable. Tsuyoshi explains that the shop has spent the last six months since opening in debt, losing money constantly. Tsuyoshi see the owner, Mr. Mizuno, and prepares to hand him a business card and formally introduce himself, but Taro is more direct and insists that they eat the food to discover the problem while looking inside the shop.
Inside the digital prison, Jin asks if Haruka found his son. She did, but is frustrated as to what happened earlier, nearly getting herself shocked by the invisible bars of Jin’s cell. Jin tells Haruka that she simply doesn’t understand his son yet.
Jin explains that ever since Taro was a child, he excelled at everything. Despite his desire to help others, once Taro tried too hard. His brutal honesty about how to do things correctly eventually angered his neighbors to the point that they wanted to evict Jin and Taro from their apartment in a protesting mob. Taro, not understanding what was going on, asked his adopted father if a festival was going on outside. Jin understands that Taro is innocent and trusting, with the boy not understanding back then he was hated by everyone. In time, the tenants of the apartment complex got so fed up with Taro they moved out and it became almost entirely vacant. In his loneliness, Taro realized he went too far and became depressed.
Haruka is not exactly moved by the story and thinks Taro is just oblivious, but inquires what else happened. Jin, seeing she is missing the point, sits down and declares the end of her “visiting hours”, ejecting her back into the real world. Haruka has a fit, not sure what she should do with that information from the story and how it would even help.
Back at Rolling Onigiri, Taro and Tsuyoshi try Mr. Mizuno’s onigiri. Tsuyoshi thinks it is just okay but Taro thinks it is wonderful, its preparation is good by using just enough air to mold the rice and the umeboshi is well flavored. But, he interjects when thanked for his compliment that the onigiri isn’t enough to emotionally move people to love the product. Taro suggests sampling his competitors to get a feel for the local flavor while also reassuring Mr. Mizuno he almost has an excellent onigiri. Excited, Mr. Mizuno takes Taro’s advice and leaves the shop to sample onigiri. Taro then turns to the kitchen staff, two lazy young men loafing about, and states that they are going to undergo training. Afraid Taro will get into a fight, Tsuyoshi tries to stop him.
Later that night, Tsubasa is out wandering the streets when two gangsters approach and then try to chase after him. Upon going into an alley, Tsubasa questions why they are looking for him. One thug said that Tsubasa’s father sent them, his father needs more money and is in the hospital at the moment. Tsubasa knows that this is an extortion scheme as he has no father. The thugs try to intimidate Tsubasa but he is about as afraid of them as he would be having a mosquito on his nose. He puts his glasses on, revealing that the two thugs are Anoni. He changes into Inu Brother and quickly defeats the grunts with his DonBlaster. Tsubasa is about to leave but a policeman on his bike spots him and gives chase. Tsubasa quickly jumps off a bridge and through a floating door to escape.
The next day at Rolling Onigiri, Tsuyoshi wonders if Mr. Mizuno is still out eating onigiri. Taro is directing the staff on proper cleaning methods, scolding them for using mops and then demonstrating that using a rag is best by polishing the floor insanely fast. Tsuyoshi almost thinks Taro is flying based on how fast he runs. The staff are not sure they can do that as their bodies aren’t as flexible as Taro. Upon hearing this, Taro takes them outside for a round of exercise stretching, which causes the two to cry out in pain. Tsuyoshi thinks maybe they should take it easier on them but Taro thinks this is the training that they need right now. He presses down on their backs so they stretch further.
The next training course is proper customer service and socializing. The staff sound off a bored and unenthusiastic “welcome” when asked how they greet customers. Taro is not impressed as their mumbling barely sounds like Japanese, they need to speak from the gut with enthusiasm. He then takes them outside to do sit ups and keeps giving pointers on how to do them properly.
Tsuyoshi tells Taro that just pointing out everything the two staff members are doing wrong would be demotivating to them. Tsuyoshi suggests that motivational bits of praise can be given even if they are not true. Taro rejects this idea, as true words are spoken from the heart’s voice. He doesn’t understand why people lie, as if something is wrong then it is wrong period.
Tsuyoshi removes his business suit and begins doing sit-ups, wanting to train alongside the staff to encourage them to keep going.
Later that night, Tsuyoshi is at home lying on the couch with back pain and Miho tries to place a medicated pain relief patch on his lower back. Tsuyoshi fusses that the patch is freezing cold to the touch but Miho affectionately encourages him to get up and stand up straight so she can apply the patch, otherwise he will be sore all night. Her love makes Tsuyoshi immediately get up and stand at attention like a soldier. Tsuyoshi later asks Miho for something he wants her to do as a favor…
The next day, Haruka is out jogging and sees Shinichi examining some cat statues. A mother sees her daughter go after her ball across the street and chases after her as a speeding motorcycle approaches the crosswalk. The two Rangers transform and use doors to pull the daughter and mother out of the path of the speeding bike, noticing each other doing so. The mother and daughter strangely do not notice their rescuers and seem to think nothing happened other than they avoided the motorcycle.
As the two revert to normal, Shinichi is surprised that Haruka is a Ranger too. They go to Cafe Donbura and get up to speed on what is going on, then turn to discussion about Taro Momoi. Shinichi is surprised that the delivery man who came to his house was Don Momotaro, unsure how to process that. Haruka asks if Don Momotaro is even an ally after he attacked them.
Shinichi uses his analytical mind to hypothesize that Taro was possibly testing their fighting abilities to prepare them for the many battles ahead. Shinichi admits that aside from Taro, the team members including themselves are amateurs at fighting and not accustomed to combat. Therefore, Taro was helping them by launching a surprise attack to see how they would respond in a fight. Haruka wonders what they should do, to which Shinichi tells her they need to accept Taro’s challenge and beat him in a fight. The next time they all come together as the Donbrothers, Shinichi proposes a team up with Haruka to challenge Don Momotaro and achieve victory. Haruka agrees that is a great idea and asks Kaito what he thinks. Kaito, who is examining an hourglass, is fine with this idea.
At Rolling Onigiri, Tsuyoshi is polishing the floor. The two staff members are lazing about, asking why he is working so hard and thinking he should take it easy. Tsuyoshi says that Taro isn’t wrong about hard work and he desires to change and improve himself as a person. He explains that for most of his life, not everything has worked out for him the way he wants, this motivates him to try harder and work towards his goals. This motivates the staff to help out and get back to work.
Elsewhere, Mr. Mizuno is sampling more onigiri, but his desire for making the perfect onigiri has led him to a downward spiral of gluttony, causing the golden shadow of a monster to materialize behind him.
The staff have helped Tsuyoshi finish polishing the floor but are exhausted and hungry. Tsuyoshi offers to bring the boys lunch and telling them to rest a bit. They admire Tsuyoshi and talk about how kind he is, but then talk about how awful Taro is for being a know it all while he is nearby, which clearly upsets Taro as he overhears the conversation.
Tsuyoshi arrives with bento box lunches made by Miho, the favor he asked about earlier, and encourages the staff to enjoy it. The two enthusiastically thank him for the meal. Taro enters the room and says that is what true appreciation is supposed to be and to remember that feeling when addressing customers.
Mr. Mizuno stumbles into the restaurant in exhaustion, believing he has mastered the secret to onigiri. He prepares some and serves it to Taro, who says it is fantastic and the second best in Japan, giving it a 99% out of 100%. While everyone else is happy and cheering for Mr. Mizuno, Taro’s usual blunt honesty affects him and he angrily wonders what he did wrong. Taro shows off his technique for making onigiri and offers one to Mr. Mizuno, who is moved to near tears by its flavor and texture and believes it to be onigiri made from the heavens. Taro is reminded how Mr. Mizuno once talked about the food his grandma made for him as a child. For Taro, he would always make onigiri as a kid for his father Jin as he headed off to work. The difference in quality is from someone who is just serving and someone who serves others selflessly.
Mr. Mizuno resents Taro and gets a massive headache, stumbling outside and desiring more onigiri as he thinks his are not good enough, transforming into Chorikiki and bombarding onigiri into people’s mouths. The onigiri has an effect of sealing a target’s mouth shut so that they cannot remove it. Chorikiki demands to know how his onigiri tastes as he rampages. Tsuyoshi tries to stop Mr. Mizuno, changing into Kiji Brother and fighting the Anoni that appear to assist Chorikiki.
Haruka and Shinichi are training to improve their fighting skills when their DonBlasters appear and teleport them fully transformed to the area Tsuyoshi is fighting in. Inu Brother appears and Haruka calls him “Wan-chan”, which annoys him and he reiterates his form isn’t by choice. Shinichi takes the lead and activates the Lupinranger Avataro Gear along with Haruka, while Tsuyoshi and Tsubasa use the Ryusoulger Avataro Gear. The team Avatar Changes into Lupin Blue, Lupin Yellow, RyusoulPink and RyusoulBlack. Haruka thinks her new avatar looks cool as they get to work battling the Anoni. Shinichi and Haruka use Lupinranger’s higher agility stats to evade the Anoni’s attacks while Tsuyoshi and Tsubasa use Ryusoul Key powers to enhance their sword attacks.
The Rangers are observed by Sonoi, Sononi and Sonoza on a rooftop nearby. Sonoi tells his comrades that the Donbrothers and their weapons revert Hitotsuki back into humans. Sononi thinks that what they are doing is pointless then as they are supposed to be the ones erasing greed from the world. Sonoza decides to attack the Donbrothers, nearly hitting Haruka with his spear as he pounces and smacking around the others, knocking them out of their avatars. Sonoza goes towards Chorikiki and Tsuyoshi worries as he doesn’t know what to do, pleading for Mr. Mizuno to run since the Anoni are preventing him from reaching Chorikiki in time.
Sonoza is about to go in for the kill, when Don Momotaro in his Alter form blocks Sonoza’s spear and the ToQger Alter rams him, then the two combine and crush Sonoza’s foot with its pincers. The two mecha vanish and Don Momotaro makes his grandstanding entrance, much to Haruka’s dismay. Don Momotaro keeps Sonoza away from Chorikiki, even pushing the monster through a door to keep out of harm’s way. Don Momotaro uses the Sharp Acute Slash attack to weaken Sonoza, who decides to retreat.
Don Momotaro then turns his attention to Chorikiki, promising Mr. Mizuno that his onigiri will make people happy and he will save him. The other Rangers finish up destroying the Anoni and on Don Momotaro’s command, execute the Momotaro Slash. Chorikiki is destroyed and Mr. Mizuno is back to normal.
The purified OhRanger Avataro Gear materializes in Cafe Donbura, with Kaito picking it up and examining it.
Tsuyoshi checks on Mr. Mizuno, thankful he is just unconscious while Shinichi and Haruka attack Don Momotaro with a double flying kick. He blocks it with the ZanglaSword and knocks them back. He finds their teamwork interesting, but not good enough and begins wildly firing his DonBlaster at all of his teammates and they all try to dodge the gunfire.
Sometime later, Rolling Onigiri is now a booming business thanks to Tsuyoshi and Taro’s help. Mr. Mizuno is making delicious onigiri and Tsuyoshi stops by for lunch to enjoy some. Mr. Mizuno wants to thank the both of them but wonders where Taro is. Tsuyoshi says Taro suddenly quit Pheasant Consultant as he hasn’t been around the office or shown up for work.
Taro is gazing out at the water and then silently walks alone, unknowingly passing Tsubasa nearby.
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): Totaro (柊太朗 Tōtarou)
- Tsuyoshi Kijino (雉野 つよし Kijino Tsuyoshi): Hirofumi Suzuki (鈴木 浩文 Suzuki Hirofumi)
- Kaito Goshikida (五色田 介人 Goshikida Kaito): Kiita Komagine (駒木根 葵汰 Komagine Kiita)
- Jin Momoi (桃井 陣 Momoi Jin): Soko Wada (和田 聰宏 Wada Sōkō)
- Miho Kijino (雉野 みほ Kijino Miho): Momoko Arata (新田 桃子 Arata Momoko)
- Sonoi (ソノイ): Yuya Tominaga (富永 勇也 Tominaga Yūya)
- Sononi (ソノニ): Amisa Miyazaki (宮崎 あみさ Miyazaki Amisa)
- Sonoza (ソノザ): Shinnosuke Takahashi (タカハシ シンノスケ Takahashi Shin'nosuke)
- Yamada (山田) (Credited as Director (部長 Buchō)): Kōtarō Taki (滝 晃太朗 Taki Kōtarō)
Guest Cast[]
- Yukio Mizuno (水野 幸雄 Mizuno Yukio)/Chorikiki (超力鬼 Chōrikiki): Kizuki (きづき)
- Taro Momoi (Child): Kira Miura (三浦 綺羅 Miura Kira)
- Keisuke Asada (朝田 刑輔 Asada Keisuke): Masashi Takada (高田 将司 Takada Masashi)
- Onigiri Shop Staff: Yumeto Okuda (奥田 夢叶 Okuda Yumeto), Ryo Kawai (川合 諒 Kawai Ryō)
Suit Actors[]
- Don Momotaro: Kosuke Asai (浅井 宏輔 Asai Kōsuke)
- Saru Brother, Lupin Blue: Yasuhiro Takeuchi (竹内 康博 Takeuchi Yasuhiro)
- Oni Sister, Lupin Yellow: Ayumi Shimozono (下園 愛弓 Shimozono Ayumi)
- Inu Brother, RyusoulBlack: Kazuya Okada (岡田 和也 Okada Kazuya)
- Kiji Brother: Masashi Takada (高田 将司 Takada Masashi)
- Transformed Sonoza: Riichi Seike (清家 利一 Seike Riichi)
- Chorikiki: Naoya Iguchi (井口 尚哉 Iguchi Naoya)
- RyusoulPink: Nagisa Tabata (田畑 渚 Tabata Nagisa)
Form Changes and Collectibles Used[]
Avataro Gears[]
- Don Momotaro - Don Momotaro Alter, ToQger Alter
- Saru Brother - Lupinranger
- Oni Sister - Lupinranger
- Inu Brother - Ryusoulger
- Kiji Brother - Ryusoulger
Avatar Changes[]
- Don Momotaro - N/A
- Saru Brother - Lupin Blue
- Oni Sister - Lupin Yellow
- Inu Brother - RyusoulBlack
- Kiji Brother - RyusoulPink
Errors[]
- to be added
Notes[]
- Viewership: 3.7%
- As part of Super Hero Time, this episode aired alongside Kamen Rider Revice
episode 28, Beyond Fear, Gale and Thunder! Believe In Yourself and Become One!. - Donbrothers sunglasses featured in title card: Pink
- Count at episode end
- Gears in the Donbrothers' possession: Zenkaiger, Ryusoulger, ToQger, Lupinranger, Ohranger
- The date shown on the calendar in Cafe Donbura when Haruka talks to Shinichi is Wednesday, March 23rd, four days before the episode's air date.
- Kaito does not appear transformed in this episode.
DVD/Blu-ray Releases[]
- Avataro Sentai Donbrothers Volume 1 features episodes 1-4: Don 1: Avataro, Don 2: Big Peach, Small Peach, Don 3: Light Thief, and Don 4: Onigiri Oni.
- Avataro Sentai Donbrothers Blu-ray COLLECTION 1 comes with 12 episodes (1-12).
External links[]
- TV Asahi's official preview for おにぎりのおに
- Toei TV's official episode guide for おにぎりのおに
- JAE's official episode guide for おにぎりのおに
References[]
Footnotes[]