Nightmare Fuel / Avataro Sentai Donbrothers

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General

• The Hitotsu-Kis main requirement for them to materialize is that a human's desire need to be so extreme, it is the only thing on their mind. The most horrifying part about this is that they aren't created or forced upon them by the villains; they're made by innocent civilians, probably trying to live out their lives like the rest of us.
• Hitotsu-Kis that are eliminated by the Nōto are not just simply killed, but wiped away from human existence. Even more terrifying, is that Kaito knows whenever it happens. It renders normally stoic café owner unsettled, while looking at the new Avataro Gear appearing before him.
  • Lessened by episode 15 revealing that many of the victims are simply sent to another dimension, and then lessened even further in #46 when it shows that even those whose cube have cracked have come back.
• Being chosen at a Donbrother is no cakewalk either. Finding about the masquerade of the world through a pair of mysterious glasses put every single member through the wringer, with their lives worse for wear with no way out in sight. The only way out is to gain enough Kibi-Points to go free, but even those have their consequences if used improperly. Not to mention the fact that just like the Hitotsu-Kis, the Donbrothers are also normal civilians who suddenly find themselves in the middle of a fight they have no idea about.

Main series

Don-Episode 8: Long-Haired Captive

• The normally mild-mannered Tsuyoshi showcasing sheer rage towards Mashin-Ki for hurting his wife. This even causes him to interrupt Taro's Finishing Move on him to let Sonoi take the kill instead, rendering Mashin-Ki's host dead as a result. The episode then ends with an Inner Monologue in which he states that Mashin-Ki deserved to die for hurting Miho and that he will continue protecting her no matter what he has to do.

Don-Episode 9: Broken Taro and the Robotaro

• The Cliffhanger of Sonoi witnessing the passengers on a Bus Full of Innocents vanishing after exiting a cave with the only thing remaining being clear slime dripping. The then normally stoic general shouts that the Juto are coming!
  • Whatever Sonoza saw when he looked into Sonoi's eyes while he was still in a trance made him reel back in shock.

Don-Episode 10: The Rainbow the Oni Saw

• Haruka uses her Kibi-Points to quit being a Donbrother. Her wish rewrites reality in a way that someone else became Oni Sister along with the Trauma Conga Line she faced in the first episode. Marina, unlike Haruka, lacked the mental fortitude to handle her plagiarism scandal and suffers from PTSD whenever she remembers her previous job. This renders her unable to handle the DonBlaster for too long, as it reminds her of a camera.
• Kenji Sayama, who was previously Keisatsu-Ki, is one of the bus passengers who went missing in the bus accident the previous episode. Not only is he revealed to be alive, but he now sports Glowing Eyes, Fangs Are Evil and a beast-like demeanor, attacking a ramen eatery and wolfing down their meats before knocking out a ramen chef who tried to stop him. Then he proceeds to hum to himself as he folds an origami, while the public looks on in fear, just to finish the origami of a cat face and meow like a cat.

Don-Episode 11: Dog's Disturbance

• The Noto meet with the "guardian" (Jin) to ask him about the Juto getting loose. Jin warns them that if the Juto are free then both the human and Noto worlds will become a hellish landscape.
• Sayama's entire presence in the episode is off-putting.
  • First he's seen in the office folding more cat origamis out of Tsubasa's wanted poster.
  • When the police officers chase after Tsubasa, he attacks another restaurant, stealing meat to give himself Super-Speed to overtake Tsubasa's bike. Even Tusbasa using a hidden door to escape isn't enough.
  • During his fight with Tsubasa, Sayama's head cracks and moves in very stiff, unnatural ways. He then grabs Tsubasa by the shoulder, lifts him off the ground, and shoves a cat origami into his mouth. The scene shifts to show his Juto form before he puts the origami in his mouth, with the head looking exactly like the one Sonoi saw in his vision.
• The reveal that Tsuyoshi's wife, Miho, is connected to the Juto.
  • After seeing Tsubasa, she initially doesn't know who he is. She then cranes her head and instantly shifts personalities, quickly taking out the origami in his mouth and crushing it in her fist. She manages to quickly leave before Tsubasa can catch her.
  • At the end of the episode, she takes out the note she left for Tsuyoshi and begins to fold a crane origami with it. She then stares at it dead-eyed, while what can only be described as a crying infant echoes in the background.
  • What adds to this is that right before she starts folding origami, the outro is playing and abruptly stops right as she tears away her note. This adds to the overall creepiness of the scene and give some major Mood Whiplash.

Don-Episode 13: Goodbye Taro

• Taro reveals to Sonoi that after Don Onitaijin finishes a battle, he becomes momentarily weakened. Sonoi uses this opportunity to strike him down without a fair fight, leaving the rest of the Donbrothers speechless. Taro disappears in a cascade of cubes, seemingly killed in front of the team's eyes.

Don-Episode 14: Substitute Jiro

• According to Sononi the Juto can't be killed.
• The wham shot at the end of the episode, revealing Tsuyoshi is possessed by Gekisou-Ki.
  Tsuyoshi: (thinking) They'll pay for this...! I swear—!

Don-Episode 15: Welcome Back Taro

• The fact that the Monster of the Week was none other than Tsuyoshi comes off as quite disturbing, especially when he's outwardly the softest of the Donbrothers. He even apologizes to Taro for letting it happen to him.
• Kaito cautions Haruka and Shinichi about the bad things that will happen with them being at negative Kibi-Points, and that it should happen soon enough:
  • Haruka loses function of her legs and is wheelchair-bound for half of the episode.
  • Shinichi loses his ability to create haikus and subsequently loses his will to live.
  • Later, Haruka suggests using more of her points to bring Taro back, but Kaito outright tells her that she might drop dead if her points go any lower.
• Most of the people "killed" by the Noto are actually held in a cyber prison within the Noto Layer, with seemingly no way out. However, there is a heartwarming lining as Taro's return suggests the Donbrothers might be able to rescue the Noto's other victims as well.
  • Some of the cells there however are notably destroyed with nobody in them suggesting that at least some of the people sent there did in fact perish.

Don-Episode 16: Darkness Switch

• Earlier Haruka mentions how scary Jiro looked when he suggested slaying them so his own companions would come to him. This episode's halfway point shows how scary he can be when his Split Personality surfaces, as he hunts each of the Donbrothers. The only hint that he's coming for them is that he recites a twisted version of the tale of Momotaro in a creepy tone. Thankfully all he was after were their sunglasses and powers, so no one had to be slain.

Don-Episode 17: Light and Wings

• The sight of sentient origami crawling into their victims' mouths. If Tsubasa didn't wake up in time he would meet the same fate as his fellow friends.
  • Out of all the victims that day, only two made out of it: Tsubasa, who was challenged into keeping the event a secret for a whole year, and Natsumi, who was taken away in a dark void. All others have been sleeping since.

Don-Episode 21: Extreme Way of the Ramen

• We are finally shown why the Juto are so much of a threat: the Cat Juto devours a fellow Anoni that was just answering a call.

Don-Episode 23: Inu, Become a Dog

• Tsubasa had quite the dog day: first he couldn't undo his transformation, then he was pelted with rocks by girls who thought he was weird, then he was chased by dog catchers, soon lost his ability to talk, was chased by the Cat Juto, lost his memory and sense of self, and even turned into an actual dog. All because a dog's grduge cursed him. Had the Kijino couple not found the broken shrine and cleaned it up, chances are he would never be human again.

Don-Episode 27 : Serious Fight

• The Donbrothers face-off against the Juto for the first time. However just like the Noto their attacks are not working at all, showcasing that there truly isn't anything that can kill or even harm the immortal monsters.
• Sonoi revealing that the Don Clan is responsible for the Juto's existance. They were trying to find an alternative form of substance for the Noto Layer only to end up with immortal, shapeshifting monsters that prey on the inhabitents they were supposed to serve.

Don-Episode 29: Mournings and Murasame

• Don Murasame claims there are two of himself as well, comparing himself to Jiro to an extent. And it's not far off: when he is sleeping, anyone who holds the Ninjark Sword will go more feral than Feral Jiro, rapidly reducing their tone to growling like a beast and having a grim shadow around their eyes. And worst of all: they won't remember what they did while under influence of the Ninjark Sword.
  • Shinichi is a specially eerie: he manages to bust out a menacing haiku before relentlessly chasing after Kiji Brother and Oni Sister.
  • Taro took the Ninjark Sword when he couldn't transform and everyone's reaction was an immediate Oh, Crap!, before he transformed normally and was completely unaffected by the feral urges. Their fears however were not baseless, since Taro is the most skilled of them all it would spell certain doom if he went feral.
• The last part of Sonoi's funeral involves filling his casket with the essence collected from Taro, which causes him to come back to life with an eerie glow in his eyes.

Don-Episode 34: Natsumi Meets Me

• Tsuyoshi selling Tsubasa out to the police for "taking" Miho from him. Making things even creepier is his Psychotic Smirk to the police when he tells them that Tsubasa is clearly guilty, which just showcases his twisted joy of removing an obstacle towards his own personal happiness.
• In the preview there is a Deleted Scene that wasn't shown in the episode, which just showcases Tsuyoshi on the floor of his own apartment. The actors provide more context to the situation: after Natsumi awakens and runs away with Tsubasa, Tsuyoshi returns to his apartment alone and starts cleaning while humming the theme song. After that he has a mental breakdown that leaves him unconscious on the floor.
  • The scene that does happen, however, is Tsuyoshi waking up the next day with an apparently bright and positive outlook, as if nothing had happened the previous night. One can only imagine the amount of Tranquil Fury has has built up inside him.

Don-Episode 35: The Song of Origami

• Jin reveals to Tsubasa not only that his prison is located in the sealed gate that the Juto used to enter the human world, but also that the Juto must have found a different gate, meaning that the Noto's only means of containing them is now completely moot.
• Trapped in the Jūto's world, a Cat Jūto shoves an origami down Tsubasa's throat once more, this time assuming his identity as well. The Jūto proceeds to masquerade as him in the human world, and re-enacts "Kenji Sayama"'s incident in the ramen store.

Don-Episode 37: I, Ni, Za And Shi

• Tsuyoshi's unhealthy obsession and dependency on his wife takes an even worse turn with him treating a doll as a Replacement Goldfish.

Don-Episode 39: A Lucky Push of a Button

• Don Killer. In a series where serious injuries are usually reserved for the more plot serious battles, Don Killer's ability to take out and really hurt everyone with ease is absolutely scary. Even Taro, who usually doesn't let anything get to him, is uncharacteristically scared of it, and even another robot designed to counter it could only just make it stop by forever fighting it.
  • Let all of the above sink in and remember it was made by the Don clan in case the Donbrothers went rogue...Then made Don Killer Killer in case it went rogue. The Noto probably didn't killed the Don clan because of trying to make peace with humans, but because all of their solutions not only went horribly wrong but also the safeguards were just as destructive to everyone.

Don-Episode 44: White Revealed, Black Revealed

• Jiro shows Tsuyoshi the picture of him with his crush, Rumi, but Tsuyoshi sees nothing but Jiro himself in the picture, which leads him to assume something is really wrong with Jiro.
• Tsuyoshi once again shows how dangerous he is when his wife is threatened: he ruthlessly confronts Tsubasa and would have either fatally wounded or killed him without a hint of remorse if Sononi hadn't taken the bullet for him and snapped him out of the frenzy.

Don-Episode 45: Kakamura, or Gagamura

• Crossing over with Tear Jerker: we finally meet the Penguin Juto and it's Terasaki, Jiro's adoptive father. What's unsettling is that he's fabricated Jiro's entire life. His friends and girlfriend? Fake. The cooking Jiro claims to be from Rumi? Made by Terasaki himself. The reason for doing this? The real Terasaki is over 100 years old and close to dying in the Juto forest so he has been grooming Jiro to be his successor in guarding the forest. When he actually tries to do that, Taro consumes the origami himself, saying only he should be responsible for sealing the Juto away.
• As much as the 3-on-1 beatdown from Sonoshi's posse is well-deserved after his selfish antics to protect Miho, the cruel fate waiting for Tsuyoshi as he gets captured is anything but pleasant as Shinichi, Haruka, Sonoi and his party can't do anything as they watch Tsuyoshi being dragged into the Noto's prison dimension in horror. If one has to remember what it's like to be imprisoned after a Noto general defeats the Hitotsu-Ki and sends their human host in said dimension. With Sonoshi and their team around and Taro still trapped in the Forest of Slumbers, Tsuyoshi is not so lucky, and realizes that he is all alone...

Don-Episode 46: A Natsumi Night's Dream

• She may have had it coming for a long time, but seeing the Crane Juto/Miho get practically beaten to death by the other Juto is downright nightmarish to watch.

Don-Episode 48: The 9 Donbros

• Sonoroku shows off his Bad Samaritan credentials by throwing a baby carriage into the Phantom Zone. With the baby still in it.

Don-Episode Final: We Have Made True Bonds

• Just the appearance of Sonona and Sonoya is enough to make the Overseers recoil in dread. And their cruelty knows no bounds as they dispose of the Overseers with scary ease and gives a hard time to the 9 Donbrothers.
  • And Sonoya is played by Kohei Murakami. Yes, that Kohei Murakami, "friendly" smile and all.
  • None of the Overseers can put up a fight at all, all they can do is scramble away and try to transform, only to realize the Council just steals their armored forms from them to finish them off with.

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