Inu, Become a Dog
Summary
Jiro: The Donbrothers transform into Don Onitaijin in order to slay gigantic foes!
But... I don't have a power like that. Not yet, anyway.
But... I don't have a power like that. Not yet, anyway.
A kid builds a shrine dedicated to his dog that had passed away, at the site of its fatal road accident. Tsuyoshi's wife Miho also subconsciously joins hands to pay tribute. Later on, as the Donbrothers are fighting Juken-Ki, Tsubasa is blown away by an attack and accidentally crashes into the shrine, destroying it. Cursed by the dog's spirit, Tsubasa suddenly finds himself unable to de-transform from Inu Brother. Miho calls out to Tsubasa, who is at a loss over his situation, but then Juken-Ki shows up...
Tropes
- Animorphism: The dog's curse on Tsubasa progressively turns him into a dog, from being unable to de-transform from Inu Brother, falling into his dog instincts, becoming unable to speak in words and only barks, and finally he physically transforms into an actual black dog.
- Battle in the Rain: Miho encounters the Cat Juto during a rainstorm while caring for Inu Brother, awakening her Crane persona. She wins effortlessly.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Heroic example. Despite Jiro and Torabolt's conflicting ideals towards Taro, the two Jiros still decide they need one another and enter a (very begrudging) truce.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Crane Juto absolutely crushes the Cat Juto in their duel, forcing the latter to flee in anger.
- Diabolus ex Machina: Juken-Ki's presence actually has little to do with the episode's plot, but it's his attack that blows Inu Brother right into the dog shrine, cursing him as a result.
- Empathic Environment: Heavy rain begins to downpour all of a sudden as Miho confronts Kenji, who encountered and was pursuing Tsubasa again. When the latter makes a retreat after suffering a blow from the former, the rainfall stops instantly.
- Forced Transformation: Premise of the episode. Juken-Ki knocking Tsubasa into the shrine of a recently-deceased dog angers its spirit and slowly devolves the man into a dog himself.
- The Greatest Story Never Told:
- The Donbrothers never knew of Tsubasa/Inu Brother's predicament, as all his attempts to reach out to them for help under his progressive curse have failed to work out. It took several days later for the shrine to be repaired by chance to break and lift the curse off him.
- Likewise, Tsubasa never knew of Miho saving him from the Cat Juto.
- Homage: The fight between Juken-King and Toradragonjin is one to the Wuxia genre.
- Internal Reveal:
- The other Donbrothers learn about Jiro's split personality when he literally splits off into both of them in front of the team, proving to them that Jiro really wasn't attacking them of his own will.
- Averted with Tsubasa and Miho; although she reveals her Juto side to protect him, the curse had already progressed to the point where he no longer had the sentience to notice her or even remember who he is.
- Jiro returns to his village and reveals his hero work to his friends. While they remain skeptical because Jiro refuses to transform in front of them, he later shows it exclusively to Rumi before leaving for the city again.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Torabolt admonishes Jiro for his Hero Worship of Taro. While it's clearly coming from a place of personal bias, he isn't wrong that Jiro will never grow as a person under Taro's shadow.
- Killer Rabbit: The spirit of a dead corgi is vengeful enough to permanently turn a grown man into a dog for breaking its shrine, even if it wasn't entirely his fault.
- Misplaced Retribution: Juken-Ki was the one who sent Tsubasa crashing into the dog's shrine, but the one cursed for breaking it was the latter. Worse still, Tsubasa wasn't aware of the shrine and has no idea what he did to gain the dog's retribution, giving him almost no chance in resolving its grudge himself.
- Missed Him by That Much: Tsuyoshi and Miho pass by a sleeping Tsubasa at the park, obscured by some bushes. When Tsubasa hears Miho's voice, he wakes up and scrambles to look for Natsumi, but the couple had already moved on without noticing him. Later in the episode, the curse muddles Tsubasa's cognition just enough that he fails to recognize Miho in her Juto persona.
- Refuge in Audacity: Just as Tsuyoshi and Miho repair the dog's shrine, the curse is lifted off Tsubasa and he reverts back to human while feeding off a dog bowl under his new "owner"'s petting. Regardless, he continues to eat while the young girl continues to pet him.
- Status Quo Is God: Miho saves Tsubasa from "Kenji Sayama," outing her as a Juto. However, Tsubasa's lost all cognition to the curse by this point and lacks the brain power to recognize her - meaning he doesn't actually learn anything.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: The A plot is Tsubasa inadvertently destroying a shrine dedicated to a dog, which curses him to slowly turn into a dog. The B plot is Jiro finding his own resolve after reuniting with his childhood friends, allowing him to access his Robotaro forms and form Toradragonjin.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Tsubasa gets progressively treated more and more like an ordinary dog by passers-by, despite him still looking like a Super-Deformed Beast Man up until the last phase of his curse.
- We ARE Struggling Together: While Doragoku and Torabolt work fairly well on the ground, their Robotaro forms are at-odds from the get-go. Toradragonjin is even formed by Robogoku capturing Robobolt and forming a mech-shaped cage around it!
