Avataro Sentai Donbrothers

Hardly any season is as hard to pin down as Avataro Sentai Donbrothers, whose scenario ranks among the most unusual within the Super Sentai lineup. While the series is fundamentally set in the real, present-day Japan, this reality is shot through with virtual, symbolic, and fairy-tale layers that constantly bleed into one another. The line between everyday life and the "Sentai world" is deliberately kept blurry.

Central to it all is the concept of the Hitotsuki: people whose inner conflicts, desires, or obsessions grow so strong that they transform into monstrous forms. These opponents therefore don't arise from external threats, but directly from society itself. That gives the setting a distinctly more personal and, at times, absurdly dark undertone.

The team dynamic fits the setting as well. The Donbrothers don't operate as a classic unit. Many of the team members barely know each other at first, pursue their own goals, or even openly get in each other's way. Cooperation often comes about by chance or out of necessity, not out of team spirit. This leads to a fragmented, almost episodic style of storytelling.

On top of that, there's a strong meta layer: motifs from Momotarō, video-game logic, references to earlier Sentai, and absurd comedy all exist side by side on equal footing. As a result, the setting feels less like a self-contained world and more like a deliberate experiment that takes apart classic Sentai structures and reassembles them anew.

In short: Donbrothers is not a traditional "team against evil" scenario, but a blend of social satire, fairy tale, meta-commentary, and Sentai deconstruction.

With Donbrothers, an unusual path is taken once again, including when it comes to the Zords. Newly introduced were the so-called "Alter" Zords, officially listed as Auxiliary Zords. For me personally, though, they don't count as real Zords. The deciding factors are above all their size, the feel of the materials, and the overall very action-figure-like construction.

The Alters come across less like classic combination mechas and much more like poseable figures with a Zord look. Sure, they can be posed and partly combined, but the feeling of a classic Megazord system never really sets in. The central representative is the Don Momotaro Alter, which can connect with additional Alter Zords. The idea behind it is definitely creative, but from a collector's standpoint it holds no relevance for me.

The well-known Alter Zords include:

- ToQger Alter
- Zyuohger Alter
- Lupinranger Alter
- Patranger Alter
- Ryusoulger Alter
- Ninninger Alter
- Gokaiger Alter

At its core, the whole thing is once again a collecting mechanic, comparable to earlier systems like the Keys. Lots of variants, lots of references, but little real added value for anyone who likes to combine. For completists it's surely appealing – but for me personally, not worth collecting.