DonJosé

DonJosé is the slash ship between Donald Duck and José Carioca from The Three Caballeros and DuckTales fandoms.

Canon

 * -|Films & Shorts =

Saludos Amigos
José makes his debut in the fourth and final segment of the movie, "Aquarella do Brasil". After an artist starts painting a watercolor picture, a carnivorous flower eats a bee, only to suddenly turn into Donald Duck, who is understandably confused about where he is. As Donald picks a fight with the artist, the artist is in the process of bringing a design of a dapper parrot to life. Donald is curious about his new companion and stops fighting. As soon as the parrot is finished being drawn, he starts dancing in front of Donald.

He gives Donald his card, but Donald struggles to read it. Despite an initial failure to understand each other (José is under the impression that Donald speaks Portuguese), he makes it clear that he wants to see Donald's card as well. He fishes a card that looks like the Ace of Spades out of his pocket, having Donald's name and region written on the back. As soon as José reads "Donald Duck", he turns out to be a fan of his, imitating one of his famous tantrums. He then approaches Donald to embrace him. As José gives Donald an entire monologue in Portuguese, Donald struggles with understanding him even more and pulls out an entire library of dictionaries to make an attempt. But then José reveals that he can speak English perfectly, implying that he was just messing with Donald.

Asking José what they shall do now, José answers that he will show Donald the "Land of the Samba". When Donald asks what "Samba" means, José demonstrates by performing a dance and turning his parasol into a makeshift flute. Taking Donald's hat, he turns into an accordion while Donald fails to play José's parasol flute. While walking down some freshly drawn stairs with Donald, José uses his parasol as a guitar. Though Donald shows some annoyance at the things happening around him, he soon gives in to the rhythm and dancing alongside José while walking down the streets.

Sitting down at a freshly drawn bar, José shares a bottle of Cachaça with him. Though Donald is happy about the gesture, the drink is a bit much for him and he pukes a bit of fire, which José promptly uses to light his cigar. As Donald starts to hiccup, José uses a paper box to turn it into a Samba beat.

The Three Caballeros
Donald and José meet again in this film, as a birthday present to Donald. José takes Donald on a trip to Bahia, moving through the songs Baía and Have You Been to Bahia? The two meet many pretty, live-action women along the course of their journey to Bahia. When they return, they work together to open Donald's final birthday present. This is when the pair meet Panchito, who gives them sombreros and gets them to sing a song (The Three Caballeros) together. At the end of the song when Panchito is hitting a high note and shows no signs of stopping, José and Donald work together to make him stop.

Melody Time
Donald and José appear together in the segment called Blame it on the Samba. joined by the Aracuan Bird from The Three Caballeros. The segment takes inspiration from their earlier film, showing the two characters dancing together with live action women.

Two Happy Amigos
This episode of Walt Disney Presents saw Donald and José reunite after some time apart. (The episode was released 15 years after The Three Caballeros, although it is unclear how much time has passed for the characters).


 * -|Ducktales (2017) =

The Town Where Everyone Was Nice!
This iteration of the characters are presented as friends from college. Donald, Panchito, and José were in a band together in their school days, but haven't spoken in many years. The trio reunites in Brazil, and quickly begin to talk about their adult lives. José claims to be a jet-setting traveler and Donald, afraid of being seen as lesser than his friends, lies and says that he's a millionaire. This sets off a chain of events that leads to the group wanting to go back on tour as their college band. Donald grows cold feet, and finally has to admit that he isn't actually a billionaire and he was only lying to impress his friends. José, in turn, admits that he was also not truthful about his life; José is really a flight attendant. José comments that they're still the same "knuckleheads" that they were back in college. The trio eventually use their song (The Three Caballeros) to fight off a deadly plant in the village and save the day.

Louie's Eleven!
Later in the series, Donald, Panchito, and José are seen still trying to send their band on tour.


 * -|Legend of the Three Caballeros =

Dope-A-Cabana
Donald and José first meet outside the cabana, as José steps off a Greyhound bus. Donald seems instantly annoyed with him, especially as José proceeds to charm the realtor with a kiss on the hand. Panchito soon arrives, and Donald's anger boils over. He declares that he doesn't want to share his inheritance with these two "weirdos". José cuts in to remind Donald that he isn't weird; he's simply eccentric. The three birds are later seen holding a yard sale for the historical items in their new home, but the sale is cut short when they discover Xandra and her mystic book.

Moments

 * In The Three Caballeros, after playing a game of Blindman's Buff with a bunch of beautiful women in Acapulco, Donald accidently smooches José multiple times, mistaking him for one of the women. Though Donald is horrified when he finds out, José doesn't mind it at all.

Fanon
Though not as popular as DonPanJosé or PanJosé, DonJosé has a dedicated number of fans because they were the two Caballeros who knew each other the longest. The ship likely also sailed as a result of José being utilized more by Disney after The Three Caballeros film, whereas Panchito mostly faded away until reappearing in House of Mouse in the early 2000s. DonJosé is also the only ship for Saludos Amigos, though the movie is often considered a sort-of prequel to The Three Caballeros. Most works portray them as old friends. Depending on the source material the author is drawing from, they are normally seen as either having first met in Brazil, or meeting at college first before Panchito joined their group.

Currently, the ship has over 35 works on AO3, but nearly half of those are also DonPanJosé fics.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

Trivia

 * Donald always refers to José as "Joe" in the classic films, which is the English equivalent. This is most likely a reference to him being conceptualized as "Joe Carioca".
 * In turn, José always refers to him as "Pato Donald".