Rooster Fighter

 Rooster Fighter (ニワトリ・ファイター) is a 12 episode shonen action anime based on the manga of the same name by Sakuratani Shu.  The series originally aired during the Spring of 2026.

    Keiji is a rooster out for revenge.  After his home was destroyed and his sister captured by a powerful demon something unlocked within him, giving hm a fearsome power.  He has now taken to wandering Japan in search of this demon, fighting any of them that he comes across.  Demon's have been occurring randomly, reeking havoc on civilian populations, causing mayhem and destruction.  No one knows where they come from but they seem to be manifested from humans who find themselves in great anguish or peril.  While Keiji destroys every demon he comes across he is not beholden to any sense of justice.  They just happen to be in his way as he searches for his sister and her captor.

     Along the way he gains two chicken companions, a baby chick named Piyoko and a hen he encountered earlier named Elizabeth.   The three of them continue their journey, fighting off any demon they encounter.  But they being to notice that some demons are not agents of destruction.  This gives them hope tha not all is dire.  Unfortunately their positivity is soon dashed as they learn there exists a more powerful and dangerous element, Devils, who appear to be manipulating some of the demon population to an unknown goal.  Keiji's half brother arrives to fill in some of the details and the hero rooster learns that he comes from a long line of chickens who have great ability and power...a thing the devils are trying to eradicate.

 

 

    If it wasn't for David picking this as his choice for the 2026 Spring edition of the podcast I would never have watched this.  By the end of the series David regretted his choice.  Rooster Fighter is the first anime that was given a failing grade by both of us at the end of the show.  It started out promising as a satire of the standard shonen battle story, akin to what One Punch Man started out as.  It was amusing and irreverent at first so we over looked its rote story and terribly enacted animation.  By the it became the thing it was making fun of and did it in a unoriginal and banal manner.  The last few episodes were little more than a low budget remake of Dragon Ball Z with chicken actors.

     To highlight the uselessness of this anime, by the end it became quite clear this was nothing short of a marking venture for the manga.  The final episode ends as the actual plot becomes clear with no apparent effort to continue the anime.  This was a massive waste of time and effort and puts a highlight on avoiding anything co-developed by Cartoon Network.  Do not watch this anime...probably don't even read the manga, its a waste of time.  Go back and redo DBZ instead.

The series was simulcast on Hulu.

Rent-A-Girlfriend - season 5

   Rent-A-Girlfriend (彼女、お借りします) is a slice of life romance comedy based on the manga of the same name by Miyajima Reiji.  The fifth season was comprised again of 12 episodes and aired during the Spring of 2026.

    Everyone is still enjoying the mini vacation care of Kazuya's grandmother at the Hawaiian  themed resort, but the strain of the secret that Mizuhara is a rental girlfriend erupts into the public space.  Kazuya's ex, Mami, has decided enough is enough and pulls the trigger in her secret weapon.  As the group heads to eat Mami drops her cell to the ground with Mizuhara's rental profile.  The phone is found by Kazuya's grandmother, unlocked a series of events that cause all of his friends and family pain and confusion.  The secret is out, everything has been a lie.  The most striking thing is Chizuru lying to her dying grandmother, Kazuya's grandmothers dear friend.  quick thinking saves the situation and helps to eleviate some of the danger.  They admit to her being a rental girlfriend and Kazuya subscribing to the service.  The new lie that is spun to save some face is to say that it eventually transitioned into a real relationship and they have been dating since before Mizuhara's grandmother passed away.  Unhappy with the outcome, Mami pushes them to prove their love resulting in a public kiss to end the discussion.

    With the big lie out in the open and a new lie in its place, Kazuya and Mizuhara return home only a little wounded.  The person who is devastated by the outcome is Kazuya's girlfriend Ruka,  In order to respect Ruka and her place as his actual girlfriend, Mizuhara cuts off contact with him for months after the trip.  This leads Kazuya to a deep depression in which he sleeps away his days and barely interacts with the outside world.  Fearing for his health and safety, Mini, his obsessive steamer neighbor and self described student, thumbs the scale to reconnect the two.  Through her encouragement Kazuya reaches out to Mizuhara.  Feeling guilt for ghosting him and the guilt for what is happening to Ruka she tells him that she is uncertain of her feelings for him and needs to spend some time contemplating and understanding them.  Kazuya takes this as a sign that there is still hope but also becomes anxious over his chances.  As things begin to look up a sudden earthquake throws their lives into disarray.  Their apartment building is condemned and they suddenly find themselves living separate from each other.  This distance surely can't help Kazuya's chances can it?

    I have languished for a while know in this mire that is Rent-A-Girlfriend.  After the more enjoyable story beats at the end of season 3 I have decided to stick with it for its run, for better or worse...largely worse.  Season 4 was terrible and grueling.  Season 5 continued with that torture by extending the Hawaiian's arc a bit longer, leading to this crescendo of absurdity.  To make thinks worse Mimi is given a deeper development as a cruel and terrible person due to a pretty shitty upbringing.  She exists in a state or pure malice, if she cant be happy no one can be happy.  Ruka is a tragic character in the entire situation, but she also needs to realize that she has really lost.  Even if Kazuya doesn't get Mizuhara, he really doesn't have any interest in the younger girl.  Kazuya is a terrible character with every single bad trapping of a shonen romance lead.  Every correct idea or decision he has is utterly annihilated by his internal dialogue and over powered self doubt.  He can't even maintain composure in the presence of Mizuhara during a normal conversation, even after a year and a half of interacting with her.  No one can be that chronically awkward.

     Rent-A-Girlfriend doesn't hide the fact that part of its reason is to be a fan service vehicle, especially with the multi episode swim suite arc.  But, once again, at the very end of season 5, it dips into what can be a good story...Mizuhara.  Once again I am reminded that the story could be a really good story if the primary character was Mizuhara.  The last few episodes of season 5 deal with a normalizing relationship between the two of them and her efforts to prepare her grandparents home for sale.  We won't magically get a revision of this narrative to follow Mizuhara and her internal processes and that's a shame, but I will enjoy the moments we do get and hope that as we stare down season 6...we might get a conclusion to this ridiculous story.

The anime was simulcast on Crunchyroll.