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.