Rooster Fighter

Episode 7

I have a confession to make. And I'm ashamed it's taken me seven episodes to admit this. Do you all remember Polar Bear Café? That cute show where animals sit around and run a café and do animal stuff? The more I watch Rooster Fighter, the more I think maybe I just want Rooster Café. It's neat seeing all the different types of demons every week, and as someone who was basically raised by Scooby Doo and the X-Files, it's in my blood to love monster-of-the-week. Even so, my serotonin is at its all-time high every week when this show is just killing time on silly bird antics.

Genuinely, there is almost no reason why Rooster Fighter would need to devote half its run-time to a compilation of Bird Things—Keiji pecking around in the dirt and taking a dust bath, Elizabeth fishing out and using an aerosol sprayer of bug spray for an unnecessarily long time, Elizabeth cooking and seasoning carp, if not to just whittle away time. There's an entire sub-story where they meet two pigeons who convince them to go on a group date with them so they can impress some lady pigeons. Group dates are apparently very popular in the pigeon world, which I guess makes sense. Although if you've ever thought to yourself, “I wonder what I would do if I were a rooster trying to neg some pigeons?” then this is your blueprint. And yet, this was probably my favorite part of the entire episode. I've said before that I admire how well Rooster Fighter manages to save money at every turn, and this episode is a prime example. There is almost no animation in this entire bit. You can't convince me that the entire pigeon scene cost more than a few bucks and a bartered bag of apples.

This episode felt like it went by really fast. Maybe it's because I was so deeply entertained by this PBS special of random bird facts and watching Keiji get his feathers ruffled by these dismissive birds (is this a pun that finally works?). There's also a lot of throwaway gags that work well for minimal effort—and minimal budget—like Keiji's kabuki bit or the baseball reference. Before you realize it, half the episode has gone by, and nothing has been accomplished.

We do get some good juice for the other half of the episode that pushes the story forward, though. For starters, in an early flashback with Sarah, we finally see the outcome of her run-in with the neighbor's dog. It turns out that she's the one who first develops powers, not Keiji, lending additional weight to the phoenix imagery that we saw in a previous episode. We also get some demon lore, namely that non-humans can also transform into monsters. This is revealed for the first time when Piyoko runs off to play hero for a bullied lizard, only to have one of the aggressors Hulk out and turn into a giant snake-tongued mega-monster.

There really are no rules for the demons. You're telling me that even lizards can turn into demons? Just because they were embarrassed by a baby chicken? If this is the case, why isn't the entire world overrun by demons from every phylum in the animal kingdom? If even petty squabbles can activate monster mode, then we've reached a saturation point in which nothing means anything anymore. Every prey animal would be exacting revenge on their tormentors, not to mention every animal in captivity. Maybe this is the next evolution in demon creation, although if that's the case, we have next to no context for this change.

At the very least, if we are to reach an inflection point of demon creation, we have a new hero(?) to look forward to. Enter… the half-brother of Keiji, a white silkie named Keisuke that's been teased in the opening animation all season. He has his own share of trauma to unpack and his own literal demons to battle, but after facing a devastating emotional loss, he sets out to find Keiji. The two finally meet by the end of the episode, but not before our chickens cross paths with the long-haired mystery woman from the last episode.

Rooster Fighter is a lot of things—action dramedy, slice-of-life-by-way-of-time-wasting, superhero show—but it's at least never boring. Sometimes it feels like this series is just flying by the seat of its pants and tossing story points at a wall, but the formula works. It knows well enough to always end things on a mild cliff-hanger, and even though it feels like a cheap trick at times, it does nudge the story forward at a consistent clip. Even for episodes like this, in which half the time is frittered away on cheap comedy, things are still rolling along. I wouldn't say Rooster Fighter is a must-watch week to week, but it doesn't feel like you're wasting your time. This is basically lunch-break anime. Plus, I am very excited to finally have Keisuke on board. More chickens? The answer is always yes.

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Rooster Fighter is currently airing on Toonami and streaming on Disney+/Hulu.