Niwatori Fighter

An anime about a rooster fighting demons was not on my bingo card. Solid series following Keiji, a rooster who takes out demons while looking for the demon who killed his sister.

The story is intriguing in my opinion. Not groundbreaking, but solid.

The comedy is funny. I will not talk about the 2 scenes in the first episode. If you know you know 😂

The only problem I have with the series is the CGI for the demons, which ain't too bad. I think the CGI for Keiji and the others is good.

Studio Sanzigen did a good job!

Recommended for people who like Roosters and action. Cock-a-doodle-do! ... 🐓🍗

The premise is ridiculous—a talking rooster throwing hands with monsters—but it works way better than it should. I just watched the latest episode and I’m still kind of surprised by how invested I got in something that sounds this dumb on paper.

It’s weird, chaotic, and yeah, even a little sad in places, but the story actually lands more often than you’d expect. The fights are clean and easy to follow, the animation is insanely on point, and everything flows in a way that just pulls you in without trying too hard.

I didn’t expect to care this much about a rooster, but here we are—and somehow ... it’s better than a lot of the stuff that drops every season. Shoutout to the small chicken, she kinda dedicated ngl.

Recommendation: Those looking for a comedic romp they can watch with friends that won't force them to invest too much time. Unless you outright can't stomach 3D animation, your eyes will be fine.

To start with the highs, the writing is excellent. The story uses the various chicken and human characters effectively as stocks, placing them in various situations that will allow their various quirks and traits to intermingle in comedic manners. It takes on a sort of monster-of-the-week format, where each episode tackles a specific problem, normally a demon of some kind, with various elements that allow our characters to effectively play off ... each other. Out of all of them, the lead, Keiji, is my favorite. His stoic, solemn nature is deliberately designed to invoke the sort of lone wanderer archetype, especially from older shows. However, due to the fact that this is a comedy, this sincere stoicism comes off as hilariously pretentious, akin to a number of Leslie Nielsen's comedic roles. It also allows for the inherent comedy that all of this is being done by a chicken, something the art and animation never let you forget. All of this is helped by the excellent voice acting; Kenta Miyake's Keiji and Shiori Izawa's Piyoko were especially highlights for me. I haven't given the dub a shot yet, but given what I've seen of the casting decisions on that front, it looks like it should be in good hands.

By this point, if you haven't gotten used to 3D animation, that's on you. If all 3D's gonna stick out to you like a sore thumb, I'd probably recommend not watching anything from after the pandemic. In this case, I didn't really find it distracting or jarring. Given that the only real models that stay "realistic" here are the chickens (primarily to contrast their actions and world for comedic effect), I'd say that the 3D here works rather well. It allows for detail in the art, but doesn't pop out of the scene so much that it always feels like a PS2 game. Still, that's not what makes the art so good. The multiple freeze frames per episode fully had me howling whenever they came up, especially in the first ep. While the artstyle itself seems to be begging not to be placed at the forefront, this doesn't mean the animation's terrible, either. It's smooth where it needs to be, uses effects to mask some of the deficiencies, and combines everything to make for a rather nice viewing experience.

Overall, at least for a season, I'd say to give this one a shot if you have the time. The premise is absolutely golden, and I wouldn't say that the show itself undersells its premise in the slightest. If anything, I'd say it leans it just enough to make it feel complete enough to make an entire season out of. Especially if you have friends who are down for a night of dumb fun, I'd recommend throwing on an episode or two. You'll probably get some good laughs out of it.