Rooster Fighter Volume Two continues to follow Keiji the rooster as he fights demons during his quest to get revenge on his sister’s killer.

Rooster Fighter Volume Two
Written by: Syu Sakuratani
Publisher: Hero’s Inc.
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: November 15, 2022

The volume opens with the little chick that wants to join up with Keiji following him. A demon appears, but it seems to be a mutated version. Because of the mutation, Keiji isn’t able to defeat it like he normally does. While Keiji does defeat it in the end, he becomes injured. The little chick drags Keiji to safety and nurses him back to health. The little chick (who we learn in this volume is female), ends up accompanying Keiji on his journey, and is given the name “Chicken Little” later in the volume.

Volume Two also introduces a new character: a hen named Elizabeth. She has an axe to grind with Keiji, because at some point before the start of the series, she fell in love with him after he had saved her from a demon. Keiji left her behind after a one-night stand, and now Elizabeth has a broken heart and is out for revenge. But her revenge doesn’t go as planned, and Elizabeth ends up traveling with Keiji and Chicken Little. She may be a hostile ally at times, but she’s determined to exterminate the demons after what she experienced. Elizabeth is really handy to have around because of the smartphone she has, and she shares some information with Keiji that could potentially lead to his sister’s killer.

Remember how I mentioned that Chicken Little is female? This becomes an important fact in Rooster Fighter Volume Two, because she seems to become jealous of Elizabeth. The jealousy is strongest at the times when Keiji and Elizabeth seem to get a little closer.

When Chicken Little is kidnapped by a cat, it’s up to Keiji and Elizabeth to save her. This event leads the main characters to the next storyline in the manga, where a demon has taken over a village. The adults seem to be brainwashed and digging holes, and the children are locked up in a shed. It’s up to the protagonists to save the children and work with them to try to take down the demon and save the adults from the brainwashing. Amidst the seriousness of this storyline, we see that Keiji’s animal instincts are hitting him hard, and Elizabeth uses this to her advantage to get Keiji’s cooperation for the mission. This element adds a brief bit of brevity to what is otherwise a slightly darker and more serious storyline.

The ending of Rooster Fighter Volume Two has a cliffhanger that, at least for me, makes me want to read the next volume of the series in order to find out what’s going to happen next to Keiji, Chicken Little, and Elizabeth.

At the end of the volume, there is a page explaining the Japanese proverbs that are used as chapter titles. This appeared in Volume One as well, but I believe that I forgot to mention it in my review. Each chapter title is a proverb about birds, and I appreciated getting the explanations for the proverbs.

I thought that Volume Two was a strong continuation from Volume One, and I found that I became invested in the story right away. It probably helped a lot that the story, as well as Keiji as a character, were already established in Volume One, so this volume could jump right into the action. While there is some character development, especially with the introduction of Elizabeth, there are still plenty of action panels to help make Rooster Fighter Volume Two a relatively quick read.

I also think that Elizabeth makes for a great addition to the cast. She and her smartphone are both quite handy to have around, even if Elizabeth has her issues with Keiji. She at least understands that she needs to set her revenge aside in order to get done what needs to be done. And I think the character relationship between Elizabeth and Keiji is a great addition to the series. While Chicken Little is cute, I’m not entirely sure how much she’s truly adding yet. Yes, she was the one who nursed Keiji back to health in the early part of Volume Two, but that’s really the most important thing she’s done up to this point. I hope future volumes of the series will find ways to utilize Chicken Little and develop her more as a character.

If you read Rooster Fighter Volume One and enjoyed it, I think you’ll appreciate how the series continues in Volume Two.

The reviewer was provided a review copy by VIZ Media

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