Rooster Fighter Volume Three sees some important character development for both Keiji and Elizabeth.

Rooster Fighter Volume Three
Written by: Syu Sakuratani
Publisher: Hero’s Inc.
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: February 21, 2023

In Volume Two, an aspiring Viewtuber shot a video of Keiji and uploaded it to the site. At the beginning Volume Three, this video has gone viral, and people notice Keiji, Elizabeth, and Chicken Little. Unfortunately, there are those who have noticed them and want to capture them. After being pursued by such people, Keiji and the others come across a chicken coop at a school and hide out there. But it turns out it’s not only humans chasing after Keiji. Another rooster named Tatsuo, who has a grudge against Keiji, has been trying to find him for the past year. Tatsuo finds him, and the two have a fight. Tetsuo has become a demon and turns into a large version of Keiji. It’s an impressive fight, but you can likely figure out who wins without me telling you. The aspiring Viewtuber is in the area and tries to catch the fight on video, but the camera didn’t record anything, which frustrates him because he’s trying to make a name for himself on Viewtube.

After this, we see Elizabeth and Keiji getting into a fight, and an irritated Keiji goes off on his own and leaves Elizabeth and Chicken Little behind. We see Keiji meet a gentle and friendly demon, and the two of them develop a friendship. After Keiji gives the demon some encouraging words after hearing how he came to be and how he feels about himself, he leaves to continue on his journey. Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Chicken Little are caught in a rainstorm and are found by a young girl named Misuzu. She lives her with her 85-year-old frail grandfather, and the two humans become friends with the chickens after Elizabeth uses the smart phone she has to communicate with them. The humans live near a river, and the order is given to evacuate because of the river being about to flood. It’s up to Elizabeth to convince the grandfather to leave and not give up on his life, and Chicken Little starts to develop a little more respect for Elizabeth during this scene.

The two stories come together when it appears the nearby dam is going to burst. If it does, the town where Misuzu lives would be flooded. The demon Keiji met notices what’s happening and decides he’ll do whatever he can to stop the dam from breaking. Using the smart phone, Elizabeth determines where the dam is, and she and Chicken Little go to see what they can do. The aspiring Viewtuber sees the two chickens and follows them. When he gets to the dam and sees the demon, he begins a livestream. Keiji reappears during this section of the story, and it’s ultimately up to him to save the day. As she watches Keiji and his determination to save the town, Elizabeth realizes what makes Keiji so special… and admits to herself that she might still have feelings for him.

I believe this is the first volume of Rooster Fighter that had an element that appeared throughout it that was an important part of the story but wasn’t a major character. I’m specifically referencing the aspiring Viewtuber here. His video from Volume Two is ultimately how Tatsuo finds Keiji, it serves as the impetus for Keiji and Elizabeth to bicker and go their own ways, and the Viewtuber is the one who makes it known what’s going on at the dam during the storm. In a lot of ways, I see this volume as having two sections (the first section would be the chapter with Tatsuo, and the remainder of the volume being the second section), and previous to now, the only real elements that appeared throughout a volume would be regular characters, such as Chicken Little and Elizabeth in Volumes Two and Three. The Viewtuber isn’t a major character, yet he made appearances and did things that were important throughout this entire volume. I thought this was a nice touch. I especially liked how the Viewtuber went from simply trying to make a name for himself to doing something that keeps a community informed about a natural disaster that’s affecting them.

And this volume also shows both Keiji and Elizabeth going through some character development. For Keiji, meeting the friendly demon and being able to form a friendship is a big step forward for his character. Prior to this encounter, Keiji only saw demons as being enemies that he had to defeat in order to achieve his goal of finding his sister’s killer. That’s why the first story in this volume, which sees Keiji learning that Tatsuo turned into a demon, is so important. Prior to meeting the friendly demon, Tatsuo had reinforced Keiji’s preconceived notions about demons. With Tatsuo helping to cement Keiji’s beliefs earlier in the volume, it makes his friendship with the friendly demon even more poignant than it would have been otherwise.

Meanwhile, we see Elizabeth being able to truly show what she’s like after Keiji leaves, because she’s not trying to hide her feelings. Chicken Little picks up on this when Elizabeth is lecturing Misuzu’s grandfather when he’s refusing to evacuate during the storm. And then, near the end of the volume, Elizabeth starts to understand Keiji’s motivation for what he does as he desperately works to save the town… which also makes her realize that perhaps she’s actually still in love with him after all. I hope to get a chance to read Volume Four, because I’d like to see how Sakuratani depicts Elizabeth going forward.

I really enjoyed reading Rooster Fighter Volume Three. There was a good mixture of action, story, and character development throughout its pages. Over the course of the three volumes of Rooster Fighter that I’ve read, I went from being curious about and intrigued by Keiji and his story to truly becoming invested in the three main characters (Keiji, Elizabeth, and Chicken Little).

If you’ve read and enjoyed the previous two volumes of Rooster Fighter, I think you’ll appreciate Volume Three as well.

The reviewer was provided a review copy by VIZ Media

Additional posts about Rooster Fighter:

Advertisement