Demon Fighter Kocho Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2006-10-19 (updated 2012-10-01)
• 1.5 stars out of 5 (?)

Basically Devil Hunter Yohko without the action or even the pretense of horror, Demon Fighter Kocho is as short as it is lowbrow, so even though it's not outright bad it's also not much worth watching. There's plenty of randy humor and a lot of fourth-wall breaking, and it does manage to serve up three or four decent gags and keep the pace lively throughout. On the down side it's as sleazy as all get-out, takes every opportunity to expose some female flesh (and some male flesh you'd probably rather not see exposed), is shamelessly unoriginal, there's no character development at all (heck, there isn't even any character establishment), and if you charitably call the progression of events a "plot" it still feels more like a set-up for a series than a standalone story. At least it's not bad looking, though there's really no action to speak of.

Demon Fighter Kocho is too dirty and unoriginal to appeal to most, and even if you do enjoy the leering and sleazy humor, it's so short that it's not worth more than a rental anyway. It'd be a decent target for mocking with friends, except the humor is so self-aware that the characters will beat you to most of the punch lines.

Read the full-length review...

Full Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2006-10-19 (updated 2012-10-01)
• 1.5 stars out of 5 (?)

Demon Fighter Kocho has the basic idea right--cute girls, dirty jokes, some semi-scary ghosts, and maybe a bit of action on the side. The problem is it's as short as it is lowbrow, so even though it's not outright bad it's also not much worth watching.

Basically Devil Hunter Yohko without the action or any pretense of horror, Demon Fighter Kocho doesn't even try to be serious. The humor may be base, but the characters break the fourth wall enough to elicit a chuckle or two, including a mildly amusing potshot at overkill narration. There are three or four good gags, among them one of the world's most hideous transformation sequences: The cute girls end up sans-clothing a lot, but it's the tubby professor who does it in classic anime style, with another character speaking up for the viewers and pointing out just how wrong it is. Wrong, but it made me laugh.

The characters are as sleazy as the humor. If you ignore the intro there are only four speaking roles in the whole thing, and apart from Kocho, who's generically perky, the other three are all dirty-minded in at least passably amusing ways. The young male lead is... well, the young male lead, although a little more lecherous than average. The professor is the high point--he plays the wise, demon-fighting trainer, but half of everything he does is an excuse (pointed out by the other characters) to get somebody naked or leer at them. Kocho's younger sister is certainly distinctive--a "kogal"-type character that you rarely see in anime, she's a brazen hussy, but there's at least one half-decent dirty joke that comes of it.

Hey, I give Demon Fighter Kocho credit for being an equal-opportunity exploiter--one female character as dirty-minded as the men, and there's some wholly unnecessary male nudity, even if you'll really wish there wasn't.

Its other strength is that it's reasonably good-looking. The animation is acceptable, the character designs are stock but passably cute (except for the not-cute but distinctive professor), and the backgrounds are functional--some shadowy school locales, if nothing I'd call creepy. Kocho's sister also has an uncommon-in-anime, heavily-tanned look going on (not full-on ganguro, though). There isn't, sadly, any action to speak of--people jump around and use demon-busting magic, but it's just flash, not fighting.

That's the positives. The negatives are pretty obvious: It's as sleazy as all get-out, takes every opportunity to expose some female flesh, is shamelessly unoriginal, there's no character development at all (heck, there isn't even any character establishment), and if you charitably call the progression of events a "plot" it still feels more like a set-up for a series than a standalone story. It's also a little too willingly dirty to qualify as a full-on parody. Plus, at under a half hour long you don't even get much bang for your buck. At least it keeps the pace up throughout.

The acting in Japanese is decent--energetic, if nothing else. I did like the professor--he's given a distinctive voice with a hint of sleaze by Kouji Ishii (who voiced the main character in Black Heaven). I only glanced at the English dub, which alters the humor significantly (in particular less 4th-wall-breaking) but sounds reasonably good.

The music isn't noticeable, with the exception of the end theme. Said theme is sung by someone who actually has a bit of talent and gets credit for having something to do with the plot, not to mention a whole lot of vague innuendo about "demon gates."

In all, Demon Fighter Kocho is too dirty and unoriginal to appeal to most, and even if you do enjoy the leering and sleazy humor, it's so short that it's not worth more than a rental anyway. It'd be a decent target for mocking with friends, except the humor is so self-aware that the characters will beat you to most of the punch lines.

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