do humans taste like chicken?

🚨 This review contains spoilers 🚨

Is it really wrong to eat human beings when they are perfectly fine with eating cows and pigs and chickens?

Aliens who have descended from the stars have absolutely no qualms about taking a bite out of human flesh, leaving nothing but bits of viscera, blood, and mangled skin.

There is no way out for humanity and, to be quite frank, we didn’t even stand a chance.

Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 is an anime anthology of eight anime one-shots based on the manga collection with the same title. The stories were written between the ages of 17 and 26 by the mangaka of Chainsaw Man. Episode 1, A Couple Clucking Chickens Were Still Kickin’ in the Schoolyard, is the first story, and boy is it a window into the mind of Fujimoto-san.

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Humanity has assigned itself the position at the top of the food pyramid. Unless there are extenuating circumstances, there is no one or nothing that serves as a threat to humans.

Or so we think.

In our horror films, we fantasize about something that could pose a threat to human civilization. Dystopian worlds are usually the result of our own doing, like depleting inelastic needs for human survival. Maybe there is an infectious, deadly virus that threatens to wipe everyone out, turning humans into the living dead, or maybe there are alien life forms who come to Earth and do the unthinkable: complete eradication.

The latter is exactly what happens. Aliens come and they have no mercy for humans. They are only preoccupied with how delicious human flesh and bone taste. Bellies full of hands, heads, and meat. It’s so good that by the time we start our story, our narrator already informs us that there is not a single living person left.

Before humanity goes extinct, before the fall of all humankind, an alien and a human lived together, or so we’re told.

The setting is 2019.

We’re introduced to Yohei as his alarm clock rings. A typical teenager, he’s overslept and has to rush downstairs to get breakfast. He greets his mother, who’s busy in the kitchen, and his father, who has the strangest expression while reading the paper.

It’s a typical Japanese home besides the fact that these beings are aliens.

Yohei goes to meet Moemi-chan who’s been waiting at the door for him so that they’re not late to school. Despite her cute name, Moemi isn’t what you’d expect of an alien girl, she’s extremely tall and has a bodybuilder’s physique. But you don’t have much time to dwell on her appearance because she’s easily embarrassed by the simplest interaction with Yohei. Quintessential kawaii mannerisms with a dash of yandere.

On their way to school, it becomes clear that the world that exists now is one where humans no longer are part of society. This is not a story where humans and aliens live side by side as they do in Blood Blockade Battlefront. There was no integration and a subsequent war. Humans were just not there. Alien life had completely replaced all of humanity by taking our place, but it’s not exactly clear why.

As Moemi and Yohei approach school, Yohei tries to part ways because he is on animal duty and has to feed the chickens. A detail I thought was so strange. Moemi, who clearly likes Yohei, decides to tag along.

In a pail, Yohei brings corn and rice balls to a concrete yard.

I’m expecting chickens or at least some sort of chicken hybrid that the aliens have created to suit their unique tastes, but as Yohei reaches out with an ear of corn and a hand reaches out, I realize that these “chickens” are actually humans with chicken mascot heads.

And they’re not even particularly realistic chicken heads. You can see these people’s faces. It’s not even ambiguous that these are humans as you can see their whole bodies. Moemi’s comment about only seeing chickens in images makes a lot more sense.

It kind of makes you pause.

How intelligent are these aliens if they can’t tell the difference between a real chicken and a person in a shitty costume that would barely count as a Halloween cosplay?

Even after finishing the episode, I’m not sure what the answer is. Aliens had one major advantage over humanity: they could transform or power up. There wasn’t even a chance that humans would be able to resist this invasion.

Still, our main characters Ami and Yuto are able to survive rather comfortably because aliens only barely recognize animals and humans based on their faces. Somehow, the chicken head costume was enough. This is kind of hard to believe when the scene we’re informed of this information shows aliens learning complex math equations.

During class, Yohei is approached by a classmate who eagerly tells him that there’s a rumor going around that there are still humans who are alive. No one knows where these people are because there is an alien collaborator who has been helping them escape.

While this classmate is fantasizing about being able to eat people again, Yohei asks him whether it’s actually cruel to just slaughter humans.

The thought has apparently not even crossed his mind and he says he’ll think about it a bit more. He doesn’t get much time to ponder this before Moemi bursts into frame. She yells Yohei he’s being incredibly silly.

Humans ate cows and pigs after all, so what’s the difference?

Besides, humans also ate chickens and that was just…strange.

The next scene we see Yuto standing against the wall watching Ami muse about when the aliens will finally leave Earth. Their guards are down and they don’t notice Yohei standing in front of him until it’s too late. He’s heard Ami speak.

Hoping they weren’t caught they resume their act.

Yohei walks in and sets down the pail he brought with him and Ami and Yuto approach with caution. As they kneel, Yohei asks if they’re actually humans.

Yuto picks up Ami and backs up.

Yohei continues, saying that he’s researched chickens and he knows what they actually look like. Chickens have feathers and are obviously smaller than them.

While Yuto holds Ami, and as he skitters around the schoolyard, Yohei reveals that he’s not an enemy. He doesn’t want to eat them. In fact, he’s there to help them because the place they’d been hiding out was no longer safe.

There was a new transfer student that was to arrive that day and he came from Olobaba, a planet where they ate chickens.

While doing his introduction to the class, Masatoshi Endo, informs everyone that his favorite food is chicken. Of course, the green one eyed alien from earlier lets him know that the school actually has chickens that they keep on school grounds.

Without even hesitating, Masatoshi transforms.

This is the first time we see transformation in the episode and it becomes extremely clear why humans had no chance of survival.

In a few leaps and bounds, Masatoshi ends up in the schoolyard where Yohei, Yuto, and Ami are standing. Their appearance has changed a bit. Instead of chickens they are…cats?

Yohei believes this will be enough to dissuade the new kid from trying to eat them.

Unfortunately, Masatoshi is a glutton and he doesn’t care. He snatches up Ami and dangles her little body above his mouth.

Yohei transforms and bludgeons Masatoshi with a strike to the face, forcing him to let go of Ami.

The impact causes Ami’s chicken head to come off.

The jig is up and everyone knows that she’s a human.

Yohei wastes no time picking up these two humans and running off with them. Sprinting through the streets people see Yohei carrying Ami and Yuto, some calling for the police to track them down.

As he ran, Yohei informs both Ami and Yuto that he is actually the culprit behind the small enclave of humans that had survived the alien invasion. In front of them, is a vast circle, barren of any trees. Maybe it was an impact site or just a remaining scar in the earth left from human excavation.

In the next moment, a huge fist appears out of nowhere, bringing with it the force that is enough to crush Yohei to mush, his fluorescent green blood slashing across the ground. The impact again throws Ami, and Yuto, he’s injured with broken fingers and visible blood.

The being responsible for this carnage identifies itself as a police officer. He thunders, “Humans do not have the right to live. Prepare to be executed.”

Yohei raises a mangled hand and urges Ami to run to safety. Instead, this little girl runs back to protect them literally putting her body before his, arms spread wide.

Before Ami is turned into a bloody spray, we’re taken back to six months prior, when the aliens first arrived.

It’s here that we learn the truth about the origins of Yuto’s and Ami’s relationship. Ami is standing in the gymnasium with the carcasses of her half eaten classmates. The same chicken head on hers. An alien stands in front of her and she berates him, demanding to know why he did what he did. They’d just been practicing for a play and he just had to eat them? What for?

We see again, the overall belief that there is no difference between eating humans and humans eating pigs and cows.

Ami screams at him that if that was true then it would be ok to eat the alien.

Instead of eating Ami, he decides to transform into a human, the very human that has been with Ami this whole time. The alien was curious to know what it would feel like to be in her position.

We are then brought back to the present where Yuto has given up his disguise and tells Ami that he’s done waiting and that he’s going to eat her despite the fact that children are not filling.

Ami realizes, in horror, that Yuto was the alien from the very beginning. The one who slaughtered her classmates.

Her face twists up in anguish. All of the phases of grief colliding into one another. She hardly has any time to process anything because she is alone. Yohei has been smeared into the ground. Yuto is not a human and the alien who called itself a police officer was more than likely ready to bring down another blow.

Ami scrambles to her feet running toward the other side where safety should be, asking why, why, and why again.

The alien who had been Yuto does not give chase, but instead transforms and attacks the alien police officer.

They fight.

We get one last glimpse of Moemi-chan weeping over the remains of Yohei.

And if we thought that maybe Yuto was no different than the others, there is a single frame where just before this fight begins, there is a single tear that has fallen.

A Couple Clucking Chickens Were Still Kickin’ in the Schoolyard does a lot in less than 20 minutes.

The premise of what happens when an alien species invades earth is answered in a way that I feel is actually interesting.

As humans, this scenario is the worst case possibility. There was no way to fight back against this species. And while we believe ourselves to be of top intelligence, there is a held belief that should there be advanced life, we would still have a chance which is often seen with the concept of the indomitable spirit.

In this episode, there is no difference between cattle and people.

Amongst the characters I really find Yohei and Yuto to be fascinating. Both have similar feelings about humans, though the conclusion is reached through different means.

Yohei doesn’t seem to be sold on the idea that aliens just have the right to eat humans because they consider them to be food.

Yuto chooses to stop eating people out of curiosity of what it would feel like to be in the position of humanity. To be living your life, and then in an instance, it comes to a screeching halt due to a series of events that because are simply out of your control.

And in the end, Yuto humanity has found a soft place within him. He’s developed what I would say is empathy or, at the very least, sympathy. The words he says to Ami are not his honest feelings. Understanding the circumstances they are both in, he attempts to secure an escape path by forcefully severing the ties.

She must run and the truth of his identity would be enough to break her little heart.

It’s a very, very human thing to do, to say things to people to hurt them in order to push them away to safety.

While this episode is short, only about 19 minutes long, you get the bang for your buck. The story starts slow, typical of following a student from home to school, but quickly it takes on a much darker tone.

It’s based on a one shot, but boy did the team on this project really pull out the best. elements.

If you get the chance to read Tatsuki Fujimoto Before Chainsaw Man, you’ll see what I’m talking about.

I mean this with no disrespect, but there is absolutely nothing to write home about the art work. It makes sense since this was Fujimoto’s early work.

However, this animated is an absolute treat. From the color pallet to the intense scenes which showcased transformations or fights. There’s also these very sweet and tender moments when it comes to depicting emotion. I think of Ami when she first meets Yuto and he chops her on her head to knock her out.

The way the tears cling to her skin and flow down the side of her face. Or the moment when she realizes who Yuto actually is. It’s so rare to see that type of emotion on children’s faces. It hooks into you because Ami is a child. She’s a new human who had the rest of her life ahead of her—or maybe she never did if the aliens coming to earth was inevitable.

I have both read and watched Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto and I can clearly see a lot of the threads crisscrossing between the work. A Couple Clucking Chickens Were Still Kickin’ in the Schoolyard has elements of the ways darkness seeps into the everyday life of humanity. And more specifically, I can see the early stages of Denji’s character in his demon form.

As I mentioned earlier A Couple Clucking Chickens Were Still Kickin’ in the Schoolyard is actually one episode in an anthology of eight animated episodes based on Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26, a collection of pieces Fujimoto wrote before releasing projects like Fire Punch and Chainsaw Man.

I haven’t finished the series yet, but I’m thinking about making this a special series for pages&pixels until I’ve watched all eight episodes.

If you’re looking for where to watch Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26, you can find it exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.

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