David Lim
After the training adventure with Sani, Toriko and Komatsu jump right into another ingredient, this time with Coco.
But there were two interleaved interludes. One in which Toriko and Coco went off to hunt down IGO president's full course menu ingredients. The anime actually provided more backstory to this interlude and lengthened it out a bit. The manga just wrapped it up in a single issue. Komatsu's past was revealed a bit more in the other interlude, where he meets up with a friend that he had once trained with, and then parts with an obvious prelude to a later confrontation.
Coco, Toriko, and Komatsu travel to the Jidal Kingdom to seek out the Meteor Garlic. I think this is one of my favourtie arc, as it shows a darker side of the Gourmet Age and a different kind of creativity. The villain this time is Livebearer, an underground cooking chef, whose depiction is a bit different from the anime. He has full body tattoos in the manga. It's understandable why that wouldn't fly in anime targeted at a younger audience.
And on to the next continent, “Area 7”, and the next member of the Eight Kings apparently. It's imaginative as always, and they conveniently get a “modern transport” to carry them to and across the continent, hunting for Acacia's soup. As you go through the chapters, you'll start getting an idea of what exactly “Pair” refers to... and it's a... soup? Wow. Is this like a secret fetish or something?
Things are all kicking into high gear - including time-skips. If you had imagined how the other three Heavenly Kings could've obtained their tasked ingredients, or even what exactly those generic-sounding ingredients look like, well... you'll have to keep imagining it, because the author didn't show it (it's likely the author couldn't imagine them either). At least we got to see some panels (a very few) of the other Eight Kings in action. Basically, this volume is a series of chapters of consolidation chapters - the good guys are regrouping, and the “superpowers” (Jirou, Midora, Don Slime) are facing off their opponents.
Lots of impressive scenes of Toriko (and something else) versus the Horse King as well as Komatsu showing off his hidden potential (and something else). But I kinda feel like things are powering up way too fast. One thing I'm kinda impressed with is how this “Air” ingredient is woven and integrate into both the world and the story. What I don't really like is how the timeline is always “tens of thousands” or “hundreds of thousands” of years ago. Seriously, does everything need to be ancient history?
Ok, the Nakiri family is... weird. One last member of the family gets revealed. All the fights are so rushed now, it's like the writer is aiming to finish the series within a certain time frame? The characters aren't really being developed anymore.
The final volume was an action-packed series of chapters with a lot of cliché moments. I like the cliché stuff, since they always make for good plot when it's something that's kinda expected. What I didn't like was the glaring plot holes. It was kind of a downer - it's just really obvious that the writer didn't bother thinking it through properly. Things like, Coco was infected by the harpoon-wielding B.O.W. right in chapter 1, but had no effect on our civilian hero. And also our spy/actress/torturer/double-agent being so battle-hardened that no living being could sneak up on her or ambush her or surprise her, yet a recently-turned zombie could shuffle down a corridor, and then jump her from behind. It was the only time in all the chapters where a zombie didn't have any accompanying sound effect. These and also the fact that Claire was pretty... tame. She doesn't have much to do. That Assistant Director suddenly turned into action hero. So it was a rather lacklustre way to end a series that I had started off with a good vibe.
I think I figured out why I keep reading - there's just no end to the absurdities the author throws at his readers! It's so out there that I just can't help but be entertained by the ridiculousness of it. We finally get a second female, who's basically a pony-tailed copy of the first female, except that she's actually way, way more, err... accepting of Kurono. I think it's just meant to serve as some sort of emotional setup for Kurono? But anyway, the third mission is pretty irreverent, considering the aliens are basically the statues that you'd find in Buddhist temples.
The usual assortment of strangers show up, but there are greater numbers this time. The funny thing is that there's one guy (a newcomer no less) who is actually effective (as opposed to sheer luck and ambush shots) with the advanced weaponry that they've been given. I guess the kids are just not that smart? I mean, why wouldn't they take the equipment home and actually practice with them... but of course, that would spoil their sudden bouts of realisations of “I can do this!” - which... is actually quite fun to see (as is the sheer amount of gore).
Watched the anime, and things feel off, so I did some reading and realised that the anime skips quite a bit. Picked up the manga to see what was missing.
The plot follows Tatsumi as he arrives at the capital city of an old empire well on its way to decline. He set off for the capital with some friends in the hopes of earning some fame and fortune to help his village.
Unfortunately, the capital turned out to be completely not what he expected, and due to a series of really bad luck, he ended up getting “recruited” into Night Raid, a group of assassins. I kinda like reading about “good” assassins, as it sort of challenges the writer's ability to come up with believable motivations, given that assassination is obviously an inherently evil act.
They got to the Gourmet Pyramid rather quickly. I seem to recall some filler episodes around this point. There are a couple of details that differ from the anime too, like the length of the episodes dedicated to Toriko, Zebura, and Komatsu making the crossing to the Sand Garden. And that thing about toriko's cheek scar which was not in the anime. Another point to note was that their fights and feasting in the Gourmet Pyramid itself were more gory. But overall, time seemed to pass more quickly in the manga than the anime.
A fun point to note is that Toriko's and Zebura's power level and power expenditure were presented as calorie measurements, kind of like what Dragonball did way back when with their scanners. But I don't recall it getting mentioned anymore after this arc. Guess it was yet another thing that was brought in as a feature, but subsequently abandoned again. And oh, all the monsters here capture levels in the mid double-digits now. As I mentioned in an earlier volume, these numbers used to be considered extremely "high". Now, knowing what's coming, these numbers are nothing.
I'm certainly enjoying this volume much more than I did the Area 7 arc. There's a glimpse of things in the earlier days that made Toriko enjoyable. So while they're partying over at the Birth Cry Tree, the two groups of “supporters” (chefs and other characters who've appeared throughout the series) caught up with them. A bonus scene that I loved was that we finally get to see Zonge's true purpose. That was fun.
So after they're all caught up, they head into Area 6, the “Ocean World” basically. It's interesting that it's actually this area that contains the toughest of the Eight Kings. I had expected that to be Area 1? But without spoiling too much, there's a bunch of crazy weather and crazy ocean conditions, as you can expect from this series. And then the entire party gets split into Heavenly Kings paired up with a chef each, while Komatsu stays with the rest of the cast. Each pair heads off into a different area, while the main group stays in area 6. All this because of new plot revelations that required them to speed things up.
The Bishoukukai invades the Cooking Fest! And an all-out war begins. Toriko, Coco, and Sani each face off against a nemesis that had fought Toriko before. The action sequences focused on the important fights, and doesn't have the long drawn-out and repetitive moments as in the anime. The pacing is much better this way. Also, Komatsu was way less whiny compared to the anime (which resulted in my rapidly diminishing regard of him). And during all this chaos, a hidden faction seems to have been behind all of this.
I liked the closure of the Gourmet Pyramid and Mellow Cola arc, but not for the usual reasons of watching feast and celebrate the conclusion of an adventure or training, but rather for the revelation of more information regarding the greater overall plot arc involving the God ingredient. And now, more light is shed on the mysterious species that Toriko and Komatsu have encountered. Also, a bishoukukai nemesis makes a surprise appearance - and then followed up with a rather lame excuse of not wanting to fight. In the anime, I remember there was a specific dialogue that “inspired” Toriko, but in the manga, there was none of that, so that scene ended up being a bit pointless. And as an end to the volume, Toriko and Komatsu visit the Gourmet Temple, something I thought was a filler anime episode but apparently was not. The anime did change the sequence of events and padded it out a bit. Toriko had never been to the Gourmet Temple in the manga, same as Komatsu, but in the anime I recall that he had, only Komatsu had not.
The Four Beast arc draws to a close in this volume. I love the bit about Komatsu figuring out how to prepare the special ingredient, although the time limit was outrageously short The fight with the Four Beast was pretty intense, although I think the anime did a better job here in showcasing the fight a bit more. I liked the idea of a combination technique but... not quite how it turned out. Spoiler: Pac-Man makes an appearance. Lastly, Teppei encounters an ominous mysterious character at the end.
Side note: There's finally some random female civilians being depicted.
Lots of things things happening in this volume that felt like rehashing the same formula and poor decision-making. The lost civilisation was found, another conveniently-placed hermit/ally saved them, a Dawn of the Planet of the Apes vibe, another expected “shock” at the power of the Monkey King, an expected initial defeat but miraculous survival, another mandatory power-up moment that just so happens to be taught to them by their convenient (if a bit suspicious) ally.
And yes, “Pair” is exactly what you'd expect it to be, although just why the “Birth Cry Tree” has “pseudo-Pair” up in this boughs is never explained. It's also a bit silly for Toriko to insist that the critically-wounded Komatsu be brought along into dangerous terrain - but it just so happens that their “transport” animal has just such an ability. Also, gravity just does not work that way, no matter how “cute” the concept of their power-up. All-in-all, I didn't really enjoy this volume. I just guess it's a just a bit too goofy.
Finally, things slow down and it almost falls into a slice-of-life pace. It's kind of ok to finally get to see Kurono as an actual student. The girlfriend part is again pretty sudden and out of nowhere, with no build-up at all, just like how Kurono lost his virginity. And things suddenly jump to another student with budding psychic powers. It almost felt like a different manga, but I think it's pretty obvious this is a setup of just what's going to happen to this new student. It's pretty formulaic with the way the author keeps just adding new themes/elements with no build-up but oddly enough, it's still fairly enticing to just keep reading rather than going all eyeball-rolling.
The Century Soup arc is drawing to a close. The fights are done and we got to see Tommyrod's craziest insect yet as his “ultimate”, but Teppei had an answer for that. Toriko gets seriously wounded. This is also where we start seeing Komatsu's general “attraction” to ingredients. And we also see Zonge actually being useful for once (right after I noted in the last volume's review that he had no point, lol - it completely slipped my mind).
Also, we get to see just how far off Toriko's power level really is compared to the really powerful people (both in the bishoukukai and the “good guys”) with two characters (one new) “flexing their muscles” (so to speak).
Souma, Isshiki and Megishima all conclude their battles on day. The vibe here is almost similar to back when they were doing the Autumn Elections, but with stronger opponents. Souma's side has several former Elite Ten Council members on it. Isshiki finally shows off the depth of his cooking skills.
The Regal Mammoth arc truly gets underway in this volume as we see the Toriko, Sani, Terry, Rin, and Komatsu enter into the IGO's First Biotope. They subsequently get separated (only to rejoin later) and each group gets developed separately. Even Coco from the previous volume shows up halfway. The regal mammoth makes its appearance in full towards the end of this volume, with a rather big twist on what and how exactly are they retrieving the gourmet ingredient from it. The GT Robo are getting quite a bit of spotlight here as well, with a passing explanation of the Bishokukai.
Lots of awesome fight scenes here - Buranchi vs Elg, Sani vs Tommyrod, badass granny Setsuno, and Zebra finally getting into the fight. I was hoping the Toriko vs Starjun fight was a little less cringe-y with Komatsu but it was just the anime. The bromance is a just a bit too cringe-y for me. YMMV. Of course, Toriko's fight simply must involve him seemingly losing and dying and then for some reason or another, he just comes back up again.
Not fond of the way it ended, as I feel that it just cheapens the things that had happened.
It basically used yet another plot twist to say that all of what transpired was planned all along, and that all Acacia had said and done, was him, but wasn't really him. And all the atrocities that Neo had done, was him, but apparently he's not to be blamed either. And because all of this was planned, together with knocking, the defeat of Acacia/Neo was basically one big world "reset" button.
The series recap chapter during the wedding (which I still don't like how it got set up) was obviously designed to evoke nostalgia, and that was well enough, but the rushed and unsatisfying nature of the fights to get here just dampened what it could have been.
Like, just who or what is that white appetite within Toriko? The way Neo was defeated was so unsatisfactory. It basically meant Acacia/Neo was so powerful a being that the author simply made this third appetite exist for the sole purpose of defeating Acacia/Neo. Come on, not even a single sentence to try and explain. It's just yet another of those "just because" moments that made me seriously dislike the series towards the end. And after all that playing up of "God" as this be-all-end-all ingredient, all Toriko and Komatsu did was to serve it up to his wedding guests. At least Acacia used this "once-in-a-blue-moon" ingredient to bring about world peace...
Side note: the BB Corn and Rainbow Fruit that Toriko added to his full course early felt so out of place. I mean, these are 2-digit capture-level ingredients, compared to the rest of 4-digit and 5-digit capture-level ingredients.
And lastly, there's an epilogue of “the adventure continues”. Let's just say that if there was indeed a continuation, I wouldn't be reading it, as it's basically just scaling things up for more of the same. I've had my fill. Thanks for the meal, despite the sour note that it ended up with for me.
So while the Cooking Fest stadium is engulfed in chaos, another epic fight was occurring between the IGO's 0-th biotope members and the Bushokukai executives. So far, we only see it focused on the two leaders. It'll be interesting to see if each subgroup facing off will get some limelight. A major part of this volume deals with the backstory of Acacia and his three disciples, of whom you all should know who they are by now. The lore is actually only a little bit more than what the anime had shown, but the trimmed bits were rather significant.
What a great way to transition into what appears to be the final segment of the story. Following the disastrous Cooking Festival and the revelation of the hidden organisation Neo, we see how IGO and the Human World try to recover from the damage of the Meteor Spice. Coco (sporting a new look) presents a theory of how the world map became the way it is. Komatsu begins his days with the Bishoukukai, managing to show his how OP he is with his cooking skills that impress even Midora. And Toriko had touching scenes that draw him out of his despair of losing the fight to protect Komatsu. Oh, and the capture levels have gone up more than exponentially :D
Ok, there are two “parts” to this volume. The first half deals with with Komatsu and the rest of the chefs in Blue Grill, the ancient civilisation in Area 6. As the explore this apparently Gourmet haven, they began to realise that things are not what they seem. It's actually somewhat leisurely, reminiscent of Cooking Festival. The second half of this volume is where the pace suddenly picks up. The two remaining disciples of Acacia comes into the picture, Teppei's motives are revealed (I guessed right in a previous review), the real goals of Joa and also the Blue Nitro are finally revealed, and the biggest legendary figure of Acacia apparently has a part to play as well. Things seem to speed up quite a bit as it seems to be barreling towards titanic fights that puts the world itself in danger.
So as the lizardmen under Gabiru begins to fall, Rimuru and his evolved followers enter the fray. I guess the overwhelming difference in power levels was to be expected. The battle is still ongoing, but the outcome is probably a given already. Rimuru, as should be expected, had found the orc lord. As a close to the volume, a demon lord is revealed to seemingly be the one pulling the strings.
The “nemesis” fight between Toriko and Starjun finally comes to an end. I think it was a bit too dramatic and too drawn out. Basically, the sole reason for this fight is because Starjun just wouldn't kill Toriko earlier and had to wait until now to try, lol.
Good thing the latter half of the volume makes up for it - as we finally get to see two things: the mastermind chef behind the mysterious organisation “Neo”, and Knocking Master Jirou showing off why he's one of the three most powerful people in the world (yea, you guessed it, completely ridiculously overpowered, lol, and I can't even being to imagine just how much more powerful the enemy would have to be to top that).
Side note: Coco did not get much of a fight scene at all after dragging Grinpatch into that hole Grinpatch created.