David Lim

My review for the first volume has a warning in case you don't like blatant T&A illustrations. Volume 2 needs a warning about gore - series is not for people who dislike them.

I'm not particularly enamoured by this series yet this is quite the page turner. The action and gore kicks up a notch as things happen. The mental conflict of the boys is definitely something you'd expect to happen. There's a bit more of what's happening, but not why.

I really like the implications of the actions of the alien giants here, so I'm not too bothered by Tae this time, since she basically serves as a message to the reader. And I also kind of like the way Kurono went about first saving people and then back to saving Tae. It's a selfless thing to do and that's how far he's come since volume 1. Granted, the part about him having just the right help he needed was a bit too convenient, but meh, he's the main character, duh! And speaking of him, well, the other Kurono is planning a daring raid.

Wow, do things kick up a notch. The action actually grew more intense. And I was right about the “emotional setup” of the second female for Kei in the previous volume - it's... understandable, but it's impossible to be effective in any way except just for the T&A, considering she was just a brand new character and has zero development. The thing that trumps the action was the deaths - two in particular were surprisingly shocking and impactful with the way it was presented, and one I totally did not expect.

So I guess all the timeskips was for Acacia and Neo - basically following the same formula as all other fights that came before. First, to showcase how powerful his opponents are, the Eight Kings (yes, they all show up). Then we get presented with how Acacia/Neo powers up and... you get the idea. Toriko is pretty much in the background all the time. Oh, and err.. Zonge makes an appearance too. I was hoping we'd seen the last of that guy. His shtick is no longer funny.

Things are just getting stupid. So many things don't make sense at all, even when you're willing to take it in the context of ridiculousness that's been built up. I get over-the-top exaggeration, but I dislike inconsistency and “just because”. I'm in full-on rant mode. Toriko has more than 2 food appetites inside him, just because. No one else does and no one else seems to care, not even Toriko himself. Pulling out your womb and putting it into a back channel space and having it continue to function for 500 years is apparently possible. Setsuno said she couldn't handle another "Earth-destroying" attack, but after dozens of such attacks... no mention of what happened to the Human World. Strange that Earth hasn't been knocked out of orbit by now. It's so easy to shatter other planetary orbs with ranged attacks, but smashing Earth at point-blank range just dents it. "Knocking" can apparently halt death - just let people die please. Buranchi says he could t go on anymore after ferrying Aimaru, but he had no trouble making it back in time to "save" Komatsu. Yes, Komatsu and Ootake had another timeskip, because the author likely had no idea how to explain the God ingredient's preparation. The good guys get revived just for the sake of allowing the author to draw them almost-die again. And so many more stupid things like that. What a way to bring an otherwise pretty-good series to a finale. The anime was definitely correct to stop at the Cooking Festival, right before things went completely out of whack. Just a few more chapters to go. I don't even care about what's going to happen anymore.

The oni fights are all pretty intense but that the action scenes themselves are not depicted very well. It's hard to tell what's actually happening. People just die, things get destroyed, and basically it's that massacre with Izumi all over again, except this time it's an alien doing it. Same feeling as back then - it's just crazily over-the-top. And again, seemingly zero reaction from the Japanese authorities beyond a couple of cops. So just as before, suspension of disbelief required to enjoy the action. And a twist happens at the end - witnesses!

Hah, they had the Surprise Apples in canon as well, another thing I didn't expect. It's nice to have a couple of short 1-chapter adventures after the rather heavier chapters of the Gourmet Pyramid with Zebura. Also, side note, we got to see our fifth female in the series (though just for a few panels).

The next training ingredient is the Shining Gourami, where Toriko and Komatsu are accompanied by Sani and Sani's new “pet/friend” along the same vein as Terry and Coco's Kiss. I didn't quite like this one, primarily the attempt to over-exaggerate just how large an adult version could be - it's just way too much and goes beyond funnily ridiculous to being downright silly and nonsensical.

Their new training location are the Mors Mountains, specifically a cave system behind a titanic waterfall named Death Falls, where we basically see Toriko and Sani fight against water itself (and defying physics, as you'd expect). I think the anime did this part much better, particularly when Komatsu was doing his thing. The manga was actually rather brief about this and it was over rather quickly.

And lastly, a mysterious figure shows up at the end of the volume (someone whom will see again later).

Well, it's great that the series now has dinosaurs and I gotta admit that the action is actually pretty fast-paced and exciting. It felt like kind of a waste not to do more with these aliens - just big dumb (and deadly) animals. There was a scene where it seemed like that was in-fighting among them, but that turned out to be pointless. Kurono at this point develops into your shounen manga hero - basically... he can do anything, as long as he gives himself a pep talk first. It makes for great scenes though, and is likely needed to establish Kurono as the de facto “greatest” among the newly assembled team, so read it with some suspension of disbelief.

Has a cliffhanger of an ending (but the real ending can be found in a series of “epilogue” chapters). The story finally stops its rollercoaster of a pace and goes back to its roots of an actual cooking contest. So we at least got a glimpse of what made it really awesome before the curtains came down.

One of the more iconic of sports manga. It's the first series where I actually both read the manga and watched the anime. It has flawed protagonists, growing up pains, colourful characters, and beautiful meaningful relationships, all neatly wrapped around the context of college basketball.

One of the more iconic of sports manga. It's the first series where I actually both read the manga and watched the anime. It has flawed protagonists, growing up pains, colourful characters, and beautiful meaningful relationships, all neatly wrapped around the context of college basketball.

Enter the 3rd of the Four Heavenly Kings, Sani (or Sunny, depending on translation). Somehow, I was hoping he'd be a bit different from the quite-ridiculous design in the anime. Without colour, I guess it's somehow a bit better, but I still can't quite get over his character design. There's just so many “parts/components” that clash with each other and feel out-of-place that I personally feel that it's a mess of a character. Interesting power though.

And, well, the Regal Mammoth arc begins and Toriko's arch-nemesis (according to my anime knowledge anyway) makes his first appearance.

Side note: I forgot that we actually got to see Chief Mansam's full course menu and Sani's partially completed menu. It's actually kinda funny how low those capture levels seem now, given the incredible power creep that comes later. I kinda prefer these earlier segments. They're more enjoyable.

A new arc dawns at the Totsuki Culinary Academy. The first years are now second years. This volume is essentially a bridge, letting the readers catch up to time-skip and see how things are with everyone. The new arc begins with Souma and Megumi getting sent off to look into why a hot springs hotel with a long history suddenly closed up.

The nice fantastical adventure of hunting for the Ozone Herb draws to a close on both an emotional and a dark note. Toriko's and Komatsu's relationship forges into something more, while a mysterious creature is revealed. As an interlude between arcs, if you thought the “regular” monsters were over-the-top and ridiculous, you haven't seen the Gourmet World monsters yet. The volume ends with Toriko and Komatsu setting out for their next training ingredient - Melk Stardust.

Well, the second mission kicks off with a new set of recently-deceased. The Tanaka alien is even weirder than the onion alien. There appears to be some Japanese cultural references here that are obviously lost on me. We actually get more backstory/focus on the two main boys here - again, showcasing their contrasting personalities. I'm rather interested to see them “grow” as they take their drive and rationalisations in different directions. The deaths this time around are a bit more tragic (and one that was somewhat pathetic and a bit deserving).

Oh wow, I like how is turning out! As the mission abruptly ends, and things seem to settle down into the end-of-mission routine, except, it's not the end, it's the beginning of something else, on a global scale. And one huge twist at the end that I certainly hadn't expected. Kurono, is this some sort of private fantasy of it being a solution to love triangles. Oh, that's hilarious.

As Tokyo gets turned into rubble and the populace slaughtered, Kei gets two points-of-view, seeing as how one of them is with Tae and the other is with Reika. Feels like the one with Tae got the short-end of the stick. She's still so... useless, and need to be protected all the time.

There's also a revelation of a group of humans (in disguise?) are in control of Gantz balls and forcibly teleports a lot of teams into the enemy base for a recon mission. We finally get to see the giant alien species, and their disturbing resemblance and implications on their treatment of the human race. I'm anticipating some sort of philosophical rationalisation or exposition to be incoming.

Ok, things are going downhill. While it's still a page turner (I really don't understand why), the action is going out the window. Turns out there are a lot more aliens and Kei is obviously worried about his safety, considering how he forgot his suit. Yet... he survives this mission despite being in the thick of it. The aliens are... stupid. Despite having an ability to fly and a devastating sound attack, they couldn't kill anyone except people who can't move. Is this on purpose? With their designs and mannerisms, I actually can't decide whether the author was purposefully making it so or that it was simply poorly-done scenes. Well, the plot moves forward I guess, with us getting shown that Kei being a pretty smart, fast-thinking kid. Katou was... a bit pathetic here. Even the pretty boy was more effective.

Well, I certainly didn't expect the way the temple fight ended. The final boss alien is finally something that resembles a more “traditional-looking” alien. And it's so much better than the changes that the anime made to the temple fight - the changes didn't even make for a satisfactory conclusion. Watch the first season, then just switch to the manga.

Poor Kurono (side note: the point system feels completely arbitrary). Before he really gets over what has happened, he gets dumped into the next mission, with a huge disadvantage. That Gantz ball is basically screwing with him.

And it begins. Invasion on a global scale and rampant slaughter and destruction. Major nations have been destroyed (off-screen of course) and Japan is next. To be honest, one of the reasons why this mange is a page turner is because there's actually not much to read. Most of the panels are just sound effects. Any dialogue there is, is mostly repeated. Kurono and Tae and his belief that he will survive, Katou and his brother, etc. I think the author had fun depicting famous landmarks and dialing up the destruction and death.

And.... Kurono has a team (well, not yet, but it's definitely coming), a new vehicle of some sort, plus a new girl (you know what that means). Gantz finally sends them on another mission - and... it's dinosaurs this time. There's a panda too, who seems to function in the same capacity to Izumi as the dog did to Kishimoto (I don't recall what happened to the dog...). On Izumi, it's kind of dissatisfying that he's seems like he's going to get away with what he did.

As a side note, from the previous two volumes, I think the story holds up well enough, from without needing the T&A pandering, but well, probably something the author just wanted to include.

Both Kuronos get into fights of their own, with the focus being more on the one with Tae. Tae actually gets more limelight this time but all she does is cry, whimper, or scream “Kei-chan”. It's... rather incredible that the author can only think of that for the character. Doesn't even bother giving her some internal monologue that's worth something. Oh well, already figured she's nothing more than a plot excuse way back when.

Anyway, the highlight here is actually the alien's capture of humans, specifically what to do with them. It's an eerie reflection of what humans do to some other species living on Earth. But there's a weakness and jarring contradiction in the author's portrayal - the author seemingly fails to make up his mind on how to define these invaders: Are they conquerors? Yet they're destroying things... slowly (one would expect they have bigger guns given their technology level). Are they just wanting to annihilate humans? Yet they're capturing them for food and entertainment.

While I like the imagery, I think it could have been so much better had the author actually given the aliens a proper purpose in coming to Earth - there doesn't seem to be any.

Generally better than volume one (but not by much), as the stories have a bit more meat to them. There are three full adventures in this volume.

The first one stars a rather annoying Onyx (way too grumpy) and his centaur friend (way too naive). It's a roundabout delivery quest that contains a bit too much forced humour that somehow ended up making the story overly long and boring.

The second one gives us Vajra's and Conner's backstories. It's satisfactory, although I'm not particularly fond of Vajra's characterisation. Just like before, during her adventures with Agrivar, she oscillates way too drastically between being a tough-as-nails gladiator and a feminine woman. And the art style doesn't help. The funniest thing that completely threw me off is when Tyr appeared (I never realised that early D&D portrayed Tyr in the style of a viking...).

The third story is shorter (and this somehow makes it better to me), and tells a bit about how Kyriani became “whole (and that somehow it keeps changing her hair colour). The idea is interesting, but the execution completely ignores D&D rules (or even fantasy realism for that matter - Waterdeep got invaded and it was told as a “side effect” of several panels and then completely forgotten). Oh, and Onyx was again here to provide grumbling comic relief.

Ok, wow, things are getting pretty intense. A huge array of different alien species that I believe are modelled after Japanese yokai. Despite the Osaka teams predilections, there are some really great fights here. Katou gets his awesome moment (and a brand new girl to go with it) here despite still wielding that capture tool instead of an actual gun or sword. Apparently, the Osaka team has been doing this for a lot longer than the Tokyo team. Suspension of disbelief required for how a relatively normal girl with little fighting prowess has managed to survive unscathed in a team of made up mostly of degenerates.

An ambiguous story from the point of view of a sculptor, about how he met a mysterious character who became his friend, and they would visit strange places together. It feels more metaphorical than real, in the sense that the protagonist might be hallucinating, especially since drug abuse is part of the story. Even the end seems to support that rather than any real supernatural force at play. It's an interesting narrative, as per the author's usual style.