Toriko’s ever closer to the Jewel Meat, but it’s not without a price being paid.
What They Say:
Rin’s tragic end sends Toriko into a rage, but the price of fueling his passionate attack may cost him his life. Meanwhile, Komatsu takes a heroic stand when the GT Robot tries to rob the chef of his favorite knife!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While the past couple of episodes have focused on the other fights with Sunny and Coco going against the GT Robots, Toriko turns its focus on the title character himself as he continuse to make his way further down the path to finding the Jewel Meat. But as we see them get further down the path, the dangers are increasing and in fact Rin ends up meeting a bad fate right at the start here that ends up splitting the group. It turns out so bad that Tina ends up heading out to get Sunny and Coco for help, though it’s going to be difficult to do considering how little time she has left because of the poison that’s been released in the air by the black GT Robot that has been following them.
With Toriko having been worn down with his journey here by not having any food and just doing a lot of running, Komatsu’s been naturally worried about him. But what’s setting him off now is the apparent death of Rin, and it’s quite a sight as we haven’t really seem him truly full of rage. Angry, displeased, certainly. But with this moment, an emotional piece to be sure (interrupted by a poorly placed commercial on the stream we saw), he’s intent on completely breaking the GT Robot that’s the root cause of all of this. While it’s nice that Toriko isn’t able to take down the GT Robot in full because of his weakened state, it’s still a hollow moment since the person controlling the robot is far away and unknown. It provides for a really good moment as Toriko builds up his fury and energy, but it lacks real impact because of that.
The episode does provide for some payoff for the events that have been going on as we finally see the Jewel Meat and it definitely lives up to its name and its abilities, making it clear why it’s so highly sought after and rare. Toriko’s reverence for it is also appropriate when he’s back on track and able to really take it in. It’s comical, but just right, that as he gets closer to it that he’s actually drooling considering it’s one of the holy grails of a Gourmet Hunter. It’s one of Toriko’s better moments, but it also says a lot about the state of his emotions after what happened to Rin to be so overwhelmed by this that it practically drives him to tears. And to do so while Komatsu is off struggling with the GT Robot all by himself as well.
In Summary:
Toriko plays by the usual rules though it does change things up a bit when it comes to what happens to Rin, provided that she actually stays that way, something I’m not convinced will happen yet. The episode spends a good bit of time showing Toriko getting close to Super Saiyan level as well as finally finding the Jewel Meat, so we’re definitely getting closer to the end of this overly long arc that’s been difficult to get through. The show has some good fun here with events but some of it feels too light and upbeat considering what’s motivating Toriko at this stage. I continue to find the villains bad, and not bad in a good sense or even comically bad. Just uninteresting, poorly designed and without any real threat to them. That’s been the main hampering point for the series for me since they first appeared and that hasn’t changed in the slightest.
Grade: C+
Simulcast By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
