Toriko is worth watching just for the prologue to each episode that highlights another bizarre yet alluring part of the Gourmet World.
What They Say:
Komatsu must find an exquisite sauce to top a dish of very rare fish, and Toriko prepares to venture deep into the deadly Wu Jungle in search of food fit for a Battle Wolf!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the overly long Jewel Meat arc finally done and over with, an arc that culminated in a big meal that had all the characters positively glowing with its juices, life settles back in a little bit. What’s actually interesting at the start is that we get a fun look at Toriko’s house which is like a much more varied version out of Hansel and Gretal where he’s eating everything left and right as he walks through it. It’s comical and silly but it works rather well in showing the diversity and strangeness in which this world exists. It’s the kind of scene you should hate but can’t help but to smile about because it is cute and fun.
This episode focuses a good bit on Komatsu who is spending some time actually serving as a chef in a restaurant which is garnering it a lot of attention from the other staff there since he has a reputation now. Considering his involvement with Toriko and the things he’s tasted and hunted, it’s little surprise that it would happen. At the same time, he’s had the suggestion come to him by others from the previous journey that some down time would be good in order to master ones skills a bit more so as to not be caught up in the hunt itself. It’s a pretty decent warning to give since you don’t want him to develop the wrong kind of mindset when it comes to cooking.
A good bit of time is spent with Toriko as well in the grander scheme of things as he’s enjoying going on the basic Gourmet Hunt and just enjoying life while trying to get Terry to eat some. What this segment does do for us is show a bit of the Central Market and how popular Toriko is there since he brings in some fascinating things and for a good look at the world itself with the man who runs the market, Tom. Through him, we get a good look at the world map and understand that only a fraction of it is where man lives and that there’s such a rich trove of treasures there in terms of food that the dangers of exploring the other lands isn’t worth it for the majority of people. But what may just get him to go off to these unexplored lands is a particular type of corn that grows on an island with very carnivorous plants on the Wool Continent. It’s a decent setup for where things will go and it does get your interest to see what else they’ll come up with.
In Summary:
Toriko sets up some good stuff here overall while highlighting the diversity of the world in which they live, which is a big part of the appeal for me. The previous arc was too focused on a couple of things and spent so much of its time dealing with the completely uninteresting GT Robots that it was really getting boring and repetitive. When it comes to the creativity of the series, episodes like this paint something beautiful to check out with the kinds of creatures, plants and foods that are possible here. While it is setting up for the next adventure by going off continent, it does a good job of giving the characters some downtime and showing what’s to come while making it interesting. It’s not a standout episode and it may be too dull for some, but it had a lot of moments that made me smile.
Grade: B-
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.
