What’s this; a highly elevated, important fight with our heroes at death’s door while Komatsu’s fate hangs in the balance wrapped up in less than one episode!? Absurd!
What They Say:
Toriko and Zebra must work together to defeat the mysterious monster that attacked Komatsu. There’s just one problem: the two warriors are completely out of energy!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Right off the bat we learn that the mummy creature that just wiped out Komatsu, and is about to tackle Toriko and Zebra, was sent to the pyramid by the IGO President. This brief history of the creature, as first discovered by the legendary Acacia, is definitely interesting. It is said that the creature was able to help Acacia get closer the GOD. The mythology of this series just keeps gets loftier and loftier as it progresses. It’s this type of in depth mythology that is helping Toriko grow enough legs to stand on its own. Yes the fights are awesome, yes the creatures and food that inhabit the world are crazy and ever-interesting; but by making everything much more than they appear and showing us that we’ve barely scratched the surface is what gives it weight. The fun and energy of the show is what keeps me entertained, learning about the world and what the series holds in store for us is what makes me crave the series.
Moving back inside the Gourmet Pyramid, Toriko and Zebra immediately begin facing off against the creature. With both of our heroes’ bodies running of autophagy and blind rage, we see that they are strong enough to defeat the creature but its resiliency and speed is what makes the fight difficult. Sure, we are now back into the standard Shonen fighting series tropes of how our heroes must face and ultimately defeat the creature, but holy smokes is it worth it. During key moments of the fight, the animation quality shoots up through the roof! The fight is extremely fast paced and none of the parties involved are pulling any punches. This makes the fight absolutely worth it. Plus, the fight is over almost as soon as it got started. We’re used to seeing spectacular fight scenes in anime but how often do the pace and energy actually match the length of such an important fight? Almost never! Usually we’ll get action followed by a lull where our hero is defeated slightly, some villain posturing, and attempts to rise up against the bad guy before everything clicks just right and the fight is won. This can take episodes; plural. In this fight we get the action, the lull, the regroup, and the victory in a short period of time that really brings out the intense urgency of the situation. We are drawn into the show even further and given a sense of immersion that truly brings out the best of the formula.
With the fight over, a series of deus ex machina wrap everything up in a nice little bow. It is pretty terrible that the show resorts to making everything hunky-dory with a couple of predictable contrivances. But you know what? It doesn’t matter. By this point, we love all the characters and we want to continue seeing their adventures and watch them succeed in their various attempts to capture ingredients. Besides, the stakes of the situation were not high enough to warrant a dramatic turn of events. The air this arc gave off is one of exploration into the world and capabilities of its characters while they go on a ‘routine’ adventure. For this reason it is completely understandable that the author didn’t want to change things up too much. We still have a long journey ahead of us and crucial events must happen where they are truly warranted, not every time the opportunity to be shocking presents itself.
The final moments of the episode leave off at a very interesting cliffhanger. Now that the Mellow Cola has been captured, Komatsu must fulfill his agreement with Zebra and abandon Toriko to become his partner. Of course Toriko knows nothing about this and the way that Zebra throws out the situation gives us just enough edge to become curious as to how everything will actually turn out. Will Komatsu partner with Zebra? Or will he remain Toriko’s partner after all? Stay tuned for next week!
In Summary:
While not as innovative as the fight against the Salamander Sphinx, this episode still brought its A-game. History is revealed slowly and we get a serious, action-packed fight that is all killer and no filler; what is there to be disappointed with! With the beginning of the arc dragging us through the motions, this double header of top notch quality is the perfect night cap for Toriko fans. There are still issues to be resolved before we begin our next adventure but when this ends on such a high note, there is no rush to get on with the plot.
Grade: A
Streamed By: Funimation
Review Equipment:
Sony BRAVIA KDL55EX720 55-Inch 1080p 3D LED HDTV, Built-in Hulu Plus app
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