The beginning of a long arc starts in the most Toriko of fashions: a ton of short arcs.
Creative Staff
Story: Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro
Art: Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro
Translation/Adaptation: Christine Dashiell/Hope Donovan
What They Say
The rivalry between the two superpowers of the Age of Gourmet heats up when IGO President Ichiryu pays a visit to Gourmet Corp.’s headquarters in the Gourmet World. Meanwhile, Toriko and Komatsu set off on a world-spanning journey in search of some bizarre—and stinky—ingredients needed for a massive sushi roll that will guide them to the next item on their training list.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This volume of Toriko is an extremely quick read. The various chapters all make up small, one-off story arcs that fit perfectly within a single chapter, yet they all built up to a higher level arc. Toriko really hit its stride when it started doing shorter arcs, but this might be a bit too much. Each story is a single chapter and the resolutions to each feel short-sighted. The over arching story is about Toriko needing to go to the Chowlin Temple to search for the sixth item on his “training list”. However, in order to find the Chowlin Temple, which is hidden deep in a forest and impossible to find by any normal means, he needs to assemble the Fortune Roll. The Fortune Roll is a specialized piece of sushi that will lead him to his destination. In order to obtain the Fortune Roll, Toriko and Komatsu must hunt down all of the various ingredients and present them to Monchy, a rude and crude little chef who wears a luchador mask.
Each of these arcs are fun in their own right. The style resembles earlier one chapter stories like the Scared Apple contest. The story changes it up with each piece so that we are never lulled into tedium and always find something to enjoy. From a meet up with all Four Kings to a hilarious story of Toriko and Komatsu attempting to capture the world’s stinkiest fruit, the Durian Bomb. However, some of the stories would have worked better as two chapters. You can sense when the author rushes the conclusion of a particular capture simply because he wanted to maintain the single chapter pace. This never detriments the volume as a whole though, it just keeps it from reaching its full potential. The pace is also what makes this a very enjoyable read. It fast and fun while being frequently funny. It’s everything Toriko does best without any of the fighting to punch up the action. The volume also benefits from having this piece of the journey completed within the book. It definitely would have been too much if it stretched out to another volume, or two. This makes the book a self-encapsulated story that bridges us to the next piece of a larger arc. This makes the book simultaneously a joy and skippable when looking at the big picture.
In Summary
I enjoyed reading this, as I do just about every single volume of Toriko. But it says a lot about the lasting impression of the book when the moments that stand out to me the most happen before Toriko sets out to assemble the Fortune Roll. That moment is the Christmas chapter. That story was one of my favorite short arcs in the anime and it’s still just absolutely fantastic in its manga form. If you’re reading Toriko for the long haul, you too will enjoy this book. It’s fast and fun and exciting. We just get the feeling that what’s important happens after this book ends, and that makes this book a quick memory.
Content Grade: C+
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: February 4th, 2014
MSRP: $9.99
