Bring in the chefs!
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro
Translation: Christine Dashiell
What They Say
The double-sided drop has plopped and Toriko and the gang drink deep from the fruit of their efforts—they finally get to taste Pair! The party is cut short when the real Kaka appears before them and reveals the turmoil boiling under the surface. The gang must continue on and capture the rest of Acacia’s Full Course before the Gourmet Eclipse…which is only one month away!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
For the first chapter this time around, we get the requisite big party for having gathered Pair. It’s plenty boisterous and fun, though a good bit of dialogue is spent tying up some kind of minor loose ends. After that, though, we dig into something a little meatier, starting with the information that Toriko intends to share Acacia’s full course with Midora. It’s obviously unexpected, but it’s yet another step moving Midora away from the pure big bad position, making him a more interesting character in the process. Oh, and then we learn that the Earth has been cooking for forever, that the Nitro are gourmet “trolls”, and all other kinds of odds and ends. And then Kaka gets kidnapped before she can talk too much. But yeah, this whole section is thoroughly ridiculous, especially when you add on the fact that Neo has built a spaceship to escape the planet. Yet at the same time, it’s kind of fitting to have something so crazy and kind of stupid in this series, considering all the things it’s done up until now. Like, I don’t think it’s a particularly good set of twists, but at the same time Toriko is probably the best possible series to pull something like this, so that lessens the “what the hell?!” factor at least a little.
With all that out of the way, we really dig into the meat of the setup. As it turns out, our heroes only have a month left to capture the full course, and as such they desperately need to pick up the pace. And Komatsu actually really steps up to the plate, saying he’ll capture Another separate from the other 4 main cast members, which apparently actually makes sense. Before they actually split up, though, they go to the basic region where Another is and meet up with the final taste hermit, Jiji. And upon meeting him, he then decides the teams for everyone to split up into, which are of course appropriately quirky and should make for some amusing pairs when the book actually follows them. For what it’s worth, it’s kind of odd that they make the decision to split up, then travel together, then actually end up split into teams. It’s a really minor issue of course, but it seriously does feel like something that could’ve been handled a little more smoothly.
Anyway, rather than following the various hunters, it’s actually Komatsu who gets center stage first. And it’s certainly interesting to see him in such a leading role, especially after he more or less sat the last arc out. But will his skills prove enough to handle this challenge on his own, even if it’s in a land of chefs? And just what’s the deal with the mysterious masks and spirits scattered all around?
In Summary
After the action of last time, we’re treated to a book that spends most of its time bridging the gaps between the previous arc and what comes next. As a result, a very large chunk of the volume goes to all kinds of shocking reveals, and I’m honestly a bit mixed on that matter. On the one hand, these twists are largely rather silly and over done, but on the other hand they kind of work due to how crazy the series has been up until now. Either way, they do at least keep this entry from being a snoozefest, as they’ll definitely keep your attention, for better or worse. The one very good thing I can say about the book is that what’s set in place for the next arcs seems very interesting, taking on a very different format from what we’ve seen so far. And on top of that, the arc we launch directly into at the end of the volume seems especially interesting, with a setup that truly feels fresh and intriguing. Still, most of the good of this book comes from ideas that aren’t realized here, so I’d sadly have to say the volume itself is a bit middle of the road. But if what we see here lives up to its premise, then that certainly won’t be the case for what’s coming next.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: November 1st, 2016
MSRP: $9.99
