Someone once said that you are what you eat. That some eat to live and others live to eat. I know it has been a few years since Toriko ended its anime run and although I wanted to watch it back then, its triple digits worth of episodes startled me. At that time I was already ‘handling’ multiple long running anime series such as Bleach, Fairy Tail and the still running One Piece. Phew. That’s a lot on my plate. Thank goodness I am not into Naruto… I was afraid I would bite off more than I could chew and thus I delayed it and put it on the back of my mind until I felt the hunger for it. Although I am not hungry right now, the guilty conscious of mine about procrastination reared its ugly head and thus that was I decided to take the plunge. Well, at this age I shouldn’t be too picky an eater. Who knows? I might like it or I may not. Itadakimasu!
Galala Gator Arc
* IGO (International Gourmet Organization) is a global organization responsible for all food related laws and matters.
* Komatsu who is a member of IGO as well as the head chef of Hotel Gourmet tasked to hire one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Bishokuya, Toriko to track down this Galala Gator for some important dinner.
* Though successfully capturing the crocodile, too bad Toriko’s gluttonous appetite has him eat the entire Galala Gator. Too good to resist. Save some!
* Full Course Menu: 8 ultimate dishes of high quality ingredients an individual selects. It is Toriko’s dream to complete it.
Rainbow Fruit Arc
* Toriko is tasked to get the Rainbow Fruit by IGO but that tree is heavily guarded by Troll Kongs.
* Toriko has a policy to not kill or take lives of those he does not wish to eat so the technique of knocking them unconscious, Knocking Gun is used.
* Thanks to the deliciousness of Rainbow Fruit, Toriko decides to add this to his dessert portion of his Full Course Menu.
* Tina: Reporter for Gourmet News who always seek to get the best scoop but due to circumstances she always misses out in recording the most important moments. Has a little pet pigeon named Kruppoh following her wherever she goes.
Puffer Whale Arc
* Coco: Another one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Bishokuya. He reads fortunes and has a bad feeling when Toriko and Komatsu decides to capture the Puffer Whale that only appears once in every 10 years.
* Zonge: Joker and comical character of the series who loves boasting about himself. Nobody ever gets his name right. Isn’t it, Zombie-san?
* Trekking deep into the cave, Komatsu gets separated from Toriko and Coco. He is unfortunately kidnapped while Toriko and Coco have to deal with the dangerous Devil Serpent. Thanks to its regenerative ability, Coco uses his poison abilities to create antibodies to limit its movement and allow Toriko to finish it off.
* The kidnapper flees and leaves Komatsu to fend for himself when faced with a Devil Serpent. He got what he deserved when he gets killed by other creatures. Komatsu uses some firecrackers Toriko gave him as his last resort. The shockwave blast might have stunned the Devil Serpent but it stopped Komatsu’s heart. If not for the legendary Bishokuya, Knocking Master Jirou passing by and resurrecting him, he would’ve been dead.
* After capturing a few Puffer Whales, they need to carefully prepare it as the slightest wrong move will immediately render the rest of its meat useless because of its poisonous glands. Coco is too tired to do it so he has to guide amateur Komatsu. After lots of trial and errors, Komatsu finally gets it right on the last one.
* Their happiness is short-lived when a strange creature (Spy vs Spy?) with evil aura walks pass them and has captured loads of Puffer Whales. Despite no untoward incident happened, the mere sight of this creature was still enough to give them the chills.
Regal Mammoth Arc
* Bishokukai: The main antagonist group of the series. That strange Spy vs Spy creature is a remote robot controlled by them from their base, GT Robo. Their goal is to rule the world by taking control of the world’s ingredients
* Mansam: Not handsome! One of the top chiefs of IGO invites Toriko to watch an underground battle royale between various creatures. What peaks Toriko’s interest is the Battle Wolf which was supposedly extinct a long time ago. Sorry, you’re still not handsome!
* Rin: Tomboyish girl with perfume abilities and has a major one-sided crush on Toriko.
* When the beasts go wild thanks to some wrong perfume, Toriko jumps in to fight the Battle Wolf. But the fight is interrupted when a GT Robo joins the fray to cause havoc. Although Toriko eventually defeats the GT Robo, it had already dealt a damaging blow to the Battle Wolf who was pregnant and just gave birth to an offspring. To honour the mother, Toriko adopts the offspring and names it Terry Cloth.
* Toriko and co are then requested to hunt down the Regal Mammoth because Bishokukai is also targeting it for its Jewel Meat.
* Sani: Rin’s beautiful big brother who is one of the Bishokuya’s Four Heavenly Kings. His long hair serves and extends his touch senses and just when he thought he had retrieved the Regal Mammoth, this giant elephant is just a baby. You know what it means for a parent looking for its missing child.
* While continuing to hunt the mother, they stumble into a GT Robo and were blown away. The gang are separated with Sani reluctantly ending up with Komatsu while Rin enjoying every moment with Toriko. Tina is left with Terry.
* Gourmet Cells: You know how our muscle brain heroes get to do superhuman abilities? It’s all thanks to Gourmet Cells that are able to enhance and adapt the cells and body in various ways. An excuse if they ever need to power up and do incredulous stuffs.
* Once the Regal Mammoth is found, our heroes make a dash inside it but they need to hurry because the insides of the Regal Mammoth are like a labyrinth.
* Coco takes on a giant GT Robo outside while Sani faces off with a human sized GT Robo who has an affinity to collect eyeballs?! Don’t worry, they’ll all win their fights.
* Toriko is just around the corner to discover Jewel Meat but he encounters a GT Robo piloted by Starjun, one of the high ranking commanders of Bishokukai. Rin gets ‘killed’ sends Toriko into a rage but this reckless act might get him killed. Starjun takes Komatsu’s prized knife and since Komatsu is staking his life to get it back, this gives Toriko the motivation to eat the Jewel Meat that powers him up and beat the crap out of Starjun. Bad guy is defeated and the Jewel Meat is in their hands, time for a big feast of celebration. Oh, Rin didn’t die.
* Toriko and Sani argue over adding Jewel Meat into their Full Course Menu. Sani wins after beating him in rock-scissors-paper.
BB Corn Arc
* Terry doesn’t seem to be eating well. Rather, he has no appetite to eat anything. Believing a creature of his status needs some sort of food worthy for his appetite, it could be the legendary BB Corn in Wul Jungle.
* At the same time, Komatsu is tasked to find some sauce to make a special dish because the leaders of the world are in a deadlock over passing of some bill. It must be unanimous and since one of them opposes it, the bill will not be passed. The only way is to satiate his palate. This of course takes him to Wul Jungle. Oh, did I mention there is a certain time limit so that the dish won’t lose its taste?
* After Terry proves his worth in surviving in the jungle, they emerge to a delicious field of BB Corn. They even need to perfectly cook the corn near the volcanic mountains. Just when they had their fill, they are attacked by a high commander of Bishokukai, Grinpatch. It is obvious that Grinpatch is just fooling around with his straw sucking skills. Eventually Toriko cuts his straw in half and the match is a draw.
* Komatsu returns to Hotel Gourmet just in time to finish his dish. The stubborn leader is satisfied and the bill is passed. A bill about officially putting the shoyu sauce on the sushi instead of the rice. Yeah, to think a war was about to start because of that…
Century Arc Soup
* Toriko and Komatsu meet Setsuno. This granny is one of the greatest chefs in history as she lets them taste her Century Soup. She lets them tour her secret underground kitchen and shows them the ingredients needed to make that soup.
* This inspires them as they join a mission initiated by a rich old man, Colonel Mokkoi who is also hunting for the genuine Century Soup at Ice Hell. A group of Gourmet Hunters including Match (mafiaso) and Takimaru (Gourmet Knights) take on the challenge to get the Century Soup and whoever gets it will get the reward of $10 billion!
* Traversing the hellish icy blizzard of Ice Hell, the group is split into 2 with Toriko and some of the main characters heading in as the first shift. Everyone in the second shift is eliminated because Bishokukai has already infiltrated it and you have guessed it, their goal is also the Century Soup. Led by the bug spewing Tommyrod and his other henchmen, the bone shifting Bogiyuez and the durable Barrygamon.
* Zonge who isn’t into conformity takes his own route. Is Tina desperate enough to get the scoop and follow him through routes that only bring bad luck? At least they’re still alive after encountering all those ferocious beast.
* Toriko will have his power put to the real test as he takes on Tommyrod. But before that, we have Takimaru fighting Bogiyuez and Match against Barrygamon. To cut things short, they defeat their opponents but pay a heavy price of being heavily damaged.
* Komatsu is tasked to take the Century Soup. He stumbles into this guy, Teppei who is a Saiseiya (opposite of Bishokuya who captures ingredients, Saiseiya preserves ingredients). It is learnt that Century Soup is running its last course and will be extinct. Or it could already be extinct. When Mokkoi hears of it, he abandons everyone and leaves. Too bad he didn’t have the patience to listen longer because there is a small speck of it left. But when Komatsu is about to take it, a GT Robo knocks him out and steals the remaining Century Soup for his own. Lots of crying and regret. Why does Komatsu have to make failing Toriko such a big deal?
* Meanwhile Toriko is having a tough time with Tommyrod despite the long drawn out fight has made Toriko created a few new Fork and Knife moves. Toriko is already exhausted from the thousands of bugs Tommyrod descends on him and could have been killed had not Teppei stepped in to save the day. Tommyrod ultimately uses his trump card in shedding his skin to unleash a hellish monstrous bug but it ends up fighting with another ancient mouth monster instead.
* No more Century Soup, eh? Leave it to Teppei to wring out the last of its drop after crushing the ice pillar of Gourmet Show Window. So who gets to drink its last drop? Komatsu wants to be the one as he vows to recreate it. He drinks the final Century Soup and you can tell how delicious it is when he puts on that silly monkey grin. Yeah…
* Oh, did I mention that Komatsu will be getting his own pet, Yun a baby Wall Penguin because stupid bad guys indiscriminately killed its parents and since it takes a liking for Komatsu for protecting it, why not?
* The survivors are picked up by Setsuko’s flying jellyfish. Since Toriko lost an arm during the heated battle with Tommyrod, he heads to the healing country of Life. They see Teppei’s master, Yusaku who is going to administer a cure to help grow back his arm. Yeah, it’ll take 20 years! Do we have that long to wait?! And so because of his Gourmet Cells evolve, blah, blah, blah, he is able to regenerate his arm at a highly fast rate but he need to keep eating and eating since the healing is taking nutrients from his body. Otherwise this fails and he dies. You know that isn’t possible, right?
* At the same time, Komatsu is trying to recreate Century Soup but to no avail. Even with his ability to hear the ingredients’ voice of whether they choose him to be used, it still feels like it is missing an ingredient. That one final ingredient that gives Century Soup its oomph. Want to guess what it is? I’ll spoil you. It’s that saliva of the Wall Penguin! Who would’ve guessed? And you thought it is going to take him 20 years to get it right, eh? And with his achievements, he lets everyone who helped him on his journey taste it first instead of some big shot. Friends comes first.
* With the extremely delicious taste of the Century Soup that has everyone putting that silly grin, Toriko decides to add this to his Full Course Menu.
* Toriko returns home to find his house made of food gone. Eaten by wild animals? Or did Hansel and Gretel ventured into the wrong world and ate everything? So he has this renowned architect, Smile to come fix it up again. Ironically, all the stress and business, Smile has never been smiling until he fixes up his place again. And then all the stress comes dropping in again when Toriko invites his friends over for housewarming and they eat up every single nook and corner! Start over again?
Gourmet King Battle Arc
* There is this competition set up by this rich kid to find an ingredient that his pet, a Seven-Colour Nessie will eat. Because apparently something is wrong with Nessie dear and he doesn’t want to eat anything. It’s making his master sad, it’s making itself sad and it is making everyone sad.
* So while Nessie rejects everything the other Gourmet Hunters had to bring (say goodbye to that huge chunk of reward money), Toriko, Coco and Sani end up having different ideas on what the sweet dessert it needs. Despite capturing them, Nessie rejects them all! Can it be their first failure? Then Komatsu notices Nessie has shown some interest in Rin’s parfait so he uses the Four Heavenly Kings’ captured ingredients to make a perfect parfait.
* So this is the food Nessie wants to eat? Yeah, something as it was the first food it ate with its master many years ago. It turns out Nessie is going to evolve and leave its nest. Naturally. Parting is hard. Master is sad but you know what they say that their bonds are always forever and ever no matter where you are.
Ozone Herb Arc
* Toriko meets the president of IGO, Ichiryuu. He has a request for Toriko to go get the Ozone Herb for him. This will also serve as his training as this will prepare him to enter the Gourmet World, a hazardous place where you’ll find lots of dangers and rare ingredients not found in the Human World. At this point the Bishokukai is already making their move to enter that world because it is said that the legendary ingredient, God is about to appear. No prizes for guessing that ultimate ingredient is what is needed to rule the world.
* Acacia: The legendary Bishokuya who was the only one who tasted every ingredient in the world as well as God. That was centuries ago. In his final days, Acacia took on 3 disciples who are no other than Ichiryuu, Jirou and Bishokukai’s boss, Midora. How old are these people anyway???!!!
* Toriko is also advised to find a good partner for his journey. Who better than Komatsu? What good is capturing ingredients if there is no one good enough to cook it?
* Arriving at the bottom of the Sky Plant, the duo make their way up and encounter various creatures who want to kill them as well as environmental hazards before reaching at the top of the Vegetable Garden. It’s amazing they didn’t die from all that.
* Even finding the Ozone Herb, it is not easy to eat it as it requires special preparation. One wrong move will send it shrivel into a seed. It is discovered you have to eat it in pairs. At the same exact time! After lots of trial and errors, they are able to get a taste of it.
* Toriko officially forms a partnership with Komatsu but declines to add Ozone Herb to his Full Course Menu because of how troublesome it is to eat it.
* They are startled by a GT Robo. However Toriko could sense it is not exactly a machine. Is it some sort of unknown creature that just looks like a GT Robo? It has watched them how to eat Ozone Herb and swiftly imitates their moves to eat it. But I guess it doesn’t like it and spits it out.
* Toriko returns to Ichiryuu who then gives him a long list of requests. Yes, a bid to improve and train Toriko’s body to quickly adapt to the environments.
Gourmet World Reality Arc
* Toriko thinks he is strong enough to take on the Gourmet World. Of the 3 land routes to enter (you can’t enter via sky or sea because of poison and hazards), the Waterfall Basin of Life is comparably the easiest. Comparably. But the moment he jumps down, he is relentlessly attacked by beasts and all sorts of environmental hazards that really puts his body to the limit. No chance for him to even rest and recover. Always need to be on his toes.
* Toriko could have been done for if not for cool Jirou coming to his rescue. Jirou shows the big difference in knowledge, power and abilities as he easily handles the beasts and environments. It seems Komatsu was the one who requested Jirou to come save him. When Toriko told Sani he was going to the Gourmet World, Sani told Komatsu about it and gave him contacts of Jirou. Realizing the importance of a partner, Toriko gives up his venture further into the Gourmet World and returns to Komatsu’s side. Oh Komatsu, why do you look so gay when you see Toriko back and jumping to hug him?
Melk Stardust Arc
* While happy Komatsu is cooking for Toriko to celebrate his safe return, his favourite knife breaks. He could just buy a new one but you know, this one holds so many memories. Toriko remembers on his training list the name of a craftsman who forges the strongest blades: Melk Stardust.
* No guarantees if this reclusive knife sharpener would take on Komatsu’s request but if you don’t try, you won’t know. After trekking up mountains of stairs, they finally meet the person.
* Toriko is suspicious of this Melk because lots of things doesn’t add up. An imposter? After a short bout, Melk reveals she is the second generation and the disciple of the first Melk. Her master seems to have left on a mission and hasn’t returned for years. Still keeping the faith he is still alive.
* In addition to make Komatsu’s knife (which will normally take 3 years due to the backlog of requests but we’ll skip all that because Komatsu’s such an awesome chef, right?), Toriko has another mission as per requested by Ichiryuu: To obtain Melk Stardust which is a whetstone which is said to be able to sharpen anything.
* It is believed Melk I has gone down Heavy Hole where Melk Stardust is believed to be, an area where gravity is abnormal. Toriko goes down there himself while Komatsu stays with Melk II and watches her work.
* Komatsu discovers that Melk is a woman (why am I not surprised?) and the truth about her past. She is actually the adopted daughter of Melk I. He found her abandoned in the woods. Melk II is also unconfident of her sharpening skills because her father never really entrusted her to continue his work. But leave it to Komatsu to say all the nice motivational words and cook her nice meals to get her confidence back.
* Toriko finally meets Melk II at the bottom. Aside his hulking size and body of scars, this guy’s voice is soft as hell! Some special stone amplifies his voice to let us hear what he is saying. It is revealed that he retired from his job to take on a crafting request from Ichiryuu. He is supposed to craft a knife to create Acacia’s Full Course Menu salad called Air. Knowing this will take years, this might be the last thing he will ever do with his life. Of course he entrusted everything to his daughter just that because of his small voice, the message was never delivered.
* After Melk gives the required whetstone, Toriko returns to the surface and tells everything and dispel all the years of misunderstanding. Time to make Komatsu’s knife.
* His new knife is so sharp that it can cut through water!!! OMFG!!! Better be careful with that thing.
Mellow Cola Arc
* Because it is believed this season is the tastiest for the Mellow Cola (an ingredient on Ichiryuu’s request list), Toriko needs to hurry. Since it is located in the graveyard maze desert of Gourmet Pyramid, Toriko needs the help of his fellow Four Heavenly Kings, Zebra.
* Zebra: Among the quartet, he is the most troublesome because he loves to pick fights! Oh, did I mention he has damn good hearing? So you better not talk behind his back. Or get cocky. Currently he is serving time at Honey Prison for crimes against the gourmet laws. What did he do? When you piss him off, he makes sure your species goes extinct! And he is responsible for making 26 species go extinct! No wonder he is incarcerated in the world’s toughest prison.
* Thanks to Ichiryuu’s help (as requested by Toriko), Zebra gets permission to be freed. You’ll be peeing in your pants once you see how ferocious his sound and voice power. Yeah, his legendary status is so fearful that when news leaked over his release, stocks fall, the economic goes into recession and nations prepare for war! OMFG! This guy is worse than Satan!
* It’s only natural for Komatsu to worry if bringing Zebra along was a good idea because he is so temperamental picking fights with Toriko at every chance (no wonder Sani and Coco won’t help in this mission) and perhaps what is keeping Komatsu alive is because he cooks for him when commanded.
* When they reach the desert maze, Komatsu goes missing. Zebra uses his echolocation to map out the area. Komatsu has been swallowed by the quicksand and sliding his way. With the muscle brains following his trail, it eventually leads them to Gourmet Pyramid.
* Komatsu must be real lucky evading beasts and if he isn’t, thanks to Zebra’s sound barrier protecting him from harm. Toriko and Zebra on the other hand make their way towards the bottom of the pyramid while killing and eating monsters to replenish their strength.
* Eventually they reunite and are faced with the Salamander Sphinx who harbours mellow cola inside its body. Despite all the tough and hard hitting punches, nothing much seems to happen on the Salamander Sphinx.
* All the while, Komatsu has been reading an ancient recipe book that he stumbled somewhere like as though it was put out in front of his face to collect. Uh huh. Despite having unknown words, somehow Komatsu can read it! Too convenient! It spells out that the mellow cola is in the Salamander Sphinx’s tears and there are strict special ways to get it. Uh huh. This means Komatsu guides to duo on how to specially prepare (read: systematically beating it up) with all those really silly instructions. No wonder it’s so hard to get.
* Just when they make the Salamander Sphinx cry, that mysterious GT Robo-like killer beats up all of them and drinks all the mellow cola! All the hard work! This makes Zebra and Toriko mad. Real mad. They fight the creature but it is tougher than anything they imagine. It even learnt some skills just by watching. But Zebra deals the decisive blow after he senses it has not much long to live.
* Apparently all is not lost because there is a second wave of real matured mellow cola coming that floods the hallways. With its delicious taste, Zebra wants to put it on his Full Course Menu and wants Komatsu to team up with him. It was one of many Zebra’s conditions to Komatsu if he is to help Toriko get the mellow cola. Yeah, Komatsu also has lots of conditions. Never ending. So Komatsu’s deal is till he gets to see their entire Full Course Menu, he’ll only decide to see whom he will form a combo with. For now, he puts his trust in Toriko.
* When they return and Komatsu cooks them their reward as promised, here comes Mansam (not handsome!) with a couple of guys. They are taking this mysterious creature back for more research. It is revealed they are called Nitro as discovered and researched by Acacia. Highly intelligent creatures and terrifying life force. But the biggest secret is how Bishokukai has a hand in this. As Nitro knows how the get delicious ingredients, it is believed they know how to obtain God. That’s why Midora made GT Robo to look like them as bait to get close to them. With their plan already in some sort of advancement, another Gourmet War might happen. Toriko remains confident all they have to do to avert that is to share God with everyone.
Toriko’s Break Arc
* Toriko and co head to the beach to help curry house boy, Cumins find his lost sister, Safla believed to have gone out to sea to find some legendary curry ingredient. She is fine and they tag along to hunt for the Water Tiger on a moving island. Despite all the necessary ingredients, Cumins is losing hope to recreate his late father’s curry dish. The missing ingredient turns out to be right under their noses, a fruit tree nearby that dad always brought them to.
* Toriko and Komatsu visit the legendary Gourmet Shrine believed to increase their luck in food. There is a knife in the middle of a big chopping board that acts like Excalibur. Guess who pulled it out? Komatsu! Toriko also got lucky by winning a gold nut from a tree fruit.
* They don’t call it Surprise Island for nothing because the gang is here to harvest Surprise Apples! The more you scare and surprise it, the tastier it gets and hence the flabbergasted face on those apples! WTF???!!! Just be sure not to bore it to sleep or faint it. You thought Toriko had the highest scaring score till Zonge’s fart was the one that broke all records. Lost my appetite…
* Hordes of people seemingly wants to buy land from an owner. Prior to that, he refused but all of a sudden he wants to sell it and bids it at a very high price. Toriko and Komatsu are just here to eat his Chicken Beast’s egg and this might be what the old man is looking for. Because all those greedy people just want money to sell the egg to get more money. This brings back nostalgic memories of his late wife. He gives his land to Toriko for free and the reason he does so because he has not much longer to live. Therefore he doesn’t need the money to where he is going.
Shining Gourami Arc
* As another ingredient on Ichiryuu’s list, this time Toriko seeks Sani’s help because this fish lives deep with the Death Falls, a place where a trillion litres of water drops every second! You’re going to get crushed just by coming contact with the water. So they ride on Sani’s giant Mother Snake, Quinn.
* We get to see Sani using the fruits of his training to help dispel the deadly waterfall. From his training with Goemon on Sanzu Road (one of the 3 roads to Gourmet World), he learns not to think and uses his intuition to increase his skills. Toriko learns that too from observing him as they combine their powers to destroy a mountain falling from the waterfall!
* Once they are safe inside the waterfall cave, the muscle guys are out of stamina. Now it is Komatsu’s turn to find the fish. Because the cave has no predators, it is supposed to be an easy catch. Or is it? Shining Gourami is also a dish that needs special preparation. Living in isolation with no predators and absorbing nutrients all around, the slightest thing may shock it to death! Yeah, even the sight of big muscle guys might kill them! So it is a blessing that a weak human like Komatsu is the one who manages to understand how to retrieve them without scaring them to death after a few tries (something about covering it with oil they are familiar with).
* Komatsu returns to his pals as he cooks tempura version of it and adding Melk Stardust to enhance its overall taste. Yum!
Autumn Break Arc
* Toriko and Komatsu enter a food competition because its prize is a Diamond Figcrystal, an ingredient that Melk II requested of them to find for a knife she is carving. So when it seems Toriko may have snatched the competition with nearly perfect points, he is disqualified for not using the Figcrystal ingredient. In the end, it is Melk II’s pet, Pochiko that steals the limelight with his luminance and gets the perfect score. What a better present for Melk II to receive a gift from her pet.
* Toriko and Komatsu visit the Gourmet Shrine again but are called by the priests because they ran out of Longevity Sugarcane to make Chitose Ame to be handed out to kids. Apparently this is to showcase Yun but seriously he fails a lot. Trying to help out to find the sugarcane, he gets lost in a forest and is in danger of being eaten by a bird predator. Of course he needs help from Komatsu and ultimately Toriko. They get the sugarcane, make the candy, happy kids everywhere, happy ending.
* Toriko, Komatsu, Coco and Sani along with their pets race to see who can find some pear fruit tree, Spnash. But then it partly turns into a rescue mission for Komatsu because he is taken away from some sheep-pig creatures. It turns out those beasts have their own family and competition around the area has left them malnourished. As expected, a happy ending as they find Spnash and all men and beasts get to savour its taste.
Winter Break Arc
* The top aides to the executive chef of Bishokukai, Niceny returns as he talks with the rest about Bishokukai’s plans to capture 100 top chefs to head into the Gourmet World. Because once they abandon the Human World, they’ll need highly skilled chefs to cook those godly foods.
* Komatsu sees that his old friend, Ootake has gotten into the top 100 chefs ranking. 99th to be exact. So he pays a courtesy visit only to find he has drastically changed. He is arrogant, forgot about his roots and will do anything it takes to stand atop the rankings. This includes bribing articles to write good stuffs about his food. Oh, his views is that foods that chefs cook must also bring in the money otherwise it’s useless. Komatsu blows his top when Ootake badmouths his customers as stupid. He is sad he has changed and feels pity for the ingredients. He doesn’t intend to compete with him as he plans to head to the top with Toriko in their own way. After Komatsu leaves, Ootake is kidnapped by a GT Robo.
* Toriko teams up with Coco to get an ingredient for one of Ichiryuu’s Full Course Menu. After pounding that giant treasure chest with all they’ve got, inside is only a tiny bean?! Actually it is a seed. It emitted some sort of voice that only certain people can hear. That’s you Komatsu. And so he is interested to take a look at Ichiryuu’s mysterious Full Course Menu since we all know if there is a chef who can cook them, it’s him.
* Toriko, Coco, Sani, Rin and Komatsu are called back to Honey Prison because Mansam has a request of them. It seems G7’s Patch and IGO agent, Johannes has gone missing in search for the Sweet Dew Tree during the blizzard. So when they find them alive and well, they were actually trying to find other ingredients that would make this tree even tastier. Leave it to Komatsu to turn and decorate this tree into a shining Christmas tree that even all the wild beasts stare in awe. But they can’t eat it because Mansam has somebody else in mind to do so. First the giant tree is chopped up into many small pieces so they can be delivered to underprivileged poor children all over the world. What a food blessing indeed. Merry Christmas everyone!
Meteor Garlic Arc
* Toriko, Coco and Komatsu head to the underground kingdom of Jidar. As it is not a member country affiliated with IGO, it is lawless and has lots of illegal ingredients circulating in the black market. They are making their way to Gourmet Casino to gamble because of the prize offered, the rare Meteor Garlic.
* Match and his mafia are also in Jidar because of some highly toxic narcotic ingredient circulating in their own town. They know the big culprit behind this is no other than the boss of the Underground Cooking World, Livebearer. As Match is no match to Livebearer in terms of strength (as advised by Coco), the only chance is to gamble.
* Our heroes gamble and win their way as part of their plan to attract the casino management. This means they get to access the VIP area with gambling and bets at higher stakes. When Livebearer shows his face and introduces them to an even more secret VIP area, everyone is shocked to see this place where losers lose their food memories after losing a bet. And all those memories and tastes they have experienced are then transferred into Livebearer.
* Livebearer suggests a memory matching card game. Unlike in ordinary games, in order to gain points on that matching card, they have to eat that ingredient. Failure to eat it means the opponent will get the points. The one with the most points in the end wins. There is a number of consecutive streaks one can win or lose before your turn is over to ensure everybody has a fair play.
* Komatsu is against Toriko playing against Livebearer because he fears all their past memories together will be wiped out. Toriko assures him that the past doesn’t matter. He looks forward to the future. Then he hands this responsibility to Coco. WTF?! Of course everyone has their part to play. Match is the dealer, Coco will pick the cards and Komatsu cooks the ingredients for Toriko to eat.
* Thanks to Coco’s clairvoyance, our heroes are off to a good start. However Livebearer is cheating because he can also pair the cards at first go and he gets those with high points as he has special contact lens to detect cards. But no worries. Coco strikes back with high scoring points and with Toriko’s black hole appetite, he chows them all down well before its time limit.
* However when Coco starts missing the cards, he is doing this deliberately to check the card value. He realizes this game isn’t about points but to avoid getting cards that are big misses (tough ingredients to eat but only worth small points). With this, Livebearer is able to pull away with massive points. With the dwindling cards, all ingredients left are mainly those big misses. Thus Livebearer is smart enough to purposely miss his cards too as there is no reason for him to risk his life due to his massive points difference.
* Coco’s hope now is to pick Joker cards that allow them to trade their opponent’s card. The rules still remain the same. That is, points won’t be deduct from the traded card and if both sides manage to eat the traded cards, they will obtain points from the traded card. Livebearer calculates the points of the remaining cards and thinks Coco is trying to make him retire since even if Toriko eats all the remaining ingredients, it won’t be enough to surpass him.
* With another Joker card picked, Coco gets to trade another card and has Livebearer eat a high value card. But because it is dangerous, he passes. This enables our heroes to accumulate more points and take the lead.
* All seems over when Livebearer eats the last highest value card on the table and regain the lead. The remaining cards are peanuts and despite Toriko eats all of them, they trail Livebearer by 60 points. Their loss?
* However the last card is the biggest miss card and is a Poison Potato. It is Livebearer’s turn to eat it. Coco is still confident they are going to win. Something about the order of the ingredients that Livebearer has eaten. Because some foods are not compatible, the ingredients that Livebearer has eaten makes it impossible for his digestive system to ward off the poison. Coco has seen this coming and planned it out. Not only for Livebearer but Toriko as well. The ingredients he ate also helped him recover and replenish his strength. Although Livebearer has a dirty secret technique which coats his stomach for the poison, unfortunately Coco saw through this too and notes that an earlier snack he ate negated the coating.
* Being true to his villainous self, Livebearer won’t admit defeat and sends his men to attack. Of course our heroes too won’t sit there and let their brains be taken. Eventually Livebearer and his men are easily defeated.
* Last surprise is that Komatsu has cooked the Poison Potato and despite removing the poisonous parts, it still remains very much poisonous. But as Coco calculated, the last few ingredients Toriko ate also geared and prepared him for this ingredient. When he eats it, his Gourmet Cells evolve and negate the poison! OMG! He is so buffed up!!!
* Komatsu is tasked to specially prepare the Meteor Garlic. Seeing Komatsu figuring out how to cook it reminds Livebearer of his old passion. So he helps Komatsu in peeling it. When done, Meteor Garlic shoots up and showers down like fireworks. Its edible parts are in the centre and just small bits. But enough to make everybody buffed up! OMG! Have you seen Komatsu this buffed up???!!!
* Livebearer informs Coco about the person he is looking for that may know the ingredients for Acacia’s drink, Atom. He is the personal chef to the king of Jidar, Joa. However it seems the palace has been abandoned because these guys are already in the final phase of their plan as they have information regarding Acacia’s secret notebook.
* In the aftermath, with the king abandoning his kingdom, Match’s mafia group takes over the place to rid of the ingredients and Livebearer overseeing the safety and security of the kingdom.
* Ichiryuu heads to Bishokukai’s base to talk to Midora. However that guy isn’t bent on sharing God and wants it all for himself, risking an all-out war. Talk’s over.
Ehou Maki Arc
* In order to find the next ingredient as part of Ichiryuu’s training, Toriko seeks some fortune teller-cum-sushi maker, Monchy on its location. However he needs several ingredients to make the Ehou Maki that could 100% pinpoint its location.
* First they head to some frozen pond to extract Madam Fish. Then they head to an island that is made out of 100% liquor (where all animals are drunk?) to get King Vinegar. But that apparently isn’t enough so they have to get the smelliest ingredient in the world, Bodurian Bomb. It is so freaking smelly that the funniest thing is to see Toriko and Komatsu talking in a super funny falsetto voice in a hilarious stunk up face and adding stinky at the end of every sentence. Yeah, it was pretty hilarious despite how stinky it is.
* Finally in a naturally eco place where they meet Takimaru and his Gourmet Knights (including their leader Aimaru) to obtain the Eco Nori obtained from the Solar Turtle.
* With all the ingredients collected, Monchy begins making his giant Ehou Maki. So he is pro wrestling the ingredients to tenderize its meat? Aho ka?!
Bubble Fruits Arc
* Once done, it is a giant tower that soars into the sky?! Where it lands will pinpoint the direction and location of the ingredient, Bubble Fruits. And so we have Toriko and Komatsu eating their entire way across the continent (even causing traffic jams?!) that leads them to the Lost Forest. It’s a wonder nobody else ate the Ehou Maki.
* When the trail suddenly stops, they spot somebody trying to steal it. This leads them to a hidden 10 star restaurant run by the head chef, Chiru. She teaches them food etiquette and honour as she serves food that one must be polite and gentle to eat. Too bad the duo can’t even eat anything.
* They also meet one of the legendary Bishokuya, Chin Chinchin. Despite having very good food etiquette, he mispronounces names and did he mention he was the one who ate part of the Ehou Maki? He leads them to his Shokurin Temple where Bubble Fruits is. However the duo must learn Food Honour quickly because the ingredients are not only shy and hide themselves by disappearing, those inside the temple attack them! Wow. Food etiquette and respect from the heart are really something tough to learn.
* They will be trained by the temple assistant, Shuu. First he has a fighting match with Toriko. It might seem Toriko is faster and more powerful but Shuu is able to dodge all of his attacks gracefully. Not only that, his weaker attack shaved his facial hair and clothes without Toriko even knowing! After Shuu explains the unnecessary and inefficiency of his moves that wastes energy, for the first time Toriko accepts reality and admits his defeat so he could learn Food Honour.
* Shuu also has a match with Komatsu but it is a cooking one. Shuu also defeats him in no time because of Komatsu’s many unnecessary moves.
* Toriko’s first training is picking up beans with a 5 metre long chopsticks. Other training methods include mediation, standing with correct appreciation posture and watching a flower bud grow. Even during meals, training never stops. Yeah, work hard to eat. Toriko must be frustrated and wonders if he can really master Food Honour. Before he knows it, his attacks are powerful in a blink of an eye. With more concentration, he can unleash more powerful and better attacks. This gives him motivation to continue his training. Likewise, Komatsu also powers up as his concentration enhances his experience and knowledge intuitively.
* In no time they become masters of Food Honour before they even know it. Now that they are seemingly ready, Chin takes over. Although Toriko can touch the Bubble Fruits in the temple, this one is just a fake created by Chin in preparation to get the real one.
* Speaking of that, it is located deep in the Bubble Way. The entire place is nothing but bubbles! It seems like a long walk for Toriko and he looks super dehydrated. Keep going.
* Meanwhile Shokurin Temple is under attack by a monster bird and a group of baddies led by Chiyo, Chin’s combo partner and a highly ranked chef who is believed to be missing. She is part of Bishokukai now. Oh wait. Isn’t that Ootake with her? Komatsu is so happy to see him ever since he has gone missing. Too bad the feeling isn’t mutual because Ootake stabs him! Fortunately the knife’s ability is to revitalize. Despite being illegal in the Human World, Ootake needs it to prepare food in the Gourmet World. As usual Komatsu places his importance on food appreciation but Ootake is all about being the strongest and only believes their distance has grown.
* Toriko dies of starvation! His finals words are his appreciation to all the great food he has eaten. That is when Bubble Fruits popped up. It seems the entire place they have been walking is where Bubble Fruits are. Toriko just needs to be at the pinnacle of his appreciation for them to appear. So he revives after taking a bite and devouring a heap of them. He is reborn! Look at his long glowing hair! Better than a TV shampoo commercial!
* Chiyo and her monsters run rampage and slaughter the place. Chin returns in time to fight her. Man, he turns into the Hulk?
* It is time for Toriko to return to show how much he has powered up. He has mastered Food Honour that when he sees the destruction, he doesn’t get mad. He is instead thankful for everything! Then we see him beat up the golem hybrid so fast and so relentless, sending it through the air, through the mountains before finally disintegrating! OMFG!!!
* Chiyo defeats Chin and injures him greatly. Toriko almost loses his composure but manages to keep calm and carry on fighting. With his power and speed, he defeats Chiyo.
* Starjun is here to pick them up seeing they have got what they came for. Ootake tells Komatsu that Midora is his partner and wants him to level up or there will be no value in defeating. Starjun notes Ootake was lying about the big boss being his partner. Although technically Midora considers all his chefs as his partner, currently Starjun is Ootake’s partner.
* Komatsu is sad and frustrated his best friend has turn into the dark side. All Toriko can say is that they will make him realize his wrong with their cooking and strength.
* With Chiru’s revitalizing knife, Chin is revived. He reveals Chiyo’s reason for defection. It seems she has information regarding the existence of an ingredient of Acacia’s Full Course Menu that would revive her dead son who is also Chin’s son.
* Ichiryuu calls an emergency meeting with almost all the members of the secretive 0th Biotope in the Gourmet World. It seems Bishokukai is now aware of the existence of Centre, one of Acacia’s Full Course Menu. This means somebody here has leaked information. Ichiryuu doesn’t care about that since the mission now is to gather ingredients for Acacia’s Full Course Menu and with many of them nearing completion, it will soon be an all-out war with Bishokukai.
Golden Wheat Arc
* Since the duo have obtained Food Honour, Setsuno requests them to obtain Golden Wheat so she can make the phantasmal noodles, Zenmen.
* However Toriko is faced with Yuu piloting a newly upgraded GT Robo. Despite attempts to throw Toriko off his pace, he remains calms to give some payback as revenge for hurting Komatsu and stole the Century Soup during Ice Hell. Before GT Robo malfunctions, Yuu is able to grab the Infini Bee which is believed to know where Acacia’s special menu is. It is his goal all along.
* Setsuno guides Komatsu to make Zenmei and after 3 days of intense kneading, it is done. They help sell different types of its variations via food truck. Clearly not only Toriko and Komatsu has levelled up in their Food Honour but the other Heavenly Kings as well.
* This anime filler is a prelude to a movie released shortly after. Of course I didn’t see it…
Four Beasts Arc
* Every few centuries, the Four Beasts will awake and head towards the Human World. Why? Because humans are their favourite food! It is like as though the keep the population down after every boom. The Four Heavenly Kings are tasked to defend the 4 corners of the Human World from them because if 1 of them loses, the barrier will be broken and billions of humans taking refuge in the centre will die!
* These monsters breeze through the land like it is nothing. They destroy all the lands we have seen from Wul Jungle to Ice Hell and even Gourmet Pyramid. So do you think the military’s firepower is going to even scratch them? Know where you stand puny humans!
* So the match-ups we get are Zebra facing off with a volcanic turtle, Sani being grossed out by a gorilla octopus, Coco against a poison stallion and Toriko testing the might of a demon lion.
* To ramp up the drama and tension, the Four Heavenly Kings must seemingly lose first. All the people watching the video must be so fragile in their trust that seeing this means the end of humanity. And when they revive, it is like they become confident again.
* Obviously the Four Heavenly Kings didn’t listen to the rest of Ichiryuu’s message because as Rin and Komatsu found out, there isn’t 4 of them but just 1 of them! They are just limbs of the main body and somebody is controlling it.
* The main body is a giant plant underground and the Four Beasts are actually its roots. Once the monsters are grown, it is supposed to capture humans back to the main body to be devoured. Because Ichiryuu defeated them all the last time and there were no human casualties, it changed its tactic this time. Because it could be right in the centre of the Human World. You don’t say because here it comes attacking now!!!
* By the time our heroes return, the main body has absorbed the Four Beasts and turned into a hideous giant monster. That’s not all, it has kicked up a storm called Green Rain. Any human who gets touched by it will die in an hour. Wait a minute. Didn’t everybody get wet by it already?!
* The Four Heavenly Kings are having it tough because the monster can deflect and transfer that attack waves. It also knows their attack patterns and abilities.
* Komatsu is tasked to head to Yuda’s tower to cook medicinal food for the people. But will it be possible seeing they don’t have enough time or hands. Even so, how can they cook and save all? Too many humans! Don’t worry. Setsuno and her assistant, Nono are here to help. Not enough? Here’s Chiru. Not enough either? Here’s Livebearer. Need more you say? Yeah, here comes a bunch of weird top chefs of the world.
* Even with all these hands, they can’t save everybody. Now this is where I feel it gets weird because Komatsu is hell bent in saving everyone! Every. Single. Damn. Person. No buts about it. He doesn’t like the thought of some random process to choose who gets to eat the antidote since this requires special preparation and not all chefs can easily do it. I think if they stopped b*tching about this and get to work now, maybe they could have saved a little more lives?
* Instead they can spare Komatsu only 10 minutes to find an easier way for all chefs to make this. I mean, seriously? Yes, seriously. Just in time he makes it! Not only that, he only used 5 minutes and the remaining time to figure out how to make it tasty. OMFG! Then they wire it to all the chefs around the world in a live telecast on how to make it. Don’t worry about the transport. I’m sure they’ll make it somehow. Komatsu… Somebody give him the post of the top ranking chef already.
* The Four Heavenly Kings are beaten to a pulp. As they grow weaker, they decide to combine their food energy and do a combo that they have never succeeded before. Want to bet it will succeed now? So focusing and concentrating their appetite energy into a single ball that turns into some horror Pacman to devour the main body until it becomes one giant lump of food energy.
* Even better, all the humans the main body has eaten are still alive because apparently they didn’t get digested yet. Hooray! Nobody dies! Everybody is saved! Then the world enjoys the biggest meat festival as all the chefs around the world cook that giant meat lump and turn it into various dishes.
* Teppei follows the mastermind and wants to find out more but is warned not to pry further or he’ll die where he stands. He wanted to fight but the next thing he knows, he experiences some weird hypnosis and blacks out for the next 3 days. By the time he wakes up, he is in Pukin’s lab and still reeling from fear. He would have died had not his Saiseiya network come to his rescue and the mastermind decided to flee as not to risk his identity being revealed.
Mon Planc Arc
* Because of the recent rampage of the Four Beasts destroying the Biotopes, ingredients are hard to come by for the Cooking Fest, a cooking competition held every 4 years for top chefs. Thus the Four Heavenly Kings are tasked to gather ingredients for it.
* Komatsu is surprised that a couple of guys from G7 are here. They are here to tell him he has been given an official chef ranking: 88th. This qualifies him to participate in Cooking Fest.
* So Toriko and Komatsu team up with Aimaru and Takimaru as they head to the Baron Archipelago to capture the Mon Planc. It is a plant beast from the Gourmet World but during the Four Beasts’ attack, it attached itself to those monsters like how plant seeds do to spread itself to the Human World.
* And yeah, Toriko develops a new technique while fighting it, the Nail Gun!
Cooking Fest Arc
* The Cooking Fest is here and is watched by billions. The Four Heavenly Kings are swamped with people since they have become more famous after the Four Beasts incident. Maybe except Zebra. But nobody is as famous as Komatsu the saviour!
* In the arena, we are introduced to some of the top ranking chefs. Some we are familiar with like Livebearer, Yuda and Setsuno. Others like King Zaus (currently ranked 1st and has 14 titles under his belt), Prince Anyo Jr (sweets master), Damala Sky (curry master) and Wabutora (oil master).
* Then the rest are weirdoes like this grudge ghost granny Kama, speedy bird guy Ton, sumo guy Nerimaru and old hermit Kamizaru.
* The competition begins not with cooking but via triathlon. They have to first swim to get the ingredients, transport them via bike and then run their way to the cooking stadium where they will begin cooking. The first 50 chefs to cook a delicious meal advances. So it isn’t necessary for the fastest to win but speed is essential to pick out the tastier ingredients.
* Komatsu is already having trouble since he could hardly swim.
* At this point, the 3rd ranked chef specializing in mystic food, the tengu dude Branchi wakes up from oversleeping to find the race has already started. The stadium is startled with his entrance because he has a reputation of being a delinquent. If Zebra is the bad boy of Bishokuya, Branchi is the bad boy of the chefs.
* As expected, Zebra and Branchi got into a little showdown but when Branchi hears how the Four Heavenly Kings praise Komatsu so highly, he decides to enter the race and see for himself.
* At this point Komatsu is dead last when he arrives and all the good ingredients are taken. Imagine Branchi’s disappointment to see this shrimp. Not much of a challenge, eh? But when he sees his appreciation for the leftovers and how he is talking with them, he changes his perspective. They are going to take all the remaining ingredients and cook them!
* Branchi takes Komatsu as they zoom past all the other chefs in a blink of an eye. Leading the pack with a wide lead are Setsuno, Zaus and Yuda. One of the trio will cross the finish line. Who is it? Branchi and Komatsu! They usurp and cross the goal in the last second!!! Is this even possible?!
* Komatsu is given the honours to go cook first. I mean, he has gotten through the physical test (really?) so he cooking part wouldn’t pose any problem, right? Well, if he had his Melk knife. Because somehow he is using an ordinary kitchen knife! What is the meaning of this? Because thanks to Branchi he got this far, he felt he wouldn’t have gotten his Melk knife with his own power. Branchi may not be happy because he wanted to see his full extent of his power but Komatsu wants to fight fair and square, there’s nothing else to be said.
* Komatsu cooks a simple soft crab filled with fried rice and lets the G7 guys judge. In the end, the top 50 chefs for the next round are named and as expected, Komatsu is one of them. He is so happy like as though he has won.
* For the next round, they will be cooking on a balancing scale. It is a speed contest as ingredients are being used up, your scale gets lighter and makes your opponent’s heavier. Be careful, at the bottom are flames that will make it too hot.
* Komatsu faces off with Wabutora and upon the latter’s request, he uses his Melk knife. At first Komatsu seems to be losing. But gathering all his experiences during his journey with Toriko, Komatsu makes a comeback to even the scales.
* The winner is decided via selected audience eating their dish. The one whose dish finishes first is declared the winner. Without a doubt it is Komatsu since the customers are swarming over his jumbo steak. Wabutora admits his defeat and hopes Komatsu will win the championship.
* Fast forward this round, the expected favourites advance to the next round. The remaining 25 chefs left will be whittled down to 16. The next round has them cook an entire island! Luckily they can pick a partner to help them collect the ingredients. Of course Komatsu will have Toriko but there are some weird pairings like Yuda with Sani, the unexpected like Branchi and Zebra, and the most WTF what-the-hell-was-he-thinking combo, Zaus and Zonge???!!! WTF?! Fast forward everything and you can guess who goes through, right? Yeah, Komatsu is in!
* Before the next round begins, Komatsu meets his other childhood friend, Ume. He is currently working as a personal chef for a shady gourmet billionaire, Mahmai Moi.
* The next round is direct elimination. Komatsu takes on Zaus! Woah! Can a miracle upset occur? Their match involves cooking in pure darkness. They have to use all their other senses except sight to select ingredients and cook. Be careful. Some ingredients are lethal.
Bishokukai Assault Arc
* Well, we might not be able to see how the match goes because Bishokukai led by Starjun bringing heavyweights like Tommyrod and Grinpatch are here to cause trouble. And the entire party is here! From GT Robos to monsters and bugs, they’re coming in from everywhere to kidnap all the chefs!
* Don’t worry Komatsu. Starjun won’t kidnap you because here comes Toriko to the rescue. Wow. Have you ever seen him so mad before? Toriko unleashes his devastating powers at first go, forcing Starjun to go on a defensive. Starjun himself also has powered up but Toriko’s flurry of punches, he doesn’t stand a chance.
* There are other match-ups too like Coco against Grinpatch, Branchi against the immortal Centaur Elg, Sani against Tommyrod and granny fight between Setsuno and Chiyo. And all the other chefs just fights everybody else.
* If the chaos is not bad enough, Bishokukai sends real Nitro monsters from the Gourmet World under their control to attack. Slowly one by one the chefs are defeated and captured.
* With all the power ups and new moves and forms, our heroes eventually triumph with Sani eating Tommyrod whole and Branchi forever zapping Elg’s regenerative cells till his Gourmet Cells gave up on regenerating!
* Amidst this chaos, it seems there is another third party hidden among it all. They call themselves Neo and their goal seems to be collecting ingredients for Acacia’s Full Course Menu. They include wealthy billionaires like Mokkoi, the former king of Jidar, Joa, Moi and don’t be shock with this, Zaus! They have spies infiltrated all over from IGO to Bishokukai so their intelligence network is incredible.
* The granny fight is interrupted when Zaus and fellow Neo members, Kousairou and Kuriboh dispose of Chiyo to make a date with Setsuno.
* By the time Komatsu gets to Toriko, he looks dead! Cue for him to start crying and calling out his name incessantly like a broken recorder. Just when Starjun is about to claim Komatsu for himself, Toriko revives and punches the baddie away from his partner. Who says calling out one’s name many times won’t wake you up? This allows Toriko to pull off a new technique he learnt under Aimaru. But this isn’t just to finish off Starjun. Because now they’re getting serious to fight each other. You mean all those epic flying punches weren’t them fighting seriously yet???!!! You got to be kidding me!!! So another round of epic super moves.
* However the fight is interrupted (and postponed indefinitely) with the appearance of Joa. Looks like he has brainwashed Teppei on his side. He fights head on with Setsuno and even revives Nitro defeated by Zebra even stronger than before.
* This guy is so godly with his dark techniques that Setsuno has a hard time standing her ground. Before she gets killed, here comes Jirou to the rescue. Where the heck have you been???!!!
* Jirou unmasks Joa and everyone is shocked to see Frohze. Who is she? Acacia’s assistant who looked after his disciples.
* With Joa very powerful, Jirou and Setsuno can tell the super evolution of his Gourmet Cells. This means that he has eaten Acacia’s Full Course. But they are somewhat certain this isn’t the real Frohze because she is already dead.
* Joa could have killed the old duo had not Toriko and Starjun intervene. You would have guessed the person Joa is looking for. Oh Komatsu. You’re such a wanted guy everywhere. Because Komatsu managed to find the secret recipe at the Gourmet Pyramids, Joa needs someone with incredible food luck to find God.
* Toriko and Starjun team up to fight him. If that isn’t enough, the other Heavenly Kings join the fray. And as expected, the only way to defeat a final boss is to combine all their powerful attack into one big giant ball of energy.
* Too bad that wasn’t even enough to scratch Joa. Now that Joa focuses on capturing Komatsu, how can Toriko revive? Komatsu’s voice of course! He lets his Gourmet Cells take over to turn into a full demon mode. But this is a very dangerous form because he will devour everything. So how to bring him back to his senses? You guessed it. Komatsu’s voice! So powerful this kid’s voice to want to eat with him and everybody as promised that Toriko reverts back but to an ultimate hybrid version of himself and a demon. Yeah, see him blast Joa away. Because Toriko sees human as having heart as opposed to Joa who sees food as mere tools for world domination, you can bet who is going to come out tops.
* Ichiryuu and Midora face off. We get a glimpse of their flashback. Their happy life together with Acacia and Frohze. All that changed when Acacia sensed God will be coming and set out with Frohze to capture it. However Frohze returned very wounded because she tried to cook it. Midora tried to save her with some healing potion but he put himself in danger. This made Frohze push herself to cook to heal him. Unfortunately, she lost her life. A sad day for the men but they have to go on living on her behalf. Ever since that day, Midora could not be satiated by anything. That is why he is going to devour everything including God. Ichiryuu realizes he is not hungry for food but rather love. He is still searching for it. Sadly, Midora defeats Ichiryuu.
* After Toriko summons all the food and ingredient he has eaten to give one heck of a super punch to defeat Joe, Meteor Spice keep falling from the sky all over the world as proof of Ichiryuu’s defeat. Don’t worry. It is a cue from everybody to show off their power one last time to stop it from crashing and destroying the land. Well, at least most of it.
* In the aftermath, Midora is kind enough to return Ichiryuu. They want to eat with him again but he relents because Komatsu is cooking. I guess his soup brings back nostalgic memories. Good, right? Everyone prepares to head to the Gourmet World because Neo is already there. You didn’t think Joa is dead would you?
* Toriko and Komatsu take their first step together into the Gourmet World and you can bet Komatsu’s heart attack starts now. I wonder if he can stomach the rest of the journey. We see Toriko has improved a lot because even those beasts quiet down when he opens his mouth.
Eat & Be Merry
I knew it was coming to something like that. A bit of a cliché note for our main duo to head out in high spirits. It is this series’ equivalent of running towards the sunset or sunrise while screaming the real adventure begins here. Because when you have an important tournament that pits our main protagonist into a super powerful character only to be interrupted and postponed indefinitely by the enemy for the remainder of the entire series, well it’s like saying to go read the manga if you want to more about it. I know, I know. I’m going to probably say the same thing like I always do in my previous blogs when anime series with so much potential and development ‘ended’ in this fashion. But what else is there to say? Because with the series ending with the end of the Human World arc, the next big epic showdown where all the crazier, more powerful and flashier stuff will happen in the Gourmet World. Because everybody is already there. All the pieces are set on the board. Time for them to make their move. An excuse for more outrageous and bizarre plots, fights and developments to entertain our mind (and stomach).
Despite food seemingly as the overall theme and ‘star’, I can’t help wonder if it is just some sort of a ‘side dish’ because you know, it feels that this show is about fighting aliens and the likes. Get what I mean? Food is just an excuse to just have some sort of story to compliment it. It might look like a food theme but there is one thing that sets it obviously apart from other food themed animes like Shokugeki No Souma, Chuuka Ichiban, Yakitate! Japan and even if I may consider it, Koufuku Graffiti. Despite having ‘Gourmet’ in titles like IGO, Bishokukai and Bishokuya, everything and everyone here is anything but gourmet. In fact, you can already tell that they are more of a glutton than anything. They eat everything and anything that walks under the sun. Oh heck, even those in the shadowy parts of the world can also be eaten. So gluttonous the world and characters are, that they had to feature some episodes with other famous anime gluttons like One Piece’s Luffy and Dragonball’s Goku. Don’t worry. Even big eaters like them are in no danger of eating any species to extinction.
Thus as compared to those other food themed animes like I just mentioned, Toriko would be the least appetizing on my side. I really don’t feel like chowing down some huge chunk of meat made out from some bug even if Toriko enjoys eat greatly and telling us how freaking delicious it is. Heck, everything to this guy is delicious, that’s why he is more of a glutton than a gourmet. The only exception are maybe the sweets, candies and cake types that made me drool a little. But other than that, I would rather pass up in even tasting a milligram of it. I know it is bad to waste but I’m still not touching gross cuisines ever. Heck, I’m doing my part in conversation by not eating Shark’s Fin Soup.
A big majority of food featured here (and man, they really have a lot of different mix of food averaging at least 3 new types per episode if you include the intro) are a mix of at least 2 types to create a ‘new’ kind of food. That is why at the start of every episode (yes, every damn episode) we have the narrator juicily describing to us certain types of food of this world. Thankfully our real world has lots of food variety from different cultures and eras and hence some are cleverly mixed to create this new type of food that we will never ever get to taste. But I noticed they just don’t simply pick any kind of ingredient and mostly they are puns of foods in Japanese or English. So much so sometimes it feels like the producers might have ran out of ideas so they announced for contestants to send in their own ideas and the winners get to have it featured/animated in some episodes, giving their ‘fruits of labour’ 5 seconds of fame.
One thing about this gluttonous theme that really bugged me throughout. If everybody especially big eaters like the Four Heavenly Kings are always eating a lot, do you not realize there will be poop problems?! Think about it. If they take in so much input, it should only be right there is an equal amount of output. This means the entire world would actually be stinking of great poo! Especially those devourers who gobble down huge chunks of meat, fruits, vegetables and other edibles within seconds! And yet we don’t really see them going to toilet! I can only imagine the world’s toughest job in cleaning up the toilets. It’s going to stink big time. Sure, you can tell me that Gourmet Cells evolution crap theory where all food are converted into energy. In that case, these muscle head guys shouldn’t even have to have anuses in the first place… Know what I’m saying? Don’t get me started on that black hole stomach theory that some anime characters have.
That is why one sometimes when you wonder why everything that breathes in this anime can literally be eaten, it somewhat resonates true to the basic theory of survival. It’s literally a dog eat dog world out there or in this anime’s case, a monster eat monster world. Eat or be eaten. Come to think of it, I think vegetarians will definitely not like this anime because there are lots of big meat eaters in here. Killing and eating them in the name of taking their vital life force and energy to replenish your own. That’s why you have to respect food and not waste them so to speak. And eating together makes the food tastier? Generally it’s true but I think some prefer to eat alone… With food such an overwhelming theme of this series, I thought it was pretty ironic when Toriko finally did say that humans are more than food. But he didn’t say what I expected to say because I was thinking, “Yeah, humans are about sex too”! Haha! Oops. With everybody so busy stuffing their face, I wonder what the birth rate of this world is. Yeah, and they say that eating a certain food makes you rule the world. You can’t make this sh*t up.
This should be a given because the longer a series runs, the more characters it is bound to have. And this is one of the biggest dilemmas for me when watching this kind of long running shows. Too many characters! By the time it ends, I would have already forgotten many of them. Despite the numerous episodes spanning seasons, not all of the secondary and supporting characters are given as much prominence as Toriko and Komatsu. Some only relevant for a certain arc before disappearing. Some play minor roles here and there so as to remind us they’re still around. Some too insignificant to remember or have an impact. Some you wonder what the heck his/her role is for. Well, it is a long running manga too although it ended in 2016, still you can’t help wonder about the many lively and colourful characters throughout the series. Thankfully they aren’t that boring as some of them have their quirks that make them memorable. Or is it that I can’t remember the bad ones? After all, this world is such a huge place so you are bound to meet so many characters each with their own purpose, role and fate to deal with. But as for the important ones are concerned, you’ll keep them in mind.
Toriko, what can I say about him? He is a good guy who loves to eat but one thing that made me realize about him as I watched the series. Isn’t Toriko a ‘weak’ person to begin with? You thought this guy was some super strong Superman but as we see him traversing one obstacle from another, it occurred to me that this guy may just be the weakest among the super powered characters! I mean, look at the training that Ichiryuu gave to him as pre-requisite to enter Gourmet World. Look at how tough a time he has trying to overcome and adapt to it. Sure, it is for the drama effect so that we viewers could also ‘grow’ along with him. And then you think back of it all. Doesn’t this makes Toriko and the rest of the Heavenly Kings as weak as f*ck? Other than this, despite his carefree nature and going at his own pace, he respects nature and its abundance, appreciates a good meal and good partner to Komatsu.
Komatsu is both likable and annoying. Because he lacks any martial arts knowledge, he can prove to be a liability in the battlefield where it gets real dangerous. Therefore the biggest annoyance I somewhat noticed of him is his tendency to call out to Toriko’s name. Every. Single. Time. In every episode without fail it is guaranteed that this petite kid will scream out his name be it in danger, worrying about him, looking for him or just for the heck of it. “TORIKO-SAN!!!”. See what I mean? If he isn’t screaming his name, he would be just screaming. Thankfully he’s got a strong heart and luck because the kind of dangers he went through, a normal person would have been traumatized and died of a heart attack. Other than that, he has such a low self-confidence and pessimism even before trying. I know he is trying to be modest but he hasn’t even started trying! Oh. Reminds me of myself too. Of course offsetting these negative traits are his respect for food and loyalty to his friends. He is a great chef, so unbelievably good that he managed to recreate Century Soup and find a cure for the Green Rain in mere minutes, somebody should have just given him the top spot chef ranking.
This is such a manly anime with guys like the Four Heavenly Kings have so big bulging muscles, it makes you wonder if you can realistically achieve such mass by eating instead of hitting the gym. Of course not! Remember, they have Gourmet Cells, an excuse to give them that “GAR!” look and feel. Because of that, the bromance factor feels so high especially if we’re talking about Toriko and Komatsu since they are so inseparable and their bonding throughout the series shows. Sometimes my mind can’t help wander off to think some kind of an S&M hentai bromance between Toriko and Komatsu. See where I am going with this?! Big muscle guy dominating over a small timid scrawny kid. Ugh! I think I’m losing my appetite thinking about this. I can’t even see Rin getting through his heart. Not even in my wildest imaginations. Don’t even start on the Four Heavenly Kings orgy on him!!! STOP!!!
It’s hard to say if Tina is a true reporter because despite her earnest ways in trying to get the best scoop, circumstances always have her failing to capture the moment. No wonder she loves to spam her favourite lines of either a helping heap of (if something goes her way) or not a milligram of (if bad luck triumphs). Not only she doesn’t get the scoop but somehow I keep noticing she usually ends up in Zonge’s company. It just shivers my spine to think that the possibility of them becoming an item! As the arcs slowly progress, Tina’s presence reduces since she can’t follow Toriko and Komatsu into dangerous waters.
Therefore she has her own Gourmet News segment at the end of each episode as she hosts a bunch of different variety to entertain us. Whether it is from describing details from the ingredients that Toriko capture, to test tasting ingredients and then making bad puns as cold as ice, interviewing some of the characters, displaying creative entries from contestants, blatant advertising of this anime’s products that includes movies, DVDs and other merchandises, telling your food fortune, having other characters spew food related ‘words of wisdom’ and finally because they ran out of ideas they had to make a quiz for you to guess the weird ingredient combo at the end, the reason why you don’t hear this part in the beginning of the episodes as the series enter its final stretch anymore. I failed miserably and never guessed one correctly. But of all the variety, my favourite one is finding Yun segment. Call it as this series’ version of Where’s Waldo? A still picture giving us a few seconds to find the penguin. I could have got 100% win record if not for a couple of them that they ‘cheated’. That’s right. You cheaters! Nobody could have seen that one coming!
I don’t know, I feel a bit odd for the main characters to have animal sidekicks of their own. I mean, we have Toriko getting Terry, Coco already the master of Kiss, Sani becoming Quinn’s master and even Komatsu getting a penguin and Tina a pigeon?! Why doesn’t Zebra get one then? Maybe it is because he is named after an animal so I guess that counts? Okay, so he did borrow a giant zebra in the fight against the Four Beasts. Woah. Why the need for furries to ramp up the cuteness? I thought this was a manly anime. Sure, the beasts fighting alongside the Four Heavenly Kings are justified as they play their role. But Yun and Kruppoh? Useless cute birds that do nothing around but squeal cute sounds and acting cute. Huh? I was hoping they are allowed to hang around as emergency food but I don’t think they would taste good. Besides, sometimes they try to showcase their usefulness but it’s mindboggling if it can be considered so. Because like Yun flying in to ‘help’ Komatsu during the Bishokukai’s invasion during the Cooking Fest feels so lame. Penguin needs more screen time, maybe… I’m not sure about the Gourmet Cell monsters but they do look odd if you ask me. From Toriko’s satanic demon, Coco’s Japanese ghost zombie, Sani’s hairy yeti, Starjun’s cyclops and Zebra’s… Is that a watermelon ogre?!
Another thing that popped up about some of the characters that boggled my mind are how freaking old some of the older ones are. It is clearly stated that the last God event happened centuries ago during when Acacia was still alive. And since this food master has also been dead for centuries, how f*cking old are Ichiryuu, Jirou and Midora anyway?! You can consider them living for centuries and if not forever. They’re like God trying to be God? If the food logic of this world already doesn’t make sense, hell yeah the longevity of the people also don’t make sense. Oh wait. Don’t tell me again about that Gourmet Cell evolution crap theory. Better to think that these foods have properties that enhance your body in a certain way that increases longevity. After all, you are what you eat. It isn’t rocket science to figure your body makes do of what you input.
So I’ll stop here with my ranting and ‘analysis’ of the characters because there like what I said about those in previous paragraphs, it would just be mainly pointing out the obvious. Also, I’m too lazy at this point to think about the other supporting characters and how they impacted everything. Yeah, yeah. I’m sure they had a role to play whether it is big or small. They’ll all definitely meet again and if not, they’re not as important as we think they should. Will Komatsu’s friends ever unite again as each serve different factions now? Will Acacia’s students ever eat at the same table again? Will Neo turn over a new leaf? Will God live up to its name or just a fragment of imagination of hungry people starving for too long? Yeah, I sometimes have this feeling everyone and everything you see in this world is one big delusion. Everyone is high on drugs! The food they eat contain properties that make you hallucinate! All those juicy meat and fruits they’re chomping down? They’re just rocks in reality! No wonder everybody wants God. The true food of food. See, typing this on a partially empty stomach is making me say deluded things.
Animated by a veteran anime studio, Toei Animation, you can probably see this anime’s similarity in some of their popular works like One Piece and Dragonball series. In the sense that sometimes you have got really weird looking people and creatures. Like I’ve said before, in a world where anything is possible, it is like as though this anime tests one’s creativity by mixing up at least 2 forms (usually food and creature) to come up with something new. So you’ve got your visuals ranging from weird, bizarre, funny, ugly, eerie, cute and uhm, just super plain weird. This is especially the Bishokukai members who often look like mini monsters or something. If you are into musclebound or macho men, then this anime spams lots of those characters with full-fledged bulging biceps in your face. Then you’ve got plain looking characters like Komatsu who looks so plain that he is, well, just plain. The visuals are also very colourful ranging from weird hairstyles to textures that fit the grand scale of this fantasy world. Is it me or does Starjun look like he was about to go Super Saiyan mode in his ultimate battle with Toriko? Heck, I thought he was Goku reincarnated. But he didn’t come as close as Toriko’s ultimate demon hybrid form. I thought he became Super Saiyan for good. Although the overall animation is decent, there are a few times where I noticed the dip in quality usually during the fight scenes. A lot of details will suddenly be ‘downgraded’ because it’s like they think our eyes won’t be able to keep up with the ‘slowed down’ fast paced action.
Speaking of the action parts, they are pretty exaggerative in a general sense. You have super powered moves that are unbelievable, moves that could even change the shape of the planet and geographical outline in a blink of an eye. Because of the shonen genre this anime is so typically categorized as, the fights last for many episodes! No wonder they can blow up the series to 147 episodes. Especially Toriko’s fight with Tommyrod and then his ultimate battle with Starjun which is only prolonged because they had to show other fights in between. I know. It’s to showcase the many arsenal that Toriko has developed along the way. So as not to look like he is just spamming his usual Fork and Knife moves, we see various variations as a sign of how much he has progressed. The other characters too have a few set moves of their own albeit they too look like variations of their main skill. I mean, how else is Cocoa going to fight without using poison, Sani without his hair and Zebra without his voice? Sometimes for added variety, they combine their set moves with each other for a new one. And yeah, they really take their time when they start using their moves especially new ones. They really want to show it to us like screaming out its name, the pose that they do and then the effect whether it hits or misses. Either way, you’ll be entertained with all these flashy far-fetched goodness or just be dumbfounded that they could come up with something this ‘creative’.
Oh boy. With such a long running anime with so many characters, the cast list is going to skyrocket through the roof. Read: I’m already feeling too lazy and lost motivation to list them. Of course I won’t list them all but you know… Anyway, a handful that I recognized include Nana Mizuki as Tina, Takahiro Sakurai as Coco, Shinichiro Miki as Starjun and Akira Ishida as Tommyrod. That’s all?! How disappointing. The rest of the casts Ryotaro Okiayu as Toriko (Byakuya in Bleach), Romi Paku as Komatsu (Edward in Fullmetal Alchemist), Mitsuo Iwata as Sani (Pyoro in Vandread), Asami Tano as Rin (Chiharu in Toaru Hikoushi E No Koiuta), Kenji Matsuda as Zebra, Juurouta Kosugi as Mansam (Tama in Hayate No Gotoku), Toshiyuki Morikawa as Jirou (Naraku in Inu Yasha), Sakiko Uran as Setsuno (Marumaro in Blue Dragon), Kenyuu Horiuchi as Ichiryuu (Kinemon in One Piece), Masaya Onosaka as Teppei (Nanashi in MAR), Kousuke Toriumi as Match (Kiba in Naruto), Kenn as Takimaru (Jinbei in Mushibugyou), Masaki Terasoma as Midora (Kanbei in Samurai 7), Yuji Mitsuya as Grinpatch (Tofu in Ranma 1/2), Banjou Ginga as Yosaku (Senzaemon in Shokugeki No Souma), Keiichi Nanba as Joa (Junta in DNA2) and Wataru Takagi as Zonge (Bellamy in One Piece). Phew. I’m already tired…
Of all the numerous themes, the only one that I truly love is the fourth ending theme, Sabrina by Leo Ieiri. This is like the Japanese version of Laura Branigan’s Gloria. The catchy and upbeat rock beat somehow resonates to me liking. Unfortunately for the rest… They sound too weird for my liking. Okay, to be honest some of them aren’t too bad like the very manly first opening theme, Guts Guts by Akira Kushida. This song really fits the gluttony theme of the series and sometimes I get this feeling they are trying to replicate One Piece’s popular opening such as We Are and We Go. For a long running anime, it is rare for a series to have the same opening theme for so long. Therefore I thought they were never going to change the first ending theme after running for 2 seasons. And then they changed it to Goushuko My Way also by Akira Kushida. The feel of this second opening theme is almost similar to the first one although I still prefer Guts Guts by comparison.
As for the rest of the ending themes (there are 12 of them in total and all of them lasts for only a minute), I guess other than Sabrina, the next closest song that I prefer (although still by far incomparable to my favourite Sabrina) would be the ninth ending theme, Akai Kutsu by Salley. This one is different because it is a slow and calming acoustic piece compared to the rest which are mostly weird fanfare like the sixth ending’s Samba De Toriko by Hyadain, Nana Mizuki’s only feature in Lovely Fruit as the seventh ending, the rap-like hip hop fifth ending of Love Chase by Tomohisa Yamashita and the drowsy drunken sounding tenth ending Tautology by The Dresscodes. The rest are mainly rock based like One Day by The Rootless (first ending), Satisfaction by Ftisland (second ending), Niji by Jun Sky Walker (eighth ending) Mega Raba by Rurika Yokoyama (twelfth ending) and anime pop-like such as Deli-Deli Delicious by Sea A (third ending) and Believe In Yourself by Palet (eleventh ending).
Overall, this isn’t an anime that would truly whet your appetite and wanting more. What I mean is that you want more just because it is part of the full course meal and it is best you finish it as you are already halfway there. Other than that, overeating and being overfull from this absurdly massive filling full course meal will leave you stuffed and bloated for a long time to come. Each time you think of wanting to try it out again, you’d get that nauseated feeling of having too much and change your mind maybe not today or tomorrow. And so that’s how I feel for this series in a nutshell. Lots of decent characters, decent action, decent plot, too long a story arc/fight sometimes, funny moments, silly moments, nonsensical moments, moments that don’t make sense. Hey, it is your stomach that should be working, not the brain. Ah, kutta, kutta! Gochisousama deshita!
Chua Tek Ming~*Anime Power*~ !LiVe FoR AnImE, aNiMe FoR LiFe! 