Toriko is one of those shows where there's nothing too deep going on, but it's just a blast to watch. The story largely revolves around the eponymous Toriko, a "Gourmet Hunter" that battles monsters and a chef named Komatsu that cooks the monsters Toriko defeats into delicious food, which then makes Toriko even stronger. It's a very action-forward series, as one might expect from a WSJ adaptation. Most episodes feature at least one battle and most problems are solved with fists.
A key to why the series remains mostly entertaining throughout in spite of that frankly braindead approach to things is frequent action combined with strong ... pacing. Even longer story arcs like Ice Hell and Cooking Fest generally don't suffer from the pacing problems that shows of this type often deal with. Progress markers are clearly staked out throughout the series and Toriko becomes meaningfully stronger throughout the events of the story without succumbing to shounen power creep. The story largely avoids the problem of "Oh no, Toriko must fight the most invincible enemy ever!" -> "Toriko wins" -> "Toriko must now fight an even more invincible-r enemy!" by keeping things grounded and parceling out progression to its characters in the right amounts. This might seem like an esoteric dive into the finer points of outlining and planning a series, but it's a key reason that show remains compulsively watchable even after 150 episodes.
There is also a certain zany energy to the entire thing that I would hesitate to describe as "funny", but is entertaining nonetheless. There aren't really that many jokes as such, it's more about the inherent absurdity of everything in this series and the attempts to construct a plot around that insanity. For example, the main goal for the characters in the series is to, and I swear I'm not making this up, find and eat God, which will give them "control over all the world's ingredients". At no point do they give any sort of explanation for what this could possibly mean, and it ends up being funnier for having never been explained in even the vaguest terms, even as it becomes increasingly important to the plot as the series progresses. That sort of "just go with it" attitude is ever-present in the worldbuilding, where almost everything is named in the laziest possible way (almost all proper nouns in the series are "Gourmet [thing]"; Gourmet Age, Gourmet Hunters, Gourmet Eclipse, Gourmet Cells, just to name a few) and there are no attempts at reconciling most things or events in the series with any sort of logical reality. This will either drive you insane or become progressively funnier the further you get into the series, depending on how seriously you attempt to take it.
I also want to briefly take a moment here to shout out series narrator Kenjiro Ishimaru, who delivers some delightfully hammy narration in the food pun segments that precede each episode. Don't skip these, they're one of the best parts of the show!
There are, however, a few things from the series to take issue with. The animation is more functional than impressive, in keeping with the demands of producing weekly television for 3 years without a break. There are a handful of more impressive episodes scattered throughout (episode #22 from future One Piece series director Kouhei Kureta is a particular highlight), but the animation is not strong as a consistent rule and there are sometimes noticeable dips in quality. While there are some positive things to mention about the look of the series (the strong, creative monster designs coming most readily to mind), the overall visual aspect grades out to below average, which is sometimes disappointing when you want a highly anticipated fight to wow you with some sakuga and it turns out to be pretty basic instead.
The series is also a continuation of a longstanding and unfortunate shounen trend of marginalizing its female characters. Only 2 female characters have a significant role in the story; Tina, a newscaster joke character that mostly exists to commentate on action, and Rin, whose entire personality is "head over heels in love with an indifferent Toriko". While there is a certain "buff dudes being manly" vibe to this series that makes it harder to comfortably fit female characters in, there was clearly no effort made here. Unfortunate, though not a dealbreaker.
Overall, it's certainly not without its flaws, but it makes for a fun over-the-top action series that balances its story well and rarely suffers from the problems of "filler" or other dips in narrative quality that often accompany long runners. My recommendation to those interested would be to give it a try through the "Regal Mammoth" arc (roughly 2 cours worth of episodes) to get a sense of the variety that it brings in terms of shorter bits mixed in with longer and more involved story arcs, and decide to drop or continue after that point. The first episode, a One Piece crossover, is also skippable both in terms of relevance to the story (there is none) and quality (bad unless you really like One Piece).
Alternative Titles Synonyms: Toriko (2011), Toriko (TV), Toriko x One Piece Collabo Special Japanese: トリコ Information Type: TV Episodes: 147 Status: Finished Airing Aired: Apr 3, 2011 to Mar 30, 2014 Premiered: Spring 2011 Broadcast: Sundays at 09:00 (JST) Licensors: Funimation Studios: Toei Animation Source: Manga Demographic: Shounen Duration: 23 min. per ep. Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older Statistics Score: 7.531 (scored by 51,896 users) 1 indicates a . Ranked: #18712 2 based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #1729 Members: 129,828 Favorites: 855 Available AtResources |
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