Tori...Tori...Tori... Toriko

I admit, when I first came across Toriko manga few years back I immediately judged it. Cast it aside in my moment of prejudice and completely forgot about it until the Toriko/One piece crossover anime came out, sometime in mid 2011. I am a sucker for One Piece. It is the only anime I have re-watched(525 episodes and counting) 6-7 times minimum, I can quote dialogues, recite speeches from the manga, give in depth character briefings and review the manga for hours together and  few minutes later, do it all over again. So if Luffy is ok with Toriko as his partner then am ok with it too. So ya, the crossover. It was ok. Not that great, but enough to get me to look into Toriko. And man am I glad or what. Toriko is now my 2nd most anticipated weekly release. The first? No guesses there. Its One Piece of course.

TORIKO, One Piece Xover

Anyway to introduced the manga, Toriko, the protagonist, is a gourmet hunter. Set in a fictional world which is currently in a gourmet age( like our bronze age, iron age and so on) gourmet hunters discover new and fascinating ingredients, sometimes at great personnel risk. He has, like any hero in a shounen manga a side kick called Komatsu, who is a chef in a 5 star restaurant.Together they travel the world hunting and cooking and of course eating. Did I mention that Toriko is a glutton? Toriko is said to have discovered 2% of the currently known ingredients, which makes him a celebrity is his world. His aim is to create a full course of his life and find GOD a ingredient that is said to have stopped wars(reading the manga will give you better understanding of GOD) .

A full course menu consists of the following:

1.Hors d'Oeuvre ( lol, its french)
2.Soup
3.Fish Dish
4.Meat Dish
5.Main course
6.Salad
7.Desert
8.Drink.
No spoilers for toriko's list. :)

Not much is known about Toriko's past or his family other than the fact that he was picked up by IGO(International Gourmet Organization)'s president and trained along with 3 others namely, Coco,Sani and Zebra( in the same order of their introduction). Together they are called the "Four Heavenly Kings" ( no idea why.. whats heavenly king got to do with gourmet hunter?)

Toriko

Coco

Zebra

Sani

           






















I was wondering if i should write about their individual powers and abilities, but then again why take the fun out Eh! reader? You will find out how badass they are when you read the manga. :). On a completely unbiased note, Zebra rocks :P..

Oh before i forget.. Chef Komatsu. The silly, cry baby side kick.. whose favorite line has got to be.. "Toriiigooo--zaaan" said with snot dripping off his nose.. No, don't get me wrong. I like komatsu.. he grows on you. In a world of extreme macho-ness he is a scrawny kitten. But a excellent side kick to Toriko. Here be the Chef:

LOL. Sorry Komatsu

Komatsu :P

The manga chiefly chronicles the adventures of Toriko and Komatsu, with occasional appearances of sani, coco and zebra along with few other regulars.

So when we talk about the heros can Villans be far behind? Bishokukai, they are the villans of this world. Their main aim is to control all the ingredients of the world, thereby controling the world. (Ya, ya I no its not a great purpose and all. And no, They are not Farmers or merchants or any such thing). For this purpose, they, the Bishokukai are also after the GOD( See, GOD has to be all powerful ingredient) . So ya, fight ensures. Not much to guess there, except that the villans and their groupies are real Bad Asses. I have a favorite hero and also a favorite Anti-hero: Here be the hottest Villan ever;

Stajyuun

Stajyuun, minus the mask

When there are good looking villans like Sta-<3 can the bad and the ugly be far behind?

Bad: 

Grinpatch 

Full View

Ugly/Disgusting:

Tommy-rod, 'nuff said

As I mentioned earlier, main theme of the manga is Food, but not food as you and I, dear reader know it. Food in the gourmet world can range from, "WOW wish it was real " to "Pluck my eyes out eyes, for looking at it". Every food item comes with a rating, lower the rating easier it is to capture.

So as to not shock you, i chose some mild ingredients to show here :)

As with any other shounen manga, Toriko is full of Fights, humor, Friendhsip, Save the world-Heroisms. What do i like the best? No weepy-need-to-be-rescued damsel in distress. Hooray for a manga with no annoying female. Banzai. " A picture speaks a Thousand words" and I wish it would too for anything more i write will only amount as spoilers. So the pictures displayed should have been enough to steer you dear reader, towards Toriko. Before i forget, Toriko also has an anime which is currently airing. The anime is toned down to suit all audiences, which is a big let down. For complete and real shock value, read the manga. You will love it.

Also i know i haven't really described or discussed the manga much, but I only want to introduce the reader to this manga as this is not a review blog, just a introduction and possible choices-providing article.


Rating:
Art: 8/10 ( purely because am not that into muscle men )
Story: 10/10 ( Extremely novel and unique food items plus the story although good vs evil is different)
Characters: 9.5/10 ( Love Zebra and Toriko... -0.5 for disgusting tommy rod)
Entertainment: 9.9999/10( Cause only one piece deserves 10/10 :P. yes i am biased)

So long Suckerssssssss