Toriko: All Caught Up

Well, I managed to catch up. I said it would take me till Saturday and I turned out to be right. Some of this I read after my post last night, but I just didn't want to have to post with my eyelids drooping so I posted prematurely. 

chapter 262 page 8: The power of food honor ladies and gents

chapter 262 page 19: Just how did I know that he'd think Komatsu's food is delicious. I must be psychic. Nay, this series is just predictable sometimes.

chapter 263 page 17: *gasping* 536

chapter 263 page 19: 9...seventy....2?

chapter 263 page 20: *gasping* 1160? These things can go over 1000? FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!

chapter 263 page 21: 0_0 2650. WHAT IS THIS SUMMON BIGGER FISH THE CHAPTER?

chapter 263 page 22: DAMN (4220). This chapter is going to end with a monster capture level over 9000...isn't it?

chapter 263 page 23: A battle wolf is 6090? DAAAAAAAAAAAAMN!

chapter 263 page 25: Oh wow. It didn't do the obvious meme joke. I'M LEGITIMATELY SHOCKED!

chapter 264 page 10: 770? Honestly I'm not shocked anymore. 6090 is now the new score to beat Toriko. You won't shock me until I see something like that.

chapter 264 page 14: Holy shit! How much time has passed exactly?

chapter 264 page 16: Toriko's hallucinating or something isn't he?

chapter 264 page 23: Wait, so that's not a hallucination? NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! You can't just do that series! HOW did he get Komatsu back? NO NO NO NO NO NO! What the hell?

chapter 265 begin: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! YOU CAN'T JUST DO THAT! Komatsu said he was going to wait at the Bishokukai headquarters! What? We don't get to see Toriko's amazing adventure to get him back? THAT'S FUCKING RETARDED! THAT'S RETARDED BEYOND ANYTHING I'VE EVER READ! THE FUCKING HELL!

chapter 265 page 14: Holy crap. Don't tell me they spent a year and a half in the Gourmet world for this? Jesus. Doesn't make up for skipping Toriko's perilous journey to go get Komatsu or how they met up or well A LOT OF FUCKING THINGS, but still, nice touch.

chapter 266 page 8: OH MY GOD! Oh my GOOOOOOOOOOOOD! This WHOLE TIME I thought Toriko was gay. I LOVE how blunt this is XD

chapter 266 page 14: That's a dumb handwave. I swear if that's all we get I'm gonna be considerably peeved when this is all over.

chapter 267 page 4: Okay FINALLY some info. God if I had caught up to this series and this chapter wasn't in print yet I would've quit. I still would've liked to see Toriko's struggle from point A to point B, but I'll take what I can get I suppose. Impress me series. Right now you're lagging behind Psycho Pass for pulling shit like what you just did

chapter 267 page 9: Oh Zebra, violence is always the answer for you.

chapter 267 page 13: THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE! If it has no natural predators and wasn't being eaten then it should be flooding this planet not the other way around. GAAAAAAAAAAAAH! LOGIIIIIIIIIIC!

chapter 267 page 18: Ohhhhh wait, it only lays eggs when it's attacked. OHhhhhhhh. Okay that DOES make sense.

chapter 267 page 19: Yes. Give birth to an entire species just to cook it. Have complete disregard for new life. Ugh. This is exactly the problem I have with this series. If I wasn't so hellbent on finishing it right now I'd quit.

chapter 268 page 4: People are going to get tired of chicken after a while. You DO know this.
Variety is the spice of life and repetition is the starch.

chapter 268 page 6: Yes, talk about cooking it to its face. *sigh*

chapter 268 page 12: This is totally goofy and stupid.

chapter 268 page 18: Fish, meat, salad, Main. And we know that the main is God. I make a prediction that the Salad is going to be next.

chapter 269 page 17: She liiiiiiikes him.

chapter 269 page 18: Ehhhh? This sound like final arc talk to Gregor

chapter 270 page 6: I'm suddenly reminded of Banjo Kazooie Click Clock Wood

chapter 270 page 15: I'll give Toriko this. When it's funny. It's FUNNY!

chapter 271 page 5: This gives the words "perverted old man" a whole new meaning. I'm not touching this with a ten foot pole.

chapter 271 page 16: *groan*

chapter 271 page 17: Did you really just make a biblical reference?

chapter 272 page 2: 265, peh

chapter 272 page 9: Please die Zonge.

chapter 276 page 9: That's terrifying Toriko.

chapter 276 page 11: Hey, our enemy is crying and terrified. LET'S EAT HIM! This is an easy way to gain negative points Toriko.

chapter 277 page 11: Heracles, huh?

chapter 277 page 13: A caricature of Barack Obama? Really?
panel 2: Sounds like Dying Light

chapter 278 page 9: Sounds like a perfect excuse for our heroes to make history

chapter 278 page 12: Short version: Fasten your seatbelts kids. It's gonna be a bumpy ride.

chapter 278 page 13: Holy shit. I'm less intimidated by the sheer size and more impressed that the creator was actually able to draw this. This must've taken a long time to get juuuuuust right.
Also I found a solution. It'll take them in the path of that huge brain squid, but it'll work.
I'm also wondering what's up with those treasure chests

chapter 279 page 9: Frohze was a mom? When did that happen?

chapter 279 page 15: Well, that's disappointing. I would've loved to have seen our heroes swim through the labyrinth for a while, but oh well. Guess the plot says no.

chapter 279 page 16: Oh wow, what a haul. Don't tell me that maze was even bigger than what was shown last chapter.

chapter 280 page 11: I'm with Sani on this one.

chapter 280 page 13: Again, I'm with Sani. WTH?

chapter 280 end: Yeah, saw that coming

chapter 281 page 11: Fyi this isn't funny.

chapter 282 begin: I dunno Zebra. It's one of the great mysteries of the world.

chapter 282 page 15: Nice artwork

chapter 283 page 2: So? I'd like to know any way. It's one of the reasons that even though power levels were worthless in DBZ, hearing them was interesting all the time.

chapter 283 page 11: Okay for that to even make sense these creatures would have to have RIDICULOUS metabolism and/or never be full if "breathing is eating". It also means that this so-called Heracles can't run out of stamina. I am going to hold these factors into account as I press on.

chapter 283 page 12: Goddammit that makes sense! ....yes I am looking for an excuse to rip Toriko a new one, bit me. I did the same thing to One Piece
panel 3: It only breathes once a year? How does that even....

chapter 284 page 2: Okay if this map is to be believed how the hell does this make any lick of sense geographically? Seriously, what was wrong with the pathway in between beehive plain and stardust hill. Hell, what's wrong with the paths in between the paths. This doesn't make any sense!

chapter 284 page 15: Balsy, but by no means unpredictable.

chapter 285 page 7, last panel: Okay I admit, that's funny

chapter 285 page 18: Shit.

chapter 285 page 19: Um, your brain and organs should be leaking out with that kind of damage. Even BLEACH characters would be dead from this. DBZ characters would be dead from this.

chapter 286 page 3: Are we really playing this card? Also, deus ex machina much?

chapter 286 page 7: Well at least you admit he SHOULD be dead.

chapter 286 page 18: Snorting requires breathing. I knew it wouldn't be long before you screwed things up. But, whatever, let's see where this whole "blue oni" thing goes.

chapter 288 page 16: Indeed.

chapter 289 page 3: oh? You're not going to explain what a vaccum is? You're not going to bore the reader for two pages with information even grade schoolers know? Why? What's wrong? Having a change of heart?
(Yes I am irritated about things up till now, what of it?)

chapter 289 page 7: If this was Fairy Tail people would be bitching that "Zebra never had a cork voice until now WTH" HYPOCRITES ALL OF YOU! (I'm not complaining about it mind. I really DON'T care)

chapter 289 page 13: Jesus, these make the Troll kongs from the beginning of the series look like adorable puppies.

chapter 289 page 18: The hell happened here?

chapter 290 page 3: Doing something like that would cause a chemical reaction that allows the cold air from space to come down and it would freeze EVERYTHING

chapter 290 page 7: You know if it's pregnant wouldn't that make it a queen and therefore female or are we going for the whole "seahorse" vibe here?

chapter 290 page 10: So, all that talk about the Blue Nitro fucking things up and not a single one appears? Lame.

chapter 291 page 6: Okay, my question is what impregnates Heracles in the first place?

chapter 291 page 16: Called it! Salad first! I'm not sure if the meat or the fish will be next, though.

chapter 292 page 13: Oh good at least you brought that up.

chapter 292 page 17: Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh fffffuck

chapter 292 page 18: Double fuck.

chapter 293 page 7: Um. No. You're human. You shouldn't be able to speak. Losing heart = instantaenous death

chapter 293 page 15: HOLY!

chapter 293 page 16: Double HOLY!

chapter 294 page 4: Too late for that Toriko.

chapter 294 page 5: Or both. And, really, that counts as a solution? That's dumb.

chapter 295 begin: I don't effin believe this. You're ACTUALLY going to make an excuse to bring someone back from the dead that LOST THEIR HEART. EVEN FAIRY TAIL AND NARUTO AREN'T THAT FAIR TO THEIR CHARACTERS!

chapter 295 page 10: Eh, works for me. I'm suddenly interested. HOLD IT.

chapter 295 page 11: It what now?

chapter 295 page 14: EGADS! That thing is ENORMOUS!

chapter 295 page 19: Kaaaaay, how does that help the Octopus?

chapter 296 page 7: That's POLLEN? Oh dear god no.

chapter 296 page 9: Those are some big guys

chapter 296 page 12: *sigh* Yet ANOTHER standard shonen cliche

chapter 296 page 14: Gross!

chapter 296 page 16: And this is why Zebra is my favorite character

chapter 296 page 17: And good riddance that thing was gross!

chapter 297 page 2: Ohohoho shit.

chapter 297 page 6: Nice.

chapter 297 page 10: i can't help but laugh at how that Iai-aye looks

chapter 297 page 11: See now this is the kind of thing you exposit.

chapter 297 page 14: th-what is that?

chapter 298 begin: That thing in that Nitro's hand look like a Pirahna Plant from the Mario series.

chapter 298 page 8: I had a feeling there was a connection. Man, I've got sharp intuition!

chapter 298 page 10: 0_0

THAT is some Eichiro Oda level shit right there. I'm amazed the writer managed to plan this far ahead. -_- ...which means that they were planning everything in between these points. =_= which means the decision to skip over Komatsu's rescue was entirely his.
UGH!

chapter 298 page 11: Playing the My Species Doth Protest Too Much card, in an attempt to make the Nitros not a bunch of douchebags, eh? All right, no problem with that.

chapter 298 page 16: We really are doing some DBZ level shit here.

chapter 298 page 17: Oh god that's the monkey testicles you guys were all telling me about. Good lord Heracles ultimately KILLED Toriko. How the HELL are you going to make it believable that these guys can overtake the monkey king?

chapter 299 page 3: Big.

chapter 299 page 10: I knew it sounded familiar. Thanks for clarifying. Also, if it's impossible to get to Area 7 without eating Air how the hell did he get a hold of the damn soup? Great continuity!

chapter 299 page 13: That's fucked up

chapter 299 page 18: Awwwwwwwwwwwww sheeeeet.

chapter 301 page 6: This counts for playing around?

chapter 301 page 8: EEEEEEEEP!

chapter 301 page 11: I would say that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, but you've proven it wrong before this, Toriko.

chapter 301 page 13: I thought you said Pair was part of the Monkey King. MAKE UP YOUR MIND SERIES!

chapter 302 page 4: *sigh*

chapter 302 page 11: Yeah I never figured the phrase "when pigs fly" would ever work in Toriko

chapter 302 page 17: Oh shit

chapter 303 page 6: That's not far off from the battle wolf from way back when. We are FU-BAR

chapter 303 page 10: OH fuck god dammmit.

chapter 303 page 15: Oh shit. Okay, I'm reeling from the sheer terror of this and yet part of me knows the explantion of the whys and howes are going to be bullcrap and/or the way to FIX it is.

chapter 304 begin: Where are the dice gonna fall on this one?

chapter 304 page 2: That would insinuate we came in from the north. Ooooookay.

chapter 304 page 4: Poison dolls. Of course. The series' guaranteed get out of jail free card. I'm not even shocked anymore. Then again, that's no worse than Cana using the cards to escape the explosion of the guild so why am I complaining?

chapter 304 page 12: Lucky for Sunny. Whew.

chapter 304 page 14: If we're about to embark on learning Enbu.......we are. *sigh*

chapter 305 page 4: That's a little bit like how the Spetsnaz were trained in Russia. I'll let it slide.

chapter 305 page 5: I believe the fictional term for this is "gravity is only a theory"

chapter 305 page 10: For once I'm going to disagree with you Zebra.

chapter 305 page 13: My question is when are you going to get your arm back.

chapter 305 page 14: Lol sunny

chapter 305 page 16: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha stupid monkey

chapter 306 page 9: Well, at least it has a bigger brain than what I did with Pesche and Dondochakka in a fanfic of mine.

chapter 306 page 12: That's half-scary, half-stupid

chapter 306 page 14: So, basically, muscle memory.

chapter 307 page 9: So basically we're not adapting to gravity, we're ignoring the laws of physics. whatever.

chapter 307 page 13: What? Boksaru doesn't get a capture level? As for the others, compared to the Monkey King these guys won't last.

chapter 308 page 13: Yes you have a plan of attack. Your plain is simple: attack

chapter 309 page 2: So, the Monkey King can jump into escape velocity and survive planetary re-entry....oooookay

chapter 309 page 16: I swear to god if you tell me the Monkey King was just lonely I'm going to throw my computer.

chapter 309 page 17: How is Toriko going to win this with only one arm, more importantly how is he going to get it back, drinking Pair?

chpater 310 begin: 310, I'm on the home stretch.

chapter 310 page 4: Wrestling huh? Lemme get some appropriate music.

chapter 310 page 14: I thought you just said there were no tap outs. MAKE UP YOUR MIND! You have ONE PERSON writing this series! How is it THIS INCONSISTENT sometimes

chapter 311 page 9: DOBURU RARIETO!!!!

chapter 311 page 13: Oh FER is this really how he's going to get his arm reattached?

chapter 311 end: So Toriko, how does it feel to have touched Monkey Balls?

chapter 312 page 8: H-holy shit it cut a satellite in space. Forget the Four beast. Could Godzilla handle something like this?

chapter 312 page 15: Why is he okay?

chapter 313 page 17: She's really a blue nitro!

chapter 316 end: This fight is not gonna last long

chapter 317 begin: Okay so THIS was last week's chapter then. If I had read this eariler I would only have been able to read up till hear. Let's see what happens

chapter 317 page 4: Called it

chapter 317 end: You know. This didn't make a lick of sense. It's cheesy and stupid and you know what *manly tears* I'm perfectly okay with that.

chapter 318 page 5: OH HEY! I almost forgot about that! So that's why he managed to survive!

chapter 318 page 8: LOL! Okay, that's legitimately funny.

Aaaaand I'm done. Finally.

So, what do I think of Toriko?

Well, I'm going to give it a few days to let the hype die down (I have 2 whole days)

But let's do this with what I like about this series and what I don't like


WHAT I LIKE ABOUT TORIKO:

I could never fault Toriko for not having an original concept. Of all things I have read, nothing has ever made a series revolve around food quite the way Toriko has. Concept: A+

The characters and the interactions between characters are enjoyable and nothing short of either giggle worthy or smooth. Again A+

While I gave it a LOT of gripes over the course of 318 chapters, Toriko is still a shonen series and it still knows that it is one. I don't have cliche and shonen stereotype. What I hate is...well I'll talk about that in a second. B


WHAT I DON'T LIKE ABOUT TORIKO:

The comedy of the series is so hit or miss that it's miss more times than you're likely to lose at a slot machine. In fact, if I was playing slot reels for Toriko's comedy, I'd be $213 in the red. C-

The plot contrivances are so noticeable and a lot of the times the plot is way too predictable, and not in a good way. Many times I'm rolling my eyes or slapping my forehead because I should not be PREDICTING DUMB PLOT CHOICES. Kubo does the opposite side of the spectrum by making even WORSE ideas that I could never fathom. I won't give Mashima a free pass for not doing this--Sting's surrender during the Grand Magic Games comes to mind--but it feels ALL THE FUCKING TIME with Toriko and that just annoys the piss out of me. C

The fans. I do not appreciate the acclamation this series gets when its competition gets undeserved flack. The amount of enjoyment I garnished from Toriko was diminished because so many people tried to gear it as "different from modern shonen". This series feels like it's trying to emulate One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, DBZ and Fairy Tail simultaneously and it fails to be better than any of them. N/A (I don't judge fans)

That said, hype has rarely killed a series for me. Attack on Titan lived up to expectations and so did Akame ga Kill. However, much like with One Piece, the narrative flow of this series is, well it would be harsh to say amateurish, but it doesn't have the same charm to it as One Piece and I'm even LESS interested in chefs and cuisine than I am in pirates. C

Even worse than the story premise itself not being all that interesting and the writer not doing his best to make it more interesting than average, is the ungodly annoying exposition heavy narration boxes. Please defer to all the times I said "I know what X is" for more details. And sometimes the explanations of things make ABSOLUTELY NO GODDAMN SENSE
But Fairy Tail doesn't explain things at all!
Fairy Tail doesn't HAVE to explain things because it uses magic as its universal exponent. Magic can bend and move according to the will of anything. It requires no explanation aside from "It's magic". Only when a new magic technique is introduced to the series does that magic's limitations and inner workings need to be properly explained so that the reader understands when those rules are broken. Toriko, meanwhile, can't even make its rules make sense. The amount of logical problems caused by trying to make explanations make this series harder to comprehend than the physics of superheroes. 
One Piece doesn't explain jack for shit EITHER and it's actually ENRICHED because of it. 
In my opinion Toriko would be better off NOT explaining ANYTHING because otherwise it turns into a mess. It's one of the reasons why Bleach has been grating on me since the Fullbringer arc. 
F




However, despite my yelling, my anger, my irritation and me just being an all around jackass, I can't fault Toriko for actually being enjoyable and actually good. Not great, but good. It's nothing to get excited about, but maybe I just lack the ability to appreciate it. FYI, let me say it flat out, the idea of Food Honor is just a stupid concept. However, as a fellow writer, no matter how amateurish I may be, I have a philosophy that I will never stomp on anyone's hard work so long as it doesn't contradict the series' own merits up to that point. I mean, hell, I'd have to be yelling at DBZ for overdoing the Super Saiyan thing if that was the case. That said, I know what I like and what I don't like. And if it wasn't for the fact that things were so near crunch time I PROBABLY would've dropped Toriko no less than 7 times before I reached the end. It could annoy me that much. But, then again, so can Bleach XD

What I'm trying to say is this: Toriko is a decent series, but it certainly did not live up to what I hear from the 4 corners of the Earth that it's amazing. It's certainly different and unique, but different and unique do not mean better. Just the same that dark and edgy does not make a series good. 

I will continue to stay up to date with this series and thank god I only have to do so once a week now. I wasn't sure how much more my sanity could take. 

I could go and list the amount of logical problems this series has, but you know what at the end of the day it's a shonen series. I live tearing apart half-assed shonen to the likes of . Dude, prepare your knife, your fork and a napkin and put this series on your plate. Bite into it. HARD!



See you all for my top 50 anime/manga. We're 2 days away and I have no intention of adding anything--even something short--to this list. I want my #50 to be my #50 for now just so that I can look back at 2015's list come 2016 and note where I USED to draw a line because #50 is a good line to have drawn to separate my top 50 from everything else. 
You will understand come the 30th. I don't know when I'll be posting, but you can be sure March 30th is the day I'll be posting it. 


Ja ne!