TORIKO #147 is Hysterical... but Probably Not in the Way it Intended

For the past couple weeks, I’ve repeatedly voiced my admiration for how
the people behind the HST have more-or-less honed the art of shonen to a science. Checking back on TORIKO… it’s pretty clear that
science isn’t worth a damn without inspiration.

I only ever caught the first episode, previously. Sam went on to watched
the first season box set, a while back, and he came to loath the show - -
echoing the sentiment that it’s just blatantly an anime by committee.
Popping in at the end of this arc, now, it’s impossible not to look at Toriko himself and see what you’d get if anybody ever chewed Goku, Kenshiro and JoJo
up together and spat them up into a baking mold. His
presence alone makes this such a Stereotypical Anime that it feels like some
all-purpose shonen parody on, like, the SIMPSONS or something.

== TEASER ==

The wild card in this whole premise, of course, is the IRON CHEF
element. It seemed pretty clever and
cute at the beginning but, even then, I wondered how long that joke could be stretched. I’ve skipped 50 hours of content, and the weaponization-of-culinary-arts
gag still feels tired. I can only imagine how interminable it must be for anybody who’s
“powered through” all the arcs in-between. Maybe ONE PIECE mashed-up all its shonen super-moves with gags… but
they weren’t all the same gag.

And what’s unintentionally funny
here is that pretty much every single dude has a roided-up physique; but
it’s like the crew watched JOJO’S BIZARRE ADVENTURE and totally missed the
joke. There’s obviously a lot of money invested here, but the designs are just
so awkward and generic that it isn’t a visually appealing a show.

At the least, it’s an amusing counterpoint to the praise-train I’ve
been conducting for BLEACH, NARUTO and ONE PIECE. This… this is like the
Frankenstein monster the shonen factory system had to dump off its conveyor
belt.

Watch "Toriko
and Komatsu Embark on a New Voyage!" and decide for yourself.

About the Author

Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - - tompinchuk.com - - and follow his Twitter: @tompinchuk