Toriko, Volume 1

June 28, 2010
In this fun Shonen Jump title, a testosterone-driven super hunter eats magnificent imaginary beasts on an alternate Earth. Komatsu, a pint-sized businessman, is given the task of tracking down extremely rare meat for his boss's party. Soon Komatsu is on a King Kong-scale expedition with the 7-ft. tall gourmet hunter Toriko. In the world of Toriko, gourmet hunters capture and sell fantastic creatures at a thinly veiled parody of the famous Tsukiji Fish Market. Shimabukuro's impossible adventure is mouth-watering fun. He delights in creating unreal tasty food, like the rainbow fruit, a legendary fruit so sweet that animals continue to eat it even while being devoured themselves. Toriko lives in an outlandish gumdrop house, eating chocolate bark from a tree growing in his bedroom. Shimabukuro's art plays with scale—Toriko's demonic battle aura is two stories high, while the diminutive Komatsu is small enough to ride piggyback on the protagonist. The series is rated Teen, perhaps for the violent hunts, or maybe because Toriko downs an entire bottle of whiskey in chapter one and regularly smokes branches from a cigar tree. If the fun of manga lies in the outlandish situations, this book delivers by the bushel.

November 1, 2010

Gr 7 Up-Komatsu, International Gourmet Organization's chef, must prepare dishes that "boldly explore the frontiers of exotic taste." This assignment requires the assistance of Toriko, the gourmet hunter who is able to track down the most ferocious ingredients. Toriko is a larger-than-life figure who lives in the wild, chomping on huge cigars that he lights with a snap of his fingers and relishing mammoth meals of unbelievable proportions. Contracted by IGO, he battles the eight-legged garara gator and then braves the four-armed troll kongs to obtain the succulent rainbow fruit. The comedy arises from the contrast between the supersized gourmet hunter and the diminutive, overanxious chef. Readers view his constant distress as Toriko encounters epic-sized challenges that encompass full-page images of the creatures and the battles that ensue. The book is filled with wordplay. The gabara is subdued with two weapons: a knife and...a fork, which are in reality special body attack positions. Volume one concludes when Toriko is seated at IGO, enjoying the gourmet meal created by chef Komatsu. There is nothing subtle about this shonen title. It features big guys, grotesque oversized creatures, highly physical action, and plenty of slightly crass "potty humor."-Barbara M. Moon, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY

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