Toriko

Toriko
Japanese cover of Toriko volume 1
トリコ (Toriko)
Genre	Comedy, Action
Manga
Written by	Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro
Published by	Shueisha
English publisher	Madman Entertainment Viz Media
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Jump
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	May 19, 2008 – present
Volumes	11
Anime television series
Studio	Toei Animation
Original network	Fuji TV
Original run	April 2011 – present

Toriko (トリコ, Toriko) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro. At San Diego Comic-Con International 2009, Viz Media announced they had licensed the series for their Shonen Jump imprint. The series made its first premiere in Shonen Jump magazine in the February 2010 edition. Toriko held a three-issue preview in the magazine; where after Viz Media began printing it in volume format. An anime adaptation produced by Toei Animation is currently scheduled to premiere in April 2011 on Fuji Television.

Plot

Main article: List of Toriko characters

In a world where the taste and texture of food is extremely important there exist individuals known as Gourmet Hunters (Bishokuya) who specialize in the acquisition of rare ingredients and animals. Toriko is one of these hunters and it is his dream to find the most precious foods in the world and create the ultimate dinner course. As one of the most skilled hunters in the world he is regularly hired by restaurants and the rich to seek out new ingredients and rare animals. A man with inhuman ability, he utilizes his incredible strength and knowledge of the animal kingdom to capture ferocious, evasive, and rare beasts to further his ultimate goal. He is accompanied by a weak and timid chef who, inspired by Toriko's ambition, travels with him to improve his culinary skills and to find rare ingredients. An organization that seeks to take control of the world's entire food supply increases the struggle.

Locations

The world of Toriko is broken up into two categories: The Human World, taking up 30% of the world and is where most of the story takes place and where humans live, and the Gourmet World, which makes up the other 70% of the world and is extremely inhospitable to most humans. It is also implied that the planet Toriko takes place on is vastly larger than that of Earth, with continents twice the size of Eurasia making up less than 10% of the planet's surface area.

Human World This is where most of the events of Toriko take place and is where all humans live.

• World Kitchen

A massive bazaar where ingredients from all over the world are sold, and is where Tom works. It is very close to where Toriko lives.

• Hotel Gourmet

A five-star hotel that is affiliated with the IGO with the Restaurant Gourmet at the top, at which Komatsu is the head chef. It is implied that they have a very high reputation, as the IGO business bureau director, Uumen Umeda, chose it as the IGO's meeting place.

• Baron Archipelago

An archipelago north of the continent that houses Toriko's home and the World Kitchen, it is the home of the Galala Crocodile that Toriko captured in the story's beginning. It is considered an extremely dangerous "Off-Limits" zone to humans.

• 8th Biotope

One of the Biotopes maintained by the IGO for research on ingredients, it is south of Toriko's house. This biotope houses the Kong Trolls and the Fruit of Rainbow, Toriko's dessert course in his Full Course Meal.

• 5th Biotope

One of the IGO's Biotopes, little is known about it other than it used to house the Land Moray Eel and the Burger Shellfish before the Bishoku-kai stole it.

• 4th Biotope

One of the IGO's Biotopes, little is known about it other than it used to house the Crimson Scorpion.

• 1st Biotope

The largest and more productive of all the IGO's biotopes, it is located on a continent south of the one that Toriko's house is on. Here is where the Regal Plateau is, which houses the Regal Mammoth that produces the Jewel Meat, Sani's Main Course on his Full Course Meal. The 1st Biotope is run by Mansam, the IGO's 3rd highest ranked official, after the president and vice-president, Ichiryuu and Shigematsu.

• Honey Prison

The "Land Prison" of the "Three Great Gourmet Prisons" of the IGO Legal Affairs Bureau, it houses criminals from all over the world who've committed high-ranking "gourmet crimes", or crimes that violate the Eight Gourmet Laws set up by the IGO. This prison holds around 100,000,000 prisoners, the largest amount of any Gourmet Prison, including Zebra, who was imprisoned here after his arrest by Teppei and Yosaku. The front gates are called the "Gates of Hell" because of the notorious reputation the prison has of its brutality and the fact that no prisoner ever escapes alive. From the gates, there are dozens of kilometers to the prison itself, on a path above a wild forest, with trained, high-level "Execution Beasts" and kilometer-long drawbridges to stop and check visitors. The forest below is filled with vicious beasts that can even attack beasts with capture levels above 60. The method of transporting prisoners into Honey Prison is by the use of giant "Convoysaurus" beast (CL 61). The punishment system of the Honey Prison is to employ a "Punishment Full Course Menu", called the "Full Course to Death". The heirarchy corresponds to the usual Full Course Menu structured, with the least severe criminals getting the Hors D'Œuvre punishment, the next level of criminals getting the Soup punishment, and so on. Prisoners can move down to any of the lower levels if they choose, but they cannot move up a level.

Punishment Full Course Menu

Hors d'Œuvre: (Sentence of 100-150 years) Prisoners are deprived of their favorite foods or tastes

Soup: (Sentence of 150-200 years) Prisoners are given horrendous food

Fish Dish: (Sentence of 200-250 years) Prisoners are deprived of all food

Meat Dish: (Sentence of 250-300 years) Prisoners are deprived of all water

Main Dish: Area where prisoners from all areas of the prison are sent for either solitary confinement or execution. All prisoners here have a large chain attached to each of their limbs that are then attached to a large Execution Beast

Salad: (Sentence of 300-500 years) Prisoners are tortured by being cut

Dessert: (Sentence of 500-1000 years) Prisoners are tortured by being boiled

Drink: (Life Sentence) Prisoners are tortured by being burned

If prisoners survive to this level, they are dropped from Honey Prison into the wild forest below them.

• Sky Prison

The "Sky Prison" of the "Three Great Gourmet Prisons" of the IGO Legal Affairs Bureau, it houses criminals from all over the world who've committed high-ranking "gourmet crimes", or crimes that violate the Eight Gourmet Laws set up by the IGO. It floats 10,000 meters above the sky by use of hot-air balloon, surrounded by powerful bird beasts climates that create tornadoes.

• Prison Submarine

The "Water Prison" of the "Three Great Gourmet Prisons" of the IGO Legal Affairs Bureau, it houses criminals from all over the world who've committed high-ranking "gourmet crimes", or crimes that violate the Eight Gourmet Laws set up by the IGO. It is located on the sea floor, 2,000 meters below sea level, where the water pressure is 400 psi. The waters surrounding it are filled with ferocious, man-eating fish beasts.

• Northern Wul Continent

The Human World's third largest continent, it is located near the equator, allowing for tropical climates. It houses the fierce Wul Jungle, filled with man-eating plants. Growing on the top of the Wul Jungle is the B.B. Corn, brought over from the Gourmet World, and is the Hors d'Œurve in Toriko's Full Course Meal. The Wul Continent also houses the Wul Volcano, which has a base of 1400 degrees, but has tall stacks of round rocks with high melting points, each one with a lower temperature than the next, with the coolest at 50 degrees.

• "Life"

A country filled with natural healing remedies, such as Doctor Fish and the "cure for any disease" that Takimaru gets. This is also the base of most Saiseya's, including Teppei and Yosaku.

• Gourmet Fortune

A town near the coast of the continent where Toriko lives, this is the town that Coco lives in, telling fortunes and protecting the citizens from wild beasts. Coco actually lives outside the town on a stone cliff that can only be reached by assistance from Coco's Emperor Crow, Kiss. He lives like this so as not to expose the town folk to his "poison"/

• Cave of the Sandy Beach

A deep cave that leads down under the ocean near Gourmet Fortune, it houses many dangerous animals, like the Serpent of the Devil. The Sandy Beach at the end of the cave, however, is the only area where one can collect Puffer Whale Fish while they are breeding.

• Forest of Sorrow "Thorn Wood"

An unknown area where all of the ground appears to be covered in needle-like plants, it is the area where the Bishoku-kai's headquarters, Castle of Shokuyokubou, is housed. This is where the Division Heads, the Vice-Head Chiefs, and the Head Chief of the Bishoku-kai meet.

• Jidal Kingdom

A dangerous, crime-filled nation that is one of the few not associated with the IGO. Coco went there as part of his training to enter the Gourmet World.

• Nerg City

A slum city that is not affiliated with the IGO and is the base of the Gourmet Yazuka. Nerg is infamous for its crime; 10% of all criminals in the Gourmet Prison come from this city. It may or may not be part of the Jidal Kingdom.

• Gourmet Town

The "Full-Stomach Metropolis", it is the largest city in the Human World. It is the home of the Gourmet Tower, filled with extravagant restaurants, including the only 10-star restaurants. This is also where the legendary chef Setsuno lives, maintaining her own kitchen and restaurant that is still superior to the restaurants of the Gourmet Tower.

• Ice Hell

A northern continent, it is extraordinarily cold, filled with raging winds and ferocious beasts, like the Tundra Dragon and the Hellborous. The inner caves of Ice Hell were used by the "Gourmet Nobels" of the past to preserve food, which is what now makes up the "Gourmet Show Window", which, when melted by the geo-thermal vents deep below Ice Hell, produces the "Century Soup", which Komatsu was able to reproduce and was chosen as Toriko's Soup Dish on his Full Course Meal. The "Gourmet Show Window" was destroyed by Teppei when it was clear that it could no longer produce soup.

Gourmet World Making up the other 70% of the world, this is an extremely inhospitable area that most humans cannot occupy. The Gourmet World is filled with beasts of unmeasurable capture levels, and has extreme climates that change suddenly and can differ greatly within just feet of each other. The ingredients in the Gourmet World are also vastly superior to those of the Human World, and houses the ingredients in Jirou and Setsuno's Full Course Meal, as well as the ingredients "GOD" and "EARTH", both of which were discovered by the legendary Bishoku-ya Acacia. It is also in the Gourmet World that the boss of the Bishoku-kai lives, which is a testament to his power.

• Underground Forest
• The drop from the "Waterfall Basin of Life" leads to a 20,000-meter deep crevice, the bottom of which contains the "Underground Forest". Full of dangerous Gourmet World beasts with unfathomable capture levels, the Underground Forest has many dangers. Mainly, because of its depth, the gravity is several times stronger than it would be on normal ground. The Forest is also full of many plants and trees that create strong climates, such as the "Air Tree", whose fruit produce high-quantities of various gases, like oxygen, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide, the "Heat Planet", a mysterious orb with a high center of gravity that travels around freely, giving off enormous quantities of heat while also lessening the effects of the gravity change from the drop, and the "Fall Tree", a tree that unleashes a large deluge so thick it is like a waterfall and drowns its prey so that it can then absorb them through its roots.

'Ports of Entry'

Entering the Gourmet World is extremely difficult. The sky around it is filled with a thick wall of cyclones and the ocean leading into it has a thick "Poison Tide". There are only three land routes that takes one from the Human World to the Gourmet World, and they are comparatively safer.

• Zabel Island's "Waterfall Basin of Life"

The easiest port of entry, it is a long drop from the Human World Zabel Island into a thick Gourmet World forest. Because it is the easiest, it is the port of entry chosen by the majority of Bishoku-yas.

• Yutou Island's "Harbour of Evil Spirits"

Another port of entry, little is known about this area other than it appears to be filled with ships for an unknown reason.

• Wak Continent's "Sanzu (Three-Way) Road"

Another port of entry, little is known about this area. There is only one human occupant of this area, although little is known about him as well.

Foods and ingredients

Most of the foods in the Toriko world are mixed from different animals and parts or have been mutated into some totally different. Their levels depend on difficulty of locating and capture. Level One has been described as requiring a group of ten professional hunters with shotguns to take it down (this mostly applies to aggressive animals).

Animals

• Toro Eel
• Friday Monkey
• Red Haired Pig
• Garara Gator: [Reptile Beast] Capture Difficulty Level: 5 (a 300-year-old gator is estimated at Level 8)

The beast with the top ranked alligator meat, it is said that it lives to 150 years and that the older it is the tastier its meat becomes, but so does its aggressiveness and voraciousness. It appears like a normal alligator, but much bigger (larger than an elephant) and has eight legs.

• Baron Tiger: [Mammal beast] Capture Difficulty Level: 3

A giant, saber-toothed tiger that lives on Baron Islands.

• Serpent Frog: Capture Difficulty Level: 1

A mostly passive animal. It looks like a snake with a frog-like head. Its liver is a delicacy and it can be made into soup, which is the soup in Zonge's full course.

• Swamp Snake: Capture Difficulty Level: 5

A giant, eel-like creature. It's said that not even the Garara gator can take him on if it is in the swamp. Most of its Capture Level is due to its difficulty to locate.

• Sharkenodon: Capture Difficulty Level: 4

A dragon-like winged beast

• Troll Kong: [Mammal Beast] Capture Difficulty Level: 9

A four-armed gorilla, said to be the strongest of all. A child Troll Kong can easily flip over a tank. It is highly intelligent and can create traps and perform ambushes.

Silver Back: [Mammal Beast] Capture Difficulty Level: 10

The leader of the Troll Kongs. It has the same strength as a normal Troll Kong but is more intelligent and has long, silver fur all over its body.

• Zombie Taipans

Snakes with venom

• Emperor Crow

Considered the ruler of the sky, and is believed to be extinct. (One lives with Coco and acts as his pet.)

• Devil's Serpent: [Reptile Beast] Capture Difficulty Level: 21

A giant, three-eyed, purple snake. It is said that it once matched against the legendary Battle Wolf. It is very powerful and has a variety of attacks: vomiting digestive acid, extensible arms, rapid regeneration, compressing its skin to harden its body, a very powerful poison, and many pit organs. Both Toriko and Coco had to work together to take out one.

• Puffer Whale (Daphnia Whale): Capture Difficulty Level: 1 (29 without breaking the poison sack)

Classified as a "special caution food." A fish that is about as small as a normal puffer fish and it is considered a deep-sea delicacy. It is sold on the black market every sixteen years. From being incorrectly handled by many chefs, about 100,000 people die from its food poisoning. It has an extremely potent nerve poison in a sack in its body and when it breaks the entire fish is left inedible. Each Puffer Whale has a unique poison sack location. Puffer Whale is extremely difficult to catch and cook based on three factors: the chance of a person getting close enough without scaring it (an action that would cause the whale to release its poison) is probably 25%, the chances of someone effectively Knocking the fish is around 5%, and the chances of removing the poison sack without it breaking are about 0.1%.

• Battalion Yeti

A monkey-like creature. It is a "chain animal,” either revived from an extinct species or a mix between existing ones.

• Elephantsaurus: [Reptile Beast] Capture Difficulty Level: 17

A dinosaur with its body shaped like an elephant, with his head located where the trunk should be.

• Gauchi: [Mammal Beast] Capture Difficulty Level: 13

A giant Walrus with tiger-like stripes on its back. A herd of them lives in Ice Hell.

• Gerold: [Winged Beast] Capture Difficulty Level: 15

A two-headed, round bird with vulture-like heads.

• Battle Wolf: [Mammal Beast] Capture Difficulty Level: Unmeasured

The largest and most powerful wolf in the world, it was extinct but due to IGO's cloning it was brought back to life. Its presence is enough to make even some of the world's most dangerous beasts shake in fear, earning it the name "Legendary King." A newborn can go from zero to 100 km/h in under 1.5 seconds, making it the fastest animal in the world; it can maintain this speed for seven hours. It is said that a group of them lives in the Gourmet World.

• Hayanpanther: Capture Difficulty Level: 31

A large mammal beast that can attack at high speeds (although nowhere near as fast the Battle Wolf). Mansam keeps one named Rikky as a pet. Rikky's favorite food is Horohoro Parfait.

• Doctor Fish:

Fish that eat dirt and dead skin on the body.

• Onsen Shark: Capture Difficulty Level: 20

A giant shark/onsen. People swim in it on Life with certain fish for healing and cosmetic reasons.

• Hellboros: Capture Difficulty Level: 72

"Ice Hell's Sleeping Ruler."

• Ashurasarus: Capture Difficulty Level: Unmeasured

"Knocking Master Jirō's" Full Course Meat Dish.

• Wall Penguin: Capture Level Difficulty: 30

An endangered species of penguin found in the Ice Hell. Komatsu keeps one as a pet after its parents are slaughtered by Tommyrod. Due to their close proximity with the Century Soup over the centuries, it is theorized that the taste had permeated into their bodies, thereby making the penguins a key ingredient of the soup. Komatsu is able to complete his version of the Century Soup with saliva from the baby Wall Penguin. Its endangered status is due to the fact that the babies are very trusting and willingly walk up to any living creature.

• Lightning Phoenix: [Beast Bird] Capture Difficulty Level: 75

A legendary thunderbird that is said to be able to live in thunder clouds.

Fruits and Plants

• Fruit of Shellfish
• Almond Cabbage
• Rainbow Fruit

A fruit that changes its taste to seven different colors depending on humidity and temperature. It is says that its juice is so concentrated that putting just one drop into a 25-meter pool of water will change all the water into juice. Its juice can be made into a wine with an alcohol content of 85%. It is chosen as the Dessert Course in Toriko's Full Course Meal.

• Cigar Tree

A tree that has branches which are like natural cigars.

• Platinum Lemon
• Blue Blood Corn

A food item originally from the Gourmet World, it is said that the popped corn was eaten by the Gourmet Nobles as a snack. Its fibers are very close together so it is highly difficult to cut; Toriko had to cut it several times with Knife to make a small cob to come off. It has to be cooked at the right temperature and with the right timing to make it pop or it will burn. Once popped, it can fill a very wide area with football-sized pop corn. It suits Terry's taste. It is also the appetizer on Toriko's full course menu.

• Vaniluv Fruit

A fruit that is pink and found on top of Vaniluv Mt. It has a taste of strong vanilla, and Toriko states that the taste rivals that of the Rainbow Fruit. However, the Vaniluv Fruit only appears as a promotional ingredient and therefore is not considered canon.

• Ozone Herb

A plant that blossoms in the aether. It is said that one bite can make you fell as if you have risen to heaven. It is found on "Vegetable Sky" and it is nicknamed the "King of Vegetables." The Ozone Herb is wrapped up in numerous leaves that absorb the harmful radiation from sunlight and other pollutants, giving the outer leaves a very bitter smell. To peel the Ozone Herb, two leaves must be unwrapped simultaneously; otherwise the entire plant will rot. The process for selecting leaves is to begin pulling from the strongest smelling leaves to the ones with the weakest scent. To eat the Ozone Herb itself, it must also be bitten in two different places simultaneously, or else it will rot. Because of the difficulty in unwrapping, eating, as well as the danger in going to the "Vegetable Sky" and back, the Ozone Herb has a Capture Level of 68. The outer leaves are also used to make "Ozone Tea," an extremely bitter tea that is considered a delicacy. The Ozone Herb is originally selected as the Salad Dish in Toriko's Full Course Meal, but he decides against it, seeing that the Ozone Herb responds very well to Komatsu, but not very well to him. Instead, Toriko decides that the rest of the ingredients in his Full Course Meal should respond equally well to Komatsu and himself.

Other

• Century Soup

A crystal-clear soup said to be made from ancient ingredients from all over the world. It is made naturally once every century when the methane hydrate (burning ice) ignites and melts the ice in the "Gourmet Shopping Window." The "Original" Century soup is now extinct, but Komatsu reproduces its taste with modern ingredients and the drool of a baby Wall Penguin.

• Melk's Stardust

Discovered by Melk the First, it is a type of grindstone known to be the "phantom" grindstone, being able to sharpen any material in the world. When it is sharpening a suffieciently hard material, "gold dust" falls off of the Stardust. The dust is a type of seasoning, made of new animo acids with a yet unkown savory taste. It is only found in the deepest undergound cavern in the Human World, where there is an intense gravity field.

Terminology

Gourmet Hunter: A person hired to hunt exotic or dangerous ingredients. The strongest Bishoku-ya seem to keep a wild animal as a sort of pet, ally, or transport.

IGO: The International Gourmet Organization, a group in charge of creation and development of new foods and flavors. They are also the ones who decide a food's Capture Level.

Capture Level: Also known as CLVL, it is the difficulty of capturing a specific animal or food. For a Capture Level One animal, ten professional hunters armed with shotguns are needed to take it down.

Knocking: The usage of stick needles to sting the nerve controlling movement in the cerebellum to paralyze a beast. This allows normally dangerous animals to be shipped alive. This technique requires a great deal of knowledge and experience as many beasts have complex internal structures.

GT Robo: The Gourmet Telexistence Robot, a high tech robot that transmits one's power and presence, the time difference between the operator and robot is less than 1/1000 of a second.

Bishoku-kai: An organization opposing the IGO, seeking control of the world's gourmet ingredients. Not much is known about them, except that they use GT Robos to hunt. They also seem to be composed of gluttons.

Gourmet Cells: The all-purpose cells of a creature called the Phantom Jellyfish, when combined with other cell structures, enhance the structure's strong points. When combined with humans, the person becomes superhuman and further grows by eating delicious food. Many of the superhuman characters have been combined with Gourmet Cells.

Media

Manga

Main article: List of Toriko chapters

Reception

Toriko is currently enjoying considerable success. Readers have consistently ranked it among the top five Shōnen Jump titles in the Shōnen Jump popularity polls alongside the likes of best sellers One Piece, Naruto and Bleach. This prompted Shueisha to release the first two volumes of Toriko simultaneously. The Anime adaptation is confirmed as of 17 December 2010.

External links

• A official website introducing Toriko and Dogashi Kaden! Template:Ja icon
• Official anime website Template:Ja icon
• Toriko (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia