Or if you want a longer version of this title, Toriko Ep 1: Arrival on Gourmet Island! The Gourmet Hunter Toriko Appears! and One Piece Ep 492: The Strongest Tag-Team! Luffy and Toriko's Hard Struggle! in simple terms, I am reviewing the first episode of Toriko and I am also reviewing One Piece’s 492nd episode! Talk about killing two birds in one stone!
In the crossover, the Straw Hats’ supply of food has been fully depleted and what’s worse is that they are in the middle of nowhere in the vast ocean they are in right now! But Robin was able to spot an island in which Luffy, Sanji, Nami and Chopper went to look for food and discovered that EVERYTHING in the island that they are in IS food!
Called Hungri-la Island, they met Toriko along with his partner, Komatsu and the battle wolf, Terry Cloth in which Toriko mistakenly took Chooper thinking that he was one of the weird species living in this island. After they cleared up things, we learned that Toriko is a gourmet hunter, and he hunts for food for a living along with Luffy and his gang, their adventure in Hugri-la Island begins.
On to the review, if there is one thing that I really liked about this crossover is the fact that the writers pointed out in the crossover’s first few minutes after Toriko and Luffy met that these guys have one common love, food which this crossover is all about, them hunting for food, eating food, looking for food while the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates are on board Sunny hungry. Well, that’s how Brook and Usoop looked like! It was fun and stupid at the same time which causes me to ignore the bad frames found in this special and just enjoy the fact that Luffy has met someone who is similar to him.
The scenario of hunting which will be followed by eating food will be put on a short halt during the second half of the special in which Nami and Komatsu (which they don’t care about even if he was voiced by Romi Park herself) were kidnapped by Cocoalas and were taken on top of a mountain with the Toriko-verse’s sweetest fruit, Amatano fruit lays… and Toriko is just interested with the fruit! The second half (which takes up One Piece’s timeslot) has more action compared to the first half since it deals the gang trying to save Nami and Komatsu from a hoard of Koalas with cocoa stuck on their backs (laughs) what’s more is that they were later attacked by Caste Lions and later, fought the leader of the Cocoalas!
First impression on Toriko, I love his passion for food that he is willing to risk his life just to get food and eat it. Heck, he doesn’t care about his partner Komatsu just for him to take a bite on that Amatano fruit! Just like Luffy, he has his own life goal that is to create his life’s Full Course Meal. To those who are not familiar what is a Full Course Meal, which is the type of meal that you eat on fancy restaurants, namely it has the appetizer, and followed by the soup, the main course you get the point.
For his fighting skills and his principle, I liked that he has this principle that he only kills what he wants to eat. As for his fighting skills, I love his fighting style! It was unique and it was based on food which fits well for the show’s theme. As for his partner, Komatsu, he is just a guy who admires Toriko and knows how to cook. That is all.
As for the choice of the One Piece characters that appeared on the crossover, I liked that they decided to go with a Luffy, Sanji, Chopper and Nami group rather than go with a group filled with the gang’s deadly fighters. It was a balance team and it clearly shows the point that they are just looking for food in some island that they spotted.
Overall, it was one fun crossover special. Asides that we have a clear idea on what is Toriko’s world is about, the crossover with One Piece is one great marketing strategy to increase the viewers of the new anime. As for the story of this crossover, like I said it was fun and stupid at the same time for the first half which later turned into a rescue mission to save Nami and Komatsu… and for Toriko to take a bite on the delicious Amatano fruit.
If there is one thing that is disappointing in this special is the bad looking frames and that some characters lack the proper screen time. Those are just minor disappointments and don’t ruin the enjoyment in watching this special. Because of this, I am interested in watching more Toriko since it left quite an impression on me.
In the crossover, the Straw Hats’ supply of food has been fully depleted and what’s worse is that they are in the middle of nowhere in the vast ocean they are in right now! But Robin was able to spot an island in which Luffy, Sanji, Nami and Chopper went to look for food and discovered that EVERYTHING in the island that they are in IS food!
Called Hungri-la Island, they met Toriko along with his partner, Komatsu and the battle wolf, Terry Cloth in which Toriko mistakenly took Chooper thinking that he was one of the weird species living in this island. After they cleared up things, we learned that Toriko is a gourmet hunter, and he hunts for food for a living along with Luffy and his gang, their adventure in Hugri-la Island begins.
On to the review, if there is one thing that I really liked about this crossover is the fact that the writers pointed out in the crossover’s first few minutes after Toriko and Luffy met that these guys have one common love, food which this crossover is all about, them hunting for food, eating food, looking for food while the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates are on board Sunny hungry. Well, that’s how Brook and Usoop looked like! It was fun and stupid at the same time which causes me to ignore the bad frames found in this special and just enjoy the fact that Luffy has met someone who is similar to him.
The scenario of hunting which will be followed by eating food will be put on a short halt during the second half of the special in which Nami and Komatsu (which they don’t care about even if he was voiced by Romi Park herself) were kidnapped by Cocoalas and were taken on top of a mountain with the Toriko-verse’s sweetest fruit, Amatano fruit lays… and Toriko is just interested with the fruit! The second half (which takes up One Piece’s timeslot) has more action compared to the first half since it deals the gang trying to save Nami and Komatsu from a hoard of Koalas with cocoa stuck on their backs (laughs) what’s more is that they were later attacked by Caste Lions and later, fought the leader of the Cocoalas!
First impression on Toriko, I love his passion for food that he is willing to risk his life just to get food and eat it. Heck, he doesn’t care about his partner Komatsu just for him to take a bite on that Amatano fruit! Just like Luffy, he has his own life goal that is to create his life’s Full Course Meal. To those who are not familiar what is a Full Course Meal, which is the type of meal that you eat on fancy restaurants, namely it has the appetizer, and followed by the soup, the main course you get the point.
For his fighting skills and his principle, I liked that he has this principle that he only kills what he wants to eat. As for his fighting skills, I love his fighting style! It was unique and it was based on food which fits well for the show’s theme. As for his partner, Komatsu, he is just a guy who admires Toriko and knows how to cook. That is all.
As for the choice of the One Piece characters that appeared on the crossover, I liked that they decided to go with a Luffy, Sanji, Chopper and Nami group rather than go with a group filled with the gang’s deadly fighters. It was a balance team and it clearly shows the point that they are just looking for food in some island that they spotted.
Overall, it was one fun crossover special. Asides that we have a clear idea on what is Toriko’s world is about, the crossover with One Piece is one great marketing strategy to increase the viewers of the new anime. As for the story of this crossover, like I said it was fun and stupid at the same time for the first half which later turned into a rescue mission to save Nami and Komatsu… and for Toriko to take a bite on the delicious Amatano fruit.
If there is one thing that is disappointing in this special is the bad looking frames and that some characters lack the proper screen time. Those are just minor disappointments and don’t ruin the enjoyment in watching this special. Because of this, I am interested in watching more Toriko since it left quite an impression on me.