Toriko

Latar belakang

The planet of Toriko is separated into two parts; the Human World (人間界 Ningen-kai) and the Gourmet World (グルメ界 Gurume-kai). The Human World is where modern civilization exists and occupies just 30% of the planet, the rest is the Gourmet World, which is inhospitable to most humans due to the strength of the wild life and extreme climate changes. In the Gourmet Age (グルメ時代 Gurume Jidai), which began five centuries ago at the end of the hundred-year war, the taste and texture of food is extremely important. The International Gourmet Organization (国際グルメ機構 Kokusai Gurume Kikō), or IGO, maintains order and defends civilians from dangerous animals and gourmet criminals. Originally set-up by the United Nations, the IGO is now independent from them and holds more influence as it is composed of 360 nations. They apply a numerical rating from 1 to 100, referred to as Capture Levels (捕獲レベル Hokaku Reberu), to most ingredients based on the difficulty of acquiring it. The IGO has a group of seven individuals with highly sensitive taste, called the Gourmet 7 (グルメセブン Gurume Sebun) or G7, that are in charge of assigning the star ranking of restaurants and the ranking of chefs.
Individuals known as Gourmet Hunters (美食屋 Bishokuya, lit. "Gourmet Food Providers"), who have usually trained their abilities to that of superhuman, are regularly hired by restaurants and the rich to seek high-level ingredients and rare animals. One can also increase their strength by implanting Gourmet Cells (グルメ細胞 Gurume Saibō) into their bodies. Gourmet Revivers (再生屋 Saiseiya, lit. "Regeneration Providers") are those who dedicate themselves to protecting ingredients from extinction or exhaustion, and who can also arrest people that partake in the transaction of illegal goods or violate poaching laws.

Manga

Written and illustrated by Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro, Toriko began serialization in the manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump on May 19, 2008. The individual chapters have been published into tankōbon volumes since November 4, 2008. As of July 4, 2013, the series spans over 200 chapters and 25 tankobon volumes. Readers and fans of the series can submit ideas and designs for monsters and ingredients that appear in the manga.
Shimabukuro collaborated with Eiichiro Oda, author of One Piece, for a crossover one-shot of their series titled One Piece x Toriko: The True Food! Devil Fruit, which ran in the April 4, 2011 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump. There is also a spin-off manga series of Toriko titled Gourmet Academy Toriko (グルメ学園トリコ), written by Toshinori Takayama and illustrated by Akitsugu Mizumoto. It has been serialized in Saikyō Jump since 2011, with four collected tankōbon as of August 2, 2013.
At San Diego Comic-Con International 2009, Viz Media announced they had licensed Toriko for an English-language release. The first collected volume of Toriko was released on June 1, 2010, and Viz has released fourteen volumes as of February 5, 2013. The manga premiered in the February 2010 edition of a digital supplement available only to subscribers of Viz's printed Shonen Jump magazine. When the printed magazine ended, Toriko was one of the launch titles of its digital successor Weekly Shonen Jump (originally named Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha), starting with chapter 171 in its debut issue on January 30, 2012. The Toriko and One Piece crossover was sent out free to annual subscribers of the magazine who signed up before April 30, 2012. Madman Entertainment released the first volume in Australasia on July 10, 2010, and have released fourteen volumes as of March 10, 2013.

Filem

A short film simply titled Toriko, directed by Mitsuru Obunai and produced by Ufotable, was shown on October 12, 2009 at the Jump Super Anime Tour 2009. It was streamed on Weekly Shōnen Jump's English website one month later. A second short, titled Toriko: Capture the Barbarian Ivy! (トリコ バーバリアンアイビーを捕獲せよ!), was shown at the following year's Jump Super Anime Tour on October 23, 2010.
An animated 3D film short, Toriko 3D: Kaimaku! Gourmet Adventure!! (トリコ3D 開幕!グルメアドベンチャー!! Toriko Surīdī: Kaimaku! Gurume Adobenchā!!), produced by Toei Animation, was released in Japanese theaters on March 19, 2011 as a double feature with the One Piece film One Piece 3D: Mugiwara Chase. A feature length film, Toriko the Movie: Bishokushin's Special Menu (劇場版トリコ 美食神の超食宝 Gekijō-ban Toriko Bishoku-shin no Chō Shoku Takara), was released in theaters on July 27, 2013.

Media lain

A book titled Toriko Gaiden (トリコ外伝) was published on October 2, 2009, it includes an interview with Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro, the 2007 one-shot of Toriko, and other unrelated one-shots by the author. The guidebook Toriko Gourmet Hunting Book (トリコ グルメハンティングブック) was released on November 4, 2011 and includes the original one-shot for Toriko from 2002 and the One Piece crossover chapter.
The television show Sakiyomi Jum-Bang! created a Vomic, a portmanteau of voice and comic, of the first couple chapters of Toriko in 2009. The segment has voice actors act over a manga series as the pages are shown on screen, Toriko was played by Takashi Kondō and Komatsu by Daisuke Kishio.
There have been five video games created by Namco Bandai based on Toriko. Two for the PlayStation Portable, Toriko: Gourmet Survival! (2011) and Toriko: Gourmet Survival! 2 (2012), and three for the Nintendo 3DS, Toriko: Gourmet Monsters! (2012), Toriko: Gourmet Battle! (2013) and Toriko: Ultimate Survival (2013). Toriko is also a playable character in the upcoming Weekly Shōnen Jump crossover Playstation 3 and PlayStation Vita fighting game J-Stars Victory Vs.

Sambutan

Toriko is currently enjoying considerable success. Readers have consistently ranked it among the top five Weekly Shōnen Jump titles in the magazine's popularity polls alongside the best-sellers like One Piece, Naruto, Bleach and Hunter x Hunter. In 2009, Toriko was nominated for the second annual Manga Taishō award. The first and second collected tankōbon volumes, both released on November 4, 2008, were ranked 10th and 11th respectively on Oricon's manga chart for their first week, with nearly 70,000 and 67,000 copies sold. It was the 10th best-selling manga series during the first half of 2011, with over 1.8 million copies sold. Toriko was the eleventh best-selling manga series of 2012, with over 3 million copies sold, and the thirteenth best of 2013, selling 2.8 million. The series has 18 million volumes in circulation as of November 2013. In 2011, Bandai Namco estimated Toriko would bring US$25.6 million in toys for the 2012 fiscal year.
Otaku USA's Joseph Luster called Toriko "an absolute feast for fans of beasts", not able to tell "whether Shimabukuro just comes up with everything on the spot or if it's all meticulously planned out", and said that the series' charm is "how it effortlessly applies classic shonen tropes to such an outlandish world." However, he commented that "The formula of Toriko is apparent right from the start in true shonen fashion[...] tougher and tougher creatures will quickly follow." Deb Aoki writing for About.com also praised the imaginative beasts and monsters of the series, as well as the occasional informational bits on the true science of foods, but called the art "grotesquely goofy."
Lisa Pattillo of Anime News Network (ANN) called Toriko an "in-your-face action story riding on the back of a gastronomic fetch-quest." She compared Toriko's design to that of characters from Dragon Ball and Fist of the North Star, and suggested this might deter some readers. ANN's Rebecca Silverman stated that "Shimabukuro has clearly devoted time and thought to crafting the story's world, as complex creatures, animal profiles, and distinctive landscapes attest.", and called his art an "odd mix of old school JoJo's Bizarre Adventure-style manly men and newer One Piece-style chibis." Carlo Santos, also for ANN, praised the action, saying "For over-the-top action, it's hard to beat the thrill of Toriko punching out a swarm of giant insects, or the creep factor of a villain who literally wears another human's skin.", and called the art one of the series' highlights. Reviewing the anime, Santos said "Fans will know what to expect in each adventure: ravenous strongmen flexing their superpowers, ferocious foes being slaughtered by said strongmen, and a rich, imaginative world full of impossibly delicious foods. But the simplicity of Toriko is also its downfall: there are no clever twists in store, the characters don't develop at all, either personally or interpersonally, and even the most calculating villains are just mindless targets waiting to be knocked down one by one. The on-again, off-again animation also does a disservice to the bright colors and creative designs of the series."