Friday, June 3, 2011

Anime Reviews: Toriko Episode 08 - Inheritance! Active, Gourmet Cell!


Toriko faces off against, and defeats the GT robot.  The fight takes up most of the episode, and I can't help but say that I wasn't immensely impressed.  There were far too many loped frames of animation, and reused segments to make me consider this anything other than a stock shonen anime battle.  Comparing to what I know from the manga I have to say that there were some parts of the fight from the manga that didn't seem to come across quite as well as they could have.


Fortunately while the fight took up a good chunk of the episode, it did not take up all of it.  Despite the sub-par combat this episode had some really touching moments between the mother and baby wolf.  I cry a lot more during movies, TV shows and whatnot than I used to, but it's still worth noting that I got a little teary eyed.  It takes more than an action only shonen anime to do that, so I'm giving credit where credit is due.


This episode also stood out to me because it emphasized that the music department is not as lacking as I originally thought.  While it doesn't have a distinct musical style like Fairy Tail it still has strong background music.  Because most of the music I listen to happens to be soundtracks, I'm always paying attention to whether the music stands out in any show I watch.  So far I have not been disappointed.  I suspect it will only be a little longer before Toriko starts pulling out the big guns, musically speaking.


Also, I've discovered why Tina was added to the show, again.  Besides providing another female character, she's also there to be someone for Rin to bicker with.  I don't know what the deal is with anime writers, but two characters bickering all the time has gotten old, very old.  I'm sorry, but Bleach kind of ruined it for everyone.  Ever.


I will admit though, I'm still surprised that they added a completely filler character who is starting to have a much bigger influence on the plot, or at least on individual scenes.  Whether that will pan out, I don't know, but I haven't seen any reason to begrudge them their attractive filler character.  Actually I'm definitely welcoming her.  Rin may be an enjoyable female character, but so far she's the only canon one.  The anime definitely needs more women to give it a more universal appeal.


If you've noticed that I'm skimping on plot summaries for some of my reviews, that's because sometimes the review just doesn't come out that way.  Maybe very little happened, or maybe I feel like a different format is required, rather than starting with a plot summary.  I'm hoping that breaking things up a bit, switching how I write reviews from episode to episode will keep people interested.  Last thing I want to do is bore anyone.


If you liked my review, Watch the Episode Here!

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