Anime Reviews: Toriko Episode 96 - Hidden Training Ingredient! Emergency Instructions From Ichiryu!

Watch the Show Here!

The Story

Toriko defeats a rampaging beast, and frees the artisan village from its clutches. There he meets with Monchi, whose help he needs to find one of the training ingredients Ichiryu has assigned to him. Later, Komatsu goes to meet Toriko at Biotope 2, where the two meet to get dinner, and discuss the task Toriko has before him. He was thinking of getting some seafood from Biotope 2, for the fortune roll that Monchi would make for him. But nothing he has seen is sufficient. Right after this an IGO employee comes with a message from Ichiryu, saying that the stew pond has frozen over, and that the four kings have been called to capture the Madame Fish.

The Review
What works in this episode's favor is the addition of Toriko's first meeting with Monchi. It allows the viewers to be introduced to Monchi beforehand, and fills in a part of the story that the manga glossed over. The beginning of this story, in the manga, always seemed surprisingly abrupt. The filler section of this episode helps the smooth transition from one story to the next.

What I disliked, and this is a general complaint I have for most filler, and far too many anime for that matter, is that it treats its viewers as if they were morons. The moment where Toriko uses the lacquer tree to trap the creature, while a smart move for Toriko, was a dumb move on the anime's part entirely because it then has Toriko explain what he is doing. You don't say, anonymous anime writer? The lacquer that you previously showed to be fast drying can trap the monster? I think we get the idea, you don't have to just come out and say it. A certain level of subtlety would be appreciated.

YOU DON'T SAY!?! I COULDN'T POSSIBLY HAVE INFERRED THIS FROM PREVIOUS EVENTS. THANK YOU!

I find this a problem found mostly in anime filler, where I swear the writers don't actually know how to tell an original story. This seems to pop up more and more with Toei series. As does the general decline in animation quality, of which Toriko suffers from time to time. I still love this series, but my main method of enjoyment is the manga. The anime is an entertaining addition, but the more and more flaws pop up, the more likely I am to just stop watching entirely.

The rest of the episode, the parts based on the manga, were much better. I got a good laugh out of Tom dropping Komatsu from the helicopter. And seeing biotope 2 was quite interesting. The dinner scene, as always, made me hungry, once again showing that I shouldn't be watching this show on an empty stomach. Though, once again, the typical verbosity with which they describe the food got more than a small chuckle out of me.

Overall, enjoyable, entertaining, but as with most Toriko episodes, the individual episodes won't knock your socks off. It's good, but not amazing.

The Grade

3/5

If you liked my review, Watch the Episode Here!

And buy the DVDs while you're at it: 

Toriko: Part 1
Toriko: Part 2
Toriko: Part 3
Toriko: Part 4