Toriko: Jump Super Anime Tour 2009 Special

Special shown at the Jump Super Anime Tour in 2009.

In a world where the taste and texture of food is extremely important, there exist individuals known as Bishoku-ya (luxury food providers) 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 final goal, the ultimate dinner course composed of the most delicious food in the world. He is currently accompanied by a weak and timid chef who, inspired by Toriko's ambition, travels with him to improve his culinary skills and find rare ingredients.

Toriko Main

Kondo, Takashi Japanese

Komatsu Main

Kishio, Daisuke Japanese

Tom Supporting

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Kondou, Hikaru Producer

Ooyoshi, Makoto Producer

Shinozaki, Shinya Producer

Obunai, Mitsuru Director, Episode Director

Reviews

Jun 4, 2014

THEAnimeHERO

Recommended

As a pilot for a series it's good, but like most episode pilots there's a reason why it remains as a stand alone feature. If you're already familiar with the concept of Toriko then there's no need to explain the premise as this review covers the differences in adaptations.

The story basically covers chapter 1 & 2 of the Toriko manga which is the Garragator encounter & being the first ever animated work of the series. Key differences include the usage of blood & animation performed by UFO Table (Fate/Zero). Aside from changes in voice actors & music, this pilot is very similar to its manga ... content.

Pilots usually serve as a rough draft with what the anime should more or less be, however in this case there was no anime to come from it at least not within the following year. This pilot was made in 2009 & it wasn't until 2011 where Toei began to adapt the series. While the tone featured in the pilot was a lot closer to it's manga, many fans ask "Why wasn't the anime done by UFO Table?" or "Why was the anime so watered down?"

I can only speculate on these questions with no real evidence to back up my claims, however I believe there's a very simple answer as to why Toriko didn't get animated by UFO Table. For starters noticed how there's a gap in between the pilot & the anime debut being 3 years as opposed to other pilots such as Hunter X Hunter & One Piece who had animes within a year of their pilot debut. One of the reasons may have been UFO Table still being relatively small at the time but the more concrete answer would be the manga as I feel the pilot simply served as gateway into purchasing the graphic novels. The biggest reason why i believe in this, is the amount of content that the manga had. When the pilot debuted, the Toriko manga only had an estimated 50 chapters (till the end of the Regal Mammoth Arc), thus meaning not much would be adapted. If anything, Toriko may have been a 13 episode series or luckily 26 seeing how Toei covers those chapters within 17 episodes. Another guess is that no company was willing to take a risk into adapting a manga that's been published for a year. Seeing how it was 2009, most mangas didn't usually get immediate treatment as opposed to now in 2014.

Overall, the pilot is okay feature where we see Toriko being gritty. Lastly,it's usually a common practice where animes aren't drawn by the same company who drew their pilots or contain various differences in the final product. Take HxH for example as the pilot was animated by Studio Pierrot while the anime is done Nippon Animation.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 14, 2010

Jesuvius

Recommended

Man oh man, after watching this I still don't know why we don't have a proper tv series with this. Wondering if you should watch it? Keep reading, I'll be sure to try and convince you!

When trying to explain the story, it's tricky. "It's a guy hunting monsters for food" doesn't even come close. The best way to describe it is "Monster Hunter without weapons, where they eat the monster afterwards!"
This is so original. It's difficult to explain unless you watch it, so take it from me: every chapter is cooler than the last.

The art here is amazing. The shading, colouring, action scenes and the ... blood flowing: beautiful!

The sound is good as well. There are three speaking roles, and all the voices sound believable. The music is good, it really fits the mood. Wether it's action, traveling or, naturally, eating.

The characters are awesome. Especially Toriko. Everybody has their own part to play: not everybody can be strong and tough. Komatsu may come across as annoying at parts, but seeing as this is the first episode (here's hoping for more) you should give him time to develop.

The enjoyment is very high. I can't explain it fully, but Toriko is amazing. If the original story, beautiful art, good music and voice acting and original characters aren't good enough for you: I wouldn't know what is!

After you watch this episode, watch the manga :) It really is worth it!

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Apr 9, 2010

fighterwolfneon

Recommended

Toriko is a new manga from Shonen Jump about Gourmet Hunters and has become a huge success in Japan. The manga will begin here in the states this June and after reading the first three chapters through Shonen Jump Magazine, all I can say is that I'm really looking forward to reading more. Before the t.v. series begins, the pilot episode was shown at the Jump Super Anime Tour last Christmas and can be seen on youtube, and here's what I have to say about it.

The plot is an adaptation of the first two chapters of the manga. The story of the pilot is about ... a famous gourmet hunter named Toriko who has been hired by a timid head chef named Komatsu to obtain a creature known as a Garara Gator for an upcoming festival. Toriko accepts and he departs, with Komatsu coming along in an attempt to see how Toriko succeeds. As I said before this is an adaptation of the first two chapters of the manga so don't expect too much, but it atleast does a fine job setting up what to expect in the t.v. series. However I felt the manga did a better job explaining Toriko's mission than this pilot did.

Once again, since this is on the first two chapters, so not many characters appear (though a few of the other main characters from the manga appear in the credits), so I'll just review the two main characters. Toriko as an excellent protagonist and is instantly likable from the start. His carefree and courageous personality does make the character shine. Komatsu is your standard side kick character, but from what I've heard, he develops quite well throughout the course of the manga.

The art and animation are pretty good. The coloring is great and the detail is excellent for a pilot.

The voice acting, while little, is quite good. Takashi Kondo, who is best known for voices like Train from Black Cat and Faust from the Guilty Gear series suited Torko perfectly, and Daisuke Kishio also did an excellent job as Komatsu. Kenjiro Tsude (known for voices like Kaiba from Yu-gi-oh and Mifune from Soul Eater), who voices the boat man Tom also did a good performance despite what little dialogue he has. The music also captures the mood of each scene very well and the ending (which I can't find the name of) is jamming and very catchy.

Overall I found the Toriko pilot to be quite good. It's an excellent way to get you interested in the series and it does a good job setting up for the upcoming t.v. series. Just make sure the video quality of your computer is good enough to see the fight scene. The Toriko pilot gets an 8 out of 10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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