GUTS, GUTS-GUTS

April 17, 2012 5:33 PM

Sombody once said,

"There is a beast with such succulent meat, it melts all over your tongue. There is a bubbling spring flowing with tastes of countless fruit juices, such as sweet musk melons and ripened mangoes."

It is the Gourmet Era. The era in which one will search for undiscovered tastes. [Hulu link for US-based viewers]

Toriko is a Japanese anime and manga series written and illustrated by Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro. It follows, Toriko, a legendary Gourmet Hunter whose main goal in life is to seek the most precious foods in the world to create the ultimate Full Course Menu.

[Non-Hulu Anime Series Link]

posted by lemuring (9 comments total)

I like how the absurdity of the premise makes the tropes nakedly obvious, but it works anyway.
posted by mek at 6:32 PM on April 17, 2012

I clicked the Hulu link and gave this ten minutes, and I found I don't really like it. But I'm glad it exists. Anime and manga are obviously convention-bound in some ways, but they're also so free and inventive. US media seems so conservative by comparison.
posted by grobstein at 6:52 PM on April 17, 2012

Heh, that's actually pretty funny. Completely stupid, but that's the whole point. :)
posted by Malor at 6:54 PM on April 17, 2012

There is a beast with such succulent meat, it melts all over your tongue.

And it is called conch and/or monkfish liver steamed in sake.
posted by porpoise at 7:42 PM on April 17, 2012

I'm finding the imperialism a bit much - if it was set in the 18th century, then it would be part of the theme, but it's jarring to have the modern setting yet it's supposed to appear heroic to go to exotic ecosystems just to slaughter everything for trophies and demonstrate manliness. Doing that doesn't mean that any more.
posted by -harlequin- at 9:48 PM on April 17, 2012

Just for some context, in my understanding Toriko is a semi-parody-mashup of food manga and typical battle manga. For more examples of other food-based manga series, check out Addicted to Curry, Yakitate!! Japan, Mister Ajikko, etc.
posted by suedehead at 11:55 PM on April 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

Eh, it's no Cooking Master Boy. Now that was a just-crazy-enough Pokemon-type shonen battle/quest anime based on classical Chinese cuisine. Very inspiring and at something like 50 episodes, just long enough to leave you satisfied, but not overly full.
posted by rikschell at 6:04 AM on April 18, 2012

There is a beast with such succulent meat, it melts all over your tongue.

Is it...man?
posted by infinitywaltz at 8:41 AM on April 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

Another food-based manga series is Oishinbo. A more unusual take is Kinou Nani Tabeta?, which is a mashup of shounen ai / food manga.
posted by needled at 10:26 AM on April 18, 2012