Degrees of Affection

If you've not read this series, I'd suggest taking a look at my review for the first two volumes here.

My review of the third and fourth volumes can be found here.

We're still on the IGO island as Toriko and Rin as well as Komatsu and Sunny work their way separately to the Regal Mammoth and the Jewel Meat. But the Gourmet Corp robots are in their way.

There's a lot of fighting in 5 and for the first time Toriko looks winded. He takes hits and is clearly struggling after awhile.

Sunny also shows some depth. We see his anger at what GC does and when he makes them pay, it's in style. Coco also returns - which was one of my favorite parts. He's very scary in a fight.

But number six, that was where things started to get interesting and is probably where the series will be make or break for me. I'm not a fan of power up tropes in Manga. After watching one Dragonball Z episode where literally the entire 20 odd minutes was this:

AAGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!

Hohohohohoho.

"Is he going to do it?"
"I think he's going to do it!"

(Rinse and repeat for 20 MINUTES!!!)

I've never been able to stand them since then. Of course, they're a staple of shounen but if it fits in with the plot and we don't see to much AAAAGGHHHHHH, I can usually deal with it.

So in this fight, Toriko "levels up" in a somewhat problematic manner. He kicks butt yet the reader - at least this one - is left uneasy. I see hints of Ichigo's struggle in Bleach and I'm not sure where that plot could lead here.

But Komatsu stepped up in a big way here and for the first time I found this series a page turner. The next few volumes are wating for me at the library, we'll see where this leads.