Toriko 304 Review: Just for Shock Value

Toriko Chapter 304: Seed of Courage

I'm really not quite sure what to expect. I mean, clearly they're not going to kill their main lead here, and definitely not three of the main characters, but with Heracles, Heracles really did blow half of Toriko's body off and it's only thanks to intervention of the Blue Oni that he survived. This wasn't done quite that elegantly, and considering the gigantic shock factor from last chapter, it really is just a big, gigantic mindfuck that didn't really tell us anything we don't already know, namely that Bambina is as big a badass as Heracles. But it's a bit annoying how everything is just resolved basically by 'Poison Doll' or poison clone or whatever, and I didn't think it really made sense for Coco to be able to make such lifelike poison dolls in the blink of an eye. I mean, Bambina, sure. He's supposed to be this super-awesome thing. Coco? Not so much.

A fair chunk of the chapter is just the Iai-Aye coming back and showing Sani that, yes, it's just poison doll and only Toriko's severed arm is real... though he's recovered from losing half his body without too much side effects, and there's at least another time where he lost his arm before all the crazy training, so that's not much of an impact. Also we get another map of Area 7 which I'm sure we already got before. There's a bit where Sani Satan Hairs Coco's poison and vomits it back up, and Toriko's Oni arm thing wrapping around him for protection and the whole monologue about how they're oh so helpless and everything, but the impact is just... gone since everyone's fine.

There's a big amount of time just them regrouping and Kaka just going all about how Bambina is just playing a game, which kind of explains the closed eyes and the massive shout and him sparing Sani, which was all part of a big game of hide-and-seek. And the big 'splosion was in response to the Sandoriko Flower, which only made him sneeze once. And after a long speech from Kaka about how fucking awesome Bambina is, which could be a shit-ton shorter, and another tender moment with Komatsu going on, it's just a big, uneventful chapter. There's a fair amount of moments that could've followed up from last chapter's gigantic mindfuck that wasn't such a letdown in pacing like this, so eh.