Toriko 310 Review: Ball Bells

Toriko, Chapter 310: Gong

So the chapter starts off with Kaka explaining that there is this Monkey Festival where the stronger monkeys of the continent will challenge Bambina for the title of the Monkey King, and naturally, since this is a Shonen manga, Toriko's group arrive just right around the time that the Monkey Festival is about to happen. But even with the fact that it's apparently serious business, Kaka notes that Bambina will still be playing, giving them kind of an edge. Apparently this year's contest is Monkey Wrestling, which explains the ring last chapter.

We get a bit of Coco recovering from Bambina hitting his knees from behind, and they note that Bambina is fully rested whereas all of them have their energy sapped by the 100G Mountain's immense gravity as well as the training they've done non-stop. Toriko notes that their strength is around half of their optimal strength, and kind of decides to go right for Bambina's balls right from the get-go.

Bambina jumps into the ring and apparently his monkey balls also function as a bell, and is known as the Bell of Pair. Because when you're writing a comic about attempting to steal the balls of a super-powerful monkey god, you also make the balls a musical instrument with rejuvenating powers. That's the natural, logical course of action.

They've been kind of revitalized, stamina-wise at least, by the sound of Bambina's balls clanging together. Somehow. Which at least means that they might be able to extract Pair without having to chop them off Bambina, which is nice. I would pity Bambina if they chop off his balls. If they can. They note how this sound can fill their stomach, Zebra talks about how his sounds destroy stuff, and Toriko asks their animal companions to kind of stand down and stuff.

The Four Kings and Bambina get into the ring, and Toriko kind of explains the rules. They're taking on Bambina four on one, but, like, there's only going to be one person in the ring. And unlike wrestling there's no tap-outs, referees or falls... so it's not exactly wrestling but whatever. Kind of confusing and that might be the result of bad translation, but whatever. Sani talks about how he wants to go first, and he does. After a bit of atmospheric description, the battle actually starts and Bambina moves so fast he throws Sani off the ring and into these bands that are apparently really really strong. Zebra walks in and stops Bambina from preparing his lariat by locking the monkey's arms, and as the rubber bounces Sani back, Sani manages to punch Bambina straight in the gut.

Well, that's certainly interesting even if a 'wrestling match... except for all these wrestling rules' thing kind of wierds me out. Also the fact that, y'know, Bambina's fucking testicles are their target. I cannot decide if this is the epitome of Japanese ridiculous humour or the epitome of Japanese strangeness and I decide that it's both absolutely hilarious and unsettling at the same time. Interested to see more, to see if they can at least prove to be a fight against Bambina. I'm pretty sure that punch ain't going to really hurt him.