Toriko is one of those series that comes sprinting at you with one goal in mind, and that goal is to entertain you with as much crazy bull-crap as it can before you get exhausted of it.

The manga is a fuel-injected testosterone trip about big men fighting excessively big monsters in order to make drool-inducing meals out of them. You get a one-two punch of cool action and delicious looking food; expect anything more than that and you'll be sorely disappointed.

The characters are about as deep as puddle and they merely get by on their big personalities. Any attempt to add depth to most characters comes in the form of plot-twists and last-minute revelations that only serve to complicate their background rather than flesh it out. Most of the characters are left unexplored, though in some cases I'm fine with that as I didn't expect much depth in the first place.

The first two thirds of the series feature a fun variety of story arcs where Toriko and crew have to explore dangerous environments for ingredients, track down ferocious animals, or fight against other super-powered humans who are after the same things as they are. There are some legitimately great story arcs with action that had me wide awake reading way later than I should be, just because I couldn't pull my eyes from it.

Where Toriko started losing me however, was in the last 100 chapters or so. Dozens of chapters at a time are dedicated solely to exposition, and it is all extremely boring to read through. On top of that, my favourite characters, Sunny and Zebra, are bumped out of the story almost entirely. After a while I had to start skimming through chapters, only reading the bits that looked interesting to me. The final confrontation is at least as big and bombastic as I had hoped it would be, though having skimmed through much of the endless expository dumps, I was left confused by some details. My bad, I know.

The art starts pretty rough with some very questionable anatomy and perspective. As it goes on it becomes more polished, and the action carries a lot more motion and weight. The character designs are admittedly pretty weak for the most part, and I got many characters confused with one another as their designs looked so similar. There are definitely some gems here and there, like the insect-infested Tommyrod, or the intimidating Livebearer. The monster and creature designs on the other hand are a lot of fun, and were definitely the highlight of the series.

Toriko, at the end of the day, was at least a fun ride for most of its duration that I would happily recommend to anybody who loves over the top battle-shonen. It's outlandish, super macho, and made me pretty hungry on occasion.

I give Toriko a solid 7 out of 10.