Shonen Beam

[scanlation by Hi Wa Mata Noboru]

It looks like this isn’t the real Melk after all. The title page definitely seems to indicate that the real Melk is in fact super-buff like Toriko was expecting.

Toriko’s explanation of how he deduced that this Melk was fake is another reaffirmation that, while Komatsu may be better at observing ingredients, Toriko is no slouch in the brains department. The size thing wasn’t exactly easy to miss, but it’s pretty impressive that he didn’t just chalk up Melk’s youth to Gourmet Cell magic (as I did at first).

The shocking truth is that this Melk is the second generation disciple of the previous one. That’s not too surprising, really. Given that Melk knives have still been coming out without anybody noting a drop in quality, somebody had to have been doing it in the first generation’s stead.

Having finished the Century Soup continues to pay dividends for everyone’s favorite midget chef. It’s good to know this widespread recognition isn’t changing his personality at all. Classic impressed-by-everything Komatsu is one of the main linchpins that makes this series fun.

Some handle fame more smoothly than others

Komatsu’s knife taking three years to finish due to order backlogs is the kind of obstacle this series overcomes regularly enough. That segment is worth nothing aside from a quick Komatsu facial gag. Much more interesting is the notice Melk II takes in the blade of Komatsu’s old knife. We know Komatsu’s been handling his knife well, and this is just another way of indicating how impressive of a chef he is.

Melk I has been away hunting for the stardust for six years, and now Toriko’s going to go retrieve him and the stardust in exchange for getting Komatsu’s knife faster. That neatly wraps up the three main plots of this arc: finding old Melk, finding the stardust, and getting Komatsu’s knife. Given the fact that this arc is very marginally relevant to the main plot, I appreciate that it’s going to be handled with appropriate brevity.

We close by introducing a new environment: the Heavy Hole, a super-gravity cavern. Considering that Toriko recently dealt with something similar in the gourmet world’s enhanced gravity and got his tail whipped, he’s going to have to step up his game just to get to the bottom. As a side note, the sequence of panels with the dinosaur struggling to get up is a pretty effective way to show off truly crushing amounts of gravity. Not only can’t he get up, he’s actually sinking into solid rock. That’s an appropriately intimidating introduction.

Should have done more Pilates

Final Flash: Heavily an exposition chapter, but the Heavy Hole looks promising.