The series follows the adventures of Toriko, a Gourmet Hunter, as he searches for rare, diverse foods to complete a full-course meal.

In the Gourmet Age (グルメ時代, Gurume Jidai), which began five centuries ago at the end of the hundred-year war, the taste and texture of food is extremely important.

[5] They apply a numerical rating from 1 to 100, referred to as Capture Levels (捕獲レベル, Hokaku Reberu), to most ingredients based on the difficulty of acquiring it.

"Gourmet Food Providers"), who have usually trained their abilities to that of superhuman, are regularly hired by restaurants and the rich to seek high-level ingredients and rare animals.

A man with inhuman ability, he utilizes his incredible strength and knowledge of the animal kingdom to capture ferocious, evasive, and rare beasts to further his menu.

He is accompanied by the weak and timid chef Komatsu, who, inspired by Toriko's ambition, travels with him to improve his culinary skills and to find rare ingredients.

Written and illustrated by Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro, Toriko was serialized in the manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump from May 19, 2008,[12] to November 21, 2016.

[23] Shimabukuro collaborated with Eiichiro Oda, author of One Piece, for a crossover one-shot of their series titled Taste of the Devil Fruit!!

There is also a spin-off manga series titled Gourmet Academy Toriko (グルメ学園トリコ), written by Toshinori Takayama and illustrated by Akitsugu Mizumoto.

[26] A short film simply titled Toriko, directed by Mitsuru Obunai and produced by Ufotable, was shown on October 12, 2009 at the Jump Super Anime Tour 2009.

A two-part hour-long crossover special between Toriko, One Piece and Dragon Ball Z aired on Fuji TV on April 7, 2013.

The segment has voice actors act over a manga series as the pages are shown on screen, Toriko was played by Takashi Kondō and Komatsu by Daisuke Kishio.

[53] The first and second collected tankōbon volumes, both released on November 4, 2008, were ranked 10th and 11th respectively on Oricon's manga chart for their first week, with nearly 70,000 and 67,000 copies sold.

[62] Otaku USA's Joseph Luster called Toriko "an absolute feast for fans of beasts", not able to tell "whether Shimabukuro just comes up with everything on the spot or if it's all meticulously planned out", and said that the series' charm is "how it effortlessly applies classic shonen tropes to such an outlandish world.

"[64] Deb Aoki writing for About.com also praised the imaginative beasts and monsters of the series, as well as the occasional informational bits on the true science of foods, but called the art "grotesquely goofy.

"[2] Lissa Pattillo of Anime News Network (ANN) called Toriko an "in-your-face action story riding on the back of a gastronomic fetch-quest.

"[65] She compared Toriko's design to that of characters from Dragon Ball and Fist of the North Star, and suggested this might deter some readers.

[65] ANN's Rebecca Silverman stated that "Shimabukuro has clearly devoted time and thought to crafting the story's world, as complex creatures, animal profiles, and distinctive landscapes attest.

", and called his art an "odd mix of old school JoJo's Bizarre Adventure-style manly men and newer One Piece-style chibis.

But the simplicity of Toriko is also its downfall: there are no clever twists in store, the characters don't develop at all, either personally or interpersonally, and even the most calculating villains are just mindless targets waiting to be knocked down one by one.