Toriko, Vol. 17

Hah, they had the Surprise Apples in canon as well, another thing I didn't expect. It's nice to have a couple of short 1-chapter adventures after the rather heavier chapters of the Gourmet Pyramid with Zebura. Also, side note, we got to see our fifth female in the series (though just for a few panels).

The next training ingredient is the Shining Gourami, where Toriko and Komatsu are accompanied by Sani and Sani's new “pet/friend” along the same vein as Terry and Coco's Kiss. I didn't quite like this one, primarily the attempt to over-exaggerate just how large an adult version could be - it's just way too much and goes beyond funnily ridiculous to being downright silly and nonsensical.

Their new training location are the Mors Mountains, specifically a cave system behind a titanic waterfall named Death Falls, where we basically see Toriko and Sani fight against water itself (and defying physics, as you'd expect). I think the anime did this part much better, particularly when Komatsu was doing his thing. The manga was actually rather brief about this and it was over rather quickly.

And lastly, a mysterious figure shows up at the end of the volume (someone whom will see again later).