I’ve bene out of touch with manga and anime for many years now, but I have to say that after watching Chainsaw Man that really reignited my love for anime, and while browsing the shelves of Waterstones for the Chainsaw Man manga books I spotted one called Crazy Food Truck and it really caught my eye. I grabbed a copy of Chainsaw Man 1 and Crazy Food Truck 1 and headed home.
Right from the get go I was hooked on Crazy Food Truck!
It is weird, it’s violent, it’s sexy, it’s funny and its really well illustrated. There’s not much in this manga for you to dislike. Ok, the story is maybe a little bit slow to develop, as is the backstory for the 2 main characters – an ex armed forces food truck owner and a girl who can’t keep her clothes on, never has a full belly and remains a mystery for much of the series other than that she’s of importance for the military.
One of the things which comes up often however is this female character, Arisa and in particular her age. When you see her and how she’s portrayed she’s drawn as an adult, especially when she appears naked, until at one point early on it’s disclosed briefly that she’s meant to be 16. I know that age laws differ a lot in Japan but, especially for books being sold abroad and translated in to English it does feel a little uncomfortable how much this 16 year old (who clearly looks nothing like a 16 year old) is sexualised while also trying to retain that level of innocence with her naivety. Just write that shes 18 – job done – poor age choice in my opinion…
BUT
That’s pretty much where my complaints about this dystopian adventure end. I genuinely really enjoy this series and hope that they’ll continue with it, as it’s currently just a 3 book series and that’s where it looks like it’s going to stay for the time being. It had a humble beginning on the monthly online manga site for Shinchosha Publishing, being both written and illustrated by Rokurou Ogaki. The books were then released in 2021 so who knows, maybe as it gains more attention (especially as the first English release was only a year ago), they’ll look at expanding it a little further but I’m not so sure. Most critical response to it is that overall it’s a lot of fun but it’s a little lazy in both writing and illustration, maybe because the topic is quite basic? I can’t see it myself, but that could be because I’m only just getting back in to manga myself. I think the writing portrays a great story where Gordon, the rough tough army guy finds a new purpose alongside the food truck to soften his heart… While Arisa is totally off the wall crazy and certainly doesn’t make looking after her easy. It makes for a genuinely dynamic and fun relationship with plenty of humour thrown in!
One thing I do like that makes it a bit more original is that it does focus so much on the food truck part. He’s not exactly making a fortune on sales but never the less their little side quests for food and the recipes he describes with each dish do make for interesting reading.
Nerd life 