Ichiryu was the major supporting character of Toriko anime and manga series. He was the President of the International Gourmet Organization, which implements all food-related laws in most countries of the Human World. He was a former disciple of "Gourmet God" Acacia and trained all four of the Four Heavenly Kings from childhood. He was considered the strongest individual in his prime and one of the world's most powerful individuals prior to his demise.
Ichiryu meets his end after a fierce battle with his brother Midora, in which he is struck down by AIR after suffering serious injuries from Midora's attacks. Midora protects the body from being eaten by the Nitro and respectfully takes it away to a place they both cherished.
He was voiced by Horiuchi Ken'yū in Japanese and R. Bruce Elliott in English.
Appearance[]
Ichiryu was a muscular, tanned older man with blond hair and a long blond mustache, which were black in his younger years. He seemed to have had a taste for tropical designs, as he was shown wearing such clothing both in his younger years and as an old man.
During the Meteor Garlic Arc, he goes shirtless with a military officer-style coat and pants.
After gradually eating delicious food served by Setsuno and activating his Gourmet Cells, his hair had reached shoulder-length, and he had several wrinkles on his forehead, like Zebra. Attire wise he wore a pair of sunglasses with a sleeveless shirt and matching pants.
While serving his duties as the IGO president, he donned on a formal dark blue suit with an orange dress shirt and purple tie.
During his younger days he didn't have his signature mustache.
Personality[]
As the IGO President[]
Ichiryu was a quirky and lighthearted old man in life who loved his family very dearly even in his passing. Although he was not yet retired during his later years, he seemed to vacation frequently; thus spending time on a private island resort. He appeared to have strange mannerisms, like eating the cork of a bottle of liquor and confusing the names for ingredients that Toriko collected. He enjoyed sending Toriko on dangerous training missions, although he was confident that all of the Four Heavenly Kings were capable of succeeding at them. He was sometimes melancholy when discussing his Full Course Menu, describing it as "worthless" because he had not found a chef able to cook it during his life. According to Toriko, he was a weak drinker, albeit the beverage he was drinking was Rainbow Fruit Wine, which has an alcohol content of 85%, this was also confirmed in a flashback of his youth where he passed out from a small amount of alcohol. He was also not afraid to make jokes during serious moments like stating the Gourmet Corp. got their info on "CENTER" from one of the 0th Biotope members, and was also forgetful of important things like revealing that the Four Beast was one being while the four creatures that showed up were actually its "limbs" and the fact that in order to stop it the Four Heavenly Kings had to defeat its controller. He was also shown to be very compassionate, as Sunny remembered when he broke one of the President's prized food pots, and Ichiryu's first reaction was to attend Sunny's injury instead of getting angry. He also allowed Mansam to redeem himself, and even was willing to share GOD with Midora despite the fact he is the Gourmet Corp.'s boss.
Ichiryu was seen as the opposite of his brother Midora. While Midora submerges himself in deep hatred, Ichiryu had been shown to let his contempt bygone when it came to Midora himself. Due to their somewhat violent past, Ichiryu had made multiple attempts at reconciling with his brother, even inviting him along with Jiro, to return to Food Immersion Cape, their former training grounds, to have a meal and mend broken bonds, however he was rejected by Midora. Ichiryu was also known by most people to be a very caring person, especially to those who are stricken with poverty as he took Toriko, Sunny, Coco and Zebra -whom were children in poverty before Ichiryu took them- to be his apprentices and even gave Mansam (who was a bandit) a position in the IGO. Midora even joked about this when the latter observed Ichiryu's Minority World, stating that taking in "strays" definitely sounds like Ichiryu.
While he was seen as a quirky and light hearted old man, Ichiryu had shown that he could be serious when the situation called for it although these were often short moments due to his overly cheery behavior.
As the First Son and Disciple[]
| “ | You're basically an orphan too ya know. Well, so am I... | „ |
| ~ Ichiryu in regards to Jiro's comment |
Unlike his older, more lighthearted old self, Ichiryu was a much more serious person during his days with Acacia and his Family. His personality in his youth heavily contrasted to his current self, taking serious notes on the jokes of the then comedic and prideful young Jiro, who had a completely opposite personality in comparison to the young Ichiryu. He spoke less in comparison as well, only making small regards on certain facts such as when Jiro pointed out that Midora is an orphan (to which he says that he and Jiro are orphans as well) and when Acacia speaks about Full Course Menu to which everyone became alerted by. He was also quick to react when someone he was close to was became hurt, this was seen when Midora injured himself and Ichiryu was quick to alert Acacia, though this could be due to Midora having less experience at the time and Ichiryu was not keen on trusting Midora's abilities then because they were still young (this is proven when his older self seemed to have little worry over the Four Heavenly Kings and their fight with the Four Beast because he believed in their abilities).
Though while he was serious at the time, Ichiryu was not deprived of a sense of humor. He would make witty remarks from time to time, most likely when Jiro himself makes a joke in regards to Midora, much to Jiro's annoyance and he finds humour when Acacia himself makes fun of Jiro. This sense of humour, though vague in his younger age, was still noticeable at the time and it came to grow on him as time moved forward.
Powers and Abilities[]
Ichiryu was an extremely powerful individual, despite the disarming senior citizen he may sometimes seem. His reputation is such that even his enemies acknowledge him as having been the world's strongest man in his prime. He was implied to be strong enough to defeat virtually all of the Gourmet Corp.'s top fighters simultaneously, and had been shown effortlessly defeating multiple Gourmet World beasts with capture levels in the hundreds, including all four 'limbs' of the dreaded Four Beast. Although he lost against Midora, he himself stated that if Ichiryu were serious about killing him, the fight would have been very different, not to mention that it was later revealed that Ichiryu used just a fraction of his real power, as to his last moments, he refused using his Gourmet Cell Demon's power, solely relying on his Chopsticks and Minority World, on top of not being serious about killing Midora. He was very intelligent as he could handle being the head of a organization that ran the human world with its' population of over 30 billion people and being aware of the sinister NEO despite their secrecy.
Ichiryu was capable of physical feats which amaze even other superhumans, such as skipping on water and blowing away Toriko's Flying Knives with a single breath. He defeated Toriko effortlessly during a spar, and was not affected in the slightest by any of Toriko's techniques. He was fast enough to eat an Ozone Herb by himself without it becoming rotten, and had set the world record for the highest level Surprise Apple scare, at level 95. He was also able to fly using the "square root law" in which he can control the atoms in his body to move as he wants. Ichiryu's vast power and life force had not left him over his unnatural lifespan of more than five hundred years, although in his later years many of his Gourmet Cells went into dormancy due to lack of a serious challenge, training and sufficient amount of food.
Ichiryu was also a talented and charismatic leader and teacher. He bested the undefeated bandit warlord Mansam, only to adopt him as his disciple and right-hand man. He trained all of the Four Heavenly Kings, who not only grew into powerful Gourmet Hunters, but regard Ichiryu fondly as their father figure. The people of the world trusted him implicitly as well, as in the early stages of the Four Beast crisis when some evacuees comforted themselves with the belief that Ichiryu would drive the beasts away as he had in the past.