Crazy Food Truck Volume One focuses on the owner of a food truck in what appears to be a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Crazy Food Truck Volume One
Written by: Rokurou Ogaki
Publisher: Shinchosa Publishing Co.
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: May 17, 2022

Volume One opens with a man in his food truck making a BLT sandwich, but we quickly learn he’s making the sandwich for himself because he hasn’t had any customers. Which isn’t surprising when it comes out that he lives in what looks like a post-apocalyptic world. One day, as he’s traveling, he almost runs over a naked girl who’s sleeping in a sleeping bag in the middle of the road. He takes her in, and quickly learns that she’s a glutton. It also takes a while for him to finally convince her to put on some clothes.

While on their travels, they are stopped by members of the military, who are looking for the girl. She surprises everyone by taking on all the military men and easily defeating some of them with strength. The two are chased in the food truck, but it turns out the truck isn’t just a normal food truck… it’s got weapons. With these, their pursuers are defeated.

We learn that the girl is named Arisa, and that the man is named Gordon Goliath. It turns out they’re both on the run from the military. Unfortunately, for most of the volume it’s not known exactly what each of their stories are or why they’re being pursued by the military. By the end of Volume One, the reader gets a better idea about Gordon, but there’s still some vagueness surrounding Arisa. But before we get these reveals, the two have some adventures that allow them to start getting to know each other better, with one of the adventures leading to the military finding the two of them. By the end of the volume, Gordon and Arisa seem to become a team, so it appears this series will be focusing on the two of them on the run in the food truck while being chased by the military.

There is one particular member of the military focused on here, a man named Major Kyle. I found him to be a rather annoying character, but he’s the one who has a connection with Gordon. Kyle’s attitude and behavior were off-putting to me, but I guess he needed to be that annoying to make it clear to the reader that he’s going to be the main antagonist.

One thing I found a little bothersome with the art is the fact that Arisa, the main female, is either depicted nude or in “fanservice” panels in most of her appearances in this volume. According to a line of dialogue from when the military asks Gordon if he’s seen Arisa, she is about 17 years old. If that age is correct and she really is a minor, then I find these panels of her to be on the creepy side. If I knew for sure that Arisa was legally an adult, then this depiction wouldn’t bother me nearly as much.

Speaking of Arisa, I’m glad to see that she’s a physically strong character. However, I didn’t really like the depiction of her being such a glutton and trying to play this off for some humor. While I don’t find Arisa to be nearly as annoying as Major Kyle, I still found myself having a hard time warming up to her as a character. Since she’s one of the two protagonists, this isn’t a good thing. By not warming up to her by the end of Volume One, I’ll have a harder time caring about her as a character if I read future volumes of Crazy Food Truck.

By the time I finished Crazy Food Truck Volume One, I found myself feeling kind of “meh” about it. I think there’s an interesting idea going into this series, but I found that the execution of the idea isn’t working as well for me as it could have. If I’m given the opportunity to read the next volume of Crazy Food Truck to review it, I wouldn’t turn it down. However, after reading this volume, this isn’t a title I would try to chase down on my own. In a lot of ways, I hope I am provided the opportunity to read a digital review copy of the next volume, so I can see whether the manga stays at the level it’s at, or if perhaps the narrative starts improving with the next volume.

The reviewer was provided a review copy by VIZ Media

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