REVIEW: ‘Crazy Food Truck’ Volume 1

Crazy Food Truck Volume 1 is an action-packed food-loving romp by mangaka Rokugou Ogaki who wrote and provided art for the series. Additionally, Kaku Ninomiya, Tatsuya Hainoki, and Sei Fukui provided art for the volume. Crazy Food Truck is published and localized by VIZ Media via their Signature imprint, which features mature seinen titles. Volume 1 is translated by Amanda Haley, with an English adaptation by Jennifer Leblanc, and features touch-up & lettering by E.K. Weaver, Jeannie Lee, Sara Linsley, and James Gaubatz.

Crazy Food Truck Volume 1 introduces readers to a post-apocalyptic world, the owner of a food truck, and a mysterious naked girl sleeping in the middle of the desert. Gordon is a gruff, middle-aged cook running a food truck in a sand-covered wasteland. He loves cooking even if his customers aren’t coming in droves while in a wasteland. His quiet life is turned on its head when he encounters Arisa, a naked girl sleeping in the middle of nowhere, and decides to pick her up and give her some clothes and a lift to wherever she’s heading. Only Gordon doesn’t know that Arisa has both an unusually large appetite and an armed militia hot on her tail.

So, let’s get it out of the way, there is a lot of fanservice in Crazy Food Truck Volume 1. From boobs to precarious body poses in fight scenes, the volume manages to use Arisa’s sex appeal without crossing a line. While it can be a lot for readers who prefer to not have fanservice in their action, the art put into each and every action sequence more than makes up for it. The largest issue I have with Arisa isn’t her nudity; it’s her lack of character other than just being a nude weapon who really loves food. She doesn’t talk a lot, and her charm comes from that tropey “experiences the world for the first time in a cute way” dialogue that makes it hard to get who she is outside of her relation to Gordon.

For his part, though, Gordon is great. He’s gruff, tough, and thoroughly over everyone’s shit. He manages to be cold but extremely kind and looks like he’s ready to take on anything coming his way. Clearly more than just a chef in a food truck, his joining with Arisa doesn’t necessarily bring on an erratic chaotic pace, but it does hit on some high octane thrills.

Crazy Food Truck Volume 1 is filled to the brim with fanservice but not in a terrible way. Some of it can be too much, but Gordon’s deadpan reaction and lack of interest in Arisa’s body help avoid the love the lecher tropes that are all too commonplace in manga. Additionally, Crazy Food Truck aces the food, even including recipes in the back of the volume. The food, the boobs, and the action have this starting out well, but, having read four chapters, I have no idea what world our characters are inhabiting.

Crazy Food Truck Volume 1 is available now wherever books are sold physically and digitally.