Review by Ian Keogh

We’ve now been introduced to Gordon Goliath, owner of a greatly modified and weaponised fast food truck, and to Arisa, the extraordinarily combat ready young woman with an enormous appetite he found naked on a desert road. We’re in a dystopian future where military control is far-reaching, and the final few pages of Crazy Food Truck 1 revealed Gordon to be a former military man now opposing them, and Arisa to be an escaped military experiment.

The first volume combined an initial surprise with almost non-stop action, giving the impression Rokurou Ogaki’s only additional concern was imparting a little knowledge of cooking. Here, though, background elements propelling the plot move into the foreground. Major Kyle is now tasked with observing Arisa rather than capturing her, and to this end is assigned Myna, another genetically created soldier, but in the form of an even younger girl, and as seen on the sample art, we spend some time with them.

Due to the way she’s drawn and an initial random personality the fear is of Myna being a junior version of Arisa, who has very little substance, but she’s different, analytical and knowledgeable with only slight touch of whimsical enthusiasm. There’s also attention to Major Kyle, given greater depth than might have first been assumed, not buying into the mindset of mindless destruction, which feeds the altogether different mood of manic action replaced by exploration.

While the specifics are of no great concern to the ongoing plot, we’re also told it’s been 565 years since a planetary disaster, so one has to assume the military vehicles are either repurposed antiques, or modelled on current hardware, with the same applying to the crazy food truck itself. Even in the midst of the mayhem last time Ogaki was a very precise artist, and that shows in the vehicles.

Any reader captivated by the all-action first volume with a side dish of cookery comments is going to have to adjust to a new reality here. Ogaki’s art still impresses, but dips into the mayhem are few, and mostly at the start. Instead we’re introduced to more of the planet’s animal life. Rather unimaginatively, they’re just larger versions of creatures known today, or combinations such as a wild pig with a camel’s hump. There’s no conceiving totally new creations in the manner of Leo (see recommendations), but there is the innovation of sea creatures having adapted to sand.

By the end all featured parties have converged on the city of Towata, a place that likes to keep itself isolated and isn’t concerned with the military.

More of the same would have been more of the same, and the elements introduced here may have toned down Crazy Food Truck, but they also broaden the world. Rather surprisingly, considering everything that’s been set up, the series finishes in Crazy Food Truck 3.