Manga/Toriko

Of the main four, I personally thought Toriko had the least interesting powerset, so it was very disappointing to see the other three get the shaft in the end.

Coco was my favorite. I really liked the disconnect between his meek, humble personality and his traditionally sinister poison powers. I also got attached to Coco very early on; that moment in his debut arc where it was shown step-by-step how Coco determined the composition of that one creature's poison and synthesized his own antivenom was a large part of what sold me on the worldbuilding of the Toriko universe.

Of the eight kings, I don't think there's any I specifically didn't like (they were, IMO, the best part of everything that happened post-timeskip). If I had to choose a favorite, it would probably be the crow, but mostly because I have a bias towards birds.

Toss up between Coco and Sani for me. Coco loses points a bit because he got typecasted HARD into fighting poisonous poison users as the series went on. Sunny had some cool abilities and an amusing personality.

As for Kings, Deer King, Derous, and Mother Snake. Hard to pick one honestly, they're all cool.

I remember the pacing of the story being a major complaint (it definitely was one of mine) but now that the series has been over for a couple years, has anyone gone back and reread it (or at least the Gourmet World stuff) and thought it actually flowed well, or at least better than you remembered?

It kinda gets suped rushed after PAIR is captured.