#froese

Joie (ジョア)

Joie's name is often spelled 'Joa' in fan-translations. Because it's actually pronounced joe-ah in the anime (that Katakana is "jyo + a"). So why spell it Joie?

Well, jyoa is the Japanese pronunciation of what it should be. It's meant to be pronounced /ʒwa/, because 'Joie' is the French word for 'joy'. (Thank Acacia for the Canadian education system)

Now, it's easy to chalk it all up to 'he looks like a jester' or possibly that he's a mockery of the joy that should've been felt when Froese was 'revived'. But it goes deeper than that when we take a look at Froese herself...

Froese (フローゼ)

This struck me as really, really weird because Froese is an actual surname... but the origin is actually German. But hey, if Shimabukuro was willing to whack out the French dictionary for Joie, why not?

I can't find a reputable source on this, but it seems that the origin of the surname Froese (in the real world) is commonly believed to be from Old German meaning 'joyful' or 'cheerful'.

Wait, go back. Joyful.

Joyful. Joy. Joie.

Teppei (鉄平)

This is... an actual Japanese name. The first Kanji in his name means 'iron', like the element.

The second Kanji in his name... well... this is a little odd. If you look it up, the definition will come up as 'flattened', which is true. But it can also mean something mediocre/common, or a person of a low-rank (novice, freshman, etc).

The easy thing to do would be to say "look at how none of the Kings have even remotely similar hair to Ichiryu", but we also have no reference for the Kings' predecessors (other than Toriko, but we'll unpack that later).

Instead, let's take a look at one of the only actual genetic relationships shown on screen: Jirou and Teppei.

We already know that Jirou and Teppei are biologically related, but more than that, we know that Jirou and Teppei went down completely different paths. Sure, Teppei clearly respects Jirou, but it's because Jirou took him Gourmet Hunting that Teppei decided not to become a Gourmet Hunter.

They went two completely different routes, Teppei not mimicking Jirou, and yet how do they style their hair?

The exact same way.

This is what I realised that sent me down the rabbit hole.

(Before anyone mentions it: Yes I know Acacia and Ichiryuu had similar hair but that was only temporary because Acacia had gotten a power-up. For the most part Acacia's hair was in that very, very long ponytail.)

We all know Toriko's family tree is a wreath. Let's take a look at Acacia's weird family, namely I want to look at Midora and Starjun, since that's what you're asking about.

Obviously pretty similar: They both have long, choppy black hair that sorta hangs in tendrils.

But you may notice something kinda interesting: Midora's hair has a much messier cut and some of it hangs into his face. It's not like the other disciples, but it's definitely familiar...

Hm... where have we seen a character with messy black hair that hangs into their face?

We know that Midora isn't Froese's biological son, but obviously there's some sort of parallel to be drawn here. And once you make that connection, it's easier to then realise how Starjun is part of this backwards family. Especially once you consider how Starjun's rank in Gourmet Corp is officially a 'Sous Chef'. And Froese was a chef.

And not just any chef! She could perform God Cooking. Let's take a look at what her God Cooking looks like...

Hmm... where else have we seen that?

HMM...

Maybe I'm cherry-picking for what I want to see, but doesn't Starjun's hair look a lot more like Froese's? Froese's hair is everywhere but it's got a flow, the ends are wavy, but smooth. Clumps flow in similar directions, and are generally pretty thick. Notice how Midora's hair has much finer clumps going in other directions? Even Starjun's face is shaded like Froese's. Perhaps there's an argument to be made that Midora's similarities to Froese are something of a red herring, with the real foreshadowing coming from Starjun? Maybe that Midora's design is almost a mockery of Froese's -- similar, but almost more tentacle-like, more visually threatening? Or perhaps that Midora's similarities are an attempt to copy her, but not getting it quite right?

Admittedly, it's more likely that Shimabu decided that "Evil Villains with Bug-Like or Tentacle-Like Motifs = Long Black Tentacle-Like Hair" was an easy design, but I would say it's not a stretch to assume he made Starjun's hair similar to Midora's in order to solidify that Starjun is the Important one with some sort of connection to Midora (especially since Starjun is the only non-bug-themed Sous Chef).