A Review of Food Wars: Shokugeki No Soma
Spoiler Warning: Read at your own risk ;)
By Vidhi Gupta
Food Wars: Shokugeki No Soma follows the story of a 15 year old boy, Yukihira Soma, who along with his father runs the ‘Yukihira Diner’ and dreams to inherit it from him. Recognizing the gap between him and his father in talent and experience, he challenges Yukihira Joichiro everyday with new ideas and recipes. With 489 losses and 0 wins, Soma enrolls in Totsuki Tea Ceremony and Culinary Academy, an elite school with only a 10% graduation rate, when Joichiro suddenly decides to close the diner and travel the world.
It is a show that, quite honestly, needs some getting used to. When I watched it for the first time, I was rather baffled by the ‘emotional expression of taste.’ However, as the show progresses, the story gets quite gripping and it is probably one of the better shows I would recommend. The general pace of the show is well maintained and gives adequate screen time, importance and explanation to each dish as well as its faults (if any). I especially liked how each dish was the amalgamation of the chef’s experience and emotions which was portrayed with certain elegance and charm. The seasons, on the other hand, are very well connected and add on to the overall development of the characters. It never fails to throw some light on characters no matter how sidelined they are, as compared to other shounen anime where the protagonist eventually attains God-like abilities.
However, there were several parts of the show with rather ‘forced’ notions of eccentricity, like the school in itself being very extreme as the students face the risk of expulsion at any given event, like the Hell Week Training Camp or even Stagiaire. While practical experience to some extent would be important, maybe the school could have functioned in a more normal way. Till about the 3rd season, the show progresses without any main antagonist, but the intensity of the show remains intact as the shokugekis (a cooking duel between students with a panel of either 3 or 5 judges. Both sides must give consent and wager something in order for the shokugeki to happen) progress. Throughout the show, it can be seen that Soma is a reckless character who could use anything and everything to create a dish out of the box. No matter what he does, he never forgets to assert the fact that he represents his family’s Diner. That didn’t necessarily mean that it always worked.
The show particularly picks up the pace and story when the Elite 10 Council of Totsuki are introduced into the show. Though the initial entrance is in an OVA, the Anime also fulfills the criteria. The Elite 10 Council is like the student body of Totsuki that enjoys several privileges that they earned through their hard work. They are, in a sense, the top 10 students of the school with skills on par or even better than professional chefs. It is no surprise as well that the Council can be said to be ‘crazy’ in their respective fields as well. One character with utmost poise and charm that can be seen through the course of the show is the 1st seat of the Council, Tsukasa Eishi. Undefeated and unparalleled, he is called the White Knight of the Table, as befitting his position.
Each obstacle and arc was handled with much thought until The Fifth Plate came out. It felt completely unnecessary and I would have preferred if the show would have ended at The Fourth Plate. While one can understand the reopening of the Blue Competition, what unfolded after was quite disappointing. It felt like a take on what happened with his father, Joichiro and his subsequent decisions. The only good part of the whole season was the character development Tadakoro Megumi had and the progress Tsukasa Eishi made. As the entrance of Noir and Saiba Asahi is revealed, it is no shock that Asahi’s ‘ulterior motive’ was to take advantage of Erina’s gift, the God Tongue. This is where Erina’s resolve is shown most when she takes it upon herself to confront the mysterious ‘Book Master’ of the World Gourmet Organisation (WGO).
It is surprising though, considering that Soma is the protagonist of the show, he does not win any of the one-on-one competitions that are held (not including the Moon Festival, Stagiaire and the Team Shokugeki). Nevertheless, the show is definitely a one-time watch and focuses not just on Soma, but all the other characters as well, bringing out developments for not just the students but the alumni as well. I would definitely recommend it if you need a little light hearted break.
