Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma (Season 1) Series Review

Just to make sure we are all on the same page here: This anime is not about food. It’s about cooking. HELL YEAH!

Synopsis

Yukihira Soma, a young aspiring chef, works with his dad at a local diner. Even though he’s an exquisite cook, his father is much better than him. One day, he closes down the dinner to return to traveling the world and sends Yukihira to Japan’s most prestigious cooking school, the Touchiki Culinary Academy. Soma is skeptical at first but then realizes that by being exposed to the many different people and the knowledge that the academy provides them, he can finally surpass his dad’s skill.

Plot & Story

Food Wars is definitely interesting. It uses a very standard storyline model, that of the ambitious talented hero who ‘wants to be the very best’ if you catch my drift. The story revolves around his personal adventures and the many challenges he needs to overcome in order to achieve his goal. As he advances, more and more friends and opponents appear, each with their own individual style and skillset. And all this is very nice and very standard. It’s like salt and pepper, something you can add to pretty much anything.

However, the ‘spice’ in the dish Food Wars is serving us, is the theme: cooking. This is not a food anime. It’s not food porn. It’s an elaborate love story towards the creation of something beautiful, the hidden process behind something we can all enjoy: great food. The way this is achieved is with some really extensive knowledge of international food cuisine and gastronomical tradition. I was impressed, and that is not something I say often for neither anime nor food, but I did find myself saying several times, ‘These writers really know their stuff’. I was actually inspired to experiment with cooking while watching the show.

Another great aspect of the show and one that makes fantastic use of the animation medium is how extravagantly over-the-top everything is. The characters, their reactions, their storylines, their sexuality, the dishes, the school, the whole show is taking everything to a strong extreme; there are no mild or discreet elements whatsoever and the tension created by this aesthetic is basically one of insanity, demonstrating a bunch of psychos taking out all their perfectionism in what they love to do: cook.

Last but not least, the subliminal part of the plot, the hidden love story that is introduced through what Soma’s father says: ‘You need to find someone to cook for’ (= a partner, obviously), plays along with the drama, with the many slightly harem-ish girls of the show low-key competing for the protagonist’s affections. Who could’ve known?

Art & Music

Excellent illustrations. The extravaganza is greatly aided with the help of vibrant colors, flawless animation techniques, and some great concepts behind the characters’ reactions. There is significant individuality to the character design, and great care has been taken in designing the dishes too.

Epic orchestral music pumps up your blood during the challenges, and the first intro and outro really stick with you (I particularly liked how it referenced Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper). An adorable addition to that is how the characters are humming these tunes through the show. The voice acting compliments the already set intense mood with some casual –and hilarious- screaming.

Themes & Trivia

Where do I begin talking about all the culinary jargon used through Food Wars? It’s unbelievable how deeply invested the writing staff is. The research they have done on the cooking is commendable. In fact, I believe it’s the only Japanese show (definitely the only anime) that I have ever watched where the story has got its facts so straight. The only inaccuracy is in the very last scene: yogurt works just fine with squid. In Greece, it is not uncommon to enjoy deep-fried calamari accompanied by a side of strong tzatziki sauce.

The confrontation of the characters’ antagonists resembles very much a Street Fighter battle: it feels like the chefs are actually fighting, not just competing for a prize, as they wield uncommon utensils (like the massive mezzaluna the Aldini brothers use) and try to read, surprise, and defeat their opponents.

Finally, I have found some resemblance to several popular anime characters in the show, such as Isami Aldini looking like Gluttony from Fullmetal Alchemist, Ryo Kurokiba to L from Death Note, Erina Nakiri to Neon Genesis Evangelion’s Sakura, Nikumi to Dead or Alive’s Tina (yeah, not an anime, I know) but then again, I guess these can just be seen as pretty standard stereotypical characters that appear quite often.

Comments

I really enjoyed this show. It is entertaining and hilarious. The only problem is that you just need to keep eating when watching because if you don’t, it’s real torture. Needless to say that nothing you could possibly make at home (and if not, why are we not friends yet?) will ever match up to the things that these kids cook…

Umami means umami, okay?

Plus:

Excellent food facts
Extravagant aesthetic
Intense pacing
Crazy reactions

Minus:

Slightly repetitive despite the plot-twists
The most unnatural boobs I’ve seen in (supposedly) non-ecchi anime (these things have a will of their own)
Why didn’t Erina participate in the tournament – that didn’t make sense.

Worth a watch! It should be called Cooking Wars, but I suppose that doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, does it?

Did you enjoy Food Wars’ first season? Let us know in the comments section below! See you soon with another anime review on MANGA.TOKYO!