Food Wars!

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” ― Hippocrates.

Food Wars!, or Shokugeki no Soma is a Japanese shounen manga series, which was written by Yuuto Tsukuda and illustrated by Shun Saeki. Due to big success, the manga received an anime adaptation by J.C.Staff, which aired between April 3, 2015 and September 25, 2015 and a second season, which began airing on July 2, 2016. The anime tells the story of a boy named Souma Yukihira, who has a dream to become an owner of his father's restaurant and to surpass his father as a chef. However, when Souma graduates from middle school, his father, Jouichirou Yukihira, gets a new job abroad and closes his and Souma’s restaurant. Souma cannot accept the fact that his father chooses a new work and tries to persuade his father to stay. But Souma’s father has a task for his son: Souma should become a student of Toutsuki Saryou Ryouri Gakuen and to learn to be a top-class chef. Everything seems to be easy, but after some time Souma finds out that Toutsuki is one of the most prestigious educational establishment in Japan, where only 10% of the students manage to graduate. Strange as it may seem, Souma is not afraid of his father’s challenge and he immediately decides to become a top student it Toutsuki. Will Souma surpass his father and become a pro in cookery? Find out the answer now!

While the plot of this series sounds average, I want to assure you that this anime has many things to offer. Souma is just a normal young man, who does not have “money to buy everything he wants.” But his father makes him join an educational establishment that was built by the rich for the rich: almost every student of Toutsuki has a bodyguard and enough influence to do whatever they want. Funny thing is that in Toutsuki your background does not mean anything, you can be rich, you can be poor, it does not matter. You must, however, be a splendid chef. And Souma will have to fight against these monsters with millions, or even billions of dollars on their bank accounts to prove that he is better. And the most important thing about that is that Souma does not only win, sometimes he is defeated; however, his desire to become better, his desire to fight, makes the story-line truly interesting.

The animation and sounds are also on the level. Not only character designs, but also the food makes you want to cook something delicious. The creators of Food Wars! spend enough time and money on the animation, making cooking look more like a fistfight than anything else. The sounds and the voice acting; however, deserve a special mention. The OST is so awesome that it helps you to dive into the atmosphere of this series and to be more prepared for what is about to happen. Truth be told, I have never called a shounen “epic”, but thanks to the OST of Food Wars! I can say that this anime is truly epic sometimes. But the OST is not the only thing that I should mention, the voice acting is also amazing: all characters seem to be real, their emotions, their deeds; the Japanese cast did one hell of a job voicing their characters.

I cannot say that the characters of Food Wars! are absolutely flawless and I cannot say that Souma, the main protagonist of the series, is just an imitation of his ancestors from other shounen series. Souma is not perfect, sometimes you just do not want him to repeat all these cliché of his ancestors. (Not noticing that some girls love him, for example). But, at the same time, Souma is different because he is the true warrior, he is the true man. His aim to become the top, his aim to become the best. His is not a prodigy, he is not a billionaire, he is just a normal young man with his own dreams. Sometimes he is defeated, sometimes he does not know what to do, but he works hard and achieves what he wants. And I must say that his charisma is truly contagious. However, the main problem of this anime is supporting characters. They are so dull and boring that sometimes you just want to skip their scenes. Of course, I am not going to say that they all are bad, some of them are very interesting to follow. But I guess that more attention should have been spent on the supporting characters.

I am glad that I discovered Food Wars! I could have never imagined that Souma would be that good. There will surely be some moments, when you are unsure if you should watch it, or not. Take for example “these foodgasms.” But, come on, it should not be the reason for you to not watch this series. In my opinion, the way they portrayed the way characters enjoy food is not that bad. I mean, delicious food is able to drive you to orgasm and if you do not agree with me, I am sorry to say that, but you have never tasted something truly delicious.

All in all, Food Wars! is an anime I would surely recommend to all my friends and if I were you, I would do the same. Souma’s desire to become the best and his character are truly fascinating. He is not afraid to practice, he is not afraid to be wrong, he spends a ton of time to surprise everyone. And he is able to amaze not only his friends and enemies, but also the viewer. Anyways, to make long story short, I would recommend you to give this anime a try. But please, if you want to drop this series, watch what will happen in the summer camp; it will become much more interesting from this point. But if it is still not enough for you, you can drop this anime after Souma’s summer camp.

Anyways, I hope that you will enjoy Food Wars!