Genre: Cooking, Comedy, Ecchi, Shounen
Season: 1
Episodes: 24
Director: Yoshitomo Yonetani
Studio: J.C. Staff
Original Airtime: April 3, 2015 – September 25, 2015
Plot
Yukihira Souma, a cooking genius, dreams of becoming full time chef in his father’s diner and surpassing his father in terms of cooking skills. Thus finally one day he wants to inherit his father’s diner. But just when Souma graduated from his middle school his father closed the diner to cook in abroad. An apparently downtrodden Souma suddenly finds himself Tōtsuki Culinary Academy, in an elite culinary school where only 10% of the total students graduate, where cooking means everything. He finds himself in the vast wasteland battlefield of the gourmet world.
Story: 6.5/10
The story of Food Wars Shokugeki No Souma is pretty simple, a son of an extra ordinary father trying to surpass the father. Fast paced and filled with action. I can assure you there is hardly any episode where you can stay still. Try to imagine, some people are cooking in a place but you still can’t stop yourself from watching. Dullness, Boredom, Annoyance these are some words absolutely absent from this anime. The story will always keep you on the run. there isn’t a single slow moment in the anime.
Character: 7/10
The characters are decent. All of them are likeable and definitely contain dynamics and depth. Souma is probably the most fasinating character of the anime. He is somewhat arrogant like Aomine or Tokuchi but yet very soft hearted. His father was also pretty awesome. Tadokoro is undoubtedly THE cutest character of the anime, I simply adored her. She is the perfect Wifu material. Isshiki Senpai is the best with his pink “Kumabear” apron and…. nothing else. Yes, he’s naked most of the times. But don’t let it fool you. He is one of the top 10 elite cooks in Tōtsuki Culinary Academy. I did not like Nakiri Erina too much may be that’s my problem. The Rest of the cast is great as well. It’s an amazingly enjoyable anime and the characters make it even more enjoying.
Here are some notable characters from the anime:
Animation and Art: 8/10
The visuals and animation were great. Beautiful drawings and great color choices. It is definitely one of the most well-executed anime of 2015 in terms of animation. J.C. Staff really did an awesome job with Food Wars Shokugeki No Souma. Simply loved it. But then again it is to be expected from J.C. Staff.
Here are some screenshots from the anime:
Music: 7/10
Music is not really the strong point of Food Wars Shokugeki No Souma. But I Don’t blame them. When there’s a lot of stuff going on like mad cooking skills, awesome battles and food-gasms, no one really notices the music. Maybe that was my problem too. I was too hungry to notice the music. But one track did catch my attention, “Spice” by Tokyo Karankoron. It was the first ending theme of Shokugeki No Souma and I enjoyed it a lot. The animations accompanying the song are so fun. The opening theme was great too.
https://youtu.be/D3C_36uzbJY
Final Thoughts
I watched Initial D back in 1998. I was so influenced by it, that I started learning driving at a very early age (had to wait for 3 years to get a license because I was not old enough). Anyways, the reason I mentioned it, is that Initial D influenced me to learn to drive. Similarly I am starting to take interest in cooking after watching Food Wars Shokugeki No Souma. This is an absolutely unique anime. It put a smile on my face every time i watched an episode. I highly recommend this anime for everyone. Though if you are offended by ecchi, you might have complaints. But all in all its a great anime. I loved it so much that as soon as I was done with the show I read the manga in one go.
