Robert Murphy
There has always been a certain intimate relationship between the foods we eat and our emotional relationships that we share with those special people in our lives. The references to it are everywhere and while the scenes from Food Wars! don't exactly go along those particular sexual lines, the dishes that the characters create do activate a heightened sense of euphoria. The story follows Soma Yukihira who is a new transfer student at Japan's premiere culinary institute, people from all across the world come to attend school here and the series of grueling tests, classes and competitions creates the finest chefs the world has ever seen.
At first Food Wars! seemed like one of those niche marketed anime that would only attract those who are interested in cooking or food in general but there is a definite charm that cannot be avoided while you're watching and a lot of it has to do with the shows lead character Soma. Soma has already spent years cooking with his father and rival in all of his cooking since he was about 12 years old and so his skills are already well above the average student at his new school Totsuki Culinary Academy. This makes him question his fathers decision to want him to attend in the first place as he thinks he's already capable of being out on his own and becoming an excellent chef. For most of the show his skills do show brightly but as the show goes on he progressively sees why his father wanted to send him to Totsuki and he gets eagerly wrapped up in learning new skills as well as making new rivals.
While Soma is a cut above the rest, Food Wars! does not make him an unstoppable force that cannot be challenged in the series. Many styles of cooking are unknown to him and this shows up quite a few times in order to make him not seem like such an invincible character. The last arc that winds down the first season for example shows his ignorance for a particular Indian dish and their pension for spices so he must learn how to create a dish that would rival masters in this craft. There are also a number of moments where Soma fights his dad in a "Food War" or Shokugeki that show that he still has a long way to come as a chef as well. These low moments do show the other side to his cockiness however and that is his true love for cooking as a craft.
Soma and many of the other characters dishes are what really gives the show some of it's funnier moments. Characters or judges end up eating a particular dish and are sent off into a magical dream like state of delight where they describe the amazing dish they are consuming. It's an interesting way to showcase how each dish is made while adding a humorous twist to the scenario. Some of the scenes are rather suggestive but I wouldn't go so far as to call them all fan service, most of them definitely are, but depending on the dish characters can be sent on a journey through Spain on a moonlight gondola ride or get knocked out by a massive punch that comes from eating a particularly powerful dish. Some of the best scenes though come from Soma and his father's (Joichiro) "test" dishes which are typically horrible unagi meals combined with things like peanut butter or yogurt which turn the usual dream like states into a tentacle filled nightmare.
Food Wars! is not entirely Soma's show though as it features a number of interesting characters but it proves to be a double edged sword for the series. So many time shows add an abundance of characters to fill in time for the show but they do not have enough depth to them to make anyone genuinely interested in their story. This mainly concerns the group that Soma make friends with in his dorm, Yuki, Zenji, Shun, Ryoko, Daigo and Shojiall only exude one particular character trait to them hoping that will be enough for when they eventually come up in the story. They aren't bad characters but in the final arc when they're all in competition they each have a dish to present in order to build up tension that eventually flops. Other characters fall along these lines as well but the ones who do garner some attention are done so quite well.
Megumi is one of the two strong female counterparts to Soma in the series and a character who starts out the series a nervous little wallflower that is about to flunk out of Totsuki. This is until Soma comes along and helps her along the way and by the end of the first season she becomes a strong standing character on her own. Erina is the exact polar opposite of Megumi however and she sits upon the school's Council of Ten cooking group that features the schools top chefs. She despises Soma from day one for not being from a prestigious line of chef's but his food is still able to make her go into her own unique dream state when eating his food which is vile to her because she could never like someone whose food is so unrefined. Erina's relationship with Soma is an obvious one to say the least but their character nonetheless have great chemistry with one another and the constant turmoil Soma causes for her is just another great example of Food Wars! humor.
Good:
- Soma is an excellent lead with insane cooking skills
- The food left me drooling and probably would have sent me into the same "foodgasm" states like the other characters
- A handful of other notable side characters like Megumi and Erina
Bad:
- The food explosion scenes are largely fan service and will make or break the show for people
- Many characters only feature one redeeming attribute and it's not enough to invest your time with them
Scully Rating: 8.5 out of 10
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