This is the first time I've bothered to write a review, but I think I'll try to make a habit of it moving forward. I finished watching the 2nd season of the anime, and decided to check out the manga - I'm quite glad I did. I gave the anime an 8/10, but I was quite impressed at how the story evolved once I picked up the manga.

Story - 9/10:

My main qualm with the anime was that the food battles themselves took up too much of the plot, and often bogged down a bit. I get that Shokugeki literally means food wars/battles, but I really felt like the Autumn Elections arc went a little overboard in that regard. Time spent with the characters interacting was a pleasure, and watching the relationships develop, but the story itself seemed to stagnate a bit.

That all changes once Erina's father enters the picture. I don't want to spoil anything, other than to say that the story really picks up speed. There's a lot of forward momentum, and it seems as though the author learned from previous mistakes, as the food battles are much better utilized moving forward - they retain impact by not being overused, and they're not as long and drawn out.

Art - 9/10:

I'm not much of an art critic. I would generally rate most manga as being pretty high in the art category. The character models look great, and the food dishes are interesting (although in black and white they lose a lot of their realism and impact as compared to the anime).

Character - 10/10:

I'll admit I'm leaning forward a little with a full 10/10 score here - I'm anticipating where things are going as much as what we've read to date. But the main characters - Souma, Erina, Megumi - are very nicely fleshed out. They have real problems and interesting personalities. Relationships between characters develop in realistic ways. It's hard to go into too much depth without major spoilers, but I was impressed with the way that the characters were handled, as compared to most shounen manga/anime I've consumed. I especially like the depth given the secondary characters in the story - Alice, Ryo, Souma's dad, Nikumi, Hayama, Jun, Gin, Shinomiya, etc. The author does a better job than most stories at breathing life into characters who aren't the real drivers of the plot.

Enjoyment - 10/10:

This is an easy score. I ripped through the full manga in a few days after having finished the anime. It was a pleasure to read. Anytime I can't put a book down, that's an easy 10 from me. My only complaint is that now I have to wait week to week to keep reading :(

Overall - 9/10:

Like I said, I feel like the story stagnates a bit around the Autumn Elections arc, but that the author learned from that and really tightened up the writing moving forward. There's still a bit of room for improvement, but I have very high expectations as the story continues. The manga is full of fun, some humour, some drama, some disappointment, some feel good moments, and even a few teases of romance. The focus on food and cooking is an interesting switch from usual themes, but it's really not that integral to the overall story (you could easily swap "cooking school" out for pretty much any other random profession and tell the exact same story).

I would definitely recommend this story.