Shokugeki no Souma

"How can a cooking show be this based?"

Now, now, that's what we readers always ask ourselves about this manga in particular, right?

It's incredible how enjoying a manga we presume it's bad can be. Our first reaction after recommending a cooking manga to a friend is always the same, we are greeted with a "That's lame, bro, I can make my spaghetti".

You are that friend right now, right?

Well, this is not your usual spaghetti. It's an epic spaghetti. Complemented with an art unrivaled in this genre. But I know that's not enough. Well, you have an alpha male main character as well, that pumps more blood up your brain than your average shounen main character. What's your excuse?

True, it is a cooking manga, but it will leave you speechless, since a kebab burger will have more impact in you than a character death ever did.

There are those boring times that we experience in our lives. Leading us to try new things, may it be funny or serious or just plain something we want to do, and those experiences will give us a learning or two. I had two or more of those moments in my life, and what i did during one of those times was browse a random manga in a manga hosting site. And there i found a shimmering shining diamond. A manga titled Shokugeki no Souma.

Story: 9/10

The story is quite simple really, the protagonist, Souma Yukihira, has a father that has a world renowned culinary arts skill, known by high people from throughout the world. But is just running a Specialty of the day restaurant. One day Souma's father decided to work abroad as requested by a friend, resulting to the closing of their restaurant. Souma is now sent to a very prestigious high school where the sons and daughters of japan's top restaurants are enrolled.
To keep the spoilers out of this review i recommend that you read the manga because i like to preserve the excitement on souma's conquests. BTW, this is an ecchi manga. Additional points.

Art: 9/10

The art was magnificent. The ingredients being used, they were somewhat detailed but not THAT detailed, otherwise I'll give a 10. The drawings are clean, and may i say "those meats." If you know what i mean.

Character: 10/10

Hey, i never had these feeling since yakitate japan and mister ajikko. The characters are well thought in my point of view. Unique skills, Unique Background stories, Unique Goals, and Unique Traits and any other Unique things that you can think of.

Enjoyment: 10/10

Are you kidding? It's a shame that i could only give a 10/10 to describe this feeling I'm having right now. This would be one of the greatest anime if this would be adapted to be one(I have high hopes for that.). Talking about this manga having high potentials to be adapted as an anime, i had second thoughts if i would continue reading this or not. Mainly because i don't wanna spoil myself and decrease the enjoyment of watching an anime, knowing what will happen in each upcoming episode. So yeah, this is quite an exciting piece of work.

Overall: 9/10

WHAAAAAAT?! 9/10 but reading you're reviews on each sector seemed that it was getting a 10/10?!

If a gave it a 10/10 then there would be no room for improvement. Overall I fell in love with this manga. To the point where i didn't want to spoil myself because i somehow feel that this will have an anime adaptation soon. A must read to all ages(Lol, jk 18+). This manga also gave me this weird thing called, "Inspiration". Much like Yakitate Japan and Mister Ajikko, the reactions of the judges gives a good laugh. I now leave this place deciding whether to continue reading this or not. This feeling, Tasukete XD. Anyways, This Manga is highly recommended to everyone. This will somehow boost your self confidence. Don't believe me? Read it for yourself >:)

*Adds: that Tsundere Erina Nakiri.

Shokugeki no Soma Review
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Abstract:

Shokugeki no Soma is about a young boy named Soma Yukihira who embarks on a journey refine his own cooking and surpass his father. To further this his father sets him to join Totsuki Culinary Academy stated as the best in Japan. Soma joins this academy, and to which is where the story takes off. The context of the academy allows Soma to not only meet people his age whom are even more talented than him but also helps him grow outside his own world called is restaurant. For the first 130 chapters boasts several well-written character arcs which not only build Soma as a chef but also establishes the cutthroat education of Totsuki and each of the side characters place within their “Generation”. However, after that the manga changes direction and tries to become something it was not by introducing a villain with little relevance in an academic setting turning the once enjoyable manga into a repetitive battle where the same tropes that once made battles amusing are overused and loses impact. The author in the early chapters of the manga says “Shokugeki no Soma is a cooking manga”, oh the irony. Worse yet the last arc of the manga introduces an event worse villain whom regresses ALL OF THE progression the characters gained the previous particularly one and destroys the flow of the manga reducing it to a bore to read.
[If you want to know more keep reading otherwise just read the first 130 chapters (best parts) but if you are willing to tolerate half decent writing read up to chapter 263 but after that relish in an arc of absolute disappointment, read at your own headache.]

Story:

At the start of the story we are presented with the way cooking will be presented in the manga through a short yet hilarious (First impression) cooking battle where reactions are greatly exaggerated. SnS does this well as it establishes what makes it special and at the same time foreshadows the cooking battles in the future. Here we see Soma’s desire to win against his father through competition building the goal of the series. Then we are placed in a school context called Totsuki Culinary Academy where students are placed in a cutthroat education system where can be expelled for small mistakes and challenges. This not only builds how chefs in this world are created but also explains provides an incentive for students to perform at their best. At this point of the story we are introduced to Erina Nakiri whom acts as the main heroine of the story. Possessing a special talent which places her leagues ahead from many individuals in the story. Doing so establishes her role as a rival to Soma and gives him another goal. Furthermore, her role also expands to the building of the Elite 10, giving Soma further reason to progress as a student. This small arc establishes the direction of the SnS and gives plenty of room for us to see Soma’s growth by giving him incentives to build a foundation where he will build his own style of cooking.

Characters/Story:

Skipping ahead we are then introduced to a new cast of characters whom hold prodigious talents within the same generation as Soma. Each character has their own aspirations to give them a reason to be at Totsuki and have individual styles and which make them memorable and unique. We see our cast put through rigorous education to prepare them as chefs, seeing each struggle with different tasks yet overcoming with their own git. Through this we are presented with the theme of hard work and not being afraid to fail, building a moral message for readers. This theme is combined with subtle foreshadowing builds a sense of camaraderie in our cast. Being described as “Diamonds in the rough sharpening each other”, that by clashing with each other they can become better at their cooking and with each other. [For me it humbled the story making it nothing more than friends going to school and becoming better and eventually becoming chefs and achieving their dreams, this was why I liked it so much.]

The amount of potential here is astounding with so much room to grow for every character unfortunately this is where everything begins to slowly break apart. From here we are introduced to a villain character, now while a villain character is not bad thing, but for the context already built this type of villain WAS A BAD THING. This villain jumps into the story immediately with 0 foreshadowing and felt completely like an asspull, this is furthered with their backstory with Erina as a complete douche to give us a reason not to like them, while this can be argued that it is an understandable backstory, I feel it is a poorly thought out one as it turns into Erina a tragic character and the only reason to sympathise with her is because of her backstory and not her own character. I can point several more reasons to why the villain is a poor choice. Firstly, the context built up contained students working together improve their cooking through each to other within a school environment of cooking, introducing a villain not only compromises that context but changes the kind of story being told. Secondly, while a villain is certainly an aspect to build tension the story, why go so far as to use simple actions abuse and assault to make them seem bad. Here is probably the main reason why I felt this villain was not necessary, they limited growth to only a few characters and just pushes all the other characters out of the window because the focus is changed to defeating this villain. Eventually they undergo a several cooking battles to get rid of the villain and over the course of this battle, they become extremely repetitive. Using what was once an entertaining trope used to describe flavour became overused and diminished the value of victory. It was used so much and eventually stopped being entertaining to see. [For me I got so bored it, I just started skipping chapters to the end to see the result].

Now at the end of the story, all development goes out the window. The last arc of this manga just destroys the little amount of development that the last arc made and regresses it to absolute mush. The characters backtrack on their development and the introduction of a new villain completely breaks this manga. This villain not only regresses any past development but also cripples any potential for future ones. It is because of this character this manga fell so hard, their purpose is meaningless, in conjunction with background villains with no purpose other than fodder to build empty tension. There was 0 depth to their character, motivation to make them look like a big ass prick. Throughout halfway of this arc I wanted the old villain back because this new one made them look like a decently written villain. I want to go into more depth but for the sake of time ill just end it here. The ending did not even clarify anything, there was no proper closure or anything. No ambiguity just a rushed ending arc to show that the manga was cancelled.

Art:
At the end all I can say is that the art is the only redeeming feature of this manga. At the beginning the art was good but towards the end the designs and artwork for food all really stood out. Saeki Shun (artist) is a talented artist and certainly deserves praise for his work, his details in proportions when drawing the reactions to food really stand out when he uses shading to manipulate the “lighting” of the scene and to indicate expression. The food drawn is well designed with great attention to detail. It’s such a shame to see his talent wasted towards the end especially when his art really grew then.

Enjoyment:

As you can tell by this long review, I once really loved this manga. 2 years ago, when I first started to get into it, I was so enthralled by this manga because it had something I rarely find in any other manga, characters whom I became fond of. I was surprised how diverse cooking was and its ability to connect with everyone because of different styles. Particularly, Soma interesting to me because he was not overpowered in talent but in wit and spirit. He did not need to worry about loss because he welcomed failure and learnt from it and when he needed to be practical, he could think for himself. I loved the manga for this and had it been handled differently I would have called it my favourite manga of all time. But from halfway to the end the manga became boring to read yet I still stuck around because it rubbed off on me not to give up on it. The first villain was fine because I admit I did enjoy it however towards the end when the last arc was made, I started to get burnout because it became so repetitive and did not have that same depth it once had.

Nonetheless it was a worthwhile experience and I did enjoy it while it lasted.
Score
Story: 5/10 (first 130 chapters), 6/10 (131-263), 2/10 (264-315).
Art: 8.5/10
Characters: 6/10,
Enjoyment: 6/10
Overall Score: 5/10

Spoilers Ahead!

Here's a perfect example of a series that didn't knew how to end.

Shokugeki no Souma is a cooking manga with some culinaries battles between all the characters. Those battles are called "Shokugeki". What's interesting with those battles is the rivalty of the characters who are friends between each others. Excepet at some moments, Shokugeki no Souma doesn't have a villain. The story is actually not that bad, the manga is well-drawn and the character are pretty interesting for most of them.The shokugeki are pretty interesting and sometimes stressful with some interesting recipes. In general, Shokugeki no Souma was a pretty fun manga and i enjoyed it So why should Shokugeki no Souma be rated this bad if i enjoyed it this much?

Well, it's because what i'm talking about here is only the first 250 chapters or so. After the "régiment de cuisine", the story become boring for two reason. First, because every main goal of every characters are accomplished so the story doesn't look engaging or interesting anymore, in other words, it's pointless. Second, because you're gratified with some useless twist with another strong cook who seems bad but he's not bad and by the way erina is in depression but you don't know why and souma fight the bad guy and he win and he's fight erina and the story ends. Wait... The story ended! The 60 or so last chapters of Shokugeki no souma are pointless, uninteresting and have some absurd and awful end so please stop after the "régiment de cuisine" because it's the best part of this manga who seemed great but ended badly.

I feel that Shokugeki no Souma could have been so much more.

I do feel like the art was always extremely strong, and only got better, and I do respect Saeki Shun as a result of that, and I don't mean to bash his partner writer in any way, but I do feel like the story was suffering the problem of getting too samey, with the same story structure being used over and over with only just enough difference to keep dedicated readers from dropping it.

I think that there's a possibility that the very concept and structure of the shokugeki is the main problem here. The shokugeki replaces the battle in a traditional shonen battle manga, but it has certain rules and a structure (also owing to the fact that they're cooking, and the cooking itself is all real world techniques) that make it not just unclear who is winning at any one point (meaning there's no ebb and flow to the "battle"), but also make it so that it's 90% certain who is going to win as soon as they finish cooking and decide who is going to get their food judged first. It used to be of the opinion that the best current shonen battle manga was Shokugeki, but it's pretty clear at this point that the shokugeki lacks a lot of the features that a real fight has.

It's also just overusage of the tournament arc. Normally, an infrequent tournament arc is a good way to instantly generate hype but when every single arc ends in a tournament and a final showdown, and every battle inside said tournament is a shokugeki, that's a lot of extra rigidity that makes the story feel repetitive.

Despite all that, I think that it was good for a very long time, actually, but it did feel like all the structural problems were wearing it down by the last arc. You shouldn't be reading Shokugeki no Souma, and be thinking to yourself, "oh, not another shokugeki"

Every time I think this manga is going to die down, it reads my mind and gives me exactly what I'm craving. The art is fantastic, the drama paced with miraculous precision, and the characters given life that transcends stereotype characters until you just fall in love with them. This manga gets better and better with each chapter, yet it's one that makes you want to read it all from the beginning each time something is added.

The only cons I can see is the tendencies to throw in ecchi moments... though I'm not quite sure that's a con since it's done so tastefully.

It's one of the few manga to reach my "buy list" before the series is complete.

I am now all caught up with Shokugeki no Soma also know as food wars. It's basically a sports manga but instead of a sports the high schoolers face each other in cooking competitions (the version of which they bet something is called a Shokugenki). I first started watched the anime (which is coming out when I write this) which I thoroughly enjoyed and then after I got into manga decided to stop watching the anime and to just read the manga. That said, the anime is quite awesome with excellent music, visuals, and adaptation of what happens when people eat tasty food. Even so, having to wait a whole week to learnt what happens next is pretty annoying. Food Wars is a manga with a great sense of momentum meaning the vast majority of the time I wanted to keep reading to see what was going to happen next. I want to see how the character's deal with the situation, I wanted to see who will win the cooking competitions which is not clear and often quite surprising. I wanted to see what dish is going to be made, and I wanted to see what kinds of crazy analogies the judges use to describe the dish. It's all very enjoyable, filled with a great sense of competition especially coming from the battle analogies and the contrast threat of expulsion (which is the equivalent of death in this manga). It's also occasionally laugh out loud funny especially when it breaks the forth wall like when their is an intense ping pong match and there are boxing that says remember, this is actually a cooking manga. It was a awesome read and I look foreword to future chapters. 10/10.

"Look how they massacred my boy" - Vito Corleone, The Godfather & T-Hawk, Reading this series every week.

Shokugeki No Souma has been a staple of Weekly Shonen Jump for over 6 years now and at times it sat near the top of the mountain as one of the most unique ongoing shonen series out there that took your typical battle manga and flipped it on it's head. It seems however that the best days of this manga have long gone by and what we are left with is something that is a shell of it's former self, begging to just be put out of it's misery.

The problem's arising here is not one isolated to this series but in fact often shared with many other series under the same publication and within the industry. Just like in the fall of Bleach or the consistent escalation of villains and power in Dragon Ball and just about 80% of battle manga. The problem with Shokugeki No Souma is that it keeps on going on and on. To be able to consistently write a consistently entertaining series for years all the while under the pressure of the weekly demands of Shonen Jump is extremely difficult to do and it's not surprising to see author Yuto Tsukuda fall into the pitfalls so many before him have done.

So just how has this once new titan of Weekly Shonen Jump fallen?

- STORY -
The story of Yukihira Souma was once quite simple. Our protagonist Yukihira Souma runs a diner with his father of which he has near daily has cooking battles with to determine who is the better chef. Souma has never once defeated his father in these cooking battles and due to his father is worried that Souma will never grow as a chef. So in order for our protagonist to grow to the level where he might some day defeat his father and be worthy of running his own diner, he is enlisted to become a student at the most elite culinary school in Japan where quite similar battles take place, titled "Shokugekis".

That was it and of course during the story our protagonist meets friend and foe alike. Now this may seem very generic and boring minus the cooking part but that's because Shokugeki No Souma seemingly purposefully followed the generic trends of your average battle manga and flipped them on it's head with it's battle system. The "Shokugeki" is a genius concept because cooking is not a life or death subject so that means that a lot (but not all) battles in this battle manga don't have physical connotations but instead emotional ones. Pride, hopes, dreams are what is often at stake here, there are times where there are things such as expulsion from the school on the line but those are far less interesting then simply having our protagonist and side characters revealing their motivations and ideals through non-lethal clashes, which means whether they win or fail, we still get to see how they are affected by the results of these clashes.

But here lies the problems with the manga in it's current state, more specifically the last few arcs. There was only so many times that Tsukuda could write the same characters in the same battles with the same motivations and same ideals. So in come the introduction of newer characters with abilities that surpass our protagonist simply because we need someone new for our protagonist to eventually beat. These new characters are very hit or miss but whether we love them or not is regardless but when they're beaten they often seem to disappear off the face or the earth or become just another side character. All the while our protagonist's ability seems to reach levels of a god despite not having even finished his first year in the academy yet. Side characters, once with their own dreams are reduced to commentary, villains turn good just because we have a new villain who is somehow worse and all of the sudden people go from actual cooking techniques to using "spice chainsaws" and that last one isn't a joke.

- ART -
This is where Shokugeki no Souma has shined and continued to do so in spite of the decreasing quality of everything else within the series. Shun Saeki has done excellent with the series and has brought exceptional amounts of life into nigh every panel. One should prepare for a watering mouth at the sight of a singular panel of the food in Shokugeki no Souma, as it's often more appealing than the real thing.

Character designs are so entrancing and unique that despite the character's often short shelf life of appearances within the manga they are always immediately recognizable upon any reappearance and has lead to a cast that is extremely lovable based on the individuality of their design alone and the motions of their often ridiculous actions whilst taking part in shokugeki are illustrated to perfection and usual hilarity.

It can however be said that Shokugeki No Souma perhaps on occasion a little too far into the ecchi portion of the series and illustrations leave little to the imagination. However on the flip side of that, it is not just the girls of Shokugeki No Souma that receive such treatment so the paradoxical nature of the series towards your average Shonen manga is still left intact.

- CHARACTER -
This will be kept brief as it's very similar to the story section of this review but Shokugeki No Souma suffers once more from the same problems most shonen manga does if it runs for any extended period of time. We are introduced to characters that are fleshed out with their own ambitions, backstory, etc. Then they are shoved to the backline in favor of our protagonist and his love interests. People that once were intrigued the reader to wanting more appearances now offer little more than running commentary as they haven't been awarded the same astronomical power boosts that our protagonist has.

Another thing to note about the characters of the series are the villains. Understandable and interesting when they were fellow students who resorted to cheap tactics to advance their culinary skills and therefore contradicting the ideals of Yukihira Souma, however by advancing Souma to a point beyond the academy so quickly, we are left with Tsukuda introducing villains simply for them to be beaten because Souma has already surpassed anyone remotely interesting. Villain comes in, has no motivation other than going against our protag, uses some ridiculous new cooking technique that Souma has never seen before, Souma wins and will use their technique in the future, repeat. Congrats villain, either disappear or join the commentary booth.

- ENJOYMENT -
As you can probably tell with the tone of this review, their was love for this series in my heart at one point and a genuine excitement for every chapter. That love has been lost to say the least and any interest to be found in the series, it's story or characters have waned. The initial arcs are worth reading and for the most part fun, engaging and interesting. However it would be unwise to invest yourself in a new series if when you catch up with it you are only left with disappointment and a bitter taste in your mouth.

Shokugeki No Souma was great. Shokugeki No Souma was enjoyable. Shokugeki No Souma IS average. Shokugeki No Souma IS tedious.

- CONCLUSION -

Looking at Shokugeki No Souma and all I can see is an author who is struggling under the break neck format of Weekly Shonen Jump, desperate to just get this story over with as quickly as possible. It has been a long time since a chapter that could be deemed undoubtedly satisfying and if it wasn't for the efforts of artist Shun Sakei, their would be little to no merit at continuing with this series. This series is a sick dog, reflected in it's sales and decline in the ranks of Shonen Jump.

I'm just waiting for the day where Weekly Shonen Jump tells us all that this sick dog can't be saved.

- SCORE -
Story - 3/10
Art - 9/10
Character - 3/10
Enjoyment - 3/10
Overall - 5/10

I see that the other reviews aren't that positive but don't mind if I do:

Art is perfect. However, the part where the manga REALLY shines, are characters. Some people aren't happy with the recent development but after almost 300 chapters of couse someone will drop it. Personally this manga is the absolute #1 one best thing I've ever read and invested myself into, so if you are wondering whether to read this - of course you should it's a god damn masterpiece.

I have one problem: The ending is a bit rushed. I don't like that they skipped some battles so I've been wondering whethet to give it a 10 or a 9. Personally, it's a 10, but you need to read the Le Dessert special chapter.

As I said the best thing about this manga are the interesting side characters. There are a LOT of them mind you, so not everyone gets a lot of screen time, but I never felt that a character was wasted, they always achieved something important. Even the villains are great, Tsukasa Eishi is imo one of the best written characters (or antagonists?) in manga as a medium. I'm not that fond of the boss of the Central arc since he doesn't really cook, but I can't say that I don't respect him as a character. And then the charming Asahi - perfect villain imo.

I've been reading this manga for like 5 years and it really gave me a lot, so I recommend it and I hope

Shokugeki no Souma, or in English, Food Wars!, is, obviously, about students working their way up the food chain in the cooking industry. Centred in Toutsuki Academy, a prestigious cooking school with only a small group left to graduate after the gruelling examinations throughout the three years in high school. The concept of the story’s premises are definitely fascinating, in my opinion. In fact, both the manga and the anime brought up many interesting facts about the culinary world, that I would say was an educational experience for me. Thinking about that makes me wonder how much research did the authors Tsukuda Yuuto and Morisaki Yuki went through to have the materials for the last 264 chapters of the story. So to cut to the chase, I really enjoyed this particular manga and hope to see the anime doing as good as well.

Let’s go a little further into this manga without spoilers. As is common, in my opinion, with all ecchi genre works done in the creator’s industry, it is there just for fan-service. Most of the time, adding playful sexual scenes or actions made no sense with the story, thus unnecessary, and if done too much, becomes an overkill. However, Shokugeki no Souma was a little different, for though the concept for the ecchi aspects of the story may be ridiculous, it did not feel like an overkill. It blended with the story, giving it a purpose, instead of other series like High School of the Dead or Maken-Ki!, which needed some panty shots whenever they could. So yes, the ecchi aspects of Shokugeki no Souma was agreeable, more so that it’s a relief it didn’t move to the rating of “Mild Nudity.”

The story arcs itself and the characters are interesting as well, I would go as far as to say pleasant to the viewers. Yukihira Souma has a very care-free style to others, but is serious about cooking to the heart, more so that losing to a shokugeki hurts him but he won’t let it show and continue encouraging his friends. The fact that the protagonist never give up; pushes on; perhaps a bit comedic here and there is one of the many great aspects of a hero, which is also common to other manga and anime. His relationships with the members of Kyokusei and his rivals, such as Aldini, Mito, Hisako and Nakiri Erina are comedic and moving to the opposing party. Even though they were rough towards Yukihira, he never appears to be hurt and either plays dumb or busy to hear, but in the end, Yukihira pushes everyone to their goals and to quote a line from Tadokoro Megumi: “He is the centre of the vortex of Toutsuki Academy.” That is drive of a hero I much enjoy watching. A talent to work his way to the top. Comedic and could be perceived as oblivious to things around when he is not.

Another great aspect to Shokugeki no Souma that really attracted me was the art done by Saeki Shun. I find it simple, but artistic in a sense, unlike some manga series, perhaps Ajin, where the characters may be a bit out of proportion but who am I to judge? My manga/anime artworks are also out of proportion. Saeki’s art style of the characters and even the food was something I much admire, so there’s that too.

Now that chapter 264 brought the Regiment de Cuisine to a close, it is easy to see the ultimate arc of the story. However, I’m a bit curious as to how Tsukuda and Morisaki will continue from here on out. With this, I’d rate this manga with an overall of 9/10, the only thing that perhaps left me desiring about is perhaps Erina and Yukihira’s relationship. They’ve placed so many implications throughout the series, it kind of made me hope for a romance aspect to their relationship.

I was waiting to start the manga after the conclusion of the first season of the anime but when they postponed the last episode, I said "WTF.. I am not gonna wait another week!!"

That was just because how amazing the anime was. And the Shokugeki no Soma manga doesn't disappoint in the least bit. Everything in the manga is just as amazing as it was in the anime(Well, I would still prefer watching anime to manga).

What makes Sholugeki no Soma manga such a success is that it has just the right amount of humor which is balanced well by the intense moments during the food battles, supported by a slight amount of ecchi to please the lusty readers.

Story - 9.5/10

The story to say in one word is "unique". Yea, students participating in school competition is nothing new but what makes the plot of SnS unique is that it's all about food yet the battles are just as thrilling as those flashy shounen, if not more. Its probably the best manga to come out in quite a while(OP fans, dont kill me). The story simply sucks you into the world of food porn that is Shokugeki no Soma.

Art - 10/10

The art of this manga is simply brilliant. The character designs are unique, the food is drawn excellently and it simply entrances you.

Character - 9.5/10

The characters are one of the strong point of this manga. What makes Shokugeki no Soma so much more interesting and stand out is the different types of characters that are involved. The cast is massive as you would expect from such a manga but they are all different. So many of them coming from different countries just makes it even more interesting to see their interactions.

Enjoyment - 10/10

I finished the entire manga in 1 day. I dont think I need to tell you how much I enjoyed it since if it wasnt so interesting and amazing, one wouldnt be able to read so many chapters in one go without skipping anything.

Overall - 10/10

It's a manga I recommend to everyone. More so since there aren't a of good mangas that even give Shokugeki no Soma a challenge right now. Definitely try it out. You could watch the first season of the anime and start from chapter 60 from the manga.

There are 3 things I dislike; Ecchi, Harem and Erina-Sama.

Despite that what made me read this manga, I wanted to read a cooking manga and that crazy, homoerotic one just wasn't hitting the right spot unfortunately. So I decided to keep an open mind and read this one.

I'm going to keep it short, and just say I was pleasantly surprised. The focus in this story is food and glory. Simply loving food isn't good enough, you have to be excellent about making it. Ergo you have a high school entirely focused on shaping the future of the gourmet world via food contests and basically being graded for every egg you boil.

I should mention for anyone like me who is averse to Ecchi and Harem that there is NOT a shortage of it. It is simply that there are enough interesting characters and excitement within this story to counter it. Plus there's some Free-style fan-service here and there too, didn't hurt. ;)

The main character is a dedicated young teenager who loves nothing more than to cook, and to be better at it than his peers. He's definitely a 'cool' kind of character, almost never flustered, but always ready to help his friends.

I should mention that I usually like my Tsunderes. So I'm not sure if Erina is even classed as one, just beware of her, she's evil, even her soft-spot is EVIL! Even the EVIL people are less evil than her. Excuse me. What I meant to say is that she is the only thorn in the rose. (A rotted, blunt, useless thorn)!!!

SNS was a medium work with nothing more, but with time progressed and transcended in quality and only improved from the bow of Azami, but there was no content and the author wanted to continue making the terrible arc of Blue realizing the error resolved to finish the work of nothing even not knowing what to do and with that gave in what gave, a horrible arc of super powers and cooks of the underworld after an endless end and an announcement of a spin off to finish the work, as soon as the creator nor knows what will do and needs a little time, well SNS is an incredible work that destroyed everything that built in the final arc.

Shokugeki no Souma was that underdog that I wanted to see succeed real badly. I knew it wasn't the best that shounen had to offer nor was it super groundbreaking by any means, but it had a lot of spark and charisma from that first few volumes that made me really root for it.

It's a genuine surprise to see Shokugeki end so soon. The amount of set-up and world-building that Shokugeki was initially laying out in the first half of the manga seemed like it was supposed to stick around for a couple of years longer. However, now that it's concluded I can safely say that this was one of the goofiest and most self-destructive last half of a manga I've ever read. If you thought the initial beginning of Shokugeki was stupid then you have not seen a damn thing until the last half of this manga. People always joke about Kubo Tite and Akira Toriyama not having any idea where they're going when they write a story but this manga somehow blows all of that shit out of the water.

You get random elements of magic thrown in when a character can steal another chefs techniques by touching their knife, characters who's blessings somehow makes other characters around them lose their clothes when they acknowledge a dish, a character that uses fucking TNT and sledgehammers to bake cakes, clown and drag queen cooks, etc. The power escalation is actually mind blowingly hilarious and had me raise an eyebrow with every plot twist and new element introduced in the manga, chapter 293 is literally only one step down from being a looney tunes sketch. I haven't felt genuine tension in wondering if Souma could beat another character in a Shokugeki for a solid 100 or so chapters. Every villain after Azami is just a braindead one-dimensional moron that thinks every chef besides them sucks until they lose and say "b-but how.." The whole arrogant villain act really becomes tiring in this manga, it wasn't even good with Azami. I've never seen a manga destroy itself this hard in 40 chapters like this before. All the hype moments of character tension and old things that were teased like the foreign schools competing or Souma returning to the diner is just immediately forgotten. So many loose ends are just straight up ignored by the ending that I actually end up preferring Naruto and Bleach's shitty "everything is happy and good" endings. Every side character and major plot point just gets dicked for a cliffhanger that leaves everything up to the imagination. I'm hoping the epilogue chapters will redeem the story at least a little bit but I'm not even optimistic about that.

As much shit as I can give Shokugeki, at least I was never bored watching this shit storm unfold. It's like watching an intermission at some sports event where clowns start jumping on trampolines and hitting each other with toy hammers. It's really out of place and stupid but you can't stop watching it. This definitely isn't worth finishing if you've already dropped it at some point, but if you're still craving a good cooking manga then Dungeon Meshi is pretty nice. Sad to see this series send off like this but at least the mad train ride is over.

Shokugeki no Souma is a story about a mainstream boy who is trying to get through the toughest and most famous cooking school in Japan. Yukihira Souma has a dream of becoming a professional chef and surpass his father at cooking.

Story -10: Right now, the story is amazing. I've literally fell in love with this. It's no doubt one of the most unique and groundbreaking mangas I've read before. It mixes in lots of comedy, adventure, drama, school life, and even a little romance just do finish the cake! The story really reminds me of Prince of Tennis, Naruto, and Iron Chef all in one. It's really a great story.

Art - 9: Artwork looks great. Very nice and clean look to it. Serious and playful at the same time. Great mixture!!

Characters - 10: These characters are magnificent. They're loving and challenging. Souma is relaxed, but serious when need be. He's strong, faithful to his friends, and loves everyone. Best of all, he never backs down from a challenge. These characters are excellent.

Enjoyment - 10: The novel is just great from the start. I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far and the new chapters are no exception to that. Outstanding performance so far!

Overall - 9: Even though I gave a lot of the previous criterion 10s, the story is still very new and doesn't have a lot of chapters yet. It is updating at a pretty good rate though. However for the time being, I'll keep it at a 9 since it's still young. If the manga continues just as it is now and sticks to the story line, the will easily be a 10. I strongly recommend this to anyone who's looking for something to read. I know some people this is ecchi but so far, I haven't really seen a huge ecchi theme. Sometimes the characters get all flustered up eating the food and it is portrayed like sex, but really I think thats just humorous. Don't read this if you're just looking for a good ecchi theme book. It's not :|

Yukihara Souma is a shonen hero in every sense of the name. He was holding a knife since he was aged 3 (bad anime dad trope check) and was routinely "helping" his school dinner ladies all through middle school. Cooking is a part of Souma's very existence it's only right that his one goal in life is to beat his mentor and become one of the greatest cooks who ever lived.

Story 9/10
Although centered around a very down to earth topic. Through a unique setting the story takes on an appeal that rivals the universes we've seen come out of shonen jump in the past. Using all the tricks both an ecchi and shonen reader can expect. It's funny and intense, and comes with an edge bordering on survival territory. Yet I feel that this manga will be very limited in its appeal if you want to laugh and jump around in excitement this is perfect. If you want a depth of emotion like sadness and rage then maybe this isn't the one for you (but don't outright ignore it). Just try to remember "Shokugeki no Souma is a cooking manga"

Art 9/10
There is only so much you can do with black and white. Especially when you're writing about something that requires a certain degree of detail. Yet with an array of colour chapters to indulge in and the amazing detail throughout it becomes very hard to mark it down for it. The writer uses a style that truly captures the intensity of the work and that's all I can ask for. Plus it gets bonus points for including both male and female fan-service.

Character 10/10
This is where the manga truly is in a league of its own. There are so many amazing characters with their own: origins, personalities and desires. It is very difficult to find someone that is universally hated in this series because they all have strengths and weaknesses that anyone can relate to. From the awesome MC to his entourage of enemies and friends; the development of each is superbly thought out and though exaggerated feel incredibly realistic. One final note of perfection is how well each style of cooking reflects the personality of the character. from Nikumi's aggression as a meat chef to the Aldini brothers' speed and precision as Italian cooks.

Enjoyment 10/10
With all these superb elements it is very difficult not to enjoy this manga. I for one love it. It is an amazing epic that still has a few years worth of story left in it to keep me interested. (it's been 2 years and we're only half way through 1st year). With the anime adaption now well under way there is a lot to keep you going. It started out as a casual interest and turned into the highlight of my week in just a few chapters.

Overall 10/10
to quote one of the chapters. "I give you an A only because I don't have the authority to give you something higher". This manga has filled every possible desire I could have, so all it can do now is continue to impress and exceed my already bloated appetite for the series.

the manga tells the story of Yukihira souma who dreams of becoming a great chef in the restaurant of your family and overcome his father's skills, Yukihira jouichirou. but he ends up closing the restaurant to cook in europa.souma ends up in the elite culinary school in which only 10% can graduate with this Yukihira will face the most varied wonders in culinary battles in cruel '' Shokugeki ''! !!!

The manga has a theme which is quite rare nowadays "Food" and "Cooking" with this may be hard to please some people but "shokugeki in Souma" managed to leave the nice manga and fun to read mainly by the easy way that they explain the issues cooking (which can be difficult for people who do not understand any of it).

The manga art and amazing and mesmerizing taken by Tosh (an artist hentai XD) Mostly the food incredibly detailed textures of what a sense of realism in the manga.

the manga and interesting to read and is not one of the greatest of Weekly Shonen jump but he rose to prominence and became one of the most famous (which is rare since it is a topic that has not really featured in the magazine) scenes in which the characters are not cooking are good also what does the manga oscillate in a theme as it also involves the lives of the characters.

Finally I recommend the manga, it is good for those who love manga with alternative themes.

This review is served without spoilers but with loads of criticism.

Shokugeki is one of the more popular Shonen Jump Mangas at the moment. That gives us an idea where the Japanese Manga industry is going towards, which does worry me.

Shokugeki is a simple battle Shonen template follower with good artwork and fan-service to keep its young readers wanting more. It makes the main/important characters look like bad_asses during these so-called food battles and thus periodically try injecting some undeserved hype into the Fandom. I feel it has put its fans in a sort of an illusion that it is the best thing ever (look at other reviews) which is surely not the case.

It's a simple story of a kid who goes to a culinary school, with all the things that I have mentioned above. It's a battle Shonen so expect bad guys popping up from time to time for battles. The characters are not well developed. I hate the main character as the writers have given me no reason to like him, nor any of the characters in general.

The only thing good about this manga is its art, which is sad. The plot is non-existent.

This Manga uses fan service and food as bait which is pathetic. I started reading this as I am a connoisseur (of sorts) of good food and also was curious to see why this was becoming popular. And being a completionist is the only reason that's kept me from dropping this series. I want it to conclude properly and as soon as possible, and then I might give it an extra point.

I feel that this series has put its fans under the illusion that is great, which I beg to differ. Hopefully, this review provides my perspective on it.

For now, I'm gonna give it a 5


EDIT :
Screw being a completionist, I've got better things to do. Gonna drop this :D

FOR THE SAKE OF SPOILERS, I WILL NOT BE PROVIDING SPECIFIC EXAMPLES FOR MY ARGUMENTS.

This manga was painful to watch develop.

You see, I'm not really qualified enough to talk about art and such but what I can talk about is how much this manga fell apart.

You see, I am VERY partial to this manga since it was indeed the first anime I had ever watched from the day it aired. It was my introduction into my now weeb life and what a wonderful one it was.

I remember watching the first season and simply being infatuated with how amazing everything seemed but sadly, this was not always the case.

The quality of the anime started to fall off, albeit the second season still was very good (in my opinion), but this drop-off which took place in the third season spurred me to check out the manga.

Previous to the first part of third season, I had promised myself that I would stick out the anime and would not read the manga since I wanted to finish what I had started in the year of 2015 but, my impatience soon outweighed my self-promises.

As I started to read the manga from chapter one, I was thrown back into the wonder of what I first encountered as a freshman in high school. With this manga came a flood of memories (the most prominent being: when a new episode released the discussions that my friends and I had shortly after watching) and many emotions. Some may say that I am blinded by sentiments but looking objectively, I do believe that Shokugeki no Soma is truly great in its first half. The true turn for the worst is marked by the second trial in the Promotion Exam.

After this event takes place, the manga loses all sense of good character development, good character and story arcs, good character relationships, and consistency which it so masterfully did in its earlier stages.

This dramatic deterioration is most likely what plummeted my ratings to where they stand now (Story: 2, Art: 9, Character: 2, Enjoyment: 1 = Overall: 4).

This is painful for me to write because of my emotional attachment to this manga (and it's anime) but I must be honest. Honestly, you should simply stop reading the manga once the time-skip takes place (Chapter 264).

After this time skip takes place is when the greatest disappointment also takes place. We are now introduced back into the world of Shokugeki no Soma, but this time, we are given the same feeling as if we were back at Chapter 1. For me at least, I felt as though the manga had reset and the Promotion Exams were merely a slip-up in the manga and it would steadily progress. With this time skip we are given hope of the original Shokugeki no Soma that we all know and love BUT, those feelings are quite quickly taken away.

A few chapters into this new arc and we can tell that the manga will never be the same. We know it will never return to its former glory but we press on because of the obligation to finish what we once loved, much like an old married couple's promise to live out their final days together although they no longer desire the others company.

In the latter half of the manga, it seems that the authors simply had given up on putting the same passion into each chapter as they had previously because of the dedicated fan base.

Character development got lazy, extremely lazy. We were fed the same facts and flashbacks over and over with shallow reasoning or shallow attempts at emotion. For me, this lead to characters becoming less and less attached to not only the manga, but to myself. I often caught myself skimming over long monologues which I had once carefully analyzed. The repetitiveness of the manga is mind-numbing.

In the first half of Shokugeki no Soma, character's actions are carefully thought through and logically consistent with their previous actions or decisions but in the latter half, all of this established story and logic falls apart. It falls apart not because it wasn't strong enough to hold itself together, but because things start to contradict themselves. There are many times in the latter half of this manga that I find myself questioning the characters and not being able to come up with logical reasons or examples as to why said action would occur. In the first half, I could quickly reason with myself as to why a decision was made the way it was or as to why an action had taken place.

But on top of all of this, the ending is by far the worst. I will not say any details but this ending single-handedly could have taken this manga from a 9 to a 5. The ending literally leaves an entire arc open-ended and the entire over-arching arc of the manga open. It is so bad it actually feels as if Shounen Jump got bored with the series, axed it, and told Yuto Tsukada and Shun Saeki to wrap it up somehow. The ending was beyond unsatisfying and my least favorite part about the series.

You see, the let down of this manga is one of the worst I have yet to experience (yes, I know My Hero Academia also is quite bad, so far, but I was never really attached to it to begin with). But, even in all of this disappointment, would I recommend reading this manga?

Yes, I would. The feelings cultivated from the first half of the story are priceless and something I will always remember.

Thank you for reading this long, ignorant review.

Shokugeki no Soma is a textbook case of a manga that lost itself along the way.

Somewhere along the line, the story stopped being about a cooking school and over-the-top villains came into picture and the manga became a hot mess after that.

After a very, very long arc with the first over-the-top villain, another one came into line, and by God, it's the worst character. Yeah, the worst character. Not the worst character in the manga. Not the worst character in WSJ mangas. Not the worst character in any manga. It's the worst character in any given story I've read.

This character ruined the power levels of the manga, helped Soma regress all his development as a chef, ruined Joichiro's character AND his status as the final boss, it's in the process of ruining Erina (as of chapter 289) and the whole story. There were people that hated the first over-the-top villain. I miss the first villain dearly.

It's such a pity. The art is top-notch, the cast is memorable and likeable (you know, when Tsukada bother to write about them), the story was really great for most of the part (even in the Central Saga, in my opinion).

When I read, Shokugeki no Soma weekly, it's like watching the Hidenburg being gulfed in fire. 'Oh, the Humanity", indeed.

One of my favorite mangas in the past, I don't recommend it to anyone by now. My grade isn't lower only because of the memory of greater times. I don't drop this clusterfuck because I've been reading it for so long... I'm too committed. At this point, I only care about the shipping aspects, and even then the fanfics are a better option than this once great manga. The only scenario I'd recommend someone to read Shokugeki no Soma is if they want to see the rise and fall of a title. If you want to read a good story, maybe consider reading until chapter 260 something, that should be enough. Or don't read it all.