First Impressions / Shokugeki no Souma

「龍は臥し、空へ昇る」 (Ryuu wa Fushi, Sora e Noboru)
“The Dragon Lies Down and Ascends the Skies”

I’ve been getting a lot of questions on ask.fm lately about food… and let me tell you first off – I’m actually not a good chef (*runs to hide in a corner). If I were to cook for myself every day, I’d probably be vegetarian and just bake a lot. My forte is definitely not on the stove so anything that goes in an oven is my go-to. That being said, I do go out to eat a lot and although I don’t have as a refined palette as Erina, I’ve probably dined out enough to tell you what’s worth trying or not. I also watch a lot of Food Network and cooking shows so that’s why I know what I know. I’m not pretentious enough to say that I don’t like fast food… I actually love fast food! I love fries, fried chicken, burgers, McDonald’s! (I love trying McDonald’s across the globe because it’s always different) and ice cream. I’d like to think that I know what’s worth your money and what you get value for so fast food is sometimes a good go-to meal for me. I say all this because curry is one of those things that I eat a lot of but never actually cook myself. My best friend used to prepare Malay curry for me and I only cook Japanese curry (out of roux blocks) at home so my knowledge of spices and homemade curry is limited. Since it’s a relatively affordable meal though, I go out to eat curry often and I’ve tried my fair share. There is a huge differentiation between the different Asian countries that produce their own variations and I think that probably originated from what spices they had available plus the taste palette of that country. It’ll be interesting to see how these contestants spice up curry (*hehe get it?) because I don’t think they’re making a specific type of curry but rather a fusion-style that enhances what each of the students are best at. Fish head curry? Bring it on! As someone that grew up eating the entire fish (head and all), I’m actually a huge fan of eating the head of a fish. There’s surprisingly a lot of meat on it and a lot of flavor comes from it if its fresh.

I can’t predict what the students are going to cook, but I can make a few predictions as to who advances onwards. Given that the audience (and myself) probably don’t even know all the characters contending, it’d be wrong to assume that only characters we recognize will advance. That said, I’ll go ahead and put down 4 names from each group who I think is most deserving (or likely) to make it past the preliminaries and why.

From group A:

  • Souma – Obviously. MC.
  • Ryou – We haven’t seen much of him yet so I think this is his chance to shine.
  • Akira – Being the one big rival for Souma this arc. I think we’ll see Souma and Akira square off during the Autumn Elections.
  • Shun – I had a hard time picking one more from this group but I thought I’d like to see more from Shun out of everyone else. He seems like your typical quiet boy that has a tale to tell.

    • From group B:

  • Megumi – Because, she’s pretty much the other MC. Come on!
  • Alice – Too much hype for her molecular gastronomy techniques for her not to make it.
  • Either Takumi or Isami – This one is a hard one because I don’t think both brothers would make it. I would love to see Isami advance but I think Takumi is the stronger chef (from what I’ve seen). Seeing Isami’s weight loss was incredible though! I wish I lost weight like that!
  • Either Hisako or Miyoko – Also another toss up because Miyoko is a new character that’s introduced on purpose but Hisako is Erina’s friend and has her back so… I dunno…

    • It’s definitely harder for me to pick group B because I think there’s a lot of tough contenders there and they all have great secondary character potential. Megumi and Alice have had a lot of focus recently and I think it’d be a waste not to have them advance. Megumi might lose later on due to the pressure, but at least she’s trying. Group A was easier for me to pick because there aren’t too many highly qualified individuals there that I see being standouts in the future. This will be a tough one and narrowing down to just 8 people in total will be devastating to see. Let’s see if they announce next week who is going to be moving on…and whether or not your guesses are right.

    Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: The beginning was rather fluffy, but then we see everyone broken into their groups and cooking! Group B has a lot of great second tier contenders. I think it’s harder to predict who will move on. Group A is a bit easier to guess… but I can always be proven wrong.

     

    Preview

    End Card

    20 Comments

    1. It’ll be interesting to see how these contestants spice up curry (*hehe get it?) because I don’t think they’re making a specific type of curry

      Nice one, Cherrie! lol (^o^)

      I can’t wait to find out how non-manga readers react to the results otherwise I have nothing else to say. J.C. Staff is handling this adaptation nicely.

      https://randomc.net/image/Shokugeki%20no%20Souma/Shokugeki%20no%20Souma%20-%2020%20-%20Large%20End%20Card.jpg
      The end card was cute. (*≧∀≦*)

      ichigo
      Reply

        2. Oh boy the latest chapters have been some of my absolute favorite stuff as well. I was stumped on how they’d follow up the autumn election and they did the best thing possible so far with the Show Spoiler ▼

          and the Show Spoiler ▼

          .
          So much has happened in just this one year and they’re still on 1st years. Can’t wait to see the intensity of the 2nd year things. I’d love to see some sort of international assignment where they go to Totsuki branch schools for international culturing.

          Kabble
          Reply

    2. Not sure if this qualifies as a spoiler, though it might lead you to exactly whether or not this person makes it into the autumn election main phase.
      Show Spoiler ▼

      But yeah, let’s just say that the autumn election is cray, fun, and intense in all the weird ways. Easily my favorite arc of the series so far and it’s actually had me more invested than a gross amount of all these other high intensity fighting supernatural anime.
      Cooking here is intense.

      Kabble
      Reply

    3. Also, finally determined where the season will end (assuming the creators don’t pull an AGK and resolve everything at the speed of light after following the manga strictly) and it’ll more than likely be the official naming of all 8 finalists..
      Thinking back…they ought to have made it 10 so we can get a rough elite 10 idea, but then again the 8 gives us the option to have ‘dream’ slots.

      Kabble
      Reply

      1. If I had to guess based on the most logical conclusion on the chapters the anime would end
        Show Spoiler ▼

        Crix
        Reply

    7. Just to help people keep it straight, in no particular order…

      Group A:
      Sōma Yukihara
      Ikumi Mito – Nikumi
      Ryō Kurokiba – Alice’s aid
      Akira Hayama – The guy with the super sense of smell
      Ryōko Sakaki – The chick with redish hair in Pole Star
      Zenji Marui – The glasses guy in Pole Star
      Shun Ibusaki – The guy in Pole Star whose eyes are always hidden by his hair

      Group B:
      Isami Aldini
      Takumi Aldini
      Megumi Tadokoro
      Alice Nakiri
      Yūki Yoshino – The blond, spirited girl in Pole Star
      Miyoko Hōjō – The chinese girl
      Hisako Arato – Erina’s aid
      Nao Sadatsuka – Erina’s stalker

      Krono
      Reply

    8. Not a word about judges and their discussions with Elite 10 members? We can see so clearly here just how much power Elite 10 have if even their weaker (7th and 9th) members have such contacts.

      brajt
      Reply

    10. Souma hasn’t had any good wins in a while (not counting the karage / hometown min arc that just finished): The shokugeki against Shinomiya-senpai was more or less a loss. Followed by barely scraping through the camp-breakfast challenge. And then a loss against his father (though that was to be expected).
      Now he’s asleep at the stove. Will it turn out like the breakfast challenge that ended the episode on a similar cliffhanger? This is one tough to predict anime.

      fAbs
      Reply

    11. This arc won’t be ending anytime soon. It took 2 episode to cover the karaage arc which was 4 chapters long, and there’s still another 10 chapters from his point so you won’t know who the final 8 are until episode 23 or so. But not to worry, the ride to the end will be epic 😀 Show Spoiler ▼

      Taiakun
      Reply

    12. Show Spoiler ▼

      Raiu
      Reply

    13. Oh my gosh, someone else who admits to liking McDonald’s. I always get strange looks whenever I mention to people that I actually like McDonald’s. My mother once told me I would’ve starved as a kid if not for Chicken McNuggets. Not that these are exactly things you’d want to be bragging about, but I stay in good shape via sports and the gym, so I’ve never seen indulging in some fast food as a bad thing.

      Rigelin
      Reply

      1. LOL! I do not hide the fact that if I could, I would go to McDonald’s every day o_o for their coffee and fries.

        I think McDonald’s has a bad rep because it owns like 70% of the fast-food market and of course, from movies like Super Size Me. It’s under so much scrutiny all the time even though they have gone through leaps and bounds to try and offer more variety/healthy options etc. I definitely don’t think McDonald’s is HEALTHY by any means, but it’s all about moderation right? Like you said, you can indulge once in a while, just not all the time.

        Cherrie
        Reply

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