First Impressions / Series Introduction / Shokugeki no Souma

OP Sequence

OP: 「希望の唄」 (Kibou no Uta) by ウルトラタワー (Ultra Tower)

 

「果てなき荒野」 (Hatenaki Kouya)
“An Endless Wasteland”

I’ve been waiting for Shokugeki no Souma to air ever since readers in the comments of my Koufuku Graffiti posts hyped this show up. Not only is it supposed to be the show for all foodies, but there’s a fair bit of entertainment and action involved to keep everyone on their toes. After all, the show is translated to be called Food Wars in English. Our protagonist named Yukihira Souma (Matsuoka Yoshitsugu) works for his father at their family-owned restaurant and he takes a lot of pride in what they do. Minegasaki Yaeko (Chiba Izumi) is a representative from an urban planning company and wants to buy out Souma’s family restaurant in order to build luxury apartment buildings in the area. In an attempt to sabotage Souma, Yaeko’s men trash Souma’s restaurant while he’s at school and then demands him to make her a “juicy meat dish” as a patron. He accepts her challenge and serves her a “fake” pork roast made up of bacon and potatoes. He manages to impress Yaeko and strikes a deal to ensure that she never enters the restaurant again. At the end of the episode, we finally hit the meat of this story (no pun intended) which involves Souma standing outside the doors to the best culinary school in Japan. Souma’s father, Yukihira Jouichirou (Koyama Rikiya) tells Souma that he’ll be working with a friend for the next two to three years and sends his son to this culinary school knowing that he wishes to study cooking. This is where the real story of Shokugeki no Souma begins and I’m excited to see what he has to offer compared to all the other elite students.

After hearing all the precautions about this show, I think I came in expecting exactly what I got and that’s some great foodporn, lots of foodgasms, all following a decent story. If nobody has warned you yet, then let me be the first to say that this isn’t your average anime about cooking. There’s a lot of overaggerations, beautifully animated scenes with food flying everywhere and of course, a main character that’s overly passionate about creating good dishes. It’s not a slice-of-life like Koufuku Graffiti, but the exact opposite because the manga is serialized in Weekly Shounen Jump. Basically it’s similar any other shounen series you enjoy, except it’s about food and cooking rather than adventures in fantasyland. Perfect for me! I don’t want to judge the rest of the series prematurely, but I think this is the ideal setup for some great battles between students, cooking competitions and challenging dishes to create. As someone who considers herself a “foodie” and works in the foodservice industry, I think I can relate to a lot of folks that dream of working in the best restaurants one day. This series not only makes my mouth water, but inspires me to make something of my own and that helps Shokugeki no Souma top my must-watch list this season.

As for all the other stuff, well I think it’s self-explanatory. With the amazing cooking scenes and exaggerated scenarios, comes nudity. And not just mild fanservice, but full-out suggestive images with tentacles and dripping oil. It doesn’t turn me away from all the action that’s really going on, but I guess it’s a good illustration of what a feat it is to eat Souma’s food. Personally it’s not the reason that I’m watching the show, but if that’s your cup of tea, then this anime isn’t short of it. It has to have a little bit of everything for everyone you know?

Watching Shokugeki no Souma reminds a lot of Yakaitate!! Japan. If you haven’t seen it, it’s an anime that aired in the early 2000’s (Divine and Omni both watched it, way back when) and talks about a boy who has the perfect hand temperatures to knead dough. This anime aired for more than a year and talks about the main character’s journey to create a bread Japan can be renowned for. It’s an older anime but the atmosphere and competition style reminds me a lot of Shokugeki no Souma – ex. all the nudity and more comedy. If you’re looking for something similar and don’t mind going back a decade, it’s honestly a fun watch. They both feature young protagonists that have a special skill for cooking and they think they’re good, until they meet other chefs that not only do what they do, but do it better. Then the story is more about triumphs and dreams of being better.

That’s pretty much all I have to say about the premiere for Shokugeki no Souma. As a highly anticipated show, it’s definitely met all my expectations and I only hope it works to exceed them. I’m very pleased with the production value J.C. Staff has given us even for a high budget show. Although I didn’t mind SHAFT’s Koufuku Graffiti, I much prefer crisp solid lines without the Gaussian blur over all my food and that’s what J.C. Staff has given us. The opening sequence was alright, but the ending sequence caught me by surprise. The chibi versions of the characters were cute coupled with a song that fit well with rest of the series. I’m thoroughly impressed and I only have good things to say about this premiere. I’m not a manga-reader so please keep all spoilers in tags and be courteous of those also following along – and I really hope you all decide to follow along.

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: First episode was everything I expected from #shokugeki_anime! Taking food and cooking to a whole new level. I love it! #ShokugekiNoSouma

Full-length images: As promised full-lengths of both men and women!

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「スパイス」 (Spice) by 東京カランコロン (Tokyo Karan Koron)

Preview

End Card

85 Comments

  2. Since almost literally everyone like the food cooking part, basically internet reaction about Souma decided by:
    You’ll like it if you embrace the foodgasm. (a.k.a compare reviews such as in RC and then ANN)

    I embraced it. Loved it. Can’t wait for the more “creative” foodgasm (or girl become godzilla fighting ultraman-gasm or whatever-gasm) later in the series, especially since the “shounen food battle part” is also surprisingly veey interesting in most parts. My expectation is also exceeded since I didn’t expect that JC will go THIS all out. Great job, JC!

    zeroyuki92
    Reply

  3. I went into this show knowing nothing about it and thought it was quite fun and unique at the same time. I can see why it’s popular, it does enough to hook you with the opening episode.

    Lyfe
    Reply

      3. The characters look like they came walking straight out of a hentai though. I mean, look at that landshark lady. Apart from the obvious hentai-voice, doesn’t she look exactly like “Subject-A” from “Hentai series X”?!

        All of this will become more and more evident as the series progresses. More obvious hentai character design will show, and all of them will be attractive.

        Apart from that. Tosh made the manga along with two real Chef-cooks. So the food will be marvelous too! Might learn a thing or two.

        Yogghii
        Reply

  8. I hate food shows. My mom is obsessed with everything from Chopped to Cutthroat Kitchen all the way up to Master Chef and Top Chef so I get the torrent of cooking drama and judging chaos every night while studying.

    With that said though, this was f*cking hilarious, especially the taste testing. Over the top, insane, and perfectly ridiculous. Consider me in for the ride.

    Pancakes
    Reply

    1. I love watching cooking shows as well… not so much the reality TV, but it’s entertaining. When you’re watching anime folks cook though, clearly this is not very realistic but much more fun to watch =) You can do anything in anime!

      Cherrie
      Reply

    3. I can see how the competitive cooking shows could get annoying, but have you tried Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares? Particularly the British version where Gordon Ramsey is narrating? (I find it somehow much better without the all-knowing narrator voice of superiority and judgie-ness in the American show)

      Blue
      Reply

  10. Literally the perfect start off.
    Hilarious meets foodgasms meets hardcore food competition meets awesome characters.
    I hope they keep to the manga and even exceed it because the show actually gets really intense later on.

    Kabble
    Reply

  11. Well, I’m weirded out a little. Theoretically I knew, what I should expect because I read the manga (I’ve started reading it because at that time I craved other cooking manga after I finished Bambino!, I red couple of others too), but I still experienced a second-hand embarrassment, much more than in a case of an unexpected IRL porn. So it seems I still wasn’t ready.

    I guess it’s because a different medium. In the manga you can choose pacing and where you want an emphasis to lay. Everybody can watch ecchi pages for a half hour (or when they end to fap) or skim trough these and focus more on food or a shounen battle part. And maybe it’s me, but I feel there’s less ecchi pages now than at the start of the manga (or maybe they are mixed with other “reaction-after-food” pages more?). And in the manga there’s no porn voices (*was startled suddenly, while trying to turn down volume*).

    I guess it’s easier for me accept harem-esque elements because in Shokuheki cooking and battles aren’t only thin excuses to cover fanservice. Souma’s life goal isn’t just to touch boobs and girls, even after start to like him, don’t forget suddenly about why they’re in the best culinary school.

    I guess Souma will be liked, if Shokugeki will be viewed as an ecchi harem anime, from that perspective MC-kun is a refreshing protagonist – instead stereotypically a wimpy one. And actually, what I like, behaves around girls like normal human being, nor being too shy or too cocky/ pervy. He can be annoying, when you watch (read) it as a battle shounen.

    PS: If you live with somebody, then watch out, where you pause in the episode, because next time you’ll have a discussion anime aren’t weird Chinese porn cartoons, your arguments will be treated as invalid. Oh and “It’s just her bad reaction to the squid with a peanut butter!” only worsens the situation.

    gilraen_tinuviel
    Reply

    1. The beginning of the series definitely was more ecchi than where it is now.
      Initially they’re just showing off, but as it progresses you see the foodgasms are actually a scale that represents the effectiveness of their meals against one another rather than people just eating food for the sake of pleasure.

      Kabble
      Reply

    1. Is it going to be spoilerish to ask what Soma’s deal with obviously bad food combination is? Squid with peanut butter are the last two things I’d put together and Shogukei has got be the first food anime/manga I saw that has reactions even for bad tasting food. I mean we even had a father and son arguing who’s dish tasted the worse.

      Zhinvu
      Reply

      1. Nah it isnt really all that spoilerific to ask,(manga-reader here) but, even from the first episode, its shown that soma likes to experiment with food and “explore the horizons of flavour” both good and bad, part of it is from his father and part of it is just soma being soma, in his mind even if it sounds bad he’ll still make it anyone to see if it really is. like in the real world it might work out or it might not, case in point when i first heard of maple syrup fried chicken and waffles it sounded like a pretty odd combo to me but i gave it a shot and enjoyed it ^^

        Crix
        Reply

      2. Personally squid and peanut butter didn’t seem that odd to me… obviously it depends on how it’s prepared but whenever I go out for Thai food, I always eat satay and that’s dripped with peanut sauce. If he prepared the squid by grilling it (which he did) and he made the peanut butter into a sauce with some sugar, I don’t think it’d be THAT bad =X

        Cherrie
        Reply

      3. Valid point guys. I guess don’t knock until you try applies here. I just remembered Philippine Kare-kare is a meat and vegetable dish that sometimes has peanut butter mixed in, is eaten with salty shrimp paste, and taste pretty good. So I guess Soma is a pretty interesting cook, since he won’t accept something as bad until he tastes it himself. I’d feel bad for the one he shares his discovery with though.

        Zhinvu
        Reply

    2. Eh, squid and peanut butter aren’t a bad combination. The problem with the squid and peanut dish is that he grilled the squid and just lathered peanut butter on top, kinda like a sauce. I’m from the Philippines and there is an actual seafood kare-kare here( crabs, scallops, shrimp, lobster, roe, squid and fish in a pumpkin and peanut butter stew[or is it soup?]) Though it’s a hard to make dish and would reach some $22 a serving in local restaurants, which is about 5-6 times the costs of the more common local dishes here.

      Justpassingby
      Reply

      1. Aha! I knew there was going to be a dish created out of that combination eventually. The fact that he continually makes that failed dish is likely that he’ll make the real thing eventually!

        Dorian
        Reply

      1. Yeah, and it nearly falls into Maundy Thursday of Christian Easter event, nice timing. But if you look into this Picture more deeply, you see some errors. as Example the 3rd from the left is rising his Hands. In the Original you see, someone if offering him something, like a knife? But then, you can not see the Person belong to this hand. Perhaps the Painter was forced to repaint or “censored” this Person out of the Big Picture

        And do not misunderstand, it is still a Picture. But the meaning for Christians is enormous, the last Meal with his 12 Apostles before he get betrayed of one of them, Judas. After the meal with a Kiss

        Enough of Christian History. i am not the Inquisition

        WorldwideDepp
        Reply

  14. That was just…glorious. The over-the-top reactions coupled with the great epic-feel BGM made it well, EPIC! My body, mind & taste buds were not really for this.

    That aside, I’m hoping for a decent story here as well as Souma undertakes the challenges of Japan’s best culinary school.

    MgMaster
    Reply

  15. If nobody has warned you yet, then let me be the first to say that this isn’t your average anime about cooking. There’s a lot of overaggerations, beautifully animated scenes with food flying everywhere and of course, a main character that’s overly passionate about creating good dishes.

    The very same thing could be said about the Cooking Master Boy anime which I really enjoyed.
    Minus the exaggerations, most of the food shown in both CMB and this show can actually be done..
    (I’m actually tempted to try fried squid and peanut butter together now)

    My only complaint is that the fanservice for this seems wildly out of place..

    Techim
    Reply

  17. Pretty solid start. I came into this show blind but others of its genre, like Yakitate and Chuuka Ichiban, compelled me to check it out. I gotta say fanservice and cooking was the last thing I expected to mesh together in one show. Gonna be watching this to see how Soma’s journey to the top goes, and I’m guessing it’s going to be a long one since this is a Shonen Jump manga. That and this Erina heroine looks pretty hot. She somehow reminded me of Yakitate’s Monica, and I almost thought I saw Kuroyanagi in one of the land shark lady’s lackeys.

    Zhinvu
    Reply

  20. Nice. Everything I expected the first episode to be.

    I’m not the biggest fan of cooking anime or Manga, but this one has me strangely following the Manga faithfully. Those foodgasms sure bring back some nostalgia from Yakitate, though I’d say this one is less punny and more visually dramatic.

    They almost overplayed the ‘evil land shark bitch’ part, but it petered out well at the end. Let it also be known that foodgasms are non-discriminatory and are bisexual.

    I’m not sure how certain groups of people will react to what they know as cooking common sense seemingly thrown out of the window, but it’s better not to take the entire show too seriously.

    Get ready for a fun ride, non-Manga readers. 🙂

    Owaranai
    Reply

  25. Shokugeki no souma give me similar atmosphere like “Cooking Master Boy” and “Yakitate Japan”. Anime about food always give me WTF Moment when they exaggerating the situation whether when cooking process or eating process. it give me a good laugh.

    Shinwinds
    Reply

    1. Shouldn’t be too difficult in hindsight actually. I don’t know the exact ingredients and spices that he added to it (other than the herbs on top) but you can probably replicate easily with some “slightly” mashed potatoes. Add onions, garlic, and even some bacon into the potatoes and then wrap it up with some actual bacon with kitchen twine… bake and pour on some red wine reduction, butter and bacon fat =) yum! What I love is that they actually indicate the ingredients with notations when they went through the scenes again.

      Cherrie
      Reply

  27. I can’t say I’m thrilled with the high level of ecchiness they are portraying. Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoy ecchi-tainment as much as the next person and am a huge fan of the manga with all it’s foodgasms. But when the land developer leaned over and her boobs jiggled for a solid 3+ seconds I knew exactly what path they were going to take with this content.

    This manga has a good story to tell, but I feel like it’s being slightly cheapened by all the excessive fanservice in the anime. Foodgasm all you want, those are priceless, but don’t keep showing extended T&A sequences before actually showing the characters face – regardless of the target audience, it’s just sad.

    7godeohs
    Reply

    1. How can you say it was cheapened when that was how it was depicted in the manga? The artist Shun Saeki (better known as Tosh) formerly did a lot of hentai works before Jump recruited him as full time artist. It’s understandable why there is much ecchiness because of him and how the the author wanted to portray the ecstasy when they eat their dishes.

      Bystander
      Reply

      1. Not sure if you read beyond the first sentence of my post. The foodgasms and other reactions are absolutely fantastic. My point was that they are over-exaggerating that aspect of the manga in the anime adaptation for no reason other than cheap fanservice. I support ecchiness in anime but tell me when was the last time you saw anyone lean over and their breasts bounced for 4 solid seconds?

        That’s not just ecchi, that’s Highschool DxD level of ecchi – which rings hollow and desperate. Also, let me know where in the manga we see extended shots of just Erina’s ass and breasts before we really see her face? Even the first view of her is mainly a pan down to her breasts.

        The story stands well enough on it’s own and doesn’t need overly-exaggerated fanservice to support it (this is comparing it to the manga, which has a great balance). As far as the foodgasms go, they can do whatever they want there – there is a time and place for everything and the sky is the limit on those. 🙂

        btw, I knew the artist did a lot of hentai works before this, it’s probably how he is able to capture the human form better than any manga artist I’ve ever seen. Some of those panels are just amazing – like when Megumi is about to butcher that fish and she is alone on the stage.

        7godeohs
        Reply

  28. I’ve seen yakate japan, cooking boy, um i forgot it but it involved a highschool girl who did deliveries.. but i never seen one like this.. its like it has highschool DXD in it.. the Fanservice..

    i wish i couldcook like this for girls here… all the pervy things i can MAKE them see in their minds as they eat

    Cryght
    Reply

  33. Nice! This’ll serve greatly in lieu of another season of Bento (which sadly seems like it’ll never happen). This shall go down with Akagi as yet another show that I am drawn to, yet cannot explain why, haha!

    Seracen
    Reply

  34. As a lover of food manga/anime I’m excited I found koufoku graffiti cause of u. Thank you. Right up my alley ^^
    Just want to add, for fans of Food War, the pioneer of erotic food manga was “Addicted to Curry”
    Pretty good ( though it’s only about curry) but had waay too much fan service as the series went on.
    Also here to say it’s sorta sad the two godfather of food manga, Oishinbo and Mr. sushi never got translated enough.
    Oishinbo for example is up to its 110+ book!!?!

    Wuttang
    Reply

  37. “Food Wars” is such a lame ass localized title by Viz. Seriously they are notorious for lousy renaming/retitling their licensed mangas. Sure, the story involves cooking battles but “Food Wars” is really inappropriate.

    Bystander
    Reply

      1. Hell no. That’s just as lame or worse. Maybe they can call it “Souma’s Cooking Combat/Duel” or somewhere along that line. My point is Viz should have thought of a good English translated title first or just keep the Japanese title. Honestly those who have been following the manga acknowledge it by its original Japanese title.

        Bystander
        Reply

      3. The problem with using the original title is that it makes it more difficult for people OTHER than those who read scanlations to read the title and be interested. Since the goal is to make MORE money, that’s usually not a good idea.

        It’s like if War and Peace on the bookshelves all read “Война и миръ, Voyna i mir”

        Blue
        Reply

      4. Not necessarily. Translating the title or localizing it doesn’t always mean it will sell better. And even if that were the case “Food Wars” is just rather ambiguous and doesn’t quite depict the story properly. “Cooking War” is more appropriate a title (though still lame). And in other media, there are some foreign movies and books have retained their original titles because translating it doesn’t make sense or ruins it.

        Bystander
        Reply

      5. I agree it doesn’t mean it will sell better, but unless they think there’s a greater chance of it causing to sell worse, there’s a decent chance they’re not going to stick with the original title (unless that was also in English). And while Food Wars may be silly-sounding and ambiguous, how do you think Shokugeki no Soma looks to the average American or even the average non-scanlation reader? “Blahblah no Blah.”

        Blue
        Reply

  40. This show is like the second coming of Cooking Master Boy. To be more precise, Shokugeki no Souma is a modern take of CMB since CMB’s setting was ancient China.

    If you are really into cooking anime, Cherrie, then Cooking Master Boy is a must watch. It’s the pioneer, much much older than Yakitate Japan as it was shown in late 90s.

    The major difference is that there’s no fanservice in CMB. There’s the overexaggerated reactions but no fanservice shots.

    Reikakou
    Reply

  41. red hair… check
    yellow eyes… check
    wears plenty of blue… check
    cooks… check
    has Emiya Kiritsugu for a dad… triple check

    …whelp, we’ve got a Emiya Shirou expy right there

    ken
    Reply

  42. ep02:

    Show Spoiler ▼

    WorldwideDepp
    Reply

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