Shokugeki no Souma: Ni no Sara – 13 (END)

「威風堂々」 (Ifuudoudou)
“Pomp and Circumstance”

As expected, Souma blows the competition out of the water with his first original creation… that ends up on Kojirou’s menu! No wai! I always thought that Souma would pass the Stagiaire with flying colors but to actually get an item ON the menu permanently? That’s crazy! I’m proud of Souma, but seems a bit unbelievable when Kojirou has an entire team behind him that’s followed him all the way from France. I was a bit disappointed that the scene flashed by so quickly when we didn’t even get to see any of the others’ dishes – especially Abel’s when he’s the chef of the restaurant. How can we compare Souma’s to the other three when we don’t even know what they presented? I understand that the writers probably cut it short due to time constraints (or maybe the manga does gloss over these plates) but it makes Souma’s accomplishment a bit less impressive or just handed to him. The part where Kojirou improves Souma’s dish personally was sweet though.

Last week, I complained that there wasn’t enough Kojirou and here we have it – a whole history listen about why he specializes in French cuisine. I was surprised (in a good way) because the finale actually focuses on someone else other than Souma; plus, it was someone I liked! Turns out that the reason Kojirou specializes in French cooking is because his mother enjoys French food and he wanted to make his mother happy. That was a nice and concise way to easily show Kojirou’s motivations for going into a cuisine that’s not his background at all. I appreciate how the mangaka doesn’t force a dark and twisted past on Kojirou about how he has something to prove by cooking French food… in fact, the reasoning is so simply that I completely support Kojirou for going down this route. To bring fine dining French cuisine to Japan is a huge accomplishment all on its own. It’s not every day that you’ll see people that venture into different countries with successful restaurants so for Kojirou to take that leap, I wish him all the best. I completely understand why he has his own spin-off series now.

The epilogue was very short-lived but pretty much encompasses all that is Shokugeki no Souma. It ends off with another shokugeki for Souma (challenged by a senior student! By the way, are they in second year yet?) and he, obviously wins. We catch a very brief glimpse of all the other students in their stagiaire challenges as well and most of them seem to have done well for themselves. It’s a shame that we couldn’t see them more towards the end – especially since a lot of them have their own goals and agendas going on but maybe that is being saved for the next arc. Given that we didn’t end up on a cliffhanger this time, who knows what will await Souma next. Besides more school-wide fame and all the shokugeki requests from students, Souma finally has made a name for himself and he needs to live up to it. I just hope that another season is in the talks so that we get to see that happen.

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: Hmmm… I’m not a fan of how #shokugeki_anime ended with a clear win for Souma. They didn’t even show the other dishes Kojirou tried =S Not a lot of suspense or sense of achievement but the food looked good at least. I would’ve liked to see more from the other students but at least the ending isn’t a cliffhanger like last season #shokugeki_anime

Full-length images: 14, 23.

Epilogue:

Final Impressions

Another season of Shokugeki no Souma has come and gone way too quickly – and this time, I really mean it. The finale of the Autumn Elections was the majority of the season (being 10 episodes long) and the remainder of the season ran through the Stagiaire arc. It wasn’t a terribly balanced season with some episodes feeling rushed and the others feeling well paced but the story gets told one way or another. Certainly compared to the first season, there’s a lot of material that the show glosses over or condenses in a short amount of time. There are not a lot of filler moments or even breaks in between for breather which proves just how quickly the scenes fly by. This is likely the result of the show being one-cour compared to the previous two so it forces the writers to choose their scenes wisely. Some episodes feel like the anime literally animates the manga frame-by-frame without any “fluff”, while other episodes feel like they’re better told with the right timing, music and delivery of the lines. Overall I’d say that there are some hit and miss moments but for anyone interested in continuing the Shokugeki no Souma marathon, the story still sticks to its source material. The food p*rn is still on-point and continues to motivate me to improve on my own cooking abilities… but who am I kidding, I just like to eat.

It’s been a while since we’ve all seen our favorite characters back in action and Shokugeki no Souma: Ni no Sara brings them all to life again. Some of my favorites (to no one’s surprise) are Megumi, Kojirou and Hinako, but it’s also nice to see everyone return to no only watch the Autumn Elections but participate. The results aren’t surprising, but I think I was more interested in seeing what the themes and dishes were. As it turns out, the creativity for some of these plates are outstanding and it really inspires me to not only be a better chef but be more appreciative for fine dining and different cuisines. Asides from the secondary characters we’ve already met, we get to know a few new characters a bit better too. This includes Alice’s mother, Kojirou’s new staff but also the mysterious eighth qualifying student – Subaru. I thought this was a great way to extend the cast and give further context for their actions, but some I warn you that it can be overwhelming at the same time. For example, Ryou’s history with Alice was actually one of my favorites because it was fairly well paced and told in different intervals; whereas Akira’s was kind of just jammed in there right before the winner was announced. In the end, I think the writers did the best they could with the time they were given, but it’s evident where shortcuts were taken when possible. This applies to both story lines and animation. However, where it counts, J.C. Staff pulls through (watch for the ED sequence that keeps changing) and it does end on a satisfying note.

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