Shokugeki no Souma: Shin no Sara

Out of all the anime that have come out this year, I think this was the biggest disappointment for me. After 3 seasons of slowly diminishing quality, I was worried that this season was going to be a slog to get through. When I say that though, I was still hopeful. I mean, they were going to tackle an arc from which I had heard was a decent arc. It could've been good but J.C Staff really went out of their way to make this one of the cheapest and lazy productions I've seen in a while. I hate saying that for a show I used to love. I loved the characters, I loved the foodgasms and yeah, the animation wasn't the worst, but it at least looks decent enough. This season, I truly think J.C Staff didn't care about this show. With the last three seasons, there were some production issues, but there was at least solid music and some good shots here and there. With this season? If feels like they got out a powerpoint presentation template and just stuck the clips of the show they had into said template. Hell, I can break down a good amount of episodes of this season with bullet points. - We are introduced to the main competitors - We see the main ingredient - Some words from the peanut gallery -Some trash talk - A flashback here or there to one of the totsuki ten because the shows forgot to develop literally any of them minus Tsukasa and Rindo, I guess. - More words from the peanut gallery - Chefs show off their dishes - Judges eat and foodgasm - More words from the peanut gallery about said food and what makes it special - Judges choose the winner. - Some more words and repeat the cycle. The biggest problem with this repetitious cycle is that you slowly see the flaws within it. You realize that no matter what Soma will win his food battles because he's main protagonist. That would be fine if they spaced out the food battles but they don't. You're supposed to watch all of these food battles happen with the same repetitious cycle and it's just a bore. The show ended up this year as background noise for me. Just like how the peanut gallery was this season Let's talk about that peanut gallery because if you wanted any characters like Mito, Ryo, Alice, Hisako, and anyone apart of the dorm anything this season, well that sucks. Literally all these characters do this season is sitting behind literal character jail and spout out stuff about the food they make. It's probably the worst crime that this season does because the main strength of this show is its characters and them interacting off one another. It's insanely stupid and for a solid eleven episodes, it's just sad to watch characters that I love as Hisako do jack for the majority of the season. This then leads into the actual team rebel squad who consists of Takumi, Soma, Erina, Megumi, Kuga, Isshiki, Mimasaka and some random guy. Yeah, this show decides to use this arc to introduce another new character and instead of giving more interest in any of their other characters. "Yeah Mito and Alice haven't done much in a while and some characters like Ryo who are rivals to Soma have done zero anything with Soma but who cares! We need more one off characters!" - Some guy that works on Food wars. I also realized that in this show, I don't believe Megumi has one a single food battle that wasn't an election. In actual food battles, she has won none. That is stupid and something that pissed me off while watching her getting beat by some girl that uses cat paws as oven mitts. Yeah, let's talk about the Ten because they're all forgettable. The only ones exempt from this are Tsukasa and Rindo, I guess. Thier not funny and Tsukasa's whole thing is dumb. I only liked Rindo to an extent. Azami is stupidly evil to the point where he ruins the tone of the show and while he does add to one of the more positive things about this season, he's not that interesting of a villain. Eizan was better. As much as I have been complaining about this season for its soulless production, for its constant amount of throwing characters into the show without thinking about the characters in literal jail or even the diminishing quality of foodgasms and backgrounds which are generic to letter, there are some positives. Erina's whole arc is finally done with and it feels satisfying. While Megumi still hasn't won a single food battle, Takumi has and that was cool. The music stays pretty solid and the OP was solid, though a little samey. Overall, this season was a big disappointment. Flat production, waste of characters and the constant adding of one-offs and this overall feeling of emptiness. It's sad for a show that had such solid first and second seasons. While season 3 wasn't great, it was still fun to an extent. This felt like such a waste of time. It's a shame. I can't wait for the fifth season because it apparently gets worse. Story: 5/10 Art: 3/10 Sound: 6/10 Character: 6/10 Enjoyment: 5/10 Overall: 5/10

Another Plate, another panning shot yet the culmination of one of the best character arcs yet!. So Shokugeki no Souma Shin no Sama leaves off right where the Totsuki Ressha-hen season in where the tournament for the fate of the rebels contines and well it's roughly what you'd expect but LA will note this season did improve slightly even if they continue to use panning shots though utlize it when they can't think of any new way of showing the transitions which is most of the time unfortunately. The 4th Plate visually is the same with some flourishes in the Shokugeki's here and there but where it lacks in animation, the characters gets some well deserved mentions, from Megumi, Takumi, Rindou, Tsukasa, Isshiki and finally ERINA having the the best character resolution to her rebellion to her father with this arc. Though her rebellion started during the Totsuki Ressha-hen, once Erina steps up to the plate (PUN) she not only develops as a character but since this season is much more about the rebels and their camaraderie AS well as the Elite Ten Council and why they cook the way they cook and in some instances how Azami influenced them into his side, you'd thought it was SOUMA who would get the glory of this tournament, no we forgot how this all started and with Erina being the face of the rebellion like daughter to her overbearing father, what Erina cooks for him at the final bout not only shows off Erina's trust in her friends, but shows off her rebellion in full force and all the hopes and dreams that will crush Azami's authoritarian take on cooking and just MAN does that final bout delivered, LA KNEW investing into Erina (from what LA remembered LA started getting invested at the tail end of the third plate) was worth it and culminated and essentially exploded here in all of Erina's glory. This season though the payoff was great, does still have it's flaws, one LA well get into a bit later. The pacing of the tournament bouts if anything seemed really rushed, from Isshiki and Tsukasa's bout to Rindou vs. Takumi is glossed upon (showing no prep to give us a hint to hows it's made etc.) and the thing is most of the bouts this season was or would have been interesting if not for it's rushed pacing, though the pacing doesn't ruin Erina's final bout, but everything leading up to it...LA can't ignore it and yes does sorta ruin elements of those season much like the previous 2 or 3 seasons before it. And now for the elephant in the room and that is animation. Well it was done once again by JC Staff and welllllllll yeah the panning shots isn't going away and admittedly uses it the majority of the time, but where the panning shots are prevalent, the battles and especially the focus on the food (not so much on the prep anyways) is still great and of course the foodgasms were great and expected for Shokugeki no Souma for all manner of reasons. Overall same as Totsuki Ressha-hen, not much has changed for animation which is a damn shame since the plot and it's characters is now holding this season up while the animation is inbetween lazy to "trying". The voice cast is back and LA will give the MVP's here as there isn't much to say considering the voice cast is pretty much intact and hasn't changed "as much". LA will give out the obvious, being Hisako Kanemoto as Erina, Miniami Takahashi as Megumi, Shizuka Ito as Rindou and Show Hayami as Azami. The 4th Plate was essentially the payoff season or in culinary terms, the main dish for LA and man besides some messy side dishes of elements, the MEAT of this season was excellent with great character development seasonings, great battles though slightly underpinned by rushing the sauce and the presentation was PANNED as per usual and of course great aftertaste at the end. There's another plate?...SIGN LA UP!... Erina best girl, can't change LA's mind.

War for the elite ten seats has continued. As we know, Yukihira Souma and his friends now have to fight the central members to fight over their obligations as totsuki school students. As you sow, so shall you reap. That adage is suitable for this season, a group of students who want to know the wider culinary world ... They are a polar star residence. This season took a long time to reach the point where Yukihira Souma achieved her ambitions. We already know that now the polar star residence must fight Azami's ideology of food that it does not recognize is rubbish. Yukihira Souma and her friends have to fight Azami but they get the role of rebels, they get insults from all school students but they ignore it because they know that their actions are the right thing. Watching this season proves that Yukihira Souma's abilities have also improved from previous seasons. Spending time developing each food recipe, fighting with unequal opponents to the point where he has to get lost in the current storm of confusion, even they have to sacrifice the principles they believe in but all for one thing is to be greater than previous. Like the previous seasons, you will witness many exotic foods. The short list includes a food theme that is determined by fate, even though it is not their cooking skill but they are required to cook the dish because otherwise they will be eliminated and expelled from school like some of Yukihira Souma's friends who have been expelled from the previous season. This season is different from before, the judges taken to do the assessment are not taken from just anyone but they are the chosen people who have experience in assessing a food, they are called WGO. As a fan of this series, I say this season is a season full of battles between great chefs. It became aware that this season was very tense. The seconds of Yukihira Souma's goal will soon be reached. Are they able to reach that point, and instead they will reach the peak they want so far.

I don't get why people are being annoying about this season. To me, this season was just like every other Food Wars season. I heard the ending isn't very good, but complain when the actual ending gets out, not now. If you like Food Wars for being Food Wars you get what you want. Of course, I will admit that the 11th episode of the season felt like a final episode, with the 12th being like an epilogue. I would like to see more Food Wars content, but if it is going to end in the next season maybe they'll change it up

This series has scarred me so badly that it motivated me to write my first anime review. Anytime I see an actual good anime, I think about this one and what it could have been. I will now be using this as my measuring stick for a terrible anime. Let me start by saying that I love Shokugeki no Soma. I love cooking, I like anime, I like hentai, and I love the manga. Despite all this, JC has done their damn hardest to make this season as unwatchable and as unenjoyable as possible. This isn't an anime. There is hardly any animation. This is a slideshow with moving mouths, and motion sickness-inducing pan on every. single. frame. I know this is a cooking anime, but holy crap there does not need to be this many pans. There isn't even a pan that stops at the end to let your eyes rest for a moment; there is a constant slight motion throughout every shot. Since nothing is ever still, you get a feeling of uneasiness and motion sickness, which makes the whole thing near impossible to watch or enjoy. This constant panning is a pathetic attempt to make it look like there is some motion happening to compensate for the fact that nothing is animated. An egregious example would be when Saito, the samurai chef, does a 360-degree slash through ingredients to show his proficiency. THEY COULDN'T EVEN BE ASSED TO ANIMATE HIM DRAWING HIS SWORD. He just stands completely still, as a circular slash of light comes out. That's it. They have somehow managed to achieve the worst of both worlds in terms of pacing. Somehow, you feel like it's extraordinarily boring and that nothing is ever happening due to the animation, while also feeling that the story is extremely rushed. There were a ton of moments that I was very hyped for while reading the manga that happened this arc, but they all fell flat due to the sheer laziness of the animation staff. If it was properly animated and the staff actually gave a shit like in season 1, this would have been an easy 9, but alas, this is what we get.

I had to make sure I wasn't crazy. I re-watched several episodes from the first season. The introduction of the Aldini brothers in the training camp arc... The one where Soma and his dad have an early-morning cook-off in the Polar Star dormitory... The one where Megumi stands against the fearsome Legumes Magician, and saves herself from expulsion with some wholesome veggie magic of her own. This series is EXCITING. Fast-paced cuts of frenetic food-flinging; a soundtrack hot enough to simmer your soy sauce; gorgeously-drawn dishes that could hop off the screen and into your gullet; and of course, over-the-top ecchi foodgasms that make you wish you brought headphones. The stakes are raised (and steaks are braised?) as the battles rage on. And the journey is brought to life with superbly voice-acted characters worth following to the very end. This show used to be a lot better. It DESERVES a lot better. The Fourth Plate feels really, really cheap. Fun and charming, at times. But this tournament arc-- in which Totsuki academy and ALL of our main and supporting characters' careers are at stake-- ultimately seems shallow, repetitive, and nothing like I remembered Shokugeki to be. It's especially disappointing because of the year-long wait for a single cour. To me it seems staff was still pressed for time, and fell back on the series' most formulaic and unimpressive storytelling techniques to carry on. A few examples: 1) Panning over still shots of characters at Dutch angles, with some abstract background. Used VERY heavily this season 2) TELLING the judges how the food was made, instead of SHOWING the process in real time. This allows for last-minute revelations and mini-plot twists, and can make things more exciting. But not in excess, like this time. 3) The peanut gallery. Characters in the audience will explain to the viewer, in succession, why the competing dishes are so super-awesome/clever. This season, it is the SAME set of characters providing commentary EVERY episode! And the lines are spread so thin, it's often totally irrelevant who's saying what. ... and so on. It made for a really dull presentation. Most concretely, I could tell the animation quality had declined, but... otherwise it was hard to pin down what had changed. In fact, I began to question why I ever liked this show so much to begin with. And that like, really sucks. "You're stagnating, aren't you? ... For us, stagnation is akin to regression." Many will say this was inevitable. The show was too repetitive by design, and would eventually get stale. A tournament arc like this would only emphasize this repetitive nature and fall flat, no matter what. This show is built around still shots, hokey last-minute reveals, and padded exposition. It's part of the formula. That's the recipe for Shokugeki, followed to a T, and we were bound to get tired of it. Maybe they're right. Or maybe they just lack imagination. Because that first season still feels fresh and fun. I could watch it again and again, because that sh*t is quality. It's a genuine, heartfelt, and surprisingly horny celebration of the culinary arts. Just like the winning dish in every Shokugeki, there's a little something there that puts it over the top. A secret ingredient. An extra bit of creativity. Over time it's been lost, but it WAS there. With more time & effort, I'm sure the folks J.C. Staff could have found it again, even within the bounds of an adaptation. To conclude: If you've stuck with the show this long, here's your finale. Though it leaves much to be desired, Episode 11 is where our story feels the most finished. Episode 12 makes for a decent epilogue. Then, if you're still left wanting more, bless you. I hope you enjoy next season! But left with such a "MAZUI!" taste in my mouth, I think I'll pass on seconds.

Honestly speaking, does anyone even care about Shokugeki anymore?  The manga unceremoniously ended last year without so much as a big splash on the community, and I can only imagine what the popularity for a series that doesn't have its manga run anymore is like over in Japan.  Story: In an effort to go against Central and Azami Nakiri's ideals of 'True Gourmet", we arrive at the climactic end to the Central Arc where Soma and Erina head the rebels in a final team bout against the Elite Ten for not only the coveted seats of the Elite Ten, but also for the fate of the cooking world.  And, of course, it will all be done in an Iron Chef-style tournament arc and nothing else. For a series that prides itself on showcasing extravagant flavors and varied arcs that revolve around different aspects, techniques, and facets of the culinary world, this season is so woefully bland that I'm actually upset that J.C. Staff decided to prune this part of the arc off in order to make it its own, separate season.  Because this season showcases the Team Shokugeki and only the Team Shokugeki, there really isn't a lot of variation in the storytelling.  The entire season only has one setting (that is, the cooking arena), and just seeing bout after bout after bout makes the show feel static and uninteresting.  This is made even worse by the fact that since its previous season aired somewhere in the early-mid 2018, whatever context a returning viewer would've had would be long gone save for maybe a lingering memory of what happened prior. While food is very much one of the central focuses of the series, I can't help but feel like that in and of itself posed several problems.  Even with a culinary consultant as part of the manga's creation team, the dishes these HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS manage to cook seem improbable even for 'master chefs'.  Each dish always seems to have a secret hidden layer underneath the first bite and it's boorish having so many characters, the protagonists especially, bring out an extra bowl of something, or have some hidden extra section of the dish the judges didn't get to yet that 'elevates their food to another level' as if that adds tension in any way after the first time it happens.  On top of that, so much of the screentime is devoted to the veritable plethora of side characters and rivals turned side characters constantly popping in their two cents and explaining the ins and outs of each dish.  While this served as a boon for the series at the beginning, it now feels obtrusive since in the span of one episode, at least 75% of it is devoted to explanations and praises on at best three dishes and the techniques used to create such a culinary marvel. The slight bits of variation that Shin no Sara provides exists in (at least attempting) to finish up character arcs and/or give backstories to the members of the Elite Ten and other characters that desperately needed it.  Each bout contains at least one side having flashbacks to detail what led them to this point, whether or not that be their motivation for cooking or a showing of their determination to give it all they've got.  A lot of these points really just end up being flavor text for the characters, which isn't a bad thing.  But it doesn't really feel all that impactful.  Especially since a lot of the Elite Ten members feel woefully underused, having never been given the time of day prior and had to get their explanation and details as characters here and now instead of letting them show up progressively like the pillars they're SUPPOSED TO BE.  The only character I feel like gets any amount of satisfaction is Erina, as her character arc finishes in a poetic way that befits the series in a way that at least feels earned rather than just handed to them.  (Among other things...) But despite that, Shin no Sara's story largely feels hollow without substance.  The show sporting battle after battle without any variation in either the format or storytelling just doesn't feel satisfying.  Yeah that's what tournament arcs are, but those usually have action on screen to draw your attention; these people are cooking.  It doesn't gel all that well, and the end result creates an extremely wordy series where it's constant explanation after explanation of how the food tastes and only a couple mentions as to why they're doing this in the first place.  Also, the majority of this cast is still in their first year of high school!  Who the fuck decides to put the equivalent of a world ending arc at the end of the first year of high school?!  That's like beginning of third/last of third year at worst! Characters: Erina Nakiri...definitely gets the award for best character arc in the series.  Out of everyone in the entire run of the series, she's the only one that has any amount of tangible loss should her father succeed in enacting Food Communism (Yes, I will still call it that), and has shown the most drastic change in character from her original haughty self into someone who actually enjoys what they're doing.  While she doesn't show up that much in the season due to her only having the limelight at the very end, the one time where she does get the spotlight actually feels gratifying and works to the show's favor.  Though I don't particularly like the end result she gets given that she's at best sixteen at the end of the season. Soma however, is largely uninteresting in terms of growth and succeeds only with his goofy self taking the forefront of his character.  His bouts have drastically less tension for him since he's the protagonist of a weekly shonen series in the middle of an arc 'determining the fate of the world'.  Hell, they even have like 2-3 episodes of the fucker just sitting back and drinking tea.  While I do still find him amusing, there really isn't much to say about him aside from his upstanding qualities of becoming more humble, wanting to improve through the teachings of others and challenging bigger fish so he can one day surpass him.  Great, but not really all that important since the series barely makes any effort to show it. And then we have the rest of the cast.  I don't even want to talk about Azami because his motivations are farfetched at best, and his plans have too many logistical problems to justify taking him seriously.  Compared to the set of nobody antagonists prior, the Elite Ten at least have some foot to stand on, being showcased prior and at least most of them having motivations beyond just smacktalking the protagonists because they're not part of the super cool club of "Gourmet Chefs".  They all still vary in character quality, but some like Rindo are still standout characters in their own right.  Other members of the recurring cast not involved in the competition like Miko, Hayama, and Alice, are quite literally put in a box and serve as a bunch of talking heads who comment and interject on whatever is happening at the moment.  I despise this direction, since it makes the interesting and diverse cast of friends and rivals just a bunch of useless supporters who can't do anything.  Dwindling character importance is never fun, and their expulsion never even felt like a factor to consider in terms of the stakes for the series. Aesthetics: I don't know why it took me until Season three to realize that this show has almost no animation, but hey, the fourth season is better than never I guess.  The art for Shin no Sara is about the same quality that J.C. Staff pulls for this series.  The characters themselves look good with consistent models and decent detail on them with the occasional chibification for that comical flair. The food is as gorgeous as ever, and the many, many, many foodgasms this show has are so commonplace that they really lose their luster.  The actual stripping isn't all that exciting, but the metaphorical images that the judges have while eating the food are...amusing to say the least.  (And may or not be scarring at times.)  My one complaint with the ar…

Ok so the 4th plate has ended, and it looks like the 5th plate won't be far behind as soon as Erina meets the new antagonist that will challenge them new Elite 10. So: Story: Pros: New food were being introduce, that teases our gastronomical senses Cons: To simply put it , the story plot was still them same and yes it was still on that Shokugeki thing where only this time them rebels were battling for their survival and it was way too predictable. Verdict: 5 over 10. Art: Pros: More fanservices were introduce, in fact this was the only sequel where studio J.C. Staff didn't pull any punches to to also tickle our lust for sex. Cons: We still see the usual eye candy and Yukihira still wears his signature middle school uniform.... Verdict: 7 over 10. Sound: Pros: still them usual seiyuus. Cons: Still them usual seiyuus. Verdict: 5 over 10. Character: Pros: We get to finally see them protagonists have their characters' developed and we see them antagonists got beaten and we see them senior graduate. Cons: As one set of antagonist goes another one comes in and yes whoever they are, their now gonna be a threat to the new Elite 10's seat. Verdict: 7 over 10. Enjoyment: Pros: One wouldn't get enough of the food porn that come with this anime and not to mention the foodgasam fanservices that come along with it. Cons: It was just too predictable. Verdict: 7 over 10. Overall: Verdict: 5 over 10. As always this franchise still rely on the foodgasam porn and it looks like it's gonna be that way until Shounen Jump decides to pull the plug on Original Creators Tsukuda, Yuuto and Morisaki, Yuki. Happy New Year to everybody.

Characterization: 3/5 A stretch, here. The characters in the series have brought me many laughs over the years, and their individual quirks often make me smile. But I've generally found character development with the female cast instead of the males. Erina and Megumi are the highlights. Plot: 2/5 None of us came into Food Wars! for the plot. And tbh, I don't think we're really staying for it, either, because it's pretty dull. This season is all about our rebels cooking against the elite ten to win back their school. My problem is with the last episode. Realism & Authenticity: 1/5  I'm beyond disappointed for this point. I loved the first season of this show so much, but it's like I'm watching a poorly written fanfiction of it instead. The sexuality doesn't tap into the humor in new or refreshing ways. It's lackluster and just... bad. Sound & Animation: 2.5/5  Pretty decent. Nothing extravagant, mind you, but I wasn't bored thanks to the soundtrack sending me to war. I'll say that most of the time it feels less like true animation and more like panning over still images like Windows Media Maker... so there's that. Food Wars! was a gem I found while studying abroad in the UK. The first season was downright saucy (puns forever intended) and blended humor and ecchi in a way that had me crying from laughter.  Since those prime days, though, the series has gone downhill, decreasing in funnies and spiciness. In truth, the characterization is frustrating: some points are good and some are bad. We get little nuggets of truth for most of them: why Tsukasa and Rindou, the first and second seats respectively, side with Erina's father, for one. But it's really not enough to add meaningful depth. Even Azami Nakiri's motivations are tepid at best. You're telling me you expelled students and disbanded countless groups because you're upset your buddy just went off on his own and did his own thing? Seriously? What kind of character motivation is that? Give me something proper and juicy for a "villain", please. Megumi's characterization has always been spot-on for me. Not only is she the ultimately wifu, but the girl fights crushing anxiety everyday. We've gone from the timid thing writing the character for man on the palm of her hand to battling the third seat at this team shokugeki. Some people complain she cries too much, but hello: she's a cry-y character. It's written into her arc to cry, so let's not get upset over being properly consistent, all right? She doesn't win against Miss Cute Baker or whatever. And the boys do their best in comforting her, but it's Erina who gets through to her and she breaks down crying. The tears are important. Why? Because they're not shed from fear or shame. Megumi gave her best effort and fell short and her tears lie from frustration. She has pride now, some confidence even. This is what she's gained from Soma and the others, and the reason for why she fights against Central in the first place. Besides Megus, most characters are surface level and only exist to provide exposition and context rather than being proper characters, background or otherwise. We get a touch here and there with Takumi and Isshiki, but most of the time it's just like eating prawn crackers at a curry shop: that stuff isn't gonna fill you up or nourish you if you know what I'm sayin'. We just get some poorly done flashbacks of Megumi wanting to be in a sports anime playing ping-pong instead. The plot points feel largely cyclical, in part from the nature of what the show's about, but it's done worse than how the autumn elections were handled. Nothing feels overly fresh or exciting and the cookie-cutter episodes just add to the horrid predictability. We know from the onset Soma and his gang are gonna win, right? I mean, this is a shonen show. The whole point is discovering how they're gonna win. We know where our destination is, but we're still unsure about what the journey will hold. However, Food Wars just painfully shows us its hand painfully slowly and using atrociously predictable plot. Talk about boring. It doesn't even feel like cooking anymore, not really. One of my favorite parts of this series was that I felt I was learning a little bit more about food. They've somewhat taken it out of the equation here. Instead of really seeing how things are made and why, we're given words from the peanut gallery, some gutter quality trash talk, some flashbacks about the characters and then the food part is done. They present the dishes and we're supposed to think the dish is special because of what our jailed peanuts say. There's no real knowledge exchanged in all this, and it overall makes the series less impactful and memorable.  The concept of the gifting was just silly. You're seriously going to tell me a guy can magically make other peoples' clothes disappear when he's not even biologically related to the Nakiris?! But Maybe the entire point is about character driven plot and stuff. Characters? Really? We're hopping back to that point when we consider the majority of our minor characters were shoved into a literal jail and reduced to audience oohs and ahhs? But I digress. Let's take a look at the main character for growth: Erina Nakiri. Throughout seasons three and four Erina has shown unbelievable strides. While there’s no doubt Erina develops as a character, I have my reservations about her cooking and specifically, her ‘specialty’. She calls it a ‘don’, or a rice bowl. Her ‘secret ingredients’ are a combination of squid and peanut butter, and she uses the gelatinous substance (which Soma uses in season one’s God Tongue episode). Soma. Her specialty is Soma. You’ve got to be kidding me. Throughout this time, the first OP from season one in playing, in case, for some ungodly reason, you didn’t catch all of the allusions going on. And while I love that OP and wish the series stayed with that theme instead of going to the edgy, we’re going to war business they’ve been doing since season two, it’s really nothing more than a cheap shot at nostalgia feels. Like, season one was a lot more successful… you know what we could do? Play that OP and we’ll magically be as good. Yeah, best plan ever... The time skip is the other frustrating part of this series. For the final episode, aptly titled “The New Elite Ten”, we get to see our cast of characters as a grade higher, even though time has had a weird flow since season two’s autumn elections. To show that time has passed, people are given… NEW HAIRSTYLES! OMG. -_-“ Please, no. There were positives to the series, and overall I'm left with feeling a mixture of ranty and meh. It was flat on so many levels, but Erina and Megumi's growth, plus Takumi's win made me smile. The music was okay, though feels very much the same for seasons 2-4.

I'm very disappointed in the direction the series went from mid-season 3 but while it still being decent, season 4 seems like a bad joke. There's no plot development at all, episodes are very monotonic and predictable. Supposed to be "plot twists" make no sense and there's no explanation to irrational decisions made by characters what only shows the lazy approach of creators responsible for season 4 and I don't really know if the outcome of this could be any worse, considering the fact that the final episode looks more like low quality fan-fiction than actual sequel of a great story from seasons 1-3. My rating is 3/10 and while the graphics are still on a high level, season 4 of SNS didn't fulfill my expectations as a succesor of the great series leaving me with disappointment and no desire to even start season 5.

I will not lie to you, as much as I love this series, the story in this is mediocre at best. It is just the bout against the Elite 10, the ending gives it a more satisfactory feeling but other than that this season was very lacklustre in terms of the story. The art in this was phenomenal. The detail they put into the characters, the environment, but most importantly the food. When they are describing the dish in terms of ingredients and how it is cooked you can see it, and there is almost always an underlying feature that is revealed in each and every one of these dishes that makes you wish you could taste it yourself! Souma Yukihira - The son of Jouichirou Yukihira, he worked at the Yukihira Diner until it closed. Erina Nakiri - Coming from a prestigious background, she often looks down upon whomever she deems "common" initially due to her having the "God Tongue" ability, but it is clear how much that has changed in this season. Megumi Tadakoro - From a small port town, aiming to make her family proud!

This season is supposed to be the biggest event in the entire series. All the trainings and the battles from the previous seasons were built for the regiment de cuisine and opposing the best chefs of totsuki academy. However, as an audience, this tournament is the most boring and predictable of all. It has something to do with the concept being overused in the series. The large amount of matches made me bored and wanted the arc to end. Also, most matches were rushed in order to compress battles in an episode or two. Despite these things, the development of characters were lived up to its fullest potential. All the rebels got their spotlight; whether it may be a win or a loss, it resulted to their flourishing. Opening and ending song were mediocrely done, unlike the preceding songs. The OST felt like the show is a battle manga which i think is not a good thing to maintain the high quality level of a cooking anime. It is not bad, though. It it not just as intense as the previous seasons because of its predictable plot. Nonetheless, they made up for the bland portrayal by tweaking the last episode and giving more details that were not showed in the manga. The last episode could be a wonderful conclusion showing how shokugeki has been a culture of fun and camaraderie through cooking.

This fourth season is the Shokugeki no Souma equivalent of a tournament arc. The entire season consists of food battles between the rebels and the current elite 10 leading up to a climactic final battle that could've been the end of the series. The story in the fourth season is just about the food battles between the elite 10 and the rebels. Some of the battles feel a bit rushed but this was probably necessary because of the large amount of battles and the fact that the anime tried to also fit some character development into this season. The character development/history that is revealed adds a lot to this season and makes sure that you aren't watching simple battles but are learning more about the characters along the way. The characters are the same as in the previous season but in this season there's way more information about the elite 10 and what they represent which is pretty nice. Other than that there's some new judges but those are relatively minor characters. The animation, voice acting and music are all similar or the same as in the previous season. Overall this is a very fun season. Even though the battles sometimes feel rushed, the extra information about the characters makes up for it. The climax at the end is exciting and the season is definitely worth watching if you've watched the previous seasons.

Here's a problem with adapting a manga like Shokugeki no Soma into an anime: it drags out horrendously. Seriously! The manga goes by quickly, obviously, because it's a manga. But since this anime models its source material almost perfectly, a lot of time is wasted on things that take less time in the manga. In the manga, some food battles are 6 chapters long, but that's okay because it takes around 3-5 minutes to finish each chapter. Average that out to 4, 4 * 6 = 24. 24 minutes! That's the length of a single anime episode! However, this anime manages to stretch it out to 3 episodes at times. That's ridiculous! In my honest opinion, if they had focused more on trying to adapt the story for the purpose of an anime rather than try to copy the source material so perfectly, they could've done better. Unfortunately, I felt my time was wasted. An anime adaptation should not just copy its source material--it should perfect it! An example of this, for me, would be Gintama. Gintama's anime humor is completely different than its manga humor because the writers for the anime know how the humor works and adapt it so that it works with the anime better, such as jokes about Sunrise and 6:00 television. This takes the ideas created by Sorachi-sensei and then perfects it for the purpose of an anime. That's how it should be! Furthermore, they should cut back on the flashbacks for things that could've easily replaced the wasted time from extending the length of the food battles. It could've been better. I liked this part of the manga, I really did. But the pacing in the anime is awful. I hope they do a better job next season. --- Score: 6/10

I've always wanted to write a review of Food Wars and this season seemed like the perfect opportunity. Also this is my first time writing a review. Keep in mind; this is just my opinion. --- Story: 2/10 Food Wars never had an overwhelming story but it had always been enough to keep me at least somewhat interested. This season is a direct continuation of the third one but the fact that this is just one big tournament really hurt the overall plot. I'm not saying tournaments are a bad thing but this one is just too predictable for my liking. A lot of people say that Food Wars isn't meant to be unpredictable and that it's about how the characters win their matches but even that is always the same. I'm not feeling any kind of excitement in the battles. Honestly, I stopped caring about who wins the matches at some point. And this is where we get to the next problem of the anime; the characters. --- Characters: 3/10 I'm honestly not feeling with any of the characters. We barely get any development on them except for Nakiri Erina. But even that development is way to predictable from the start of the anime. The cast is huge and even though all of them get a decent amount of screen time their bland personalities make me stop caring for them. Unfortunately, even the main character is just your stereotypical shounen protagonist that barely developed since the first season. The antagonist's motivation is actually pretty decent but the overall personality is just unnecessarily evil. --- Sound: 6/10 One thing that really surpirsed me is the good OST this anime has. I'm not only talking about the OP and ED which are both pretty decent and fitting, I'm also talking about the soundtrack during the episodes. It always seems well placed adn the tracks themselves are pretty good as well. --- Art & Animation: 4/10 This probably was the most disappointing part of the season. While the food looks as good as usual, the character design is very lazy. But that's not even the worst part, the animation looks like one big Powerpoint presentation. I don't remember the last time I saw a character walking properly. A lot of times all that's animated is the mouth of the characters. It's such a huge drop in quality that made the whole show lifeless. --- Enjoyment: 3/10 I was bored throughout the whole season. Despite the OST and some of the food there was basically nothing I enjoyed. I'm also not a fan of ecchi. --- Overall: 3/10

I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't wild about this season, but I've given it a nine because I know, somewhere in the past, this series had me hype. As always, the art in Food Wars! is killing it. The colors are used so well, the food looks shockingly realistic yet fantastical, and the character designs are crisp and pleasing to look at. As far as the sound design, it's not something I used to notice about Food Wars! but I do think the score for this anime does a really good job of putting the viewer in the atmosphere of the moment, so it's something to mention. The story wasn't exactly as amazing as I was thinking it would be, but I honestly think it's because it's been a year since I've seen the previous seasons. The spark wasn't there for me anymore. To me, the whole season being a Shokugeki was a bit... I don't know, boring? A lot of the battles were done very well, don't get me wrong. This anime knows where to cut the episodes and how to build up tension in a way that gets you excited for the next moment. However, this whole season was a constant, high-stakes story, and I couldn't get that into it after not having been a part of this world for a while. The characters still slap, though. I love the zaniness of Food Wars! so much. Each character feels so unique and out of place, and it really works in this story. Sometimes a cast like that can feel busy, but Food Wars! is able to make each of them shine in a really lovely way. The humor is still awesome, the craziness is still there, and the gushy stuff was only over-the-top sometimes. All in all, I didn't get pumped to watch this season, but I'm glad I did because it seems like something pretty dang cool is on the horizon, and I can't wait.

I am sad. As nice as this anime used to be, it turned into something I can't even name properly. Characters have still their personalities, animation is always as amazing, music is... 8/10 compared to previous seasons. Regarding that, my review will contain some spoilers towards previous seasons, not this one. When I started this anime, I was similar to a lot of watchers of this anime. I had tons of fighting and shounen anime behind me but I barely touched something that special not involving this aspect at all. But friends were telling me about this anime and since I really love cooking and have strong passion for it, I gave it a chance. Hell yea, first season was really surprise and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Second one even a bit more. But then it went down. Food sometimes started making no sense, those components did not fight well together in real life and it started being weird. Also the entire thing with trying to expel rebels was too much to bear. But hey, I thought "okay, there is a lot of going on now, maybe it will be fun". It isn't. Since the end of season 2 I never had the same feeling of happinnes from this anime as I had back then. And there are multiple reasons: 1) Music is going slowly down on quality but it's not that much noticeable alone 2) Plot is getting more and more holes with every episode 3) You can start with certainty predicting, who will win which food battle 4) Paradoxically to number 3 some background characters are getting more space than the main ones 5) Some decisions starting to be irrational 6) Food components and finished food sometimes doesn't make sense at all 7) Ecchi aspect is getting more annoying than enjoyable And those all reasons are also the reasons, why this season is much worse than the previous ones. And again, this is not pure hate towards anime. I really liked it from the start, I still kinda like it even after this horrible season but I have to admit this is not ok. There are really big bad decisions in entire anime which bury this season. From the negative side I said really a lot, so now for the positives. I think anime still keeps its ghost and will to continue and there are still enjoyable aspects. And at least from my perspective I can say, that if you aren't amateur or profesional cook, you will enjoy this show a little bit more. And if you won't care about plot with a lot of holes, yea, this anime can then reach at least for the average score of this season - 7, no doubt about it. But I couldn't really ignore those aspects and they were pain big enough to count them into rating. Still, I think it's worth watching. I can't really say I would recommend it but if you watched all previous seasons and you liked them, it would be pitty to not continue. You just have to count with worse plot and cooking. But I think it's still kinda enjoyable after all.

Hi guys, I'm back after watching Shokugeki no souma season 4. So basically, this part show the rebels led by Yukihira Souma vs Central lead by Tsukasa Eishi. So, for me the OP for this anime is not bad. But, there also put OP for the Anime season 1. It was very happening. I was crying when Tadokoro Megumi lost this fight. They gets another back up from other 10 seats in their teams In the half of this season, Nakiri Azami become judge for the team Shokugeki. The ending is not bad and for me. It is satisfied to watch. For me, in this season , my waifu is Kobayasahi Rindo. She likes to use exotic animals in her cooking

It would be a great season if you didn't have to watch 2 seasons of the same competition and then again just continue watching it until the end of this season. So 3 seasons of same thing. You get bored at some point. It would be much better season if they made it as part 2 of season 3. I am talking about the ending. If that was the case they could have made a whole season about them now, about their classes and how they can help their junior students and teach them something. I started watching 5. season before writing this review so I decided to write it before my whole impression of this franchise is ruined. I am at the episode 5, and that's a breaking point. I had to write review for this season. It is not bad overall, but it's just a sequel of a sequel so it becomes boring in a way to be honest.

This season continues with the team shokugeki. I find that the season still provided some character development, although that was mainly focused on Erina and Soma with some small bits on other characters during their individual battles. From reading the manga as well, this season was the last one I was looking forward to as the quality of the story severely drops off after the team shokugeki completes. In order to finish the team battle, some of the individual battles are more rushed as there are up to three simultaneously and thus there is a slight decline in the quality and anticipation that used to come with each individual shokugeki. However, this decline in quality of the battles sort of translated to more focus on the characters themselves. I personally felt like this season did very well in cementing the future personalities of many of the characters, and that's why I feel like this season should have been the end, instead of continuing on.