Food wars S1 Review
I must say that I was warned to watch this show, it is peculiar. But I never expected it to be so good, a show that could capture the purpose and heart of cooking with a very good light and exciting story, this show delivers.
Food has always been a pleasure for me, I enjoy it very much, so when I was recommended this show I was actually looking forward to it, I always looked at shows about chefs and cooking, so finding a cooking anime show was amazing. It is not only a stunning view for your stomach, but it is very exciting, it keeps you entertained, and it is actually pretty funny. The only thing is if you watch this, you should probably do it alone since some scenes are “peculiar” so please be aware of this. I never knew cooking can be this fun, and characters are good and interesting since it includes many cultures in the kitchen.
This show is one of the most innovative anime series I have seen. It includes knowledge and inspiration in a sense that even I am starting to see food as more as an art and wanting to learn to cook in this detail.
So lets review it
Character Review
Characters are very good since it’s a mix of personalities without stereotypes, like you know I won’t review unnecessary characters like Erina’s secretary because we don’t know enough, will review the most important and the most seen or even the ones I think are important to review
Soma Yukihira: Our MC is really ambitious and always strives to be the best and learn from his mistakes. He is always confident and has a lot of experience thanks to his dad. Even though he is extremely fierce in competition he is very friendly and modest, and he is so innocent that he can’t see how many girls are dying for him, he really has no clue, and it is really funny to watch. Not only to this but his personality makes everyone that wants to rival him to be closer and closer to him and almost end up as friends, he is really MC and I know he will lose one time or another but the fact that he keeps making the best of every situation is great, at least for me.
Megumi Tadokoro: a humble innocent and shy student, that brings a freshness and a chilled ambiance to the series making everyone calm. I must say that her development throughout the first season has been really good and one I hoped would happen. She is constantly improving thought this season.
Satoshi Isshiki: For me Isshiki is one of the best characters we see this season and we really don’t see much. He was intimidating at first but actually is a really kind and helpful soul. To me he brings a lot of the comedy and a relief after many intense battles or in any tense situation he just calms everything around including us viewers. He always brings support to the polar roommates and he is very skilled at cooking. He is carefree and he shows us how much he knows while analyzing food.
Rest of Polar Star Dormitory: To be honest, the other characters are the dorm yes are important and have some traits and are actually really good friends and supportive, but I don’t think I know enough of them, yes, we see them a lot but truly not know enough. Great for the development of soma and others. The dynamic of the dorm is funny, respectful and great for the show. To have a safe place for us and for them. And yes, including fumio who is the “mother” of all
Takumi Aldini: A great character that brings, passion, rivalry but also humor. The fact that he is basically a rival and also kind of like a best friend to soma is really interesting, because he started off wanting to beat him, and of course that will be his goal always, but he is slowly getting really close as a friend always looking for him and being worried for him. He is strong in the kitchen and has excellent experience with his brother. He is a character that will be innovative always. Great character could have great development, one of my favorites.
Erina Nakiri: To me I feel she is a cold and hard person on the surface, but she is really kind deep down, probably the most important student in Totsuki, she has a really define taste and palate, she is highly respected and even though she now hates Soma for actually cooking something good, I believe she will slowly fall for him like all. But she is a necessary character to have, possibly the biggest rival to our MC
Totsuki Academy Alumni (CAMP): The camp interaction is actually quite interesting, we got to see the generation that was like the one we see now just much more advanced, each with a unique personality and a unique cooking skill. Great episodes and great characters that can be shown in future seasons.
Joichiro Yukihira/ Joichiro Saiba: What we saw from him was little but so demonstrative, he will clearly appear in future season probably bringing soma more defeats, but he is so gentle yet so tough he is a character that can appear in the season and get all the attention, really liked this character.
Ikumi Mito: She started as kind of a ruthless and evil character and her development throughout the season is great. She fell for Soma and it is pretty funny how she clearly has never felt this way so she reacts and does stuff that she wouldn’t normally see so it brings humor and love interests for our MC.
Alice Nakiri: Even though she appeared during the last couple of episodes she is clearly someone that can be as fierce as fire but kind as well. She is an interesting character and with ryo they can bring a lot to next seasons. It is a foundation pillar of more rivals for soma and interesting interactions with all/
Akira Hayama: Hayama is clearly a rival to soma, since he lost to him in the pre-eliminatory but qualified. Akira will be a force to be meddled with. His keen sense of smell and dominion of spices it brings a sense of freshness to the shoe. Bringing cultural balance.
Story Review
In terms of story, it is really interesting and immersive, bringing comedy, drama, passion and knowledge. This is a combination that not many shows could pull off. I loved the concept of having a “orgasm” while eating excellent, food because even though they can exaggerate eating is honestly a pleasure that many enjoy. It brings many rivalries and I initially thought that our MC would be invincible but learning that he isn’t the good thing about the story is that if felt incredibly quick but with a nice pace, it isn’t in a rush neither too slow. It moves you around many obstacles many places and always different characters, so it is a very good story.
The fact that it involves humor, If you have read other reviews it is great for me, because it is not a forced humor but a great comic relief after passionate and extensive battles or competitions. The story also just keeps on improving and as a first season it is a great pillar for next seasons. Another great thing about the story is that you actually learn a thing or two of kitchen and food knowledge. It really brings out the chef inside you.
Animation Review
The visual is not just great, it is really amazing the visuals are stunning and I honestly couldn’t imagine it any other way, animation is sharp but when there is some humor, goofy faces are also really well made.
This animation is crazy when it comes to the display of the food and dishes. It’s able to capture the essence of a very well-made dish. It actually looks real. The texture it shows in all dishes is amazing, really makes you hungry and it makes you drool so much, never watch this show before eating!
Soundtrack Review
Soundtracks are fantastic with a similar soundtrack of attack on titan but with cooking, the sounds are honestly part of the show and it really brings the dish out. Also, soundtrack makes the viewer fell tension or any emotional moments with such ease. It just brings the show together and the opening is a good song.
Things that could have been better
- Maybe introduced too many characters at the end that could throw the viewer off balance keeping up with so many
- Our MC was really overpowered and didn’t actually lost lost, he did take it as much but I expect that next seasons will bring us true defeats to soma.
- In some battles important characters were tossed aside instead of giving us more details of their match
- I would really like to know more about many characters, I understand that there isn’t time but honestly we don’t know almost anything from main characters for example Polar star students.
The rating for this anime will be 9.2 For me this first season was a masterpiece it brought out so many traits and also brought some freshness to anime shows, being totally innovative it is also light, fun and easy to follow. It ticks the right elements with a very engaging story with a very nice pace. Really recommend it
