Soma is in for a bear of a rematch against Akira Hayama. The Spice Boy will be the one standing between Soma and further advancement at Totsuki. Will Soma be able to continue his journey in the warped school for master chefs?
Creative Staff:
Story: Yuto Tsukuda
Art: Shun Saeki
Contributor: Yuki Morisaki
Translation: Adrienne Beck
Production: James Gaubatz, Mara Coman (Touch up art and lettering), Alice Lewis (design), Jennifer LeBlanc (editor)
What They Say:
It’s stage three of the advancement exams, and to pass, Soma must beat the new Council of Ten’s ninth seat—Akira Hayama?! Although Soma is not happy to see Hayama sporting Central’s badge on his chest, he can’t hide his excitement over a rematch with the very person who snatched the Fall Classic win from him!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The great danger of raising the stakes, story-wise, in any kind of tale is that it gets harder and harder to top yourself. I was once worried about how this whole “Evil Azami takes over Totsuki and Soma leads the Resistance” direction was going to go, but the past few volumes have reassured me that the basic appeal of Food Wars is not going to be ruined. Even though the stakes and tension keep on rising, there is enough humor to lighten the mood at times and enough mouth-watering food to pique one’s appetite.
Though the theme for this volume’s major clash, Soma facing off against the new Ninth Seat Akira Hayama in a cooking battle involving bear meat, might be a bit more of a challenge for those outside Japan. Bear isn’t exactly a kind of meat that most Americans will have ever tasted (myself included). So, it’s a bit harder to imagine the problems faced by Soma and the skill of his solution to the dilemma.
The dilemma is that bear meat apparently has a rather strong smell that must be dealt with, making it the perfect choice for Hayama, whose skill with spices and nose for food should make him able to solve the riddle of making bear enticing with ease. Soma has less experience with bear and little time to learn. But as we saw at the end of the last volume, he has help in the form of Kuga, the former Council Member who wants his seat back and is willing to help Soma to help himself (as he hopes that Soma would challenge Akira to a shokugeki involving his Council seat which Soma would win and then Soma would face Kuga in another shokugeki to transfer the seat to Kuga). After some special bear training, Soma prepares to face the fight of his life.
Though…this would be the…how many fights for his life (at Totsuki, not his actual life) have we seen Soma in already? I’ve lost count. The gravity of the situation this time is reflected in the choice of judges. We’ve probably been wondering about Alice Nakiri’s father all this time and we need wonder no longer: Soue Nakiri, the son of Senzaemon, is one judge. The other two are two cute teenaged twins named Cilla and Berta, who are the personal aides of Leonora Nakiri. A Nakiri family judging panel. An impartial panel, but one hard to please.
Tsukuda uses an old trick here, having the judging rounds go one way, before moving it back in the other direction. I need not linger on who the winner of the contest is (you do all know the series is ongoing? That’s part of the problem, perhaps, there is no real suspense when we know there is more to come). While there may not be much of a surprise factor (it would have been greater way back when these chapters were initially serialized and there was always the chance that the title would simply end—while Food Wars often follows the story beats and narrative development of a sports or tournament title, there is no “We’ll be back next year!” if you get expelled from Totsuki, so we can’t have the common event of a major loss ending “the season” and allowing the main character another chance, which was already deployed in the Fall Classic), we still have all of the main elements that make this work fun: the over the top characters and situations; the fanservice; the mouth-watering food; the silly comedy that helps to humanize the characters at times. They’re still able to work their magic as we continue along.
On to the next battlefield.
In Summary:
Soma faces perhaps his greatest challenge so far in the Totsuki Train trip through Hokkaido, as this time he must defeat the new Ninth Seat on the Council, his old rival Akira Hayama, to be able to progress further. The choice of key ingredient, bear, is a tough one, but we know who will come out on top in the end. There is plenty of humor, though, and the regular doses of foodgasm-service to see us through.
Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: A
Package Rating: A-
Text/Translation: A-
Age Rating: Teen+ (16+)
Released By:Viz Media
Release Date: February 6th, 2018
MSRP: $9.99