Matters come to a head in the third bout as the first-years of the Resistance have to go up against some of the strongest members of Azami’s new Council.
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:
In the third bout of the team shokugeki, Eizan designs his dish specifically to negate the best qualities of Takumi’s, but Takumi’s expression remains confident as he pulls his dish from the oven. Just what secret weapon could Takumi’s Italian dish hold? Meanwhile, both Soma and Megumi continue working their hardest in order to bring victory to the resisters as the third bout reaches its thunderous conclusion!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I will admit that I was starting to tire a bit of this whole extended team shokugeki. While the “never-ending battle arc” is a staple of most shounen manga, it has never held much appeal for me personally. A great battle told in a thrilling manner is nice, but an unending barrage of conflict, with only few pauses for flashbacks and side stories, can tire the brain.
Fortunately, even if Yuto Tsukuda is making second use of the same tricks on occasion, he has managed to package the events of this installment in just the right way to continue the narrative momentum and keep the reader’s mind focused on both the immediate ebb and flow of events, as well as the future ahead.
The third bout was always going to be a difficult one for the Resistance as it would pit the three first-years, Soma, Megumi, and Takumi, against the more experienced and battle-hardened Council members Momo, Eizan, and Saito. In some ways, the only contest that was never in any doubt was Soma versus Saito. Even though Somei Saito is a third-year and was near the top of the Council, we could pretty much take it for granted that Soma would pull through, as he is the title character. The way that Soma does pull through (truly, if you think my saying this is a spoiler, you have little knowledge of how stories, especially shounen tournament stories, are constructed) the encounter is both amazing and slightly repetitive.
The repetition comes from the fact that the tactic Soma uses to defeat Saito is basically the same method he used against Mimisaka in the Fall Elections: throw everything including the kitchen sink (if it tastes good enough) at the judges and overwhelm them with your broad culinary knowledge. That it would work against Saito could perhaps be predicted, as while he is not a one-trick pony himself (as shown in his own choice of dish and method to perfecting his cooking), he cannot quite match the massive versatility that Soma brings to any battle. If Soma does not have any kind of natural talent (as his own father Joichiro once explained to us, the audience), what he has is an endless fascination with how other people cook. That is his strength and his talent and it may well be capable of defeating anyone who does not have such a broad encyclopedic knowledge of the art. We shall see.
So, the real question was always which one was going to fall: Takumi or Megumi? As usual, Tsukuda does a good job with misdirection, as in both cases the earlier indications (set up in the previous volume for Takumi; dealt with in detail in this volume for Megumi) of victory or defeat are largely there to mislead the reader…though one might be used to Tsukuda working this way by now and might use the lead up as a clue to how each contest will end. I will leave the fates of Soma’s two friends to your own reading leisure.
With the third bout completed, we see the setup for the fourth round end this volume. The most difficult part of any long contest is making sure the middle sections do not sag. Tsukuda is doing a good job of accomplishing that task as there isn’t a flabby or lagging section to this set of chapters. Every section plays its part of continuing to move the larger battle forward while also giving the spotlight to characters we’ve come to know well and love by this point. Oh, and the food is interesting too.
In Summary:
The third bout of the Régiment de cuisine comes to an end, the judges choosing the winners and losers based upon whose food was best. Now comes the crunch time for both sides as their numbers begin to dwindle bit by bit and an overall winner will have to be decided. So, how many more ways can outlandishly gourmet food be presented to us? We will see.
Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: A-
Package Rating: A-
Text/Translation: A-
Age Rating: Teen+ (16+)
Released By:Viz Media
Release Date: February 2nd, 2019
MSRP: $9.99