History YMMV / FoodWars

* BestKnownForTheFanservice: To the uninitiated, the series is best recognized for its "[[OrgasmicallyDelicious foodgasm]]" scenes. Shonen Jump even [[InvokedTrope ran a popularity contest]] where voters got to rank their favorite reactions. It's inevitable though, given the head artist was a former hentai artist [[BleachedUnderpants before starting on this series]].

* WidgetSeries: A series where cooking is so badass that people get orgasms or other incredible visions whenever they eat food. Cooking is so important that there is a ridiculously rich, influential school where people from all over world gather to study or teach cooking.

** ''Notice me, Senpai''[[note]]Based off of a [[http://www.knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-hope-senpai-will-notice-me similarly-named meme]], not only did this surface from Chapter 151 in record time, but it forms the villain's primary motivations stemming from the idolization of his {{Senpai|Kohai}}, citing the present chaos is because Totsuki ruined his "dear Senpai", proclaiming he will show Soma "the light" that will make "Senpai happy".[[/note]]

** Soma is either a well-written, confident character having a level of {{Determinator}} atypical of the standard {{Shounen}} protagonist, or a character who keeps winning with a few losses to his name (Soma never faces the consequences of his losses), and is constantly promoted over an ensemble cast of characters who garner little characterization or development of their own. [[spoiler:That he has achieved the first seat in the Council of Ten Masters, despite not directly defeating Eishi one-on-one when it was primarily due to Erina]], adds ammunition to the accusations.

** Soma is either a well-written, confident character having a level of {{Determinator}} atypical of the standard {{Shounen}} protagonist, or a character who keeps winning with a few losses to his name (Soma never faces the consequences of his losses), and [[SpotlightStealingSquad is constantly promoted over an ensemble cast of characters who garner little characterization or development of their own]]. [[spoiler:That he has achieved the first seat in the Council of Ten Masters, despite not directly defeating Eishi one-on-one when it was primarily due to Erina]], adds ammunition to the accusations.

** [[spoiler:Megumi and Takumi Aldini escape the CurbStompBattle the Council of Ten Masters gave to the "Rebels" during the "Hokkaido Promotion Exam Arc" because they were assigned Rindou Kobayashi, who simply asked them to make a delicious dish to pass rather than challenge them to a ''Shokugeki'' they would most likely lose]]. {{Justified}} when the latter is seen as a WildCard among the antagonists.

** Despite being a member of Central and supporting the BigBad, readers have warmed up to Momo due to her NotGoodWithPeople personality and social awkwardness, making for funny, {{Adorkable}} moments.

*** With the conclusion of ''Le Dessert'', ''Shokugeki no Soma'' seems to be written to always favor Erina over everyone else, including the main protagonist, Soma: {{sheltered|Aristocrat}} by her grandfather within Totsuki's elitist environment, effortlessly swept all honors, constantly praised as a ChildProdigy and [[SchoolIdol worshipped by her peers]] with the PopularityPower to back it up. Despite NoSocialSkills, Erina is viewed as a good friend and is never held accountable for her {{Jerkass}} tendencies, while her God Tongue guarantees effortless victories irrespective of the opponent.[[note]]Other accomplished chefs [[spoiler:such as [[WorldsBestWarrior Joichiro]], [[InvincibleVillain Asahi]] and [[TheAce Eishi and Rindou]] have lost at least one ''shokugeki'']]; Erina, however, remains undefeated[[/note]] Many members of the 92nd generation are retroactively revealed to be [[spoiler:handpicked by Senzaemon for the purpose of grooming Erina as the best chef of her generation, and in the BLUE's final round, despite being an emotional wreck over pleasing her mother, she instantly gains a HeroicSecondWind by performing an impossible task, winning the championship]] yet the narrative never shows how she earns it. [[spoiler:In ''Le Dessert'', Erina is said to have graduated from Totsuki with top honours when she was ''already'' the headmaster of Totsuki.]]

* AudienceAlienatingEra: The story is generally considered to have taken a nosedive after the Regiment de Cuisine, especially in the BLUE arc. Common criticisms include [[DemotedToExtra shoving most of the cast into the background]] (which had already happened to several of them in the aforementioned Regiment), the introduction of the [[TheScrappy widely-loathed]] Asahi as Soma's rival, a RomanticPlotTumor between them and Erina that rewinds her development and [[spoiler:results in a MaybeEverAfter]], and [[{{Narm}} the absurdity]] of the Noir chefs' cooking to make up for the manga's food consultant not being available.

** The ''Le Cuisiner Noir'' chefs are touted as the cream of the crop [[spoiler:and the top candidates at the prestigious BLUE competition such that the "light chefs" are overwhelmed by their respective skills, yet all of them
except Asahi are easily trounced by Soma, Takumi and Megumi]]. The anime expands on this and shows that [[spoiler:''the entire organization'' was easily defeated for good by the members of the Council of Ten Masters who weren't participating in the BLUE]].

** The ''Le Cuisiner Noir'' chefs are touted as the cream of the crop [[spoiler:and the top candidates at the prestigious BLUE competition such that the "light chefs" are overwhelmed by their respective skills, yet none who are named Asahi are easily trounced by Soma, Takumi and Megumi]]. The anime expands on this and shows that [[spoiler:''the entire organization'' was easily defeated for good by the members of the Council of Ten Masters who weren't participating in the BLUE]].

** Just as in the above example, fan reaction to Asahi was near-universally negative for being a [[FlatCharacter flat]] GenericDoomsdayVillain, but Azami from the previous arc was very much the same as a cartoonish villain caricature, and even the early arcs had bad guys who lacked any concrete explanation for being bad--they were just {{jerkass}}es for the fun of it. The difference is, many of those early villains had personality quirks or gimmicks that helped them feel more well-rounded, and most went through CharacterDevelopment. Azami was very flat but served as the GreaterScopeVillain, sharing the spotlight with more well-rounded villains, and later received backstory to humanize him and better explain his motives. Asahi, however, was not only flat and generic, he was also an InvincibleVillain and the sole bad guy worth caring about of the arc he starred in, and was even confirmed to be [[CreatorsPet loved by the creator]]. This ended up resulting in him becoming one of the most hated characters in the manga, [[TheScrappy for exactly the wrong reasons]].

*** It removes the controversial manga scene where Asahi kidnaps Erina in order to get her to agree to challenge him at BLUE. The scene is instead changed to him and the Noirs confronting her at her home and issuing the challenge to her. The anime also cuts out the scenes of Asahi constantly publicly humiliating Soma after his loss.
*** In regards to [[spoiler:Joichiro and Asahi, while the manga doesn't make it clear whether Joichiro actually abandoned Asahi or not, the anime does show Joichiro offering to bring Asahi back to Japan, but the latter explicitly refuses the offer]].
*** It also gives [[spoiler:Megumi an outright victory over Soma, Takumi, and the rest of the school in an anime-original tournament to determine who goes to the BLUE, finally putting the crowner on her CharacterDevelopment with the long-awaited win she never got in the manga]].
*** It reveals Soma's mother much earlier than the manga does, having Soma recall her during the course of the BLUE Tournament and serving as a source of inspiration for him.
*** In contrast to the highly controversial manga ending, the series finale of the anime actually depicts the final match between [[spoiler:Soma and Erina]], making [[spoiler:Erina's]] victory feel less like an AssPull. In addition, it expands upon what the rest of the Council of Ten Masters were up to during the BLUE Tournament. Finally, the last segment of the episode has [[spoiler:Erina acknowledging her feelings for Soma]], giving the shipping wars a little more closure.

* SalvagedStory:
** The fact that Soma's father Joichiro is a world-famous chef and one of the best chefs to come out of Totsuki initially seems to run counter to theme that Soma is simply an everyman who proves that anyone can succeed. Subsequent chapters establish that Joichiro never actually taught Soma how to cook and didn't even want him to become a chef. It was only through challenging his father every day that Soma gradually became a skilled chef.
** The fifth season of the anime did a lot of damage control in order to mitigate the more controversial and negatively-received parts of the ''Le Cuisiner Noir'' arc. Some examples include:

* AuthorsSavingThrow
** [[spoiler:Introducing Erina's {{abusive|Parent}} father Azami was this for some readers who had always viewed Erina as a JerkAss with little-to-no redeeming qualities to her character apart from being a loose {{Tsundere}}. That this revelation humanizes her character to a certain degree justified why she's such a huge AcademicAlphaBitch]].
** Fans of the AnimatedAdaptation praise how Erina's role is expanded in proportion to the amount of time given to her in the manga (before [[spoiler:Azami enters the picture]]), possibly as a response from readers joking about [[TheRival what]] [[AdvertisedExtra exactly is]] [[MainCharacters her role]] in the story.
** One could argue the anime also attempted to be this by powering through the Fall Classic TournamentArc, which suffered high ArcFatigue for some fans when it was first done in the manga. As a result though, it ended up suffering major criticism for CompressedAdaptation.
** A criticism of [[spoiler:Azami]] during the "Central saga" was unclear motivations and cartoonish supervillain behavior. [[spoiler:The BLUE TournamentArc digs deeper into his back-story by filling in the gap between Jouichiro leaving and Azami's [[AbusiveParent abuse of Erina]]: while Azami's StartToDarkness began during his time at Totsuki, he briefly regained his passion for cooking when he met Mana. Believing he could support her in the way he couldn't for Jouichiro, Mana's God Tongue eventually took its toll on her and she left her family. Afraid Erina will eventually suffer the same fate as her mother, he crossed the MoralHorizon out of the belief he could prevent it from happening again, like it did to his {{Senpai|Kohai}} and wife]].
** Due to the poor reception of Asahi [[spoiler:defeating Joichiro off-screen]], it's implied by Soma, [[spoiler:after his rematch and victory against Asahi in the BLUE, that [[ILetYouWin Jouichiro let him win]], as Soma is unconvinced his father would lose so easily. It's further hinted that Joichiro [[XanatosGambit may have planned this from the beginning]] in order to give Asahi a piece of HumblePie]].
** The fifth season of the anime did a lot of damage control in order to mitigate the more controversial and negatively-received parts of the ''Le Cuisiner Noir'' arc. Some examples include:
*** It removes the controversial manga scene where Asahi kidnaps Erina in order to get her to agree to challenge him at BLUE. The scene is instead changed to him and the Noirs confronting her at her home and issuing the challenge to her. The anime also cuts out the scenes of Asahi constantly publicly humiliating Soma after his loss.
*** In regards to [[spoiler:Joichiro and Asahi, while the manga doesn't make it clear whether Joichiro actually abandoned Asahi or not, the anime does show Joichiro offering to bring Asahi back to Japan, but the latter explicitly refuses the offer]].
*** It also gives [[spoiler:Megumi an outright victory over Soma, Takumi, and the rest of the school in an anime-original tournament to determine who goes to the BLUE, finally putting the crowner on her CharacterDevelopment with the long-awaited win she never got in the manga]].
*** It reveals Soma's mother much earlier than the manga does, having Soma recall her during the course of the BLUE Tournament and serving as a source of inspiration for him.
*** In contrast to the highly controversial manga ending, the series finale of the anime actually depicts the final match between [[spoiler:Soma and Erina]], making [[spoiler:Erina's]] victory feel less like an AssPull. In addition, it expands upon what the rest of the Council of Ten Masters were up to during the BLUE Tournament. Finally, the last segment of the episode has [[spoiler:Erina acknowledging her feelings for Soma]], giving the shipping wars a little more closure.

* SalvagedStory: The fact that Soma's father Joichiro is a world-famous chef and one of the best chefs to come out of Totsuki initially seems to run counter to theme that Soma is simply an everyman who proves that anyone can succeed. Subsequent chapters establish that Joichiro never actually taught Soma how to cook and didn't even want him to become a chef. It was only through challenging his father every day that Soma gradually became a skilled chef.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: The story is generally considered to have taken a nosedive after the Regiment de Cuisine, especially in the BLUE arc. Common criticisms include shoving most of the cast into the background (after several of them had already been suffered in the aforementioned Regiment), the introduction of the [[TheScrappy widely-loathed]] Asahi as Soma's rival, a RomanticPlotTumor between them and Erina that rewinds her development and [[spoiler:results in a MaybeEverAfter]], and [[{{Narm}} the absurdity]] of the Noir chefs' cooking to make up for the manga's food consultant not being available.

* AudienceAlienatingEnding: Due to the declining reception the manga suffered in the end, many would be readers are put off by the entire manga, knowing it ends with introducing [[TheScrappy Asahi]], and the many [[WriterCopOut underwhelming plots]] that follow him.