Shokugeki No Soma

Erina is the best by virtue of being the most developed, but Tsukasa is probably my fave due to how awkward he is despite his position. Rindou's the next most interesting, but we still don't know her deal. Kuuga had a good introduction, but hasn't had much screentime ever since sadly. Everyone else is just kind of a blank slate until more development.

Its oooouuuuuttttt.

So the timeline is starting to make a bit more sense. Azami began "teaching" Erina after she met Jouichiro. And the latter already knew she was Azami's child.

So Erina is conflicted over who's ideals she should follow, Jouichiro's or her Dad's. And Soma's solution is just plainly "you need to eat my food son".

Not what I was expecting, but depending on it plays out, we might be on the road to resolving this arc.

edited 26th May '16 11:19:33 AM by BlackYakuzu94

Well, no real complaints today. It's good to see Erina actually opening up. She's clearly not used to it. The backstory was nice but nothing of particular interest. Erina looks kind of odd as a kid. Guess she was always tsundere.

So yeah, I liked this chapter well enough. Not A+ material but a solid B, I suppose?

I actually liked the flashback if only because we got to know how Erina found her passion for cooking and that she wasn't always interested in it. It was just a job to her basically.

But yea, I can agree with that grade; not as much happened as I thought would but we're clearly on our way towards some sort of resolution for Erina.

Is that the first time Soma has used an honorific for Erina? He's pretty serious about this huh

edited 26th May '16 11:47:24 AM by BlackYakuzu94

Backstory.

It's what's for dinner.

No wait. Sorry, In this series, actual dinner is what's for dinner.

What a chapter! It's great to get a look into Erina's past and thoughts.

I liked the flashback. It makes so much sense that Erina had no love for cooking early in her life - having to taste so much food and being able to tell every single shortcoming would make anyone jaded. And then Saiba shows up and lets her discover the fun of eating.

And now we see what's the source of Erina's dilemma. Trapped between her father and Jouchiro ideals she's not sure what cooking means to her anymore. And now Souma wants to remind her by serving her some of Yukihira food. This is gonna be good.

Great chapter, we are getting some amazing character exploration and development here.

How will she react to his food this time is the real question. I do like how this is hard on her, not just because of all the abuse, but because she can legitimately see where Azami is coming from.

It's kinda interesting how her entire ideal about cooking came from others than herself, that's likely the problem. She needs to find her own reason to cook, not unlike Soma.

That's probably why he wants to help her, he empathizes as someone also trying to find his own style of cooking.

One thing I love about the art is how you can read so many emotions from it; Soma usually sports a confident and passionate grin whenever he's about to cook, but his expression in the last page is warm and friendly. He's not just trying to show off his cooking but help a fellow chef.

EDIT: Welp I got my answer to my question on Subaru's VA. First Azrael, then Raven, and then Asura Gonna be a good time.

edited 27th May '16 3:33:55 AM by BlackYakuzu94

Knew it. First Hayama, then Mimasaka himself on which VA suits them can be guessed quickly

I liked the look into Erina's backstory. This was a very Erina centered chapter. We hardly got a look at all into Souma's thoughts on it. I suppose next week we might get some perspective from him while he's cooking.

I'm very glad this arc seems to be leading into Erina having a central role in taking down Azami. I'd be very annoyed if she got sidelined for this.

I think everyone and their mother guessed Jun'ichi Suwabe for Hayama lol.

It's out on Mangastream if you want to look at there take on things.

Its out at the usual spot.

Yea, as I expected, the majority of the chapter is Soma cooking and Erina doing more reminiscing and the rest of the dorm being eavesdroppers.

Well, this is alright as far as setup goes.

So if they were talking precautionary measures to eventually come at Azami...why didn't they prevent him from taking over Tootsuki...?

Also, I highly doubt she's going to admit his cooking is good here; she might remember something...then criticize it.

edited 2nd Jun '16 9:42:03 AM by BlackYakuzu94

I don't think it matters to anyone but Souma whether she acknowledges his cooking as amazing here. That's not really the point: Azami's style probably does result in better tasting food. There's just no innovation or fun in it.

Yeah, the point is for Erina to remember that cooking is fun. She's the most talented chef ever, but thanks to Azami she has no real love for cooking anymore. Souma dish doesn't have to be the best she ever eaten, it just has to remind her of that.

Also, lol at the group having no confidence in Souma.

Also, hnnnnnnnng Erina in twintails, someone pass me the insulin.

Pretty good set up chapter, I'm definitely excited for next week.

C'mon Souma! Make her say it!

Revenge! Revenge!

....Right. We all know she won't do it, but he'll still accomplish his goal of restoring her joy of cooking.

Actually, she never cared about cooking even before Azami's treatment.

You know, reading this chapter made me realise something. I honestly wish that Soma had scaled back on Azami's menace, and make it focused on Erina's issues with Azami coming back into her life. Because it made it clear that smaller scale character focused drama is Soma's forte.

This whole "Save the school and the cooking industry" plotline, even putting aside the realism issues, honestly just feels generic and impersonal to me. It's not about characters growing and getting better, it's about beating the bad guys. It's also weakened the sense of tension when there are higher stakes that force heroes into winning, when the lower stakes of the tourneys helped make former battles more tense, when losses could happen, at an emotional cost to the heroes.

I see the whole "Save the food industry" part of the plot just as a justification for what you described tbh; the main meat of this arc are Soma, Jouichiro, Erina and Azami and the interpersonal relationships among them.

I actually read something like that too as a criticism towards the series as a whole, not just this arc; its a bit too focused on the cooking aspect and assumes the reader is too and goes into great detail in describing the food and its preparations. There's no real "cooldown" period for the characters to just intermingle and build dynamics with each other as everything goes back to cooking and its how most conflicts in this arc are solved.

So i was right about Jou on noticing something suspicious on Azami

Never thought Jou didn't want his son enter Totsuki in the first place, but was told by Senzaemon to do so to recover Erina. Maybe because their too old now

the mangafast version is out. If you can't find it, try mangapark

EDIT: Now Mangastream one is out & forgot to confirm Azami besides being an Evil Uncle of Alice, also an Evil Former Friend of Golden Generations students. Joichiro calls Azami a bastard since he noticed his former kohai's schemes

edited 3rd Jun '16 4:56:40 AM by LarsMasters

Jouichiro said awhile ago he didn't think Soma was particularly talented nor did he want him to become a cook. Him not wanting him to go to Tootsuki isn't at all surprising.

Good set up chapter.

I really wonder why Jouichiro didn't want Soma to cook; its one thing if he wanted him to pursue other interests, but there seems to be more to it than that.

Jouichiro was fine with Soma cooking. Or doing anything, really.