Shokugeki no Souma: San no Sara

The 3rd season of Shokugeki leaves something to be desired in every way.

J.C.Staff's adaption of this manga series has never been masterful. For the most part it has been just phoned in. The spottiness of the animation, ugly CGI and off-model characters have always been somewhat present in this series, but the 3rd season marks a turn for the worse even when compared to the previous 2nd season.

Using manga panels directly as a storyboard and making sure the female characters' boobs look like they are about to burst from their uniforms worked fine for the first season, because that's when the writing and the ... plot was immaculate. This isn't so much the case with 3rd season. Even though the first arc has a very nicely structured conflict with a satisfying resolution, the following major arc that covers the rest of the episodes ramps up the action in a worst way possible, and goes almost full shounentard. As I had read the manga before diving into the animation this time around, I was hoping for J.C.Staff to salvage the plot and place emphasis on the elements which worked - which is the opposite of what they did do.

What made the first season of Shokugeki good, anyway? The characters, and both their *intrapersonal* and interpersonal struggles. Souma's ability to rise to the challenge and help the people around him do the same made him a superb character. The interactions between him and Megumi were especially crucial, giving the viewers catharsis shockwaves. The people found their inner strength, and the (romantic) tensions between Souma and Erina kept us praying for more development. The slower passages gave the long season a much better flow. (minor spoilers starting now:)

The introduction of a "classical" villain and a conflict which is fought between two factions ruins all these intricacies in the 3rd season. Especially the middle section of this season feels like an endless stream of boring shokugeki. There are too many new bad guys and not enough interest in the stakes from my part. The dramatic tension of the whole series is undermined by the illogical motives of both the villain and the supporting faction. It's impossible to come up with reasons for as to why half of the top ten seats voted to place Azami as the director of Tootsuki. The fact they did do so pigeonholes these characters and the rest of the supporting forces, as their motivations have to be justified somehow down the line, even though that's impossible.

Basically, the biggest plot twist of the entire series is a spectacular asspull.

The problems of the manga's plot are heightened by the fact that all the anime does is ramp up the tension, throwing caution out of the window. The sound design of this season is surprisingly stark. There are a variety of dramatic scores which are played surprisingly loud during shokugeki and otherwise. There are numerous instances where the director has decided to use montages and flashbacks to really try to bring out the feels out of the viewer. I was taken aback by how disconnected I felt from the story, even compared to my reading experience. The anime would have benefitted from downplaying the action and giving the characters more air to breath.

So why is this anime even good, then? The third season has still a lot of momentum and strong characters backing it up. Even though the plot is a little contrived, the development between Erina and her father is still very enjoyable. That’s all that matters and all that the conflict should really be about – resolving Erina’s literal daddy issues. Even though Erina’s payoff scenes were handled without much directional finesse, they still made the show worthwile. Additionally, even though Azami leaves something to be desired as the bad guy for the series, the first seat, Tsukasa Eishi, works much better as an opponent for Souma. If there’s something good to be said about the factions and the entire conflict, it would be the emergence of tension between these two characters.

The final verdict? Well, the animation is spotty, the sound design is crap, the CGI is fugly, directing is unimaginative, and emphasis has been placed on the wrong things. But it’s still god damn Shokugeki no Souma. It’s impossible to ruin the entire franchise at this point. I had fun times watching this season, and I’m hungry for the 2nd cour.

*Minimum Spoiler Foodgasmic Review*
If you did not watch S1 or S2 then go watch them ASAP before reading this!
TL;DR: This show has hype, humour, fan service, stakes getting crazy high and unexpected twists and turns all in 20 minutes. What more do you want? Oagariyo!
[Story: 5/10 , Characters: 7/10, Art: 3/10, Sound: 6/10, Enjoyment: 8/10]

"I mean a new wave is coming, you know? Riding it is way more exciting" - Rindo Kobayashi

If there is one genre that can always hype people up time after time, it's the classic shounen genre in anime. It's like scrambled eggs. The recipe is very simple yet the execution ... to get it consistently right day after day is difficult. Fortunately, Shokugeki no Soma - Sana no Sara somehow pulls it together to make it work for the fans albeit it's crappy plot arcs and dismal animation laziness. I guess over the top fanservice can save any show after all, provided if executed right. It's also important to note that the anime adaptation does not deviate too far from the source manga. If you enjoyed S1 a lot and felt S2 could've been better then you will surely have a table flip moment while watching S3 thinking for a manga that's widely popular and well funded, why the hell can't they pour money into it to do justice this show deserves.

The story is alright, not too complicated but just slightly predictable. It's wise to watch the OVA before watching this so you have a back story on who the Elite 10s are. Although the first arc, Moon Festival, is really well done with it's pacing and plot development; the second arc, Central, is just one unrealistic & ridiculous plot line where nothing makes sense but it's enjoyable to watch since it's a chain of shokugeki after shokugeki tossed in with delicious fanservice to quench viewers' thirst. However, don't worry too much. You will always start watching every episode with a big grin and end the episode with even a bigger grin, because, you know why. It is sad that the season ends midway to the central arc with one huge reveal but maybe next season's plot would be better executed.

"Come at me with all your might you pretentious elite bastard. Or do you want to have a convenient excuse for when you lose?" - Kurokiba Ryou

The best part about SnS is that even though it has a huge cast, it somehow manages to make everyone useful. You actually care about the cast since you know sooner or later they will have screen time along with some purpose, even if it is moaning in pure orgasmic pleasure. Purpose is purpose. The main cast returns once again since no one really dies in the show. Moreover, finding out who the Elite 10 are quite exciting. They presented them in the best way possible. Plus, as the show goes on, you get to see why they really are the Elite 10 through their cooking methods & knowledge of food, they outclass the regulars at the academy, especially, Eishi Tsukasa, the first seat. Despite being the best student with his immaculate cooking and speed, he still has his own insecurities and deals with anxiety like everyone else. Though it is exaggerated at times, but it makes him more human than most characters. The major villain is of course, Azami. Although, his villainous purpose makes no sense. However he is a villain and that's all that matters. He just wants people to eat gourmet food. Aside from Soma, Erina, Elite 10s and Azami, the side characters get their deserved screen time to showcase how much they have developed over the season. Notably, Alice and Ryou really stands out in this series as their development have the most impact to the plot.

"There is a profound difference between the abilities of those who are the Elite Ten and those who are not" - Eishi Tsukasa

Aside from the linear driven plot and dynamic characters, this show really fell flat in its animation quality. It feels as the season progresses, the budget invested in the quality of animation drops. Compared to the battle scenes of first season to battle scenes in this season, there is significant evidence of animation laziness. Even the fan service is lacking in that oomph that season 1 had with their gregarious cloth explosions to just mere still images of the characters in barely any garments moaning in the background. This isn't what the viewers want. Give them what they want. Regardless, of the poor animation quality, at least the background music was decent enough with the OP and ED being pretty good like previous seasons. The major saving grace had to be the seiyuus. They did a phenomenal job, especially Erina's new voice actor. She was able to fill the void left from her previous voice actor.

"You can never achieve such a world of flavour just by slapping on bacon onto salmon!" - Kurokiba Ryou

Overall, SnS S3 is a good enough ecchi shounen anime about food that is worth watching. I think at this point, the people who are watching S3 are the dedicated fans, myself included. So even if they skimp out on the budget and pacing of the plot with subpar character development of a star studded character line, people will still enjoy binging this show. Ultimately, it's not a bad show. If one were to compare the different seasons to get a better idea of how this season is, then S1 is gourmet food, S2 is home-cooked food and S3 is just street food. It's still enjoyable to eat but just a bit unhealthy. Also Season 4 has been confirmed. Anyways, check it out & let me know later how you like it as well as share with me your favourite quote from the anime! Osomatsu!!!

P.S. Thank you for reading. I hope you found this short and supaishi review helpful!

So what's the big premise of this show? ... to just watch the same happen over and over again? Souma has been winning so many matches lately, and yet it's almost like nothing happens. 3 seasons in, and yet they keep introducing all kinds of
tournaments, where the winner, gets nothing in exchange. The fanservice keeps being the same, every reaction keeps being the same. To be honest, the food gets more development than the actual characters, it's strange. As far as this goes, this one cour has the be the worst of them all, with no progress in the story, and rather, it's filled ... with nonsense to sell more.

The big idea: Souma wants to enter the Elite Ten. How is he going to do it?: No idea, 3 seasons in and nothing has happened. When is he going to do it?: Again 3 seasons in, but apparently seeing people excited and being almost nude because of food seems more interested than the actual "plot", if you can call that a plot.

Story-wise, not much here, in any case, this has been been the worst season of them all. The only big thing is Souma fighting for the place he lives in. After that (And before that) it's a rollercoaster of nonsense, all of these together with no explanation of the actions of some characters, leaving you without 0 clues, so you end up not knowing anything. It's a joke. While this one was 12 episodes it felt like reading the 3 first chapters of a manga. Almost 4 episodes contained what 1 chapter of manga could have, it was slow paced leaving a lot of cliffhangers in the end, so in the next episode they keep doing the same. So, repeat this 2 more times and you are done.

At least this part's art was better than the so garbage part 2. Not to sound rude of course, but the lack of quality in animation has always been part of this show, only concentrating on making face expresions look ridiculously weird and making girls excited from eating. Leaving behind any proper proprortions of the body, leaving behind all the work the Manga creator has put into it, just so the fanservice can take over it. (w)

Sound: I guess it was decent. There isn't anything remarkable at this point, everything seems in place, from the OP to the ED, to Background sounds and music to voice acting. Like previous season, they knew how to remix their music so they don't overlap over the voices. But they forgot that not everything is music, they are using a weird amount of music in every episode it gets annoying, and not exciting as i'm guessing they want it to be.

Character: Again, they keep introducing characters that seem quite interesting, just so they get defeated in some sort of Shokugeki and never appear again. While the main characters have already been developed, it seems they don't care about anyone else.

Enjoyment: Not best experience i've had, i could've dropped the series in the middle, but i decided to continue... i ended regreting not dropping it. It seriously feels like a joke, rather than a "cooking" show. Where's the progress? Oh, I see.

3/10.