(LONG REVIEW!)
I honestly love the story. One of my favourite stories out there, though I have not seen that much anime. If you're going to be thinking of boring people cooking boring food, then you are very wrong. The story isn't fast paced, nor did it drag out. It told you the story in visual form and not being repetitive. Not only that, but it always ends in an interesting note, so that they want you to keep watching, ignoring the fact that maybe you have somewhere to go to or maybe you're staying up late. The story was linked up and no bullshit or fillers were made up on the spot. Romance in a food competition sounds very unlikely, but this anime succeeded in doing it. You would think that once there's romance in a competition that it would lose its "exciting-ness", because it would start wandering off the story and being focused more on the relationship between the couple. The romance adds spice to the story, making it more interesting and so that the main character isn't all lonely. Speaking of romance, it wasn't hinted out that much but yes there is a harem, and one with a childhood friend-type of thing. To me, there's nothing wrong with that but that's really cliché. The childhood friend relationship has been used in a lot of romance anime and it does get tiring, though it doesn't affect the story that much. My favorite out of the rest is the action. Everytime there's an action scene involving Soma, it always gives me goosebumps. The fact that even though he isn't a rich kid who comes from a wealthy background, but a middle-class family and still have the talent of cooking to the level of a world class chef, somehow gives me goosebumps. Anyways, enough about the story.
The first thing that struck my mind and gave me a puzzling look was that the illustrator of the anime was actually someone who was very used to ecchi-type drawings. I liked the fact that he used that talent in a different atmosphere with less ecchi. The art was amazing and the food, even though it's an animation, still made me hungry. The bright colours and the smooth coloring and drawings contributed to that. I'm quite happy that the eyes aren't the size of a planet, unlike some anime. Some people like it, but personally I don't. The one funny thing I love about the art is the emotions in some people's faces. It can get pretty funny.
Sound was one of the main contributes to why I get goosebumps in some scenes. You want an epic scene? Let's throw in an epic OST. You want a sad scene? Let's throw in a sad piano OST. I also liked the orchestral voices in the anime, showing some class instead of metal, which I have no problem with. I also loved the fact that the voice actor they used for Soma was Sora, from No Game No Life (a very successful anime). He voice-acts some of my favorite male characters, because the character he voice-acts as is very cool.
Yukihira Soma is a very supportive and hardworking character. If you thought serving over 200 to customers under half an hour was impossible, to Soma, it isn't. The others admire him as he is what influences them to be stronger and mentally capable of what's around them. He is very smart and efficient, as shown on how he demonstrates the fact that he used honey to tenderise the beef. He isn't the type to think the once you're strong, you can't get stronger. Everytime he gets better at cooking, he focuses on what he needs to do to improve. The other side to him is his dumb yet funny personality. If you have heard of Yoshi Akihisa (from Baka to Test), that stupidity is quite similar to Soma's. It doesn't get annoying, but it becomes tolerable to the point that you want to see more of that side to him. Other characters that are an honourable mention are Saiba Jouichiro (the dad of Soma) who is a very friendly dad and is Soma's goal to surpass him. Very similar to Soma, except older and now more mature. Tadokoro Megumi, a very humble and kind girl. He used to dislike Soma, because she thought that he would only be a nuisance in becoming a good chef, but she thought wrong and became his partner in climbing the ladders to becoming a good chef. Nakiri Erina, aka Gods Tongue, because of the fact that as a baby her palette only accepted the best of the best types of foods. She always thinks high of herself, but I think she might have a crush on Soma.
I enjoyed this anime too much. I would stay up until 1 watching this anime. Every episode, I would tell myself that it would be the last one I watch but it just drags me in. The reactions from the taste testers were pretty funny, as they are not just normal reactions.
Overall, a 9/10. I can't give my full opinion on this anime yet, as it is just in its first season and a second season might be released around summer 2016. Would I rewatch the first season again? Definitely!
