Shokugeki no Soma is an anime where Yukihira Soma, a high school student with a penchant for cooking, is thrown into a strange new world of competitive cooking at the vaunted Tootsuki Academy, where the brightest minds in the world of food learn to cook the best dishes possible. He is transferred into the academy after his father suddenly decides to close the family diner and travel the world to cook. So, that's the premise.
The story is something that you can find in most anime. The protagonist is a genius or incredibly creative. Soma also fits the harem protagonist mold of being incredibly dumb to the feelings that his female classmates show toward him. I really wish the author didn't take this route with the story. We've seen enough harem anime with the same formula so many times that it's started becoming unbearably bland. SnS is no different. There are times where you just become annoyed at why all these females fall for him, when all he does is cook well. (Well, maybe the raging orgasms that he gives them after they taste his food have something to do with it.) But I digress, the story mainly revolves around getting a name for yourself in Tootsuki Academy, where power struggles and quarrels are settled through competitive cooking contests known as Shokugeki. It's a very simple premise that the author has fleshed out well, even to the later points of the manga (which is progressing very well, if I may say so)
The sound department is where I have a huge gripe. The music is okay-ish, with one or two memorable tracks, and most of the others being uninspired. Surely they could have done a better job of directing the sound here. But the voice acting is pretty spot on. The actors deliver the lines well and with emotion suited to the situation at hand. I suspect the recording studio had many an awkward moment when the actresses had to audibly orgasm each time their characters tasted a dish. I can't imagine that would have been comfortable, albeit it would have been fun.
Art was something I enjoyed a lot in this anime. All the characters have unique designs and were animated brilliantly. The backgrounds were made well, and even the food looks absolutely vibrant delicious, which is what you want in a cooking anime. This is a major fault that I found in Yakitate Japan, where the food didn't really bounce off the screen. JC Staff have done a superb job with all the characters and you can't really find too many faults with the animation. One major fault that I just have to point out, since I am a fan of the series, is the boob physics. There are random moments where boobs jiggle around like they were made of jello, and at times, it gets pretty annoying. You try explaining to your girlfriend that you're watching a cooking show and not some weird hentai, especially with the frequent sounds of orgasming the ladies give. But yeah, that's the only fault that I really have with the art.
The characters are what I have a huge thing for in this anime. (Get your minds out of the gutter). Almost all of the main and side characters have a unique specialty with their cooking. One of them specializes with meat dishes, another with traditional Japanese foods, one has a special affinity to spices, etc. You can also tell that the author did extensive research for each character and the dish at hand (although I remember that most of the dishes were consulted by a chef/actress, whose name I can't remember, for the life of me). It doesn't feel as one dimensional as Yakitate, and you can see how much work was put into conceiving and making each dish in SnS, even the terribly bad ones.
My personal gripes aside, I quite enjoyed the anime and it's actually one of the very few manga that I keep up with on a weekly basis. If there's something I'd like to convey to you, the reader with this review, it's this. Do what I did. Watch the anime and then continue the manga. The story is definitely not one dimensional and linear. While the goal is to become the best of the best, there are pretty well thought out hurdles and challenges that make the entire story just a blast to follow with.
Overall, this anime did it's job well, and at the time of writing this review (a week away from the second season), the anime is something I'd say is definitely worth the watch. It's got the usual anime stereotypes and cliches, but it doesn't go heavy handed with it, and the overt reactions and orgasms sort of mellow to give way for a better, fleshed out, and detailed examination of how each dish was made.
