The story is pretty simple, though perhaps outrageous. Our main character is a boy named Yukihira, Souma. He is a chef, and his greatest ambition is to run the family diner and beat his dad in a cooking showdown. His father sends him to learn how to cook at the best and most elite cooking school in Japan. Most of the show is dedicated to Souma cooking and growing as a person, much like your typical shounen.
Now you know a bit about the show, what do people find bothersome? Well wouldn't you know the show is ecchi and has outrageous scenes! The number one rule for posing as some anime connoisseur is to overtly bash anything and everything with an ecchi theme. The show is definitely over the top, and definitely trying to shock and flaunt its sexual themes. However imagery is a great way of getting across how the food tastes. We lack the ability to smell, to touch, and most importantly taste what we are watching, and, being told is amazing works of culinary art. The ecchi or imagery scenes both combine to form a comedic and sexy appearance along with a vivid and informative core. Thus leaving a consenting adult with a fulfilled and delicious experience, while leaving the immature palates with something akin to sour grapes.
Now there was mention of the dragging out of certain episodes and certain events, namely the Autumn Elections. Now this I do concede is a touch of a problem. If you had watched this as it was airing you may wish to strangle the makers for all the cliffhangers and slow progression. However as this is a direct result of introducing and, progressing the so called shallow characters, I'm not sure its such a bad thing. During the entire Election process, most of the characters, including side characters had some form of growth. It was rather predictable, perhaps a bit tiresome to the more seasoned anime watcher, but still relatively tame and enjoyable to the episode long fights of this shows kin.
The art is simply awesome. Every scene was colorful and beautiful. The soundtrack was also great, even giving one of the catchiest song I've heard in awhile.
Now the characters are, well, strange. Each character has a theme or mastery of a certain way of cooking. This comes out as the character in general. This makes each individual feel like an individual and not just the sidekick or the comedic relief. However with the quantity of characters there is hardly any true development. Souma develops through the entire show, and is a rather enjoyable MC. Tadokoro, Megumi is a klutzy girl who has no confidence in her ability and was near expulsion from the school completely at the start of our show. Her transformation cannot be simply marked down to mimicry(in fact her cooking is completely different from everyone's in the show, goes to show the lengths posers will go). You can also spot more shallow or over time based growth as well. However like I mentioned above this is not where the characters shine. I enjoyed the characters but it does deserve a few points knocked off for being a smidgen shallow.
Now we get to finally savor this show as a whole. I enjoyed this show immensely. Though not really deep or thought provoking, it still grabs your attention and doesn't let go for a single episode. This is also not your typical battle shounen which of course wins it a lot of points. So what does the show do poorly? To be frank, the ecchi was a bit tiresome. Though fun and interesting at first, the scenes that are more unique also take a good deal of time. The scenes towards the end felt a touch forced as well as boring and reused. However to me this is one of the most obvious and damaging bits to the show. As for food knowledge its rather interesting and oddly informative, though I don't know how much it is accurate or replicable, but that doesn't matter. A good show to me is enjoyable, its something that brings you back for the next episode, something that grips one or more emotions and can evoke them from you like your an open book. Shokugeki no Souma was a laugh a minute, and was just as good the second time I watched it as the first. Give it a try if your not a 13 year old trying to pass off as a twitchy movie critic. Or even if you are that twitchy 13 year old, listen to the tale that this show has served you.
TLDR: Funny, great art and soundtrack. Spin on battle shounen, interesting but shallow characters, nevertheless very enjoyable. Recommend it!
