So, yeah... Food Wars was a total wreck! Tasty wreck, but a wreck, nontherless!
Like many others before me, I honestly cannot say, nor comprehend, why oh why this has such a high ranking! Or rather... I do understand, since I gave it above average-rating, but I'd like to think myself as better than a mind that gets so easily entertained.
One can dream...
And entertained I was! Shokugeki no Souma was - at the very least - entertaining! There's food, and there's boobies - all the goodnes in the world combined!
No, but honestly... I really did like core consept of this anime - food, chef vs chef, and the brainwork, talent and effort behing every single spoonful! Unfortunately... the core of the show, was just as bare, as were those who ate the said food - lucky bastards!
Story: 3
The story of the SnS ended, before it even started! The consept, the basic idea, was introduced to us in the very early on - as it should be - and there was even some kind of conflict happening in there... somewhere, before it kinda lost itself into... itself.
A young boy, only son of a legendary chef and a talented one himself, gets - forced by his absent father, through neglection - to attend this best-of-the-absolute-best cooking school, where only the selected view gets to even spend the first night, before permanent life-long elimination, and only a handful will graduate in the end! Powered by the desire to finaly succeed his father, both in talent, passion and in skill, the boy-what's-his-face, finds himself as an immediate underdog, and an irritatingly talented blockhead, who angers some blond bitch for some reason, angers the entire school against him for no reason, and... spoiler-ish?! But wait! The Sequel!!
Yeah, so... the story isn't obviously finished yet, due to the second season and all, but... is it still worth the rating it gets?
No. Not by a mile stone!
It was pretty obvious to see very early on, to whom this show was originally aimed for, and that the story itself didn't spend even nearly so much time on a writing desk, than the cells of the bouncing boobies, buttocks and steaming bowls of deliciousness. For young boys, this show is ideal, since the plot is actually bigger, than the actual story - fight with food - and not much brainpower is needed to understand, what is happening, and how much jelly those ladies have in their massive, underaged bosoms!
Like I said before, the story of a SnS isn't really a "story" per say, rather than a core-consept, that just keeps moving forward - not up, or down... just forward. No matter how many efforts this show takes trying to put something satisfactory on the table, the overall tone of the show is really monotonic, full of repeated gimics, traits and gags, and if I would be reviewing this anime, based entirely upon just the story alone, I would waste no time to rip this sucker a new one! The story was there, in the beginning... all the nescessary ingredients were there, ready to be used, but, in the end, there were just too many, or not at all... and none of them used properly, in the end!
It was like a mediocre-buffet- table, with no order, nor clear picture of what it was actually trying to be, to appeal the hungry eye. Is it fancy? Is it tacky? Is it comfort? Is it even worth the risk? Who knows - it's a mystery-buffet!
Characters' motivations... the consept, the idea of a plot... characters developing by actions and enviroments... backstories, defeats and triumphs... Those are all ingredients that the SnS uses, more or less. Those should make a average to decent story on their own, but... something is still missing.
Where's the conflict? Where's the goal? Where's the direction?
It all feels... rather empty, by heart. In the end, story of the show is just what the name suggests. Food Wars - battles with food... and nothing more! Maybe nothing more is needed, but still... I was left feeling of wanting more.
Art: 9
Boobs do not jiggle like that!
Good food does not melt off the clothes!
Is it really nescessary to be able to see that... that pubic bone-bump, that you can see, peeking between the legs, when girls are wearing pants?
What drugs are these people on?!
So... those are just some of my favourite pet peeves, while watching the show. The colors are vibrant and powerful, and the art alone really does illustrate the taste of the foods relatively well. Too bad for some, that there will be some naked skin, occasionally... In every episode... Expecially lady-skin... And some tentacles...
Yes, the art is lewd. And I loved it! Deal with it!
Sound: 6
I can swear I heard some of my favourite hentai-VA's in there, somewhere...!
Character: 4
And here is where the bad taste starts for me.
All the characters were mediocre, at best, and unbearably implausible, at worst! I can get behind a fifteen-year-old boy, who knows atleast something about high-class cooking, given his roots and his upbringing, but give me this tsundere-blond-bitch... naturally born girl with a "God Tongue", or a boy with a super nose, and I will literally scream you out of this planet!
Maybe I shouldn't be so harsh against gimicks that'll keep the show even mildly entertaining and/or interesting - because the "story" sure as Hell doesn't do it for me! - but sorry-not-sorry, I am!
These people aren't really people, more than they are just some hilariously implausible tropes or gimicks, and that's almost the very same problem that plagued the "story", almost from the very beginning! Yes, all the characters are unique, but almost none of them really stand out for me! They're really just a over-grown, grey, lumpy mess, with little actual individualism! I literally cannot name, nor remember any of the characters on their own, based upon their personalities, traits or motivations... just some jiggly boobs, and the "things" they did! That's it! It's all just... this weird blur of actions, but very little or no characters attached to them! Maybe, this is just my own problem, but, to me, it's a hellawa big one!
The characters aren't deep, nor complex - just "good" enough... collections of some comon anime-traits, some "new" gimicks and some "bouncy bouncy" nudity. None of them are nothing that I haven't already seen on some other shows, and only a selected view of them we get to see actually developing, while the... "story" progresses. Any development, that does happen, is still... relatively plausible and passable in my books, if not so masterly executed, but... given that the whole idea of the show was just to entertain us with some awesomely implausible food battles, the characterization and the charater development are doomed to be left in the shadows - in a role of the spices, not the main course.
Prehaps, I will be proven wrong on the next season... Who knows...
Enjoyment: 8
Despite all the major, major flaws this show has, I still really liked it. I liked the vibrant and powerful visuals, and the battles were entertaining, as to be expected. Even though everything else was rotten, the core - although still very bare-boned and simple - was that strong-enough hook, that kept me with the show from the beginning, to the bitter end, with no intention to ever drop it, or put it on the hold, for some other titles. That alone should be a accomplishment!
Sadly, the entertainment-value is higly a subjective matter. I have nothing against nudity, so if you're a prude of any kind, you should already be well aware that you won't nescessarily find any worth watching from SnS! There are no great plotlines, no big conflicts, and very little actual heart-to-heart- moments for the romantics - harem-fans, be damned! Only some over the top, OP wanna-be-chefs, making food and measuring each others dinguses, and very little anything more. If the subject of the food wouldn't be so intriguing to me, I would've ended up passionately hating this anime for ever existing, so... the Enjoyment-rating was in the end just a lucky fluke for me.
Food Wars! is stupid... it's shallow, and it's riddiculously over-the-top, but that's also it's appeal - mindless fun, strong visuals, and some imaginative cooking. Expect absolutely nothing more, and you'll leave satisfyed.
Overall: 6
Nothing great, but fine, if you're not looking much in the first place. The art was nice to look at - colorful, vivid, and lewd - and the enjoyment-value is subjectively speaking uncanny, so... give it a shot, and see yourself, what you think of it.
There's always the season two, and even that seems to - so far- hold some relatively impressive rankings, so... better luck on next time, eh?
