ART - 9
SOUND - 9
CHARACTER - 10
ENJOYMENT - 10
Take the lid off the pot and a steam of emanating enjoyment comes out yet again in the third season of Shokugeki no Souma. The Third Plate is a cooking anime of high-stakes that delivered the same qualities that its predecessors had already achieved, bringing in more entertainment to the plates.
What was the key difference compared to the previous seasons that this season cooked for us? It was the heavy hitters of the prodigious culinary school. The very best of the best. The biggest players. After all, the majority of the story had only focused on the enrolled students so this change of pace was a welcome addition. Not only did it bring a realization to the existing characters, it opened up their mind into the world of professional cooking which developed a couple of characteristics. It also gave some of the most suspenseful food battles, knowing the risks and rewards in facing the upperclassmen. Another thing to see here was the skills they have accumulated over the time being together. Their support and trust towards each other goes to show their deep connections. They learned together, being able to progress with their friends and these interactions is one of the most strongest aspect of the show because of that. It served a crucial part in highlighting many of the characters or challenges during the journey. Well, enough with the seriousness and let's soak ourselves in comedy here for a bit. With the advent of new characters comes with it a bunch of different personalities that were amusing. Of course, this show wouldn't be the same without the fanservice or golden chibi comedy. There's a good balance between the transition from the important to funnier parts that just welled you up with a variety of emotions. Pure entertainment indeed.
On to the next part, maybe something that took a slight decline was in the art. Though it's only for a little, the use of CGI did felt a bit surprising because it was jarring. There were also scenes that had a noticeable crookedness in the character expressions. Thankfully, the visualization in the dishes were still top-notch so you better bring along a couple of foods while watching (or you'll eat through your screen). In the kitchen, you'll get a sense of how much efforts went into cooking with the smooth movements from the animation. While it's still as fluid as ever with that, for other things such as comedy, there's a lack of exaggerative action so it's not as effective as before. Something that did improved was the things related to the characters. One is the design of the new cookers which had their own charm. The second would be the voice-acting in the change of riskier atmosphere. As this time the consequences seemed a bit more closer to them, the doubt or panic within had a deeper significance. Particularly with a certain girl, I'm surprised by how much the voice can change when her hidden personality is brought out. Anyways, the soundtracks pretty much remained the same good quality, whether that'd be going side-by-side with the cuisine, tenser situations or happier scenes.
You can think of The Third Plate as a dish that got closer to completion as the episodes goes by. It started off with a rich base from the culmination of the two previous seasons and added in new things that changed the final flavor. There were a couple of issues with the art and animation, but the introduction of new characters and plot were effective in giving off that extra taste. In the end, the third season became an amazing food that was full of appetizing ingredients.
