Now before you (the fanboys) rush into my profile calling me a hypocrite for not 9/10ing Food Wars for the third time, hear me out here. It's a good show. Just that it wasn't good enough. I think J.C Staff themselves understood that something was wrong, hence the step of making a split cour and figuring out how to get things right next time. Dewa, hajimeru yo!
Story: 6/10
Somehow this felt kinda average to be honest. I expected it to go at a better pace and cover stuff properly but frankly I couldn't find much that was amazing. Thanks to more focus on Erina and her cliched adventures and a certain badly characterized father the story part took a nosedive, although not too great as the focus wasn't that deep. It's difficult to go deeper without entering minor spoiler territory so bear with me. Central was a pretty cliched move and their motivations were weird and cliched at best, not to mention if there WERE any in the first place. On the other hand that certain father's motivations himself were also terribly disappointing... As a fellow manga reader I was quite disappointed with this in the manga as well, but enough of that. If there was one focus and one downfall of this anime in quality, both have that father as the reason. Now you might point at that mean score and popularity chart and look at me questionably to which I say, it's the fanboys. Being a Shounen, there are obviously bound to be fanboys who take no notice of the issues surrounding an anime or it's sequel and just blindly 10/10 or in my case 9/10 everything. I'm guilty of that myself but I won't do that for this season. Season 3 slightly disappointed me as a fan and as an anime watcher. A small reason for that 6 in particular is also that cliffhanger in the end...
Art: 5/10
Now something I noticed in this season particularly was that the art sometimes felt distorted and the characters looked a little weird in close-ups. This wasn't there in the previous two seasons and I felt kinda like I was watching a remaster of a 1995 anime at best which is obviously not a very good sign. What was the saving grace of the anime? The backgrounds. The cinematography to some extent. Both were decently done and even the character designs made me fall in love with the characters yet again. Not a bad job. Decently done at best.
Sound: 7/10
Apart from the usual brilliance of the BGM, we also had the added benefit of an amazing OP and more importantly an amazing ED. The BGM was timed perfectly with the emotion and situation while the aforementioned OPEDs hyped you up. If you like me love to download anime OSTs then this is the place for you.
Character: 6/10
Now it's impossible to avoid the spoiler territory with this section especially since the character in question is the main focus of the anime (he's on the flipping cover as well). The purported rise and actual fall of Food Wars Season 3. Azami. His motivations weren't explained at all. And Sanzaemon's exile felt kinda forced as well. Yukihara and gang were amazing as always, but the character who was the key focus himself was flawed so everyone suffers. I tried many times to wrap my head around Azami but couldn't understand him at all... And for the second character who brought this down, Erina. To all those who've read my last two reviews of the series know very well of my hatred and grudge against Hime-deres, Erina included. What made it worse this time? The unnecessary focus on the 'oh so weak' Erina-sama. She and Azami double-handedly crushed any potential the season had to improve...
Enjoyment: 7/10
Nevertheless, Food Wars as usual was an excellent anime to enjoy and I certainly DID enjoy Food Wars a lot, just not to the extent of the previous two seasons. In my opinion, I'm glad J.C Staff bit the pill and split cours to understand what went wrong and how to fix it. Since I'm a Food Wars fanboy, I obviously was a little biased towards it but tried my best to tone it down. I really hope J.C hit back with another super hit season. This time one that actually has the quality to back itself up like Seasons 1 and 2.
Overall: 6.2
To the most conservative of people, this show was decent at BEST. And no amount of fanboy nagging can change that. To all those who watched season 2 and are a fan, continue, if you're just in it for fun, you might get it here. Thankfully the potential is not ruined, but again, the question remains, is it too late? Can J.C save Food Wars? Let's see this Spring.
P.S: Megumi retains her rank as best girl for the third time in a row! Megumi best girl <3
