Food Wars: Shokugeki No Soma

Food Wars: Shokugeki No Soma

I came across the anime through recommendations online. Like many others, I was intrigued at the concept of this anime - an anime based on a passion of cooking. Rice Digital - An anime/gaming hub for those in the UK reviewed this anime, but unfortunately I only watched the fist five minutes before loading up episode 1 and taking a look for myself.

Perhaps if I watched the rest of the review I would have been more prepared of what was to come.

The anime features main character Sōma Yukihira, whose personality and appearance looks like a direct cross from Natsu from Fairy Tail and Shirō Emiya from Fate/Stay night. In the beginning Yukihira seems to know what he wants - that is, to be a chef like his father - and seems from the beginning to be very good at working in the family restaurant.

I have to admit that on the premise, the cooking side of the anime is quite good. The visuals are great, there's even a little science behind the cooking.

So Natsu.

The plot also seems promising quite for casual viewers, particularly at the end of the first episode. So, you may wish to ask - why is this anime getting a bad review?

It's the fanservice. From the first five minutes we have tentacle rape, organisms, nudity... etc, etc. It's very disappointing that a potential golden anime such as this has to resolve into raping and objectifying women in order to express how good or bad the food is to the audience. One enthusiast for Food Wars assured me it was okay, because there was 'fanservice for women too'. Oh mother of joy.

I've no problem with nudity in anime. I'm a big fan of Madlax for example. And again, as fanservice really is rife in the anime world - I put up with the boob remarks Lucy gets in Fairy Tail, Professor 'Bitch' in Assassination Classroom, etc, etc. I shouldn't have to. But it's in there presumably because most people enjoy it, right? The most important point I'm trying to make is that the anime I've mentioned  above don't include non-consensual rape, even if it in Food Wars case, the girl is imagines it when Yukihira forces gross food down her throat, it's still unsettling to watch. And it is this topic that I feel should be discussed further. Is it really fun to watch non-consensual rape? Do we really need it? Even in hentai?

Food Wars: Shokugeki No Soma is another slave to fanservice, with a promising storyline and interesting premise. For myself, the fanservice really drowns out these good points, which is a real shame.

So to conclude, this anime I'll leave you with this youtuber's comment. I think it works quite nciely.