Food Wars Season 1 Anime Review

When you first look at Food Wars, you might think that it is just another cooking anime, maybe it’s the Japanese version of My Kitchen Rules or Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares. Well technically you would be correct, but Food Wars is so much more than just the cooking. Food Wars is an anime about the passion behind the food, wanting to be the best at what your passion is, and creating something that will amaze and set you apart from the rest of the pack.

Title: Food Wars Complete Season 1
Genre: Ecchi, School, Shounen
Details: 24 episodes
Release Date: September 6, 2017 (Australia)
Languages: English, Japanese
Subtitles: English subtitles
Number of Discs: 5 (DVD) / 3 (Bluray)
Runtime: 600.0 mins (25mins per episode)
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1 Widescreen (16:9)
Distributor: Madman Entertainment (DVD) (Bluray)
Special Features: Clean Opening Animations, Clean Closing Animations
Rating: M: Sexualised imagery and sexual innuendo

Ever since he was a child, fifteen-year-old Souma Yukihira has helped his father by working as the sous chef in the restaurant his father runs and owns. Throughout the years, Souma developed a passion for entertaining his customers with his creative, skilled, and daring culinary creations. His dream is to someday own his family’s restaurant as its head chef. Yet when his father suddenly decides to close the restaurant to test his cooking abilities in restaurants around the world, he sends Souma to Tootsuki Culinary Academy, an elite cooking school where only 10 percent of the students graduate. The institution is famous for its “Shokugeki” or “food wars,” where students face off in intense, high-stakes cooking showdowns. As Souma and his new schoolmates struggle to survive the extreme lifestyle of Tootsuki, more and greater challenges await him, putting his years of learning under his father to the test.

Sōma Yukihira (幸平 創真 Yukihira Sōma)
Voiced by: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Japanese); Blake Shepard (English)
The main protagonist, Sōma is the son of Jōichirō Saiba and worked at his father’s diner, Yukihira, until it was closed when Jōichirō decided to work overseas. At the behest of Jōichirō, Sōma enrolls at the prestigious Tōtsuki Culinary Academy. He receives a cold reception, as he is seemingly overconfident as the heir to a common family restaurant. But after gradually proving his worth in cooking matches and classes, and always having a positive attitude, the student body begins to warm-up to him and he makes many new friends.

Erina Nakiri (薙切 えりな Nakiri Erina)
Voiced by: Risa Taneda (Japanese); Stephanie Wittels (English)
One of the two main heroines in the series, Erina is initially the primary antagonist of Sōma Yukihira, until this develops into more of a friendship. Born into the noble Nakiri family, Erina is the only daughter of Azami Nakiri and an unnamed mother who is Senzaemon’s biological daughter. Due to her regal pedigree and status within the gourmet food world, Erina often detests whoever is considered “common”. She is the youngest student to ever have entered the Elite Ten, having been promoted as the 10th seat since she was a middle-schooler. Erina is famous for her extremely delicate palate, which is nicknamed the “God Tongue” as it can accurately describe the taste and composition of any food.

Megumi Tadokoro (田所 恵 Tadokoro Megumi)
Voiced by: Minami Takahashi (Japanese); Jad Saxton (English)
Megumi is one of the two main heroines and Sōma’s most-prominent cooking partner and friend. Originating from a snowy outstation in Japan, Megumi sought to become a chef to help run her family’s ryokan (traditional Japanese inn), giving up a table-tennis scholarship to attend Tōtsuki Academy. Megumi’s poor social skills and extreme stage fright cause her to underperform in her early days at the academy. Inspired by Sōma, her confidence has grown throughout the series. She is also a resident of the Polar Star Dormitory and is great friends with the other female residents, Ryōko Sakaki and Yūki Yoshino. The secret weapon in her cooking is her hospitality and sweet and motherly nature, which creates a feeling of familial love and nostalgia in those who eat her dishes.

Takumi Aldini (タクミ・アルディーニ Takumi Arudīni)
Voiced by: Natsuki Hanae (Japanese); Bryson Baugus (English)
Takumi is the oldest nephew of the owner of the Trattoria Aldini, a trattoria (family-style restaurant) located in Florence, Italy. He is half-Japanese but, unlike his twin brother Isami, appears more European – with blond hair and blue eyes – and is noted as being extremely handsome, having fan clubs in Tōtsuki Academy and his hometown. He enrolled in Tōtsuki at the behest of his uncle, taking with him his mezzaluna (two-handed knife) and a bottle of homemade olive oil as a good luck charm. His specialty is Italian cuisine, although many professional chefs noted that he has a broad vision; like Sōma, he will incorporate ingredients and methods from other culinary styles to create inventive dishes, and can modify his recipes while cooking. He is very kind and supportive of his less-sophisticated twin brother, to the point of risking his pride to defend Isami’s honor.

Ikumi “Nikumi” Mito (水戸 郁魅 Mito Ikumi)
Voiced by: Shizuka Ishigami (Japanese); Rachel Landon (English)
Ikumi is a first-year student who specializes in meat-based dishes and, later, in meat-based donburi. She is often called “Nikumi”, a portmanteau of the Japanese word for “meat” and her given name, although she strongly dislikes when most people use this nickname. She is the heir to a large meat distributor and conglomerate, which has a near-monopoly on the national beef market, allowing her access to exceptionally high-quality ingredients. Although initially an antagonist, she becomes a close friend of Sōma and the residents of Polar Star Dormitory. She is considered very beautiful and is known for her provocative and revealing attire, often cooking in little more than a bikini. Nikumi’s talent with meat lies in her incredibly sensitive lips, allowing her to accurately judge the temperature of meat with a single taste. She also specializes in using A5 grade beef, which is so tender that it doesn’t have to be chewed.

From a technical standpoint, Food Wars is pretty good. Unfortunately I got the DVD version so the quality of the episodes were stuck at a maximum of 720p, which is fine to me since that’s what I watched the broadcast versions in when the show first started. Audio is crisp and clean, with nothing sounding too muted or changed when listening to the English dub of the show instead of the original Japanese audio tracks. The menus for the DVDs are pretty barren, having a still image of one of the main characters alongside a small selection of up to 5 episodes on a disc. Special features are barely there, with a couple of discs containing textless opening and closing videos and a preview of other releases from the studio like Amagi Brillient Park and Himouto! Umaru-chan!. If there is one thing I would have suggested to be added to this release, it would be some of the good old “files on the DVD” feature where you have access to .pdf files of all the main recipes that are featured in the show like the Japanese manga has (I have no idea about the official translated versions). It would have been a nice extra for people like me who love to cook and try new things.

Food Wars is a great blend of a cooking anime, a battle anime, a comedy anime, and a drama anime that most would think would be near impossible to pull off. As someone who has seen this show and loved it from the get go with it’s over the top sexualization of the pleasure of eating (the imagery depictions of people having orgasms over the taste is funny as hell, especially in episode 1), the Japanese over the top style of reacting to unexpected situations, to the more serious moments when things get real (Soma putting on his headband is akin to Ash from Pokemon turning his hat backwards. When Soma puts on his headband, shit’s about to get real), and just the overall drama of being in a huge school where you can be expelled at a moment’s notice for being anything less than perfect. All of this combines into a show that you wouldn’t think many people would want to watch, but ends up being the show you have to watch. Not to mention that no matter how much you have to eat before watching Food Wars, you will get hungry by the end of an episode or two guaranteed.

Which brings up the who thing about the cooking in Food Wars. The dishes you see in Food Wars are presented in the more dramatic way, but unlike other food based anime or shows, Food Wars takes the extra time to explain to you how the dishes are made, from the ingredients used to the methods used. The only thing that is not 100% at times is the amount of each item used, making those like me who like to remake some of these dishes for themselves with a bit of trial and error to go through unless you’re willing to find the fan-translated recipe cards from the Japanese manga as those give you everything you need to know in order to recreate these amazing dishes. I’ve made the “Gotcha Pork Roast” (the English “Imitation Pork Roast” doesn’t sound as good) a few times and it’s always amazing.

There is only one issue I have with Food Wars and it’s with its English dub; most specifically the casting of Erina Nakiri. In the Japanese version you can hear how she is a spoil privileged brat who thinks she is above everyone. She has this air of arrogance around her and in her voice that just commands that people should be bowing down to her and doing everything she commands. In the English dub, she sounds like a whiny valley girl. I’m not sure if this was an error in how the character was explained or if the dubbing director had a different idea about the character but when listening to Erina in English, I tend to feel like this was a total miscasting. I also got the same impression with Soma Yukihira, but after a couple of episodes I became fine with the choice and the English dubbing of the character. But Erina still annoys me every time she is is on screen.

Overall Food Wars is probably one of the best and most innovative anime series I have seen in a LONG time. As a fan of the cooking styles of other cultures, Food Wars stands out to me as a source of inspiration and knowledge, which techniques and recipes that I would never have thought of myself. In terms of the characters, it’s a good mix of strong personalities that doesn’t resort to turning other non-Japanese characters into stereotypes like an American show would. The battles are quick and doesn’t need to show any special forms or leveling up like most battle anime do as everything is skills based that evolves naturally as the show progresses. Food Wars is one of the few anime out there that I will whole hardheartedly endorse with a 100% “You must buy this now” seal of approval… So stop reading, go to the store and buy it now (Or order online from the Madman Entertainment Store).

©Yuto Tsukuda, Shun Saeki / Shueisha, Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma Committee