Dhruv Sharma
‘Food Wars‘ literally defined the term food porn and that’s something all the viewers would know by now. The best parts of the show are the ones where food is being prepared and it becomes clear that the creators of this show have seriously done their homework as far as research goes. Apparently, all the recipes featured on the show are tried and tested before they get their own screen time and all of this is done by an actual Japanese Chef named Yuki Morisaki.
The art with which the food is depicted in this show is absolutely gorgeous and can in no way be represented so perfectly in real life and that’s probably because the artists involved know the exact colors and lighting they are supposed to use. This show is not only for those who are involved in the food industry but also for those who wish to expand their knowledge about food – the so-called “foodies.” For every recipe, there is a fine running commentary in the background that enlightens you about what’s so good about the food item and what flavors are working together to make the dish what it is. With respect to the animation, it may just be two dimensional but with the sensations of food that it provides, it surely proves to be a lot more than that.
‘Food Wars’ till now has revolved around the quest of the protagonist Soma to become the top master chef of his new culinary school. Through his entire childhood, he grew up battling with his father to create the best food ever in the diner that they owned and now he decides to enter a culinary school to level up his cooking skills so that he can finally beat his father at his own artform.
The premise of ‘Food Wars’ is clearly not unique and follows the cliched story of every struggling artist but the perfection with which other aspects of the show have been covered make this one a great anime to watch. The fan service of this show is beyond weird but isn’t that the whole point of it? The cloth-ripping impact that food creates on the characters of this show is almost as realistic as tentacle sex of some other anime. Food is so sacred and divine to the characters of this show that it just explodes their clothes out of existence. God only knows who came up with the idea but to be honest it is bloody amazing.
From a food lover’s point of view ‘Food Wars!‘ might just hit the right spots and may almost be a dream come true. And at the end of the day, if you are willing to put in some efforts of your own, you can even get quite close to the recipes depicted in the show that makes the food aspect of this one not-so-unrealistic. The first two seasons were appreciated by most for the depiction of food in it and were criticized for the cliched plot and overly exaggerated fanservice. So let’s look into the changes that were made in the third season and if these changes make the show any better or worse…
Food Wars Season 3 Release Date:
Food Wars season 3 released on October 4, 2017, and finished airing on December 20, 2017. This season has a total of 12 episodes like most standard anime and each episode is 24 minutes long. No official confirmation have been given yet regarding the 4th season but there have been rumors that it is set to come out in the year 2019. You can read the full details about Food Wars season 4 right here.
Food Wars Season 3 Plot:
The third season continues the quest of Soma at Japan’s Best Culinary School where he has to now compete with the best to earn his place amongst the “Elite 10”. The “Elite 10” consists of the best culinary students who get to decide the future direction of the curriculum of the school. The competition between students seems to be quite healthy until a former student returns to the school and starts using his powers to alter the direction of the previously followed curriculum and the only one who can stop him from making these bleak changes is Soma himself.
Before this, the biggest weakness of the anime was the lack of any new elements to the storyline and repetition of the same scenarios again and again. Soma does something great all over again the remaining characters just pretend to be impressed by him. I mean c’ mon, you have seen him do the same exact thing before, aren’t you used to it by now?
The third season tires to break this monotony and makes an attempt to bring something new to the anime series. The final members of the “Elite 10” are by far some of the most interesting and charming characters in the show so far and make the whole viewing experience a lot better. After the big Autumn Election of this season, the Stagiare Act comes into the picture and brings back the fun and intensity of first season’s business side of cooking. This part of the show covers various aspects such as placing the client’s needs over everything else, the importance of placing your business stall and also how one can make their stall more appealing to increase sales. All of this together shows us a more mature and entertaining side of this season.
Thankfully, the restaurant business theme is carried forward to the second half of the season as well and from the cliffhanger of the last episode, it is clear that it will be continued in the next season too. The credit for this goes to the new villain of the show Azami Nakiri who also happens to be Erina’s father. As Erina starts to become more friendly with Soma’s circle, a long-due backstory about her family and its impact on her starts fading into the picture highlighting her character development. The last few episodes of this season end with a threat to the smaller restaurants which is the kind of situation Soma has never faced before and there is also a final mention of Soma’s father Joichiro Yukihira by the end, which gets us all hyped for the next season.
Food Wars Season 3 Review:
The story of season 3 is a little cliched, but the creators kept it simple and easy to follow this time, instead of complicating it like the past seasons. The theme is very similar to that of a shounen and gets very predictable at times. A lot of attempts have been made to make this look refreshing with plots turns and twists but these are not at all surprising most of the times. The anime keeps shifting from the main motive that is the “Elite 10′ competition and replaces it with a lot of mundane things that are not even necessary. The pace of this season’s story seems to be a little faster than the first and second seasons which is a good thing but the show really needs to stop beating around the bush just to extend the number of episodes per season.
When it comes to the animation aspect of this season, it proves to be a lot better than that of the second season. For some weird reason though, the use of CGI has been avoided which makes the animation look a little flat. But still, J.C Staff Studios has still done a great job with the improvements in this one. A lot of emphasis is given to fanservice, which is actually anime’s strength. At some point, you will see pretty much every character of the show naked and that’s just because they’re way too excited about their food. The overall aim of the show is to focus on how amazing the food is and there probably is no better way of portraying this than the use of fanservice adapted by this anime.
The sound is also quite decent and the new closing and opening tracks of this season prove to be far more memorable than the season one and two. The music has been mixed very well with the voices of the characters and has been done in such a way that the music does not get in the way of any of the dialogues. No other remarkable changes are made in this field. The anime was already doing pretty well on the music front, so it is good that they remained consistent with most of it.
When it comes down the characters of the show, a lot of effort has been put into the development of the main characters from the first season itself. Attempts are made to introduce new characters but most of them just disappear from the story way too soon without any development which is disappointing at times. One good thing about this season is that a lot of work has been put into the development of Azami and his daughter Erina who was almost forgotten as a character. Erina will surely have a bond stronger than ever with Soma in the coming seasons and Azami will prove to be a great villain considering his current impeccable character development.
Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10, this show would be a 7 and while it does have some great elements of fun and humor to it there are certain aspects of it that may still need some improvements. For food lovers, this anime series is still more or less like a vivid dream that will drown them in all kinds of flavors and colors of food. Ignoring the flaws, season 3 is quite exciting and if not anything else, it sure will make you extremely hungry after every episode.
Food Wars Season 3 English Dub:
The English Dubbed version of ‘Food Wars! Seasons 3’ is not out yet. As with the last two seasons, the English dub will only come out 3-4 months before the season premiere of the new season which means that it should be out somewhere by the end of fall (August-October) of the year 2019.
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