Shokugeki no Souma: Shin no Sara

Another Plate, another panning shot yet the culmination of one of the best character arcs yet!. So Shokugeki no Souma Shin no Sama leaves off right where the Totsuki Ressha-hen season in where the tournament for the fate of the rebels contines and well it's roughly what you'd expect but LA will note this season did improve slightly even if they continue to use panning shots though utlize it when they can't think of any new way of showing the transitions which is most of the time unfortunately. The 4th Plate visually is the same with some flourishes in the Shokugeki's here and there but where itlacks in animation, the characters gets some well deserved mentions, from Megumi, Takumi, Rindou, Tsukasa, Isshiki and finally ERINA having the the best character resolution to her rebellion to her father with this arc. Though her rebellion started during the Totsuki Ressha-hen, once Erina steps up to the plate (PUN) she not only develops as a character but since this season is much more about the rebels and their camaraderie AS well as the Elite Ten Council and why they cook the way they cook and in some instances how Azami influenced them into his side, you'd thought it was SOUMA who would get the glory of this tournament, no we forgot how this all started and with Erina being the face of the rebellion like daughter to her overbearing father, what Erina cooks for him at the final bout not only shows off Erina's trust in her friends, but shows off her rebellion in full force and all the hopes and dreams that will crush Azami's authoritarian take on cooking and just MAN does that final bout delivered, LA KNEW investing into Erina (from what LA remembered LA started getting invested at the tail end of the third plate) was worth it and culminated and essentially exploded here in all of Erina's glory. This season though the payoff was great, does still have it's flaws, one LA well get into a bit later. The pacing of the tournament bouts if anything seemed really rushed, from Isshiki and Tsukasa's bout to Rindou vs. Takumi is glossed upon (showing no prep to give us a hint to hows it's made etc.) and the thing is most of the bouts this season was or would have been interesting if not for it's rushed pacing, though the pacing doesn't ruin Erina's final bout, but everything leading up to it...LA can't ignore it and yes does sorta ruin elements of those season much like the previous 2 or 3 seasons before it. And now for the elephant in the room and that is animation. Well it was done once again by JC Staff and welllllllll yeah the panning shots isn't going away and admittedly uses it the majority of the time, but where the panning shots are prevalent, the battles and especially the focus on the food (not so much on the prep anyways) is still great and of course the foodgasms were great and expected for Shokugeki no Souma for all manner of reasons. Overall same as Totsuki Ressha-hen, not much has changed for animation which is a damn shame since the plot and it's characters is now holding this season up while the animation is inbetween lazy to "trying". The voice cast is back and LA will give the MVP's here as there isn't much to say considering the voice cast is pretty much intact and hasn't changed "as much". LA will give out the obvious, being Hisako Kanemoto as Erina, Miniami Takahashi as Megumi, Shizuka Ito as Rindou and Show Hayami as Azami. The 4th Plate was essentially the payoff season or in culinary terms, the main dish for LA and man besides some messy side dishes of elements, the MEAT of this season was excellent with great character development seasonings, great battles though slightly underpinned by rushing the sauce and the presentation was PANNED as per usual and of course great aftertaste at the end. There's another plate?...SIGN LA UP!... Erina best girl, can't change LA's mind.

War for the elite ten seats has continued. As we know, Yukihira Souma and his friends now have to fight the central members to fight over their obligations as totsuki school students. As you sow, so shall you reap. That adage is suitable for this season, a group of students who want to know the wider culinary world ... They are a polar star residence. This season took a long time to reach the point where Yukihira Souma achieved her ambitions. We already know that now the polar star residence must fight Azami's ideology of food that it does not recognize isrubbish. Yukihira Souma and her friends have to fight Azami but they get the role of rebels, they get insults from all school students but they ignore it because they know that their actions are the right thing. Watching this season proves that Yukihira Souma's abilities have also improved from previous seasons. Spending time developing each food recipe, fighting with unequal opponents to the point where he has to get lost in the current storm of confusion, even they have to sacrifice the principles they believe in but all for one thing is to be greater than previous. Like the previous seasons, you will witness many exotic foods. The short list includes a food theme that is determined by fate, even though it is not their cooking skill but they are required to cook the dish because otherwise they will be eliminated and expelled from school like some of Yukihira Souma's friends who have been expelled from the previous season. This season is different from before, the judges taken to do the assessment are not taken from just anyone but they are the chosen people who have experience in assessing a food, they are called WGO. As a fan of this series, I say this season is a season full of battles between great chefs. It became aware that this season was very tense. The seconds of Yukihira Souma's goal will soon be reached. Are they able to reach that point, and instead they will reach the peak they want so far.

This series has scarred me so badly that it motivated me to write my first anime review. Anytime I see an actual good anime, I think about this one and what it could have been. I will now be using this as my measuring stick for a terrible anime. Let me start by saying that I love Shokugeki no Soma. I love cooking, I like anime, I like hentai, and I love the manga. Despite all this, JC has done their damn hardest to make this season as unwatchable and as unenjoyable as possible. This isn't an anime. There is hardly any animation. This isa slideshow with moving mouths, and motion sickness-inducing pan on every. single. frame. I know this is a cooking anime, but holy crap there does not need to be this many pans. There isn't even a pan that stops at the end to let your eyes rest for a moment; there is a constant slight motion throughout every shot. Since nothing is ever still, you get a feeling of uneasiness and motion sickness, which makes the whole thing near impossible to watch or enjoy. This constant panning is a pathetic attempt to make it look like there is some motion happening to compensate for the fact that nothing is animated. An egregious example would be when Saito, the samurai chef, does a 360-degree slash through ingredients to show his proficiency. THEY COULDN'T EVEN BE ASSED TO ANIMATE HIM DRAWING HIS SWORD. He just stands completely still, as a circular slash of light comes out. That's it. They have somehow managed to achieve the worst of both worlds in terms of pacing. Somehow, you feel like it's extraordinarily boring and that nothing is ever happening due to the animation, while also feeling that the story is extremely rushed. There were a ton of moments that I was very hyped for while reading the manga that happened this arc, but they all fell flat due to the sheer laziness of the animation staff. If it was properly animated and the staff actually gave a shit like in season 1, this would have been an easy 9, but alas, this is what we get.

I had to make sure I wasn't crazy. I re-watched several episodes from the first season. The introduction of the Aldini brothers in the training camp arc... The one where Soma and his dad have an early-morning cook-off in the Polar Star dormitory... The one where Megumi stands against the fearsome Legumes Magician, and saves herself from expulsion with some wholesome veggie magic of her own. This series is EXCITING. Fast-paced cuts of frenetic food-flinging; a soundtrack hot enough to simmer your soy sauce; gorgeously-drawn dishes that could hop off the screen and into your gullet; and of course, over-the-top ecchi foodgasms that make you wish youbrought headphones. The stakes are raised (and steaks are braised?) as the battles rage on. And the journey is brought to life with superbly voice-acted characters worth following to the very end. This show used to be a lot better. It DESERVES a lot better. The Fourth Plate feels really, really cheap. Fun and charming, at times. But this tournament arc-- in which Totsuki academy and ALL of our main and supporting characters' careers are at stake-- ultimately seems shallow, repetitive, and nothing like I remembered Shokugeki to be. It's especially disappointing because of the year-long wait for a single cour. To me it seems staff was still pressed for time, and fell back on the series' most formulaic and unimpressive storytelling techniques to carry on. A few examples: 1) Panning over still shots of characters at Dutch angles, with some abstract background. Used VERY heavily this season 2) TELLING the judges how the food was made, instead of SHOWING the process in real time. This allows for last-minute revelations and mini-plot twists, and can make things more exciting. But not in excess, like this time. 3) The peanut gallery. Characters in the audience will explain to the viewer, in succession, why the competing dishes are so super-awesome/clever. This season, it is the SAME set of characters providing commentary EVERY episode! And the lines are spread so thin, it's often totally irrelevant who's saying what. ... and so on. It made for a really dull presentation. Most concretely, I could tell the animation quality had declined, but... otherwise it was hard to pin down what had changed. In fact, I began to question why I ever liked this show so much to begin with. And that like, really sucks. "You're stagnating, aren't you? ... For us, stagnation is akin to regression." Many will say this was inevitable. The show was too repetitive by design, and would eventually get stale. A tournament arc like this would only emphasize this repetitive nature and fall flat, no matter what. This show is built around still shots, hokey last-minute reveals, and padded exposition. It's part of the formula. That's the recipe for Shokugeki, followed to a T, and we were bound to get tired of it. Maybe they're right. Or maybe they just lack imagination. Because that first season still feels fresh and fun. I could watch it again and again, because that sh*t is quality. It's a genuine, heartfelt, and surprisingly horny celebration of the culinary arts. Just like the winning dish in every Shokugeki, there's a little something there that puts it over the top. A secret ingredient. An extra bit of creativity. Over time it's been lost, but it WAS there. With more time & effort, I'm sure the folks J.C. Staff could have found it again, even within the bounds of an adaptation. To conclude: If you've stuck with the show this long, here's your finale. Though it leaves much to be desired, Episode 11 is where our story feels the most finished. Episode 12 makes for a decent epilogue. Then, if you're still left wanting more, bless you. I hope you enjoy next season! But left with such a "MAZUI!" taste in my mouth, I think I'll pass on seconds.

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