Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma Vol 1 Review

A relatively new manga, Food Wars! is the brainchild of Tsukada and Saeki.  It focuses on Yukihira Soma, an apprentice chef at his family restaurant who starts high school in the most prestigious cooking high school in Japan after his dad closed the restaurant.  Forced to take the transfer exam, he comes into contact with Nakiri Erina, one of the top ranked freshman and the headmaster’s granddaughter.  In order to pass the exam and gain acceptance to the school, Soma must cook a dish that satisfies her notoriously hard to please palate.  Soon after gaining acceptance, he teams up with Tadoroko Megumi in order to pass the first of many trials at his new school.

Yuto Tsukada and Shun Saeki have a done a great job of capturing every aspect of the manga. Shun Saeki’s artwork especially shines during the reactions shots of the tasting of the food and during the actual cooking of the food.  Additionally this manga contains what could be considered the pilot chapter for the actual series, so you get 4-5 chapters of the actual story and then you get a nice 30 page pilot chapter which I found enjoyable because its always interesting to see how the manga itself differs from its pilot.

I enjoyed this manga for several reasons.  First, it is a fresh spin on the typical shounen battle manga that has grown increasingly common over the past 20 years.  Like Toriko, it focuses on food, but where Toriko focuses on the capture of the ingredient as the main plot device, Food Wars focuses on the cooking of the dishes and pits the chefs into competition with each in order to make the most delicious dish.  Secondly, thanks to the talents of both Tsukada and Saeki, their joint efforts really make this manga shine.  It is very funny and very well drawn and easy to get into.

Story - Yuto Tsukada

Art  - Shun Saeki

Publisher - Viz Media

Date - August 2014 

Witch Craft Works Vol. 1 Manga Review

    Another manga that had a winter 2014 anime, this one is about Honoka Takamiya, a run of the mill high school sophomore who has the misfortune of sitting next to the most popular girl in school, Ayaka Kagari.  While normally this would be a good thing, Kagari has rabid fanbase who delight in assaulting anyone who they believe is getting to close to the “Queen” of the campus.  After a normal day of being assaulted by the goon squad, Takamiya is on classroom cleanup duty when he is suddenly attacked and then rescued by Ayaka.  It is then he finds out that she protects him every day from witches who are after his power.  From then on, Ayaka and Honoka travel out in public and the goon squad lays off him after she threatens to burn them.  He then meets and learns more about the witches who are after him and he starts learning about magic itself from Ayaka.

    The art quality in this manga is very good, especially during the action scenes like when Kagari goes on the attack with her flame magic and causes explosions.  Its a pity that the manga is in black and white and not in color for many scenes because the black and white scale just don’t do justice to a lot of the scenes.  There is also a lot of detail in the faces of every named character as Kagari, Honoka, and the Animal-Ears Girls gang have a myriad face expressions during battles, school, or being captured by Kagari.  Kagari’s deadpan expressions coupled with Honoka’s over reaction’s is always a hilarious contrast so it can take a couple readthroughs to catch all the little things that the illustrators show.

    Overall, this is a solid Vol. 1 release of a pretty good manga series.  It introduces the characters, and provides good starter action as it sets the mood.  There is a good blend of action and comedy throughout the book and anyone familiar with the anime series knows it doesn't disappoint.  There are some translator's notes and other additional information that help the reader understand some of whats going on towards the end of the volume.  With more volumes on the way and western release for the anime, there is a lot for fans to be excited for in the upcoming months.