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