VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia
STORY: Yuto Tsukuda
ART: Shun Saeki
TRANSLATION: Adrienne Beck
CONTRIBUTOR: Yuki Morisaki
LETTERS: James Gaubatz; Mara Coman
EDITOR: Jennifer LeBlanc
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0254-1; paperback (February 2019); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
192pp, B&W, $9.99 US, $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK
Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma is a Japanese shonen manga series written by Yuto Tsukuda and illustrated by Shun Saeki. Yuki Morisaki also works as a contributor, providing the recipes for the series. The manga was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from November 2012 to June 2019. VIZ Media has been publishing an English-language edition of the manga as a paperback graphic novel series since August 2014, first, under its “Shonen Jump Advanced” imprint and then, under its “Shonen Jump” imprint.
Food Wars! focuses on teenager Soma Yukihira. He grows up cooking in his father's Yukihira Family Restaurant. The 15-year-old wants to be a better chef than his father, Joshiro Yukihira, so he hones his skills day in and day out. His father decides to enroll him in a classy culinary school, Totsuki Saryo Culinary Institute, a place that prides itself on a 10 percent graduation rate. If Soma Yukihira really does not want to attend Totsuki, how can he succeed?
As Food Wars!: Shokugeki No Soma, Vol. 28 (Chapters 236 to 244; entitled “First-Year Kid”) opens, the “third bout” of the Régiment de Cuisine Shokugeki continues. There are three cards in each bout of the Régiment, pitting three members of Soma and his allies' group, known as “the Resistance,” against Totsuki's “Council of Ten.” If the Resistance wins the Régiment, they save their expelled classmates and gain seats on the council. If they lose, all students connected to the Resistance are expelled and Soma's father becomes a slave... of sorts.
In this crucial “third bout,” Soma will take on the Council's Somei Saito in a battle with butter as the theme ingredient. In a duel of the sweets, Megumi Tadokoro takes on the Council's cutie-pie, Momo Akanegakubo, in a contest of apple-themed dishes.
Now, it is Takumi Aldini vs. the Council's Etsuya Eizan in a beef battle. So how will Takumi beat Eizan, after the latter designed his artichoke and beef dish so that it will neutralize the flavors of the former's dish? Well, Takumi answers with a half-beef and half-cheese pizza! Say what?!
[The volume includes a recipes and illustrated character profiles and character poll results.]
THE LOWDOWN: The Food Wars! manga continues the great shokugeki – a battle of chefs – that will decide the fates of many students. This manga is almost always at its best when the kitchen is the battleground and cooking is the weapon.
Food Wars!: Shokugeki No Soma Graphic Novel Volume 28 offers a new delight – the ingredient as a blade in a battle of samurai warriors. Writer Yuto Tsukada and artist Shun Saeki continue to blend character histories and personalities with almost supernatural cooking techniques and inventive chefs. In Vol. 28, the blade metaphor resonated with me; it is something that sticks out in this volume and makes it memorable.
I am a fan of all three theme ingredients in the third bout: butter, beef, and apples. One of the many things that Tsukada and Saeki do so well is make readers believe they can smell the scent of cooking wafting from the pages of a Food War! graphic novel. Oh, lawd! The smell of butter melting in a hot skillet is divine. I love sinking my teeth into a crunchy, crispy apple, and I certainly enjoy apple-based desserts. And beef, literally and metaphorically... can be so satisfying. Vol. 27 was a volume to savor, but as the third bout theme ingredients carried over, I found Vol. 28 to be the most savory.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Readers hungry for good manga will want the “Shonen Jump Advanced” title, Food Wars!: Shokugeki No Soma.
A
9.5 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.
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