VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia
STORY: Yuto Tsukuda
ART: Shun Saeki
TRANSLATION: Adrienne Beck
CONTRIBUTOR: Yuki Morisaki
LETTERS: James Gaubatz; Mara Coman
EDITOR: Jennifer LeBlanc
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0774-4; paperback (August 2019); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
208pp, B&W, $9.99 US, $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK
Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma is a 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. Food Wars! was serialized in the Japanese manga magazine, Weekly Shonen Jump, from November 2012 to June 2019. VIZ Media published an English-language edition of the manga as a paperback graphic novel series from August 2014 to June 2020 under two imprints: first, “Shonen Jump Advanced” and then, “Shonen Jump.”
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 (Saiba), 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. 31 (Chapters 263 to 271; entitled “The New Totsuki Institute”) opens, the fifth and final bout of “the Régiment de Cuisine Shokugeki” has ended. The Régiment pitted three members of Soma and his allies' group, known as “the Resistance,” against Totsuki's “Council of Ten.” If the Resistance won the Régiment, they would reinstate their expelled classmates and gain seats on the council. If they lost, all students connected to the Resistance would be expelled and Soma's father, Joshiro, would become a slave... of sorts.
Well, the Resistance won, and Soma and his friends are now second-year students. The administration of Azami Nakiri, Erina's father, has ended. Erina is the new dean of Totsuki, and Soma is the Council of Ten “First Seat.” As the boss, Erina eventually has a mission for Soma, one that includes Council of Ten “Tenth Seat,” Megumi Tadokoro. Erina sends the two on a “business trip” to a resort town with ties to Totsuki. The business is the mission to discover why a traditional inn, Kazami Baths Inn & Bathhouse, suddenly closed without warning. Even the owner can't be found.
This mystery will turn weird and dark as Soma and Megumi discover an “underground” connection. And Soma will be shocked to find a connection to himself!
[The volume includes bonus manga, “Special Short: An Elegant Evening Banquet,” and also recipes and miscellaneous illustrations.]
THE LOWDOWN: The Food Wars! manga finally reached the end of the great shokugeki – a battle of chefs – that decides many fates of many students. While the winner was declared in Vol. 30, there is some moping up to do.
Food Wars!: Shokugeki No Soma Graphic Novel Volume 31 finds the creative team of writer Yuto Tsukuda and artist Shun Saeki establishing what I call the “NTO,” the new Totsuki order. They don't dwell on that, however, as they jump right into the next great story arc. Considering that Vol. 31 is the first of the series' final six volumes, they waste no time delivering one of those ultimate shockers. Adrienne Beck's translation is right there with us to deliver this volume's reveals and surprises with sparkling dialogue. It is enough to make me race to the next volume.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Readers hungry for good manga will want the “Shonen Jump” title, Food Wars!: Shokugeki No Soma.
A+
10 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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