Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. We continue our look into Food Wars with the third season. Out of all the seasons of Food Wars this is probably the biggest season of the bunch. Released 2017, this was at the point when Food Wars was at the height of their popularity. The manga was in the middle of their biggest arc yet and the anime was only a few arcs behind. Let’s see what’s for Souma. This is the first part of Food Wars S3.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening this time is “Braver” by ZAQ. This another good opening and one that I enjoyed listening to whenever the anime came on. The best part of this song are the drums and guitar. They really show off the intensity of this season and the animation does a good job building up the threat that Souma and the others will be facing soon.
The third ending is “Kyokyojitsujitsu” by nano.RIPE. This is probably my second favorite ending from the series. The whole ending just sends you on a nostalgia trip down memory lane as you remember all the trials the characters have face to reach this point in the anime and how they’ll continue to have trials in order to achieve their dreams and become the chefs they want to be.
Episodes 1-4
Now before I get to the anime I should talk about the OVA before the anime. Now I wasn’t going to cover any of the OVAs because we’re really not missing anything (hell, they’re not even uncensored. What kind of ecchi series doesn’t make their OVAs uncensored. Granted they have bath scenes, but still, don’t censor that crap), but this particular one does serve as an important set up for the start of the third season. In the OVA Souma along Erina and the other participants in the Fall election get to meet the Elite 10, the best students in the academy. We know Erina and Isshiki hold the 10th and 7th seat respectively and we get to meet the other students as well who aside from Erina are all second and third years. First up is Eizan, the 9th seat. Serves as a consultant to a lot of businesses and is shady as all hell. Kuga, the 8th seat. Specializes in Chinese cuisine and has a lot of followers (who may or may not be clones of each other). Nene, the 6th seat. Childhood friend/rival of Isshiki, specializes in Japanese cuisine. Saitou, the 5th seat. A modern-day samurai who specializes in sushi cuisine. Momo, the 4th seat. Despite having the appearance of a child she’s a third year (and totally legal). Loves cute things and specializes in desserts and sweet dishes. Tousuku, the 3rd seat. Despite his intimidating appearance he’s a kind soul who specializes in ramen cuisine. My girl, Rindou, the 2nd seat. She’s eccentric, wild, and does whatever she wants. Specializes in exotic cuisine. Finally, Eishi, the 1st seat. Considered the best chef at the academy and specializes in French cuisine. While cooking he’s composed and untouchable. Outside of cooking, he’s a nervous wreck (you know it’s a real shame none of them specialize in Indian cuisine. Those guys can make food out of anything. Scene here: https://youtu.be/sd-e_B71weQ). Anyway, we see they’re all crazy individuals and Souma just straight up asks the second years for a shokugeki. They all say no as they’re busy trying to take down the ones above them, but Souma counters this saying they don’t have to bet their seats, he just wants to fight strong opponents. Kuga decides to humor Souma saying that if he can show him he’s better at cooking in any specific field he’ll gladly accept his shokugeki (scene here: https://youtu.be/_1KJ0P0yGVw).
The third season opens up the day after Souma and the others from the Autumn tournament met the Elite 10 and Souma wondering what he can beat Kuga in for him to agree to a shokugeki with Souma (how does he make senpai notice him?). His chance may come in the form of the Moon Festival a festival at the school where students and clubs open up stands and serve food to visitors which total around 500,000 people a year. Souma thinks that if he can outsell Koga at the festival than Koga will have no choice but to face him, but he has two problems going against him. First off, no staff. It’s just him and nobody else (that’s not good. You’re a good cook Souma but managing a booth by yourself is out of the question). Second, he has to compete against Koga’s popularity and name. Being that he’s a member of the Elite 10, leader of the Chinese cuisine club, and featured in magazines all over the country, he’s developed a following (while Souma has made a following of people who want to kill him). On top of all this he has to choose a dish he thinks will be enough to beat Koga. After thinking about it long enough, Souma decides he’s going to fight Koga in his field of expertise, Chinese food (sometimes I don’t know if that boy is smart or just plain stupid) and in order to counter his name being unknown, he’s going to set up shop right next to Koga’s stand and steal his customers away (wow, this is like a Thrift store setting up shop next to a Walmart and trying to steal their customers. It’s not going to end well).
Nothing much to say about episode 2. Souma gets Erina, Alice, Hisako to taste test his food where Erina says his food isn’t spicy enough to compete with Kuga. Souma begins testing out new dishes with the help of Megumi who’s helping out with his stand (scene here: https://youtu.be/F1KOy_tC8ks, trying to gain the advantage over the other girls) where he does develop a spicy dish that can compete with Kuga and even gets a few supplies to help him out. We see Alice and Ryu force Akira to do a booth with them because Jun gave into her maternal instincts and wants to see Akira spend more time with others around his age. The day finally comes for the festival to start (may the odds forever be in your favor).
In episodes 3-4 it’s the battle between Souma and Koga to see who can get the most sells. Thanks to Koga’s popularity and standing in the academy people are naturally drawn to his stand (or restaurant in this case) while Souma’s stall gets almost no visitors at all. Despite not getting any customers in the first 3 days of the festival, Souma doesn’t panic one bit and instead uses this time to prepare for the fourth day because Koga lacks experience in the restaurant industry. While having a long line outside is proof that the restaurant is popular, when you keep them waiting for hours on end it’s proof that your customer service is bad and that’s what happens to Koga on the fourth day. He can’t get to all of his customers and that’s when Souma strikes. Using the aroma of his dish he lures the people away from Koga’s restaurant (follow your noses) and before long has a full house of customers eating his dishes (scene here: https://youtu.be/f-xB2uiGbao). Now that Souma has the customers the question now is how will he keep up with the orders (you would need a second Souma but I don’t think the world is ready for that). Souma’s answer, calling in Mimasoka who over the last 3 days has been in Souma’s family restaurant profiling Souma so that he can match his cooking style and speed (I don’t know whether to be impressed or creeped out by this. Fucking stalker). Mimasoka shows up and together with Souma they get to cooking while Megumi tends to the customers and finds them spots to sit at (scene here: https://youtu.be/lADNlaAb8Xg). When nighttime comes the customers keep coming and Souma’s team is starting to become overwhelmed. Luckily, Nikumi and the Aldini Brothers show up to help him and the others out where they pull through and have the highest sells in their area that day beating Koga (what now son?).
Episodes 5-8
In episode 5 it’s the final day of the festival where even though Souma’s booth gets a good crowd he couldn’t beat Kuga that day and thus failed to beat Kuga in total sales (if he had started selling on day 3 he might have won). Despite Souma’s loss Kuga also lost as well as he wanted to get top sales all 5 days in order to challenge Eishi to a shokugeki. It turns out that last year Kuga much like Souma did an open challenge to the Elite 10 and Eishi accepted his challenge where he dominated Kuga. Since then, Kuga has been obsessed with challenging Eishi again and beating him. After Souma and Megumi close up shop, Rindo takes them to Eishi’s booth located in the Yamanote area (that’s the best area. Where the 1% go to eat). They go to his booth where they taste his food and get an instant foodgasm on the first bite. Hell, the guy is so confident and absolute in his cooking that he doesn’t even ask people what they thought of his dish (he knows it’s good and he knows everyone will like it. Scene here: https://youtu.be/Ge8SC-XUZgE). In another part of the area we go to Erina’s booth which only takes reservations and keeps one table reserved for Joichiro hoping he’ll show up to taste her food (and hopefully her as well. What? The girl is obviously in love with him. Which will make it even funnier when she finds out Souma is his son). While Joichiro doesn’t show up a man of utmost importance (and fear) does show up, her father Azami (the best way to describe this guy is imagine taking all the evil from Voldermort and Ganondorf and putting it all into a hot and evil Asian man. And for good measure let’s give him the voice of Enrico Maxwell from Hellsing Ultimate). Everyone is shocked to see him because he’s supposed to be exiled from the academy. In fact, his very existence has been erased from the family name (yeah, he’s that evil). He believes that only a select few should be allowed to taste excellent food and anything that he considers inferior should be destroyed and erased because it doesn’t meet his standards (food racist). Erina is so shocked and scared to see her father that she’s completely shut down and is shaking nonstop (wow, I’m legitimately scared of this guy. This is the first time we’ve ever seen Erina like this. To have even your own daughter be afraid of you, you know you’re messed up). It’s only until Souma comes in that she finally returns to normal and Azami disgusted by his appearance takes his leave (scene here: https://youtu.be/U2h6a3D-4Eg) where as soon as he steps outside he gets surrounded by campus security (shoot him). He gets told by Senzaemon to leave but he drops the bomb on all of us and says that by order of the Elite 10 he is now the new director of the academy. In the academy the Elite 10 carry great authority to the point that they can even select a new director if a majority vote is made (that is way too much power to give to students). 6 out of 10 students voted for Azami (fuckers. All of them) which means he’s the new director of the academy (which means dark days are coming).
In episode 6 we find out the relationship between Erina and Azami (it’s pretty messed up). As a kid Erina was always smiling and enjoying life (she and Alice were actually close to each other like sisters). Her God Tongue was still in development stages and when Alice went to study abroad in order to become a great chef, Azami took her under his wing and began to brainwash her to be his obedient servant (question, where was the mother in all of this? Control your man, woman). Azami’s brainwash made Erina hate anything that wasn’t perfect. Anything that was slightly off or imperfect was considered filth and needed to be disposed of (what the fuck man that food looks delicious! You’re in Japan don’t waste food). Senzaemon finally stepped in and banished Azami from the academy (scene here: https://youtu.be/wouHLeHRJrk), but he returned and we all know what happened. Now that Senzaemon is no longer the headmaster he can’t protect Erina so he begs Souma to do it for him (you will become my grandson someday after all. Scene here: https://youtu.be/59aojfjnVmE). Back with Erina, Azami quickly gets to work regaining control over her by relieving Hisako of her secretary duties, only having her take on clients he chooses, and limits her interaction with the outside world (geez, he’s a control freak). Alice comes to her rescue (scene here: https://youtu.be/qx94N6wXJD4) and takes her to the Polar Star dorm to hide and be safe from her father (and to help the ship sail smoothly). Once everyone in the Polar Star dorm hears about Erina’s childhood they all agree to hide her (at this point, she’s a stray cat looking for a home) and have a party welcoming her where they have her try their dishes (hey they got the God Tongue right in front of them. Use it. Scene here: https://youtu.be/k7uN2j1wdFg).
In episode 7 Azami quickly gets to work turning the academy into his ideal playground (or dungeon). He disbands all the clubs and establishes Central a new entity composed of the Elite 10 (traitors) and students handpicked by Azami who will pursue a new vision of gourmet dining (you mean your vision of gourmet dining) as well as determining the cooking of the students (wow, in just 1 minute he destroyed everyone’s individuality as a cook. The whole point of the academy was to craft and nurture an individual’s cooking style. Make food that only they could make. Now, everyone’s going to be cooking the same and it’s not even their style of cooking). Anyone who opposes this new system will be labeled a rebel and forced to leave the academy. At first the students oppose this change but with Azami’s brainwashing words and the fact that they’ll all be learning the cooking styles of the Elite 10 they quickly side with him. Souma and his friends are also dealing with a battle of their own as their dorm is set to be shut down and the students will be thrown out. Why is the dorm being shut down you ask? Because thanks to the efforts of the past students, the Polar Star dorm is practically its own little country not owned by the academy and since Azami refuses to have those who oppose his ideals on campus, he wants to destroy it. The person who tells them this is Eizen and Souma says this decision can be overturned with a Shokugeki against Eizan who will more than happily accept the Shokugeki but I wouldn’t recommend it. Why? Because the Shokugekis are rigged! Yeah, all the judges are lined up with Eizan’s pocket so matter what the opponent does, Eizan will win every time (he doesn’t even need to cook anything. That is some bullshit! I knew the guy was an asshole the first time we saw him, but this just goes beyond my expectations of what an asshole he is) and if you lose you get expelled (scene here: https://youtu.be/ld8iu-IKaO4). With the shokugekis (their last form of resistance) destroyed, all the students who resisted start to fall in line (not by choice. Scene here: https://youtu.be/NBZ1Fx96_c0). Souma no longer able to stand watching his friends suffer takes matters into his own hands (are you going to kill Eizan? Because I am all for that and killing Azami too) and challenges Eizan to a shokugeki where he plans to broadcast their match live all over campus (scene here: https://youtu.be/ev2XiOgvBEg) and to show off just how big of an asshole he is, he’s sent his subordinates to demolish the Polar Star dorm and force everyone out (good God, are we sure you’re not Azami’s son? You are just an asshole).
The shokugeki between Souma and Eizan begins in episode 8 where Souma is going to make gyoza (also known as jiaozi in China, they are somewhat of a Chinese dumpling packed with meat and vegetables. (Yume): We had some of them back at the temple. They were good). As Souma gets to cooking Eizan just sits down and does nothing trying to un-motivate Souma saying it’s useless to keep resisting but Souma doesn’t think so and neither does everyone else in the Polar Star as they fight back using a fire hose, riot shields, 2x4s and smoke bombs (all left by past students during the golden era because other students were jealous of their success and would often try to raid their dorm. Just what kind of warfare landscape did this school have back in the day? This series needs a prequel). Once Eizan finds out his plans are going up in smoke, Souma adds salt to the wounds and tells him that if he wants to say something say it with his cooking (boom! Drop the mic Souma. You hate Souma and think you’re better than everyone, that’s fine, I don’t care. But be a man and take down your opponents fairly). Eizan finally gets serious and decides to cook where he actually shows good knowledge and skills as a cook which have earned him the nickname Alchemist. Even Rindo praises his abilities saying that if he focused more on his cooking than his consultation, he would have taken the seats of other Elite 10 members easily (well I’ll be damned. All this time I thought he was a no-good motherfucker who couldn’t cook. Now, he’s just a no-good motherfucker. (Seras): Geez Nitsuj, you really got a hate boner for this guy, don’t you? (Nitsuj): I’m sorry, but this guy pisses me off. He’s showing us that he has the skills and mindset to back up his position. If the guy wasn’t all that good of a cook I could understand his need to resort to bribing the judges so that he could win. But the guy clearly shows he knows how to cook and the fact that he’s in the Elite 10 proves that he was recognized for having exceptional cooking skills. There should be no reason for this guy to cheat if he’s so good. Just have confidence in your skills and face your opponent like a man and I’ll have respect for you. I’ll still think you’re an asshole but at least I’ll respect your skills as a cook). Eizan finishes his dish which is Hainanese chicken rice (a national dish of Singapore which originated in the Hainan providence in southern China) and serves it to the judges where they instantly like and praise him for it (get off his dick). Souma presents his dish which is Satsuma chicken wing gyoza (instead of using a dumpling you instead insert the dumpling into a chicken wing. It was an idea that originated in Japan and God bless them for it because they are good). At first the judges refuse to eat calling it B-grade food, but the aroma becomes too much for them and they take a bite where it blows the away. Even Eizan realizes how good it is (and realized, he fucked up). Souma wins in the end 3-0 and Eizan got embarrassed in front of the entire school (scene here: https://youtu.be/NTpAN6PKkYk, suck it).
Episodes 9-12
In episode 9 Souma returns to the Polar Star dorm where they have a party celebrating his victory. The Aldini brothers show up to congratulate him and Isshiki returns as well (I totally didn’t recognize him with clothes on) where he delivers the news that Shokugekis from now on will be judged by neutral parties meaning that they all have a chance to fight back now (their ray of hope has returned. Scene here: https://youtu.be/lemVfDBGJi4). A few days later we see that Isshiki along with Kuga and Tousuku are being forced to step down from their position in the Elite 10 because they refused to convert to Central’s ways, and they turn their attention to surviving clubs. Souma and the others decide to go and watch the shokugekis in order to see who they’ll be facing in the future where the Elite 10 manage to win and we get introduced to students working under Central. We focus on one of them named Rentaro who’s about to face Ryo who is a member of the Cutting Edge Cuisine club which is run by Alice who through a series of events and technicality (offscreen of course) was named the chief of the club.
In episode 10 we get the shokugeki between Rentaro and Ryo where the theme is salmon. Rentaro finishes his dish first (which means he has a 95% chance of losing already. When will people learn that when you present you’re dish first in this anime that’s like an automatic loss) which is salmon wrapped in bacon (everything’s better with bacon) heated using some of that cutting edge technology Alice used in her Shokugeki with Souma and wins the praise of the judges and even giving a loli a foodgasm. But Ryo is not one to be upstaged. He presents his dish which is a coulibiac (a Russian delicacy filled with salmon, rice, hard-boiled eggs, mushrooms, onions, and dill). Ryo serves his dish which also earns praise from the judges and even gives Megumi a foodgasm (yay~ I can watch without going to jail). We soon come to a stalemate as the judges can’t decide which dish is better. It all comes down to one thing, who bought out the full potential of the salmon? After tasting each dish again, the judges all agree that the better dish is Ryo as his dish just bought out the full potential of the salmon more than Rentaro’s dish.
In episode 11 after Ryo beats Rentaro (scene here: https://youtu.be/7ZCRTNDCOkA), Alice gives Azami a piece of her mind and says that she will never bow to his will and make him pay for destroying the possibility of a great relationship between her and Erina. After that, classes start back up where the teacher for Souma’s class was let go because he refused to follow Central’s way of thinking (good man). Instead, the class will get taught by Eishi who teaches the class how to make 5 French cuisine dishes with Souma as his assistant. Souma and Eishi are in perfect unison with each other as Souma is able to match Eishi’s speed, follow all of his instructions, and prepare the ingredients the way he wants them done (scene here: https://youtu.be/zsu02enLUPo, in another lifetime these two would have been the best of friends). After class, Eishi asks Souma to join Central and be his right-hand man saying that the cooking he learned at his dad’s won’t be necessary (oh but is. That’s where all the foodgasms come from). Souma says no but Eishi is determined to get Souma so he challenges him to Shokugeki betting his seat in the Elite 10 but if Souma loses he’ll be forced to join Central (final showdown already). Souma accepts his challenge and their theme is French cuisine (scenes here: https://youtu.be/HGcSeuLYkLw and https://youtu.be/RdAyWn-jUe4. I’ll just say what everyone else has said about Azami’s plan. It’s stupid. Even in the world of Food Wars this plan would sink Japan’s food economy. Literally. One of the things that makes restaurants so great is that they each have their own specialty and exclusive flavor that separates them from the other. If every restaurant is serving the same thing and has the same taste then there’s no personality in the food and no new experience when eating). Eishi gets started first where we see Erina, Hisako, and Megumi are spying on them from the shadows and get a whiff of Eishi’s dish that it actually gives them a foodgasm before they even taste it (you might be out of your league here Souma).
Episode 12 shows us the showdown between Souma and Eishi. Souma creates a whole French cuisine using a charcoal burner and creates venison thigh with chestnut sauce. The judges are Erina, Hisako, and Megumi who like it but then they taste Eishi’s dish where he added two separate sauces. The first one is poivrade and the second one is also poivrade but with berries mixed in (so majestic). Along with cooking the venison to perfection and sending the girls to a forest of beauty I think Souma’s chances of winning are slim. When it’s time to judge Erina chooses Eishi’s dish as the best (scene here: https://youtu.be/Mf5hgr9ESuM. I would too, he brought out the best flavor) and before Hisako and Megumi can make their decision, Eishi decides to cancel their shokugeki saying he doesn’t want Souma as his right-hand man because he’s too unpredictable (and Eishi is a man of order while Souma is a man of chaos. They’re like yin and yang of each other). Eishi takes his leave while Souma considers this a loss (as you should. He made you look like a damn fool) but vows to beat Eishi next time (I’ll get you next time Eishi. Next time). After this, we see more clubs take part in shokugekis to stay alive where Megumi, Ikumi, and Marui win for their clubs (good work guys). Later on, Azami stops by the Polar Star Dormitory (get the water hose) not to take back Erina but instead to talk to Souma. While there it gets revealed that he was part of the Polar Star dorm along with Dojima and Joichiro. In his first year he won the 3rd seat of the Elite Ten and in his second year he became the 1st seat (quite the impressive feat). After graduating he married into the Nakiri family, became an elite chef, traumatized his daughter (probably killed his wife. Don’t know yet, haven’t seen her, but I wouldn’t put it past him), got banned, came back (and we all know what happened from there). Fumio tells him to leave which he does peacefully but not before speaking to Souma where we find out that Azami has a huge hard on for Joichiro (I’m not kidding, he speaks of Joichiro like he’s some god. I guess it runs in the family). Souma drops the bomb and tells jim that Joichiro is his dad and for the first time ever we see Azami shocked (only for a split second. Scene here: https://youtu.be/XSqJMBQqJOo) and then he laughs rejoicing because he gets to show off the fruits of his labor to Joichiro’s son saying that everything he’s doing is to get back at the culinary world for destroying Joichiro.
And that’s the first half of season 3. Anybody else hungry? I thought so. Let’s grab something to eat and reconvene next week. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.