Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Well guys we’re here, the final season of Food Wars. Released in the year we dare not speak of and almost a year after the manga ended. Often regarded as the weakest of the seasons because it covers the final arc of the manga which at this point was falling in popularity as fans didn’t like the arcs that came after the shokugeki team battle. It was obvious that author was running out of ideas and wasn’t sure how to end the series and it shows. The struggle is real so let’s power through, this Food Wars S5.
Opening and Ending Theme
The final opening is “Last Chapter” by nano.RIPE. It’s a good ending that definitely gives that nostalgic feeling and cements the fact that this is the end for our characters. We have laughs and a good time, so let’s treasure the time we have left and enjoy the company of each other. That’s what this song feels like to me. Even though I knew the series was going downhill at this point, I still enjoyed the story and wanted to see how it would end.
The last ending is “Crossing Road” by Mai Fuchigami. A good ending that does a good job focusing on the main antagonist for the season. You can easily hear the pain and sadness in Mai’s voice as she completely captures his feelings and backstory. It’s a powerful song that gets the job done.
Episodes 1-4
The season starts with everyone at the beach (surprised it took them this long to have a beach episode. Are all the male students jacked? Seriously, you can grind meat on some of their abs. Starting to make a guy feel conscious about his body) where they’re not there to have fun, but instead start their first semester finals. We meet a teacher named Suzuki who tells them that their first test will be managing a restaurant on the beach. The students will split into teams of 10 and will have to make 3 million yen by the end of 3 days or fail. The Elite 10 will have a handicap of only having 6 cooks for their team and their restaurant is a crap shack (Souma what did you do to piss off Erina this time?). Souma and the others spend the first 2 days getting the shack fixed up and in order deciding to kill it on the 3rd day. During this time we see Souma actually start to notice Erina’s beauty, flirt with her a little and the two even talk about Souma’s mom who he describes as a crude woman whose cooking was subpar, but was still a great mom who loved cooking with Souma’s dad (scene here: https://youtu.be/5L1tFSqUT-M). On the final day the Elite 10 kill the other shacks with their yakisoba dish which is a combination of all of their specialties. In the end they make 3.5 million yen to pass the exam (scene here: https://youtu.be/TazvMZjgvBc) and Dojima arrives to tell them about the BLUE a competition where young chefs compete for world-class fame. This was the competition that Souma’s dad was supposed to enter but didn’t because of his cooking-life crisis. The competition hasn’t been held in years and now it’s making a return (cancel whatever plans you had for the summer kids. You’re gonna be cooking).
In episode 2 with the announcement of BLUE everyone at the school is excited and wants to participate but only 3 students can be nominated. Erina has already been accepted into the competition (oh that’s not fair) and in order to decide the other 3 (or 2, we all know Souma is getting picked) they host a school wide competition in front of a panel of multiple judges where the theme is, soup. We see a lot of dishes made (and plenty of foodgasms. I’m surprised there’s not an ambulance on standby) where at the end the winners are Souma (3rd place), Takumi (2nd place), and Megumi is in first place with her seafood meatballs, with each meatball containing multiple kinds of miso soup (scene here: https://youtu.be/vMFGajovr6M. That’s so cool, creative, and tasty. Man, I wanna try those meatballs). On the other side of the world there was a massive disturbance in the force as Joichiro lost to another cook (https://youtu.be/ciMFxipOehE). After that, a few days go by where Souma and Megumi run into Suzuki who announces his grand scheme is to marry Erina (you and like half the school), but Souma won’t allow it and Erina overhears the conversation and enters at the point where both men declare their desire to claim her and she faints in the hallway (scene here: https://youtu.be/_mSmtQnfbn8. You can have her Souma, I’m more of an Alice and Ikumi kind of guy). Souma and Suzuki have a competition between the two of them with Megumi serving as the judge to end the episode.
Episode 3 starts with the competition between Souma and Suzuki using the ingredients lying around. Souma creates a deep-fried pork cutlet lunch set with cheese fondue. Suzuki also creates a deep-fried pork cutlet except he uses white sauce instead of cheese fondue. Souma and Megumi try his dish where it’s clear that Suzuki’s dish is better (scene here: https://youtu.be/NqIHiEPsh8o) and we get a shocking reveal by finding out that he’s the one who faced Joichiro last episode, beat him, and took his cooking knife (oh good, the secret boss reveals himself). Souma demands a rematch to reclaim his dad’s knife, but he passes out from Suzuki’s food (that’s dangerous) and Suzuki reveals his real name, Saiba Asahi. Saiba also carries an unconscious Erina back to her office (good God woman how shocked were you?) where she promptly rejects his marriage proposal (which strikes me as odd because I thought she had a thing for older guys. I guess she’s a DILF hunter). A few days go by and Souma returns to his family diner where he runs into Joichiro who tells him who Saiba really is. We find out that Saiba was Joichiro’s student from 10 years ago. He was the only student Joichiro took on since he reminded him of his juniors. The two developed a bond with each other until Joichiro had to say goodbye to him and he never saw him again until years later when Saiba challenged him for his knife out of revenge for abandoning him (he offered you to come live with him and you said no, you crazy son of a bitch). Despite the both of them losing, neither one is really down about it (that’s the one thing I love about these two. They don’t mope around. They get back up, learn from their losses, and come back stronger than ever). Erina also learns the truth about Saiba and finds out that he’s participating in BLUE as part of team Noir, a group of shady chefs who cater to VIPs of the underworld. Saiba approaches Erina again at night where he says that if he wins BLUE, Erina will marry him (or she could just shoot you and be done with it. Girls hate guys who are forceful). She accepts his challenge and Souma hears the secret to becoming a great chef, dedicating your cooking to someone you love.
It’s the start of BLUE in episode 4 as Souma and the others arrive outside of a castle where the tournament will commence. There are 3 gates and each gate has a trial that the chefs will need to pass in order to get into the castle where the head of the WGO is waiting for them. Saiba gets a pass all the way to the third gate because of his achievements over the years (oh that’s bullshit) and Erina gets her own personal trial in the first round (once again, she’s the special girl). The rest of the participants get split into three groups where Souma’s group has to create a satisfying dish for this old man who is an ex-Noir member (and the members of Noir get a free pass. Who look like missing participants from Twisted Metal). The theme is Last Supper and the old man fails a lot of people as none of them give him a meal that feels like a Last Supper except for the members of Noir. Souma presents his dish Monaka (Japanese confection. Think Oreos except with azuki bean jam in the middle) with ankimo and monkfish liver in the middle. Suffice to say the dish is great revitalizing the old man’s desire to keep on living and trying different foods (scene here: https://youtu.be/A9X1WLg9p0U). Souma passes the first round as does Takumi and Megumi. As the group head towards the second round, they see Eishi waiting for them.
Episodes 5-9
So sure enough in episode 5, we find out that Eishi is also participating in BLUE and was given a pass for the first round (fitting, given his credentials). For the second round the group will have to make a dish that’s worth more than a hundred dollars to the judge using items found in a Japanese convenience store (hey those convenience stores ain’t no joke, they have a wide selection). Souma presents his dish first which gets rejected as he completely misunderstood the test. It’s not about spending a hundred dollars to make a dish; it’s about making a dish that’s worth a hundred dollars. Eishi gets it with his dish, a beef and chicken recitial w/ demi-glace. Eishi’s dish gives us our foodgasm for the episode and he passes showing up Souma once again and getting paid (why is it all in ones? (Corbin): I know a good place to spend that money). This setback however only motivates Souma and he heads back in to make his second dish which is an Osechi set (a box lunch of traditional Japanese food made to celebrate the coming new year). Souma made the set so perfectly that it doesn’t matter what you eat first or next it all works in harmony with each other to create a dish that you don’t want to stop eating (scene here: https://youtu.be/SfeKGx7vYBs). Souma passes along with Takumi and Megumi. As for Erina, she beats all the chefs from the first round (more like destroyed them. If this was a fighting manga, they would all be dead and there would be blood everywhere) and now has to contend with the losers from the second round. They all go to the third gate where they receive an important announcement from the bookmaster of the WGO. The bookmaster announces that whoever wins BLUE will become her personal chef and receive a high annual salary. Because of this announcement the rules are about to change (for worse).
At the start of episode 6 we get to see Noir show off their unorthodox cooking styles (I don’t know if these cooking styles work in real life but if they do than cooking just got a lot more fun). Souma and the others also manage to make it past the third round along with other no-name chefs as we gear up for the finals which will be a straight-up tournament style battle from here on out (oh thank God, something normal). For the first match it’s Souma vs Sarge a member of Noir who uses a chainsaw as a cutting knife (Seras: I like the way this woman thinks). The theme for their battle is Christmas cake (it’s the middle of August in their world. (Chibi): All the more reason to have one). Sarge goes all out on her dish by using a chainsaw, a mallet to break some chocolate, and even blowing up a microwave to fill the arena with a pleasant smell (did the staff running the event have these explosives on hand? Just how much influence does the WGO have on the world?). Sarge presents her dish (and she’s gonna lose. 9 out of 10 times. Never fails) a Cluster Cake Bomb packed with chocolate and the richest cream imaginable all while looking beautiful and delicious.
At the start of episode 7 Souma presents his dish, a midsummer-style Christmas cake (yeah no fancy name. I’m disappointed as well). Sure enough Souma wins because he took the time to consider the customers he was cooking for and the situation he was in (scene here: https://youtu.be/ZCJ1bh6aDhY). For the next match we get Eishi vs Saiba (woah, I was expecting this match up in the next round or semi-finals) where the theme is poussin chicken and Saiba ups the stakes by saying if he wins he gets Eishi’s grater sword. During the match, we see how Saiba took out the other members of Noir (damn, the world of cooking is merciless) and took their knives and other cooking equipment (no loyalty in the underworld) allowing us to see his cooking ability, taking the cooking styles of other chefs. Yep, once Saiba gets a hold of another chef’s knife or tools he instantly acquires their cooking styles and can perfectly recreate them (scene here: https://youtu.be/rZE4ZaYat5c. My God, he’s like a 2.0 version of Mimasaka. Or Megaman). What makes him even more deadly is that he can combine the different cooking styles of others in each hand, so when you face him it’s like you’re going up against multiple chefs (unlike Mimasaka where it felt like you were facing a reflection of yourself). Eishi and Saiba present their dishes at the same time (this is a first), a poussin chicken rotir (Eishi) against grilled poussin chicken (Saiba). They taste Saiba’s dish first followed by Eishi’s dish where both receive high praise, but the judges can’t forget the taste of Saiba’s dish and in a shocking first round “upset” Saiba wins and takes Eishi’s grater sword to give himself more power (scene here: https://youtu.be/Oxzhz8z94D0).
Episode 8 begins with Takumi taking on Don where their match will be a team battle. Don’s team is a group of okamas (I’m surprisingly sad none of them look like Bon Clay from One Piece), while Takumi chooses his brother as his partner, but Don’s friends have kidnapped Isami and tied him up leaving Takumi high and dry. The theme for their dish is an amuse-bouche (small dish served before an appetizer. An appetizer before an appetizer so to speak). Don’s team finishes their dish which is a verrine (a sweet dish) filled with different layers of sweets stacked on top of each other (this is a very difficult dish to pull off). Naturally, it’s a hit with the judges (scene here: https://youtu.be/BhLX4Fa3DI8) and now it’s Takumi’s turn where Megumi called in the help of Souma. We see the two work in unison with each other because they bonded with each other over a series of shokugekis for ownership of the Mezzaluna. They present their dish which is a black and white yin yang verrine that’s split vertically. One side tastes like an Italian dish while the other side tastes like a Japanese dish. Separately they’re delicious, but when you combine them together they create an amazing dish that blends together perfectly (just like these two idiots. Scene here: https://youtu.be/0TJK9QTXJCI). Takumi and Souma win and Erina gets done defeating the other cooks in the revenge match meaning this tournament can really get started.
Things move fast in episode 9 as we find out that the bookmaster is Erina’s mom, Mana, who has been trying to get Erina to lose all this time hence the revenge matches (is this about her calling your breast milk disgusting?). Just like Erina she too has the God Tongue and it made her life a living hell as she came to completely despair flavor. As a result, she’s been unable to eat any food and has been forced to get her nutrients through an IV bag. Mana left the family when Erina was still a child leaving her with Azami (which was honestly the worst thing she could ever do. No offence Erina, but you have the worst parents. I totally get why you became the person you are today). Erina is now determined to win by any means necessary in order to save her mom from herself (scene here: https://youtu.be/jdPhuk7PHcY). Anyway, we find out that in the next rounds it’s going to be Takumi vs Erina and Megumi vs Saiba. Megumi challenges Saiba to a Shokugeki (woah, Megumi is challenging people? Who knew she had it in her? Souma has been a bad influence on her) where if she loses, she has to stop being Erina’s friend. Erina and Takumi’s theme is lamb (where is the lamb sauce!?) while Megumi and Saiba’s theme is beef. Now, Takumi knows he’s going to lose as he’s not at Erina’s level, but still plans to go all out. Erina on the other hand doesn’t care as she seems to be reverting back to her old ways (her desire to defeat/save her mom is clouding her mind). Erina is merciless and completely dominates Takumi who even went out of his way to create a dish that reminds her of when she and Souma took on him and Megumi, but it wasn’t enough to bring her back (scene here: https://youtu.be/2CsyZtlLCmw). Megumi’s match doesn’t go much better as Saiba completely defeats her with ease (scene here: https://youtu.be/LyOIT-6oxGI).
Episodes 10-13
At the start of episode 10, Erina tells Souma and Megumi (who can still be friends with Erina as Saiba changed their Shokugeki to instead have Megumi give him her blessings when he marries Erina) about her mom and how she wants to save her. However, a part of her isn’t sure she has what it takes to save her and thinks it would be better if Saiba won the whole thing to save her mom. She even goes as far as hoping that Souma loses to Saiba (and pause. Now, this moment right here is why a lot of people got pissed about the final arc. You see, in the previous arcs Erina was finally starting to come out of her shell and open her heart up to everyone else. Becoming friends with them and learning to trust them. She realized that she didn’t have to go it alone, she could rely on her friends more and trust them to have her back no matter what. Even respecting Souma’s skills as a chef and acknowledging that even though he could agitate her to no end, he was a good friend she could trust and might have actually developed feelings for him. This arc takes all of that character development and just throws it out the window for the sake of drama and it’s something I can’t get behind because it almost makes the previous arcs obsolete. Like all that character development was pointless and a waste of time). Souma takes his leave saying he’s going to win and that Erina’s family matters don’t concern him (he’s got a point. No offence, I’m sorry Erina is going through all this crap with her dysfunctional family, but this does not concern Souma. He’s here to win and prove that he’s the best chef in the world. If that means he has to cook something to make Mana admit defeat then so be it). The tournament continues where Souma, Erina, and Saiba blaze a trail of foodgasms through the competition until we reach the semifinals where it’s Souma vs Saiba (and Erina is against some no name character who is so insignificant we don’t get to see them. They might as well as made the finale a three-way showdown between Souma, Saiba, and Erina). As Souma waits around for his next match, he talks to Megumi about his mom where we finally get to see her face where he definitely takes after her more than his dad (he may have inherited Joichiro’s good looks and talent for cooking, but he inherited his mom’s personality. As for his mannerisms, he inherited that from both of them). One of the reasons why he wanted to get so good at cooking was to have his mom praise him more than Joichiro (scene here: https://youtu.be/lZvKeKryYYQ). Speaking of Joichiro, we see him confront Saiba before his match against Souma where he vows to crush him because in his eyes Souma stole Joichiro from him (dude, he offered you to come back to Japan with him and you said no. You could have had a father and little brother. What’s the matter with you?). Saiba decides to use Joichiro’s knife for his match against Souma and their theme is the Five Grand Cuisines of the World, dishes from countries that have the most impact on people. The countries Mana chooses are France, China, India, Italy, and Turkey (well that’s an ironic choice). Souma and Saiba will have to take all five cuisines and combine them into one ultimate dish (wow, it’s like a summit of the United Nations in your mouth. Hopefully they get stuff done).
It’s foodgasm time in episode 11. We start off with the return of fan favorite Alice (alright, where you been girl?) and fan hated Azami (who open the gates of Hell?). Getting back to the match, Saiba presents his dish which is all the flavors of the five cuisines in a pie which instantly gives people a foodgasm and even makes the audience strip (Baron: Oh good, I didn’t miss the orgy, https://youtu.be/4Az54_sZ-vc). Souma presents his dish which is fried rice (we’re doomed). Luckily, this isn’t just you’re ordinary fried rice. It’s a fried rice which combines and perfectly blends together all five cuisines. Even Mana admits this dish was great and made everyone strip as well (scene here: https://youtu.be/MUmf3kEOAOY. (Corbin): Alright, I made it in time for round two, https://youtu.be/RtqRKO5RXgA). We get left on a cliffhanger wondering who the winner is.
In episode 12 we start by seeing Souma win over Saiba (ha~, in your face, ass). This means we’re finally getting the match we’ve been waiting for, Souma vs Erina (it’s been built up for quite some time and now we’re finally getting it). However, before the match we get some filler such as Azami going to meet Mana where the two bicker (how in the hell did you two get married?) and we see how the two fell in love with each other. It all started when Mana called Azami’s dish disgusting (oh good God, she is Erina’s mom). This resulted in a series of matches where Azami was determined to beat her, but every dish he gave her was horrible in her eyes (or tongue in this case) until one day he gave her a dish she thought was okay. This whole interaction revitalizes Azami’s passion for cooking and the two eventually got married (and failed horribly as parents. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth). When it was discovered that Erina had the God Tongue as well, Mana freaked out. To her, the God Tongue is a curse that will destroy Erina just like it did her. Before Azami could try to save her, it was too late. Mana had been defeated by the God Tongue and vanished without a trace (scene here: https://youtu.be/kaSyJgWfc0k). While this is all sad (and proves that this family has so many issues to work through) this does explain why Azami was so hellbent on nurturing and training Erina’s God Tongue. He wanted to save Erina. He couldn’t save the woman he loved and wanted to protect his daughter from going down the same path as his wife (okay, this does redeem his character a little. Still, did you have to be such an asshole about it?). Also, this next bit may be jumping ahead a bit, but Mana reveals that Saiba is Azami’s illegitimate child (you cheated on your wife!? Erina and Saiba are half-siblings!? Oh my God, Saiba was trying to marry his sister, https://youtu.be/-6pwCu0U8t8?t=6!). So, after having that pile of bricks dropped on you, we see Erina walk the city where it seems like she’s going to throw the match tomorrow. She doesn’t believe she has what it takes to save her mom and thinks her dish will only make her sad. Meanwhile, Souma gives us a clip show of the journey he’s had with Erina so far (it’s love I tell you, love. Erina may have missed the boat on getting Joichiro, but she can still catch the boat on getting Souma. I mean, we’ve seen the dad, we know Souma is going be hot in the future and he’s already got a line of girls wanting him). The next day, it’s time for the match where Mana will be acting as the judge and the theme is to create a dish that has never been seen before (well, this theme is like giving Souma a golden ticket to the candy store). While Souma is excited for this, Erina is beside herself. She’s not cooking with confidence or the way she usually cooks, the stress of knowing she can’t save her mom weighs heavily on her mind. Thankfully, Souma is there to snap her out of it and bring her back to reality (show us why we love you so much).
In the final episode, Souma creates his dish with nothing but Erina on his mind (he loves her). Souma presents his dish which is a tempura bowl with egg benedicts. Erina and Mana have foodgasms and Souma reminds Erina who it is she wants to cook for, her mom (now tell me who you want to have sex with, Erina?). Erina had such a powerful foodgasm that it blew the building she was in up and caused everyone to strip (God, this anime has more nudity then most ecchi anime and hentai combined. And yet there’s no uncensored version. What the hell Japan?). Erina calls Souma’s dish disgusting (woman!) and returns to her true self creating a dish that managed to beat Souma’s dish and give her the win. After BLUE everyone has a celebration in the Polar Star dorm where we find out some of the side characters took out the grunt members of Noir (glad to see they were doing something and didn’t die off screen). Souma sneaks out deciding to go train overseas while Erina welcomes her mom home. She even welcomes back Azami and Saiba (this truly is the weirdest family in the series). They actually do change the ending of the series where instead of Souma being away for years, he’s instead gone for 6 months (which is way more believable) and comes back to his family diner where Erina is there waiting for him admitting to herself that she loves him. The other characters also come by for a bite to eat ending the anime on everyone waiting to try a bite of Souma’s special dish (scene here: https://youtu.be/TETbv2k1sAM).
Final Thoughts
And that was the final season of Food Wars. A lot of fans have said the series should have come to an end after the team battle and I kind of have to agree with them. While the BLUE arc isn’t completely awful it is rather pointless, screws up characters, and just gives us unnecessary plotholes that are stupid. The biggest screw-up is with Erina’s character. They completely throw all of her development through the seasons in the trash as she becomes cold and distances herself from the others for no real reason instead of talking to them and trusting them to help her with her family situation. There’s also the fact that she becomes this meek girl ready to give up and let someone else save her mom because she believes they’re the better chef. What the hell? Erina would never give up like that. She always had confidence she was the best chef out of everyone and could beat them, so why change her up like that? The stuff with Saiba and Noir feels pointless. Saiba’s character comes across as stupid for not accepting Joichiro’s offer to come live with him which in turn makes his motivations stupid as well. He screwed himself over and yet he blames everyone around him for his rough upbringing. Also, why wouldn’t Joichiro tell Souma about him? While the characters of Noir looked interesting the fact that they all get taken down off camera makes their appearance and introduction pointless. We could have them face off against Souma and the others, but nope, they’re just there to increase the threat of Saiba. Another thing that pisses me off is the fact that he was Erina’s half-brother. Look, Azami may be a scumbag, but he would never stoop as low as cheating on his wife. He loves his family and wanted to protect them as we saw in this season (his methods were wrong, but he did care about his family). A few of the other characters feel like they got downgraded as well. Eishi losing easily in the first round and not really seeing any form of growth in the other characters as they get pushed to the side or barely appear this season in order to make room for the new baddies.
Still, despite the faults of this season there are a few good moments such as Souma encouraging Erina and reminding her who she is. Megumi actually stepping up and taking on Saiba in order to protect her friend as well as seeing how growth as a chef that puts on somewhat of a same level as Souma and Takumi. The one character who was always afraid was ready to take on the big baddie just to protect her friend. We got to see a different side of Azami and see that behind all that malice is a guy who just wants to save his wife and daughter. We got to see Souma’s mom which was nice. Finally, great cooking. A lot of the stuff they cook this season was stuff I’m not very familiar with, so this was very educational.
The overall animation for this series is good as is the music. Like I said before, they really do a good job making the female cast look cute and sexy. The foodgasms were always fun and were a great source of fanservice in a series I didn’t think was possible to get fanservice out of given its subject matter. While I don’t think this season is awful, it does feel pointless and unnecessary for the most part. We probably should have had one final battle between Souma and Erina with them realizing their feelings for one another after the team battle and then ending the series right there on a good note instead of dragging it out.
Final Score
The final overall score for Food Wars as a whole is an 8/10. While the last season may feel pointless, the previous seasons were all great. They did a good job adapting the chapters from the manga, handling the fanservice, and introducing delicious food we may not have heard of before watching this series. The final chapters of the manga and season of the anime may have been the series at its weakest but shouldn’t take away from the fact that this was a good non-battle battle series that helped make this genre popular and made us gain a new appreciation for food. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.