2lewd4me
Impression
I think this first episode got its priorities mixed up, which is a bit of a shame. I’m saying this as a manga reader by the way – Shokugeki no Soma is a manga I am fully up-to-date with. I knew there would be a ton of ecchi and that there would be, and will continue to be, many awesome foodgasm scenes, but that second one with the land shark was almost too sexualized, dare I say it. I know that’s what sells, but was it necessary to add in the ‘boing’ sound effects they did whenever a large pair of boobs were on screen? It was a typical J.C. Staff thing to do, but there you go. Maybe it’s because the foodgasm shots were just full-page stills in the manga – I suppose it would be a logical choice to extend that over anything else.
The story itself was set up just fine though, and you can tell that everything that’s happened so far is just the tip of the iceberg. Soma is a young chef who has a bit of a rivalry with his father. Upon the latter’s decision to temporarily close down his shop, Soma is sent to survive his high school years at Tootsuki Academy, which has a ridiculously low graduation rate – it’s either 10% or 1%, I can never remember. I think I’ve read something about being able to count the number of yearly alumni with your fingers, so I’m leaning towards 1%. But anyway, for Soma it’s a way to polish up his cooking skills and get him closer to his father’s level – while he intended to do that all along in his own restaurant, the difficulty level of Tootsuki might mean that gets more of a challenge than he thinks. I thought they would skip more of the exposition this episode than they ended up doing, and get to the entrance test at the very least – I mean, you hardly see any of these characters again, and that’s demonstrated by the OP. It looks like they managed to fully cover the first chapter of the manga though, so fair play to them.
I’m unsure if I want to blog this. I’ll definitely watch it, but I always have reservations over blogging something I’m familiar with – especially if it didn’t turn out exactly like I expected it to, because then that ends up being what I talk about each week. With Sidonia no Kishi, Oregairu and Nanoha also airing on Fridays, my plate is already rather full, ironically enough. I’ve also grown to dislike Matsuoka Yoshitsugu lately, even though Soma is awesome. He’s got one Kirito voice, and that’s it. That being said, Taneda Risa was wonderful as Erina – she has that arrogant ojou-sama voice down perfectly. I might blog this just for her sake.
Decisions, decisions.
Possibility of Watching: High
Possibility of Blogging: Average
This review is reassuring to read. As a non-manga reader, I was really put off by the orgasm scenes, especially the land shark one. The tentacle one was ridiculous too. I really dislike ecchi and I normally steer clear of it, so I’m not sure if I’ll watch this entire anime. (I’m still giving it a chance though.) As a manga reader, do you think the cooking aspect trumps the fanservice? Is there a lot of fanservice?
And like you said, I’ve grown to realllly dislike Matsuoka Yoshitsugu recently. I’m sick of hearing his voice everywhere, and it’s gotten the point where I’m tempted to drop an anime as soon as I recognize the main character’s voice as his. I’m not dropping this one yet, but you can bet I was really mad to hear him as the protagonist. (Then I watched Dungeon, and there he was again, playing another main protagonist. Thirsty much?) Like you said, he’s got just that one Kirito voice. It’s disappointing that 1) he keeps going for MC roles, and 2) he keeps getting hired for MC roles.
Yes, that’s for certain – the cooking aspect definitely trumps the fanservice. But only eventually. It might not seem like it at first, but later on when Soma and his friends start running into challenges and issues, there’s a lot of effort put into the cooking process and the overall plot instead of just foodgasm after foodgasm. With the current manga arc, I couldn’t care less if there wasn’t any fanservice in it – I’m in it for the plot, and I mean that seriously. That said, there was more ecchi than I remember there being, so it’s either because the ecchi should die down later, or because it’s J.C. Staff’s fault. If it’s any consolation, it won’t be as gender discriminatory as some other series are.
Matsuoka is like Hanazawa Kana was a few years ago, except I actually like HanaKana and she learnt to diversify somewhere down the line. I think Kirito was his breakout role, and clearly because that worked it’s been Ctrl+V ever since. I think he’s only in Shokugeki and Dungeon this season though, so rest assured.
As for a person….(I wouldn’t say like ecchi….I just welcome it if it’s equal gendered ecchi…which is rare) who doesn’t mind perversion, I didn’t really have much of a issue with this. I just don’t think too much into it (though there were moments that were over the top, like you said, the boob bouncing). But it does have good production values behind it (granted, first episode funds but I doubt it’ll dip in quality) so at least the “Foodgasms” are interesting to see….along with the food. Then again I’m also watching it because I’m a high-class food savant that likes to enjoy making his meals by scratch….but considering I’m living on a college student wallet my meals compose of ramen, pizza rolls, and ravioli….so I’m going to be sooo jealous whenever I watch this show.
I actually thought that the food was animated better than the boobs and tentacles – the PVs they released before this aired made it all look delicious! If you’re interested in making some of the meals Soma thinks up in future episodes, the end pages of some of the manga chapters has some loose recipes you can follow. I know there’s one for the dish he’ll make next episode, although I haven’t tried it out myself.
The food scenes were 100x more awkward than in Koufuku Graffiti. Holy shit…it was just too much, but I won’t drop this show just yet. I loved the animation when Soma was cooking, and I love how he explained the steps to his dish (which sounded deicious!). That’s what I was looking for in Graffiti that I didn’t get! So that’s what’s making me stay with the show for now.
Oh, you’ll find it. They explain it all! As for the fanservice, I hear there was a lot of the same in Koufuku Graffiti, so I’m sure you can wade through it to get to the food and plot.
I wasn’t sure if this would make the cut for me because of the food-induced faux orgasms, but at the same time I’ve never watched a cooking oriented anime and this seems to have a lot more plot than last season’s cooking oriented work. Thanks for laying out what ingredients went into this first serving. No, really, lame metaphors aside, thanks for the positive insight into how it compares to the manga!
I mean, I made it through Grisaia just fine, but maybe that’s where my fear of tons of fanservice came from… So maybe I was just being as much of a wimp about this as I am about hot peppers, but I think this will leave a good taste in my mouth after all (forgive me I couldn’t help it). Thanks for starting to cover this regardless of if you can continue to. I’ll see you on Sidonia for sure though! 🙂
I didn’t watch last season’s Koufuku Graffiti, but if that was a ‘slice-of-life’ cooking anime, then Shokugeki would be a ‘battle shounen’ cooking anime. Plot definitely awaits, which is why I was hoping they would go beyond just exposition for this first episode, because at this rate there’ll be a lot more setting up to do before we get to the good stuff.
Hang on, Grisaia had lots of fanservice? It might very well have… actually, okay I think it did. It’s just that starving schoolgirls and bad people doing bad things is the only thing that comes to mind for me whenever Grisaia is mentioned.
I really hope J.C. Staff does this properly because I really like this manga and I was waiting for this anime for a long time. So far though I think it’s pretty decent. They got the voices down so far and it is only the first episode. Matsuoka is decent at Souma (he fits Bell really well though) Oh the food looked yummy and I like the animation a lot actually. Wasn’t a fan of the foodgasms though, but then again I don’t really like them ever. I can deal with them though. I definitely watch this, and I really want to see all the other characters (especially Megumi). Thanks for starting to cover this and I do hope you continue if possible:)
I’ll continue it if my schedule allows for it 😀 Matsuoka does fit Bell really well, and is only /okay/ as Soma. I can’t name any names I’d prefer, but surely they could have found someone better.
I want to see Alice and Shinomiya!
Ok good to know, I totally get it. There are just so many good animes this season that naturally there won’t be time for everything:). PLus I’m sure that blogging eats up a lot of time.