Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Sōma: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 1, 2018

"Eat to live, don't live to eat," the old saying goes. That should probably apply to cooking, too. "Cook to eat, don't cook to conquer." For students and staff at the prestigious Totsuki Culinary Academy, life is all about cooking and eating and angling to outdo one another in the kitchen-as-a-classroom and in other areas of life, too. Food Wars! is the Anime based on the manga series of the same name by Yūto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki and follows a gifted young cook as he traverses the hallowed halls and cutthroat competitions of a world where food is king and his skills and confidence create some amazing dishes, and some amazing distractions and divides. This first season's 24 episode arc follows protagonist Soma in and out of the kitchen as he battles adversity, intense academic demands, jealous students, and his own meager background and relationship with his cooking mentor, who is also his father. It can be a little repetitive and become bogged down in too much cooking and eating and not enough characterization, but at 24 episodes of about 24 minutes each, there's ample room for both to breathe and, sometimes, shine.

A high schooler named Soma has dreams of becoming a better chef than his father, Joichiro. The two operate a small eatery that is famous for its cook-offs between father and son and for the high quality of its food. Unfortunately, business is struggling and a busty developer has eyes on the establishment, hoping to turn the land on which it sits into a high rise. Soma adamantly refuses to take her at her word that her threats mean business, and the restaurant is ransacked. But when he makes an irresistible dish for her with next to nothing on hand, he fends off the developer and saves the restaurant. Just as he’s basking in his first real victory, his father announces that the restaurant is closing for several years while he travels and cooks abroad and Soma is sent to a prestigious culinary school where he can master the art of cooking, assuming he can be one of the 10% of students who actually graduate.

And so begins Soma’s adventure. He finds himself amongst students who come from much more privileged backgrounds. His biggest obstacle, however, won’t be his classmates or his cooking skills but rather a harsh, almost impossible-to-please faculty and student leadership. He is quickly brought up to speed on Erina Nakiri, a third-year student who possesses “the god tongue” and will be sure to harshly judge any who are brave enough to take up her first challenge. Everyone jumps and runs, except Soma, of course, who is too naive to fear Erina, despite being given a crash-course on her history as a legendary critique. But she is so full of herself, so power-hungry on rejecting dishes, that she cannot bring herself to admit that Soma’s dish is actually spectacular. She flunks him despite finding his dish delectable. He’s passed anyway by a higher authority, and dazzles right away, achieving almost instant stardom at the school. He’s paired up with a shy, nervous girl named Megumi while Erina fears his success and commits to ending his career at the school.

Food as nourishment and comfort, not food as art or competition, is the more widely accepted standard, but like most anything in the world something relatively simple can be turned into something agonizingly intense and ridiculously complex. But that's what sets Soma apart. He's capable of crafting a home run dish from scraps. Kitchen ransacked? No problem. He's got a few groceries in a bag and he can wow with what's available. He can turn a common dish into an extraordinary experience, a culinary masterwork in which portion control means adding everything in perfect balance, not limiting caloric intake. The story isn't just about whipping up delicious meals, though. As Soma impresses with his skill behind a skillet, his time at the academy is spent making new friends, and some enemies, as he hones his skills, learns some truths about himself and his family, and doubles down on his dream to be the best chef he can be. Cooking is a passion, a challenge, a point of stress, and cause for celebration in Food Wars!, and Soma almost always has just the right recipe for success in his back pocket.

Food Wars! finds a fair bit of balance between its character drama and building and its numerous cooking and eating scenes, though the latter does slowly wear down along 24 episodes. There are only so many times the audience can watch various individuals react to food in highly stylized, and often suggestive, ways, before the effect begins to wear a little thin and draw attention away from story and towards the more frivolous characteristics within the show. Still, it's rather good fun overall, and it's not so much in the dishes that are prepared but in what happens in the lead to, during, and after a competition that makes the series fun, as Soma finds himself more comfortable at school and understanding of his place there and the people, challenges, and obstacles around him.

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Sōma: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Food Wars!: Season 1 features all 24 episode spread across three discs. The 1080p presentation is generally very strong and satisfying, offering abundant colors, whether in core scenes or in some of the "orgasmic" responses to food in the series' many highly stylized moments that burst with extra dazzle and intensity, easily the visual highlights of the entire season. The palette is bright and showy, and each primary is presented with robust saturation and clarity. Details are very good. The 1080p resolution allows for a very clear, refined image that presents lines with an agreeable smoothness and static objects, like stainless steel appliances in the kitchen, tiles, and woods, with seemingly all of the information the artists have crammed into each shot. The quality of the presentation is infrequently interrupted by banding, but there are no other source or encode anomalies of any note to report.

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Sōma: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Food Wars!: Season 1's DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack is very good. It plays as big as its two-channel configuration allows, pushing music to the stage's boundaries and offering a surprising amount of heft (without the benefit of a subwoofer channel) to various musical and effects elements. The opening and closing segments are of course key highlights, but there are no shortages of music or sound elements to be enjoyed throughout each episode, particularly, again, in those sexualized responses to food. Screaming dialogue can be a bit piercing, but general dialogue, most of which is delivered in a more normalized cadence, is very good. There is some nice reverberation at an assembly at the beginning of episode three, which seems larger than the two channels available. This is a fun and active track that pushes the limits of its limited speaker engagement.

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Sōma: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Food Wars!: Season 1 contains the usual Sentai supplements on disc three.

• Clean Opening Animations (1080p, 36:50): The various opening sequences presented without text (minus the show's title card).
• Clean Closing Animations (1080p, 43:49): The various closing sequences presented without text.
• Also Available from Sentai Filmworks (1080p): Trailers for Amagi Brilliant Park, Himouto! Umaru-chan, Girls und Panzer Der Film, and School-Live!.

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Sōma: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Food Wars! was popular enough to spawn a second season (with a third released, but not on Blu-ray). It's not exactly a first-rate Anime, but it's a fun little escape, a bit repetitive at times, but cooks up a unique flavor that takes audiences into a different kind of world, a world where food is king, preparation is key, and the competition is hotter than a flaming grill. There are some interesting characters and an insightful, albeit fairly playful, depiction of culinary school to be found. Food Wars!: Season 1 delivers positive video and audio experiences. Supplements are limited to the usual Sentai extras. Recommended.