(L) Shokugeki no Soma [Manga]

[Homura7]

The only fact is that Jou enrolled Soma in Tootsuki because Senzaemon himself personally asked him.

And is also obvious Erina was the woman Jou meant when he talked about the secret to become a top chef. It's not really a huge mistery when said woman also happens to have the best palate in the world.

[Chingaruna517]

Well, as for my imagination, if you will, I think BLUE is equivalent to the cooking version of the KOF (The King of Fighters) tournament where teams from over the world for the prestigious prize in the cooking world. And no, we better off hope that not cooking version of Rugal, Orochi, NEST, Ash Crimson or even Verse will ruin this tournament.

So here is my personal list for my speculation:

1. TEAM JAPAN-Tootsuki's Elite Ten (Soma, Megumi and others) alongside with other Japanese cooking school (though inferior to Tootsuki's standard).
2. TEAM USA-Elite of the Elites who rules the American Cuisine with might.
3. TEAM EUROPE (FRANCE, GERMANY, ENGLAND, SPAIN and ITALY)-Some chef who are rivals to the SHINO's back in France (or in Europe I guess...).
4. TEAM ASEAN-A group of elite chefs from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines,Thailand and Vietnam. Also known as the "TEGUH ENAM" (Tough Six in Malay).
5. TEAM LATIN AMERICA -???
6. TEAM CHINA-Like Sixth said, Shaolin Monks. Or, maybe anyone else.
7. TEAM INDIA-Possibly some chefs from Hayama's former neighborhoods of the slums, which might shed some light about Hayama's origins prior to Jun's Seminar's establishment. Dunno why but here is my personal imagination.

[n0m@n]

@Chingaruna
Team Europe? I mean France can make a team of their own since their cuisine and chefs are considered one of the best if not the best. So they should have a team of their own. England... they wouldn't be a threat at all despite how much they promote their so-called 'excellent' chefs in television so they could be in a europe team (unless England appears simply to be curb-stomped by another country).

[Chingaruna517]

@n0m@n Well, with all fairness Europe has its variety of cuisine that based on respective cultures, so its kinda hard which one has the best team.

[DragonOsman]

As some on here have said, chefs attending Tootsuki already have each of the cuisines in the world as their respective specialties, so if those countries' representatives compete against Tootsuki's chefs in a tournament, it could also serve as a way to see how well Tootsuki's chefs fair against chefs who are from the actual countries that the cuisines they specialize in originate from. Should be interesting to see.

I'm with Noman on France, though. Their cuisine is considered the best in the world for gourmet stuff.

[Used Can]

I think a "Team Europe" is a silly idea. France isn't the only country that can come up with their own team, but so can Italy, Spain, Portugal, the UK (or even its respective countries), Germany, Austria, and several others.

Originally Posted by dragon1412

we already see how Megishima decimate Souma in his recruitment

To be fair, Megishima only defeated Souma at Ramen, which is Megishima's speciality and it was made clear Souma was at a disadvantage. Not to mention Souma is always at his best when being prepared, and he faced Megishima without prior preparation. So, we've got no idea how the shokugeki would have ended had the theme being something else.
For example, I have no doubts Souma is better than Takumi, but if they were to do shokugeki in which they have to prepare Italian food, I'm rather certain Takumi would win, since we haven't seen Souma ever do Italian food, and unlike Erina he wasn't taught world gastronomy as he grew up - in fact, he never did any formal gastronomy studies until he joined Totsuki.

[Sixth]

Originally Posted by Used Can

I think a "Team Europe" is a silly idea. France isn't the only country that can come up with their own team, but so can Italy, Spain, Portugal, the UK (or even its respective countries), Germany, Austria, and several others.

Is it? I thought that "Team Europe" was pretty good because there is no way the writer is going to flesh up every team member from every state if there is an international tournament going on. It was easier to write 10 strongest individuals from different states team up as one team than writing the backstory of 10 people from every state which could easily involve hundreds of people.

Originally Posted by Used Can

To be fair, Megishima only defeated Souma at Ramen, which is Megishima's speciality and it was made clear Souma was at a disadvantage. Not to mention Souma is always at his best when being prepared, and he faced Megishima without prior preparation. So, we've got no idea how the shokugeki would have ended had the theme being something else.
For example, I have no doubts Souma is better than Takumi, but if they were to do shokugeki in which they have to prepare Italian food, I'm rather certain Takumi would win, since we haven't seen Souma ever do Italian food, and unlike Erina he wasn't taught world gastronomy as he grew up - in fact, he never did any formal gastronomy studies until he joined Totsuki.

Yeah...just like how Eishi whooped Soma so hard in the first battle because the theme was kinda favored on Eishi at that time. The gap has magically vanished (or shrunk) in the 2nd time they met mainly due to the open theme where Soma is finally able to cook without restriction.

[AP24]

Souma is currently on Saitou's level at best, but Erina is even better than Tsukasa. So it's going to be a while until Souma can defeat Erina on his own.

[Chingaruna517]

@DragonOsman While this is true that the Tootsuki may have consists some students who represent their respective cuisine/country, we certainly don't think that being a frog in a well (Chinese Proverb in describing ignorance) really fitting the Tootsuki's principles. Have anybody heard a word about there will be someone better in the world?

@Used Can This is because the European Cuisine can pack a punch like the French because of their variation in cooking style in their respective countries. What? You seriously think only the French can do such a thing simply because its cuisine is the most artisitc?

So here is my personal thought about the next chapter:
-Time skip at Tootsuki where the rest of the E10 9 seats will be revealed. Everybody will doing their job as usual. Possibly more slapstick from Soma and Erina.
-Meanwhile, at the WGO Decora and Courage will gather everyone in a meeting about what they witnessed Azami's downfall after Team Central's defeat, which garnering everyone's attention to the NEO Tootsuki. Thus, the BLUE tournament will commence along with the introduction of the following dream team I created (might include Team France if you all insist so much...).

[MAX_COLA_POWER!]

Can't we have at least 1 full chapter of slice of life before going straight away into the next challenge arc that the author might potentially screw over with the introduction of new characters?

[Used Can]

Originally Posted by Sixth

Is it? I thought that "Team Europe" was pretty good because there is no way the writer is going to flesh up every team member from every state if there is an international tournament going on. It was easier to write 10 strongest individuals from different states team up as one team than writing the backstory of 10 people from every state which could easily involve hundreds of people.

Never said Tsukuda should write every single Euro country, just the most relevant ones (in terms of gastronomy)

Originally Posted by Sixth

Yeah...just like how Eishi whooped Soma so hard in the first battle because the theme was kinda favored on Eishi at that time. The gap has magically vanished (or shrunk) in the 2nd time they met mainly due to the open theme where Soma is finally able to cook without restriction.

The theme during his first match against Tsukasa was French and it was chosen by himself, since he had received some training on it by Shinomiya. So, Souma at least had some confidence. Now, sure, the theme did suit Tsukasa best, and there's also the fact that, during that match Souma attempted to do something new, whereas Tsukasa just aimed for his usual perfection.
In Megishima's case, as far as we know, Souma has received no special training on Ramen, so he got a good beating. However, if the theme was anything else, we have no idea how well Souma would fare. For example, Rindou beat Megishima with a dish that wasn't Ramen.

Originally Posted by Chingaruna517

@Used Can This is because the European Cuisine can pack a punch like the French because of their variation in cooking style in their respective countries. What? You seriously think only the French can do such a thing simply because its cuisine is the most artisitc?

Hmm.. I'm not certain what your point is. I mean, my point was a Euro Team is a silly idea, precisely because other countries are also well-known for their gastronomy like Italy and Spain, so they don't need the French to stand out.

Originally Posted by Chingaruna517

-Meanwhile, at the WGO Decora and Courage will gather everyone in a meeting about what they witnessed Azami's downfall after Team Central's defeat, which garnering everyone's attention to the NEO Tootsuki. Thus, the BLUE tournament will commence along with the introduction of the following dream team I created (might include Team France if you all insist so much...).

I somehow get the feeling we won't see BLUE until Souma is in his 3rd year - by the time he's skilled enough to have a solid claim over the 1st Seat, and probably by the time he's already beat Erina. I mean, for all we know, there are students that possess special skills like the God Tongue and who have been trained as extensively in gastronomy as Erina has, and who might be much better than her.

That being said, before any improvement as far as cooking goes, I think Tsukuda should focus on giving Souma some much needed character development. His character at times comes off as a bunch of gimmicks mixed together with no depth at all. Souma should show more emotion. The type of emotions he shows are mostly limited to his shit-eating grins and his goofy faces. I understand he's supposed to be a super composed person and perhaps likes going for poker faces, but even if his emotions are unknown to other characters, the readers should be able to see when he's angry, sad, frustrated, etc... as that's what makes a character relatable.

I've also noticed that in this latest arc we never really got to see much of his thoughts, which is odd for a MC, since the common thing is to share the thoughts of the MC with the audience because he's the vehicle of the story. That also serves to establish a bond between the readers and the MC, in order for developments not to come out of the left field. For example, when Souma decided to go all out against Tsukasa, even though he was just preparing the appetiser. That made Souma look rather bad and particularly annoying, especially considering how stubborn he had been about letting Erina do the main dish, even though she was better suited for it, the stakes were very high and this was no place to act whimsically. Sure, Souma's change in plans was necessary since Erina's original plan was doomed for failure, so he was acting neither whimsically or selfishly. However, given the lack of development and a lack of sharing Souma's thoughts with the readers, the development just felt all sorts of bad, in my opinion. Not to mention Souma's character was erratic. During the preparation for the Final Bout, he was acting stubborn on letting Erina do the main dish, but during the actual match he had no qualms at admitting she was much better than him, which is why he was fully confident she would be able to pull off a dish that would beat his and Tsukasa's, in 10 minutes. That was rather bad, in my opinion.

[MAX_COLA_POWER!]

I honestly think we should drop the contests for the time being and just focus on some school/slice of life chapters. If there's gonna be any food wars, let it be for stakes not like these were. Or at least give everyone a break before the next huge Tootsuki activity that will no doubt be part of the school because why not right?

[Used Can]

Originally Posted by MAX_COLA_POWER!

I honestly think we should drop the contests for the time being and just focus on some school/slice of life chapters.

See, the only reason why I can somewhat accept Souma becoming 1st Seat is because it's already been established that the position involves a lot of responsibilities, many of which are very time consuming. So, this can be used as a device to keep Souma away from unnecessary shokugeki and have him do something else.

I agree the manga needs to drop the shounen-battle angle ASAP, and this development may allow that. Still, I cannot accept Erina becoming the Director. Her whole development during the whole Central story was about her making friends and being able to enjoy some of the childhood she never had, and yet, as soon as they beat Azami she was burdened with the responsibly of managing Totsuki (and this isn't just the school, since being Director of Totsuki also means overseeing everything else). I mean, for fucks sake, let her enjoy her youth.

[Chingaruna517]

Guys, while I may agree that all cast should take break at least 1-2 chapters after all the shenadigans with Azami, by the end of the day however that challenge will come to them some way or another. Heck, with the WGO witness about Azami's downfall, I have hunch that the world will certainy pay attention to the NEO Tootsuki, therefore it might draw attention from my aforementioned dream teams eagerly to keep their eyes onto the Tootsuki; especially we have a young woman who suddenly became the principle of this prestige cooking academy.

@Used Can In regards of gastronomy that also found in some parts of Europes especially Spain and Italy, highly doubtful despite my surprise. I mean, c'mon. Do you really think that cooking of chemistry and science will applied to any chef in Europe as much as Alice or Kurokiba did? Also, there are reason for the French to be stand out from the rest of Europe because you have a country that banned ketchup of all things because it will ruining the origunal Tomato flavor. My point is that even Europe itself is diversed with its enriched culture and it is it's own diversity make it as a team.

[ImperialFlameGod8190]

Originally Posted by Used Can

See, the only reason why I can somewhat accept Souma becoming 1st Seat is because it's already been established that the position involves a lot of responsibilities, many of which are very time consuming. So, this can be used as a device to keep Souma away from unnecessary shokugeki and have him do something else.

I understand what you're saying but i find it to be horribly naive.
Erina was NEVER going to be normal and saying oh enjoy your youth as though she's some normal girl. With great power comes great responsibility and Erina has that type of power. Everyone can see that and it's why the Polar star time was so refreshing.

As for Souma. It's the opposite. He's the type of character who could be the head of the company but have the vice president do all the heavy lifting. He'd probably force a shokugeki every day considering how he is.

[DragonOsman]

And not to mention Souma has a huge target on his back now that he's the First Seat. Didn't you notice, @Used Can, that he even said that anyone who wants his Seat can come at him starting the next day? Heck, that's how it is for the First Seat since everyone wants it and will challenge the one holding it to a Shokugeki at every chance they get. Kurokiba and Hayama already accepted his challenge too. They said they'll face him in Shokugekis.

I do think Erina became Director way too soon since she's still too young, like I said before, but it's also true that you can't really expect her to just remain a normal girl since that's not what she is. I do feel bad that she'll probably get to have even less fun now, but still. Although maybe she can still spend some time with the Polar Star Dorm members during her time off if she has any. And First Seat does spend a lot of time with the Director, so that also means more Souma and Erina moments.

[Blueknight78]

wow finally it's over and i really liked the "plot twist" at the end, and now finally even souma confirmed which erina is "really a lot above him and he still need to work hard to catch on her level, she was really the strongest without any doubts here.

Now about the future, as some peoples noted now i feel it's really time for us to have a "world wide tournamente challenge types, could be really good if they could "leave japan" and go to another places to challenge "true chiefs" from around the world, like france, or at last we have them fighting true chiefs from others places not just "japaneses guys which learned cooking in other country, because we know the best way you can really taste the true "local taste" is by tasting the food made by "local peoples" not just someone which learned, could be really cool see them battle that chiefs and see some world wide tournamente and see some "food" from others places without the "japanese touch" and could be funny see the writer have to actually learn how some recipes are really outside japan touchs on that.

Also i would like to know the true status of soumar mother because so far it's looks like she is "mia" and no proper confirmation if she is dead or alive, would be really good for us to know what happened with souma's dad and mother because as we know she not died until souma was at last a elementary school, because he still remember a little about her and on the flashback he looked at last around his 5 to 8 years old, then she not died just after the birth.

[Used Can]

Originally Posted by Chingaruna517

@Used Can In regards of gastronomy that also found in some parts of Europes especially Spain and Italy, highly doubtful despite my surprise. I mean, c'mon. Do you really think that cooking of chemistry and science will applied to any chef in Europe as much as Alice or Kurokiba did?

I'm not sure why you bring up molecular gastronomy. That's just a branch of gastronomy, that isn't specific to any country's cuisine.

Originally Posted by Chingaruna517

Also, there are reason for the French to be stand out from the rest of Europe because you have a country that banned ketchup of all things because it will ruining the origunal Tomato flavor. My point is that even Europe itself is diversed with its enriched culture and it is it's own diversity make it as a team.

Then why Team Japan? Why not Team Asia? Why Team USA? Why not Team The Americas?
Each country is very proud of their own gastronomy, some more than others, and the variety within each country is already high enough. In fact, by lumping countries together you actually lose variety, because you would end up with less people representing each country.

Originally Posted by ImperialFlameGod8190

I understand what you're saying but i find it to be horribly naive.
Erina was NEVER going to be normal and saying oh enjoy your youth as though she's some normal girl. With great power comes great responsibility and Erina has that type of power. Everyone can see that and it's why the Polar star time was so refreshing.

I never said that Erina was going to be a regular student. My point is the expectations were on her becoming 1st Seat, which has a truckload of responsibilities, but nowhere near the same as managing a multi-million corporation.
Saying "great power involves great responsibility" in this case means you're outright avoiding the issue here. Sure, eventually she would have had to step up to take that role, just not now.

Originally Posted by Chingaruna517

As for Souma. It's the opposite. He's the type of character who could be the head of the company but have the vice president do all the heavy lifting. He'd probably force a shokugeki every day considering how he is.

Yeah, which is why I said was that this development can be used that way, not that I'm actually expecting it to happen, because I'm not since Tsukuda likes his shounen-battle antics. However, giving Souma the 1st Seat without a setback (and by this I don't mean shokugeki since Souma loves that) just seems like a silly development, since it was made clear that he was just handed over the position by Erina as a symbolic act, and not because he's skilled enough to deserve it. His claim over the position is paper thin. And so, if Tsukuda plans on making it so that Souma keeps the 1st Seat, then the best possible development, in my opinion, is that one way or the other, he will have to deal with the responsibilities that seat involves all by himself - I think that could also be a good way to establish a difference between him and Jouichirou.
Again, I'm not expecting this to happen, and I'm 90% certain Souma will do just as you said he will. All I'm saying is that this development has the potential to take Souma's situation in an interesting direction.

Originally Posted by DragonOsman

And First Seat does spend a lot of time with the Director, so that also means more Souma and Erina moments.

And yeah, there's also this. At the very least, I do hope Tsukuda to deliver on this, and plenty. Though, again, I expect nothing, since Tsukuda has proven himself unpredictable (and I don't necessarily mean this in a good way).

[AP24]

Looks like the Jouichiro flashback is postponed in the anime so that they can cover the entire flashback in one episode. Ep 20 will end at Ch 205 and Ep 21 will entirely cover the flashback. Then Ep 22-24 will cover the 1st bout of the Regiment.

[Chingaruna517]

Originally Posted by Used Can

Then why Team Japan? Why not Team Asia? Why Team USA? Why not Team The Americas?
Each country is very proud of their own gastronomy, some more than others, and the variety within each country is already high enough. In fact, by lumping countries together you actually lose variety, because you would end up with less people representing each country.

No, the reason we don't have TEAM ASIA or TEAM AMERICAS because Team Japan and Team USA are pretty much stand out country more than anything by its own right and merits. Also, may I remind you that I was recalling that my post did mentioned earlier that the BLUE is equivalent the Cooking version of the King of Fighters? Where a fighting tournament is known for its randomness?