It's a series about cooking and preparing new and fantastic foods, but also doing lots of butt-kicking and teaching science, too. And it's full of really deep and interesting characters. All it's really missing is a few more hot chicks, but I guess we can't have everything.
Now, you may be wondering-Why is Flatware Moth going on about Toriko when this is supposed to be a review of Food Wars? Well, to tell you the truth, going by what I've read, the two series aren't that incredibly far apart.
(Okay, granted, there's no real butt-kicking going on in Food Wars, but, again, I guess we can't have everything. It at least sort of makes up for it by pouring on the hot fanservice from our main female antagonist.)
Soma Yukihira (another weird name, am I right?) is the son of a high-class master chef who spends his days running a small family-style restaurant. Combining the right mix of serious and oddball, he is a blunt and funny character who fluctuates between serious about his cooking and being silly enough to repeatedly combine fishy ingredients and sweet ingredients into dishes that he knows will taste bad, just for laughs.
Anyway, his father has been called away to prepare meals for major hotels in major cities all around the world. To light a fire under his son Soma, he enrolls the boy in the prestigious (and snobby) Totsugeki Saryo Culinary School, which spartanly pushes its students until only the best of the best are left standing.
Enter our heroine Erina, a refined palate who is apparently near-impossible to please and always demands the very finest foods and ingredients. And guess what Soma likes to use? (Big hint: not that!) As he continues in his adventures at the school, Soma's cooking and his cooking philosophy continue to worm their way into both her heart and her mind. (Only the first volume, and even I can see that!)
This manga taught me what the heck an aspic is, as well as how to jerry-rig a pork roast with nothing but potatoes, mushrooms and thick-cut bacon.
That being said, there is a major flaw in the storyline, as a bitter friend of mine pointed out upon reading it: Soma's father is actually a world-renowned chef. Doubtlessly, then, people would recognize his son's name and not treat him as the common peasant that they do. From my friend's point of view, Soma Yukihira apparently has everything, and people like my friend always want to see that kind of "spoiled hero" character go down hard, crashing and burning.
But I admire people like Soma, people who strive hard to achieve their dreams and continue to show up those who insult them or stand in their way. It makes me want to try harder, as well as to actually find myself something to try at.
(Once again, I only picked this series up because it was new at the library. Back when I first saw it at the bookstore, I didn't really think too much of it, just going by the blurb on the back. Perhaps there's a lesson there.)
