Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma

Episode 7

For those who have been uncomfortable or just displeased with the sexualization in Food Wars!, this episode may be the last straw. Not, it should be noted, because of the foodgasms, which have followed the manga in terms of toning down; we get a reluctantly pleased Nikumi naked in a bowl of onions and that's about it on that front. Not great, but certainly not as offensive as it has been in the past. The larger issue with this episode is that the camera loves Ikumi's severely under-clothed body, spending the first full minute on different shots of her breasts bouncing in various bikini tops as she tries to find the best one to wear to the shokugeki. Never mind that her bikini top and Daisy Dukes are totally inappropriate for cooking on a stovetop – in Nicole Mones' cooking novel The Last Chinese Chef, one of the characters notes that all good cooks have wrists and arms covered in burns from frying in oil and butter, so Nikumi is setting herself up for burns in some very uncomfortable places. The bigger issue is that she becomes nothing more than a curvy body – almost every shot of her is designed to draw attention to her sexualized aspects, such as her large breasts, bare torso, or butt and groin. In all fairness we could interpret this as a visualization of her inner conflict; we know from her don-inspired flashback that her father wanted her to be strong rather than feminine (yes, it annoys me that he seems to think they're incompatible), so dressing to show off her femininity while acting in a more stereotypically masculine way makes a certain amount of sense. However given that no other character has been given that level of character development, this may be over-thinking the situation.

The plot of the episode is of course Soma's shokugeki on behalf of the Don RS, a club devoted to traditional rice bowl dishes. His contention is that fast food doesn't require amazing ingredients, but should instead be made of easily obtained items and ought to induce the consumer to eat more, basically the McDonald's french fry theory. Nikumi, on the other hand, thinks that one should always use the best ingredients possible and that the quality of the base materials will influence the outcome of the dish. Most of the school agrees with her, so we have an excellent underdog battle brewing. Or we would, if Soma was aware that he's the underdog...

That actually doesn't impact the enjoyment of the actual shokugeki, which is exciting and certainly makes you hungry. The fact that even the judges are against Soma increases the tension, but with an actual end in sight – and one we as viewers never really doubt the outcome – can get into it as we anticipate the ending. The snobbery is of course astounding (and Soma isn't exempt), but what's nice to see is that the judges are big enough to change their minds, as opposed to the rest of the student body and Erina, none of whom react at all graciously. (Nikumi, after a fashion, does, which is a nice change in this show.)

As always, the food looks mouthwatering, and as someone who can cut herself with an apple corer, I'm impressed by the speed of the chopping we see. Character animation is a bit less impressive, with mostly stills of people with their mouths obscured by bowls or standing in various poses. There's also my pet peeve, boobs that blow in the breeze (the woman judge) and move on their own (Nikumi); if that isn't a button of yours, they actually are decently animated and appear properly attached this time, although there are foreshortening issues with bodies in general.

Food Wars! is about to move into its summer camp arc, and if it sticks close to the manga, we should see some heretofore despicable characters improve as well as the egos toning down. If you can bear to stick with it, there will be a bit of change up in the way the story is presented, and things will hopefully keep on getting better.

Rating: B+

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Rebecca Silverman is ANN's senior manga critic.