Tag: Shokugeki no Souma

Spring 2018 Season Wrap: Hisone and Maso-tan, Umamusume, Food Wars! The Third Plate, & DARLING in the FRANXX

MarinaLeave a comment

Don’t judge me; this has been a very busy year so far! I finished these shows quite a while go, but never got around to reviewing them thanks to the bulk of new summer shows and a whole lot of real life stuff. But here I am now, and only one series short of my expected spring season wrap. Tokyo Ghoul:re will have to wait for a rainy day.

As much as I enjoyed all of these shows to varying degrees—they were all interesting, never boring—I felt only one of them truly pushed past mediocrity into leaving a lasting impression.

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[OWLS] Food Wars! When the Mentor becomes the Student

Marina3 Comments

It’s been a long journey with Soma Yukihira through the gauntlet that is Totsuki Academy: three seasons and countless meals served up to our pleasure. Through it all, Soma’s experience growing up in Yukihira’s kitchen gives him the inspiration to improve. His father, Joichiro Saiba, is a constant figure in those memories, a man looked up to by many, while simultaneously viewed as a hurdle on Soma’s path to becoming the best chef. We also see Saiba in Erina’s childhood as one of her rare moments of happiness. When adults in the culinary world, academic as well as professional, speak of Saiba, it’s with a tone of awe and, often, fear. What happens when such a man falters, when the person you look up to most in the world vanishes?

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Spring 2018 Set Menu

Marina16 Comments

The Spring 2018 season is here with a smash, thanks to a slew of heavy hitters straight from the first week. Some of them are new and exciting in their craft, while others are reliable continuations. I’ve organized my watch list by priority, but you can use the below alphabetical list to skip to the shows that interest you the most. I will of course appreciate it if you take the time to check out everything on my set menu this season.

Ready? Start!

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Fall 2017 Set Menu

Marina11 Comments

Now that everything I’m interested in has finally aired, I can finally discuss all of the shows I’ll be watching this autumn. I decided to go back to an older style of organizing these season previews by arranging them by priority. Don’t be too thrown off by the lower shelving, though, since those shows still comprise of stories I find intriguing, even if I’m uncertain about keeping them on my watch list. Let me know if this presentation doesn’t work for you, or if you like it.

This season includes plenty of sequels, from guaranteed classics like March Comes in like a Lion to guilty pleasures like Food Wars! There are also a surprising number of big idol anime sequels. If sequels aren’t your thing, then rest assured that this fall brings with it a handful of promising new works whose stories not only sound unlike anything I’ve seen before, but whose characters and backgrounds also look phenomenal on screen.

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Summer 2016 Season Wrap, Part 2

Marina6 Comments

This second and final wrap for the summer season turned out shorter than expected, as I resorted to reserving a few series for later viewing. There’s still a lot to read, though, and I encourage you to let me know what you thought of these shows. The summer season treated me very well with its wide range of genres. There are always the disappointments in shows that didn’t quite live up to my expectations, but there are also a handful of wonderful surprises.

  • Cheer Danshi!!
  • Fukigen na Mononokean
  • Kuromukuro
  • Love Live! Sunshine!!
  • Macross Delta
  • Mob Psycho 100
  • Nejimaki Seirei Senki: Tenkyou no Alderamin
  • Orange
  • Shokugeki no Souma: Ni no Sara
  • Tales of Zestiria the X

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Summer 2016 Set Menu

Marina12 Comments

Better late than never, right? This is less of a start-of-the-season round-up of my choices, and more of a progress report now that we’re a little more than quarter of the way through the summer. My list is woefully long despite my crazy summer schedule that includes a ton of family and friend events in the weeks and days leading up to my wedding. I’ve only been able to keep up thanks to my daily commute which takes up almost two hours of my time every work day. There are plenty of gems this season across multiple genres to pick from, and below are my choices in alphabetical order:

  • 91 Days
  • Amaama to Inazuma
  • Amanchu!
  • Arslan Senki (TV): Fuujin Ranbu
  • Battery
  • Cheer Danshi!!
  • Days (TV)
  • Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya 3rei!!
  • Fukigen na Mononokean
  • Handa-kun
  • Love Live! Sunshine!!
  • Mob Psycho 100
  • Nejimaki Seirei Senki: Tenkyou no Alderamin
  • New Game
  • Orange
  • Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume
  • ReLIFE
  • Servamp
  • Shokugeki no Souma – Ni no Sara

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12 Days of Anime – [8] Shokugeki no Souma

Marina4 Comments

Shokugeki no Souma may be the first anime I’ve seen where I initially read the manga. I’ve never been much of a manga reader given the difficulty of obtaining it where I grew up, and the price point of each volume had always seemed too high. But now I’m supposedly a functioning adult with money and live in a city with easy access to the medium, both licensed in English, and in the original Japanese.

When Shokugeki was recommended to me, I about drop kicked both the reading and the recommending friend after the first chapter’s erotic display of overflowing pleasure in flavors and textures. Juices dripped, skin gleamed, and tongues flapped for more. But I kept reading, and gasping, and found the work difficult to drop. As a foodie, the reactions of those in the manga were relatable in a taboo, over-the-top way. Their emotions were exhibited more openly than I would ever dare, their hunger, joy, pride, and greed.Read More »

Summer 2015 Season Wrap, Part 1

Marina15 Comments

The summer anime season is almost over, and I’ve slowly started wrapping up my very long list of shows. I’m experimenting here with with final impressions in installments–instead of my usual massive post of all the shows, I’ll be breaking them down into a few hopefully more manageable reads. Please let me know what you think of this format. I’m also dropping the “Special Ingredient” separation of each review, which can easily be incorporated into one of the main paragraphs. In its place is a 0-3 dango rating system; think of it in the spirit of Michelin star ratings. Just because I give a show 0 dango doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. On the contrary, my having completed the show proves I found it worthwhile to a certain extent.

Part 2 coming soon!

  • Wakako-zake
  • Gate: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri
  • Shimoneta to Iu Gainen ga Sonzai Shinai Taikutsu na Sekai
  • Akagami no Shirayuki-hime
  • Shokugeki no Souma
  • Baby Steps 2nd Season
  • Gakkougurashi!

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