Shokugeki no Soma - Anime

Back in the day there was an interesting anime I watched that focused on bread, Yakitate Japan. It was a culinary show and despite the odd image one would have when you try to picture anime and bread it was quite a fun anime to pass the time with as the baker protagonist created various dishes that evoked extreme reactions from whoever tasted his amazing bread.

In a recent batch of anime I was given to enjoy, I had the pleasure of reliving the joys of another culinary show that had a similar premise to Yakitate Japan, except instead of focusing on bread this show turned your attention to food in general. Shokugeki no Souma takes you into the kitchen and hypes you up for the process of cooking as you watch the protagonist create his various dishes with seemingly random resources, all of which are targeted at being consumer friendly and relatable to the affordable pocket.

The main story follows a young chef, Yukihira Soma, who strives to beat his father’s cooking and become the best chef in the world. He also takes pride in the cooking he grew up learning in his father’s little diner and wants to become the best while serving his common style cooking that is available to the average customer and not just the ‘elite’.

But despite being a great chef, Soma has an unfortunate habit, picked up from his father, of experimenting with new dishes which almost always turn out horrible and the poor taste testers of these dishes always tend to be his friends.

The show is very light and full of humour that has you laughing along with learning a thing or two about the culinary arts. One thing in particular that’s quite noticeable is the reactions that the characters have when tasting delicious food. If ever you could apply the term ‘food porn’ to a place, here would definitely be it.

Another thing I like about the anime is probably a bit cliché but screw it – it works for me. I like that the protagonist is talented and strong enough to take on tough opponents from the get go and generally comes across as the underdog type. It makes for fun viewing and it also brings about some anticipation for when he might be really challenged and maybe knocked around a bit. That might sound sadistic, but it’ll be interesting to see how he recovers and such from blows like that. After all we can’t have him only winning all the time, where would be the fun in that?

Anyway, the anime is worth watching, if only to make yourself hungry for the food that is so deliciously drawn and presented on screen. 

Gotcha pork roast 

Shinmai Maou no Testament - Anime

This anime is straight up dodge. I have to say it. I went into watching this blindly, just an escape after doing some work. But five minutes into watching the first episode I was beginning to question my decision to watch this at work as a few questionable scenes, though subtle and censored, wasn’t the kind of content I wanted my colleagues, let alone my boss seeing on my screen. But I guess it was a good thing it was late in the afternoon and most of my colleagues who regularly pass by my screen are desensitized from the stuff on my screen.

not within 5 minutes but a good indicator... >.<

Shinmai Maou no Testament is an interesting anime story-wise as it follows the male protagonist who gains two little sisters, one of whom happens to be the sole daughter of a demon lord and has inherited his immense power thus making her a target by others who want the throne.

unexpectedly cool oni-chan

It’s an action anime filled with your usual dazzle of magic and demon lore as it creates this world where a race demons, angels and heroes exist in hidden villages and we find that our male protagonist belongs to one of them, though he lives with his father in exile due to some reasons that slowly get revealed as the story progresses.

Despite the good story, there exists a large amount of ‘fan service’ in this anime that tends to take preference in some scenes, which irritates me sometimes. A majority of this service is initiated by Maria, the companion of our young demon lord heir. It doesn’t help that Maria happens to be a succubus. Though some of the scenes are entertaining, they can become a bit tedious as the joke gets repeated within the first few minutes of an episode.

not so innocent little sister O.O

Is it me or does it seems that most anime these days submit to vast amounts of fan service? Or am I imagining things? Anyway, despite the excessive bits of fan service, I still think the story is worth taking note of. I mean, any story that focuses on an exiled hero’s journey should be interesting.