Anime Reviews (2010-2019): Food Wars! (Shokugeki no Soma): The Fourth Plate (2019)

“Food Wars! (Shokugeki no Soma) continues to be one of the most energetic, fun and vibrant (long-running) anime series available on Blu-ray, the series is entertaining and I look forward to watching the fifth and final season. But no doubt, season 4 was fantastic!

Purchase this Anime on Blu-ray on Amazon

TITLE: Food Wars! (Shokugeki no Soma): The Fourth Plate

ANIME TV AIR DATE: 2019

DURATION: Episodes 61-72 (600 minutes)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (16:9 HD Widescreen), English and Japanese 2.0 DTS-HD MA, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: Sentai Filmworks

RATED: TV 14 D

Release Date: February 23,2021

Original Creator: Shun Saeki, Yuto Tsukuda

Directed by Yoshitomo Yonetani

Series Composition by Shogo Yasukawa

Music by Tatsuya Katou

Character Design by Tomoyuki Shitaya

Anime Production: J.C. Staff

Featuring the following voice talent:

Yoshitsugu Matsuoka/Blake Shepard as Sōma Yukihira

Minami Takahashi/Jad Saxton as Megumi Tadokoro

Risa Taneda/Stephanie Wittels as Erina Nakiri

Ai Kakuma/Juliet Simmons as Mayumi Kurase

Ai Kayano/Leraldo Anzaldua as Ryōko Sakaki

Asami Seto/Kara Greenberg as Miyoko Hōjō

Banjou Ginga/John Swasey as Senzaemon Nakiri

Chinatsu Akasaki/Christina Kelly as Alice Nakiri

Junichi Suwabe/ as Akira Hayama

Junichi Yanagita/Andrew Love as Daigo Aoki

Kengo Kawanishi/Corey Hartzog as Shōji Satō

Maaya Uchida/Luci Christian as Yūki Yoshino

Mamiko Noto/Allison Sumrall as Hinako Inui

Mikako Takahashi/Monica Rial as Jun Shiomi

Natsuki Hanae/Bryan Baugus as Takumi Aldini

Nobuhiko Okamoto/Leraldo Anzaldua as Ryō Kurokiba

Rikiya Koyama/Jay Hickman as Jōichirō Yukihira

Rina Hidaka/Jennifer Gilbert as Urara Kawashima

Saori Goto/Karlii Hoch as Nao Sadasuka

Saori Ōnishi/Brittney Karbowski as Hisako Arato

Shizuka Ishigami/Rachel Landon as Ikumi Mito

Taishi Murata/Houston Hayes as Shun Ibusaki

Takahiro Sakurai/Scott Gibs as Satoshi Isshiki

Takehito Koyasu/Ty Mahany as Gin Dōjima

Tomokazu Sugita/Anthony Hunter as Etsuya Eizan

Yūichi Nakamura/Benjamin McLaughlin as Kojirō Shinomiya

Yūsuke Kobayashi/Greg Ayres as Zenji Marui

Yuuki Ono/Clint Bickham as Isami Aldini

Young Soma Yukihira – who has honed his cooking skills while working as an assistant at “Yukihira,” the family eatery – has successfully entered Tohtsuki Fine Dining Academy, a cooking school for the ultra elite. At the academy, he meets various chefs and develops his skills while striving to create his own unique brand of cooking. It is during the Lunar Feast, a time-honored Tohtsuki tradition, that Soma chooses to take on one of the members of The Ten, which comprises the academy’s most accomplished chefs. Meanwhile, Azami Nakiri – the father of one of Soma’s fellow students – has worked behind the scenes to found Central, a pivotal organization dedicated to haute cuisine, yet has remained barred from cooking aside from select recipes taught in his lectures. Finding themselves at opposition with how Central operates, Soma and some of the other Tohtsuki students decide to stand and confront this threat head-on. As this is going on, Soma and the others will be faced with the Promotional Exam, referred to as one of the greatest hurdles at Tohtsuki. An even more heated battle is about to begin!

The stakes are high… The Resistance vs. the top six members of Azami Nakiri’s Council of 10. If the Resistance loses, not only are they all expelled from the Academy but Soma’s father, Joichiro must work under Azami Nakiri forever.

If the Resistance win, they take over the Council of 10.

But because this is a Team Shokugeki, they must work as a team and continue on the next round but is it enough to defeat the final top seats of the Council of 10?

All this and more in the fourth season of “Food Wars! (Shokugeki no Soma): The Fourth Plate!

What is “Food Wars! (Shokugeki no Soma) all about?

In 2012, writer Yuto Tsukuda and artist Shun Saeki created their manga series “Shokugeki no Soma” which continues to be serialized in “Weekly Shonen Jump”.

The manga was voted #3 in the Nationwide Bookstore Employees “Recommend Comics of 2014” in Japan and voted #12 in the 2014 “Kono Manga ga Sugoi!” Top 20 Manga for Male Readers survey and continues to be a popular series in Japan.

In 2015, “Shokugeki no Soma”/Food Wars! would receive a 24-episode anime adaptation courtesy of J.C. Staff and now the hit anime series has been released in the U.S. on Blu-ray courtesy of Sentai Filmworks.

The series revolves around a young teen named Soma Yukihara who works for his father, chef Joichiro Yukihira, at their local restaurant.

Trained to cook at an early age and known for trying to combine various foods together as experiments, Soma has been known to cook dishes that make people feel they have tasted the best food ever to touch their tastebuds. But his goal is to someday beat his father in cooking.

But with landsharks trying to get control of the land to build condo units where the restaurant is located, one day while returning to the restaurant, everything inside is removed.

While Soma wants to rebuild, his father tells him that he will be closing the restaurant for two or three years to travel and as for Soma, he is enlisted in Totsuki Saryo Culinary Institute where the elite of the elite attend and less than 10% of its students ever graduated.

But his father gives Soma a stern message, if he can’t make it at Totsuki Saryo Culinary Institute, he will never beat him.

Determined to prove to his father that he can graduate as an elite cook, Soma is still looked down by his fellow students and faculty because unlike them, he is not wealthy and his family did not own a four or five star restaurant.

But Soma is determined to prove them wrong.

In season three, the Resistance vs. members of Azami Nakiri’s Council of 10. If the Resistance loses, not only are they all expelled from the Academy but Soma’s father, Joichiro must work under Azami Nakiri forever.

If the Resistance win, they take over the Council of 10.

But because this is a Team Shokugeki, they must work as a team but is it enough to defeat the Council of 10?

And who will take part in the Resistance as many people have been expelled?

With the fourth season, the Resistance vs. members of Azami Nakiri’s Council of 10 continues as Soma and friends must decide who will take on the final seats of the Council of 10.

Watch as Kuga, Megishima and Mimasaka compete against Tsukasa, Rindou and Saitou.

VIDEO:

“Food Wars! (Shokugeki no Soma): The Fourth Plate” is presented in 1080p High Definition. The series is well-animated, well-shaded and if anything, J.C. staff did a wonderful job of bringing Shun Saeki’s energetic and fun character designs to animation. Vibrant, colorful and for the most part, the anime series looks great!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Food Wars! (Shokugeki no Soma): The Fourth Plate” is presented in Japanese and English 2.0 DTS-HD MA. Dialogue and music on the Blu-ray are both crystal clear through the front channels and voice acting is well-done for both Japanese and English soundtracks.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Food Wars! (Shokugeki no Soma): The Fourth Plate” comes with the clean opening and ending credits.

As a big fan of manga and anime series about food and the culinary industry, “Food Wars! -Shokugeki no Soma” is a series that I absolutely enjoy.

For one, you have an antagonist that was cooking since he was young, often experimenting on different foods, even know that all his combinations are not always successful. But he also was brought up in a family restaurant and has to attend a school of elitist who think their food is the greatest and that they are more refined because they are wealthy.

So, it’s pretty awesome to see how far these people will put him down and until they eat his food, their reaction, and probably this may be the best word to describe their reaction to his food as “orgasmic”.

With this fourth volume, it’s all about the rebels vs. the Seat of 10.

We have Kuga, Megishima, Mimasaka vs. Tsukasa, Rindou and Saitou. A battle between Soma vs. Saitou, Takumi vs. Eizan and Megumi vs. Momo and more!

But the overall cooking battles were thrilling and entertaining, especially as we see Soma and team climb the ladder, eventually setting up the finals.

The fourth season is the penultimate season, so it’s great to see the series evolve and see the characters such as Soma and friends grow with their experiences but also trying to prove themselves vs. Azami Nakiri.

While the concept of cooking manga/anime series has been around for decades in Japan, the fact is that there are only a few that have been released in America. “Oishinbo” by Tetsuya Kariya and Akira Hanasaki is one of the most popular cooking series of all time as it details a writer for a food magazine and also son of a notable food critic (who he does not get along with).

You also have “Toriko” but the cuisine is more fantasy than realistic. “Yakitate” which focuses on bread. And of course, there are cooking series popular in Japan such as “Cooking Papa”, “The Antique Bakery”, “Kitchen Palette”, “Kitchen Princess” to name a few.

But “Food Wars! -Shokugeki no Soma” has a fascinating way of combining the underdog storyline that we often see in sports manga series, bringing it to a cooking storyline but also add a few features that are not too mature but suggestive.

As for the Blu-ray release, the anime series is vibrant and looks great in HD. Lossless audio features crystal clear dialogue and music and there are no special features but the clean opening and ending animations.

Overall, “Food Wars! (Shokugeki no Soma) continues to be one of the most energetic, fun and vibrant (long-running) anime series available on Blu-ray, the series is entertaining and I look forward to watching the fifth and final season. But no doubt, season 4 was fantastic!

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