The manga series Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma was created by Yuto Tsukuda and illustrated by Shun Saeki. The series primarily takes place at the Totsuki Saryo Culinary Institute, an extremely competitive culinary school.[a] Students are judged on their cooking in events such as shokugeki (food war), a cooking duel.
The story follows teenage transfer student Soma Yukihira. Some students start as rivals and antagonists, especially Erina Nakiri, but later become allies in the 16th tankōbon volume with the arrival of Azami Nakiri. After the 30th tankōbon volume, a group of chefs called Le Cuisine Noir are introduced. It also includes characters from the epilogue chapters of Le Dessert.
Development
When asked at Anime Expo about the diversity of characters, series creator Yuto Tsukuda said, "That was very important to me. I wanted the younger readers experiencing this manga to learn about different types of food and culture from different countries. I thought it would be great if kids reading the manga could grow up, travel the world, see unique dishes and remember, 'I saw that in Food Wars! when I was a kid.'"[3]
The concept of the clothes falling off originated from "the idea of a girl eating food, and she expresses herself about the food with 'ecstasy'," but Tsukuda also realized early on that it meant they could also portray the male characters with clothes removed.[4][5]
At Crunchyroll Expo 2019, Tsukuda said that he originally wanted to end the series soon after the central arc, since it had shown the growth of the key characters, citing "Soma's mental growth, Megumi's achievement of independence and Erina's development." However, he had doubts with have to resolve the relationship between Soma and Erina, so he rewrote the epilogue chapter for that several times before settling with the final.[6]
Soma Yukihira (幸平 創真, Yukihira Sōma) is a 15-year-old chef who has been working at his father Joichiro's diner, Yukihira Family Restaurant, since he was a young child. His main goal in cooking is to provide the customer with any dish they order anytime they want. When his father closes the diner to work overseas, Soma enrolls in the Totsuki Saryo Culinary Institute, but is given a failing grade in the entrance exam by Erina Nakiri.[8] Even so, Erina's grandfather Senzaemon, the Headmaster of the academy, accepts him. Soma then declares during the entering class's ceremony that he will win the top spot in the school.[9] He resides in Polaris Dorm.[10]
Erina Nakiri (薙切 えりな, Nakiri Erina) is a first-year student at Totsuki and the granddaughter of the school's director Senzaemon. She was the valedictorian of Totsuki's junior high and is the youngest student to join the school's Council of Ten Masters. She was abused by her father Azami as a child when he was molding her Divine Tongue.Vol. 17 When Azami takes over as dean, Erina escapes to Polaris Dorm, and discovers Soma is the son of Joichiro Saiba, a Totsuki alumnus she highly admires.Vol. 17-18 Not wanting to serve under Azami any longer, she leaves the Council and leads the rebel team.
Megumi Tadokoro (田所 恵, Tadokoro Megumi) is Soma's best friend and classmate at Totsuki and next-door dormmate at Polaris. Her shyness and stage fright causes her to perform poorly.[13] Tsukuda said that "Megumi Tadokoro is probably from some area in Tohoku Prefecture and has a slight Tohoku dialect, but I purposefully obscured it. This is because I don't necessarily want her to be seen as a stereotype. I actually got a comment from someone living in Tohoku who mentioned that her Aomori dialect is not right.".[5]
Supporting characters
Polaris Dormitory
Polaris Dormitory is a student residence within Totsuki, intended to house less affluent students. In order to become a resident, students must first cook a dish to the satisfaction of the dormitory manager Fumio.Ch. 6 The dorm uses a series of speaking tubes,Ch. 6 and its facilities include vegetable gardens, pens, and workshops.Ch. 14 Because of the success of former students Gin Dojima and Joichiro Saiba (Soma's father), the dorm has become a "fully independent and profitable entity on its own".Ch. 41 Other former residents include Jun Shiomi and Azami Nakamura.
Fumio Daimido
Voiced by: Mari Yokō, Hitomi Nabatame (young)(Japanese); Joanne Bonasso (English)[14]
Fumio Daimidō (大御堂 ふみ緒, Daimidō Fumio), who goes by Miss Fumio, is the caretaker and dorm matron of Polaris; an elderly lady with greying, backwards-combed, spiked hair. As the "Maria of Polaris", she administers a cooking test that students must pass to become residents. At first glance she is intimidating and stern, but Fumio is actually a caring mother-figure to all the residents.Ch. 6 Fumio has pride in the past achievements of the residents of the dormitory, which for a time held the top three seats on the Council of Ten. She still maintains contact with Gin, and will receive Joichiro on his sporadic visits.Ch. 41
Satoshi Isshiki (一色 慧, Isshiki Satoshi) is a handsome second-year student who occupies the seventh seat of the Council of Ten.Ch. 7 He has a few quirks such as visiting people's rooms through the ceiling tiles, and often appearing half-naked, wearing nothing but an apron and sometimes a fundoshi (thong loincloth).Ch. 7 After the sudden arrival of Azami, Satoshi is dismissed from the Council of Ten, whereupon he joins the rebel team in the Regiment de Cuisine against Central.
Yūki Yoshino (吉野 悠姫, Yoshino Yūki) is a petite, energetic girl and a first-year resident in room 116.Ch. 7 Characterized by her double-bun hairstyle and hyperactive attitude, she often acts childishly, teases the other students. Her specialty is cooking wild game, and to do so she raises and breeds a large number of game animals and poultry, including deer and boar, which she often lets roam freely in the dorm halls.Ch. 7 A running gag shows her to be envious of well-endowed girls like her best friend Ryoko.Ch. 39, 53 side story
Shun Ibusaki (伊武崎 峻, Ibusaki Shun) is a first-year resident whose specialty is smoked food,Ch. 7 where he is nicknamed the Prince of Smoke.Ch. 55 Shun was later defeated during the promotional exams and was expelled but four months after the Rebels' victory, Shun was reinstated into the academy.
Zenji Marui (丸井 善二, Marui Zenji) is a first-year student. Quiet and studious, he is the star pupil of Professor Takao Miyazato's Seminar. His peers in the club call him "The Professor of Taste".
Ryoko Sakaki
Voiced by: Ai Kayano (Japanese); Kelley Peters (English)[7]
Ryoko Sakaki (榊 涼子, Sakaki Ryōko) is a tall, mature-looking girl who is gentle and kind, acting like a big sister,Vol. 6 profiles responding to the eccentrics of the other Polaris residents in a level-headed manner and comforting the other students when they are troubled. Her specialty is shio koji (rice malt) and has a warehouse near the dorm where she does fermentation processing.Ch. 14 Her parents own a well-known fermented-goods shop, and she maintains a workshop near the dorms to produce her own ingredients. She also keeps a bottle of "fermented rice drink" that she would sometimes bring out during parties and celebrations, which Soma suspects is illegally brewed sake.Ch. 7
Daigo Aoki and Shoji Sato
Voiced by: Junichi Yanagita(Japanese); Andrew Love (English) (Daigo)[14] Voiced by: Kengo Kawanishi (Japanese); Corey Hartzog (English) (Shōji)[14]
Daigo Aoki (青木 大吾, Aoki Daigo) and Shōji Satō (佐藤 昭二, Satō Shōji) are two muscular dorm mates who tend to fight over everything, but are united when it comes to defending the honor of the dormitory and its members, having a supporting or background role in the story.Ch. 50
Totsuki 92nd Generation students
The following students enrolled in Totsuki at the same year as Soma.
Erina's aide with short pink hair,Ch. 2-4, Vol. 7 profile whose name is revealed to be Hisako Arato (新戸 緋沙子, Arato Hisako) during the Fall Classic preliminaries in chapter 52. She helps Erina with many of the administrative duties, having retained her position in her second year of junior high by defeating rival student Nao Sadatsuka in a shokugeki.Ch. 52 She specializes in medicinal cooking, which is based on natural remedies and Chinese medicine to improve health. This comes from her family who is in the Chinese medicine business.Ch. 52
Ikumi Mito (水戸 郁魅, Mito Ikumi) is a first-year student with blonde hair and dark skin who often wears a variety of flamboyant bikini tops covered by a tied dress shirt.Ch. 11 Known as the "Master of Meat", she is among the top students of her year, with her meat-based dishes always scoring A's. She strongly dislikes the nickname "Nikumi", a portmanteau of the Japanese word for "meat" and her given name.Ch. 10 She is the heiress to a large meat distributor and conglomerate, which has a near-monopoly on the national beef market, allowing her access to exceptionally high-quality ingredients, especially A5 grade beef.
Takumi Aldini (タクミ・アルディーニ, Takumi Arudīni) is a chef from Florence, Italy; he has blond hair and blue eyes, coming from an Italian mother and Japanese father.Ch. 17 He initiates a rivalry with Soma, viewing him as someone similar to himself. He has worked along with his twin brother Isami since they were five years old at their uncle's restaurant, and transfer into Totsuki's Junior High in their second year.Ch. 16-17 His specialty is Italian cuisine.
Isami Aldini (イサミ・アルディーニ, Isami Arudīni) is Takumi's younger twin brother; but he has dark hair and is overweight at the first-year camp,Ch. 16 He too has worked at his uncle's restaurant in Italy since they were five, and strives to be praised for his cooking like Takumi. The spin-off manga Shokugeki no Soma – Fratelli Aldini focuses on the brothers' time in Italy. He and Takumi transfer to Totsuki's junior high program in their second year.Ch. 16-17
Alice Nakiri (薙切 アリス, Nakiri Arisu) is Erina Nakiri's cousin, introduced in the first-year cooking camp.Ch. 28, 33 She is albino and has short light hair.Ch. 29 Her mother is Danish and her father is Japanese. She lived with Erina while her father went to Denmark to found a culinary research organization focused on molecular gastronomy, a scientific approach to cooking. At five years old, she joins her parents there,Ch. 33 and wins many awards in gastronomy.Ch. 62 She returns to Japan to enroll in Totsuki's junior high at age 14 with the intent of besting Erina and taking the top spot in the school.Ch. 33
Alice Nakiri's aide,Ch. 33, Vol. 7 profile whose name is revealed to be Ryo Kurokiba (黒木場 リョウ, Kurokiba Ryō) in chapter 53 during the Fall Classic preliminaries. As a young boy, he is the head chef of a pub by the docks in Denmark.Ch. 69 At first, he appears to be inattentive, lazy, and subservient to Alice, quipping back at her and commenting in a deadpan manner, but his demeanor changes when he puts on his headband to cook: he takes on an aggressive appearance, with sharp eyes and a savage grin. He considers the kitchen to be a battlefield and that cooks should compete rather than cooperate.Ch. 68-69 It is later revealed that he regularly competes with Alice and they are about even in results, with Alice having beat him for two years back in Denmark.Ch. 90-92, 98 Ryo's specialty is seafood dishes.
Nao Sadatsuka (貞塚 ナオ, Sadatsuka Nao) is a girl with long dark hair covering her face who is obsessed with Erina.Ch. 40 She despises Hisako,Ch. 40 after losing a shokugeki to her in junior high over who gets to be Erina's aide. She is then required to stay at least 50meters from Erina at all times, but Nao still stalks Erina from afar and writes her 30 letters per day.Ch. 52 Known as the Cauldron Witch, she specializes in dishes that involve boiling and simmering with ingredients that generate hideous smells.
Miyoko Hojo
Voiced by: Asami Seto (Japanese); Kara Greenberg (English)
Miyoko Hojo (北条 美代子, Hōjō Miyoko)Ch. 40 is the heir of a Chinese cuisine restaurant in Yokohama's Chinatown, Her specialty is Chinese techniques and wok maneuvers, although some of the guys admire her because she is busty and wears a cheongsam dress.Ch. 49 Because she was looked down upon by the cooks at her father's restaurant because of her sex, she has a low opinion of men in general.
Akira Hayama (葉山 アキラ, Hayama Akira) is a first-year student and the assistant for Professor Jun Shiomi. He is a tall and handsome man with tanned skin and silver hair. He looks after Shiomi, covering her forgetfulness on things such as watering their spice plants.Ch. 45 Akira specializes in curry dishes, with a wide knowledge of spices and aromas, taking Shiomi's theories and trying them in the kitchen. He can determine the condition of a curry pot without looking inside, and can also detect different kinds of spices by smell alone.Ch. 45, 90
The chef who secures the fourth spot in his block at the Fall Classic preliminaries, Subaru Mimasaka (美作 昴, Mimasaka Subaru) is a heavily built student with hair styled in a braided mohawk.Ch. 59, 73 He provokes his opponents into shokugeki challenges in which they stake their best cooking knife and soundly defeats them.Ch. 76-77 He has no specialty, but it is soon revealed that he painstakingly stalks his opponents, learning the dishes they plan to make, and then makes the identical dish with improvements.Ch. 73, 77
Other Totsuki students
Kanichi Konishi
Voiced by: Shinji Kawada (Japanese); Gareth West (English)
Kanichi Konishi (小西 寛一, Konishi Kan'ichi) is the second-year student and president of the Donburi Bowl Research Society. He has a pompadour hair style. When he first meets Soma, his club is on the verge of being disbanded because of ongoing pressure from Erina Nakiri, leading him with no choice but to have a shokugeki with one of her lackeys Ikumi Mito.Ch. 10
Urara Kawashima
Voiced by: Rina Hidaka (Japanese); Jennifer Gilbert[7] (English)
Urara Kawashima (川島 麗, Kawashima Urara) is the master of ceremonies for the shokugeki competitions and other events at Totsuki.Ch. 12, 40 She greatly enjoys the attention she gets from her male fans and audience, and greatly dislikes it when other women take this attention from her.Ch. 12, 49, 56
Yua Sasaki (佐々木 由愛, Sasaki Yua) is the other Master of Ceremonies at the Fall Classic during the preliminary round when the event is split into two blocks. Unlike Urara, she is fairly quiet, stutters and has trouble keeping the attention of the audience.Ch. 53-55
Mitsuru Sotsuda (早津田 みつる, Sōtsuda Mitsuru) is a third-year student at Totsuki Junior High and a member of the Journalism Club. He worships Soma and follows him with his reporter equipment.Ch. 81
Tetsuji Kabutoyama
Voiced by: Masashi Nogawa(Japanese); Jovan Jackson (English)
Tetsuji Kabutoyama (甲山 鉄次, Kabutoyama Tetsuji) is a second-year student known as "The Iron Skewer" for his skewer-cooking techniques. He has a shokugeki winning rate of 80%. He takes an interest in Soma after seeing his cooking during the Fall Classics, and is the first student to challenge Soma to a shokugeki after the latter was done with his stagiaire. After losing in a unanimous decision, he has to teach Soma all his skewering tricks.Ch. 116-117
Senzaemon Nakiri (薙切 仙左衛門, Nakiri Senzaemon) is Erina's grandfather, the patriarch of the Nakiri family, and the Dean of Tōtsuki Saryo Culinary Institute. He is known as the "Gastric Godfather" in the culinary world.Ch. 4 He has the tendency of stripping his upper body clothing when he eats a good dish.Ch. 66 Despite his appearance and reputation, he is reasonable and gives accurate commentary and assessment for the food he tastes without being overly critical to the losers.[volume&issueneeded]
Roland Chapelle is a French chef and lecturer at Totsuki, head of its French Cuisine Division. He is nicknamed "The Chef Who Doesn't Smile" due to his high standards and stern demeanor, giving either A's or E's (lowest grade) in his class. Soma is one of the few students to ever make him smile from a dish, in which, Chapelle apologizes that he could not give a higher grade then an A.Ch. 4
Jun Shiomi (汐見 潤, Shiomi Jun), age 34, is a professor at Totsuki who teaches second-year general classes and a seminar specializing in spices. An alumna of the 73rd graduating class and a former resident of Polaris during the dorm's golden age, she taste-tested many of Joichiro's cooking experiments, which left her traumatized enough to hate anything to do with him. She wears her hair in a ponytail and wears glasses, but her petite stature and dressing in T-shirts makes her appear like a junior high school student.Ch. 44-45 She grows spices from all over the world in her lab.Ch. 45 She is a very timid, shy, and reserved person,Ch. 44-45, 95 and klutzy, remarking that she barely graduated.Ch. 103 While researching spices overseas at age 26, Jun meets Akira Hayama and, recognizing his talent, brings him to Japan to mentor and take care of him.Ch. 57, 104
Takao Miyazato (宮里 隆夫, Miyazato Takao) is the president of the Shokugeki Administration Bureau.[volume&issueneeded] He wears glasses and has a bushy mustache. He runs a seminar that focuses on the academic knowledge of culinary and gastronomical topics. Zenji Marui attends as a first-year and is one of his top students.Ch. 55
Jōichirō Yukihira (幸平 城一郎, Yukihira Jōichirō), born Jōichirō Saiba (才波 城一郎, Saiba Jōichirō), is Soma's father and owner of Yukihira Family Restaurant.Ch. 1 in the Sumire Shopping District. He teaches Soma the family business and challenges him to many cook-offs that have always ended in the former's victory.[b]
Gin Dōjima (堂島 銀, Dōjima Gin) is the head chef and company director of the Totsuki Resorts, first appearing in the camp event for the first-year students. A graduate of Totsuki's 69th class,Ch. 84 he holds the record of the highest marks in the entire school, and has turned down offers to work for over 800 restaurants.Ch. 15 He is a tall and extremely muscular man with a buzz cut,Ch. 15 and had brown spikey hair in his youth.[volume&issueneeded]
Tsukuda said that he originally intended only for Gin Dojima to transform Sailor Moon magical girl style in the magical cabbage story.[3][5]
Kojiro Shinomiya (四宮 小次郎, Shinomiya Kojirō) is the owner of a French haute cuisine restaurant called Shino's.Ch. 15 After graduating at the top of the 79th class, he moves to Paris, earning the moniker "Le magicien de légume" (The Vegetable Magician) for emphasizing vegetables and having a Japanese approach to a cuisine that has been mostly meat dishes. When his staff compromises his dishes, he hardens himself emotionally, and fires the staff, taking more of the burden himself.Ch. 21-26
Tsukuda and Saeki noted that Shinomiya's character was modeled loosely from several Japanese chefs, one of whom had opened restaurants in France with English or Japanese names to emphasize that he was a foreigner. In a similar way, they chose the restaurant to have an apostrophe.Ch. 111 notes
Hinako Inui (乾 日向子, Inui Hinako), of the 80th graduating class, heads the Japanese-cuisine restaurant Kiri No Ya.Ch. 15, 84 During the first-year camp, she hosts a challenge where students have to cook a Japanese dish to her approval using ingredients found on-site. She is a bit absent-minded, purposely dawdling between choosing whether Soma or Takumi's dish is better until she is called to wrap up her assignment. She takes a liking towards Megumi Tadokoro. She is also fond of teasing Kojiro Shinomiya, which often results in the latter comically punishing her.Ch. 21-26 She reappears in the Fall Classics semifinals as a judgeCh. 84 and in the pre-opening of Shinomiya's restaurant in Japan.Vol. 14
Fuyumi Mizuhara (水原 冬美, Mizuhara Fuyumi), of the 79th graduating class and second seat on the Council, is the owner of the Italian restaurant Ristorante F.Ch. 84 She is often irritated with Shinomiya because of his arrogant smirks, but at the same time respects him as a chef. She is often deadpan, sarcastic and serious compared to her light-hearted schoolmate Hinako Inui; she has short hair and is the only female judge who wears a tie and pants. She tried but failed to recruit the Aldini brothers and Soma for her restaurant at the conclusion of the first-year's summer camp.Ch. 34 She reappears as a judge at the Fall Classic semifinals.Ch. 84 A short story reveals that her dislike of Shinomiya stemmed from the fact that he upstaged her in Italian cuisine when they were students.Vol. 13 bonus
Taki Tsunozaki (角崎 瀧, Tsunozaki Taki), an 88th-generation graduate who held the second seat in the Council, she owns the Spanish restaurant Taki Amarillo which she opened a year after graduating. She first appears as a judge in the Fall Classic semifinals. She has long dark hair and has an aggressive and short temper, talking about beating up people she does not like. She bullies Sonoka because of the latter's large breasts; disrespects Hinako by calling her an old hag; but respects Fuyumi.Ch. 84-85
Sonoka Kikuchi (木久知 園果, Kikuchi Sonoka), a graduate of the 89th class and the second seat on the Council, owns a Western cuisine restaurant Shunkatei in which she opened within a year after graduating. She first appeared in the Fall Classic semifinals. She has light hair tied in a ribbon and is fairly busty. She tends to get bossed around by her senpai Taki Tsunozaki.Ch. 84-85 While judging Akira and Ryo's semifinal match in the Fall Classic, Sonoka is unable to decide until Gin Dojima intervenes.Ch. 92
Council of Ten Masters
The Totsuki Council of Ten Masters is the student council consisting of the top ten students of the school. They are in charge of decision-making for practically all the issues for the school. They report directly to the dean, and even the teachers must comply with the Council's decisions.Ch. 7
The council's authority in the academy rivals that of the director/headmaster, and a majority of the Council of Ten can overrule the director's wishes or formally request a new director. The Council of Ten is responsible for handling the academy's internal evaluations and helping organize events. Its members are given large budgets by the academy to utilize in any cooking-related pursuit, and freedom to carry out personal projects such as Erina's kitchen expansion which resulted in the demolition and disbanding of many long-standing clubs.Ch. 119
The ten members are ranked, with the first seat being the best student in the academy, expected to have the most prominent future after graduation. Members will occasionally challenge each other for a higher seat on the council, and it is possible for a non-seated student to win a place through shokugeki, though a council member will rarely accept such a challenge.Ch. 119 The majority of council members are second and third-year students, though Azami obtained the third seat in his first year,[volume&issueneeded] and Erina was granted a seat while still in the academy's junior high school.Ch. 2
According to Takumi, who is now a seventh seat in four months after Regiment was finished, and where new BLUE tournament begins, 0th seat exist, such as mostly applied to a headmaster-based student as Erina.Ch. 301
Etsuya Eizan (叡山 枝津也, Eizan Etsuya) is introduced as a second-year student who occupies the ninth seat on the Council.Ch. 39 He has been a culinary consultant for a number of businesses since junior high, including Mozuya's fried chicken businesses, whose success Soma foiled by making a better fried chicken store in the shopping district. His nickname is "The Alchemist".Ch. 39 Satoshi Isshiki perceives Eizan as a delinquent who had organized his own gang in junior high, and a yakuza mastermind.Ch. 40
Eishi Tsukasa (司 瑛士, Tsukasa Eishi) is a third-year student with short light hair who is introduced as the first seat of the Council.Ch. 119 An extremely talented chef, Eishi was nicknamed "the teacher killer" during middle school as teachers were knocked-down at the power of tasting his dishes.[volume&issueneeded] Despite his high position, he suffers from stage fright and avoids public speaking, and often questions whether he can do his job, prompting the other council members to either reassure him or to let him be.Ch. 119 However, he has absolute confidence in his cooking and never asks his customers how his food tastes, asking instead about other things like ambiance. He specializes in European gourmet cuisine, and due to his all-white color scheme, he is known in the culinary world as Der Weiße Ritter der Tafel (lit. 'The White Knight of Table').Vol. 16
Rindo Kobayashi (小林 竜胆, Kobayashi Rindō) is a third-year student who is introduced as the second seat of the Council.Ch. 119 She is described as "friendly, sociable and easy-going", with medium-length red hair that covers part of her face.Vol. 17 profile She is friends with Tsukasa since meeting in junior high.[volume&issueneeded] She has a vast knowledge of all things pertaining to ingredients, from carving techniques to butchering methods, and an unfathomable curiosity towards all tastes under the sun. She is known as the Rare Ingredients Master.[volume&issueneeded]
In an interview at Anime Expo, Tsukuda said that Rindo was a popular character that he considered writing a version of the story with her as the main character.[3]
Tōsuke Megishima (女木島 冬輔, Megishima Tōsuke) is a third-year student who is introduced as occupying the third seat in the Council where he wears a knit hat with dangling balls.Ch. 119 He did not support Azami, and was dismissed from the Council of Ten after Azami's installation as the new director. Megishima has a deep passion for ramen, and is known as the 'Shokugeki Hater' at Totsuki. He despises the Shokugeki as he believes the only competition any chef should have is to make their customers happy. He is well known nationally in the ramen industry and has helped ramen restaurants to grow and flourish, developing a young Yakuza boss persona.
Momo Akanegakubo (茜ヶ久保 もも, Akanegakubo Momo) is introduced as a third-year student who occupies the fourth seat on the Council. She is a petite girl who enjoys toys and cute things; she is often seen with a stuffed toy catCh. 119 named Butchy (ブッチー, Bucchi), whose hands also double as oven mitts.[volume&issueneeded]
Somei Saito (斎藤 綜明, Saitō Sōmei) is introduced as a third-year student who first occupies the fifth seat on the Council, carrying a sushi knife in a wooden sheath.Ch. 119 A skilled sushi chef who strictly follows the bushido code. Hailing from a small, but popular, sushi family diner owned by his mother, Saito vows to be as great chef as her.
Nene Kinokuni (紀ノ国 寧々, Kinokuni Nene) is introduced as a second-year student who occupies the sixth seat on the Council; she wears glasses and has hair styled in short braided pigtails.Ch. 119 She hails from the eastern Kanda, whose family runs a famous Soba restaurant, serving “Edo Soba,” and it's a well-known restaurant and serves one of the best Soba in Japan, which mainly serving the 1st flour Soba. Ever since she was little, she was taught the principles of tea ceremonies, Kaiseki cooking and basically anything that involves traditional Japanese food and the arts.
Terunori Kuga (久我 照紀, Kuga Terunori) is introduced as a second-year student who occupies the eighth seat on the Council. His hair is mostly light in front and dark in the back. He leads the Chinese Food Research Society, which has turned into a club that focuses on Sichuan cuisine, where he trains dozens of students with army-like efficiency to follow his recipes. He is the most talkative of the Council and has a short fuse, offering to give Soma a chance to challenge him to a shokugeki if he can beat him in any single category that involves cooking.Ch. 119-122
Julio Shiratsu
Julio Shiratsu (白津 樹利夫, Shiratsu Jurio) is a second year student who is introduced as a temporarily appointed eight seat for Central's Council of Ten. He is very flamboyant and loud. He also admires Isshiki, while bearing a grudge on him at the same time. His family is well known as the chefs for the Italian embassy for generations. Julio later lost to Isshiki during the first bout of the Regiment de Cuisine.
Shoko Kaburagi
Shōko Kaburagi (鏑木 祥子, Kaburagi Shōko) is a second-year student who is introduced as a temporarily appointed fifth seat for Central's Council of Ten. She looks like a male while wearing her chef uniform and her hat. She likes apple tea and watching tennis, but has a strong dislike of spiders and the smell of tobacco. She lost to Tosuke Megishima during the Regiment de Cuisine.
Central Gourmet Institute
Central (officially, Central Gourmet Institute) is a ruling organization within Totsuki which supplanted the Council of Ten during the Azami Administration. It is composed of students selected by Azami, including the six Council of Ten members who supported him as director. Central was created as a student-run organization to assist Azami's goal of educating all academy students with the skills and techniques to cook dishes at a Council of Ten level. Central dictates what dishes the students are required to make and the correct recipe and method for their preparation. Any attempt modify or defy these choices resulted in stiff reprimanding from proctors and professors. The rebel students consider Central to be nothing more than Azami's puppets, copying the techniques of others with no confidence of their own. With the Rebels' victory in the Regimental Shokugeki, Central was officially disbanded. Others who were brainwashed and manipulated by Central were pardoned by Soma as the new First Seat. However, their defeat was just the beginning, with an even bigger threat, an illegal chef group Le Cuisine Noir, resurface from the shadows and happens to be invited to BLUE in four months later.
Azami Nakiri (薙切 薊, Nakiri Azami), born Azami Nakamura (中村 薊, Nakamura Azami) is Erina's father who returns from banishment to become the second headmaster of Totsuki in the 16th to 30th volume of the series. He was once a well-respected Council member who was two years younger than Joichiro. He establishes the organization known as Central to put into effect sweeping changes in a scheme to achieve his ideal of a "gourmet utopia".Vol. 16-30
Shawn Aida
Shawn Aida (相田 ショーン, Aida Shōn)
Voiced by: Kazuyuki Okitsu (Japanese); Gabriel Regojo (English)
Rentarō Kusunoki (楠 連太郎, Kusunoki Rentarō) is an arrogant second-year student and member of Central. He wears a bandanna, a tattoo on his left cheek, and crosses on his cooking outfit. His specialty is low-temperature cooking techniques. Sent by Azami to demolish the Cutting Edge Cooking Society, he calls the first-years "lowlifes" when de facto captain Alice Nakiri is indifferent about giving up the club. The insult leads Ryō Kurokiba to challenge and defeat Rentarō in a Shokugeki, causing Central to lose face.Vol. 18-19 He was pardoned to return to Totsuki at Soma's behalf,[volume&issueneeded] and later graduates.[when?]Le Dessert Ch. 1
A second-year student with pink hair and a haughty attitude. She lost to Ikumi in the second survival match. She was pardoned to return to Totsuki at Soma's behalf and manage to graduate for two years.Le Dessert Ch. 1
Shigemichi Kumai
Shigemichi Kumai (熊井 繁道, Kumai Shigemichi)
Nicknamed 'Shige', he is a second-year student with a brutish appearance. However, unlike his fellow Central members and despite his appearance, Shige is a very reasonable chef with a code of honor. He lost to Megumi in the second survival match against the Regional Cooking RS. He was pardoned to return to Totsuki at Soma's behalf and manage to graduate for two years.Le Dessert Ch. 1
Rui Kofuru
Rui Kofuru (小古 類, Kofuru Rui)
A mysterious second-year student with long white hair and bangs over her eyes (like Shun Ibusaki). In anime, it is revealed that she is defeated by Marui during Survival's Purge against his Literature Culinary Club. She was pardoned to return to Totsuki at Soma's behalf and manage to graduate for two years.Le Dessert Ch. 1
Le Cuisiner Noir
Le Cuisiner Noir (The Midnight Chefs) are a mysterious group of underground chefs who dabble in intimidation, kidnapping, sabotages, and to achieve an end, they will not shy away from torture and even murder. They are considered an illegal band of dark chefs. The Noir's exact goal is unknown, but they do specialize in using various tools like chainsaws and graters to cut or present in unusual ways and getting very rare and highly illegal but tasty ingredients. Four months after the collapse of Azami Administration at Regiment match, Le Cuisine Noir began to resurface from the shadow and somehow being invited to BLUE. The anime's season finale reveals after Asahi found out he is related to Azami and Nakiri family, the Noir officially became a legal chef group of Totsuki.
Tsukuda said that the last group of antagonists were inspired from having an old shonen trope of final group of enemies as with the cooking manga Chūka Ichiban![3] Tsukuda also said in a Viz Media interview that it is also common to have an underworld organization. They were inspired by having gone to a super-expensive restaurant in a hotel where it is very hard to get a reservation, and thought about places that were so exclusive that only politicians and those with money go, and exaggerated that into writing in crazy dishes and even illegal ones.[20]
Monarch
An American chef who called himself Monarch is the first known member of Le Cuisine Noir. He disguises himself as a tourist infiltrating Japan and has a dislike towards the said country's cuisine by destroying the inn places where the now retired principal of Totsuki Senzaemon used to visit, until the interference of the current Council of Ten Masters members Soma and Megumi. He used to have past a memory where he truly loved his mother most. After being defeated by Megumi, Monarch redeemed himself by Megumi's kindness and her cuisine, eventually explains who the Noir's leader is, whom Monarch only know is his last name "Saiba", but not the same Saiba whom Soma, Erina and Megumi knew when the real Saiba, Joichiro confirms that other "Saiba" was an adopted son, who is named Asahi. For some reason, Monarch somehow lost his knife by the hands of his former boss, who then use it against Megumi at BLUE.Ch. 302
Asahi Saiba (才波 朝陽, Saiba Asahi) is the leader of Le Cuisiner Noirs. Asahi's specialty is "Cross-Knives" where he can instantaneously assimilate the special skills of many chefs by just holding their signature utensils and even multiply those skills to create unprecedented dishes.Ch. 296 - 297 Asahi is revealed to be Azami's son. When Azami was still in high school, he had a one-night stand with an American woman and unwittingly sired Asahi. This was before Azami had met Mana.Le Dessert 2
In an interview from Viz Media's Team Jump, when asked if Asahi was the ultimate rival character to Soma, Tsukuda said that "I designed Asahi as someone who's wearing the same skin as Soma but is completely different underneath. He's not the opposite, just different. And the purpose of Asahi is to highlight the different themes that define Soma and Erina."[20]
Yunosuke
Yunosuke (雄之助) is a second in-command and a Japanese spy for Le Cuisine Noir. Before BLUE, he was the one who kidnapped Erina into joining BLUE under Asahi's order and the one who helped Asahi infiltrate Japan. Yunosuke was able to access the confidential information regarding the God Tongue and the situation of the Nakiri family. He also helped Asahi infiltrate Tōtsuki in the first place. By the time when Asahi learned his late-mother had a one-night stand with Azami, both Yunosuke and Sarge confirms their leader that Azami is in fact his biological father.[volume&issueneeded]
Sarge (サージ, Sāji) is a stern and intolerant military-themed chef of Le Cuisiner Noir. She uses a chainsaw as her preferred cooking tool. After skipping the three qualification phases of BLUE, she reaches the one-on-one battle area where her opponent is Soma, and the theme is "Christmas cake". Sarge arrogantly dismisses Soma as a small fry based on what Asahi had told her, but Soma effortlessly defeats her. Sarge still believes he is no match for Asahi due to the difference in abilities, eventually becoming her and Noir members’ big mistake for underestimate Soma's true surrender-less nature, whether he fail or win. By the time when Asahi learned his late-mother had a one-night stand with Azami, both Sarge and Yunosuke confirms their leader that Azami is in fact his biological father.Ch. 290 - 295, 311
Don Kalma (ドン・カルマ, Don Karuma) is a flamboyant bartender-themed chef of Le Cuisiner Noir. He has over 20 transvestismgay-men on his side as his sous chefs, referring them as his “children”, much as they called him “mama”. After skipping the three qualification phases of BLUE, he reaches the team battle where his opponent is Takumi. Before the battle, he secretly sabotages the match by kidnapping Takumi's little brother Isami, until Soma, who defeated Sarge arrived on time to aid his sworn ally and friendly rival. He is then defeated by Soma and Takumi's Yin Yang dish, at the same time when the two BLUE event guards manage to rescue Isami.Ch. 297 - 299
Kou Shiou
A masked subordinate of Asahi Saiba, Kou Shiou hails from a Chinese assassin family who adapted their assassination techniques into cooking. Shiou is regarded as the top five strongest candidates of BLUE and he wields steel claws that can shred meat as well as transfuse the food with five kinds of seasoning mix, each appealing the five tastes. He is beaten by Megumi Tadokoro.Ch. 302
Mayumi Kurase (倉瀬 真由美, Kurase Mayumi) is Soma's childhood friend since kindergarten.Vol. 1 side story She first appeared as a taste-tester in one of Soma and Joichiro's cooking contests at the start of the series.Ch. 1 She has a crush on Soma,Vol. 1 side story and is constantly pressured by her friends to confess to him. Mayumi assists Soma and Ikumi in reviving their market district which was losing business to a popular fried chicken chain opening in the train station, stealing the district's customers. After Soma returns to Totsuki, Mayumi helps Yuya Tomita in running the district's fried-chicken shop.Ch. 35-38
Leonora Nakiri (薙切 レオノーラ, Nakiri Reonōra) is Alice's mother and co-head of Nakiri International, first appearing as a judge for the Fall Classic Finals along with Gin Dojima and Senzaemon Nakiri. She is very kind and loving but has difficulty speaking Japanese, as she was Danish.Ch. 97 However, when she tastes an exceptional dish, she would do her own version of "stripping" by describing the dish in detail in perfect Japanese. Like her daughter, Leonora is very knowledgeable in molecular gastronomy, and her eyes comically deform into cartoonish shapes when she is flustered or emotional.Ch. 99
Sōe is Alice's father, Leonora's husband, Senzaemon's son and co-head of Nakiri International. During the third phase of the Promotional Exams, he and Gin Dōjima attended the revenge match between Akira Hayama and Soma Yukihira, acting as neutral judges to ensure a fair result. He loves his family dearly, much like his brother-in-law Azami was before the God's Tongue curse incident relating to his sister, Mana and her departure from Nakiri manors, which resulted Azami's downfall.
They are the two staff members under the Research Division of Nakiri International and Leonora Nakiri's subordinates. During the third phase of the Promotional Exams, they attended the match between Akira Hayama and Soma Yukihira, acting as neutral judges to ensure a fair result. After hearing Alice lost to Soma, it is revealed that they became big fans of his and gladly met him in person.
Anne is a First Class Bookman from the World Gourmet Organization who acted as the Head Judge for Regiment De Cuisine between the Rebels and Central[volume&issueneeded], then later attends BLUE four months after. She informs the Bookmaster Mana Nakiri, Erina's mother of Soma's true identity as Joichiro's son, with Mana is now expecting something unique from Soma as a result.[22] For some reason, Anne admits herself that she along with most of WGO members never knew Mana's identity as the organization's Bookmaster until recently before the BLUE.[23]
Mana Nakiri
Mana Nakiri (薙切 真凪, Nakiri Mana)
Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese); Courtney Lomelo (English)
The mother of Erina, the daughter of Senzaemon, the second wife of Azami and sister of Soe. She is the Bookmaster of the World Gourmet Organization. Her daughter, Erina, holds a larger grudge towards her mother than her previous fear of her father, as Mana's departure caused Azami's madness and thus, Erina's torturous "training" in the first place. When being informed of Soma's existence as Joichiro's son from Anne, Mana is interested to see his true potential during BLUE.[volume&issueneeded]
The mother of Soma, and the wife of Joichiro. She first met Joichiro Saiba and helped him recover from his taxing experiences at Totsuki. After they marry, they conceive a son, Soma. Despite being revealed to be an awful chef, she was loved and highly respected by many customers of her home diner even when she was a yankee back in her high school days, and failure was the key to her success as with her husband Joichiro, influencing their son Soma. The only specialty she succeeded at was fried rice-based cuisine.
Works cited
^ "Ch." is shortened form for chapter and refers to a chapter number of the Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma manga
^ "Ep." is shortened form for Episode and refers to an Episode number of the Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma anime
Notes
↑ While the English manga volume 1 back cover indicates the school has a 10% graduation rate,[1] it appears to be about 1%, as Dean Senzaemon says in his opening speech that in the last year, of 812 entering freshman, only 76 made it to the second year, and that the number of students who graduate each year can be counted on one hand.[2]
↑ At the start of the series, Joichiro has beaten Soma 489 times in cook-offs. Ch. 1, Vol. 6
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