Out of all five seasons of the anime, “Food Wars! The Fifth Plate“ is definitely the most disappointing. In my opinion, the fifth season felt incredibly repetitive, rushed, and unnecessary.
The anime “Food Wars” or “Shokugeki no Soma,” focuses on the main protagonist, Yukihira Soma, and his cooking journey at Totsuki Culinary Academy. He befriends and competes with other characters, hoping to reach and beat his father in cooking. The first three seasons of “Food Wars” have fresh, entertaining storylines that kept me invested.
I wish I could say the same for the fifth season.
“Food Wars! The Fifth Plate” seemed like a replica of the fourth season but replaced with new opponents. In “Food Wars! The Fourth Plate”, Soma and his friends contested against the elite ten, a group of students known as the school’s best chefs. Season five seemed like a replica of season four, though instead of fighting the elite ten, they fought against the Noir members. The only difference happened in the last two episodes of season five. The creators switched the spotlight to Erina Nakiri, an important supporting character who wanted to impress her mother, the BLUE tournament’s head.
Relating to my point previous point on how the only difference was in the last two episodes, season five felt rushed. The creators centered so much of the season on the characters competing against Saiba Asahi and the Noir members that they did not leave enough time for closure. The creators only left one episode for backstories and explanations, which leads me to my next point.
Not bringing up new information in your conclusion is something you might’ve heard from your English teacher before. That is the opposite of what the creators did with the “Food Wars” final season. The creators introduced Saiba Asahi and his Noir chefs, which felt unnecessary since the anime already has plenty of characters. The creators wasted eleven episodes on new characters just so they would lose in the end.
All in all, “Food Wars” as a whole is an excellent anime with superb animation and likable characters. However, “Food Wars! The Fifth Plate” disappointing final season compared to the other seasons. It felt repetitive, hurried, and unnecessary, so I give season five a three out of five stars.
[star rating=”3″]
