Ah, where to begin. I'll preface this by saying this isn't me whining and "complaining" that this show isn't what I wanted it to be, but more so an honest heartfelt review from a huge fan of Sokugeki no Souma. This fifth and final installment, should not exist. It hurts to say this, since I've adored Food Wars! for being an amazing shounen with a rich cast of characters, mouthwatering art and animation and a story that, while silly on the outside, becomes so lovable and fun to watch. This show lacks all of those things. Saying The Fifth Plate "pales in comparison" to the other 4 fantastic seasons doesn't even do them justice, and I'll explain why.
I can see why some people don't like Food Wars! It's a silly, ridiculous story about a talented young chef who enters a prestigious culinary high school where students often engage in "food wars" with ridiculous stakes on the line. The school constantly puts its students through various tests and challenges to expel those who can't make the cut. Eventually, the school's director gets overthrown by his student council, and a new director is appointed that wants to take away the fun out of cooking. Every single detail of what happens in Food Wars sounds so bizarre, but it has the proper pacing and episode count to make it enjoyable. Even though these are extremely dumb plot points to say out loud, watching them happen in the show can get you on the edge of your seat just because you've invested so much into truly growing with these characters as they learn the reasons why they cook, and how to get better at it. Every obstacle in the way of the characters have weight behind them, thanks to exciting and wide list of characters who each carry significance with them, thanks to the enjoyable story and pacing, and thanks to all the small details from the music and the gorgeous food, it all comes to life. Food Wars! Season 5 does not have any of this.
The story has no weight behind it at all. That's made clear the first few episodes when we are introduced to "evil underground chefs" called Noir who cook for criminals, or something. Our heroes must stop them, but why? Beats me, I don't know. Speaking of "our heroes," all of them—and I mean each and every one of them—was stripped of all originality, depth, and substance. They were left with only the anime tropes that differentiated them, and beyond that, the characters you see in the show seem entirely different than the ones you've grown to know. To mask their hollowness, the show tries (and fails) to use comedy and these chibi faces that are used way more than they should be. All of the bonds forged through sweat and tears between these characters goes away. The story also just introduces ridiculous plot point after plot point, which is a lot to say for a Food Wars season. Examples would be like the lady who baked a cake with a chainsaw, or all of the new variations of "The Nakiri Giifting" that all seem to top each other each in how many clothes they can make disappear each time a new delicious food item is made.
Everything is predictable and there's no real tension or reason why you should care about anything that happens and anyone things happen to. It hurts to watch because it's no longer out of enjoyment, but out of oblgation. The silliness that made Food Wars! so popular may still be "present," but it's beyond unrecognizable with how insanely illogical these cooking powers are. All of the characters are bland boring bitches of the characters they once were, and now we're just left with angry chibi faces and a really bad story that only lasts for 13 episodes. I'm not arguing that there should have been more, but so much of the story had to be explained within the last episode. For no reason, certain events that were never explained and that you could have honestly forgotten about were brought up in the last 8 minutes. There's no reason for me to care about anything that happens in this season.
Season 4 had such a beautiful and touching ending in my opinion. Some people may have dislked it, but it ended the Food Wars franchise really well. Really well. So much so, that I almost refused to start the 5th season. I should have listened to my instincts. Anyone interested in Food Wars! should really stay from this. It'll leave you with an extremely bitter and sour taste of nothings. It hurts to end something I love so much, but without the Food Wars! title and all the ecchi fanservice, this show would go nowhere. Stay away from this if you truly love yourself.
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