Shokugeki no Souma: Gou no Sara (Food Wars! The Fifth Plate) Review – Was the Last Dish Served Luke Warm?

7:00 AM October 4, 2020

Anime Review [Article Category]
Comedy Anime, Shounen Anime, School Anime, Food Anime [Genres]
Shokugeki no Souma (Food Wars!) [Anime Title]

Honey’s Anime Pickup,

Aaron

Was the Last Dish Served Luke Warm?

Mangaka : 13
Publisher : Ecchi, School, Shounen
Genre : April 2020 – September 2020
Published : J.C. Staff

Shokugeki no Souma: Gou no Sara (Food Wars! The Fifth Plate) Introduction and Story

Souma Yukihira has faced incredible challenges as he’s tried to prove his cooking chops. Time after time, Souma has overcome his trials and tribulations all while growing each time thanks to his friends/skills. However, a new chef has appeared before our Souma and this young man seems to have a challenge of his own to overcome. The fate of Souma’s chef title lies in the hands of Asahi Saiba. Will this challenger change Souma’s world?

Contains Spoilers

Food Wars Once More

Over the years, Food Wars has been met with mixed love due in large part to the occasional wonky pacing and weak plot. Thankfully, this final season—while not perfect, mind you—has revived the elements we loved from the earlier seasons of Food Wars to deliver a strong conclusion to this five-part series.

Anime vs. Manga

A very rare phrase to hear from the anime community is that a series concluded stronger than the manga. Well folks, today you’ll hear it from us here at Honey’s Anime. Food Wars had a very rushed manga ending and, while the anime did rush a bit, the conclusion felt a lot more substantial with a cleaner—and more touching—moment between Erina and Souma. In our honest opinion readers, the anime ending for Food Wars outshined the conclusion to be found in the manga.

Extravagant Clothes Exploding Moments

Ecchi fans will be pleased to hear that Food Wars! The Fifth Plate has even more foodgasms than ever before. The final episode alone has most of the characters losing their clothes entirely which was enough to get us viewers to experience some heavy nosebleeds. The fifth season of Food Wars might have some more dramatic moments—especially between Erina and her father—but the ecchi has been ramped up for the better.

Rushed Dessert

Food Wars! The Fifth Plate shared one element found in the manga adaptation and that is the quickness of this story. While the ending was indeed stronger for Food Wars in this anime version, the tale was quick to reach the conclusion of Souma’s story and it’s hard to ignore that feeling while watching.

The Same Course Over and Over Again

Food Wars has always felt like a repetitive story that just changes characters as it proceeds. This fifth and final season doesn’t change the formula once again relying on the shokugeki battles and random moments of possible loss to make the plot feel stronger. Souma possibly losing his valued chef’s knife to Asahi or the long-awaited battle for the Elite Ten seats felt like episodes we’ve seen before in Food Wars but just altered with new faces and new food dishes. Our feelings while watching Food Wars! The Fifth Plate is comparable to having pasta three times in a row with the same sauce but on different food plates.

The Final Dish

Earlier we said that the anime adaptation for Food Wars ended on a stronger note than the manga. While that is true, that doesn’t mean the ending was all that amazing. Food Wars! The Fifth Plate ends with a laugh out loud predictable conclusion that could have been just a tad more heartwarming. Why couldn’t Souma and Erina get into a relationship? and, why did Souma’s final meal end up being a running gag of a ghastly looking dish? Many times we asked “why” as we witnessed the conclusion of Food Wars and that should be enough to show how utterly disappointed we were with the finale.

Final Thoughts

Food Wars! The Fifth Plate fixed the infamously bad ending of the manga series but that doesn’t mean this season rectified issues we’ve long had with the show. Food Wars still felt rushed with this final season which put a damper on our enjoyment. While the battles were stronger than previous seasons and the various dishes looked stellar, Food Wars! The Fifth Plate just felt like a dish we’ve had time after time again. Was this a horrible finale to a long-running franchise? No, but equally it didn’t do much to save Food Wars from ending on a ho-hum note.

Did you feel differently about Food Wars! The Fifth Plate? Let us know in the comments below and for more anime reviews stick to our delicious hive here at Honey’s Anime!

Writer

Author: Aaron

Hey everyone I’m Aaron Curbelo or Blade as I’m called by my YouTube Subscribers. I’ve been an anime/manga fan since I was a young kid. In terms of anime I have watched nearly a thousand shows and have read hundreds of manga series. I love writing and honestly was so happy to join Honey’s Anime to get a shot to write articles for such a wonderful site. I’m a firm believer in respect in the anime community being the most important embodiment we should all have. We all love anime and we have varying opinions of series but we should respect one another for those differences! Life is too precious to spend it making needless arguments in a community that should be the shining example of loving an amazing medium. I hope as a writer for Honey’s Anime I can bring you folks some amazing articles to read and enjoy!

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