Title: Food Wars: The Second Plate on Blu-ray
Director: Yoshitomo Yonetani
Studio: J. C. Staff
U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23
U. S. Release Date: February 13, 2018
Format: Blu-ray / 13 Episodes / 325 Minutes
Genre: Comedy, Food Battle, Slice of Life, Harem
Age Rating: TV-MA
Overall Personal Rating: A
Synopsis:
At the Tohtsuki Culinary Academy, the first rule is survival of the fittest, and if you don’t have what it takes to become a master chef, you need to get out of the kitchen before you get burned. With the wheat of first-year students separated from the chaff, cocky former diner cook Yukihira Soma is one of the handful of kitchen whizzes still standing.
As the next round of the Autumn Elections gets underway, can he survive a brutal bento boxing match with the chemistry-obsessed granddaughter of the Academy’s director? And which of the other contenders; Megumi, Ryo, Akira, Hisako, Takumi or sinister dark-horse Subaru; will advance to fight for the gold medal? Get ready for another cut-throat season of eat, beat, and defeat!
Commentary:
I was shocked and surprised when I was done watching Food Wars: The Second Plate. To be blunt I didn’t expect it to get any better, but it did. In the first season Food Wars tended to focus on the comedy and the orgasmic food tasting, but in The Second Plate there was a defined focus on discovering something new about these characters and showing a new maturity in our favorite characters was a real delight. From the opening episode through the last there was a honest focus on giving our characters some depth and adding plenty of reasons to root for all of them to move forward in their pursuit of culinary greatness.
Most anime will provide a antagonist and make them dark a mean. When provided a bad guy in Food Wars we end up liking them in the end and wanting to see more of them. Now I think there is someone behind the scenes that has a even darker motive but we haven’t been show much yet and I am sure that will show up in the third season.
Overall Grade: A
I have to raise the grade of Food Wars: The Second Plate to a full A because it moved the overall comedy to the side and focused on the development of the characters and story. In both cases there was a heightened improvement that shinned through like a bright star without blinding us and loosing the flavor of the series. The flavor of the series is key to all of this and if you like the opening 24 episodes then the next 13 will not disappoint.
Soma became more of a force that in the opening 24 episodes. We see a maturity come out of him that is almost unreal for the short amount of time he has been at the school, but it works well with the task that are presented to him. There is a bit of humility added to his character that is welcome and needed. Even Erina Nakiri and her cousin Alice show some humanity that is very much appreciated.
Overall, I found Food Wars: The Second Plate is a wonderful extension of a series that manages to hit most of the best aspects of what makes anime great. If you haven’t seen any Food Wars then you should get with it and check it out. If you have then I know you will be very happy with The Second Plate.
