Review of Food Wars! The Fourth Plate

The fourth season of Shokugeki no Souma marks a pretty serious drop in quality from the prior three seasons of the show. Shokugeki no Souma's foundation is over-the-top ecchi chef battling, and this season does manage to do that reasonably well. Unfortunately, the fourth season loses sight of just about everything else that made the first three enjoyable. In prior seasons of the anime, Shokugeki are points of climax in the story. They have serious buildup, and the characters spend time preparing for what in many cases is a life-altering battle. Shokugeki serves as a vehicle for character development - both winners and losers are noticeablydifferent after a Shokugeki.

As this season proves, Shokugeki loses its impact on the viewer in the absence of this buildup and progression. This season crams what is effectively 14 Shokugeki in 11 episodes. The result of this ridiculous pacing? A season that is little more than standard shounen action junk, for a show that was once a standout in the genre.

To be fair to J.C. Staff, I'm not sure if this problem was avoidable without significantly altering the plot. If the manga calls for 14 Shokugeki in a row, how can the anime deliver on that oh-so-enjoyable buildup and resolution that previously defined Shokugeki? I'm not sure, but at the end of the day, as a fan of the series, this season was a disappointment.

If you've gotten to this point in the series, you're probably invested enough that you're going to watch regardless. And while I've focused mostly on the negative in this review, it does still succeed in delivering fun ecchi chef battles, which is the main reason to watch Shokugeki no Souma anyways. So watch on, be disappointed, and then wonder with me if you're going to watch a fifth season of this, after such a drop in quality, and after the story reaches such a satisfying natural stopping point.