Food Wars: Volume 21 manga review

Food Wars Graphic Novel Volume 21 cover image

Soma Yukihara grows up cooking in Yukihira Family Restaurant, which is owned by his family.  The 15-year-old Soma wants to be a better chef than his father, Joshiro Yukihira, so he hones his skills day in and day out.  Then, his father suddenly decides to enroll Soma in a classy culinary school, Totsuki Saryo Culinary Institute, a place that prides itself on a 10 percent graduation rate.  Soma does not really want to attend Totsuki, so can he succeed?

As Food Wars!: Shokugeki No Soma, Vol. 21 (Chapters 173 to 181; entitled The Totsuki Train Departs) opens, the latest round of attempts to remove the resisters from the ranks of Totsuki Institute begins.  And Soma is a resister.  First, Soma and his group get poor ingredients, and next, the there are no ingredients left from which they can choose.  In the frigid north of Hokkaido, how will these second year students win their greatest challenge in order to keep from being expelled?

[The volume includes the side story, “Food Wars! Second Stomach! 6 and 7.”]

THE LOWDOWN:  The Food Wars! manga is at its best when it depicts cooking competitions.  This volume, the setting is also a star.

Food Wars!: Shokugeki No Soma Graphic Novel Volume 21 is set in Hokkaido, which is also the setting of a new favorite manga of mine, Golden Kamuy.  Here, Hokkaido not only offers unique ingredients for the students, but also unique challenges.  Writer Yuto Tsukada and artist Shun Saeki continue to keep the narrative fresh, and contributor Yuki Morisaki presents, as always, the most interesting recipes.  Food Wars! continues to be a truly exceptional manga.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Readers hungry for good manga will want the Shonen Jump Advanced title, Food Wars!: Shokugeki No Soma.

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8 out of 10