Food Wars follows a group of students at a prestigious culinary school. The titular food wars are cooking competitions between chefs undertaken either for personal reasons or as part of a pupil’s advancement through the school.
Whereas season 1 of Food Wars had 24 episodes, season 2 only has 13. This reduced episode count does mean there is less running time for your money, but it also results in a more focused storyline. Most of the season is spent following the final rounds of the Autumn Election Tournament. At first it seems like Food Wars falls into a rut quite quickly – early episodes have a battle each, and the pacing doesn’t leave much time to explore the characters. However, this status quo isn’t around for long before it is quickly upended and the show begins to shine.
The early episodes give Soma something of an antagonist to defeat, food wars become structured in a way that lets the characters shine, and the food tasting sequences become more imaginative. In season 1, most of the food reactions boiled down to a variation on orgasm, which was funny at first but got old quickly. There are still foodgasms here, but there are also extended daydream sequences which add variety to the judges’ reactions.
This season is also strong in terms of how it handles its lead character, Soma. At times in the show’s past it has felt like he was too adept at cooking despite the fact that he is supposed to be at a school to improve his cooking. Season 2 counteracts this, first by making sure that Soma isn’t always on top, and secondly by showing the pains that Soma takes to learn. This isn’t a character who shows up already able to teach others (even if it seems like that sometimes), but a character who is shown to struggle and work to make his cooking better. This aspect of Food Wars allows the show to avoid pitfalls that has affected the protagonists of anime in similar situations.
The special features on offer here should be familiar to anyone who has purchased a physical release from Sentai Filmworks before. There is nothing outright bad among the collections, but nothing to make this release a must buy over choosing to stream it online either. Food Wars Season 2 is full of fun, with memorable characters and over the top reactions. Whenever it feels like it settling into a pattern, the show finds a way to shake it up and provide something new. The show is very good, but it is isn’t essential that you buy this release to watch it.
Special Features: Clean Opening Animations / Clean Closing Animations / Trailers
FOOD WARS! SEASON 2 / CERT: 15/ DIRECTORS: VARIOUS/ WRITERS: VARIOUS/ STARRING: BLAKE SHEPPARD, JAY HICMAN, STEPHANIE WITTELS, BRITTNEY KARBOWSKI /RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (VOD), 13TH AUGUST 2018 (DVD)
