Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Shokugeki no Souma - Cursing your Sudden but Inevitable Betrayal!


We have a saying in Spanish.

Raise crows and they will peck your eyes out.

Recent manga events may be surprising, but in hindsight they really shouldn't be.




I have talked about Totsuki before. Allow me to do a brief recap here.

Totsuki is a super Elite School.

Around a thousand kids go into that high school and the number of graduates can be counted with both hands. You'll probably have leftover fingers too.

Is it really any wonder most of the Elite 10 sided with Erina's dad?


Azami is an interesting character. Over the top but interesting. We can speculate a lot about just why Erina is so freaking terrified of him later. For now, let's just dissect his views about cooking.

Azami is an Elitist.

No wait, let me fix that.

Azami is The Elitist.

Totsuki is already a hyper Elite School that will gleefully expel anyone who doesn't cut it, but Azami has taken it one step further.

For him, it's not just about the chefs. It's also about the people who eat the food.



If you and a famous artist are both looking at the same painting who gets the better experience out of it? The one who understand tones, shadows and other artistic techniques used or the one who has no idea beyond "pretty picture".

The ones who understand how tough and how complex it is to make something are usually the ones with a greater appreciation of it.

Because they know this stuff.

Unless they are so-called "modern-artists" in which case they know crap.

Anyway, this is what it boils down to for Azami. Giving gourmet food to someone who doesn't get it is a waste. Nothing but pearls before swine. They may eat it. They will like it.

They won't get it.



In fact, Azami attacks one traditional attitude that has shown up sometimes in this manga.

Best Ingredients = Gourmet Food

We have seen it. We saw it when everyone thought Nikumi would win because she had A5 meat and we saw when the judges went crazy over Hayama's Holy Basil.

It's a legitimate criticism.

People make assumptions about food and plenty of times they end up being wrong. Souma's entire career as a cook in the manga shows us why it's wrong to dismiss common ingredients as "useless".

Essentially, it's not worth giving gourmet food to these type of people from Azami's point of view.



Now, let's return to the Elite 10.

These guys are at the top of one of the most Elite places on Earth.

Contrary to what Grandpa Nakiri might have said this chapter, this is not a place where anyone can rise up to the top. This is a place with an insanely steep learning curve.

Those who can't cut it get thrown out. That's is what the Elite 10 have been raised believing. Those are Totsuki's true ideals.

Azami is just carrying things out to their natural conclusion.


Again I ask, is it any wonder they sided with him? 

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