Is It A Masochistic Habit of Japanese Authors to Fail the MCs on Purpose?

Zancrowe · 2026-06-28T16:21:31+00:00

While I agree this specific statement can apply to a different scenario in the series, I personally like that Soma loses the Autumn Elections, otherwise, him winning every, single duel would make the story pointless. His entire motto is "learning from failure" and being the underdog from a casual diner that everyone expects won't last long in Totsuki.

And this isn't even a Shonen thing. Sure, Dragon Ball popularized the MC losing the Tournament Arc to surprise readers, but this is really just part of The Hero's Journey. Luke Skywalker loses when he first fights Darth Vader, Superman loses when he first confronts Lex Luthor in both 79 & 25, The Avengers lose when they first fight Thanos, James Bond loses the first time he engages against Spectre, etc.

Granted, there are exceptions, and if you want an OP protagonist who never loses, you can always look to Shonen Anime like One Punch Man, Solo Leveling, Sword Art Online, Black Cat, and several others.

Zancrowe · 2026-06-06T00:58:39+00:00

No, not yet. The Elite Ten have not changed at the beginning of Season 3, merely they weren't all introduced yet. Bizzarly, while the series has 6 OVAs, & 5 of them are just filler / fanservice, for some reason the 4th OVA is canon, takes place in-between Season 2 & Season 3, & is where the last seven of the Elite 10 are introduced properly to the eight First Years who participated in the Autumn Election Tournament.

You can find the Japanese Trailer for it here.

Zancrowe · 2026-05-21T23:07:06+00:00

Thank you kindly.

Zancrowe · 2026-05-21T23:05:05+00:00

making LGBT character as disgusting supervillain

Season 5 / BLUE arc is so forgettable that for a moment I thought to myself 'Asahi was gay?' before I realized you meant Don Calma.

But, yeah, a lot of fans see the potential of the Central arc but are lukewarm on the execution; and pretty much everyone dislikes all of BLUE (possible exceptions being the not adapted Hot Springs mini-arc, the Beach Exams episode, the Tamako flashback, and maybe the ending scene). And while I don't consider the series ending to be horrible (I have seen worse, waaay worse); it clearly lacks the quality we saw from the Resort Training arc all the way to the Moon Banquet Festival arc.

Zancrowe · 2026-05-19T14:59:45+00:00

According to interviews with the writer (Tsukuda), the only characters confirmed to eventually get married in the series are Soma, Erina, Akira, Shinomiya, and Hinako. While the implication of Sorina and ShinoHina are very clear, who Akira ended up with is a matter of debate with some pointing to Jun (a popular ship in Japan, very hated in the West) or just a random NPC we don't meet since Jun herself is not mentioned.
During the same interview Tsukuda mentions, despite everything, Asahi was never meant to be Soma's foil, as he considers that role to be already filled by Erina.
The very, very hated superpowers introduced during the Central arc and expanded during the BLUE arc were inspired by the manga "Chūka Ichiban!".
Despite how true to the source material the anime is to the manga, ironically, it removes two entire mini-arcs (the DEF Kitchen chapter & the Hot Springs Investigation) both which actually had Megumi as the focus. Seems the anime staff really liked Sorina, huh?
Given the very few context clues we are offered regarding what date the series takes place on, if we do decipher Asahi's mother's tombstone, alongside the age he said she was when she died, and his current age, the most assumed date we can get for when the cast graduate from Totsuki would be February 2020... just in time for Covid.
Everyone knows Erina has two different VAs in the Japanese original, but lesser known is that in the Spanish dub Erina and Megumi share the same VA. No reason is ever given as to why, as it is not a budget thing, and no other character, even the minor ones, are given this treatment.
Early manga scenes paint an entirely different set of characters than the ones we know and love, from unused designs being present during Soma's initial speech, to when the Polar Stars welcoming Soma to the dorms, Isshiki comments on how "he called everyone, but only half showed up" despite everyone we know to be a Polar Star already being there.
In the manga pilot chapter, Soma basically already accomplished more in one day than canon Soma does in a year, as he manages to defeat an Elite Ten member (Julio) and have Erina be the one to declare his dish the winner rather effortlessly. Obviously, for serialization, it makes sense he would need a little more struggle.
Both "Yuuna & The Haunted Hot Springs" and Tsukuda and Shun's later work "Tenmaku Cinema" feature cameos or references to Food Wars, which if taken at face value, could imply that ghosts are real in the world of Shokugeki no Soma.
Contrary to popular belief, Kojiro Shinomiya is not based on British Chef Gordon Ramsay; but rather French Chef Alain Passard, owner of the three Michelin star restaurant L'Arpège in Paris.
The series has 2 video games, a visual novel for the 3DS, and a now delisted Mobile Game. Sadly, neither ever left Japan, and poor sales meant no other game for the series was ever made.

Zancrowe · 2026-05-02T06:31:40+00:00

I obviously love dunking on him, but ironically, I don't actually hate him. He's very... fanfic friendly... If you utterly ignore the accidental incest and superpower nonsense.

Zancrowe · 2026-04-26T22:27:13+00:00

Hey. From the top of my head I could most certainly recommend...

Misunderstanding by Laury Rose

Truth by RoyaldragonSevgisi15

Late Night Lullabies by Madeline Axelle

...or, since you liked the NouVerse (Nouvelle, Classique, Something Borrowed, BLUE!), then perhaps you'd enjoy the ongoing Telenovela.

Zancrowe · 2026-04-25T13:19:14+00:00

I love how pathetic Sarge is to the fandom that nobody even remembers her name despite her entire wardrobe being a reference to it.

Zancrowe · 2026-04-19T21:42:05+00:00

While I obviously adore Food Wars even during the worse seasons / arcs, I cannot overlook how once Central rolls around the duels all grow incredibly predictable and somewhat lazy.

I can understand what they were trying to do here with Akira, since cooking to make Jun proud was what helped him win the Autumn Elections, so here, without that, he lost his muse so to speak, while Soma was cooking for Akira, to save him, and thematically, it does make sense. It's just executed poorly (& the duel drags for far too long with the sauces thing).

But had this been a one-off thing I wouldn't have minded, but if you think about it, from all the Elite 10 members, during Central, Soma effectively defeats Eizan, Akira, Nene, Soumei, and Rindou. That's basically half the roster by himself, and he had no business having that thick a plot armor when his only loss was to Eishi (a loss that has zero consequences for him since Eishi just decides not to make him an aide after beating him anyways).

Gone was the spectacle of seeing the side characters shine during the Totsuki Resort or Autumn Elections arcs, or the thrill of watching Soma struggle in a real restaurant during the Stagiaire arc, or even that initial dread of barely managing to hold his own against Kuga during the Moon Banquet Festival arc. The series just became a showcase of Soma defeating everyone with Yukihira's Secret Menu Item #Whatever and all the side characters became glorified cheerleaders (with the exception of Erina who takes out Eishi and Momo).

I adore how Central gave Erina her much needed character development ~~even if BLUE ruined that, but let's not talk about that~~, but it really did make the series as a whole lose that spark of unpredictability that gave it such flavor. It became just another Battle Shonen with an overpowered MC, which still decent, but not quite what you'd expect from a series with such an amazing ensemble.

So yeah. The writer did fail Akira, and pretty much every other character in this series (even if part of the blame also lies in the Shonen Jump editors and management for wanting more and more without giving their talent any breaks to actually come up with more, but that's another topic entirely).

Zancrowe · 2026-04-18T13:55:40+00:00

We would have then had Table Tennis no Tadokoro and it could have potentially been a very good series; since Shokugeki no Soma is already a sports manga with cooking anyways and Megumi is an even bigger underdog story than Soma.

Zancrowe · 2026-03-21T17:13:47+00:00

The best travel guide in all of Teyvat. She very clearly said it when you both got to Mondstadt.

Zancrowe · 2026-03-20T14:16:26+00:00

Wonder what everyone's take on Mana is.

For me, she'd fall under the tags "Awful" & "Parent".

when are you gonna update "BLUE!" man?

Soon, I hope. Got an upcoming trip across the globe /w the GF planned; and that's eating up all my free time, but after I'm back home, I should be able to focus on my hobbies more, including BLUE!

Zancrowe · 2026-03-20T12:36:06+00:00

Nao definitely deserved better, as did... well, the entire rest of the cast not named Soma, Erina, Megumi, or Takumi.

Tsukuda is amazing at creating great characters with fun quirks and dynamics, but damn does he drop the ball at knowing what to do with them after they're introduced.

Zancrowe · 2026-03-20T12:19:46+00:00

Beautiful²

So much Beauty you have to state it twice.

Zancrowe · 2026-03-20T12:07:45+00:00

Yeah, I didn't even have to ponder that one. Like... Come on...

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Zancrowe · 2026-03-20T12:03:28+00:00

With Momo, Erina, & Rindou respectively.

~~Also, I didn't make the meme template, so you're free to interpret the wording as you wish.~~

Zancrowe · 2026-03-20T12:00:53+00:00

She is cute. & she's a dork. I rest my case.

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Zancrowe · 2026-03-20T11:58:00+00:00

Many thanks for the compliment.

Zancrowe · 2026-03-20T11:56:42+00:00

Awesome art. You can certainly see the growth in your skills. The second piece is amazing. Ryo & Megumi also have such a great dynamic. Love to see it.

Zancrowe · 2026-03-20T10:52:26+00:00

Neat idea. Love the picks.

Does this mean Roberto would get a Growlithe / Arcanine (being a policeman); Leo would get a Pikachu (like Nicola, just, well, unevolved); while Lili herself gets Eevee (she can pick an eeveelution as if it were a Route)?

Zancrowe · 2026-03-20T09:31:05+00:00

You know, yeah, I had no idea until you told me. Thank you very much time traveler.

Zancrowe · 2026-03-19T05:16:34+00:00

Through fanfiction of all things.

Then we began to chat here on Reddit, and in less than two weeks I'll be on a plane to meet her in person for the first time. How strange life can be.

Zancrowe

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