Food Wars Graphic Novel Volume 22 cover image

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

As Food Wars!: Shokugeki No Soma, Vol. 22 (Chapters 182 to 190; entitled Rematch with a Rival) opens, it is stage three of the Totsuki advancement exams, which are taking place in the frigid north of Hokkaido.  Now, Soma must battle Akira Hayama, a master of manipulating fragrances, and Soma is still smarting from an earlier loss to Hayama at the Fall Classic.  The shock ingredient is bear meat!

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

THE LOWDOWN:  I always say that the Food Wars! manga is at its best when it depicts cooking competitions.  This volume offers a doozy of a contest.

Food Wars!: Shokugeki No Soma Graphic Novel Volume 22, set in the Hokkaido region of Japan, takes on cooking bear meat.  Writer Yuto Tsukada and artist Shun Saeki even have their star, Soma, doing a lot of research to solve the dilemma of cooking bear meat.  Vol. 22 also highlights the playfulness of this series.  It is easy to get lost in all the wild, weird, and wonderful recipes, but Food Wars! can be humorous and delightful no matter how hot it gets in the competitive kitchen.

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

A
9 out of 10