Food Wars Ending Leads to Unsatisfying Conclusion

July 1, 2019

After the sudden announcement of the Food Wars finale, the manga ended in disappointment.

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma follows Yukihira Soma as he progresses through Totsuki Culinary School, the elite culinary school in the world. The anime is known for its amazing art and its interesting take on the shonen genre.

The manga was, up until recently, headed towards a natural conclusion. The students were their last year and Soma went against one of the only people who rivaled his father. Yet Food Wars’ ending of the manga feels rushed. Almost completely ignoring all the other characters and some major story threads.

Food Wars’ Final Chapters

WARNING: The next paragraph will have spoilers for the end of manga.

The last few chapters of the manga follows Soma after defating Saiba. He’s forced to face Erina, with eggs being the main ingredient. Soma then makes the most refined version of his Egg Don, which he served to Erina in chapter 3 of the manga. Bringing things full circle.

We then learn her grandfather chose all the students for Soma’s year to overcome the burden put upon Erina and her mother by the God Tongue. The God Tongue grants superhuman taste, but this makes all the worst aspects of food come through as well. Erina’s mother stopped eating food completely because of this.

Soma beats Erina, but she still isn’t satisfied. So he vows to make something that she can call delicious, like at the start of the manga.

What’s most disappointing is we never see what happens to all Soma’s friends after their time at Totsuki. We never learn where Saiba ends up, how does he change as a person? Does Soma end up inheriting the family restaurant? What does Megumi end up doing afterwards? How about Erina’s grandfather, does his plan ever end up working?

With the number of characters and story threads that aren’t given any resolution makes it feels unfinished and rushed. Hopefully the fourth season of Food Wars might be able to give us the conclusion we were hoping for.

Update: Four additional chapters released in the months following the final chapter. They take place after the events of the BLUE arc and do give a more satisfactory end with more details about where each of the characters ended up.

UPDATE: The final manga volume is now available in English for Kindle and paperback releases over on Amazon. If you want to see how it ended yourself, go check it out!