Food Wars: Shokugeki No Soma Vol. 11-13 by Yuto Tsukuda

Published: April 5, 2016 

# of Pages: 192

Source: Purchased Copy 

Soma Yukihira’s old man runs a small family restaurant in the less savory end of town. Aiming to one day surpass his father’s culinary prowess, Soma hones his skills day in and day out until one day, out of the blue, his father decides to enroll Soma in a classy culinary school! Can Soma really cut it in a place that prides itself on a 10 percent graduation rate? And can he convince the beautiful, domineering heiress of the school that he belongs there at all?!

Mimasaka copies his opponents’ dishes so perfectly and completely it’s uncanny. And he does it solely to win. But is that what cooking is really about? Hoping to find the answer, Soma bets his all as a chef! Who’s right and who’s wrong will be made clear when it comes time to judge the Fall Classic’s first semifinal round! 

This volume was amazing!! I loved the way Soma handled himself in the semi-finals and it was even more interesting to see how the competition was going to end. It seems like we were working our way to this point in previous volumes. To be honest, I was glad to see this arc of the story finally start to come to a close. It was great reading about the fall classic at first; however, it began to get a bit tedious after a while. I simply wanted to see more things about the kids who attend this school. Nevertheless, the artwork was phenomenal and I must say that Tsukuda has a gift for writing a good story. I definitely was not expecting this volume to end the way it did. 

Published: June 7, 2017

# of Pages: 192

Source: Purchased Copy 

The Fall Classic semifinals conclude with a historic first—a three-way battle in the finals! The ingredient chosen to grace the grandest stage is an autumn staple, pike. But with such a tight time limit, what incredible dishes can finalists Soma, Hayama and Kurokiba possibly create?!

This volume was just pure creativity. I loved loved loved the fact that each one of the finalists was presented with a tricky ingredient that they had to really figure out. What I enjoyed even more is that this volume did not end the way I thought it was going to end. I assumed one thing and it definitely went in a completely different direction. Once again the artwork was amazing and the level of dedication to the description of food never ceased to amaze me. I think that this volume particularly made me excited simply because of the fact that I knew that the fall classic was coming to a close and that meant we were entering a new story arc. Yuto Tsukuda is a gifted writer and when I keep going going through each volume I see why I'm hooked. 

Published: August 2nd, 2016 

# of Pages: 192

Source: Purchased Copy 

Three students survive the harsh trials of the preliminaries, winning their way into the finals. Which student will be the one to take home the crown as the winner of the Fall Classic?! Later, the furor of the Fall Classic has barely died down when Soma and the others are sent off to new battlefields! What is this new challenge that will test their desire to be chefs?

Okay so the most interesting aspect of this volume was definitely the fact that Soma entered into a completely new phase of the Institute. I mean, I like the Fall Classic story line, but this was so much better! I think I was just ready to see something different and Yuto Tsukuda definitely provided that to me. The artwork was brilliant and this new challenge that the students face definitely makes for an interesting story. This definitely re-energized my love for this manga and it's for this reason that I flew through the next available volumes.