The fourth season of Food Wars ended on a pretty contentious note, with a lot of things being left up in the air. There’s an entirely new status quo to be set for the next season, and that means that, even though we’ve seen all of our heroes become friends and collaborators, we don’t know what their relationships are like in the new season as they go into their second year at Totsuki Academy.
There are a lot of things up in the air for what this new season will bring, and we definitely have a lot of questions about what might come to pass. We’re even more eager to see if everything we’re hoping will happen does. Here are five questions we hope get resolved and five things we just really want to see in Food Wars season five.
10 UNANSWERED QUESTION: What Happened To The Characters During The Time Skip?
The end of season four leaves off at the end of the first year of school at Totsuki Academy for our main characters, but we see that we’ve actually jumped forward to the beginning of their second year, confirming a time skip took place offscreen. This certainly means that the status quo for everyone has changed.
What were they up to and what does it mean for their cooking and for their relationships? What can we expect from them as characters when they get back to school? We’re desperate to know what happened to all of the characters during the time skip!
9 THINGS WE WANT TO SEE: New Rivals
The fun of Food Wars is that we’re constantly seeing different kinds of cooking from different kinds of people. Not only are there a lot of different cuisines from different countries and reasons but also different specialties within those regions and different focuses when it comes to ingredients, cooking methods, and tastes.
So we’re always excited to have new characters show up to challenge what Soma knows and to give him a run for his money, to force him to be willing to consider different kinds of cooking than what he knows and to grow as a chef.
8 UNANSWERED QUESTION: Will We See All The Arcs?
The Food Wars manga wrapped up last year, which means we have all of the material we’ll get for the series, including all of the possible arcs that could be included in the anime. But there are rumors that the next season is the final one and that it’s going to skip right to the Blue Arc, which is the actual finale of the manga.
That being said, are we going to see the Hot Spring Investigation Arc and the Beach Exams Arc? Also, are there going to be parts of the story that will only be available as part of the manga? Only time will tell.
7 THINGS WE WANT TO SEE: Soma Finally Defeating His Father
If Food Wars is really ending with the fifth season, as is rumored, then we think it’s high time that Soma finally gets one over on his dad during a cook off after almost 500 losses. We’ve watched Soma grow as a chef for four seasons, and we understand that he’s a much better chef than he started as.
Even if he hasn’t quite reached the same level as his father, this is at least the time for him to have one final standoff with him to see how much he’s grown and to finally be acknowledged as someone worth taking over Yukihira Diner.
6 UNANSWERED QUESTION: What Is Soma’s New Goal?
As of the end of season four, Soma has achieved his goal of reaching the Elite 10. One of the big themes of the series has been the question of what a chef does once they've reached the goal they've set for themselves, however lofty that goal was, without feeling like they've lost their motivation for cooking.
So the question has to be what Soma's new goal will be now that he's achieved the goal he declared at the beginning of the series, to reach the top of the heap of Totsuki Academy. Whatever it is, we're sure to be there for the ride.
5 THINGS WE WANT TO SEE: New Fantasy Sequences
It’s hard to sell an anime series about cooking. At its core, cooking is not that interesting a thing to watch; it’s honestly pretty relaxing. So for a shounen anime to be based around the concept that cooking can be competitive and exciting, there has to be a lot to really sell it to us.
One of the things that makes Food Wars special are the absolutely bananas fantasy sequences. They border on pornographic most of the time and are often completely ridiculous, but they’re a huge draw to the show. We can’t wait to see more ways that the experience of tasting food will be represented via fantasy in the fifth season.
4 UNANSWERED QUESTION: Will Soma End Up With Someone Romantically?
Romance isn’t a big question when it comes to Food Wars. All of the characters are so focused on their cooking that being interested in being in relationships or even thinking that other people could be attractive doesn’t really come up all that much. Still, Soma has obvious love interests in the series: Erina, Megumi, and Ikumi.
While he might not necessarily be thinking about them right now, there is always the lingering idea that he might end up with one of them. The question, of course, is which one is the choice when a few of them seem like they might be suitable options by shounen anime standards.
3 THINGS WE WANT TO SEE: Takumi Earning Back His Mezzaluna
During the Team Shokugeki, Soma does offer to return Takumi’s mezzaluna, a special blade with two handles, to him in order for him to be at his best while he’s competing against the members of the Elite 10.
But we hope that season five gives us an opportunity to see Takumi earn it back in earnest, by holding his own against Soma during a one on one Shokugeki. They’re friends and rivals, and seeing Takumi grow in this way will be as special as seeing Soma win against any of his own rivals, since it means that Takumi has grown alongside him.
2 UNANSWERED QUESTION: Will Soma Return To Take Over Yukihira Diner?
We know that Food Wars season five takes place during year two of school at Totsuki Academy, but we also know that it might very well be the last season of the anime. If that’s the case, we definitely need to know: has Soma passed muster? We already want to know if he’s able to surpass, or at least meet, his dad when it comes to skill in the kitchen, but will Soma be able to convince him that he’s able to take on the mantle of running Yukihira Diner?
A lot has happened since the beginning of the series, but Soma’s desire to return to the diner he and his father have run since he was a child hasn’t changed. We’re ready to find out if he’s successful at his goals and is able to return to work there.
1 THINGS WE WANT TO SEE: Megumi Gaining Confidence
We’ve seen Megumi slowly grow as a chef throughout the series, with the encouragement of Soma and the other friends and mentors who believe in her. She’s used her skills and their support to survive through countless altercations with people who want to dismiss her cooking because of its rural origins.
But now, we’re ready to see her be proud of and confident in her cooking without needing the extra support and encouragement of her friends but instead being ready to hold her own with her own power. She has definitely earned it after four seasons of being the wallflower of the series.