The culinary adventure series Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma has the structure and themes of a classic shonen battle anime without actually throwing a single punch. Instead, the main characters are enrolled at the competitive Totsuki Academy, Japan's top culinary school. These students get more than a few chances to face-off in the kitchen to prove their worth.

The protagonist is Soma Yukihira, son of a diner chef, but his many friends and allies are really what make the series come to life. Soma's dearest friend is Megumi Tadokoro, the girl who learned to stand up for herself, and Soma has something of a rival in Alice Nakiri, the cousin of the famed Erina Nakiri. If Megumi gave it her best shot, she could take down Alice in a duel. Here's how.

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How Far Megumi has Come

megumi tadokoro

Megumi always had what it t0ok to be a great chef, but it took some time for her confidence and self-image to catch up. She grew up in the Tohoku region, surrounded by fishermen, inns and seafood, which shaped her culinary interests and talents. Megumi always loved helping her mother in the kitchen and she took the initiative to learn how to skin, gut and prepare a monkfish, which is no mean feat. She loved being surrounded by her loving family and adoring neighbors and friends, which drove her to succeed and realize her potential.

When she arrived at Totsuki, however, being so far from home and surrounded by intense competition shook her deeply, and she hesitated. In fact, Megumi nearly got expelled.

All that changed when Soma extended the hand of friendship and Megumi was delighted when all her family members and neighbors came to cheer her on at the Autumn Elections tournament. Even though Megumi did not win that tournament (she lost to Ryo Kurokiba), her self-confidence reached new heights, and this unlocked her potential. Megumi went on to face Central in the Regiment de Cuisine 8-vs-8 battle, and she earned a place on the new Council of Ten, at #10. What is more, Megumi placed first in the school-wide contest to see which three students would qualify to attend the famed BLUE -- placing ahead of the likes of Alice Nakiri, Akira Hayama and others.

Most important is Megumi's motivation: cooking for those whom she loves. This is the same lesson that Soma learned at the family restaurant, and it's the key to escaping the "storm" of despair that many chefs face. Megumi is driven to make others happy and make them feel at home, and Megumi can even gauge a person and determine what kind of food they would like to eat. Megumi may be the most selfless student at all of Totsuki, and it has taken her incredibly far.

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Alice: Concocting The Ultimate Flavor

alice nakiri

Alice Nakiri is a part of the famed Nakiri family, though she did not inherit the incredible God Tongue as her cousin Erina did. Instead, Alice has compensated with her ruthless and calculating ways, using the power of gastronomy to formulate the perfect dish to one-up her esteemed cousin. Alice has always been competitive and self-absorbed, determined to prove that her formulas and molecule diagrams can beat sheer inborn talent like Erina's, and she traveled the world in her girlhood to learn even more. Alice visited Scandanavia as a child and met Ryo Kurokiba, the fierce young chef who would take on all newcomers. Alice partnered up with him and used him as target practice, honing her skills against an opponent who was always up for a challenge.

As a Totsuki student, Alice ranks among the elite, using gastronomy theories and lab equipment to create unique dishes and flavors that are impossible to make with conventional kitchen gear, such as a centrifuge to distill the pure essence of tomatoes. Alice faced Soma himself in the Autumn Elections and very nearly won, only narrowly losing because she was getting a little bit stale in her methods, while Soma was incredibly resourceful and creative. Alice later placed in the new Council of Ten, as #6.

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Comfort Food Vs. Science: The Shokugeki

Megumi, Food Wars

This shokugeki's theme would be emotions vs. hard science, because Megumi specializes in home-style cooking and she is adept at reading her clients to determine what sort of food they would like the best. Alice has no such natural talent; instead, she has studied long and hard to engineer the perfect dishes. She would have the advantage of using unique cooking implements and ingredients.

But what Alice doesn't realize is that she is working against the theme of the entire franchise: cooking for love instead of for the self. Alice's technique earned her a higher rank than Megumi, but that might mean little in a shokugeki wherein Megumi can read the judges and cook to live up to her friends' and family's expectations of her.

Alice's methods and motives are downright selfish and cold by comparison, making her oddly similar to the final villain, Asahi Saiba. Alice's technique can't make up for her lack of compassion for others in the kitchen, and Megumi has proven in the series that she is capable of incredible growth and self-actualization by cooking for others, just like Soma. In this hypothetical showdown, Megumi would pull ahead of Alice and defeat her with the power of love itself.

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