Oh well. At least Souma's dad brings out an interesting side out of Azami.
A lot of shounen have the heroes lose or get beaten once in a while. It's no unusual, especially in sport series for example. And why are you equating losing with death anyway?
Soma as a series has always had the "do poorly and you lose everything" from chapter 1. I think the issue is that because its a cooking series there really isn't enough unique ways to play this trope and it's hard to really show growth for the main protagonist because he's always been gifted and quirky. They've done "prepare gourmet food with mediocre ingridients" multiple times, the "facing an opponent with an especially difficult item that is their specialty", and the "stronger character is force to support a weaker character" multiple times.
I still really enjoy Soma, but I think the repetition of how the battles are set up/play out if a lot harder to hide in a series about cooking as opposed to insert generic battle shonen here.
Shokugeki no Soma isn't March Comes In Like a Lion; Shokugeki is by design over the top and hammy and involves shit like being expelled from high school for losing an Iron Chef cookoff. That's why people like Shokugeki. The situations where they've constructed it to be possible for him to lose, he does lose on occasion (no, he isn't losing all the time, because he isn't a jobber). But the reality is that you'd have to retool the entire concept of the series to make it worthwhile to have him lose all the time. Gin explains that there have been 121 matches between himself and Jouichirou at the school. Matches like those aren't interesting to show and he's pretty clearly way below people like Tsukasa, so I don't see what the problem is.
Yeah, I don't get that complaint. Soma loses quite frequently. More than most shonen protagonist I think. No shit he isn't gonna lose in the end. The manga would have nowhere to go if he did.
I kind of like the turn that took, as well as Deku's realization and him deciding to fight anyways. I guess he feels that in order to relieve Bakugou of his worries, he needs to show him that he is capable of stepping up and taking on All Might's role.
Promised Neverland
The book stuff is fantastic, B plot with the other 2 finding the room is eh. I think its starting to drag a little bit but that might just be that I can't wait to see what lies beyond the wall.
One Piece
Brook's fruit has to be awakened then yeah? If Paramecia awakenings are all similar in the same way that Zoans' are, then Doffy showed us that awakening lets a Paramecia extend their powers to their environment/others. One Piece's natural counters have always been great moments so I'm glad to see Brook is the antithesis to Big Mom's power.
I can't think of anything that Pudding could have said to warrant that reaction from Luffy/Nami and solve problems other than that she would kill herself to stop the marriage.
Shokugeki is quite good from a general perspective - the last arc has been less good than the previous arcs, but I also think people underrate it because they don't have any patience for the cooking stuff (although I find the cooking battles more entertaining than the vast majority of shonen hand to hand fights). Like, the most recent arc hasn't been great, but I'm a little puzzled why some people suggest its so bad they're dropping it when I don't see that at all.
See with the start of this arc I imagined teachers and others offside with Azami just leaving and forming a new school. Then you could gave two schools fighting with each other as well as the normal stories.
Luffy is gonna beat Big Mom, but with help from Nami and Brook
they have very related abilities to big mom (soul's stuff from Brook and the weather's stuff from Nami)
i dont think that is a coincidence
Luffy is gonna beat Big Mom, but with help from Nami and Brook
they have very related abilities to big mom (soul's stuff from Brook and the weather's stuff from Nami)
i dont think that is a coincidence
The three of them teaming up might be able to take Big Mom down. Nami and Brook can hard counter not only her devil fruit but her weather powers (you're damn right about that stuff), but there's still stuff that's unaccounted for. We might be nearing the middle portion of the arc now, I don't think we're near the end yet if only because we still haven't seen what happened to Jinbei.
The key thing to always remember is that unless a story sells itself on the idea that the protagonist is going to be suffering a lot, or that is prone to lose often and doesn't have anything special to help him tip the odds in his favour, the story will always generally end with things working out favourably for the protagonist. Even with the most weakest and lacking of protagonists, things typically will work out for them unless the author is aiming for a downer type of ending.
This isn't something exclusive to Shonen manga, or manga in general. It's just how stories that have a central focus on a character in an overarching narrative. Emma and William are destined to end together, but that doesn't mean society won't try and separate them. Kaguya is probably going to have a happy ending, but that doesn't change her current family situation is shitty. Mugi and Hanabi will end up being alright, that doesn't mean they still won't be making dumb ass mistakes.
Just to pick some examples from Jump right now, we know that Luffy is going to win against Big Mom, but that doesn't meant he's getting out of this current loss so easily. We know Tamakoma-2 is going to be on the away mission, that doesn't mean they have a 90% chance of losing their next battle. We know that Deku will be All Might's successor, that doesn't mean Deku vs Bakugo might end up with Deku throwing the fight same way he did with Todoroki to help Bakugo figure out what he needs to do.
Getting into the specific series in question, there are 2 reasons why Soma doesn't lose frequently: 1) each loss all leads up to the greater goal of the series for Soma to win vs. his father and 2) Soma is never given a chance to truly lose without the series ending.
With point 1, the first chapter starts off with Soma losing to his father. We are told that, Pre-series, his father had bested him nearly 500 to nil, and we know that once Soma achieves that single victory against his father he would inherit the diner from his dad. So once Soma achieves that goal, the story becomes complete. It's the same with how it went down with Hayama's victory over Soma, because it forced him to go out of his comfort zone and stop following along in his father's footsteps, thus leading to him realising he needs to find a different path in order to best his father 1-on-1. That plot thread got closed recently with their rematch and Soma thanking Hayama for kicking his ass back then, and vice versa, leaving now his upcoming rematch with Tsukasa to showcase how much better Soma had gotten over the course of the story.
There is no reason for Soma to lose against some random mook or minor character because the person he is aiming to defeat by series end is at such a in-series legendary status that he needs to find absurd opponents to go up against. Hayama wasn't just presented as a guy with a spice gimmick, he was someone at-and-even-higher-than-Erina's level in terms of distinguishing tastes and flavours. Tsukasa is literally the top ranked person in the entire school currently. Even with Kuga, which wasn't a traditional 1v1, was still this to some extent, because he wasn't only the 8th seat, but also a master in an area of cooking Soma had no clue how to approach or learn in a week. They are all meant to be people Soma first needs to lose against, figure out how to beat, defeat them until eventually he is at a level where he can win against Jouchirou.
It's predictable, but it works because of how the conflict is set up, how the characters behave and seeing how far Soma goes to figure out how to improve after each loss.
The problem comes up once point 2 comes up. When something like "You will be expelled if you lose here" or "The place which you have set up as your end series goal will be shut down if you don't win" comes along to put something on the line to help raise tension, but it instead ends up with a situation where either Soma wins and the story moves along, or he loses and the story ends. There is only one direction for things to go in.
It's rare that a situation is written where it's alright for Soma to lose in. He could lose with his father, because he Jouchirou doesn't actually demand anything from Soma. He could lose to Hayama at the end of the tournament finale because he isn't going to get expelled for being tied at 2nd place with Kurokiba. He could lose to Tsukasa because the author could go "j/k, it was just a friendly match, later guys" without committing to the result outside of giving Soma having a new focus after he defeats Hayama.
I guess a lot of the problems could be solved if Soma was presented with lesser stakes or had been able to challenge some other people of a higher level while keeping some tension in case of his loss. But there is the problem with trying with keeping a balance between the predictable and entertaining.
They "lost" insofar that they made Hao "winning" also "losing". Shaman King's ending was really odd
in how they tried to make it seem like Hao knew what they had in mind all along, but ended up not figuring out what it actually meant until he stopped hearing other people's thoughts.
Starting to get hype again. I still think this is supposed to be Erina's arc and not Soma's, so I assume she's going to be the decisive factor in winning.
If there is anything the Azami/Central arc had shown us, it is whenever someone needs to go against an Elite 10 member, Soma will always be the pivotal point. Eizan, Hayama and Tsukasa and whoever else he will be going up as well.
As for Erina's arc, I feel it is all coming to either one of 2 conclusions: she rejects Azami's ideal completely, or she forgives him (ugh) and tries to let him get redeemed. I feel that the second conclusion is more likely, given how she still believes he might listen to her.
Shokugeki is quite good from a general perspective - the last arc has been less good than the previous arcs, but I also think people underrate it because they don't have any patience for the cooking stuff
I don't know if I need to read elsewhere to see the complaints about the series now, but the cooking element is the furthest thing away from being the problem here. If anything, the cooking had been getting out of focus more and more outside of when Soma is fighting someone. I think the last time we went in depth with the making of someone else's dish was with Kurokiba against Rentarou. Every other match had been glossed over or just done quickly without much tension or great detail.
I think people have patience for the food, it's just the drama and trying to paint it as a serious conflict that had been wearing thin on everyone.
Shokugeki is quite good from a general perspective - the last arc has been less good than the previous arcs, but I also think people underrate it because they don't have any patience for the cooking stuff (although I find the cooking battles more entertaining than the vast majority of shonen hand to hand fights). Like, the most recent arc hasn't been great, but I'm a little puzzled why some people suggest its so bad they're dropping it when I don't see that at all.
I mean, the chapter where Azami reveals the Elite 10 betrayal was pretty great. Even now, knowing how the majority of the arc ended up, I still think it was good.
It's once the Erina childhood stuff comes along, and the attempts to sabotage the Shokugeki's starts that things turn south. And then the series just turns self serious, and the author just keeps on aborting stuff midway to jump onto a new challenge.
Then there was little good to be found, in a sea of lackluster to bad ideas.
Shokugeki no Soma is still great just like Magi is still great and skimming through some of the smut yall read I think its you and not the series thats in question.
Except you didn't read it so there's no way you could know it was garbage and also, the fact that you allegedly dropped it the very second it got less good suggests you're not being entirely truthful here unless you have precognitive powers. There was nothing about the preceding 130 chapters that would have suggested it was about to nosedive off a cliff (which it didn't, really).
Did you stop liking Metallica 5 seconds into the intro of "Enter Sandman," too?
Shokugeki no Soma is still great just like Magi is still great and skimming through some of the smut yall read I think its you and not the series thats in question.
Speaking of Magi, I really hope this arc's "battle" is a televised debate between Sinbad and Alibaba about the pros and cons of everyone killing themselves.
Shokugeki no Soma is still great just like Magi is still great and skimming through some of the smut yall read I think its you and not the series thats in question.
Shokugeki no Soma is still great just like Magi is still great and skimming through some of the smut yall read I think its you and not the series thats in question.
I mean, Magi is still good, I think. It's just that Shinbou went so hardcore on making Sinbad the final villain I'm not sure what to say at this point. I mean, he went from a guy arguing for unity and peace through economic means to a cult leader telling everyone to drink poisoned Kool-Aid.
Shokugeki is also still good, just that the Azami is clouding everything good about the series with stuff that's dumb or just bad. I liked the way Hayama vs Soma MkIII went down, but wished it didn't have the shadow of Azami hanging in the background of it.
I haven't reached that point in reading it yet but I think Samon is actually extremely underrated and looked over to the point I'm at. It's funny as hell.
I love that dude's artwork though. He and Isin are working together on Shounen Shoujo which is pretty entertaining.
And to be completely honest I think Medaka Box was good BUT American readers lost a LOT in the translation as the combat in the manga became almost metatextually about wordplay in a language we don't speak. So translating it became incredibly convoluted and hard because people's powers would be based around like line breaks in poetic stanzas and shit for things that don't work in English and it's like "Uh...what?"
I love that dude's artwork though. He and Isin are working together on Shounen Shoujo which is pretty entertaining.
And to be completely honest I think Medaka Box was good BUT American readers lost a LOT in the translation as the combat in the manga became almost metatextually about wordplay in a language we don't speak. So translating it became incredibly convoluted and hard because people's powers would be based around like line breaks in poetic stanzas and shit for things that don't work in English and it's like "Uh...what?"
Medaka Box owned. I swear it was a manga made to torture translators/cleaners with the full page attacks and that girl who fought by changing lines in Kanji slightly
Except you didn't read it so there's no way you could know it was garbage and also, the fact that you allegedly dropped it the very second it got less good suggests you're not being entirely truthful here unless you have precognitive powers. There was nothing about the preceding 130 chapters that would have suggested it was about to nosedive off a cliff (which it didn't, really).
Did you stop liking Metallica 5 seconds into the intro of "Enter Sandman," too?
Medaka Box owned. I swear it was a manga made to torture translators/cleaners with the full page attacks and that girl who fought by changing lines in Kanji slightly
I wouldn't put it past the dude. Like I said, I think it suffered to American audiences because some of that shit was REALLY Japanese, and I don't mean "a word that encapsulates honor that sloppy Americans can't understand" I mean "powers based on typographical editing Hiragana"
I love that dude's artwork though. He and Isin are working together on Shounen Shoujo which is pretty entertaining.
And to be completely honest I think Medaka Box was good BUT American readers lost a LOT in the translation as the combat in the manga became almost metatextually about wordplay in a language we don't speak. So translating it became incredibly convoluted and hard because people's powers would be based around like line breaks in poetic stanzas and shit for things that don't work in English and it's like "Uh...what?"
Some of the later chapters became borderline unreadable because of the wordplay
Huge shame because I bet we all would have went "oh Nisio Isin you sly devil, you always manage to bedazzle us with your wonderful mastery over the Japanese language"
So... Did I miss something? Aren't people intrigued at all about that announcement of a Rurōni Kenshin sequel (the Hokkaidō arc the author had considered for a time before deciding to just end the series instead) starting next spring?
So... Did I miss something? Aren't people intrigued at all about that announcement of a Rurōni Kenshin sequel (the Hokkaidō arc the author had considered for a time before deciding to just end the series instead) starting next spring?
So... Did I miss something? Aren't people intrigued at all about that announcement of a Rurōni Kenshin sequel (the Hokkaidō arc the author had considered for a time before deciding to just end the series instead) starting next spring?
So... Did I miss something? Aren't people intrigued at all about that announcement of a Rurōni Kenshin sequel (the Hokkaidō arc the author had considered for a time before deciding to just end the series instead) starting next spring?
Well...no, later Kenshin was a bit silly in power scaling (very high) though maybe it's because I read Samurai Deeper Kyo to soothe the pain from Kenshin's end, and I still resent it for that.
So... Did I miss something? Aren't people intrigued at all about that announcement of a Rurōni Kenshin sequel (the Hokkaidō arc the author had considered for a time before deciding to just end the series instead) starting next spring?
