Food Wars Creators Discuss Why they Ended the Series

After a long and popular run, fans were shocked to find that Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma was going to come to an end following the Noir arc of the series. Although the epilogue closed up fans of the leftover plot threads, fans were wondering that why the creative team of Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki decided that now was the best time to bring the series to an end. Speaking with ComicBook.com during Crunchyroll Expo 2019, series author Tsukuda revealed that he imagined the series would come to an end after the Regiments de Cuisine arc.

As Tsukuda explained, he wanted to end it after the Central arc as it brought the growth of many of the series’ characters to their natural conclusion, “I had been envisioning for a few years that the arc after Régiment du Cuisine would be the last. Because the main plots I wanted to deliver [were] Soma’s mental growth, Megumi’s achievement of independence and Erina’s development, and I successfully deliver those by the end of their battle with Azami.”

But he had doubts as to how to bring Soma and Erina’s romantic journey to its close, “The hardest to conclude story was Soma’s love affair. I asked myself so many times if this was OK, and rewrote the story again and again, then I [was] finally satisfied with the ending which you can see in [Chapter] 315.3. I’m not sure if I could gorge long-time Food Wars fans, but I would be very happy if they accept Soma and his friends’ answer.”

Illustrator Shun Saeki was completely in support of Tsukuda’s decision to end the series, and noted that they had meetings with their editor to make sure it was all copacetic before doing so, “I entrusted Tsukuda-sensei and the editor to decide when to conclude, but all three of us had discussed carefully how to conclude. It’s my great pleasure if the fans image Soma and his friends’ new path to their future.”

Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma might have ended its manga run, but the anime will soon be returning for the fourth season as part of the incredibly competitive Fall 2019 season. If you wanted to catch up before the new season begins, you can currently check out the first three seasons of the series on Crunchyroll.

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma was originally created by Yuto Tsukuda with illustrations by Shun Saeki for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 2012. The story follows Soma Yukihira, a young chef who one days wants to get good enough at cooking to take over his family diner from his father. But when he graduates from middle school, his father shuts down his diner and tells Soma to enroll into Totsuki Academy, an elite cooking school where only one percent of students who enroll actually graduate