An slight course correction but then it falls back into ridiculousness.
World: The art is still a bit off, the tone is completely different, this book went from a school book to a yakuza manga and it’s art style is matched. The world building here is trying to course correct and put some logic and structure back to the insanity and stupidity that is the idea of the noir chef. The tournament idea is okay with the different doors to reach the castle, that piece of the world building feels like this series, but the tasks themselves are ridiculous and make no sense once again. in the past the tastes themselves served a purpose to teach students something, from buffet style to creating new menu items. The combini challenge makes no logical sense and it’s stupid. Add to the fact that this book has been hitting us so hard with the ranking of the Totsuki 10 for the last 30+ books and suddenly there is another group which has never been allowed in the Blue that is ranked higher than them...the logic leaps are ridiculous.
Story: The story tries to fix it’s main problem by having Dad come talk to Soma and say he’s already beat him since he’s the first seat, that makes no sense even in the internal logic of the world. Then there’s the Blue competition which starts off with an interesting idea and set up but the challenges themselves I’ve already discussed above as being absurd and pointless where as older book in the series had a point to the challenges and lessons were learned, nothing is learned in the combini challenge. Then there’s the fact that as much as I love Megumi and Aldini, they are invited and Kurokiba and Hayama are not? That makes no logical sense in the book also since they were so highly touted in the books. And we end with the stupid chainsaw cooking challenge, what the fuck is this. So far the cooking in this series has been over the top but also realistic causes the things used made sense...this book has devolved into a chainsaw with spices in it to cut the meat, what the fucking fuck is wrong with the writing? Did he suffer a blow to the head?
Characters: The characters are not acting the way they should and all the nice pieces that this book was known for, the teamwork and friendship of Polaris and all the wonderful characters are all gone and it’s just the Soma show. Even Megumi and Aldini are shuffled aside. Asahi is a stupid character and his mission to marry Erina is creepy and the fact that this book has been up to book 30 trying to free Erina and make her an independent and free woman is just in 3 books has made her a princess in a tower is a disservice to this character and clearly a step way way backward. The entire arc of Erina is wiped away by her just sitting there, there is no reason to let Asahi do as he please and there is nothing hanging over Erina’s head to not just have her walk out and say “fuck this, why do I care”. These characters are being assassinated so quickly and by it’s creator, it’s a travesty.
This book is getting to the point that it’s become a shadow if itself and bordering on a parody.
Onward to the next book!