Food Wars! The Second Plate

食戟のソーマ弍ノ皿 (Shokugeki no Souma: Ni no Sara)

8.6(1)

OtakuDen

8.1(765,192)

MAL Score

Ranked #673

Popularity #139

Ecchi
Gourmet
School

Episodes: 13
Duration: 24 min per ep
Aired: Jul 2, 2016 to Sep 24, 2016
Status: Finished Airing

Synopsis

With the Autumn Elections qualifiers complete, only eight promising chefs are left standing. The competition shifts into head-to-head Shokugeki, where each match comes with its own theme and demands a different approach in the kitchen.

Facing unfamiliar judges and a fresh lineup of rivals with distinct specialties, Souma is pushed to adapt quickly if he wants to climb the ranks—both in the Autumn Elections and within Tootsuki Culinary Academy.

Otaku Consensus

Food Wars! The Second Plate earns its strong fan standing by letting Yoshitomo Yonetani and J.C.Staff treat cooking matches like compact shounen duels, with the Autumn Elections material benefiting from brisk pacing, sharp presentation, and character-specific culinary identities. The common criticism is that the 13-episode follow-up feels less expansive and slightly less intense than the first season, relying on the cast and spectacle to compensate for a plot that critics found a step down.

Why You Should Watch

Watch The Second Plate if you want tournament-anime momentum without multi-episode stalling: the season is built for viewers who like rules, matchups, judging criteria, and rapid tactical adaptation. It scratches the same competitive itch as Haikyuu!! or Kuroko's Basketball, but replaces court positioning with ingredients, technique, plating logic, and judge psychology. The appeal is not just “food looks good”; it is watching a dish function like a battle strategy, where a chef’s personality becomes readable through preparation choices. If you enjoyed the first season’s mix of culinary education, absurd ecchi reaction comedy, and school hierarchy, this sequel trims the downtime and leans harder into direct confrontations.

Key Characters

S
Souma Yukihira
Souma is compelling because his growth is framed less as raw genius and more as iterative problem-solving, turning diner-kitchen pragmatism into a weapon against elite culinary assumptions.
E
Erina Nakiri
Erina’s appeal comes from the clash between aristocratic food authority and tsundere volatility, making her reactions feel like social verdicts as much as taste judgments.
M
Megumi Tadokoro
Megumi gives the cast a quieter emotional register, with fans often valuing how her cooking identity emphasizes hospitality, steadiness, and nerves under pressure.
T
Takumi Aldini
Takumi works as a mirror-rival to Souma: proud, theatrical, and technique-driven, but defined by a desire to win cleanly rather than merely dominate the room.

What Makes It Stand Out

1
The season’s 13-episode length creates a noticeably tighter competition rhythm than a long cour, with little room for academy downtime once the head-to-head format takes over.
2
J.C.Staff’s adaptation under director Yoshitomo Yonetani keeps the cooking staged like action combat, a choice reflected in contemporary reviews that compared the premiere’s intensity to classic shounen fights.
3
Tatsuya Katou’s music supports the series’ escalation pattern by treating reveals, judging reactions, and culinary reversals as climactic beats rather than background process.
4
The production’s source-material pipeline is unusually visible in the credits: Yuuto Tsukuda handles the original story, Shun Saeki the original character design, and Yuki Morisaki original work assistance, reinforcing the series’ mix of manga exaggeration and food specificity.
5
Shougo Yasukawa’s series composition leans into matchup-based characterization, using each chef’s specialty as a way to define personality and rivalry instead of pausing for separate character exposition.

Fun Facts & Trivia

Fun fact 1: The Second Plate aired as a Summer 2016 TV anime from July 2 to September 24, finishing at 13 episodes under J.C.Staff.
Fun fact 2: Its reception remained notably strong across major anime databases: MAL lists it at 8.05 from 765,133 votes, while AniList records a 79/100 score and 3,613 favourites.
Fun fact 3: Despite being tagged heavily for Food, School, Shounen, Educational content, and Nudity on AniList, the season’s critical discussion often focused on pacing and tournament structure rather than only its ecchi reputation.
Fun fact 4: The main production credits pair veteran anime roles with sensory-focused craft: Yukiko Itou handled color design, Shigeru Nishiyama editing, Jin Aketagawa sound direction, and Tatsuya Katou music.
Fun fact 5: Several review summaries framed the season as a mild step down from the first, but still praised it for cast strength, presentation, and the way its cooking battles preserve the energy of action anime.